BANG!

“Gha! What the hell?” I woke up with a jump chafing my neck on the seatbelt. “What was that?” I ask the driver who was at the wheel to my right.

“It was just a rock sir.” What just a rock? I straighten up and look out the window finally noticing were we are. We are very high up. I stare out the van’s window nervously griping the safety handle on the door. We are driving on an unpaved 10 foot wide road with a sheer cliff on one side and an unhealthy drop on the other. Judging by the small looking trees we must be pretty high.

“How high are we?” I hear my father laughing behind me.

“Ha! So you have decided to be awake for this part of the trip this time.” I grunt and look at the ground below. Last time we came this way was when I was nine and I slept on the way there, and I fell asleep in the car before we left, so yea I never saw the cliff.

“Sir we are about a hundred and ten meters up and should arrive at the gate in less than five minutes.” The driver starts to slow down after we pass a large alcove in the Cliffside and a sign in germen. That’s weird the sign had a camera above it drilled into the rock. I look at the driver quizzically? There is a gate up here?

“What did the sign say?”

“Turn back trespassers will be shot.” The driver didn’t even flinch or hesitate in his answer.

“Did it really say that? That is an exaggeration right?”

“No sir, it is plain and simple. We have been driving on the Kaltefeuer estate for the past twenty minutes. People are usually intercepted before they get this close to the residence. I have been on guard duty up here before, so yes those are the orders.” I look at my parents. My father shrugs, and my mother has her eyes closed with nothing but her poker face showing, yet she’s giving my father’s hand the death grip. My father looks me in the eye.

“There are reasons I would not come back here son. I am here to see you through your initiation into the family. Your mother is here for my support and yours.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Initiation? I hope it’s not some ritualistic hazing?”

“Nothing like that. We will go over details later. We should not talk about it here.” My father looks at the driver then sadly at my mother. She opens her eyes and looks sadly back at him and nods.

“Please do that sir. Hearing that information could get me killed.” I look back to the driver.

“WHAT!? What do you mean by that?” I look at him for some seconds. It does not look like he will answer me. He slows the car down to around ten miles per hour, and I look ahead. The road seems to meet another cliff face and turns into an opening in the cliff side.

“Sir’s and Ma’am we have arrived.” He slows further and turns into the cave and comes to a complete stop. There is a big gothic looking metal door in front of the car illuminated by a light on the roof of the cave. There is a guard house looking thing on the right against the wall with a guard standing at its door. He is wearing a black beanie and Kevlar vest as well as an mp5 in his hands. His finger is on the trigger. Just then the other van with my cousin and her parents stop behind us. “Say nothing until the door is open.”

Our driver rolls his window down and holds his hand up palm out to the guard while holding his ring finger down with his thumb. Must be none verbal password to get in. The guard blinks his left eye once. The driver then makes the Vulcan live long and prosper sign with his palm facing himself, and the guard blinks with his right eye this time, and our driver responds by bringing his middle finger and ring finger together palm still facing himself. The guard takes his finger off his trigger and visibly relaxes, and walks up to our van.

“How many?” the guard looks into the van then glances to the other van.

“Six.” The guard nods.

“That’s the number I was told. I will get the door open.” He walks back into the guard house. I wonder how the door will open. Judging how the cave has a rounded ceiling and there are no square shapes on the top of the door I think it will slide into the wall or come down and we will drive over it, or rise into the ceiling. A loud screech assaults my ears then a grinding sound. The door starts to move towards the guard house. Well that answers that it’s sliding into the wall.

The door stops sliding and we move forward and we enter the lit tunnel. I glance at the door as we pass. The door is thick.

“Wow is that door five inches thick or something?” the driver glances at me and responds.

“It is four and a half sir.” We drove a little ways in the tunnel until we came out into a courtyard of the castle that I remember. From the open area you could look up and see the sky from a large opening or chasm if you’re looking down from the top. We took a right turn toward another large door that was being dragged open by another armed guard. Our driver drove into an area that completely resembled an underground parking garage. All kinds of cars were parked in there even two armored personnel carriers, or APCs, and a tank.

“Wow is that still here? That’s a leopard right.” I had completely forgotten that there was a tank here, but I’m not going to admit that. The driver smiles and parks the van.

“Yes, and she still runs, unfortunately we don’t get to drive her out much. She makes a lot of noise in here” turning off the van he opens his door and gets out. “You may get out of the van now.” We all get out of the vans and look about the garage. A door across from us opens, and an old man in an expensive looking black suit walks towards us. He spreads his arms open as he notices that he has all our attention.

“Welcome, welcome family to my humble abode away from the cities.” A little echo forms in the garage. “Don’t worry about your luggage it will be taken care of, and moved to your rooms. Follow me please.” he motions us to follow him and turns around and walks back to the door. I guess he is our welcoming committee, so I fallow him through the door with everyone else close behind. I fallowed the old man past several doors and turns in the hall. You can easily get lost here without knowing where you’re headed. I was a victim several times to the maze that is this underground castle when I was last here.

The old man led us to a room with a couple of tables with a bunch of people around. I assume they are the rest of the family, for I can only recognize just a few. The old man turned to us. “You six are the last to arrive, feel free to sit where you please and order some food” he turns back around and heads to a raised section next to a stage in the back of the room, and takes a seat at a table with a couple of other older gentlemen and women. I look around and spot an empty table with six chairs.

“I see a table we can take over there.” I point to the table and wave every one behind me to the table. The table was round and near the left center of the room. There seems to be about forty people here of all ages, and with the noise you would expect with such a mixed crowd. Adult and kids laughing are herd from all over the room, some smiles, as well as couple of serious looking conversations are going on in a few tables. I look to my table at my parents and jennet with her parents. “Well that was quite a ride wasn’t it? The cliff spooked me a little when I woke up.” That got a couple of chuckles from them. A man in waiter clothes walks up to our table.

“Ladies and gentlemen may I take your orders.” He hands us all a couple of menus just like a restaurant. I guess it pays to have rich relatives. We all order our food and he leaves.

“So when will we be in on the secret? I assume it has something to do with the initiation you mentioned.” I ask my father and jennet looks our way.

“When the elders of the family are ready, could be today or a week from now.”

“Are the elders the ones at the table that that old man sat at?”

“Yes, that old man is your great grandfather.”

“What! He couldn’t be that old.” I ask a little surprised, for my great grandfather was a little over forty when the world war two was over. That would make the old man over one hundred and ten. “If that’s so he looks very healthy for someone his age?”

“Don’t worry about it, it will all be revealed later.” A couple of carts come our way and stops at our table. “Our food has arrived we can talk about the details later when it’s appropriate.” I nod as I remember the conversation on the drive up, our food is served to us. I barely start to eat my food when a loud gong rings out. I look up and see my great grandfather up on the stage with the rest of his table.

_____

“Welcome everyone to the thirty-eighth reunion of our great Kaltefeuer family.” Thirty eight? That would make our family over five hundred and seventy years old. “Normally I would be making this announcement in our local german, but too many of us don’t speak it anymore. In a way this is a good thing, for it means our family has spread and not in as much danger as it was hundreds of years ago.” Hmm laying it on a bit thick is he? “We have gathered here for the members of our family to finally be initiated into the fold. I have talked it over with the rest of the elders, and we are ready to begin the initiation tonight after this meal.” Well that was quick. The family business is bigger than it has ever been and it calls us so we can’t stay long. One of the two old women on the stage walks out and replaces my great grandfather as he steps back.

“Out of the 10 who would have been here today only five survived the last fifteen years to make it to us. A moment of silence please to remember our fallen and may god hold them dear to his heart as we have.” I looked down and closed my eyes with everyone else. The silence lasted maybe five minutes. “Thank you every one, let’s all please enjoy the rest of our meals.” The old lady steps back and an old man with a cane steps forward. This guy looks like the grumpy type.

“All five of you whom have come of age this last fifteen years exit out the door to the left of the stage after you finish with your food. You may bring only one person with you who has blood of the Kaltefeuer in there veins.” With a thunk he hits his cane against the stage and walks out through the door he mentioned with the rest slowly shuffling after him. Well he is definitely the grumpy type. I smirk and look to my father and he nods.

“I will come with you son.”

“Ok.” I give Jannat a serious look and she returns a nervous one. I turn back to my food and finish quickly. I stand up and see my father did the same as well as Jannat and her mother. Pushing in our chairs we head to the door to our initiation.

We have been walking down a small hallway for at least twenty minutes. When I say down I mean down, for the hallway has had a slight slope downwards for quite a while. The small hallway could only fit two of us side by side going one way. There are lights every fifteen feet so we are not walking in the dark. We have not spoken a word sense we came through the door a ways back. I think I see the end or a chamber ahead, and what looks like candle light illuminating it. Ok I was wrong they were torches, for they aluminate a circler room with a hole in it. I approached the hole and looked down. There was a spiral staircase that led down the hole with torches all the way down lighting it up.

“I guess we go down.” Jannat was right behind. I look back down the hallway and I see a couple of people heading our way, probably the other three. My father grunts and starts to head down the steps.

“The elders are below. Come.” With a shrug to Jannat and her mother I head down as well. On my way down I notice that there are small alcoves along the stairs. As i pass one I peer into it, and I’m startles a little bit by what I saw in there. The alcoves have skeletons in them. Every alcove I pass and looked into had one. Well this is creepy walking down a stone staircase, with skeletons every foot or so, and the only light is from the flames on the torches. I don’t think it could get any creepier then this. I was wrong.

At the bottom there was a stone cut opening that led into a round torch lit round room. The room looked like a perfectly circle with a domed roof. The shape of the room was not the creepy part. The creepy part was that the elders were in a circle and facing a sphere on a pedestal. The sphere gave me goosebumps and raised the hair on the back of my neck the moment I saw it. It was a perfect obsidian looking sphere that gave off a purple light. A rock gave off light? How is this possible?

To say I am shocked would be an understatement you only see stuff like this in movies or books. I could hardly move from where I was standing. My first thought was that the sphere was fake, yet I could not deny my own eyes or ignore what feels like static electricity in the air. My great grandfather looks away from the sphere and turns to us as six more people silently file into the room.

“The five who will be initiated into the family line up and stand before me.” He points before himself. “Everyone else, join the elders in the circle.” My father passes me and joins the elders in the circle with Jannat’s mother and the rest. I get into the indicated position and look as Jannat stands next to me and three of my cousins stand next to her. My great grandfather looks us over standing strait with his hands behind him. “Five of you are here today. You five will be initiated into the family’s secret.” He looks us over his face passive. Our family’s origin is magic, from the very first, so it shall be with the last. What do you know of magic?” He stands there silently looking at us. The cousin on the other end coughs, and we all turn to him.

“That it doesn’t exist it has not been proven.” He’s speaks with obvious nerves cracking his voice. He looks to be about seventeen years old. “Psychic phenomenon maybe but magic no” the old man nods.

“In a way you are correct, but the only way we have been able to explain the orb and what you will be doing here is nothing but magic.” He holds up a hand palm out stifling anyone from responding right away. “You all will be gaining psychic powers tonight. We do not know what you will manifest but it will be real in fact I have a substantial one myself, Telepathy. To prove this I will ask you all to think of a number between one and ten and name a color in your head. I shall tell you all your number and the color.” Telepathy really! Let’s see one and black. There was less than a minute of silence when he looked at the first cousin to speak. “Six and green” he looked at my next cousin who looked to be in his twenties like me and Jannat. “Two, and pink.” He raised an eyebrow and looked to the guy next to Jannat. “Five, and Red” He looked at Jannat next. “Five, and blue.” Then he looked at me. “One, and black. Now did I say a wrong number or color.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at us all. None of us responded, for that was pretty impressive it took him less than a minute to look at us all and say the number and color.

There was silence in the chamber, yet I could hear low humming. I look at my father and the rest and they all have their hands aimed at the sphere and they were all humming a low tune. “All whom go through the initiation will gain some power be it telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis and even precognition. These skills are vital for our family, and have allowed us to survive since the roman invasion of Gaul. This is a secret that may never be shared on pain of death. Do you hear me if I feel you cannot hold this secret you will die or never leave the castle above.” Damn he doesn’t look to be joking. He looks at me. “I’m not joking and none of you will live if you think otherwise.” Fuck he said that with a straight face. Calm down calm down, I can handle this. I stand straighter look him in the eye. He nods and looks back to the others. “You will be offered a position in the family business that fits your skills afterword if you wish, If not you may go your way in peace if you can be trusted to keep your mouths shut. Your parents are aware of these facts.”

The old man turns around and walks into the circle. “We shall begin.” He walks up to the sphere, and its purple light gets a little brighter. It is legend that the progenitor of our family came to this world with this sphere and only he can return with it. It grants us with his blood power beyond most mortal men for as long as the blood runs in our veins.” He stops under a hands length from the black sphere. “For all others its touch means death.” He reaches for the orb and electric arcs come out between it and his hand. “To gain our power you must touch it and be reborn into us.” He touched his palm to it and nothing happens. He takes his hand away and steps back to us. “Do not be afraid. The first touch will always be the worst.” He points to my first youngest cousin at the end of the line. “Come forth and gain your birthright. Do not let go of the orb until there are no more arc’s between you and it.” Wow these are scenes and lines you’d only see in movies and books.

My young cousin whom I’d never met or heard a name for walked to the circle. I don’t know any of them only Jannat. He walked into the circle and like before the purple light brightens up as he approaches. He reaches for the orb and arcs hit his palm like before. Touching the orb the electric arcs increase in intensity and shoot out to his face and body. He grits his teeth and closes his eyes in what looks like pain. The electric arcs stop and he immediately screams and falls to his knees holding his head. He then slumps over apparently unconscious. One of the guys from the circle gets out and picks him up and takes him out of the circle and lays him on the floor outside of the circle. “Next.” My great grandfather looks back to us.

“This is going to suck.” The oldest looking of my cousins looks to the rest of us “Wish me luck.” A nervous look in his eyes he walks into the circle. Approaching the orb the same thing happens with the electric arcs, yet instead of a scream he squints his eyes shut and grunts and starts acting dizzy and drunk. Someone walks into the circle and takes him to join the two from before. This looks like it hurts I shuffle a little nervously and look at Jannat. She looks excited with her eyes wide open.

“Next.” My third cousin walks confident as he walks into the circle with a smile on his face. Like before the arcs meet his palm as it closes and the purple glow turns red as he touches the black orb. The electric arcs turn red as well and spread out all over his body and violently speeds up in intensity. He screams a blood curdling scream that I have never heard before then its cut off suddenly. His is still there standing up touching the orb. The electric arcs are gone and the purple glow is dim again.

“NOOO, no, no, no it can’t be.” One of the men in the circle falls to his knees crying both his hands forward. Making fist the man looks down and slams his fist into the floor. A loud crack is herd and cracks appear on the stone floor where his fist hit it. My great grandfather looks at him.

“You did not know and will be forgiven.” The old man with the cane walks into the circle and pokes the figure touching the orb. It disintegrates quickly into a pile of dust and clothes. What the hell how did that happen he disintegrated. I sort of believed them when they said death would result if we were not blood related, but to see it confirmed in such away. I looked quickly to my father and he still had his poker face on. Looking to Jannat her pervasive excitement was replaced by fear as well as my own. The old man with the cane speaks to the distraught man on the floor.

“This betrayal will be punished. Bring her.” The man nods and gets up. With tears still falling he leaves the room. “The ceremony must go on.” He looks at my great grandfather. “Next time we do blood test first.” He smacks his cane against the stone floor then walks back to his position in the circle, and raises his hand again to the orb. My grandfather nods with his eyes closed and then looks at Jannat.

“Next.” I hear Jannat swallow and she doesn’t move. Her mother looks at her.

“It’s ok dear you must do it. It will be alright, for you have nothing to worry about.” With that Jannat slowly walks into the circle as well and stop’s at the orb as its strange purple light brightens. Reaching her hand out the arcs meet her hand, I hold my breath and hope nothing will happen. The same regular arcs as the first two times come out and spread over her body. She quickly looks up at the ceiling and loudly sucks in a breath. Jannat faints and falls. My great grandfather catches her before she hits the floor. My aunt walks into the circle and takes Jannat out. Ok it’s my turn. I can do this nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear.

“You are the last one. After you touch the orb the ceremony will end and we will learn what you have gained. Now enter.” The old man speaks to me and waves me in. Taking a breath I walk into the circle and the orb brightens brighter than it did for the others. What’s this? I continue to walk forward and I hear the buzzing of electricity and the orb rises a foot off the pedestal that it rested on. Stopping my eyes go wide as a purple arc comes out of the orb and touches me. I didn’t feel a thing, yet my body feels like it’s being pulled to the orb.

“What’s happening?” I look to my great grandfather and he only looks at me then back to the orb with wonder in his eyes.

“We have never seen it do this. Keep going.” He waves me to continue.

“Ok.” I look around and see the same wonder in everyone’s eyes and a little fear in my fathers. I slowly walk closer and the purple arcs continue to touch me in ever increasing intervals. The orb starts to rotate and the sound of electricity intensifies. Coming to a stop with the orb within my reach I look at it. I think I can feel the energy within it. My hand reaches for it before I realize I was doing it and touches the spinning orb. The orb starts to disintegrate and the particles flowed into my hand. Into my hand! What the hell?

Pain immediately assaults my hand as if I put it into a pan of boiling water. I scream at the top of my lungs. The pain intensifies and spreads down my arm and into my chest. I scream again and tare my shirt off as I see black vain like tendrils crawl down my arm and into my chest. Oh god this hurts. I close my eyes and scream again. The pain spreads to my chest and into my legs and other arm. I can’t control my body as I fall and start to thrash on the floor. Opening my eyes I look to my father to see the horror in his eyes as he’s being held back by the rest of the circle. I try to raise my hand to him and ask for help, yet all I do is scream in agony as the pain intensifies further. I watch and add horror to my screams as my hands, arms, and legs start to disintegrate like dust flowing in the wind. And my vision goes black with nothing but the most intense pain of my life as company.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well i guess i finished this chapter sooner then i expected even though it took me 12 hours to write all of this. This chapter is about 4525 words.

Im working on a cover pic but.... the artist is being stubern and taking there sweet time. fyi i asked them to draw a cover pick for this story more then a month ago Q-Q