The Princess Summoner

The Locked Door

    Meanwhile deep in the forest, the mansion sits there ominously as the winds howl and the thunderstorm comes down from the sky. Anyone looking at the mansion from the outside wouldn’t be able to tell what’s going on the inside. The many curtains are drawn shut. Anyone would think no one would dare enter here. But contrary to their thinking, someone or rather something is sleeping inside the mansion. It is having a fitful sleep. The last five hours with the girl have not been its best. It has been full of unexpected surprises. From the girl showing up on his doorstep, to dealing with the girl’s odd mannerisms, incessantly talking, and now him being sick needing something to stop him feeling the way that it feels.

In its fitful slumber it mumbles “This world thinks they can keep us down. But they will return. 

They…will…return….”

The beast mumbles as its forehead perspires with sweat. As it is dreaming it is in conflict with itself.  Right from the outset, this beast on the outside looked like a beast. Burly skin, sharp claws, jagged teeth, pale yellow eyes, it even presented itself as one. But appearances are not always what they seem. From the onset this mansion seemed like an oddity deep in the forest. It is sheltered, hunkered away from prying eyes. Eyes of a certain king and or queen who might ask too many questions. It was placed here by the gods that created it. You see our beast does not come from this world. He comes from another one. One in which our girl Teresa is trying to get into. Upstairs. Knocking and continuous knocking. That knocking is getting on Teresa’s nerves. Teresa is desperate to unlock the door that will help make the beast better. She’s been reading books about spells and magic conjuring. This is the first time she has been thrown into something like this. She is getting frustrated.

   Teresa exclaims “Come on. It has got to be here somewhere!” She throws the stockpile of books on the floor. She looks at several books that are beginner spells, intricate spells, slow spells, fast spells, spells that change someone’s appearance, spells that give someone powers, spells that freeze people, spells that take people out of their normal lives, but no spells to make people better?  But she is not a person to give up. Her father taught her that.

   She looks among the bookshelves she encountered earlier and the words on those books look strange. Like old medieval writings. She suddenly gets a wave of anxiety/fear that rolls over her. This is never happened to her before. She takes a deep breath. Her “beast” friend is sick. Something is wrong with him. She realizes if she can’t help him his situation doesn’t look good. She gets up and heads toward the locked door. She puts her hand on the handle of the door and tries to turn it. The lock does not move. The fearful voices crying out in anguish sound like they are off in the distance. “Hello? I hear you. Please help me open this door. I need help!! My friend is sick. I need to open this door!” exclaimed Teresa.

       The voices in anguish continue. “Let us out of here!! Your stubbornness will be your undoing!! Let us out of here!! You will regret this!! You will be damned for all eternity!! You cannot keep us here forever!! Your vanity will be your undoing!! The voices echo throughout the mansion. Teresa asked “How do I do that? How do I let you out ?” The voices continue without end. She pounds on the door several times. It doesn’t budge. She sits down against the door. Just at that moment she hears a high chirpy voice. “cawwwww…Hello there! Very good day it is.” The teen looks to where the voice is coming from. She sees no one.” Who said that?”   Artemis stated “…It does not matter who said what, all that matters is that you never stop…cawwwwww” She sees him perched on an open windowsill. Teresa asked, “Where’d you come from ?” Artemis “Be concerned not with your surroundings…Be concerned with yourself adjusting to them…cawwwww”.

   She sees this mini- creature bird looking at her with yellow eyes and with a movable head. It had many spots all over its body, buried deep in its feathers. Kind of like a checkerboard. Teresa in frustration asks the bird like creature “Why won’t you answer me ...I need help. This door won’t open. I’ve been hitting it, but it won’t budge.” Artemis “…For a human, you have underestimated your field of view….cawwwww” “ What are you saying ? That there is another way of opening it ? How?” Teresa asked. The bird jumps from the windowsill and flies over to the table next to the vase. Artemis “…Look at the painting over there on the wall….cawwwww” She observes the painting on the other side of stairs in front of her. It has a boy running in a field with his mother with their dog. They are both happy and content. And in the far-off distance is a white background. Artemis “…What do you see?...cawwwww” Teresa “ A boy with his mother playing. Looks like they’re having a good time.” Artemis tells her “….cawwwww….Notice the date on the painting.” Teresa “…July 5, 1877. Artemis “The mother died July 5, 1878….cawwwww” She notices that the white background is symbolizing the afterlife.

    Teresa “The mother died before the painting was created…. Rather the boy knew…that his mother…was going to leave him…?  “Hindsight suckssss… doesn’t it…..cawwwwww” Artemis acknowledges. She looks at the door. Teresa “So…the white background symbolizes the afterlife just like what’s behind this door…That’s impossible. Listen here. I can’t walk through walls and violate the laws of nature…!  I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t just come here and make me…”  Then with an unexpected breeze the bird suddenly disappears. Teresa “What…? Where are you? Hey…!!! Don’t leave me here…! Come back!!  The voices in anguish come flooding back louder than ever. “Let us Out!!! You will pay for this!! AAAAAAAAA The voices in anguish reverberate through the mansion. It unsteadies her. She takes a step back and takes a breath. Teresa “The bird wants me to…picture something that is too fantastical to imagine. But I have to if I want to save my friend…Okay.”

    She looks back and realizes this belief is going to take some effort and some help. She goes over to the bookcase and looks at certain medieval writings. They are books with ancient scribbles, but she remembers her father’s stories when she was younger. He would tell her stories of ancient sea battles and the characters inside those stories would sometimes speak in their native tongue when dealing with monsters or foes that were larger than they could handle. It all seemed fantastical to her at the time, but it had a sense of purpose and that was to eradicate their foe. One of the heroes that was prominent was O’Hara the guardian of the Terina people. He was a sage ancient that grew up in the village of native Terina people was trained in the arts of speaking with the ancient dragons of that world. In one of his intense communications with them he implored to them that he knew that this was their world and that they shared it with them.

   At the time, their moon was at risk from being flooded from the ice caps melting brought on by the industries of that world, brought on by over population and self-indulgence. The guardian pleaded with the dragon elder not to destroy that world because he knew the people of the world could change before dragon elder would return in a year. The dragon elder huffed and pondered what the guardian said. The dragon and the members of the United. Human. Industries. Council. were at odds with each other and could not come to an agreement. That is why it took the guardian to try to ameliorate or lessen the situation. He used the ancient science born in that era of magic to calm their fears and assess the world at large. The world was on the brink of disaster and the guardian knew this. At the same time, the elders did not bend to the world’s laws. They had their own rules to abide by. They eventually did agree but they did not promise things would return to normal.

        The world seemed like it went back to normal after the global flood, but major cities were underwater with no way of possibly getting the people out. Their bodies were left dead underwater as a reminder of their self-indulgence. But the cities that instituted the ancient ways were left unharmed and returned to semi-normal. And were given an aide of benefits from the elders. O’Hara, the guardian, lived in this world afterward and could be seen teaching the ancient ways to the children of those cities and eventually that world. The story seemed to inspire Teresa and galvanized her strengths into doing what she had to do. 

   She looks at the locked door and concentrates on her friend downstairs. She sees him in her mind sleeping on the ramshackle couch that she had dragged him to. At first, he appeared scary to her and not amiable to speaking to her. It was frustrating to her. But not unlike this situation she is involved in now in that she can’t understand the unenviable pull of this is having on her. A slight cold breeze chills her causing her to rub her arms to stay warm. She keeps her eyes closed. She realizes if she is going to save her friend, she must do this. She breathes slowly in and then breathes slowly out. She repeats this. She then forms her body in an ancient Terinian stance. Her left leg is formed in a four position and her hands are together with her eyes closed. She pictures her bestial friend and gathers her courage and starts running.  She knows not if it will work or how it will work, but only that it must work. In the mansion her body is physically running, physically working hard, veritably in a full sprint.

   At that moment, the air in the house shifts toward a brisk breeze. It shifts upward toward the girl in the direction she is going. Everything that happened to be moving in real time from the birds in the trees chirping to passersby jogging in the park slow down. She charges toward the door not knowing what’s on the other side. Teresa (This has to work. My friend needs me. I call upon the vast knowledge of the Terinian people to flood this house with power and healing.) The door downstairs opens with immediate abandon. The winds whistle throughout the mansion. The door upstairs is blinding with light. Her speed picks up countering the friction in the air bubbling up at the surface.

    Teresa thinks (Focus! Focus! The mind is not in the here and now, it flows among the sprits and angels of the Terinian people.) She recalls when her mother was in the hospital for her yearly treatment of medicines when Teresa was five, it was a very scary for her, she remembered her father closing his eyes and praying to the spirits to remove the sickness that befell his wife. She now recites that prayer “Please, Ancient One who is capable of removing all obstacles, I pray now for blessings as I am about embark on an adventure to help my friend. I honor all Terinian people, their ways and customs…!”  In the karmic place that she found herself in she is a little apprehensive but eager to help her friend. That with the amazing wave of warmth that she felt coming from a place she knew not where propelled her through the door. The scene changes. Her eyes see a splendiferous landscape. Colors not seen in a baker’s dozen but only seen in a rainbow. Colors of red, green, yellow, blue, indigo. It stuns her senses; she barely can take it in all at once. All of it seems like a dream to her. The colors seem to blur and suddenly she feels woozy. The world seems to be going in a circle fast. Her legs feel heavy and then she drops to the ground. Her mind goes black. Time seems to quicken.

    She then hears a voice far off in the distance. The last thing she hears… “She’s here. Finally. Quick, get her in the room…”