The Book of Shadows: End of Times

Part I: Chapter 1

                                                                                                                                                                     ~The Rabbit

   She ran. She ran with every bit of her strength, without seeing where to go inside this veil of smoke. Her speed easily matched that of her wolf, which was never leaving her side, and mine, as I tried mimicking her every step in this crumbling world. Another building fell in ruins right behind her when the continuous earthquake regained its trembling might. People screamed under the debris, begging the passengers to stop and help them but the girl didn’t even flinch. No, she wouldn’t have. Not when she was needed to save the world. She had learned, after trial and error, to never put civilians’ lives before the fate of humanity.

   I know better now than judging her behavior. Like her, I’ve seen terror before, not because of my experiences but from the memories I possessed from a life I had previously lived myself. Witches, like this girl, refrained to mess with the fate of humans. Hurting or helping them had little matter to them and they only proceeded to do so when they were feeling vengeful or generous. That’s what those foreign memories I now harbor taught me at least. For, in that lifetime, I was only fifteen years of age and this girl was the first witch I had ever looked upon. Therefore, I didn’t quite know if trusting her was right or lunacy.

   «Everything is exactly as I knew it would be» I whispered. «The shaking ground, the powerful wind! Even the buildings that are wrapped in flames…» I shouted to her. The sky was covered with ominous clouds and the wind blew strong enough to send a loaded truck flying! The witch managed to protect us from its wrath with a barrier spell: a field made of yellow illuminating energy that surrounded us like a shell of dirty glass! As the wind was crushing on it, little sparks were escaping from its gravity but the shell itself was holding strong against the impact.

   «Quiet! I’m concentrating » she ordered me, quite harshly at that! Being pushed by a girl like that meant I had reached rock bottom! I thought it was ok if she was the one doing it though since she was a powerful witch and all but also because she was incredibly hot!

   «We wouldn’t be here now if you had listened to me before » I reminded her, attempting to annoy her just to keep the conversation going. 

   «People who claim the world is about to end, can’t be easily trusted! Now, hush!» she commanded angrily again, trying to look intimidating enough. That had worked for her when her brother wouldn’t be afraid to look her in the eye and talk back at her like this. I only learned that after I met her again for the first time.

    The girl was gritting her teeth, trying to find a secure place in this demolishing city. Even if she lived here for just a few months, after the queen knighted her, Priscilla had grown fond of this town, after she got stuck there. The stores and alleys, the streets, the British accent even the weather had become part of her new life. Unable to trust people, after everything that had happened during the last few years, she only let herself enjoy those small things she thought could keep forever.

   Alexander, her wolf, growled at his mistress, pointing towards a fountain. His fur was all tangled up and his left front leg hadn’t fully healed yet but, realizing his mistress’ loneliness, he dared not leaving her side or be angry with her no more. It was the third month he served under her` his family was still searching for him, considering him missing and his phone would still ring sometimes, receiving calls from old friends or the girl he ghosted, with no one to answer it, enchanted with a spell so it cannot be found.

   A cruel fate for a man who made the mistake to fall in love with her. A curious price for her to pay to maintain her powerful magic. Trading a man’s life and turning him into a beast to keep her powers for one year and then do so again. The wolf was obligated to follow her as her familiar and, the moment it was killed or perished, her powers would vanish as well. Later in my time, I would study her story, understanding how the sweet girl I would meet in the past became a cynical witch. Only then, my respect for her would flourish.

   «Why are we going there? I don’t think it’s safe!» I murmured while stumbling on the unsteady road. The Earth’s trembling was messing with our balance, making our escape ever so difficult! With this being the first time I was facing the end of the world, I could only perceive what was happening in front of me as a nightmare! The smoke was so thick we could barely see further than a few miles away. What truly remains engraved in my memories is the image of numb red lights behind this foggy curtain, where fires were on a rampage and the sound of the street, cracking like it was made of ice. 

   «Where we’re going isn’t a sanctuary either!» she replied offensively. Raising her hands above her head, she surrounded the whole fountain-area with her barrier-spell, clearing the smoke and restoring our sight. My eyes were hurting but washing my face with the water stored in the monument, helped my situation a little.

   «Are you sure this is the spell?» she asked, worried that she might lose her chance to fix what she thought was happening by then. I touched the book in her hands, opening it ever so slightly. The pages, invincible in both natural and magical forces, held the spells and rituals of every shadow holder that had been registered in it! Only the bearers of Shadows were able to use it and, by using it I meant the spells that fell under their chapter specifically. Only she, the Mistress of the Book, had the authority to use them all as she pleased.

   Reacting to my touch, the grimoire opened on the page that presented the spell I was talking about! «This is the one! The one from this song in my head!» I showed her. In the Traveler’s chapter, there was a ritual I only knew from those alien thoughts I had in my mind. Neither dreams nor a voice per se, but more like the whistling song of a bird that I somehow could translate in those directions:

    “When the world seems to end, the time you must bend so find the witch and be her friend!”. Flashing images played over and over in between my memories. The witch and her wolf, the world ending, the spell we needed to reach that man. “Travel with her beyond this land, to find the Collector of all sand!”.

   I was confused, how would I find that girl when I was in the habit of taking the wrong turn for school every other morning? But the girl wasn’t hard to find! Why, her knighting ceremony was broadcasted on live TV, making it easy for me to truck her! For the first time since I was a child, I felt like I had faith in that foreign song again! I tried reaching out to her for the past months, singing the song to her over and again, but she wouldn’t listen to a word I said! I had started thinking of myself as a psycho! Then, when the Earth suffered from His judgment, she came to me, finally ready to hear me.

   The witch drew the sigil in front of the fountain, a complex design indeed, and pulled me closer to her. «Who is this Collector?» I asked her, watching her closely- and by her, I mean her butt- as she was bending down to draw the magic circle. 

   «The god of time. He lives in a higher realm» she said naturally, raising her hands in the air, mimicking a clock, measuring the distance of the minutes she drew inside the sigils ring. 

   «Are you scared? Have you ever met a god before?» I found the courage to ask her. I wanted to talk with her about all kinds of things but, she was good at keeping her distance from me, careful not to let me near her.

   «I’ve met a couple. I only like one of them, though» she replied casually, having all her attention turned on the chuck in her hand. 

   «Who is the one you like?» I asked, forgetting about the disasters for a bit. Her wolf yawned out of boredom, lying beside her. 

   «Eros, the winged god. He is a friend of mine» she answered, giving her magic circle some finishing touches. She then stood up and, with a wave of her stuff, her book of spells floated in front of her, answering her summons. «Brace yourself» she advised me, making me shallow my next words.

   «I ask for the help of those who travel` the drivers, the passengers, the guides! I pray to Mercury, the messenger, who freely visits other realms and dimensions! I ask of Chronos, Father of Time to open the gates of his house, as the law of gods demand, and give us an audience!» she shouted. «That should do it!» she claimed, clearing her throat. Closing her eyes and taking a small breath of air, she relaxed her body and prayed.

«As a sailor, as a merchant                                                                   

In this circle, I enchant

I will travel through dimensions

To Him who collects all sand

As a Wanderer I pay        

With this coin, with this dime

For the Boat to give us passage

To the house of Father Time»

   As she cast her spell, the witch raised her stuff above our heads and then directed it to the ground. She threw a coin, a dime I presumed, behind her back and into the fountain, calling for the ferryman to take us for a ride! It goes without saying, I had no idea who our driver would be before I meet him, and maybe- just maybe- that excuses my reaction to his appearance.  

   The fountain overflowed the square, filling the cracks that were created by the quakes, deep like canyons, with its waters and covered every inch of the ground’s surface that our eyes were able to discern, except for the magic circle. Calm and stealthy, the greenish waters were rising higher, like they were trying to drown the city! Priscilla lowered her stuff and closed the Book of spells, waiting patiently while the rest of the world was collapsing! Houses were reduced to rumbles and I could hear them splash in the pond that was turning this neighborhood into a swamp!

   From inside this newly created, supernatural lake, the Boat she had summoned start emerging. A bone vessel made from the spine of, what I thought of as a whale and the skeletons of humans and marine animals joined, glued together to form his raft. Skulls were decorating the sides of the Boat which, upfront looked like it wore a face` spiky bones that were creating the unsettling image of a mouth full of teeth and, just above it, a lack of the eerie materials resembled two empty eye sockets that were looking- so to say- directly at as.

   The Ferryman was standing upon that face, Master of this lifeless yet frightening vehicle, welcoming us aboard with a nod and a gesture. His other hand, which was clutching his paddle, was covered like the rest of his body with his black cloak, which was waving in the wind, making it seem like he had wings made of silk. It wasn’t until recently I learned that only moribund people could see his form before they actually die. I wonder if she knew about this when he arose before us!

   Taller than a tree and ever so slim, scary like death itself, the god Charon shared neither his face nor his voice with us. Still, he appeared in my mind like the angel of departments himself. And that’s enough to cause a little boy to faint.