The Last Guardian

Chapter_35: Pscychedelia

It was 10 p.m. now and Johnathan had cooled off after taking a long shower. He felt bad that he was almost going to kill Brother Farid who told him later that he was more than happy to help him acquire his new power and that he wasn't actually hurt or anything. With that in mind, Johnathan went outside into the quiet streets- the rain had stopped and the summer heat had died down. He felt fresh and calm after a nice dinner. Billy was inside talking with Farid. He walked slowly on the street and gazed at the half crescent moon for a while.

He thought about his newly earned powers- another level of butt-kicking awesome powers. He hoped this would be good enough to defeat Shemyaza, but again he was an angel of the Lord, which meant there was a fair chance that he could die. But he had to try anyway.

It had been so long that he had some quiet time for himself. He took out his phone and looked at his call log, there was a missed call from earlier from Lisa! He got excited- this is what he needed the most right now- his feelings of romance came back and he felt like a young teenage lover falling in love for the first time. He quickly called her back. The phone rang for a few seconds and Lisa's soft voice echoed from the other side-

"Hello!" she said.

"Hello- Hi, it's me- sorry I was busy- couldn't return your call-" he said.

"Johnathan- I, I-" she stuttered.

“What’s wrong?”asked Johnathan.

“There’s someone here Johnny- something’s inside my house- the power’s been cut- there are shadows and strange noises everywhere- it’s making me crazy – I’m scared Johnny-I’m scared-”replied Lisa shaking with fear.

“What the hell! Don’t worry Lisa, you stay hidden and load your gun- I’ll be there in minutes-”he said and cut the call.

Johnathan rushed towards his truck and immediately drove towards Lisa’s place-he checked his Katana, it was in the back seat. What could this new trouble be? Why attack Lisa? Is it Shemyaza that’s doing all this? Lisa- he hoped she was okay-

“Fifteen minutes more – I’m coming Lisa- hold on, I won’t let anything happen to you-”he said to himself and floored the pedal and drove as fast as he could- luckily there was little traffic.

“Good thing I called- poor thing must be scared to death- Johnny...she called me Johnny...for the first time-Wait! She never called me that before? Hmm- strange! Something’s seriously wrong here-” Johnathan kept thinking as he had almost reached Lisa’s place.

Just five minutes later, he reached in front of Lisa’s house-he heard some light party music coming from her house and saw many people inside.

“What on earth?” he said and quickly rushed to her house.

He rang the bell a few times and Lisa opened the door-

“Johnathan? So you got my message after all- come in!” she said joyfully.

He went in and was surprised to see almost twenty people in her house. There was food and booze, some people were watching football in the TV and cheering, some were just hanging around. Everybody was having a good time-

“So Lisa, Um! When you said that you left a message, what exactly did you mean?” he asked curiously.

“Didn’t you get my text? I invited you to the captain’s retirement day celebration-in my house- we are holding a small party in his honor- I tried calling you even, but you wouldn’t pick up!” she said handing him a drink.

“What? I mean wow- yeah great!” he replied, utterly confused at her words.

“Is everything all right?” she smiled at him.

“Yeah- no, no everything’s good- ha ha!” he laughed nervously trying to hide the true reason that he came to her house.

“Come-let me introduce you to the captain-” she said.

He followed her hesitantly and went over to a group of men standing at the corner of the room, chatting and laughing.

The captain was a tall man in his fifties with a broad shoulder and a calm composition. Lisa introduced them to each other and they talked and laughed for a few minutes. Lisa went off to treat the other guests and came in with another glass of drink for Johnathan. He drank the entire glass in one shot- it was incredibly delicious. Five minutes later she came back with another and he drank that too. Johnathan was having a really good time. The captain praised him and complimented him on his handsome looks. People in the party thanked him for his service towards the country. Lisa kept on bringing glasses for him and he lost count how many he drank.

An hour later, Johnathan started to feel weird- his vision was blurring, he felt everything around him started to slow down, people were talking much slower than usual. He knew something was wrong and he tried to get out through the front door but he couldn't move a muscle. No matter how hard he tried, he could barely move an inch. He collapsed on the ground and his heart started to beat slower. He saw rainbows in front of his eyes.

As he lay on the floor, he noticed that the people around him had started to disappear one by one. The captain and his friends, Lisa's co workers and Lisa herself- all faded in to thin air. Johnathan understood now that this was all a trap-a hoax, but who did this he wondered. The room was slowly being devoid of people and the food and drinks still lay on the table while the music played softly in the background. Johnathan was paralyzed from head to toe and was gasping for air. He turned his head to the right and in the corner he saw Lisa- unconscious on the couch!

He wanted to scream and shout but his body had went numb. Suddenly he heard the wooden floor creaking- someone was approaching from inside the kitchen...

It was early morning now, about 5:00 a.m. After calling Johnathan, Brother Farid started to get worried about his situation. He wished he had more time to explain him about the Subconscious-he wished he had done that earlier. He called Billy but he wouldn’t pick up even Raven had switched off her phone. He wondered what was actually going on. Frustrated and anxious, he sat down on his chair and looked at the old book- there was a piece of paper sticking out from the pages. He took it out- it was a handwritten note- with the year 1989 written on top. The blue ink had almost blotted off and Farid read through what was legible on the note-

“According to an old Hindu legend there was once a time when all human beings were gods, but they so abused their divinity that Brahma, the chief god, decided to take it away from them and hide it where it could never be found.

Where to hide their divinity was the question. So Brahma called a council of the gods to help him decide.

"Let's bury it deep in the earth," said the gods.

But Brahma answered, "No, that will not do because humans will dig into the earth and find it."

Then the gods said, "Let's sink it in the deepest ocean."

But Brahma said, "No, not there, for they will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it."

Then the gods said, "Let's take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there."

But once again Brahma replied, "No, that will not do either, because they will eventually climb every mountain and once again take up their divinity."

Then the gods gave up and said, "We do not know where to hide it, because it seems that there is no place on earth or in the sea that human beings will not eventually reach."

Brahma thought for a long time and then said,

"Here is what we will do. We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there."

All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done. And since that time humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing, and exploring-searching for something already within themselves”

"Of course! I knew it, it's all iver ancient mythology, ah! I need to know what's going on with Johnny, why isn't anyone recieving my calls-"said Farid to himself.

Suddenly he heard a noise coming from the other room. He had forgotten that he had left a dreaded gangster alone in the room, so he dropped his research and rushed to the room. As he got out of the door, somebody hit his head with a stick and knocked him unconscious- it was Dmitri, he had managed to get himself out of the ropes. He looked at Farid and spit on the ground and dustede his coat and ran out of the church- he was free!

Meanwhile back at the highway, Lisa rubbed her eyes and saw Johnathan crawling on the ground while two dark figures stood before him.

"Johnathan!"she cried.

The witches looked at her-one of them walked towards her- it was Thelma. She looked really old, her skin was wrinkled and she walked with a slight limp, she must have been a thousand years old. Lisa crawled back in fear-

"Oh! Look at you- such a pretty little mess you are- come! Do not fear- "said the witch in a crackled voice.

"No- no- don't come near- Johnathan! Wake up!!"she cried as hastily retreated back.

The witch suddenly fell down on all of her four limbs and began to sprint like an animal. It was a horror show- an old woman, dressed in black, with wrinkled skin and hardly any teeth was chasing her like a wild animal. Liaa started to run away from her screaming in terror. The witch chased her a few metres onto the highway. Suddenly someone started shooting at the witch, Lisa saw Raven standing ahead with a machine gun firing furiously at the witch. Lisa ducked and got out of the line of fire and stood behind Raven. The witch stumbled and rolled on the ground as the bullets began to hit her. She fell face first on the ground and stopped moving- Raven stopped firing.

"Let's go- she isn't dead yet- your car's hidden over there-" she said moving towards the right end of the forest.

"But what about Johnathan?"asked Lisa.

"He can handle it- he's a Guardian!"said Raven.

"A what- I can't leave him there- we can help him-"said Lisa.

"Listen to me, that thing standing over Johnathan is the second most powerful witch in the world, Johnathan can't be killed so easily, he can fight- besides you weren't supposed to be here, we had a plan, so consider yourself lucky that you're alive and take your car and leave here as soon as possible!"said Raven sternly.

Lisa didn't complain, she did as she was told and followed Raven towards her car that was hidden behind the bushes.

The witch that stood over Johnathan had a hood covering her face. She watched him laying on the ground and groaning in pain while the other witch came back to her.

"Ugh! She escaped, someone else's here too-"said the old witch.

"It's fine, I know what they are upto-"replied the other.

"Well what shall we do with this one? I would like to taste his bones- umm, so scrumptious!!"said Thelma, saliva pouring down her cracked lips, "LAVIOSA!!" she cried raising her hand.

Johnathan was lifted five feet off the ground by magic- he was still recovering from the shock.

"Now, now, sister, don't hurry, let me admire him for a moment, I haven't seen such a strong and passionate man in ages, put her down, let him wake up!"replied the other.

Thelma slowly let Johnathan down.

The other witch walked up to him and kneeled before him. She took off her hood and said-

"Wake up brave one!"she touched his hand.

Johnathan suddenly opened his eyes and saw a beautiful young woman with dark hair and deep blue eyes kneeling before him. He had never seen such pure beauty in his life, her hair curled down her shoulders like waterfall on a mountain and her face, soft like a new born and glowing like the moon.

"Who are you?" he asked standing up.

"I am Fiona and I admire your courage, trying to rescue that woman, so chivalrous of you!" she replied.

"You- you are a witch aren't you- the ones k********g the children- " said Johnathan.

"Oh! That's just mother, we are just helping her- my sister and I- we just do what she asks us to-"replied Fiona.

"This old hag is your sister? She kidnapped Lisa, she tried to eat her!" replied Johnathan in disgust.

Thelma growled in anger.

"Oh let me have him, sister! I will skin him alive!" she said clenching her fists.

"Patience! Now listen to me Guardian- I know who you are and what you do. I know about all of your powers and believe me you can't stop us let alone hurt us. So stop this foolishness and join us- Come with me and I'll show you unlimited powers, be with me and live forever, you can have anything you want in this world and you'll live forever!" said Fiona enticing him.

Johnathan smiled-

"I'm flattered that you're interested in me, a Witch! Huh! By the way, how old are you? A thousand years atleast? Woman, I don't care about riches and immortality, I do what I do because I want to help people, I'm a soldier, a Guardian and I will always protect this city from evil like you- now tell me where the kids are!" replied Johnathan drawing out his sword.

"Ah! He thinks I'm evil! Very well then, sister, you can have him now!" said Fiona and flicked her fingers.

Johnathan was immediately thrown away into the bushes as the hungry Thelma rushed at him.

Johnathan was shocked at the power of the witch called Fiona. She barely moved her fingers and it threw him away. What could she do with her full strength. He was beginning to think, that his current powers and abilities won't be enough to defeat them. He recalled what Farid told h earlier, something about the mind, the infinite source? He couldn't remember....