THE EMPATH

BOOKS OF FATE

"You have to get there before they do, your life and the lives of all the protectors depend on it. I tried my best, but I failed. I failed my last test," Robert said as soon as I assured him that my dad already knew about us. I could tell he was already a goner even before he could take his last breath. His pain was too great that I could not even distinguish it and I knew no one would survive that. He was the second helpless human I had held in my arms in one day and I was really starting to hate the damn day. "You see now why I am asking you to please stay away from my world? I feel like it is cursed dad. Everyone that knows about it is doomed. I don't want you to be the next dad, I can never forgive myself if you got hurt," I was having a painful moment. Robert was not just a teacher to me, he was a friend. He was the guy I owed my life to. Holding his still warm body without his soul felt like a wound to my soul. He was the one human I knew with a guardian's soul which meant that I could not even see his ghost and that hurt even more. In short, I could say that he was my first real loss. "Is this what it feels like to grief?" I found myself asking out loud. My dad responded by holding my hand and assuring me that it would get easier with time. Seating there just holding Robert in my arms got me wondering what I was gonna do with his body then that he was dead. It was not like I could call the police or anything. Again, I found myself dragging my father even deeper into my world by asking him to help me bury Robert's body in the dead of the night.

He never resisted and after two hours of hard work, it was all done. I took the tiny book that was supposed to guide me to some sort of place where I was supposed to get to before whoever had been after Robert, and my dad and I were on our way back home. As I lay on the bed trying to fall asleep, all I could see, think, and feel, was Robert's intestines hanging out of his stomach. Whoever had gotten him, hurt him pretty bad. The guy never had a chance to get better even if we got him to the hospital as dad had suggested. I had never in my life seen a guy die such a miserable and painful death. I mean, I had done some pretty bad things to my victims, but breaking every single bone in their bodies, was simply and plainly just inhumane. It felt like the beast was already out to get me and I was just realizing how true my guardian's words were. It was time to get out there and find the damn beast before it found me. I knew it was not going to be easy, but qt least then, I had a place to start and it was written on the first page of Robert's tiny book. It was the address of a public cemetery and that fact alone creeped me out but I had no choice at that point. If Robert was willing to lay down his life for that treasure hunt, it had to be a damn important hunt that I could not afford to lose. As I fell asleep, my mind wandered off to the days when Robert and I were just having fun going about the training. I loved that things were so much easier back then.

Morning came by quicker than I would have loved it to. It was time to explain to my mother why I had to leave that early. I also had to explain that Robert and I had agreed to go back to the city together. She of course didn't get anything I told her, but she played along since she knew I was no longer a kid and she could not call me out as a liar. No one, including Robert, could just wake up and start a journey at four in the morning just because they going apartment hunting later in the day. Even for me, that was a lame excuse. After having a short conversation with dad and making him promise that he was going to do anything possible to stay out of my world, I left. Driving all the way back to the city that early, and after a long night of digging and burying was exhausting. Even the music I thought was noisy and impossible to listen to felt like a lullaby and I almost crashed into a post at some point. When I was not fighting off the urge to sleep, I was thinking of how my life was taking some pretty bad turns. Two hours later, I was at the vehicle renting company returning the van after making sure it was clean. I couldn't risk some sort of evidence being found in the damn thing. I had a lot to do, but I had to make a stop at the general hospital to check on Bob as he was the only one who could connect me back to his friends.

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" was the first question he asked the moment I entered the room. "That depends, do you know me from somewhere?" there were other officers in the room and I had no better answer to give. "Sorry, I was in an accident and the doctors here say I got my head knocked pretty good. I don't remember anything that happened for the last three years," he said and I could feel that he was really struggling to sound cool. "It's okay Bob, we are not friends or anything so you don't have to feel guilty about not remembering me. You saved me a couple of months ago, you also questioned me but we should probably not go into that now. I am just here to check on you," I had no idea whether to be grateful that he was not remembering me or to worry that someday he would and think of a way to make sure that didn't happen. In the end, I decided to give it a rest. After all, the doctors seemed pretty sure that he would never recover those memories. "Now that I know you are fine, I should get going," I said. I had nothing else keeping me there, plus I didn't like the idea of being in the same room with four cops staring at me. "Okay, but you have to promise that you will come back later, and please bring some donuts. It gets pretty lonely here you know. I also don't like the food here," he added. That would have been the perfect moment to turn down a request, but I still couldn't. It was like I had been cursed or something. "Okey Bob, I will see what I can do," I found my mouth saying even though my mind was screaming otherwise.

I got to the house about noon, there was nothing much waiting for me there so I made a quick lunch and went to bed. Night time had officially become my thing and I lay awake on my bed waiting for the darkness. At eight, I called a cab that was supposed to take me close to the city cemetery where I had a date with a grave belonging to an Emma Winston, there was nothing much about her on the tiny book and my side research only informed me that she had died ten years before of natural causes. I had no idea what I was looking for at her grave sight but there was some sort of a riddle at the bottom of the book that said "When the sun sets, a light shines on the treasure". The drive took me about half an hour but at last, I was there, standing at the one place that was supposed to give me creeps but instead, gave me a weird sense of relaxation. Dead humans were well, dead and that meant they never caused trouble or pain. Two things that I rarely ever enjoyed. The cemetery was the only place a guy like me could find true peace. There I was standing, on the grave of a woman I never knew, looking for I had no idea what. I wished Robert or his book had a better explanation. I looked around for a bit and all I could see were dry flowers and confused spirits who had not moved on yet. They had no idea that I could see and hear them and it was funny when they kept going on and on about how the graveyards had lost their fearful glow. "You guys, maybe you could be of much help if you actually did something to bring back the fear instead of complaining," I said at last hoping I would not scare them away as I needed their help.

"Did he just talk to us?" one of them asked and moved closer to me. His friends followed but made sure to keep a distance. "Well, humans can't see us, but I can tell for sure that he isn't one," another one said waving his hand on my face. "Come on man, that is wrong," I spoke and watched him jump back as if he had just seen, well, a ghost. "You boys, I need your help. I know you can tell me what is down here and I would appreciate it if you did," they all looked at each other and I could tell that all they wanted was to get the hell as far away from me as possible. "Raff knows, he was here earlier than all of us, in fact, he was buried a day before the..." the ghost was hesitant, and that only got me even more cursing. "Who is Raff?" I had barely finished asking the question when they all turned towards a slender, dark future a few yards from where I was standing, they then took off and that was the last I heard and saw from them. "What do you want here, protector?" I could tell that he hated protectors from the anger-filled voice. "Hey, you must be Raff, I need to know what is hidden down there and I don't feel like digging any other holes right now. The boys told me that you may have some info," I tried my best to look and sound cool even though deep down I was a little scared. I had seen ghosts and spirits, but he was neither. He was just some sort of a body-less form. "It is a book with the names of all protectors," he answered and floated closer to inspect me. "what do you mean all?" I felt him close to my ear and I edged backward in fear. "Well, every protector or light creature that ever lived, or is yet to live has their names written in that book. It is called the WF or White Fate in full. It also has its dark brother, the Black Fate book which has the name of every destroyer and all the dark creatures of all times. I died protecting it," he moved back a little and took his time to look at me really well.

"You are one of us, and yet you are not. What light creature are you?" he asked at last. "I have no idea what you are talking about, but my guardian says I am a protector. Were you one too?" he answered with a nod before doing some freaky stuff that brought the book to the surface. "You can save this one, but I have to warn you that they already have the other copy. It is for you to use this one to save as many protectors as you can, especially the little ones and the ones that are yet to be born. You started this, we started this, now you have to bear the burden of seeing it through," the anger in his voice has changed to pity and remorse. "What do you mean? what did you start?" I had so many questions but the only person who could answer them had died in my arms. The only other being that could explain what was going on had just disappeared on me. I felt like the world was playing a really bad game on me and I hated where it was heading. Amidst all those questions, was the question of whether or not there was an Emma down there or it was just the book. My curiosity of course got the best of me and I decided to check it out. With the place being a cemetery and all, it was not hard to come across a shovel, all I needed to do was look for the freshly dug graves.

I had been digging for quite some time but never found anything. I was starting to think that there was nothing down there but still, I needed clarity so I kept digging and I would have probably kept at it were it not for the noise that caught my attention. I could tell that three individuals were making their way to the grave as they had mentioned the name, Emma Watson a couple of times. I jumped out of the grave and hid behind one of the special graves built like little homes. "Looks like we are too late. It looks like our trainee guardian survived the fall after all," one of the three ugly dudes with fangs said. "I needed you to see this, that was the reason why I didn't just give you the answers. Now, those are not destroyers, they are the Ghulia's they are your enemies, worse than the destroyers but a little better than the Kheminja's. The other book will teach you all about them and I need you to get to it before they do. The world is just about to become a very, very dark place and only you seem to know about this so I guess you are the only one who can do something about it," Raff whispered in my ears. I wished I knew or at least understood a single thing he had just said but then, I didn't. It felt like he was talking in tongues or something. "Watch," he added and showed himself to the ugly trio. "So, what have we here?" one of the three uglies asked. "Looks like a dead protector, one of the first order in fact. I have a feeling he will be talking to us from the great beyond tonight," another said and they all laughed for a while. "As a matter of fact, I am going to talk to you. You think you have the upper hand, but the truth is you don't. The king we told you about before you brutally killed us was born and guess what, he is now old enough to take the throne back to the circle of light. Beware, boys, the war is just beginning and you lost before you even st...