The Beginning of the End

The Beginning of the End 20

She spun around drawing her weapon leveling it on Patrick, “I figured you would be the one who the All-Father would send to aid me in this battle. I know you have a lot of questions; you have seen things only seen in movies and written in books, you have noticed the air its self seams heavier than it did a few days ago.” He walked past her as he talked, she never took her weapon off him, though she did remove her finger from the trigger. He looked at her as he passed, unconcern written plain upon his face, “You may as well put the pistol away, Detective, it will be of no use to you in the coming battle and it can not harm me.” He walked to the window and looked out; she kept her weapon trained on him wondering what in heavens name he was talking about. “Katz, I have some very serious questions for you, and I want honest straight answers.” He laughed to himself not turning around, “Maybe we should continue this discussion in my garden, Detective, it will be a bit more comfortable, and I will be able to explain what is going on better.” She stood there looking at the back of his head, “I have no intention,” she began to say as he whirled around, she jumped in surprise and was confused to find that they both now stood in his garden near the old oak tree where they had had their first meeting just a few days ago. “What, how, where.” She was at a loss for words and now had an even greater need to get to the truth. “Please sit down, Detective, before you pass out. The first time a mortal travels by teleportation they tend to get light headed, sway, get sick, and pass out.” Unconcise of her actions she did as he suggested and sat on the bench in the shade of the old tree.

“My story is an old one,” he began as he looked out over his garden, “I am in short and elf, a Light Elf to be exact. We live on and entirely different plain from your kind, we begin our lives there and, if we are lucky, live out the rest of our days there. We, and our dark counterpart, enter your world and live among you for two centuries. How we spend our time amongst you is our choice, but at the end of our time here there is a battle between light and dark. The winner of the final battle is allowed to return to our plain where he or she is allowed to live out eternity in tranquility and comfort. The looser, well,” he glanced at the still confused woman, “I am not able to properly explain what happens to the looser. The out come is different for each of us.” Patrick spent the next two hours explaining to the detective about the final battle. He explained how and why he had chosen their quiet little town and what to expect in the coming days. She sat listening and shaking her head, had she not seen a lot of this with her own eyes she would thing this man, well elf, needed to be committed to the nut house.

The more she listened the more he said sounded familiar, “Viking,” she said quickly standing and looking at him. “I remember this from the mythology courses I took in college.” He looked at her and watched as she began to pace, her mind racing, “Norse to be specific, but yes the Vikings based their belief system on our race as well as the others who inhabit our realm. I am impressed though, most would,” he paused as she abruptly stopped her pacing and looked at him, anger building inside her. “Wain a minute, if You get to choose where this fight of yours is to take place, why the Hell didn’t you pick some deserted island or mountain top to have it. Why not have it somewhere where innocent people, innocent Children would not get hurt? None of this sounds right, you sound like a very selfish person, elf, what ever you are.” Patrick watched as she began to pace again, her anger flowing out of her like the waters of the river flow under the bridge. He allowed her to continue to rant and rave, knowing that this was a lot for her to take in, knowing that she needed this outlet, because no one would believe her when it was all over. He heard rattling in the top of the old oak tree and looked up. Two very large ravens looked down on them and as one took flight, he knew it was time.

“Detective, the time has come, and I no longer have any time to explain what is about to happen in a way you will understand. If you have studied Norse mythology as you claim, then you will have an understanding as to what will take place in just a few hours. I have to leave now, the final sign has just been given to me, there will be chaos in this small town over the next twenty four hours, a lot of people will be harmed and some will even die, but all will be scared and confused. You will have to assist your fellow humans the best you can. Find the ones who will believe and aid you in protecting as many as possible. Above all else, protect the children, they are the ones the Dark One will attack most to try to get and maintain the upper hand over me in this battle. Protect the children.” She watched and listened still angry and confused, once he had stopped speaking, he turned and vanished leaving her alone in the garden. She began to get angry all over again when his final words cam back to her as if being carried on the wind, “Protect the children.” She hurried toward the gate headed to her car and radio, she had no idea what was about to happen or how she would warn people, but she had to figure something out and fast.