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The Fall Prophecies

Follow a twisted journey into the adventures of a young man, plagued by an old curse and a young woman who gets thrown into his chaos.

By Miha Ela B.Published 3 years ago 10 min read
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The Fall Prophecies
Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash

In a small seaside city the man spots a crowd of people making a ruckus in front of a TV shop. His curiosity piqued, he decides to lick his wounds in the next bar.

The TV was on and Camilla, the oldest of the remaining Giants was commencing her speech:

'Hello, people of New Atlantea. Thank you for coming. I will keep this short as I know we all have busy lives. I have lost something that is quite dear to me and I ask your help in finding it. Whoever does, will be rewarded with 20.000 new dollars.'

The murmurs of the crowd were getting louder. Their reflections mirrored their nothingness back and almost everyone except the children and the drunks ran into the streets in search of the lost possession.

He looked around and deeming it safe, so he takes the notebook out.

Every time he tried to read it, the words would jump around.

“Last night, at the inaugural ball, the head Priest of the Commons beheaded the Crown Princess of the Dying and the Prince of … and then the words shifted again.

Not that what he was reading made any sense...

‘That’s a cool trick’, the barmaid chimed in, dragging him back to reality.

‘Whadaya mean?’

‘The writing, she pointed. It changes every time you try to read it, right? Yeah, I've hear that in an old humans tale my grandma used to tell me.

'How did it go?'

'Mmm, Lemme see… There was this mermaid, a Royal! She had everything but she wanted to be with this boy, yeah? One of the humans. So she went to a sea witch who took her voice for obvious reasons, you know?'

‘What does that have to do with the notebook?’

‘Hold your sea-horses, dude. The legend says that she had so many mermaid feelings, the kind that shipwrecks and kills tons of humans. And she needed a place for all of them. Since she couldn't sing she had to write them for fear of going crazy. No one knows what's in the book. Apparently it's cursed and only a few can read it. She moved slowly towards him. You should be careful, she smiles.

'But at least the mermaid married the prince and lived happily ever after, right? Royals, am I right?’

This felt crazy but it was the first time in a month that anything seemed remotely connected. The bar maiden went back to work.

‘Wait, what would one do with such a notebook?’

The maiden laughed.

‘No, seriously.’ He had to assume he looked crazy but at this point he had lost all hope for selfish feelings like pride or sanity.

‘Boy, that's just a notebook with a bit of mojo on it.’ he brow lifted.

The man took a deep breath:

'Do you know who might have more information about this?...Please.'

‘Ugh, the maiden rolled her eyes and searched for something in her apron. Look, go to this address and ask for Ursa, she might be able to tell you more.’

‘Thank you, thank you, the man tried to hand her an oyster as compensation but she refused.

‘No worries, dude. Just be careful. Ursa is... well... shifty.

His fist knocked on the brass door. The house looked normal enough, black stone, furnace, no visible signs of wickedry or foul play. The fluffing of feathers came from the inside. The man knocks again.

‘Whadaya want?’ a thunderous voice emerged from behind the locked door and was followed by tens of others all yapping: WHADAYA WANT, WANT, WANT.

‘I'm here to see Ursa about a notebook problem I'm having. '

Complete silence.

He imagines crickets chirping...

‘I need your help. I know it sounds crazy but I think this thing is...well, it's destroying my life?

The door opened with a bang as a force grabs at his ankle and drags him inside. A menacing 5 foot squid like creature loomed over him:

'You woke me up, whaddaya have to say for yourself?'

‘Uhm, I've never seen a sea witch before.’

‘And you’ll never see one again if you don’t stop wasting my time. Let me see it, SEE IT , SEE IT, the house voiced.

His fingers find it and hand it over. That is when he realises the witch hasn't released his leg.

'Sorry, could you...'

'Shush, she smacks him on the head with a moist tentacle.

She opens the book and starts chanting:

Per virtutem meam

Revelare secreta

NUNC!

He was still spread eagle on the floor, hanging on an elbow when the book turned dark. A light, whooshed out, creating a tornado like gust of wind. It would have sucked him in but for Ursa’s grab. The old witch didn't blink an eye except for when she caught one of her singing birds by the tail, an inch away from certain, well... uncertainty.

It was over in a minute and then everything was back to normal. The witch turned to him and smiled:

‘Would you care for some tea?’

‘Yes, a tea would do wonders.’

She gathered him under one of her tentacles and sat him on the giant sofa. The room looked twice as big as the entire house but he didn't want to get into the logistics of it all.

‘This must have been quite the adventure, travelling with this book.’

He smiled reassuring.

‘But I'm afraid the story does not end here.‘

His eye twitches.

‘What?’

‘Have you ever heard of the Fall Prophecies?’

And then he felt it, he saw the red of his blood coming to a boil, rising from his deepest self up towards his throat:

‘Oh, enough with the man's tales and legends or what have you! I found a notebook, it drove me insane and it brought me here. That is all.'

The witch put a tentacle around his shoulders and somehow that calmed him a tad.

‘This notebook belongs to one of my ancestors. She forged it from her own soul to prevent a sea princess from destroying humankind. See, she wanted to marry one of them but that was forbidden because the humans were too sensitive to our magick and responded quite violently to it. The first time a human married a mermaid, the First Atlantean War broke out. This notebook was a place where she could store all her power while still getting what she wanted. Can you read it?'

‘No,I can only see gibberish.'

‘That gibberish my dear drives people insane, yet here you are. You travelled a long way, hmm?’

He knew it was a trick question.

‘It wasn't that long... ‘

‘One sight and a normal would rip someone’s throat out or go and buy a house in the suburbs. The book drags normals into their most darkest extremes, the kind not meant for this lifetime. This has the power to create such an imbalance, that in the wrong hands it could forever change the consistency of this timeline, boy. You need to take it to someone who can protect it. I am not strong enough.'

"This is insane." and then he remembered:

‘Wait, what about the barkeep! I was in a bar and a barkeep recognised the magick, she didn't go crazy!'

The witch smiled and took her phone out. She turned on the TV and Camilla was on again:

‘Thank you dear citizens for returning my lost possession, I am forever in your gratitude. Thank you, thank you, thank you, the birds repeated.

The Giantesse handed a citizen a grand cheque that had 20.000 N$ written across it. The citizen began his speech about his plans but the man's mind wandered:

‘That’s so weird, she never really said what she lost, did she?’

‘Don’t worry, she hasn’t found anything, the witch's tentacles tightened around the notebook.

After 15 minutes which the witch decided to spend in awkward silence while ransacking the place, the door flew open.

‘Whaddaya want, Grandma?’

He was still swallowed by the huge couch when their eyes met.

‘Yeeey for the A Team! Come, Ariel, have a seat next to… the grandma waived at him.

‘Ahm, Eric.’

'Lovely.I have a mission for both of you. Take this notebook to my sister, she will know what to do . As you've already seen , the item is extremely powerful. But if a person who possesses no magickal abilities carries it, she turned to him, then its power gets a bit muffled and attracts less trouble.

She looks back at her:

'I already packed your bags'

He could hear no more. His mind was fighting with this at every turn.

"This has become a living nightmare, I ran away from nightmares and now I am living one. I , I , I … I am speechless but I have one last fight in me":

‘Are you insane? I have people back home, I left everything to run around like crazy. I am going mad...'

‘Without wanting to sound too much like a doomsday clock, the fate of the humans is in your hands.'

‘You are crazy... All humans died in the battle of Lemuria and then in the camps!’

‘That’s what the history books tell you Eric, but that is never the whole truth is it? You my dear, are half human.’

He sees Ariel rolling her eyes and lighting a cigarette.

‘You are really bonkers ,woman, my mother was half Fish half Fae and my dad was a Sea Monster. It says so on my birth certificate!’

‘So you are an orphan!’ her eyes widened.

"I really cannot justify how I got myself into this mess, his voice echoes in the chamber of his mind. Ever since my 27th birthday, all because of that damned hunt, and now I'm half way across the country, doubting my own ancestry! "

‘This is insane, I am leaving, where are my things, WHERE ARE MY THINGS!’ he leaps off the sofa.

She made no sound, he just felt her fingers around his arm. So gentle, so firm. His eyes look up at her:

‘Go, take a bath and sleep, you haven't slept in days. I can tell. Upstairs, down the corridor, second door to the right. You can go home tomorrow morning.

Her voices now lower:

'And Grandma, enough with the prophecies, I told you there are no more humans and there is no grand conspiracy! I am going back to work.

She crushes her cigarette in an ashtray and walked out.

Eric did as he was told.

Her offer was the only thing that remotely made sense.

In bed he dreamt.

He dreamt of his Isabelle, stroking her golden hair. They were lying in bed. He could feel her soft skin, she was so warm. The sheets were velvet and all of his universe was calm and tempered. But then the warmth became stronger and a lump in his throat prevented the air from getting in. He clawed at his skin and tried to reach Isabelle but she was long gone. He woke up screaming as Ariel was shaking him.

‘We gotta go, the house is on fire.’

Half asleep, he grabs his shoes and follows Ariel down the stairs. Ursa was holding back the flames:

‘Run, the old witch yelled. Go now. Keep it safe, she points to his heart pocket.

‘GOOOO , I will hold them back.’

‘Grandma, no! Come with us’, Ariel cried.

They both knew that could not happen and with a sigh Eric gently took her hand:

‘We have to go.’

Ariel with softness in her legs looked back once more as her grandma kept whatever was outside, outside.

‘Through the basement, there's a tunnel, quick.’

Once in the tunnel she turned and chanted:

Descende,

Ad protegendum nos !

The ceiling came down and when the dust settled they started on a new way, into the dark.

fiction
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About the Creator

Miha Ela B.

Half Vampyr,

Half Moody Crab,

Whole human/ghost.

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