Chapter 1: The demon in the glass

“I have done it!” The man shouted in triumph, “I have finally created the portal between the mortal and the spirit worlds!” Edward Reveille gazed lovingly at the little ball of light that floated, unsupported, over his work table. It shined faintly, its exterior neither gas, liquid, nor solid. Its interior swirled and spiraled in a kaleidoscope of color.

“Edward, are you sure?” A squat little woman with bubble gum pink hair walked over to him, astonishment and anxiety etched in her face. “Are you quite sure? You said the same thing last month, and it didn’t work. Although it nearly blew the entire laboratory to the very place we are trying to reach!”

“Yes, yes, I know, Wistra” Edward grimaced at the reminder of his failure, “But I promise you, I have tested and retested using all the enchantments I have in my memory. This is the one! Just say the spell I have concocted and this will be transferred to any object we want! We will be able to walk between worlds!” he said, his eyes glinting excitedly.

“Oh, Edward that is wonderful news! I wonder what Mrs. Clarkson will do with it?” Wistra inquired, thoughtfully.

“Hopefully she won’t do anything to it yet, we still don’t know how safe it will be. She should probably leave it here so we can do some testing. This portal could be dangerous. Although, I don’t think it is anyway” He added hastily. “And speaking of dangerous, please be careful around our new experiment we don’t know how stable it is but we are keeping our distance, just in case.” With that he turned around and started to walk back.

Wistra made a face (not that Edward saw her do it) “You know you won’t find me anywhere near it, besides I don’t approve of it and I doubt Mrs. Clarkson will either. It’s against all laws of nature!” Wistra said, looking at the experiment as though its mere presence was a personal insult to her. “Why must you dabble in this branch of sorcery? Creating a magical being from spells that are highly unpredictable is very risky! You surely must know the consequences?”

Edward spun around, “Of course we know the consequences! But we must also look at the advantages. If we continue on our current path our branch of the human race will be lost. If this works we will survive!” The excited glint was back.

Wistra retaliated, “What makes you think this-”, she paused as if searching for the right word, “-project will actually work?” She waved her hand toward the glass ball suspended in midair, and the sorcerers standing around it. The cage held what looked like balls of light similar to the one on Edward’s table, only these had little tails of color and they drifted, almost lazily, around their glass prison, occasionally bumping the glass. The sorcerers’ words mixed together as they each performed a different difficulty of security and stability spells.

Edward stared off into space, his eyes thoughtful, and then he answered, “I don’t know, it may not work, but I must have faith. This is a chance worth taking.” Wistra looked troubled but she didn’t argue, what good would it do? Edward turned and headed toward his desk. In his haste he didn’t notice when he accidently bumped into a table near the new experiment (or “The Survivor” as he liked to call it), he had overturned a paper cup full of water, spilling the contents on the floor. In the bustle of the lab, the accident went unnoticed.

The accident proved fatal.

“Edward, Mrs. Clarkson would like to see your ‘Portal’ now.” Mrs. Delano, the assistant said as she clacked away on her computer.

“Of course, send her in, and I’ll bring it over” He said excitedly. As carefully as you would if you were picking up an eggshell, Edward carried the “portal” over to a table on the opposite side of “the Survivor.” Or rather he held the air two feet below the ball of light and maneuvered it toward the table.

And then it happened he was just a few feet away from Mrs. Clarkson when he stepped directly on the spot where the water had fallen. Edward slipped; he quickly lost his balance and fell…

…right into the glass ball that held “the survivor.” The ball shattered, sending glass everywhere. The portal and the lights from the now shattered glass drew toward each other like magnets. Edward yelled in shock as the portal was wrenched from his “grasp” but there was nothing he could do.

As soon as the lights touched:

BOOM!

The entire laboratory shook, dust and pieces of ceiling and steel were raining down. Edward was thrown backward and was buried beneath an avalanche of dust, plaster, steel and popcorn ceiling fragments. Several people from the maintenance team were screaming evacuation orders. Everyone was panicking, and some people were trapped by fallen pieces of debris. The power had gone out and people were running in semi-darkness.

Edward lay amid all this, his black hair in his face and his blue eyes full of dust, every bone in his body hurt and some of them felt broken. He coughed and looked up and saw something happening to the lights from the tank. They were glowing, fusing and becoming less like balls of light and more like a huge, very bright and colorful blob. He watched as the blob took the shape of a very tall human-like figure. His eyes watered in the brightness of the shapeless mass. There was a flash that left Edward with white dots in his vision. He blinked them away and squinted in the sudden darkness.

The shapeless lump had gone and in its wake, stood a towering figure that was visibly darker than the surrounding shadows. Blacker than black. He couldn’t make out any detail except for the eyes. Edward was looking in the shining blood-eyes of a monstrous being that looked surprisingly human. It stood over him in a menacing fashion. Edward knew this was what Wistra had feared, but it was too late now. He watched in a terrified silence as the being began surveying him, as if determining how much of a threat he was. It stared, unblinking at Edward, and slowly turned toward his portal which was still floating in the air, miraculously unharmed. The being walked slowly toward the portal, hand stretched out as though to snatch it out of the air. Edward started to panic.

Using the last of his strength he wildly summoned the first spell that came to his mind, silently he chanted and watched as the portal disappeared just as the shadowy creature reached it. Edward then summoned the spirit guardians to protect his mansion and the magic inside and to contain the beastly creature. He had sent the portal somewhere safe. Where, he didn’t know, but somewhere safe. He smiled as he looked in the terrible glowing, blood-red eyes of the creature. Although he couldn’t see its face he could tell this thing was beyond livid. It slowly walked toward him and instead of feeling petrified he felt a strange surge of peaceful acceptance. He had only one regret: he would never know his granddaughter.

The being raised its hand and said something in a guttural, garbled language Edward vaguely recognized in the back of his mind. It had been a spell of sorts and Edward saw that a staff with an orb-like head had appeared out of nowhere. The being grabbed it and pointed it toward Edward. The creature looked at Edward, under the shadowy mask it was smiling in triumph. It raised the staff and shouted something in its foreign language. The orb glowed for a half second before shooting something like a multi colored bolt of lightning straight at Edward. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Goodbye." There was a flash of light. The creature looked down at Edward who moved no more, his eyes closed and a content smile forever frozen on his face.

The creature gave a loud laugh of triumph. In its glory it didn’t notice that something rather peculiar was happening to Edward’s body. He seemed to be dissolving, like a beam of sunlight on a cloudy day, and in his place stood three animals that looked as though they were made of mist. A wolf, a raven, and a fox stood in the place of Edward, who had completely disappeared. The creature looked down at this new threat and started to raise its staff for a second time but these mysterious animals were much too quick. They darted out of the way and then started circling the demonic being, running faster and faster. The spirit animals were nothing but a blur to the demon and it found itself growing weak. It roared as it started to disappear in a similar fashion to Edward, its staff slipping right through the semi-transparent hand of the being. There was a bright flash of light and the demon was gone. The spirits had trapped the being in its own staff. The wolf picked up the staff gingerly, and then it darted out of the lab, the crow and fox following silently. They left no traces behind them.

• • •

“It’s a girl! Congratulations, Eliza!” a doctor exclaimed as he handed a baby girl to her mother. The woman smiled weakly, holding the little girl tightly and staring at her fondly. The little girl had her eyes shut and was very tiny next to the arms that held her. The father, Francis, stood beside the Eliza, his hand on her shoulder.

“May I ask what you are going to name her?” a young nurse asked, “or do you need some time to decide?”

“No, we don’t need time. We know exactly what to name her” Eliza said, “She’s my little Simone, Simone Revielle.”

At this moment the little girl opened her eyes for the first time, the nurse and mother gasped, the girl had little black pupils surrounded by a rainbow of color that swirled and spiraled like the colors of a kaleidascope.

next chapter

© 2012 Kianna L. Bearden

Author's Note

I copied and pasted from microsoft word, that's why the size and spacing is screwed up. All criticism is welcome chapter two will be up as soon as i find the time to finsh it up!