Chapter nine or so.

 

 

I held the side of my head and grinned against the pressure that built in my right ear, the pain came in a sudden crackle of static and then faded away to a comfortable numbness. The flight had been eight hours of boredom and drinking, Charles would occasinally try to get me to stop ordering but I needed to get really drunk before landing. The beautiful landscape opened beneath my window and traced the winding rvers with my eyes, small dots of towns came into focus and the trees stood out from the swath of green as the plane began its final descent.

 

"Okay Justin, all I need out of you is a semblence of order and just tell me when something is amiss."

 

The brain in my skull sloshed back and forth like it was much too small for the cage of liquid that held the poor abused creature. I looked at Karrey and smiled at her, she smiled back and squeezed my hand, her soft palm felt real nice against the puckered scars of my left hand.

 

"Thanks for coming with me Karrey, I'm sure you'll love Holland."

 

My voice was distorted, like I was talking through an underwater megaphone, the pain in my chest receded for a moment and I almost leaned in for a quick kiss before my ear popped and I yelled in pain. My heartbeat was loud in my head and I could feel a sudden nausaue take hold. I stood and excused myself to the bathroom.

 

I puked and yelled into the toilet as eight hours worth of jack and cokes swirled in the shallow waters below. Cold sweat dripped into the brown mess and I retched again, I didn't feel like a wizard or prophet, a mad man trapped in a mad world, I just felt like a sick drunk with an ear ache.

 

The mirror reflected my pale and sweaty face, the long nose and deep laugh lines that nearly encircled my thin red lips. I looked into my own blue eyes and wondered how I had gotten here. I splashed water on my face and loked back into the mirror.

 

A landscape stretched before me, the mirror was now a window, a portal to some wintery valley, deep snow covered trees and rocks, the two mountain ranges were tall and black, jagged peaks that stretched into the cloudy white heavens. The snow was virgin and old, this was a land untouched by man, a sudden breeze of frozen air sent goosebumps across my neck.

 

A figure stood in the snow, sunken up to his knees, the portal moved towards him and I noticed no prints leading to him, just a sudden break in the snow and a man wearing a black robe. A voice boomed from beneath the deep hood,

 

"Aliaester, we have danced this dance before. Always with one outcome and always with your blood on the snow. Go no further, lest you see your friend and your woman die before you."

 

I could see what this was, cheap parlor tricks and empty warnings, simple spells and deep scary voices, nothing new and certainly nothing for me to fear.

 

"The book is as good as mine, how about you reveal yourself so we can move this thing along and I can get right to the part where you try to kill me and I surprise you with how strong I am. I don't plan on being here long and the quicker this is finished the sooner I can get my hands on the book."

 

A stiff breeze blew the robe around the figure, a swirl of snow passed before us and I could see my breath as I panted in drunken exhaustion.

 

"Do you even know why you search out the Book? What it contains? Ever since you came upon your powers you have been poisining yourself and the spirits of those unfortunate enough to cross your path, you call yourself a wizard but you're just a junkie with a gun. Leave now or drown in your own tears."

 

The bathroom was much colder now, the mirror really was a portal not just a simple glammor. I looked down at the small pile of snow that was building in the sink beneath me.

 

"I know I never asked for any of this, the loneliness, the pain, I may be the closest thing to a god that I know about but I'd rather be a bum. That book holds the true name of the world and when I know that I'll be able to set all of this right."

 

It was first time I had actually said those words aloud, I was frightened by how much I actually meant them.

The man lifted a gloved hand to the hood of his cloak and pulled it back, long white hair clung to a grey and wrinkled scalp, long scars traced his emanciated face, circles and sigils on the tight  parchment-like skin. He smiled with his thin purple lips and I stared into his wide white eyes. His voice took on even more menace and for a moment the cold was all around me and I was afraid he had actually brought me to that arctic waste land.

 

"Closest thing to a god? You are a worm grasping at the legs of men, fine then, continue this pathetic quest. But when you are at the end and the only reward you find is the blood of those you love, do not curse god, curse yourself. You are not worthy to look upon the Book much less read its hallowed pages."

 

I don't know what happened first, the mirror returning to normal or me punching it, but the result was the same, blood and glass and sudden uninvited tears.