BOOK 2 THE LIGHT WORLD
Chapter 1 continued...
Maia’s own
hand gripped the knife harder. She had encountered one other of his kind near
the swimming pool at the top of Kepler’s hotel when she had arrived with Alice
from the UnderWorld at dawn this morning. He had been swimming so it was a
simple matter to use an Angel Sigil to eliminate him. To any onlooker the
surface of the pool would have shimmered brightly as the Sigil took shape and
drowned the agent, sucking him slowly under. Simple but effective. No need for
a knife.
Each hour
that had gone past meant the clock was ticking. The Prince of Darkness had
given her just 24 hours before The End. Each hour began with another setback.
Kepler just complicated matters. Maia would have preferred to sit and study the
mysteries of the Angel Script her grandfather had given her. Instead this game
of cat and mouse consumed her. As far as Maia could tell, Kepler was the key to
stopping the demons full on assault of Earth. Alice had led her here, to the
parallel world and now Maia could not rein in her curiosity, even at the
expense of finding her mother.
Kepler had
reached the end of the park and stopped briefly before crossing and heading
straight into an apartment building on the opposite side of the street, one
with an ornate balcony adorning each floor. He punched several numbers into a
panel to the right of the lobby door which swung open and Kepler disappeared.
The cloaked man waited, checked the street and then followed Kepler in just
before the door closed. Maia walked past casually glancing in to the foyer. The
man paced back and forth inside like a panther, ready for the kill. Maia had to
act and act fast. She couldn’t risk losing Kepler. Again, she thought back to her
knowledge of Agents. Half man, half machine, they could never be taken lightly.
She argued with herself; Alice had said how much of a risk she took exposing
herself to the enemy, even in this Earth-like world. It was no use, her hand
was shaking, she was half mumbling Altair’s name as if memory of his death
would give her courage.
You’re
right, you are afraid.
Maia
opened her mouth and screamed. Her body tensed and she focused the sound. The
Halo took form and shattered the door. The man had stopped pacing, he pulled
his hand out of the cloak pocket, he had a weapon. She had a split second. He
swore at her as she ducked the shards of flying glass and slid through the
doorway, hand on the knife drawing the Sigil of Death in mid air with the
point. The space in front of her tore in two. For an instant she saw the shock
in the man’s eyes as his body was ripped in half, then the limbs flailed wildly
and vanished.
Maia
watched in astonishment as real flesh and blood muscles, sinews and tissue,
separated and burst in a mass of bloody pulp before it was swallowed by the
slit. There was a sudden clap like thunder and she was alone in the lobby. No
mechanics, no inorganic metal. Just real human skin and bones. She was about to
go into the apartment corridor leading to the stairs when an eerie silence
descended over the lobby.
Now, as
she surveyed the scene, emptied of the man in the cloak, she could see that the
man hadn’t been holding a weapon at all. It was a long cylinder, throughout
which there was constant movement, like looking into a child’s kaleidoscope.
The object was a 3D map, of the Pleiadean star system.
Maia
cursed.
You’ve
blown it. He was Kepler’s bodyguard.
Just
before arriving in the ‘LightWorld’ as Alice had nicknamed it, Alice had
briefed her. Maia had been reading up on an obscure article Alice had given her
by Dr Masaru Emoto on the principles of kotodama, the soul in words and the
power of music. He claimed to have tested the power of consciousness and its
effect on molecular structure, particularly water molecules. Together with
Tareth, a well known healer in Glastonbury, England, who could bring poisoned plants
back to life, Dr Emoto was using prayer and healing to convert some of the
demon spawn back into their original human selves. It was a slim hope. Maia had
immersed herself in the mysteries of music, ever since her guardian at the
orphanage in Paris, Mrs Gripe, had given her access to the sealed closet, with
her mother’s sigil hidden in the last page of her grandfather’s diary. In her travels
through the UnderWorld with her friends she had earned her own wings, the final
hope.
Maia hadn’t
known what she was looking for, had no guidance, and travelled blind with her
friends until she had met Raziel and the four Archangels, who told her the race
of angels was leaving Earth, forever.
In a battle
against hopeless odds, Maia and her friends were left at the mercy of the
Prince of Demons, who killed Altair, her one true love and his own son.
That was
when she began world hopping with Alice, desperate to find a solution to save
Earth from the demons and restore the origins of the three great races, Angels,
Humans and Magicks.
She had
been been aided and abetted by Chenial and her legion of fledgling fallen
angels and elemental dragons and it was they who had retreated first to the
LightWorld, to heal their wounds and fortify their amoury. What that consisted
of now Maia had no real idea.
She had
come to Tokyo first, in seach of the mysterious Kepler, and it all now seemed a
hideous, disastrous, waste of two precious hours.
Maia rang
the doorbell of the first floor apartment. She did not expect Kepler to open
the door and after the commotion in the lobby it would be a wonder if he wasn’t
several blocks away by now. Looking up, she peered into the camera that she
knew would be focused on her, but it was too late. There wasn’t the slightest
sound from inside. Alice had given her the right number. 102. She stood outside
for one more moment before turning in frustration. That was when she heard the
door click quietly behind her.
“Hello,
Maia,” said Kepler. He was carrying a hollow tube, just slightly larger than
the cylinder Maia held in her left hand. Her right had gripped the knife
tightly in her pants pocket when she heard her name. She turned.
Kepler
looked at her without expression, welcome or warmth. Just the mere hint of
challenge in his gaze. He did not seem perturbed to see her.
Maia
walked past him into the apartment lounge, which was bare except for a low wooden
kotatsu covered by a futon. She threw the cylinder down hard with a clunk.
“Aren’t
you even going to offer me a cup of green tea?”
“After
what you did to my man, you’re lucky I’m not offering you a quick death,” said
Kepler evenly, in calm measured tones.
Maia
turned and stared at him. “If you want me to leave just say so. I’ll get out of
here and you’ll never see me again.”
Kepler’s
eyes softened. Maia could sense the difference. He had immediately accepted her
as his equal.
“We need
to talk.” He reached for her hand in an offer of friendship.
“Don’t
touch me,” said Maia, anger still blazing in the back of her eyes. “People I
love die.”
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