Book I
Chapter II-
The Rising Floor of the Dead
Mia paced around the living room. They had just gotten home when the group
realized one of their own was missing and unaccounted for. Yuli stayed in his room, looking
out of his bedroom window. The clouds drifted by ever so slowly.
Ryo concluded that Sage must've stayed behind. The others agreed to return to
the museum right away. White Blaze would stay at the mansion with Yuli. Kento gassed up
the van and all but Yuli and White Blaze got into it. They drove off as fast as possible.
Yuli sighed and went downstairs. White Blaze growled and padded towards him,
rubbing his furry face up against the boy's leg. Yuli giggled and pet the white tiger. The
boy then entered the living room to see that everyone was gone. He found a note on the
couch that read;
'Yuli,
Gone to the museum to find Sage. Be back later.
Ryo, Sai, Kento, Rowen, Mia'
Yuli shrugged. He liked being home alone. He went into the kitchen to fix himself a
bowl of ice cream. French Vanilla? No. Chocolate Fudge? No. Ah! Rocky Road!
The boy smiled mischievously and scooped out two large clumps. He put the ice
cream carton away and seated himself on Ryo's chair. He dug into the ice cream with
enthusiasm. He finished the bowl and put it in the dishwasher to be cleaned. Yuli sighed
contentedly and sat next to White Blaze on the couch to watch some television.
Just outside the house, the Reaper rose up from beneath the soil, its black cloak
billowing behind it. Its silver scythe caked with dry blood, and what little part of it that
could, shone brightly in the dimming sunlight. It flew through the air and down the street,
to the church...
"Coming...Master,..."
Sai searched the room of the golden statuettes a third time. Sage wasn't here
either. Kento wasn't having any luck, and neither was Rowen. Mia crept up and down the
halls, while Ryo searched the front and back entrances. He seemed to just disappear.
"He has to be here somewhere!" Sai called across a dark hall. Mia turned around at
the sound of his voice. Sage was known to disappear at times, but nothing this dramatic.
Rowen poked his head into the hall from the dinosaur exhibit. Ryo rounded a corner from
the airplanes and old technology section, and Kento was near the vending machines.
Kento belched loudly, hearing it echo throughout the empty building. "Talk about
your echolocation! No one's here, not even the security guards!"
"Isn't that kind of weird? I mean, even some security guards should be here." Sai
said as he walked up to Ryo, who did a quick visual check of the room behind him. Nothing.
No one.
"Yeah, and why did everyone leave so fast? It wasn't even close to closing time!"
Rowen walked up to the pair, Mia right behind him. They looked at a museum map
and split up into a pair and a trio to check the rest of the museum. The met back at the
front entrance hall. No one found anything.
Rowen shook his head. "It all started when that Arthur guy showed up. I mean,
when he showed up, Sage started acting real strange. Wasn't he at the back of the group
when we were leaving? Maybe he went home already..."
"I doubt it." Mia said. "I think that Arthur guy has something to do with it. Did you
see when he held up something and shielded it with his coat? Whatever it was, Sage
wanted it; I could tell. I think he went with Arthur to get whatever that was..."
Sai spoke up, "Yes! And Arthur told us that he's a priest at the church down the
street! We can walk down there to ask him if he's seen Sage!"
Everyone else nodded and walked out the front entrance. The church was hard to
miss; having black and white tiles in intricate patterns on the outside of the building.
There was a giant gray cement arch in the front with black and white ribbons tied to the
middle.
"Jeez, these people sure do like old movies!" Kento stated plainly.
"How's that, Kento?" Sai asked innocently.
He pointed first to the church itself, then to the black and white ribbons that
swayed in the cool summer wind. "See all the black and white? I feel like John Wayne."
Sai giggled. Ryo turned around to shoo them forward. Mia took out her cellular
phone from the purse she carried. She dialed in her phone number.
The phone at the house rang loudly. Yuli was startled awake. He ran into the
kitchen to retrieve that noisy thing.
"Hello? Koji residence. To whom am I speaking?" Yuli inquired.
"Wow, Yuli. You sound so grown up!" Mia said from the other end of the phone.
"Mia! What's going on? Why aren't you guys back yet?"
Mia paused. "Well Yuli, we're having trouble finding Sage. Is he home with you?"
"No...I thought you found him."
"No, not yet. We'll be home soon, Yuli. Don't worry."
"Okay, Mia. Bye."
"Bye, Yuli."
Ryo looked up at Mia from his seat on a wooden bench outside the church. She
reluctantly put away her gray cellular phone and walked to the church doors.
"No luck? He isn't at home?"
Mia shook her head.
Rowen and the rest of the group trotted through the thick, glossed wooden doors
of the church. They stepped immediately into a very large room with a dome for a ceiling.
It was dim in here, and Ryo could make out rows and rows of wooden pews lined with two
to a row, with ten rows on either side. In the front stood an old podium, and behind that
stood an enormous altar, with statues of white with black interlaced.
Sai gasped in astonishment. "Wow...lookit all of these. They look just like the same
stuff the statues at the museum were made of...and remember the story Arthur told us?
See that? It's a giant altar to the moon! Look!"
Indeed, Sai was right on this one. Standing in a throne of white and black marble
alike sat a giant pearl moon, a face carved into it. Although wore by age and erosion, the
face still looked a bit intimidating. It reminded Mia of the face on the Ashtangi statue at
the art museum.
There, amidst the shadows thrown by the flickering white candles, sat Arthur,
reading an old book of some kind. He was dressed in his priest outfit, although it wasn't
Sunday. It was Saturday.
Must be prepping, thought Sai.
"Hey, Arthur!" Kento called stupidly.
Arthur was startled and looked up, his huge Coke-bottle glasses enlarging his
already large eyes tenfold. He quickly put away the book, placing it carefully down on the
desk on which he sat. The placement of the book brought up years of dust. It looked as
though he hadn't used the desk in decades.
"What can I do for you?" he asked calmly.
"Well," Mia started, "do you remember our blond friend, Arthur? You know, the one
you showed something to that made him act all funny and stuff? Remember him, Arthur?
Well, he's missing, and I suspect you have something to do with it! So spill!!"
Arthur frowned. "No, I can't say that I have. This is a church, you know, and the
Lord Almighty does not permit me to lie while in his House."
Sai felt his kanji of Trust glow softly on his forehead. He gasped quietly and
turned around. Kento turned with him, seeing his friend's kanji. Whenever the kanji off
Trust glows when someone is speaking, that means that someone is lying. Kento knew he
smelled a rat. A big rat named Arthur.
Ryo pressed on, not wanting to mention Sai's kanji. "Well, we just have a feeling
that, even though we are all in the House of God, you may be lying to us anyway. So,
where's our friend, Arthur?"
"I'm sorry. I do not know. Now, please; I must be getting back to my studies."
Rowen was unconvinced. He began to dart around the room, looking beneath pews
and searching around pillars and in other rooms of the church. Mia followed, and, soon
after, the rest of the group was poking around, trying desperately to find their missing
friend.
Sai and Kento were a pair and checked the confession rooms. Ryo and Mia checked
up and down the halls, dodging nuns along the way. Rowen was all alone, but didn't mind. He
ducked around the corner and into a dark hallway.
"Please, you must leave! I don't want you children poking around here!" Arthur
called.
Rowen stepped cautiously through the shadows, a chill running up his spine. He
looked down at the floor and then up to see a skull with eyes staring back at him. Rowen
tried to gasp, but no sound came out. A skeletal hand shot out and grabbed Rowen, its eyes
a burning red. Rowen felt faint and collapsed.
Sai and Kento heard the thud of a body against the cold tile floor. They bounded
down the shadowy halls of the church. Turning sharp corners with precision accuracy, Sai
was the first on the scene. Kento arrived a late second.
Rowen's pale form lay undisturbed on the cold tile floor. Sai crouched next to his
friend and held him up. Kento raced back to the main hallway to alert Mia and Ryo.
Ryo came rounding a tight corner with Mia at his heels. Rowen moaned softly and
lurched forward in Sai's arms. He blinked to regain his vision. Kento and the other pair
knelt beside Rowen, checking him for injuries. Sai helped him up.
Kento dusted his friend off.
"W-W-Where'd it go?!" Rowen asked frantically.
Mia held his shoulders. "Where'd what go?"
Rowen shook his head and breathed heavily. "I saw something. A big something."
Ryo tugged at Rowen's arm. He motioned for the group to leave. Rowen sighed
audibly and walked with them and out to the main altar room. Ryo passed by the desk
where Arthur was supposed to be sitting. He wasn't there.
Sai stopped. "Where's Arthur? I wanted to apologize,"
Arthur heard their voices from underneath the altar room. Though the ceiling
blocked most of the conversation, Arthur could vaguely tell who was talking and what they
were talking about. He smiled and rubbed his aging hands together. He turned his head to
see the young blond man whimper, tears welling up in his crystal eyes.
Gagged and tied to a wooden post which supported the altar room floor, half-stood
Sage. This room was unbearably small.
What do you want with me? What purpose do I serve?
Arthur strode across the earthen floor and held up the frightened young man's chin
so that they faced eye-to-eye. He reverberated with fear. Arthur smiled evilly. A wave of
tremors swept through Sage, and he closed his eyes, hoping that this was only a dream and
that he would awaken soon.
The smell of the room was horrendous. It smelled as though dead bodies, fresh
meat still clinging to the lifeless carcasses, held up the dirt floor. This room smelled of
death. It was dark and damp, with stucco walls a shade of depressing gray. Four wooden
polls held up the ceiling.
"Do you think he's closing down the church for the night?" Sai asked.
Ryo nodded. "Maybe he is. Let's get going. I don't think Sage is here."
Rowen sighed and led the group outside, where night had quickly fallen. Mia called
Yuli again, saying the group would be home soon. The breeze in the willows blew a saddened
tune, the birds of the night had hushed. It seemed as though the world fell silent, and the
only sound the ear could pick up was that of the wind through the trees.
Kento shivered. It was chilly tonight, and he felt a light mist of rain on his cheek.
He accompanied Sai to the van, securing his seat-belt and preparing for the journey home.
The conversation in the van was of only one topic:
Where was Sage?
Rowen came up with no logical explanations, which worried Mia further. They
wouldn't be able to file a missing persons report until the next morning. It was four days
until Sage's birthday.
The van pulled into the driveway at around ten, and Yuli was found fast asleep on
the dry old couch, next to White Blaze. Mia picked him up and carried him to his bed. She
shut off the lights in the mansion. Ryo and the others put on their pajamas and crept into
bed themselves.
Hurry up, you old fool.
Arthur stood before the altar in his church. The shadows danced and the light had
faded to a dull glow. He raised his hands in praise to the altar of the Moon. Sage lay atop a
table just in front of the altar. He was unconscious.
Three men of considerable size stood behind Arthur. The placement of Sage could
have only been achieved through them.
I have four days.
Arthur held up his old dusty book of leather. He raised his right hand and had
begun to chant. Inconceivable words fell off his tongue, a language bound by rule swirled
the room. The three men were awe-struck.
The Moon began to glow.
Four days...
'My Son, my God, my humble Servant,
Rise to praise me
In your Dance, may you seek destruction
Of the World to which you are bound
Your Soul, your Life, your Servants
Are now my own.
May the souls of those Lost
In the land of Pain and Grief,
Terror, Loss, and Anguish,
Rise to Praise You.'
Arthur's words would terrify even the wised of Popes. The ancient poem caused the
moon to glow brighter. They had four days left before the Coming.
The Other had to be stopped.
Rowen lay awake in bed. It was Saturday night and his best friend had not shown
up yet. Rowen looked over at the bed which his friend should have been occupying. He
sighed and turned out the lights. He should have been home...
The Reaper flew like the dry leaves over the black tar pavement. The street lights
hovered above with a dull yellow glow. The night was almost as dark as pitch; few stars
hung in the sky. There were no birds chirping; no crickets and grasshoppers playing the
music of the darkness. It flew with such urgency, yet careful enough not to be seen by any
passerby.
Its soft black cloak billowed behind no body, though it still clung to the head on
which invisible legs operated out of sight. It held its scythe in its nothingness.
Zooming past the museum, it suddenly stopped in the middle of the street. It
sniffed the air, though one would think a body-less, organ-less creature of death could
breathe. It sensed its Master's presence, and its Master was in trouble.
The Reaper didn't sense the car coming up behind it, though. The driver of a small
SUV didn't have time to stop. The headlights blared and the engine screamed as the two-
ton metal machine collided with forever-old bones and silk.
Sage's once lifeless body contorted in spasms of pain on the table in front of the
altar. Arthur halted his cryptic poem of destruction long enough to order the three men to
check the boy.
Sage shrieked in both rage and pain as the men tried to hold him down on the cold
stone table. His violet eyes remained closed. Arthur lifted an unshaven eyebrow. Why was
this happening to him?
While the young man lay twisting on the table, held by hands of three others,
Arthur moved to a table near his desk. The small night-stand contained an old burlap book.
He flipped through the age-old pages. A connection was imminent.
Rowen and Yuli both awoke to hear a bone-rattling shriek of pain just outside their
windows. Rowen could have sworn he had heard an unsettling crunch of metal and
something organic. He shivered and stepped outside his room.
With his robe, he shifted softly out of his room and out into the hall. He crept
down the stairs, careful not to awaken anyone, and puzzled by the fact that no one
followed up behind him.
From the loft, where the child's bedroom was, Yuli peered down the shadowy
entryway to see Rowen, clad in his dark blue robe, open the oak front door and step
outside. Yuli, determined, frightened, and curious, all at the same time, quietly bounded
down the stairs. White Blaze heard the soft thumping of the child's feet and padded
outside with the him.
Rowen, sure that he could get a clear view of the street that was bathed in
darkness, stood in the middle of the driveway. Next to the van stood Yuli. Yuli leaned his
head against the van, careful not to alert Rowen. He didn't want to be caught out this late.
Rowen quickly examined the street. He could have sworn he heard some sort of cry
or yelp. But, where did it come from?
Something told him to move further down the street. Swiftly, he ran down the
street; to a small intersection. There, he saw dust. Lots of dust. And a cloak.
White Blaze nudged Rowen's thigh. Rowen turned around, startled. He saw White
Blaze, then Yuli, half asleep.
"Yuli? Why are you out here at such an hour?" Rowen whispered hoarsely.
Yuli mumbled a bit, but was fully asleep by this time. White Blaze purred softly and
looked up at Rowen, and then at the pile of dust on the street. The dust looked like bones
turned to ash. Rowen stepped closer to the dust that was being carried away by the wind.
He wanted to take some of it back to the house, but the wind rushed at him suddenly, and
carried all his hopes, along with the dust, with it.
"So much for that idea." he said sorrowfully.
Rowen turned to White Blaze, who had Yuli sleeping on his back. He led them back
to the house where he thought he may be able to get them to sleep. When both the tiger
and the boy were inside, Rowen turned back to the street. The cloak he had seen there
was gone.
"Good morning!" Sai stretched cheerfully. Everyone except Rowen was in the
kitchen awaiting breakfast. The bearer of the Torrent armor smiled as he looked over the
faces of his friends, counting them. He realized Rowen wasn't up yet, and he wondered
why.
"Hey Kento?" Sai asked behind his back.
Kento mumbled a reply.
"Could you go and see what's keeping Rowen? And please, love, don't drag him down
the stairs like you did last time."
Kento grunted in acknowledgment, and trudged up the stairs. He rounded a few
corners, sniffing the air for Sai's omelets. He smiled, picturing himself eating at least
three of those. When his lovely daydreaming ended, he was a few inches from the wall.
'Oops. Gotta stop doin' that.'
He turned to the bedroom which Sage and Rowen shared. He noticed the door was
cracked a bit, and that he could just barely see inside. He heard the soft clicking of
plastic keys on Rowen's computer. He wondered how long Rowen was up doing this.
Kento opened the door quietly. He crept inside. He hesitated a moment before
standing up straight. Kento was right behind Rowen, peering into the white depths of the
computer screen. Upon it lay the text of a web site. Within the swirl of letters and
numbers, Kento could find two words he recognized.
No, they were not food and hunger.
They were Shanti and Ashtangi.
"Hey Rowen?" Kento asked in full voice.
Rowen jumped frantically and turned around in his chair, making Kento jump. Kento
gasped and smiled weakly at his blue-haired companion.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Rowen sighed and turned around again to face the computer screen. "What do you
want?" he asked in a rather cranky tone-of-voice.
"Jeez! Chill, man. Sai's made breakfast, and he wants you to come downstairs to eat
it. And, as an added bonus, I wanted to know how long you've been up."
Rowen sighed again, agitated, and ignored him. He continued typing. Rowen knew
Arthur had something to do with Sage's disappearance. He had to find a way to free him.
"Hold him down! Quickly!"
Arthur rushed to the three men's sides. Sage was thrashing about more violently
than ever. He roared inhumanly, too. Something told Arthur to hold back and release this
poor boy which Fate has chosen. But, his strive for power kept him going. He would not
release the boy until the time was right and the Prophecy was fulfilled.
The three men nodded in unison. Sage hissed and moaned as his violent outbursts
were being suppressed. His eyes still remained closed.
"Grab some chains or something. Tie him down!"
The three men's eyes glowed red as chains suddenly appeared in their hands. They
used these to tie Sage to the table. They succeeded, but the thrashing of the boy
continued without relent.
Arthur mumbled a few words, unbeknownst to the three men, who were standing in
order of descending height by a rusted staircase. Arthur punched his hand into Sage's
stomach, making the young man twist and roar angrily. He shouted a chant at the moon
behind him.
'Insert thy spirit into this boy, O leader of the Dead!!''
The moon had begun to glow as Sage's twisting had ceased just as suddenly as it
had started. A faint yet recognizable black mist hung in the air, making its way over to the
boy in chains on the table. It entered his mouth without trouble.
"There. Half of the Prophecy is completed."
"Yes, it is now, isn't it?"
Arthur looked up from his reading. He noticed that Sage had torn his bindings. But
those were chains, not rope. Sage was now towering above him, standing atop the cold
stone table to which he was bound.
Arthur stumbled backward, trapping himself in a corner of the room. He crouched
next to a bookcase and a desk. The candles suddenly flickered and died; darkness welled in
the room like a sickness. Arthur could hear the heavy noise of breathing from the three
men standing next to the staircase.
Wait. Spirits don't breathe.
Humans do.
Arthur gasped as Sage's pale face was suddenly mere millimeters from his own.
Arthur closed his eyes. Why had he gotten into this in the first place? He shivered as he
felt Sage's cold, clammy hands touch his face. The feeling of dread thickened in the pit of
his stomach as he felt Sage's breath now against his face. It was warm and putrid, and he
felt Sage kneel in front of him.
Arthur also felt that he should just die that very second for reviving such a
monster in the first place. But, as he had found out, Fate had her way with things. He
could not weasel his way out of this one.
Arthur opened his eyes again, seeing death, feeling death, breathing death and
fearing it for the first time in his life. Sage's violet eyes were no more. His use for sight
had ended long ago. His use for vision, however, had just begun.
Sage sniffed Arthur, and felt him pull away, disgusted and terrified, until his back
was pressed up against a wet, cold, impenetrable wall that sealed his doom. Sage opened
the lifeless sockets that contained his once-useful eyes to show his prey what he had done
to the boy's body. The eyes of Sage, of this thing, were black. Completely and utterly
black. The sight of them made him wonder if they weren't borne from the darkness that
surrounded and engulfed him.
The iris, the color of his eyes, was just a blood-red ring around nothing but
blackness. They, other than Sage's white face, were the only things he could see in this
cocoon of death. He wanted to die, he really did.
But he knew he couldn't.
And there were still three days left.