Chapter 3
Igneus scientia
Borrow time and release an age
Read a book and gain an insight
Glow the fire
Burn the story
Set forth the knowledge fire
-Windwalker
r
a
v
e
n
Screams, desperate and in pain emitted from within Sirius's mind, not the final cries of the man as the creatures tore him limb from bloody limb but the residue of suffering Sirius had witnessed in the past. It was a terrible sound to remember. It came upon him suddenly, the onset forcing him to land to deal with the rush of memory. Sirius had been witness to many, many deaths and destruction, but why would they now rise up to haunt him? The man's demise could partly be to blame for the rush, but never had being witness to mindless slaughter brought forth memories of earlier suffering. Sirius guessed his abnormal talents had something to do with the rise of such things, they seemed to have taken up a mind of their own. Sirius did not like this lack of control. He prided himself on his indifference, his ability to become detached, but some deep, dark and mysterious part of him felt otherwise. Silent Hill was bringing forth a side of him that Sirius barely knew, he felt dormant power growing beyond its sheltered prison within him.
The memories gradually faded leaving Sirius's mind clear. He sat there on his perch a while after though, sorting himself, trying to make sense of, him. His thoughts lead back to the man, a gentle tug. After taking leave of him, Sirius was returned miraculously to the snow falling wonderland of an invisible Silent Hill. It had taken him moments to realise when the scene had changed. The town was worse then a model on a catwalk for changing looks, so far he had seen three. The burgeoning shadow of a populated town, an enshrouded land devoid of normal life and the place where demons walked and darkness ruled completely. Sirius had taken barely a blink to examine the return of the disturbingly wintry in summer realm. Seeing monsters tear apart a human being made such things seem insignificant now. It was not as if he had walked across a clearly defined boundary, it was more like taking a dip into deeper water.
Harry? Cybil? Unspoken words carried in the wind to displace old thoughts. The names had no such meaning to Sirius, he had seen and heard the names of many people before but these held no special memory for him. Yet another little something his hidden talents decided to dredge up, unless of course Silent Hill had gained sentient life. After the past few weeks, and more importantly the past day, he could see that as a far likely possibility. No humans were abroad so he chose to ignore it, just another something to deal with later, it was guaranteed he was going to meet either one of them at some point in the future, with the circumstances before and behind him he would be surprised if he didn't.
Burgeoning noises loomed in the distance and Sirius decided he had had enough thinking time. With no particular place to go and the subconscious pull still there, Sirius chose to wander about the town. His own migrating instincts would direct him to where he needed to be, it was all a matter of following the routes his destiny decreed.
Snow was the only constant denominator here now, weighing down his wings and chilling his body yet he ignored it. Sleet, snow, rain, hail or sunshine had never stopped him before when he was on the prowl and he was not about to let it deter him now. Visibility, poor before was now to the barest minimum, only sound cut through with any success and it came clearly to Sirius at that moment.
Conspiring whispers carried to his ear, subtle and indistinct at first. He followed their direction carefully. The whispered voices brought forth neither comfort or distrust to Sirius, they simply were. His innate supernatural abilities did not flare at their sudden intrusion so he had little cause to ignore them. It seemed to be just another unavoidable meeting in a dot to dot picture, if he turned from their calling he felt he would eventually be brought back like a boomerang. All his choices appeared to be inevitable and intended. Why ignore them? So he followed, not eagerly, but nonetheless.
The whispering grew louder as he approached, however it appeared to grow in pitch at a too far increased rate then he would have expected. The voices remained indecipherable despite the increased volume. Sirius slowly descended to fly closer to the ground, from above, the mist hid all and sundry and lowering his altitude would grant him greater, though still limited visibility. The whispers continued to increase as he neared, coiling into his brain like a slumbering snake. Brief flashes of earlier memory flared under the weighted voices, combining and dissipating with each other. Sirius's head began to pound at the intrusions. His descent took a slightly erratic form as each unknown word beat their drumming into him.
' ----- '
' ------ '
' ------- '
' ------- '
' --------- '
' ---------- '
' -------------- '
Then nothing.
The voices exploding into his brain suddenly stopped. Silence reigned once more in his mind. Their faint signature still continued to call within him but these were more like echoes, fading away and dissipating like steam on the wind. With their passing Sirius knew he had arrived at his new destination.
Landing on the nearest perch, Sirius took to looking about him. The only object of interest was a large building with two pillars on either side guarding it like sleeping sentinels. A large set of double doors encompassed the entire front half of the building, a waiting invitation. A plaque on the wall with golden writing decreed the building as the Silent Hill library. Nothing else held his gaze as that building did, his eyes flashed their supernatural gaze each time he brought them upon it. Whispering and Libraries linked together in his mind, each often associated with the other, Sirius was left in no doubt of where he was meant to go.
The doors were firmly shut and there was no way to open them from Sirius's point of view so instead he arose and took to flight. Passing the entrance to fly over the roof in search of an alternative, Sirius heard from behind the shuffling of movement, inhuman, it sounded like the sly shifting of rubble, intentionally trying to avoid notice. Sirius dared not look back, whatever was about was not something he wished to see. A tentative thought came to mind but he ignored it immediately, he did not like it in any way shape or form. He was soon over the roof however and released a breath of relief, feeling he was hopefully beyond it. Sirius immediately spied an open skylight and without hesitation entered, grateful to be away from the shifting thing behind him.
Straight away he noticed the smell of musty old books and mildew, hitting his senses like a full speed train. It smelt as if the place had been abandoned for a long time. Dark light permeated the great hall he found himself in. Attached to the ceiling, old fashioned light fixtures swayed to and fro, cobwebs clinging to them while below row upon row of shelves covered the floor space. He could see the Doors and the reception area up front while at the rear blackness consumed turning the back into a mysterious void. He looked at it in nervousness, knowing he would have to enter the dark spot at some point.
Sirius moved down into one of the rows and landed haphazardly on one shelf, grasping it with his claws and leaning out at an angle. The smell here was stronger then above, dust too itched his nostrils. Sirius also caught another smell that he could not immediately place. For a startling moment he thought it was the aroma of rotting flesh, his mind dredging it up first, expecting it but Sirius uncomfortably familiar with that particular scent, disregarded it almost as quickly. The smell however still gave Sirius a sense of death and he did not like it at all. A place devoid of life was the last place you wanted to get the impression of death. The nothingness in-between was far more preferable. He chose to try and ignore it but it kept it's presence known.
Sirius made his way through the rows, occasionally glancing at one or two tombs of writing as he past. Only the sound of his own sliding wings could be heard in the vast room by Sirius. As he made his way he saw signs of old age. Books sat crumbling in their crevices, most with fungus and mildew growing from their spines. A few books were scattered across the floor, pages torn and ripped, signs of vandalism, perhaps squatters had resided here for a time. Sirius had never past the library in his exploration of the town before the strangeness so could not tell whether it had been in use. He assumed it must have been but the trail before him suggested that it was not the case.
His inner self chose to speak at that moment, concurrently with the sudden shift in reality. The dimmed light that radiated the room plunged into lower depths and the darkness that patiently crouched from the back suddenly consumed the rest of the library as well, the sirens of before also beginning their wailing at the change. A coldness settled in his soul. He could not be certain but he dreaded that the alteration of reality was for him. Before, the shift had occurred when he was following the man and it seemed then that it was for the man in particular that it had happened and the man had consequently succumbed to death's embrace. Yet he also remembered it when he had come across the ghost and nothing untoward had occurred then. It was a situation that he could not fathom or foretell. Sirius just hoped he would survive this reality better then the man did.
Something slammed hard into the front doors. An image of the man bouncing off the locked gate came to mind and Sirius jumped. The silence before was disturbing enough but the sudden sound at the door was far worse. Sirius dived into a vacated space on a shelf and tucked his body in close, listening. After the initial impact, nothing. Silence took precedence once more but Sirius dared not move from his hole. Patiently he waited it out. Minutes passed in absolute quiet and Sirius thought then that it was gone. He was about to vacate his spot, when he jumped, the doors suddenly rattling on their hinges from a new impact. Sirius squeezed back in, as one then another and another pounding on the doors turned into a constant barrage. The spacious hall reverberated the sound to larger portions, bouncing off the walls, turning the once silent room into a cacophony of sound.
Constant turned to persistence then frustration as each knock grew in strength. Whatever was trying to gain entrance was large and angry at being unable to gain entrance. Smashing glass accompanied the pounding as one window fell through, the tinkling of glass slivers as they fell to the floor. Then the next Sirius knew all was silent once more. His heart thundered at full throttle at the pronounced silence. After the initial quiet in-between the first impact Sirius expected it to return once more, instead he got something infinitely worse.
Footsteps tapped along, clicking on the carpeted floor. Sirius gathered himself. The footsteps proceeded down from the reception to the first of the many rows of shelves and books, a pause then they moved on. Sirius twitched at each step taken, eyes blazing yellow. As the owner began to near his location he took off from his hiding place and resettled at the very top of a bookcase. Sirius dared not go any further in case he caught its attention. He compressed himself into a small ball and eyed the corner where he expected it to appear.
The owner of the feet took their time with a slow and steady gait, squeezing out the tension in Sirius's soul. A cold chill from the now smashed window weaved it's way through the rows and made his feathers flutter involuntarily. Its whistling passage bringing about dark thoughts of the whispering that lead him here.
The footsteps paused once more, not very much further from where Sirius waited with bated breath. Time, stretched before, was now at its limit while Sirius anticipated the steps. In truth it was a barely a minute but it passed at a snails pace for Sirius. It walked on.
A shadow gathered force at the very corner of the bookshelf, growing like some unwelcome weed. Whispering began to stir up at its appearance, catching the edge of Sirius's hearing. The wind for a brief moment rose up and whistled in time with it. The shadow grew. Sirius huddled in closer as the shadow turned the corner. His eyes lit with their preternatural light. The shadow turned but nothing came attached to it. Sirius choked back a cry of dismay. What had been walking the library was nothing but an empty shadow. No feet to make footsteps, no body to break the window, no mass to cast a shadow.
The shadow faded and the whispering altered. Sirius aghast at the lack of an individual did not at first recognise the change in the voices his mind focused on the empty space before him. A sense of déjà vu and disorientation kept his attention away from it. Gradually however it soon took grasp of his concentration and he listened closely but with still half a glance on the shadows last whereabouts. Expecting a being to take form their.
The whispered voices held more clarity then they did before. Sirius could distinguish two separate entities in secretive conversation, voices held low in deference of those around them. Their origin stemmed from the rear of the building where the dark was at its most powerful. A cry from outside did not deter Sirius from his observation as he began to decipher the words being spoken. Sirius dropped from his vantage point, careful to avoid the shadow's former presence and made his way to the rear. The voices sounded young and tinged with annoyance, normalcy in the after- effects of the pounding doors but Sirius was not going to let himself be fooled, the whispering had brought him here in the first place.
He thought he heard footsteps behind him and the idea of being trapped sprung up but he ignored these for the sake of his sanity. The sound of footsteps did not return.
Male. The voices sounded male and young, youthful even. Sirius crossed the line between darkness and pitch-black, flying blindly now. Panic flared but for a moment as he considered being lost forever in the maze of sightlessness, then it dimmed. The voices helped him keep a rough location of his whereabouts.
The next he knew, a glow appeared in the dark, seeming just as lost as he but a beacon he could not ignore. Sirius felt like a moth to a flame and could do little. Bookshelves took form again as the light continued to grow but unlike the ones had left these were far different. Books just falling apart and randomly scattered were now ripped and shredded and strewn about mostly on the floor then on the shelves. Covered in copious amounts of blood that also leaked from the cases. The bookcases were not the wooden plain ones but were adorned with skulls and bones and metal, standing on gratings that represented the floor.
Sirius flew on determined not to land, eyeing all with a twitchy eye. A book with a strange symbol caught his attention, bound in blood red leather. An unpleasant feeling overcame him as he past over it and an image came and went from his psyche that left bile and the taste of something bitter and old in his mouth. Another book caught his interest but made him shudder, in a quick glance he felt sure the word emblazoned on its front was Necronimicon, but that was supposed to be a fabled book, unreal. Wasn't it?
Two figures sat crossed legged looking upon each other, mouths moving. Sirius came in closer as they appeared in his visual. The pair looked to be human. Two young boys deep in conversation. In a place like this however their meeting held a more ominous feeling. A book lay open between them, the open pages splattered with dried on blood. Sirius, though reluctant to land, chose a spot on a desk, made of metal but the most normal looking item in the scene he found himself in. Sirius dared not land on the floor, envisioning his feet getting caught in the mesh and being unable to escape any approaching danger.
The boys did not look in his direction as he landed though he was sure there was a subtle movement from one of the them, instead they continued conspiring. Sirius moved to the edge of the desk, leaning in to try and decipher some of the spoken words. The whispering stopped. Sirius was taken a back at the break in speech and took a step back.
"Watch"
The word come clear to Sirius. One of the boys had turned to face directly at him while speaking the single word. Sirius obeyed his instruction. Even without the command to watch Sirius would not have left, he felt strangely at peace, appearance aside, in the mutilated boys presence.
Taking the time to perceive the boy, fear taking a place at the back of his mind. Only one eye looked back the other ripped from its socket leaving in its wake a bottomless hole. His face was scarred and wrinkled and skin puckered and brown from being burnt. The other boy now also looking his way was not much better, in fact he was in even worse shape, neither of his eyes were where they should be, but were still able to bleed bloody tears. Both wore school uniforms with the Midwhich elementary logo on them, stained with even more blood then Sirius thought possible, and hanging loosely from torn shreds.
The fully blind one pointed to the open book, dropping blood to the paper. Sirius diverted his attention to it, only to see a blank sheet. He looked at the children inquiringly surprised at the ease in which turned to them for an answer, at the lack of fear toward them.
The blind boy did not acknowledge his stare, the other though raised one mangled hand to his face and with a blank expression proceeded to tear at his one remaining eye, neither rushed nor hesitant, picking his way as a disinterested person would pick a scab. Sirius rolled onto the balls of his feet and watched in subdued horror at the self mutilation.
The stench of burning arose and Sirius suddenly had the answer to the unrecognised scent of before. The smell of burnt offerings. The blind boy pointed once more at the book and Sirius dragged his eyes away from the continued self destruction of the other and looked upon the paper. It was still blank but the out laid page had begun to emit a smoky vapour. The smell of burning increased.
A pale red light penetrated the scene, a distant crackling accompanying it. Sirius's head shot up and he frantically looked about him. Pitch black surrounded them, but slowly climbing up its side was the first licks of flame, the bookcases no longer in sight.
Sirius turned back in time to see the open book go up in a combustion of flame, the two boys no longer there. Vanishing just as quickly as the fire came to be. Sirius felt the danger around him as the sound of the fire increased, no longer quietly consuming its surroundings but snapping and snarling like a cornered wildcat. Sirius knew he was in great danger if he stayed there, the man springing to mind. So up into the air he flew attempting to rise above the smoke that was cumulating. He tracked back the way he had hopefully come, not worrying about meeting anything, the fire taking precedence.
Light bloomed ahead and Sirius headed for it, the fire behind him building up into an incredible blaze. Sirius began to immediately target the open skylight, thankfully coming into view. The books sizzled and popped rotting insides below. A shadow hung over them but Sirius did not, dared not ponder them while the possibility of burning up himself was so close.
A burst of speed he never, ever thought he was capable of aided him in escaping a flaming tail as fire flashed up in a back draft. Below him now, everything was in an inferno, the rows falling into each other as the fire consumed their bases. The walls reflected a raging red colour and the front doors were now also being consumed in the blaze. Sirius with all the energy he had left, zipped his way through burning twisters and exited the skylight.
Into the cold air of Silent Hill he went, now safely beyond the burning building. Breaths coming in deep and hard from smoke inhalation as he veered away towards another nearby building. Behind he hear the continued crackling of fire but he was no longer in danger of it. Sirius landed hard onto an edge and held his head down gathering the return of his strength. Snow pelted his body, cold and chilled, but was a welcome from the heat. No more then ten minutes passed in his returning to form before he turned to see the last of the libraries walls eaten.
The building stood tall and firm and untouched. Sirius blinked rapidly in wonderment. He shook his head, looked away and looked back. It still stood there. There was absolutely no sign that a fire had ever begun, the smell, which carried after Sirius left the building was also missing. The only change of note were the two pillars. To Sirius it seemed they had been moved. Closer to the library. Scorch marks marring them. Apart from them it looked as if the fire had never been.
Sirius sat in reverence. He knew he never imagined any of it. His mind too perfectly attuned to make it up, nothing got past him, Sirius had a photographic memory, his talent insured the truthfulness of what he sees. He had seen it, something else just decide to change everything back. The two boys he could not decide were good or evil, his supernatural sense not repulsed by them, but yet they had appeared to cause him ill intent with his near death experience. Mystery upon mystery.
Sirius remembered the school uniforms they had worn. Midwhich elementary school. He had past that place before and knew its location. Perhaps the children would be there now? Sirius made his decision, with one mistrustful look at the library he went on his way.