Blackout Read online

  “Mmm,” mumbled Cecily. “I just can’t see it. Even the old Fanes are more supple than I am.”

  “Well, they do possess some warrior traits too. They have agility and endurance and as they are Light Workers, that is, servants of the Light, they instinctively possess courage and determination and are loyal by nature. They can defend themselves, but they are not warriors. They also remember, like me. They have to remember in order to do their jobs. They have to know what they are watching for. With a gateway to the Dark in Bramblegate, it is all hands on deck. Also, it saves me from losing my mind,” he laughed, “knowing that I have the Fanes to discuss things with.”

  “Did my dad know what the Fanes are? Mr Fane mentioned that he’d had some discussions with my father.”

  “Yes, he did. He knew about the Fanes, but not about me. They were helping him with his research, well, let’s say they were pointing him in the right direction.”

  Cecily sighed and she thought how brave her father was to confront this unseen world head on.

  “What about your powers, Kaden? I’ve seen you do all these amazing things!”

  “Well, I’m a Cerberean, so I have the same warrior traits as the other Cerbereans, as do you, but I also have magic, again, like you, Cec.”

  Cecily still felt sceptical about her herself. It was hard to hear that she was capable of all these things. It was like Kaden was talking about a different person.

  “Why do you glow blue?” she asked rather bluntly.

  “The colour of my magic is simply a manifestation of my personality. Blue symbolises trust, loyalty, wisdom, faith and truth. It represents calm.”

  Cecily was on the verge of asking more questions. There was still so much she needed to understand, but Kaden interrupted her flow and announced that they should leave.

  Cecily dragged her tired body from the bench and turned to depart the dark, smoky atmosphere, when suddenly, the door flew open. To Cecily’s dismay, her father barged in, buckling under the weight of the injured young man he was carrying. He balanced the youth on the edge of the table, supported by one knee and in one swipe, cleared the table of everything: the bread, knife, bowls and jug. He delicately laid the boy, who was not much younger than Cecily, on the table and immediately began tending to his wounds, speaking soft, comforting words all the while.

  “Dad! Dad it’s me! Cecily! Dad!”

  She was even able to place her hand on his shoulder and shake, desperate to try and get his attention. Her attempts were futile though. Her father did not notice her and he carried on with his urgent business of helping the boy. Kaden gently guided Cecily towards the door.

  “He can’t hear or see you, Cec. Remember, these events are past. They have already happened.”

  “What is he doing here?” she asked, sick at the torture of her beloved father being right in front of her, yet being unable to speak to him.

  “Souls from the Light can be reborn if they choose. Your father is a true Light Worker, always fighting for the cause, always willing to return to Earth to help.”

  Seeing her father treat the injured boy with such care, love and consideration made her love him all the more and she held hope that she might be able to speak to him again one day. That was how she felt now but she was worried she would not feel the same way once she was reactivated. She also wondered if her feelings towards her mother would change once she was able to see the bigger picture. Cecily’s mind wandered back to the times when Purdey had smothered her after neglecting her for a period of time. Maybe she did sometimes feel guilty for the pact she had made and the way she treated her husband and her daughter. At that moment, she thought she would feel the same about Purdey forevermore.

  “Come on, Cec, time to go,” said Kaden mildly, disturbing Cecily’s thoughts.

  She found it extremely difficult to tear herself away from her father. She just had to keep reminding herself that he was not really there.

  On the walk up to the village, Cecily felt frustrated and upset. She felt like it was a cruel trick, her father being so close, yet so far away. The beauty of the woods was exactly the same here as it was in the future, but even this did not lighten her spirits and the fine drizzle that was falling was dampening her mood further.

  “He was your father in this lifetime too, you know,” shared Kaden. “And that young man was your brother.”

  Once again, Cecily felt the familiar sensation of disbelief, but in a good way.

  “What… what happens to them?” she stuttered. “Will they be OK?”

  “They both survive this war and go on to lead healthy, happy lives. You need not worry.”

  Cecily felt overjoyed and relieved that he had been her father before and that at some point in the past, she’d had a brother.

  “Do you ever forget anything? It must be hard to remember every single detail.”

  “Yes, I do forget some things, of course I do. But I am the record keeper. I can go and access them whenever I like if I want to check something.”

  “And where could you possibly keep generations of records? In your bedroom?” joked Cecily.

  Kaden laughed along with her. “They are all kept in a place between the Earth plane and the Realm of Light, much like the place we were imprisoned in, only nothing like it! Same principle though. My records are kept in a library which I can visit at any time. I can also meet the Wise Ones there. They are my link to the Realm of Light.”

  “How do you get there?”

  “Magic. It’s one of the only spells I can perform during times of deactivation. I am only at full power when we are needed and then I am reactivated with everyone else. I have my memory and a couple of spells, that’s it.”

  By now, they had reached the top of the gravel path, which was just dirt in this time, and they were in the heart of the village, only this was not a village that Cecily recognised. There was no road, just a mud track, worsened by the rain. She could see a church and a graveyard on the site of St Peter’s and where the Bramble Arms usually stood, was a one storey building that simply said ‘Tavern’ above the door. Next to the tavern was a cluster of small cottages with thatched roofs, scattered around a tiny green which was covered in puddles and muddy patches. Where the school resided in modern day Bramblegate was a busy forge. Cecily could just see the blacksmith and a couple of other men moulding what seemed to be swords and other such weaponry. They looked very hot and bothered. There was no village store, but instead a large bakery. Cecily was pleased to see the familiar sight of Bramble Hall’s gatehouse and on the small hill above the village, she could see the roof and chimneys of the manor house. Kaden must have seen that Cecily’s face was aghast.

  “There is also a market here, in times of peace. Most of the villagers farm the land during this period.”

  Cecily followed Kaden’s eyes to the bottom end of what was usually the high street and the residential cul-de-sacs. There was nothing there but farmland, which Cecily suspected extended down into the valley, with grazing livestock upon the fields.

  “When the hell are we?” she asked Kaden, warily.

  “The Middle Ages,” replied Kaden, nonchalantly. “This is medieval Bramblegate.”

  As they walked along what was normally the high street, Cecily tried desperately to take in all the sights and sounds. The village was bustling, the streets lined with injured men and boys, some crying out for help and others being tended to by their women. There was a distinct smell of body odour along the track, mixed with the smell of freshly baked bread from the bakery and charcoal smoke from the forge. Once they had left the hustle and bustle of the village, the sights and sounds were replaced by the low braying of animals and the stench of manure, as they made their way into the surrounding countryside.

  Cecily and Kaden walked out of the village for quite a way before she heard the sounds of battle. They had passed the vantage point, the site on which the petrol station stood in modern day Bramblegate and they had even passed the isolated location of Jedd’s pr
esent day home. As they approached the vast battlefield, Cecily experienced a sudden assault on her senses. Everything she could see, hear, taste and smell transported her back to the horror of her nightmares. She realised for the first time that what Kaden had told her about her dreams being echoes of the past, events that really happened, was completely true. This realisation forced Cecily to stop dead in her tracks. Feeling sick, she bent her head over and placed her hands on her knees.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Kaden, obviously concerned.

  Cecily stayed bent over while she tried to compose herself, waiting for the nausea to pass. When her head had stopped spinning, she slowly stood up straight.

  “You were right,” she began solemnly. “My nightmares were flashbacks. I’ve been here before, in my dreams.”

  In a way, Cecily was relieved. At least she knew she was not crazy. However, this was now another thing she could add to the list of things to be angry at Purdey for, because she let her think herself mad.

  “Oh my!”

  As they neared the battle and as Cecily looked around, she did not know if she was more stunned about the bloody violence or about that fact that this was real. She had lived through it and later dreamt about it. It was hard for her to accept.

  “This battle is exactly the same as the one in my nightmares. The cries of the people, the smell of the blood and sweat…” Cecily stopped talking abruptly. She averted her eyes to the edges of the battlefield and the tree line. Her suspicions were confirmed. “… and there they are. Those heinous shadow beasts. In my dreams, I could see them out of the corner of my eye and now I know why.” She turned to Kaden, eyes filling up as once more she was on the verge of tears. “They were awful, Kaden. When the nightmares started getting worse, it was as if the shadows were still with me when I woke up. I never felt alone, like I was always being watched. Now it turns out that I probably was.”

  This all felt very surreal. Knowing what she knew now, she was afraid for that Cecily Stalks, that young, naïve teenager. However, stood here, amidst the battle, she did not feel as terrified as she once had.

  “Well, finally,” said Kaden, portraying his words in an exaggerated manner. “The amount of times I’ve tried to get you to talk about your nightmares over the last three years. I knew they were getting worse, but I had no way of knowing for sure.”

  “It’s all my fault, isn’t it? My dreams were the warning signal, weren’t they? If I’d have told you about my nightmares, I could have prevented all this. I just did not want them to be real.”

  Cecily began to sob as guilt overcame her. Kaden was as kind as always and immediately set about comforting her.

  “You mustn’t beat yourself up, Cec. Everything happens for a reason. The way this whole episode has played out was pre-destined. There must be a reason why you are blocking reactivation, but why?”

  Kaden seemed to drift off to another place as he was deep in thought. How she now wished she had confided in her best friend.

  “Why didn’t you just force me to tell you? said Cecily, interrupting Kaden’s thought process. “You should have told me what was at stake!”

  “The rules are very clear, Cec. I can’t talk about suspected threats with those in deactivation. There must be proof and after I’ve got proof, I must then discuss it with the Wise Ones. There are processes. In any case, there were others signs. Elisabeth returning to Bramblegate, Jedd’s strange behaviour, even the mysterious boyfriend that no one had met, so you mustn’t beat yourself up. The dreams weren’t the only clue. Looking back, it seems obvious that something was going to happen. Even though I suspected it, I had no proof.”

  They were now stood in the midst of the fighting. As Cecily looked around her, she could not see warriors with super powers fighting demons, only regular humans fighting one another.

  “Kaden, what is happening here? Those look like normal human beings to me.”

  “They are normal humans, Cec. Remember how I told you that each human chooses Light or Dark? Well in times of war, this is what that choice looks like. Each human is a soldier fighting for what they believe in.”

  Cecily once more found herself lost for words. They were just normal people. They could be your next-door neighbour, your doctor or even your cousin.

  As Cecily looked around, or rather, gawped at her surroundings, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green. As she turned around to see what it was, a streak of auburn whizzed past her. When whatever it was came to a stop, Cecily had to do a double take for the second time that day. It was her. It was Cecily Stalks. It was like looking in a mirror, apart from the hair. Instead of the short bob that she herself wore, this other version of her had very long, wavy hair. Kaden’s eyes had followed Cecily’s gaze and he was now looking at her, awaiting more questions.

  “Why do I look exactly the same?”

  “Because you are the same person?” answered Kaden, obviously puzzled.

  “I don’t know why, but I thought that each time we’re reborn, we look different.”

  “Why would you think that? You’ve just seen your father back there who looks exactly the same. Our essence remains the same for all time. When we are reborn, our essence naturally moulds to our human exterior. We shine from the inside out. Our spirits always determine what we look like as humans.”

  “I also thought that as Cerbereans, as Warriors of Light, we are immortal. Why do our bodies have to die at all? I mean, this body,” she said pointing to herself, “looks the same as that body,” she said pointing to her other self. “Why do we have to go through the madness of being reborn over and over? Why can’t we live like, erm, v… v... vampires?” she stuttered.

  Kaden laughed at her perception of the matter.

  “Bodies grow old and tired, Cec. They are not designed to keep going. Human beings generally get illnesses and things start to give up, especially as they get older. Being Warriors of Light, we are immortal. We have the ability to live forever and our immortal souls keep our human casings in better shape than most. For example, we don’t get sick, but eventually, especially during times of deactivation, our bodies grow old and tired and die and we are then immediately reborn again. With the Cerbereans, that process happens at more or less the same time, so we are all reborn together. As for the act of the rebirth itself, you don’t remember it anyway. Not until you are reactivated and then you have the immortal mind to cope with it.”

  “But what happens if we die during reactivation and we are still needed? Also, what happens if we are really old during reactivation?”

  “We can’t die under normal circumstances, Cec. We can’t die from shot wounds or stab wounds or even most magical conditions. If we were old during reactivation, and we have been before, it doesn’t matter. Look at the Fanes.”

  “Well, ok then. What if we are babies when reactivation happens? We wouldn’t be able to walk and talk, let alone fight.” Cecily paused for thought. “In any case, that would be just plain weird, warrior babies!”

  “There are spells, Cec. The Universe is very powerful. It has never happened yet, but I imagine something like accelerated growth. Our souls are immortal and they carry us through in times of need.”

  “So, can Dasrus kill us?” asked Cecily, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

  “The only way we can die an unnatural death is through a magical ritual, like the one Dasrus wants to perform. In the event he did manage to complete the ritual, we would die, yet we would still be needed to fight. In these circumstances, there is a way to carry on.”

  Cecily looked worried. “What is it?”

  “Our spirits can inhabit another human casing.”

  “You mean possession?”

  “Yes, Cecily, but only for the good of all and only in desperate circumstances.”

  “Wow!” she said, gazing into space. At least Cecily knew what Purdey meant now when she accused her of borrowing a body until it becomes old and tired.

  “The truth of the matter is t
hat although our immortal souls can prolong life, our human bodies, the casings, are mortal and they can’t last forever. I’m sorry to shatter your illusions, Cec, but vampires just don’t exist!”

  Cecily knew that Kaden was teasing her and she managed a half-smile. “So, are all human souls immortal?”

  “Souls live forever in the Realm of Light or the Realm of Dark, whichever realm they choose as a human. In both realms, some souls choose to come back as humans to fight for their cause. In the Realm of Light, they are called Light Workers, in the Realm of Dark, Dark Workers; remember everything is mirrored in the two realms. Should souls decide to return to the Earth plane, they are human beings with no special powers and without immortality. They do not remember their life on the other side, nor do they remember previous lifetimes. They are soldiers fighting for what they believe in and they die for what they believe in.”

  “Like my father,” said Cecily, sadly.

  “Yes, like your father, Cec,” replied Kaden, compassionately. She knew Kaden was aware of how much her father meant to her.

  Cecily sighed deeply, while the chaos ensued around her. Nothing surprised her any more. How could it when she had journeyed back to the past and was currently witnessing a medieval battle first-hand, which she was a part of. She looked around and relocated what she thought of as her other self. She saw herself battling skilfully with a couple of adversaries, sword in one hand and green flashes discharging themselves from her other hand, which she presumed was her magic. Once these enemies had been dealt with, there was a lot of whirling and twirling around while she dispelled some shadows snapping at her heels with her weapon. She then spun around and prevented another attack on herself by hitting a foe on the head with the hilt of her sword. Next, the other Cecily plunged her sword into the heart of the unconscious being. Cecily winced and once more she felt vomit rise in her throat.

  “I know it is hard to watch, Cec. No one enjoys killing someone. We have to do it for the greater good. I’m so sorry to have to put you through this, it’s just I need to stir your memory.”