Chapter: 8 - A Heret's Tumor

Juwan was asleep. He was pondering over the things that lord Axile had told him.

"You are in deep trouble Juwan. First of all let me clarify one thing. This is not a dream. You have been astral projected to Hell. Don't worry you are in safe hands. But you need to know a lot of things." lord Axile had said.

"long ago when king Solomon ruled over Israel, he planned to build a temple. A temple so magnificent that it would take the human a decade to finish building it. And some parts of the temple could never be built with mere human power. King Solomon needed unearthly powers to construct the architectural magnificence."

"As we all know he was wisest person ever live on this planet and he knew things that a normal person would give his soul to know about. He called out mages and prophets from all over the world and created a Seal. The Seal of Solomon.

The Seal had the abilities to control and imprison demons, spirits and all other dark creatures. He enslaved them with the Seal's power and built his dream temple dedicated for the almighty.

But, even though his deeds were good because the methods were dark, king Solomon got immersed in sin. Seeing his corruption all mages and prophets transferred the power of the Seal into ten humans. They were the first of the Herets. We are the first of the herets. We were under king Solomon's orders. As time passed Asmodeus, the best of us was corrupted by greed. He went rouge searching for power. Till today no one knows were he is.

And so avoid such a thing from happening again, we formed a council.

Our powers were a part of us." As lord Axil continued his right eye's pupils had enlarged and a golden pentagram had become visible in it.

"Yes, it is in our eyes. You might have noticed your own abilities in seeing spirits," Juwan thought of the experience he had in the bungalow the previous day as lord Axile continued, "Later we heard that Asmodeus had tried to sell his powers for earthly pleasures. And somehow he succeeded in giving his powers. And so when our time came we too did the same. We transferred our powers to our very first successor. It all took a simple contract. But the procedure had its own side-effects. As our successors took over, we ascended to this castle. We have been here watching the dead and punishing the wicked for this long. As time passed our successor too passed on their powers and it continued.

This is were you come in. My previous successor was Susan. She had been my successor for quite some time. I didn't know she had planned on passing on her powers. Without the council's consent she had made a contract. Usually to pass on the powers, we train a few people and select the best out of them and make sure that they are fully aware of their responsibilities. Then we sign the contracts. We don't know why Susan had committed suicide or why she dumped her powers on you, but its your responsibility now.

You can still change the scenario. Use your abilities. Find Susan's rogue spirit and bring it to us. Maybe then we could take up your responsibilities." lord Axile looked at the dumb struck Juwan and pitied him secretly.

"So you are telling me that Ms. Susan tricked me and gave me powers? Okay, let this not be a dream, but why should I say no to supernatural powers?" Juwan demanded, unsure whether to fear him or stay strong.

"You are fast but not fast enough. You see any power comes with a price." Juwan froze when he heard it, but lord Axile continued, "Your eye has the power to see, fight, understand and seal most of the spirits but in return the power will corrode your health like cancer. It has already began. When we projected you here, your earthly body was taken to a hospital. I suppose by now the doctors would have figured out that you are being poisoned by a tumor in your right eye." Juwan felt a shock near his heart.

"What can I do about it?" Juwan asked shaking nervously.

"Its not deadly. You can avoid it but will have to find your eye's seal. You are a vessel. Each vessel has its own kind of seal. You have to find yours. Its up to you whether to search for your seal or find Ms. Susan. Both ways the clock is ticking my dear heret. Find your seal, the power become yours and only you can decide what to do with it. Fine Susan and we can make her break the contract. Either way the choice is yours."

"But-" Juwan controlled himself and fought back his fear and perplexity. After that Juwan had found himself in an hospital room with nothing but confusing misery to look forward to.

His conscious slowly darkened and he found himself inside the bungalow. He could hear a high pitched wailing from the secret cupboard that had led to the room where Juwan found Ms. Susan's dead body.

"I await you....Find me. Find my bloody, torn out aim and you will find me." The wailing turned to scream and Juwan couldn't bear it anymore. Blood flowed our of his ears when a shrill nearly shattered his brain. Shaking with fear Juwan woke up from the dream. The dream had started with a memory and ended with a nightmare. Juwan couldn't sleep anymore. He lay down in the bed, suffocated by the smell of medicine thinking of a way to find his seal. He couldn't waste his time searching for Ms. Susan's spirit. He had to save himself first. He felt his pant pocket searching if anything was there. He took out a visiting card from his pocket only to realize even more that it was all not just a dream. It was a visiting card of a funeral parlour. It was the last thing lord Axile had given to him before summoning Karon.