Chapter: 13 - Roger's Lament

The moment Roger heard the words that came out of Juwan, he froze. What else could he do? He couldn't protect his son. He couldn't protect Susan. What has he done well? Tears flowed down his cheeks. His heart pained as if it had been struck by a lightning.

"I...a...so..sor...rrryy..." The words were stuck in his throat. He couldn't muster up the courage to apologize. Juwan felt sorry for the old man. He couldn't watch the man shake uncontrollably.

"She committed suicide. You couldn't have possibly done anything about it." Juwan patted his shoulder doubting whether it would do any good to his condition.

"I should have never given her the powers. She must have gone mad!!! I was a fool. Arrr!!" Roger made a light scream, to let out the pain. He banged on a table. There was a knock on the door.

"Grandpa? Is everything alright?" It was Jenny. Roger quickly wiped his tears and opened the door.

"Arrraahh. Nothing, dear we were just talking." Roger cleared his throat and said to Jenny, "Do you need anything dear?"

"Father is on the line." Jenny showed him a muted phone held in an ongoing call, "He said, he will be here soon. He wanted to talk to you." saying so, Jenny unmuted the call and handed over the phone to Roger.

"Hello, Scrooge. Yes. It is Jenny's friend. He was doing some kind of historical research about our funeral parlour-you know-its historical values are limitless. And so he wanted to ask a few questions to me." Roger said to his son who was on the other side of the receiver, "When will you be home? It's late already. Oh....Ok.....Ok...Jenny? She just now came from her dat.." At the last word, Roger was cut out by Jenny.

"It was not a date. I was just invited to a treat by Riya!!!" Jenny squealed lightly in defiance. Roger smiled weakly and changed the word.

"Ok...ok...It's just a treat. Ok. I will tell her." Roger cut the call, "Your father will be here in an hour. Seems like something happened at the meeting. He wants you to sleep early-before he comes." Roger said to Jenny and handed her the phone as she glanced at Juwan who was clueless about what was happening, "You can sleep. I will send back your friend in a few minutes." Roger added and Jenny left. Roger closed the door behind her.

"Juwan?"

"Yes, Mr Roger?"

"I.....need you to go now. My son can't know about all this." Roger was totally mixed up with his emotions. He had to do something fast, otherwise both of them will be in an uneasy situation. Scrooge had always known about his family conditions, yet he bore with it since it didn't bother the house.

Suddenly Roger remembered the day he had knocked on his son's doorstep, tired and worn out, beaten to the pulp.

When Scrooge asked Jenny to return to her room that day, Roger knew that it was indeed time to put an end to the stupidity. The war was over and yet he had sacrificed two of his family members on a mission that had no base. He knew it was his mistake and he had to pay for it with his wife's and son's blood.

"Father, it is time you stop this nonsense. I don't care what you signed up for. Whether it is important or not, I won't bare to see it ruin our family!" Scrooge had said and lost his posture. He cried, biting his teeth so that his daughter wouldn't know his weak self. When Roger had seen his only son cry out for stopping the insanity he had been practicing till then, he decided to let go of it and ignore his duties as a heret. He shut himself inside the house so that he doesn't have to face the world outside. Yet year's later Scrooge took him to a get-together and there he saw her. Susan. The woman, his dead son had relied his life on. Yet she had stood there happily without a tinge of guilt for what she had brought down upon his family. Then when he tried to reach her, she had tried to get away from him. In the end, she had an accident while getting away from him and had lost her sight. At that moment when she was very close to him, chained to a hospital bed trying to recover from the injury, Roger came to decision. He decided to give his powers to her, who had started the whole mess. And that fateful night Roger finished it of where it started...

"Roger!!!! What happened? What are you thinking?" Juwan asked and took Roger out of the memory. Juwan was dumbstruck.

"I just remembered something." Roger said still partially trapped inside the memory, "I am sorry. Sometimes I just think that, maybe I gave the powers to Susan to get rid of my guilt. Maybe it was a selfish decision after all. I shouldn't have done it." again Roger broke into long brood.

"Mr. Roger, pull yourself together. This is not the time to consider your regrets. Please...For my sake." Juwan caught hold of Roger and patted his shoulder.

"Ok...ok. I will. What can I do for you?" Roger asked Juwan

"You see, Ms. Susan did give me these powers. But it was all a trick. She had tricked me into signing the deal. And I don't know how to control my powers. Axile told me that if I don't seal my powers it could kill me." Juwan said.

"I am sorry, but only you could figure out your seal. I had prepared my son in advance for the transfer and so he had a seal. In Susan's case, she was already a candidate to become someone else's successor. And so she too had a seal. " Roger explained and Juwan lost the little hope he had.

"Then...." Juwan was about to say something when he was cut out between by Roger.

"Maybe I can train you. But now is not the time. I shall call you when the time comes." Saying so Roger plucked some hairs from Juwan's head as he flinched and rose up.

"Hay...What was that for?"

"To summon you. Now off you go."

"But I can't. There is a monster outside. I wants my blood."

"What monster?

"The man-goat kind..."

"What? You mean Grindy?"

"You guys have a name for that thing? Seriously?"

"Its a story for another time. Now then, if you cant go by the front entrance, I will just have to teleport you."

"What?" Juwan asked in shock when Roger talked of summoning and teleporting. Roger reached the cupboard in the room and took a glass jar filled with a black slime.

"It's reaper's blood. It can help you with the journey." Roger took a spoon full and thrust it in Juwan's mouth, "Here, now repeat the incantations after me." Roger said. Juwan was still in shock to even move.

"Come on kid, snap out of it. We have no time. Repeat after me and imagine your destination in your mind. The more vivid you are, the more easier the process will be. And please bare with the pain."

"Pain?....." Before Juwan could protest or ask anything more Roger began the incantation.

"Aperta Porta Sancta Linea Translationem. Apertum Ostium Sancta Iter Immediationis" As Roger repeated the incantation, Juwan repeated after him. Slowly Juwan started feeling an intolerable pain in his body. Yet he repeated the incantation until the pain started taking his skin. Soon his body tore into a billion pieces and vaporized.