Chapter Two: Hell’s Fury

Crossing the border on the long trek back to Nepal was simple compared to the journey to the mountain tomb. Jake shoved the golden gauntlet and the katana in his backpack. He slept at the old campsite three miles from the mountain. Hoping to recover some of his strength, he slipped into an uneasy sleep. His dreams were haunted with visions of the tomb. He saw a red desert as well as strange figures flying in the air, they looked almost humanoid. Jake awoke to an unearthly roar in the distance. It was still dark and fresh snow had fallen. Jake grabbed the rifle that he had brought in Nepal for protection from wild beasts. He checked that it was loaded with his fingers and cocked it, he dared not open the tent. A silhouette approached in the moonlight. At first he assumed it was a yak or some kind of bull due to the horns but it looked like it walked upright. As it approached Jake shivered involuntarily. A moment later the silhouette disappeared. Jake hesitated for what felt like an hour but in reality could only have been a few moments. He then crawled forward and opened the tent, the creature, whatever it was had vanished. Jake remained awake until the sun rose. As he packed the tent away he noticed hoof prints in the snow. What was most disturbing was that they led towards the tent and no hoof prints led away. Jake shrugged off the evidence and assumed he was overtired. The paintings of demons in the tomb had obviously crept into his subconscious. He comforted himself with recollections of different cultures using such methods to scare away tomb robbers. In Jake’s case it hadn’t worked.

Three days later Jake was sitting in a hotel room in Kathmandu. Jake opened the false heel in his right shoe and slid the amulet in. Once again he heard the same echoing whispers that he had heard in the Tibetan tomb. He looked around the empty room and saw nothing. Jake had never been superstitious and he was far from religious. The thought of a curse flashed through his mind and his heart rate rose, a competing idea came into his mind, he thought back to his mother’s mental illness and shuddered at the idea. Jake resolved to shrug both ideas off and rationalised the whispers down to tiredness. Now that the amulet was sealed away, the whispers were silent. Jake unwrapped the golden gauntlet. He examined the armoured hand and arm, encrusted into the knuckles were gems. It looked so intricate and valuable that Jake wondered when it could have been created. He mentally went through the Chinese dynasties but nothing seemed to fit. Jake smiled to himself when he considered how what he held could change what historians thought about Asian history. Jake finished off wrapping the katana. He wrote his London address on it and prepared to drop it with the local courier. The other items he had recovered were far too valuable to post back to the UK. His smile faltered as he thought about customs. No bribe could make customs officers look away from such a beautiful ornate object. Jake hid the gauntlet and left his room. An hour later he returned and bound the gauntlet in bandages. He then added a layer of wet plaster making it look like a plaster cast for a broken arm. Jake had been officially mountain climbing in Nepal, it made perfect sense that he may have suffered an injury. The metal joints on the gauntlet should look close enough to bandage lines. Jake slipped his left hand into the gauntlet and as he did so he felt pressure wrap around it. With his plans complete, Jake went to the airport and booked himself on the first flight to Europe. He had two hours to kill before his flight left and his mobile phone had enough reception to make calls. He phoned Lawrence.

        "Jake." Lawrence answered. "So how was the Tibetan expedition? Where we right? Was it there?"

        "Lawrence, it was amazing! The tomb was carved inside the mountain as you predicted but the time period... It was older, far older."

        "Well I hope you took pictures."

        "Naturally."

        "And the artifacts?" Lawrence said causally as if it wasn’t the whole point of the endeavour.

        "You have no idea my friend. No idea!"

        "I’m looking forward to finding out. When can we meet up?"

        "Give me a few days. Shall we say Friday?"

        "I’ll call round on Friday. See you then." Lawrence confirmed.

        "Be prepared to be amazed my friend." Jake hung up and called his girlfriend. She answered after what felt like a long time.

        "Jake its 3am here. Are you back in the UK now?"

        "No babe but I will be soon. I’m catching a flight out of Kathmandu in a few hours. With all the changeovers I’ll be back within a day."

        "Well some of us have to be up in four hours’ time for work."

        "Sorry babe, I just wanted to hear your voice."

        "Well you’ve heard it now. Hurry home and be safe." With that Michelle hung up. Jake sighed as he realised that he was in the "doghouse" for gallivanting off once again. He distracted himself with thoughts of all the nice presents he could buy her to make up for his absence. He knew she wanted him to change careers and do something more legitimate. Jake hated the idea of doing something mundane. Jake mused to himself, maybe when she sees the amulet and the gauntlet she’ll realise why I do this. 

Airport security was easier to fool than Jake thought. His plane was heading to Dubai where he would change for a flight to Frankfurt and then London. On the flight to Dubai Jake daydreamed about what might have happened had he been caught, he did not fancy a stay in a Nepalese prison. Suddenly a realisation hit him, the man in the cage was a prisoner! Jake’s mind wondered back to the skeleton in the cage suspended over the chasm. It had been sitting in the lotus mediation pose with its bony legs crossed. What crime could someone have done to warrant such a fate? A tiny crack had allowed daylight to flood the cavern from above. Most of that’s poor soul’s existence would have been in pure darkness. Jake imagined what it would be like living in such a small cage day after day. Then a strange thought occurred to him; why did the prisoner stay? The bars were large enough for Jake to slip through and yet the prisoner’s skeleton remained. Who would allow the prisoner to wear such an expensive and ornate gauntlet? Perhaps the prisoner was ancient royalty but where was the rest of the armour? Within the tomb Jake had assumed it was a burial chamber but what if he had stumbled upon an ancient prison instead? As Jake remembered scaling down the chain onto the hanging cage he frowned as he thought about the metal. What metal could last so long without rusting? The cage seemed to be made of some kind of black metal that reflected no light. The whole layout of the mountain tomb worried Jake, a primal panic rushed through his mind but he couldn’t understand exactly what was wrong with it.

Jake swapped onto his flight to Frankfurt and sat in first class, after all he expected to make a lot of money from the relics. He reclined in his seat and closed his eyes. Keeping his arm still in the plaster cast seemed to be the most difficult part of following airport security. He sank into a deep sleep. The next thing Jake knew was the sensation of cold. He opened his eyes to find himself sitting in the cage suspended over the chasm. He looked up and saw the stars of the night sky from the hole in the roof. The crystals he had tried and failed to dislodge from the domed walls glowed with a purple light. In the dark the room looked very different. Jake shook the bars and the cage began to slowly swing. He panicked for a while as a reaction to his incarceration. Then he saw the strange script carved into the dome, it was carved so deep that Jake had used it to scale up to the chain when he first came here. He had missed the script completely. It looked like no language on Earth. Jake was about to climb up out of the cage through the bars and scale the large chain when the crystals changed colour. The ambient purple became a deep red and below him the chasm light up. He saw a vista of light and through it he could see a red barren landscape. He saw villages and a giant crack in the ground, out of the deep crack flew demons with red leathery wings and black horns. Jake screamed in horror and woke himself up. He was back in his first class seat on the aeroplane. A hostess came over to him and he apologised. She gave a fake smile and walked on. Jake decided to remain awake for the rest of the flight.

It took six hours to get his connecting flight to London. Jake once again marvelled at how easily he slipped through security. The X-Ray was his biggest worry, with the threat of terrorism, Jake half expected to be detained but once again he evaded noticed and his plastered arm seemed to be ignored. Jake was exhausted, his eyes and legs ached. After the dream he had experienced he decided to drink on the plane. The air hostess gave him a strange look when he tried to order a fifth whiskey. Jake waved his hand and cancelled his order. Getting drunk on the plane didn’t bother him. Getting detained when they landed with almost priceless relics did. The sun was almost set and most passengers had pulled their window screen shut. Jake glanced out of his wonder and saw an orange demon flying in the distance. He blinked twice but it remained. Its horns were black and it glared at Jake. Just as he yelled it vanished into cloud cover. The hostess returned but Jake tried to act natural. He looked again but it had vanished. I must be drunk! Jake thought to himself as he pulled his window screen down and reclined in his chair. The exertion of the entire trip had finally caught up with him. Jake nodded off to sleep once again in what had been his third aeroplane seat. His sleep was not restful. This time he was a child again, he was coming home from his first day at secondary school. Still high on the thrill of making new friends, Jake smiled as he walked across the familiar grassy park and climbed the steps of the maisonette where he lived with his mother. As he slid his key in the door, he paused. Jake knew what was on the other side, he didn’t want to open the door. Part of him thought that if he hesitated long enough he could change it. A moment later the door unlocked as if Jake had no free will.

        "Mum, I’m home!" Jake shouted. There was no reply. "Mum?" Jake called. "Mum!" Jake walked down the corridor of his flat passed the photos of him, and his mother and father. The absence of his father had taken its toll but Jake refused to think about that. He slowly opened the door to the living room and spotted the mess. The furniture was all tipped over and the wallpaper had been ripped off the wall. In the middle of the room his mother was crouching on the floor holding her head. Jake ran to his mother thinking at first there had been a burglary.

        "Jacob!" His mother snapped. "Shoes!" Jake responded by kicking off his shoes.

        "Sorry mum, what happened?" Jake asked. "Are you hurt?"

        "It’s the voices again son." His mother replied. "They won’t leave me alone. They keep whispering and whispering and they won’t leave me alone!" Jake hugged his mother as he looked around the room and saw the scribbles over the bare backing paper on the walls where the wallpaper had once hung earlier that morning. "I can’t block them out! They’re coming for us! They’re coming for you my Jake!" The next thing Jake knew his mother was the flashing blue light of the ambulance. He knew he wouldn’t see his mother again for seven years as the dream and his memories ran in perfect synchronisation and he wept. Jake woke up as the plane came in to land at Heathrow airport with tears in his eyes. He didn’t want to contemplate the idea that he was having delusions like his mother. He hurried off the plane and into the terminal knowing that if he could get home to Michelle everything would be OK.

The taxi ride back to his apartment was uneventful. It was night time and Jake slid his key into the lock and opened his door. As he walked in Michelle was sitting on the sofa, she was wearing her yellow kimono, her red curly hair was still damp from the shower she had recently taken. She looked at Jake with accusatory green eyes. Jake smiled and caught his reflection in the wall mirror. His face looked tired and pale with dark rings under his brown eyes. His short dark brown hair was unkempt as he remembered that he hadn’t brushed his hair or teeth in a few days.

        "You look like shit." Michelle said.

        "You look wonderful." Jake responded. "What kind of greeting is that?" Jake moved in for a kiss.

        "Uh! Shower first! What did you do to your arm?"

        "This? This is fake. I did it to bring this back." Jake grabbed a hammer from the kitchen and shattered the plaster covering the gauntlet. Within a few smacks for the hammer Jake began to unravel the bandages to reveal the golden gauntlet.

        "Jacob the mess!" Michelle grimaced as she jumped off the sofa and stood over him on the kitchen floor.

        "You see?" Jake said as he showed off the golden gauntlet. "Look how beautiful it looks."

        "What?" Michelle said. "You are crazy!"

        "But isn’t it magnificent!"

        "Your arm?" Michelle snorted. "It’s less hairy I guess."

        "No the priceless ancient gauntlet on my arm!"

        "Jake." Michelle began with a frown. "There is nothing there but your arm. What trick is this? You fuck off to god knows where for once again. Then you come bursting in with a broken arm which isn’t broken."

        "You don’t see it? That’s impossible!" Jake panicked. Perhaps he was delusional. He frantically fought against this notion as he pulled his shoe off. As he did he heard his mother’s voice in his memory Jacob! Shoes! Jake opened the false heel and pulled out the amulet. "What about this?! You see this surely!"

        "Yeah." Michelle replied. "That’s a pretty purple pendant. Where did you get it?" Jake just smiled. "Oh no! You stole it."

        "I recovered it from an ancient mountain tomb in Tibet."

        "Grave robbery. Not much better!" Michelle chuckled, but there was no humour in her voice.

        "Michelle! You knew what I did when we first met. You had no problem with it then. It pays for all of this."

        "I work too."

        "But we couldn’t afford the lifestyle we have. I want you to have pretty things. I want you to have..."

        "I don’t care about things! I care about you, even though you’re a stupid idiot! I care about your liberty, about your safety travelling off to these dangerous places and I care about your sanity. What is with the invisible gauntlet, is this a joke?!"

        "I have no idea why you can’t see it." Jake mused. Was it cursed, was it magical? How could magic be real? He pulled at the gauntlet to release it and suddenly a sensation like a thousand tiny needles dug into his arm. It felt like teeth holding onto his arm. The more he pulled the more it hurt. He stopped immediately. "It’s stuck!" Jake gasped. "The gauntlet is stuck!"

        "Jake baby, you are scaring me now. There’s nothing on your arm!"

        "I don’t know why you can’t see it. It is there! You must believe me!" Jake said. "Wait! Look at this!" Jake put the amulet around his neck as he noticed that the same type of purple gem on the amulet was on the knuckles of the gauntlet. "Can you still see the purple pendant?" Michelle looked at him like he was mad and for a moment Jake believed he was as well.

        "What pendant?"

        "The one I showed you a moment ago. The one from my shoe!"

        "Jake, you are beginning to scare me now." Michelle put her hands on his face and Jake pulled the amulet off desperate for her to believe him.

        "Look!" Jake dangled it. "This pendant!"

        "It’s beautiful! Where did it disappear to?"

        "It vanished and you forgot about it when I put it around my neck." Jake explained. Michelle pulled a face like a skeptic at a carnival. “OK. You wear it.” Michelle agreed and Jake placed it around her neck. Suddenly Jake felt the urge to have a shower, he couldn’t quite remember what he was saying to Michelle. He knew she was angry at him and he knew she worried about his perilous career choices. Jake had to find a way to take the gauntlet off and sell it. It looked priceless and he pictures he took of the tomb would be of interest to Lawrence as well.

        “I’m going to take a shower.” Jake announced as he left the kitchen. As he disrobed in the bathroom Michelle entered.

        “Aren’t you forgetting something?” She said. Jake assumed she was flirting and paused for a moment. “The pendant thingy?”

        “What pendant thingy?” Jake said in genuine puzzlement.

        “The one I couldn’t see until you took it off.” Michelle said. “Jake you were right; you’ve actually forgotten about it. I thought this was all a prank.” Jake was about to respond when he felt a sharp pain in his head. He put the gauntlet to his forehead and one of the purple gems set into it touched his skin. Suddenly the thing clouding his mind dissipated and he could see the amulet around Michelle’s neck. He had an idea and he pressed the same gem on his index gauntleted knuckle to her forehead. Michelle looked down and saw the golden gauntlet on Jake’s left hand.

        “I see it!” She claimed. “It looks like a weapon. How did you make these things vanish?”

        “I don’t know.” Jake said.

        “It’s not possible!”

        “Clearly it is.”

        “Jake? What does this mean?” Michelle asked wide eyed. “Are these things cursed?”

        “I don’t know. I’m going to sort it out, I promise. First I’m going to take a shower and try to get this thing off my arm. Then I’m going to call Lawrence again and see if we can research what they are. Take the amulet off though just in case.”

        “I don’t want to.” Michelle responded. “I… I guess I should. What if it’s affecting my mind?” With that Michelle took the amulet off and handed it to Jake. “I’m going to make us come tea. Don’t be too long.” Michelle left the bathroom and Jake set the shower. As he stood there with water cascading over him he felt vindicated that he was not going crazy. The mystical revelation of the relics wasn’t as shocking to him as they were to Michelle. He was more curious than concerned. He began to daydream about demons. What if the paintings were warnings? What if the relics attracted demons? What if they were cursed or possessed? He imagined a demon waiting outside the shower curtain ready to kill him. Jake didn’t like that thought and redoubled his efforts to finish cleaning himself in the shower. He then slid his hands over the wet gauntlet looking for a way to release it. That’s when he first heard the voice.

        You defile the tomb. You are no guardian! You have no idea what terror you have released back into the world! Jake jumped at the sound of the voice. Unworthy scum! Jake looked around but he knew the voice was coming from within his own mind. The madness he had evaded had returned to make his nightmare real.

        “Shut up! You aren’t real!” Jake growled as he slid the curtain back to reveal a demon.

Standing on the bathroom rug was an orange skinned impish creature no more than four feet tall. It had black horns and two inch claws as well as bat-like wings and a tail. Jake was reminded of both the paintings and the typical depiction of demons in religious artwork. He froze in shock as the demon scowled at him. It reached to grab the amulet from around his neck, clearly it saw through whatever enchantment had affected other people. As it did, Jake’s gauntleted arm moved on its own as if possessed. It grabbed the demon’s hand and crushed it. The demon winced and Jake screamed. The demon clawed at Jake with its other hand and scratched his chest drawing blood. The gauntlet formed a fist as it punched the demon in the face and then raked its own claws across its eyes. Jake grabbed the towel with his free hand and ineptly hit the demon with it. The demon leaped onto Jake forcing him on his back in the bath. It lifted its head back revealing razor sharp teeth and bit hard into his shoulder. Jake watched as the gauntlet forced fingers into the eye sockets of the demon. Blood poured onto Jake as the demon died. With a flash of light it and its blood vanished leaving a wounded Jake lying in the bath. He struggled to get up and as he got out the bath he called to Michelle. There was no answer. Jake forgot all about his wounds as he ran still naked into the living room. There Michelle stood motionless with her back to him. The lights flickered and when they came back on her red hair had turned black and her skin was now blue. A more muscular, demonic woman stood in her place.

        “Give us the amulet!” She demanded as she faced Jake. “It does not belong to you.”

        “Michelle!” Jake yelled. “What have you done to her?”

        “This host is mine now!” The demon explained. “You address Princess Astriana of the Azure Court. You will bow in my presence human!” Jake felt the weight of her words hit him like stones. Yet his love and fear for Michelle gave him the courage to defy her.

        “Give her back to me!”

        “You make demands of me?! Never! Give me the amulet now!”

        “What are you?”

        “I have told you who I am!”

        “Demon!”

        “Ha! Is that what you call us now?” Astriana laughed. “Once you worshipped us. Once you feared us as your natural predators. We are Asura we are your betters and this world will be ours once more. Now give me the amulet and I will spare you so that you can bear witness to our return.”

        “You need the amulet don’t you.” Jake muttered in realisation. “It’s key to allowing you to return to Earth.”

        “Yes, we have its twin and that’s how we can scry on you. The two are linked and with the amulet I can reopen the rift. Now give me back what is rightfully mine!”

        “Never!” Jake retorted. “Release Michelle first!” The demon didn’t not respond, she ran at him and backhanded him in the face. Jake span around and hit the wall. The force of her strike was immense.

        “You dare defy me!” The demon said as she grabbed Jake by the throat and lifted him with one arm. She squeezed and Jake began to choke. “I have lived for thousands of your years. I am more real than the deities this host remembers your people worshipping. Your death will be the first of many. Your insolent species needs to be punished.” The gauntlet struck her with a force equally as strong as her own. Astriana let go and nursed her chest and this gave the gauntlet time to grab her by the throat and left her in the air. Jake felt the gauntlet taking control of him. His mouth moved like it was possessed.

        “While a guardian still draws breath your reign will never return witch. You and your people were banished for a reason.” After Jake uttered this his gauntlet threw her across the room. She landed with a crash but jumped to her feet instantly. Astriana make a gesture in the air and Jake felt his body being grabbed by an invisible force.

        “So you have a gauntlet. You make a pathetic guardian. Strong but pathetic. I’m still going to kill you.” Astriana walked forward and Jake gasped for air. The gauntlet grabbed the kitchen draw and opened it frantically as it grabbed a large knife. “This spell will drain the last of your life essence and feed it to me!” Astriana began to chant. Jake felt himself losing consciousness just as the gauntlet flung the knife which landed in Astriana’s neck. The demon staggered backwards and then pulled the large blade free, this was a mistake as deep red arterial blood sprayed the room. She dropped to her knees unable to talk. Jake ran over and the gauntlet jerked forward but Jake held his arm back. He looked in horror as the demon witch transformed back into Michelle before collapsing on the floor dead. Jake cradled her and cried. He was overwhelmed with grief and shock but something within the gauntlet gave him the resolve to flee. The rest became a blur.      

       

By the time Jake came to his senses he was crouching in the park and exhausted. He was out of breath from all the running. The physical pain and fatigue had brought him to his knees. The stiches in his sides didn’t bother him, neither did the shortness of breath but the fatigue had forced him to stop. He could feel the cool wet grass beneath his hands and knees. He looked at the evergreen bushes in front of him as he remembered the trauma. His mind kept going over the scene again and again: He saw the demon in his apartment. He was still trembling and his hand was covered in blood- her blood! This was horrific enough on its own but the blood was not really on his hand it was on the gauntlet upon his hand. He looked at the gauntlet that no one else seemed to acknowledge and for the thousandth time he tried to pull it off his arm. The tiny pins dug in harder stinging him in retribution as he tried to pull it off, the pain was almost unbearable as if the gauntlet was punishing him for trying but his grief drove him to wrap his thighs around it and pull with all his might. He pulled for just a second because until he felt the sensation as if his flesh was being torn away from his bones. For all he knew it was being torn since he had no way to look inside. Defeated and in agony, Jake rolled around on the grass nursing his arm almost in tears. While his eyes were closed he saw the demon again; her pale blue skin and black hair was an exact parody of his fiancée Michelle. The horns, tail and muscular frame revealed that this creature was not human. He replayed the altercation in his mind. He had only been in the shower for a short while. When he returned Michelle was gone and the demon was in her place wearing her dressing gown. The gauntlet had saved his life, this much he was sure of, he knew that the demon would have choked him to death but as it crushed the demon’s skull the body transformed back into that of his fiancée’s. Jake had never thought it was possible for them to transform the body they were possessing. He closed his eyes and wished it all away.

        “This has to be a nightmare that I’m having. Wake up! Wake the fuck up!” He said to himself. As he did, another voice emerged. In his mind. You are no warrior! You are weak! It declared in a venomous tone which echoed through his head like a proclamation. “You murdered her!” Jake yelled out loud. The demon witch that took her body murdered her. I saved your life. You should never have assumed this duty if you did not have the conviction to fight them. “For the last time: I had no idea!” Yes, yes you stole me as a petty thief and you took the amulet in ignorance too. Now we are all that stands between demonic domination of this world. The shame of it is enough to make me sick! If I had a mouth still, I would vomit all over you since you shame us both. You are not worthy of the name of guardian but you are all we have. “I just want to end this madness!” Jake hissed. The voice was silent once again and Jake sobbed as he tried to take stock of what had just happened. Jake imagined turning himself in to the police. They would find her body sooner or later. He could make a confession, not that they’d believe him. He pictured himself going into a prison cell. Then he imagined the chaos it would cause when a demon burst through to take the amulet. Worse still, he imagined what could happen if the police officers became possessed. Jake walked through the park, it had been nightfall since he had fled his flat. He found a stream and washed the blood off the gauntlet come murder weapon. He looked up at the stars and for the first time, he truly contemplated what heaven and hell might be. The air was chilly and the park was deserted. He saw the church across the road from the park and he wandered over. Desperately seeking salvation, Jake found the church doors were open and so he walked in.

The church was a gothic style building with a steeple, it looked dark brown in the night. He saw the gargoyles above him as we passed the threshold and wondered if they had been inspired from the creatures that haunted him night and day. They certainly resembled the imps that harassed him so frequently. As he dipped his hand in the holy water font and made the sign of the cross, he had an idea. He slammed the gauntlet into the font causing a splash and hoping against hope that the holy water would melt the gauntlet away and exercise the demon within it. To his disappointment nothing happened. He heard the sound of someone clearing their throat as if politely reminding him that he was in the house of God. He looked around to see a middle aged priest standing about twenty yards away in the aisle. The priest looked over his glasses in a school teacher manner. Jake had not been to church for a very long time, his family were Catholic and his upbringing kicked in as he showed reverence and an apologetic nod to the priest. The rest of the church seemed complexly empty as Jake walked further in.

        "How can I help you at this late hour?" The priest said barely concealing irritation.

        "Sorry for the intrusion father." Jake began, "I had nowhere else to go, I’ve done something dreadful!"

        "Calm down and take a minute. What’s wrong my son?" The priest seemed slightly flustered.

        "Can I confess father? It’s been years since I have. I mean if I were to confess it to you, you could give me advice on what to do right? it would be confidential right?"

        "Yes." The priest responded. "That’s right. I take it you are Catholic."

        "Lapsed but yes, but I think my faith has come flooding back recently."

        "Well come over here to the confessional box and go in there." The priest motioned Jake to the confessional box while he went through the over door. Jake saw the shadowy silhouette of the priest through the mesh window. He waited expectantly.

        "Bless me father for I have sinned." Jake began.

        "How long has it been since your last confession."

        "A really long time. Maybe fifteen years or so."

        "Very well... go on."

        "Father I killed someone tonight." Jake left the words to hang in the air for a moment. "I mean it was self defence... and I stole something I shouldn’t have."

        "Perhaps you would prefer to start at the beginning." The priest advised.

        "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Well father I am a tomb robber. No other way to describe what I do and I suppose there is no point in dressing it up in front of God. I travel the world and I acquire valuable relics from tombs and ancient sites. I guess I’ve deluded myself into thinking it was a victimless crime until now. Since I found this amulet and this armoured glove in Tibet I’ve had nothing but trouble. I’ve seen demons, real demons, they’ve been haunting me, no attacking me every ninety minutes or so since I left Tibet. They seem to tear through from Hell and attack me. The small ones do at least. But recently, they have been possessing people around me. Earlier tonight, one of them possessed my girlfriend while I was in the shower. I came into the lounge in my apartment and there she was but it wasn’t her, in her place was a blue skinned demon, but it wore her kimono. It tried to strangle me to death but this glove... erm... this gauntlet, it’s possessed as well! It killed her, I mean I couldn’t stop it. It protected me and killed her! Then her body returned to the shape of Michelle! I can’t give myself up to the police. I’d be unleashing these demons on the police station or the prison. I know I’ve sinned. But what should I do? What am I going to do?"

        "Well, that’s a rather fanciful story." The priest said.

        "You don’t believe me?" Jake reacted in astonishment. "But the church does exorcisms! You must believe in demons."

        "Demons come in many metaphorical forms. But what you describe is not possible. The Lord would not allow it. You could be suffering from delusions or perhaps a mental break down. I think you need help. I cannot say for certain how much of what you believe is true and how much isn’t. But our Lord is a merciful god. Perhaps you didn’t do what you imagined you did. Have you been suffering from stress recently?"      

        "What?! No! I need you to exorcise my hand. This gauntlet thing is invisible but you can exorcise the demon or spirit out of it. Maybe you can exorcise the amulet too."

        "My son, this is not a computer game! This is real life and what you are proposing is preposterous. To get an exorcism requires letters to be sent to the archbishop and the request must be verified by others. God would not allow demons to move so freely on Earth. I am more and more certain you are suffering from a mental illness, or perhaps this is some prank!"

        "No! You don’t think I wish that was the case? Oh how I do! I’d rather wake up from this nightmare in some asylum to find out she’s still alive! But it’s true. You have to believe me father. You must! Just assume I am telling the truth. Please for one moment, theoretically if I was telling the truth and if what I told you was true. What must I do?"

        "Give me the amulet."

        "OK, I guess that’s for the best. But you need to lock it up somewhere safe or exorcise it right away because the demons will be after it soon..." Jake paused. Something felt wrong.

        "Give the amulet to me and everything will be okay."

        "Father? Are you sure that’s wise?"

        "Just give the amulet to me!" The priest demanded impatiently.

        "Nice try!" Jake responded but just as he did an orange glow enveloped the silhouette of the priest. A blast of flame roared through the mesh window in the confessional box. Jake ducked down just in time. As the flame dissipated The priest reached through the hole with a contorted look of anger on his face. His eyes glowed red.

        "Give me the amulet or die!" The possessed priest yelled. Jake rolled out of the box as it went up in flames. The priest walked out of the flames unharmed by them as red horns sprouted from his bald head. His skin turned a reddish hue. "Pathetic fool! You are unfit to be a guardian. I will visit upon you untold agony unless you surrender the amulet to me." The possessed priest blew a cone of flame as Jake dived behind a bench which caught fire.

        "Let the priest go!" Jake yelled back.

        "This host is mine! This world is ours!"

        "How can you manifest in a house of God?" Jake asked as he crawled away. He was trying to stall it with questions.

        "Your god has no power over us. We are not quite the creatures you think we are. Your history and your religions are false because the truth is that this world was ours before it was yours!" Jake froze with the realisation of the revelation. Everything he took comfort in was shattered in that moment. The roar of more fire being blown in his direction snapped him out of it as he staggered away from the demonic flamethrower. The demon had sprouted huge red leathery wings and it leaped up and flapped wildly as it fired another fountain of flame at Jake. It was all Jake could do to life the gauntlet up and protect his face as the flame came towards him. Things got hotter and he imagined he was on fire but when he opened his eyes a strange bubble of air was around him shielding him from the fire. The gauntlet seemed to be protecting him magically. Jake saw the demon stop in surprise and that was all he needed to run up and punch it in mid air. Jake’s gauntleted fist connected with its foot. He didn’t know if he had hurt it as he dived out of the way of the demon’s lashing tale. The demon remained in the air and continued to fire down balls of flame this time. It set the benches on fire and Jake realised a little too late its tactics. Almost totally surrounded by fire and out of reach of the demon Jake scowled at it. "Sooner or later you will burn."

        "Come fight me like a man you coward!"

        "I am no man. I am more valuable than a pathetic mortal. You I could crush. That gauntlet however is a weapon that you cannot truly comprehend. I’ve seen those things rend the flesh of my brethren. So I will watch you slowly roast and take it and the amulet from your corpse."

        "I’ll get you!" Jake threatened as he pointed his gauntleted hand at the demon with his index finger extended out pointing at his foe. Suddenly the armoured fingertip extended a claw and flew off on a chain. It shot through the left eye of the demon and through its skull. With an almighty thump the demon landed on the ground dead. The chain returned the twelve-yard distance and Jake wondered whether his finger had room inside the gauntlet at all as the fingertip reattached and the claw slid back in. The claw was metallic but it had resembled the two inch claws of the demons. Moments later the fires died down and the demon turned back into the priest but the head wound remained and his robes were torn. Jake walked forward and starred at what he had accidentally done. "There was no other way. I am sorry that I brought this trouble to your door." Jake said to the empty room. He turned and ran from the church.

Jake walked back through the park. “Is this my life now?” Jake said out loud. “To be hounded by demons every minute of my life?!”

You haven’t been paying attention. The gauntlet claimed within his head. The dimensions, as you would call them, align every ninety minutes or so at this time of year. Less in certain seasons. That gives you plenty of time to rest and sleep between incursions. You must train and I must teach.

        “I don’t want to fight demons. I never had a choice!”

        The alternative is to allow your world to be destroyed by demons! A painful death awaits you if you run away. But you are the guardian. The amulet chose you. Your destiny is clear.

        “Was it my destiny to get Michelle killed?” Jake’s eyes welled up with fresh tears.

        We each have our karma. You dishonour her memory by crying like a child. Does no part of your burn for vengeance? I will teach you how to destroy them.

        “I want to kill every last one of them for what they’ve done to my life!”

        Very well. Then we agree. You will learn to fight and defend the amulet.

        “I need to learn more about these creatures first.”

        The path of the scholar is not yours to take, what knowledge you need, you will find but you cannot use books to stop them. The path of the thief is also behind you. You now walk the path of the warrior. Recover the sword and I will teach you how to use this gauntlet to its full potential. You carry on your wrist one of the mightiest weapons ever forged before the demon wars.    

        “Great! It just occurred to me that I’m taking advice from a demonically possessed weapon.” 

        I’m no demon! I am your mentor as I was the mentor of the previous guardian. He was braver than you.

        “Sorry to disappoint.”

        And stronger, and faster and better trained.

        “Please. I’m going to need some confidence. Is this supposed to inspire me?”

        The amulet chose you for a reason- I cannot contradict your karma. Inspiration will be earned along with respect. First we prepare and you train. You’ll have an endless supply of demons to practice on, fortunately for you, they cannot manifest far from the amulet and they can only remain here for a short while. The possessions are more complicated but we will get to that lesson in good time.

        “Do you have a name?”

        Once I did. Now you can call me Sensei. What you have witnessed is the force of chaos and corruption but the cosmos also contains order and purity. There is balance and every source of yin has a yang to balance it. You join the light that burns against the darkness. Know this Jake… you are not alone. If fortune favours us, we may meet allies along the way who will also join the fight.