Chapter Six

Another trip to the mysterious spiritual plane, this time with a warning.

Hummer’s Melody

      Over the next two days, the hospital had Kenny under the medication of morphine and anti-depressant drugs that kept him sleep over the next two days. When he was up, his brain was so incoherent that he doesn’t recall anything happening during this time: except for the trip to the spiritual plane and the journey that ensued.

 

      The acid rain steadily fell outside the open mouth cavern, eating everything that it fell on until the land became dead and desolate. Kenny stared with a heavy sigh as Christian turned to walk further into the cave. He tightened the belt on his leather jacket before reminding Kenny they had to remain moving in an irritated tone. The buzzing bird’s body became encompassed in a radiated bright light that served as a torch for their twisting pathway of dirt and clay. There was a calm that staled the air but faintly you could hear the wind and rain outside the cavernous walls.

      “Who is that dude and how do you even know him?” Christian grilled as they journeyed around a black lake of diamond with rippling waters on the coast of iron boulders. The hummingbird’s glow reflected with a sight smudge off the lake as they climbed by.

      “He’s the guy I have been seeing for the last half a decade.” There was a rising irritation in Kenny’s voice now, “Why are you questioning me like that?”

      “You mean you don’t see it?”

      Kenny jumped over two small rocks with a befuddled look etched on his face.

      “What am I supposed to see?”

      “There’s a gloom to his chakra and a black poison in his aura.” Christian slid down a slope of loose gems and rock and came into a hall of crystallized stalagmites that sparkled sharply, “You seriously don’t see it?”

      “I did feel something off between us over the years but nothing like you are describing.”

      “He’s bad news, Kenny.”

      “Can we change the subject?” he sighed. The two mazed through the hall in silence before the hummingbird whirred excitedly at a blocked wall. Christian let the fluttering bird rest on his finger as she fluttered and chirped. He nodded and proceed to inspect the dusty wall with the tip of his fingers. As he adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, Kenny has inched closer to see himself.

      “It looks like we will be waiting here for a bit,” Christian announced so suddenly that it startled Kenny back a step, “The wall doesn’t move until the moon passes over the ridge of this mountain we are in. It carries a message of love to the heart of the mountain making this place pulsate.”

      “You come here often?” Kenny joked as he sat adjacent from the wall, against a small stalagmite.

      “No, smartass,” Christian spun the bird to her stomach showing a screen of scrolling words, “It’s uploaded in Hummer’s database.”

      “So the bird does have a name.” Kenny nodded while Christian rested beside him on the wall, placing his katana and pistol at his side.

      “Of course she does! I have had this baby for a few decades now. Each year she gets an upgrade and does better things than her last update.” The bird fluttered angrily out of his hold from being man handled and pecked his hand.

      Kenny thoughtlessly kicked a small pebble away as Hummer buzzed over and hopped around the rocks forgetting the humans behind her. He watched her buzz around freely, body still encased in a sphere of light, and it caused a shadow on Christian’s face, who was studying him intently.

      “What are you looking at?”

      “You have this brilliant battered aura around you, if that makes any sense,” There was an air of dream and awe in his voice, “It’s very beautiful if you ask me. A mix between a burning hillside and a golden sunset.”

      “Do you see these things all the time?”

      Christian broke his concentration and shook his head no.

      “Not all the time but it’s a gift. Much like how you can feel things are off in a relationship or how you notice that you talk up people more so than your friends. Or feeling like you’ve know someone forever. Your power is going to be something great once it fully develops. You will be something great! Not saying that you aren’t now, but blimey, the things you will see.”

      For the first time, Kenny felt a sense of excitement about the entire situation. After a foiled suicide attempt, he saw that things were becoming different and that Christian had felt to be more trustworthy than anything he recalls William telling him. Maybe this was a piece of his impregnated powers. The more his protector talked about these potential powers, the more Kenny wanted to embrace it and learn it.

      There was one small hope in the back of his mind that these new powers would eradicate any disease growing in his body. It was a constant prayer on this journey.

      “Why are you single, if you don’t mind me asking? I mean, as your boss I should know everything about you.”

      Christian laughed heartily and wiped a few tears out the corner of his eyes.

      “Boss? No, man. You are my Custody: The one person whom I am given immediate charge over to protect till the end of my life. Many of us come and go, protecting our Custodies throughout the time-space continuum but you were the last one to be born into this world making me your first and only Protector. I spent a lot of my adult life protecting you from a distance in stealth as best as I could but you like to move around a lot. So, I guess my relationship status is complicated in a way.”

      Kenny sighed trying to take everything in while the sound a dripping was softly heard in the distance.

      “But I am thirty, I don’t get it. Why now?”

      Christian sat straight up and inhaled deeply.

      “The only thing I know for sure,” He started, taking an occasional pause to find the right wording, “Your power is encased in some type of magnificent crystal of not just one soul, like the rest of humanity has, but it is infused with the power of six godly domains. Making your soul a dominant rare commodity and wanted by every malicious spirit there is. So your power was bound at your birth until the time came where your foretelling had to be fulfilled. At least, that’s what I was told about you.”

      “By who? You never did answer me that last time.”

      “You will find out soon enough.” The dripping noise grew steadier and louder, “The moon is close.”

      He stood up from against the wall, replacing his weapons on his utility belt and waited with Kenny standing by his side. Hummer was still fluttering freely, diving in and out of the drips in the distance. To Kenny, she looked like a speeding firefly. Before long, there was a swift shake, a flowing river of honey rushing against the wall causing it to vanish into thin air, revealing a wide walkway.

      The next room was shown to be full of gold, coins and gemstones piled to the ceiling. They had lost their luster and very few still had any sparkle left. Christian led him slowly around the piles, as Hummer lit the way. Kenny was amazed at the treasure and the amount of it while wondering who it all belonged to.

      “What did you see in that William guy?” Christian asked, breaking the silence.

      “I don’t really want to talk about him.”

      “I’m sorry,” They turned and began the climb down a dozen immeasurable marble steps (that could have been mistaken for small cliffs), leading down deeper into the mountain.

      “Don’t apologize. I am just tired of being sucked into his enchanting charm and ending up falling all over again for his bullshit. We had something really exciting and great at first but it seemed like it fizzled out quickly.”

      Christian jumped down to the next step and held out his hand for Kenny, who smacked it away and jumped himself. A small satisfactory smile curled on both of their faces.

      “Where did you two meet?”

      “At a club in San Francisco and then shortly after, I quit school and went back to Florida for a full blown relationship that lasted six years. I know I shouldn’t have done something so hasty for a man, but I was just head over heels for him.”

      Christian groaned and continued his jumping while Kenny followed behind.

      “What about your ‘complicated relationship’ status? You care to elaborate on that?”

      “No, not really.”

      Kenny let out a huge wail of impatience and sighed heavily.

      “What was that about?” Christian asked looking up above him in the dusk staircase.

      “It’s not fair that you can just shut down on me but you expect me to just open up to you. In case you forgot, we haven’t known each other too long so this is like a case of mutual reciprocation, you know?”

      The Protector just cracked his neck and jumped down another step.

      “I suppose you have me there,”

      “So?”

      “For all intents and purposes, I’m single.”

      “What does that even mean?” Kenny had lost his footing on his last jump but found it swiftly before Christian had raced back to the edge of the step.

      “It really is something that is too complicated to try to explain right now,” He began once he saw everything was fine, “Let’s just say that I haven’t really been able to fully live happily yet, and leave it at that.”

      A feeling of aggravation passed through the air and Kenny knew immediately that it was not directed toward him. He assumed there was something deeper to this explanation but for the time, he was going to let it go. He figured in time, Christian would find the right words to explain it.

      After they passed the steps, Hummer led them into a long golden tunnel that felt like walking in a very clean sewer pipe. At the end was a silk thin curtain that opened up to a vast sunny room overlooking crystal clear waterfalls irradiating its own light from the waters and embankments of ferns and pine trees against a flowing stream. The feeling they were outside and not under a mountain ridge took over both their senses. Fresh pine wafted in the wind and a scent of jasmine flowers and lilies invaded the sense of smell. It was nothing like Kenny had ever seen in his life and it welcomed them with a fresh warm breeze and smells of nature. They climbed down a dusty trail and walked through the open forest with calm and ease as the pollen gave them a refreshing look on their journey.

      Christian started setting up two tents that sprang from inside a miniature rubrics cube that he housed in his sleeves. They popped up automatically (with his weapons guarding in front of his tent), complete with chairs and a blow up mattress and pillows inside. This stunned Kenny and it took over half an hour for Christian to explain how hit worked and where it came from. Hummer had eventually disappeared into the trees to rest as moments later, buckets of fish were brought up from the banks on the Protector’s shoulders, who had removed his jacket and shirt leaving on a white tank top. He placed the buckets in front of the stone walled campfire Kenny had started and watched the enchanted fire dance with a hint of sullen in his face. The only thing Kenny had noticed was how defined Christian’s muscles were and how tall he was that made it all perfectly come together.

      After a meal of cooked salmon washed down with fresh berry juice, the two talked more about each other’s lives while the warm breeze swept around the forest floor, kicking up dead pine needles from time to time. Kenny was very intrigued that Christian was once a father but lost his son to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome only a month after the birth. He is the brother of three younger sisters and two older brothers. His mother and father were still alive and, according to Christian, the best people anyone could ever run across. He plays the guitar expertly and performs in a band back home in England. He loves birds and the new show called Breaking Bad.

      Likewise, Christian was deeply interested in the many trials Kenny had faced throughout his lifetime; bullying, getting robbed, disownment by his parents, abuse in his love life and a constant questioning of who he was. But he had some silver moments as well; he had a very close relationship with his older brother, a great support group in friends, was planning on finishing his schooling and was starting to get back into his craft of writing poetry, which he has been doing since he was a child. He even gave a small performance to Christian who begged to hear something he wrote:

 

      “If I ask you for some precious time, will you give it without care?

      If I tell you that I need some space, will you let me breathe the air?

      If I give you my entire heart, will you cover it up from the rain?

      Or would my gift have been too quick to you, ending well in vain?

 

      If I make my life a better place, will you come in and take part?

      If I take my problems to the Source, will our love finally start?

      To Whom It May Concern, this poem is all about me

      Because, only I can make myself feel light, and happy and free.”

 

      Christian sat in his chair completely flabbergasted for moments before he clapped and cheered.

      “Astounding! I’m impressed! When did you write that?”

      “After my first boyfriend that I had in high school dumped me. This one I committed to memory but it was originally much longer. Not many people have heard my poetry but it feels like I have known you all my life in a way. I am genuinely happy that I met you.”

      “I feel honored and happy myself plus I plan to cherish this moment for a lifetime.”

      It was Kenny’s turn to laugh now.

      “A lifetime? You and your dramatics.”

      The two shared a mutual chuckle before the light over the trees began to wane and fade. When the blue sky burst to an orange hue, a small chirping melody was heard overhead that grew louder as the sun faded. It was a chorus of peeps and chirps that blended to sound like harps and bells coming from the fiery looking trees. The tune waved over the forest in a gentle breeze of music. Kenny looked up and saw a sphere of light from the brushes and realized the melody was orchestrating from Hummer.

      She was buzzing around the trees, getting all the other birds to join in and they each would start to glow around their feathery bellies. Lovebirds, doves, robins and blue jays all joined in the bird song that created a feeling of intense calm. The trees swayed and rocked softly, rustling their own jingle through the leaves as the fiery sky faded to a velvet color before birthing a sky full of blinking stars in a darkened hue, reflecting a glint of sparkle from the light of the waters not far away. Gradually, the song died away to only a single chirp.

      Kenny had smiled the entire time, feeling nothing but peace and calmness and when he looked down he noticed Christian had dozed off, his head hanging over the neck of the chair. He scoffed silently and stroked the crackling fire with a stick he found lying beside him. The thought of his friends stung into his brain like a bee sting and he wished they could be experiencing this with him. He missed their support in spite of all their debating. It is what made their bond so unique and special; the ability to have disagreements while remaining loving.

      Although to Kenny, the word ‘loving’ could be used loosely towards some of them. It was in a silent chuckle, over the snores of his protector, that he noticed the extraordinary; there was a golden, dusty, translucent film that was radiating from his skin. It extended all over him from what he could see and in a fright he screamed for Christian so suddenly, he startled out of his chair and smacked face first into the ground.

      “What are you bellowing unnecessarily for?” He stood to his knees and brushed off his face and chest. Kenny stuck out his arms towards him in a small wailing motion.

      “What is this yellowy stuff covering me?”

      Christian blinked for a second and smiled deeper than before.

      “You can see that?”

      “YES! WHAT IS IT?”

      “Your aura.”

      Kenny dropped his arms in wonderment, mouth open and slowly looked over his body again. The golden dusty film leisurely faded from his sight causing another panic.

      “Where’d it go? Why can’t I see it anymore?”

      “Calm down,” Christian came to crouch beside Kenny’s legs, reached over and inspected his wrist, “What were you thinking when you saw the aura?”

      Kenny had noticed too that the scars were completely healed and had vanished.

      “Tonya, Jerry, Shawn, Teddy and Junior. I wanted them here to see this too.”

      There was a small quietness that settled between them while they locked eyes, full of patience and joy, silly smiles across their faces. Kenny noticed a smudge on Christian’s glasses, slowly removed them and used the end of his shirt to clean it, and very softly did he replace the glasses back. It felt like magic in the air between their comfortable silences. Liberation above any description is how Kenny tried to sum it up. But before anything else could transpire, another sound sprung Christian in a tumble to retrieve his weapons and Kenny to his feet.

      A stick had snapped in the forest and then another causing a deep silence throughout. Each sound grew closer and closer making it apparent that the sound was someone sprinting. Christian had moved to guard Kenny, his katana out and at his chest while stuffed the pistol in Kenny’s hand instantaneously. He scanned the surroundings fervently, not letting the Japanese sword lower an inch, as the stepping approached right up to the edge of their camp before halting. He saw nothing out of the ordinary in the forest of trees.

      Kenny had joined in the scan too but frantically was unsuccessful as well. An uncanny calm passed over them before Christian extended his sword arm around him, who didn’t hesitate to clutch tightly, and a burst of huge gusts of wind and blinding light came from all sides; with voices in the rushing that sounded almost angelic to their ears.

      “You will not be safe here after a while. The servants of the Dark God hoovers around the mountains of Gen and will approach with stealth. Sleep. Rest now. I, the Angel of the Omega Order, will watch over you for the duration. But when the phantom sun waxes and the phantom moon wades, you must exit this under-part. Head my words.”

      In an odd sensation, Kenny could feel the words forming in his thoughts before they were uttered but quickly the wind died away and everything was still. Christian dropped his arm and exhaled, looking at his Custody in worry who returned the same look back. And as if knowing their worry would bring them no sleep, another gust of wind blew a sparkling mist that straightaway caused them to pass out next to each other in cold slumber.