Scarecrow Jack- The Awakening

8

Marie and John visited Damon's place. They were worried about Damon since the last time he had left in a hurry. Damon invited them in, asked them to sit down, made tea for them and joined them. Marie asked Damon how he was doing and what happened that night, why he had to run away? Damon had no answers for them as he thought they wouldn't believe him and if they do, they will be scared of him. But Damon thought these were the only people that cared for him, so he should open up about his situation. As he was about to speak, he was interrupted by the knocking on his front door. He got up to see who it was, he opened the door and Uncle Ricky was standing outside with something in his hand wrapped in a cloth. Damon was ashamed of what he had done to Uncle Ricky, he couldn't look him in the eyes. "Let me come in, I have something to show you" said Uncle Ricky. Damon said nothing and stepped aside allowing Uncle Ricky to enter his house. Uncle Ricky walked in and saw John and Marie sitting there. He hesitated for a few seconds then joined them at the table. Damon apologized to Uncle Ricky about how he mistreated Uncle Ricky, Uncle Ricky accepted his apology and asked him if they could talk in private. "No need Uncle, as you are all the few people I trust, and whatever do u have to say, say in front of them too." Damon said as he grabbed a chair to sit beside Uncle Ricky. Uncle Ricky unwrapped the thing out of the cloth. It was the same journal he found in the mine. He opened the journal and showed a page to Damon. John and Marie also looked, the page had a drawing of a scarecrow and had a description "The curse of the immortal." Damon was shocked to see the drawing, it resembled the scarecrow inside of him, the description read "The one who tries to achieve immortality, shall made a deal with the devil. He shall have its immortality but requires five sacrifices bound by blood. However, there is one condition, the only thing able to kill the immortal one, is the guardian of the spell. The demon who is neither evil nor good, who can return the balance. The demon choses its host willingly, it may choose a host immediately after the spell is cast and completed or it may take decades to choose." After reading this the whole room went silent, no one spoke or said anything. Then Marie said "Damon, what is going on? Why Uncle Ricky is showing you this journal?" Damon had no choice but to tell everyone the truth. He explained everything, all the events that took place between him taking the disguise of the scarecrow till now he explained everything. Marie and John were acting quite normal after hearing Damon's story. This made Damon a bit suspicious as they knew something about it. Uncle Ricky read another description "the scarecrow can manipulate the host's mind and trick him into doing evil deeds, once the host reaches a point where he can't control his actions and thoughts the scarecrow takes over the body and mind of the host completely. But if the host is strong and can fight off the urge to do evil then the scarecrow would have lesser or no control over the host's body and mind." After listening this Damon remembered all the Evil he had done under the scarecrow's influence. This journal had many pages missing, they were all torn out of it. There was information about other spells and curses but the information that they required was incomplete. There was no name on the journal. Inside Damon's mind the scarecrow was telling him not to believe anything they say, it was still trying to manipulate Damon into believing that the scarecrow is right, but Damon had seen and heard enough to determine who was right he silenced the scarecrow and his thoughts. John asked Damon about his condition and how much control has he left over himself. At first Damon was surprised to hear this question from John, but he answered that he still had most control over himself. The scarecrow only takes over when Damon allowed it or when his mind is weak and tipsy. Suddenly Damon fell down to the floor, he started screaming in pain, he couldn't move a muscle as if someone had tied him to the floor. Everyone in the room was shocked to see what had happened, Uncle Ricky and John rushed to his aid. They tried to lift him up but he was fixed to the floor. No one knew what was happening. Then Damon started saying something "The woods...Old woman...She has trapped me...The Old cave...She knows...She found me..." Then he passed out. Uncle Ricky didn't know what to make of it, but John and Marie looked at each other. They nodded in agreement and asked Uncle Ricky to look after Damon. They both quickly left Damon's house, went to their bar. They went into the basement and opened two chests. The chests were not ordinary, they contained weapons, armor and books. There was an insignia on the chests. It was in shape of a cross and an arrow. John and Marie geared up and left the bar towards the forest. Damon was still unconscious. Uncle Ricky still couldn't move Damon's body and he was sweating a lot. His body temperature was increasing rapidly, it was becoming hotter every minute. Uncle Ricky couldn't do anything. He sat down beside Damon and wondered where John and Marie went in such a hurry that too in time like this. After searching a lot John and Marie finally reached the cave Damon described. But it was guarded by Ben and His mother Gloria. John had a long broad sword, and a pair of daggers on him. Marie had two short sword and two daggers on her. They both knew in order to gain access to the cave they must defeat the two guards. Ben also had a sword similar to that of Hammond's and Gloria had an axe. John and Marie jumped out of the bushes and attacked both of them. John attacked Ben which he dodged and Marie's attack was blocked by Gloria's axe. John started swinging his broadsword around Ben but Ben's agility was greater. He was able to dodge every attack John had aimed at him. Ben also tried to attack but the broadsword blocked it with ease. The broadsword was a slow weapon but it had good defense. Marie was also struggling against Gloria who had been brutally swinging her axe towards Marie, Marie was dodging her attacks as she couldn't attack her yet, she was waiting for an opening. Gloria swing her axe another time and Marie rolled out of the way, the axe got stuck in a tree, this gave Marie an opportunity to attack, she swing her swords in a swift movement and slashed Gloria's arm. Gloria grunted in pain, when Marie came to attack her again. Glori's axe got freed and almost hit Marie in her head. Marie dodged it by a hair. John was trying to hit Ben but Ben was dodging, suddenly Ben's foot got stuck in a bear trap. John had laid a few bear traps around the place before attacking. He wanted to trap Ben exactly there and so he used his agility against him. After his foot was stuck Ben couldn't move his leg. John attacked Ben's back which cut opened a wound. Ben fell to his knee, he started chanting some words and transformed into the beast as Hammond did.