Beyond the Rift ✔ (Completed)

Chapter 15: Stories We Tell

Alexis

"You sound just like your father." Ethan might still be talking but I don't seem to hear a single word.

All I feel is Numb. An abrupt stillness surrounds me. Like I have been shoved into a dark room with a soft light on me. My pulse turns erratic. Father. The term alone feels distant. If you tell me to recite one of the favorite memories I shared of dad, it would be not a favorite one but the only one. 

It was a usual day in Papillion; cloudy skies, rain-washed commons, mucky paths. Dad, mom and I were camping in the woods with a bunch of hikers. I don't remember much of it as I was only ten at the time, moreover, it was months before he left for his 2-year project by his organization. A sterilization of a government biochemical-research-facility which he never returned from. Anyway, he makes me balance on a narrow rock in the middle of a flowing stream. The water flow had covered the boulder with moss and hence it was too slippery to hold on to. In addition, he orders me to leap to the stream bank which was 7-feet away from me. Seriously? Making a ten-year-old do long jumps over flowing water. And the whole time while he kept laughing telling me it was a simple motor exercise. Mom, who for some godforsaken reason doesn't intervene, but instead tells me to play along. And, yes. I ultimately end up falling in the stream with a huge splash and getting muck coated all over me for the rest of the day. I sound just like my father? I don't even know my father.

"You know my dad?" I sound genuinely confused.

"Yes." That single word is enough to cause mayhem in the already troubled mind of mine. Just when my brain is in the process of questioning all the possibilities Ethan speaks again. "He was one of us. He was an Altruist. He was my mentor."

"What do you mean was?" I can barely bring myself to utter the next question. "Is he... Is... Did he..-." I could no longer see Ethan's expressions clearly as tears distort my vision, why would I assume such a thing? I always thought that even though he had left us, he would still be alive and living his life perfectly.

"What happened? Tell me everything." I gulp the emotions and try to focus on Ethan as a mildly electrifying sensation creeps up within me. Just like the night at the gas station, when I first experienced my powers.

"Your father was one of the most powerful air essence handlers and probably the only one who could single handedly train a Sephilim. You were not the only sephilim existing six years ago. A man named Asmodeus was trained to be in the elite forces to protect the Earth along with your father. When we detected a negligible tear between the earth and Aether realm, Asmodeus and your father were sent on a mission to seal the rift. It was a normal job like any other, only this time, things got out of hands. The spell didn't work like it was supposed to, but instead the rift grew wider. That's when Asmodeus decided to use his Aether essence to occlude the tear. Naturally, your father was against it, the Aether essence is of an enigmatic nature. No one is strong enough to dominate the Aether presence. If you try to command it without a proper connotation, it might overpower all the other essences and possess you entirely. But, Asmodeus was arrogant, he wanted to do it. It almost looked like he had already been possessed. And we were right. Till the time we got to him, he had already absorbed the mystic energy through the rift. In fact, he had an inside man to deviate us from our paths, Mathew Aldersky. He was the most trusted, yet he betrayed us. Asmodeus was unstoppable at this point. We knew he was long gone; he had released the Grendels, he had technically become their master. He had to be killed, but your father thought otherwise. He had treated Asmodeus as his son; he couldn't bring himself to end his life. So, he decided to lock him up which in turn cost him his own life. It was a simple spell and the ingredient was a human soul."

Ethan has ended his story, but I am still trying to process the images in my head. A man who I never gave much thought about had save the world multiple times and died trying. My father had dedicated his life to fighting evil in this world that I didn't even know existed up until now. So much that he refused to kill a cold-blooded demon just because he saw an innocent boy somewhere in him. Sacrificing and selfless were something I never thought my father to be.