Dream Catcher

Chapter 1 - Prediction (Part 2)

Just as the men were settling at the table, the far
wall shimmered slightly and suddenly there was
a door in the wall. Old and wooden, its hinges
rusting. As all the heads at the table turned to
face the old door, there were three loud bangs
that seemed to come from the other side of the
door. Seconds later, three small holes were
punched out of the door and three bullets went
whizzing through the room, stopping wedged in
the wall opposite the door. Almost as fast as the
bullets had travelled, there was a loud thunk on
the door and it shattered into a hundred tiny
splinters flying into the room.
There in the doorway stood a tall, dark,
handsome man, his leg still hanging in the air in
the karate kick pose he had used to bash out the
door. He lowered in then, and walked through
the doorway to the front of the room. He was
followed by yet another Sandman, this one
taller and with a bright red ribbon hanging
around his neck.
The man examined his bullet shots in the front
wall.
"Perfect wouldn't you say?" the man asked. And
with a slight pop and flash, a target appeared on
the wall, all three bullets on the bullseye.
"Oh yes, wonderful!" exclaimed Luke, clearly
not wanting to displease this man, an idea he
had formed based on the man's appearance.
The man stood tall, the whole six feet, with
short cropped black hair, gelled to points and
tipped with blond. He wore thin black slacks
and heavy black hiking boots to match. A tight
fitting black t-shirt was found under a faded
long black trench coat with the collar turned up.
And when he twirled, you could see the mass of
guns and other artillery latched to his belt. But
it was his eyes that scared Luke. His big bright
electric blue eyes were cold, dark and merciless.
Luke avoided the man's glare. It made him feel
like he was drowning when he looked into those
eyes.
Stephen gave Luke a sidelong glare, and with
another pop and flash of light, the wall was a
clean crisp white again.
"What's wrong with you guys?" complained the
man, examining the room. "You're so boring
with all this white and hardwood flooring! Now
what Loki did last time at least had some
colour!" And with that the man pulled a think
paintbrush and a can of paint out of nowhere
and dipped the paintbrush in the can. When he
pulled it out, he flicked it at the walls and soon
the walls were covered with hundreds of tiny
multi-coloured dots.
"There we go! It was close, it just needed a little
colour. Who did this anyways?" the man
inquired. Stephen fearlessly glared at the man
with hostile.
"I did Seth." Stephen growled. With a pop the
walls turned white again.
"Oh come on! I thought at least you could take a
little constructive criticism?" the man teased
with a smile, throwing his arms in the air. "I see
I've been proved wrong..." He trailed off
frowning as Stephen's glare continued to be
very hostile. "Now what the hell are we all here
for anyways?"
"Demitri has had a prediction." Rangi said
coolly, robotically.
"Oh fascinating! Wonderful! Amazing!" cried
Seth, crashing down into the seat of his chair.
"What's it about? Hey, where the hell is Demitri
anyways?"
"None of us are knowledged in Demitri's
whereabouts." Inzanagi responded.
"And he has not told us of what he has seen. He
has just called us here, though he says it
contains very grave news," pitched in one of the
other sandmen.
Seth leaned forward on the table and curled his
hands together as though holding a mug, which
seconds later there was, filled with a thick
frothing liquid which Seth took a sip of. Wiping
his lip he said, "It better not have just been
about old Albert dying that he called us here.
We all knew that already. That's why we
replaced him with the Klutz over there." He
jerked a thumb at Luke, and took another sip of
his drink.
"I would not believe it is." added Rangi.
"Demitri would never make such a pointless
decision." The man who had followed Seth
spoke, leaning against the wall next to the
doorway. Spotting that, Stephen glared and with
a pop, it was flush and white again.
"You sure, Jason? He wouldn't even do it just to
get attention?" Seth was teasing again.
"I provide equal attention to all my followers."
Jason said flatly. Seth snorted and caught
himself as the liquid he had been drinking
almost came out his nose. His hand came up to
his mouth the hide his smile. Jason continued to
stare, emotionless.
Soon, though, there was a brilliant green flash
of light above the centre of the table and a
Sandman materialized there.
"Hey! It's Demitri!" Seth exclaimed pointlessly as
the last person to arrive settled cross-legged in
the centre of the table. His glowing yellow eyes
scanned the people in the room. They stopped
on Luke.
"Welcome." Demitri said plainly. Luke looked
away shyly.
"So, Demitri, old boy! What's on your mind?"
Seth started to tease right away. Demitri turned
his glowing gaze on Seth. He raised his had to
show him his palm. Glowing in the centre of it
was an electric blue swirl. The same colour as
Seth's eyes.
"I've seen the way of the future." Demitri said
coldly. "And the future..." Demitri looked into
Seth's cold eyes. "...is you."
Not a word was uttered as Demitri took in the
silence around him. Yet every man and every
Sandman could feel the tension in the air as
they waited with infuriating patience for
Demitri to continue. Finally, Seth had to break
the silence.
"Wh... wh... WHAT!?" Seth exploded. Demitri
took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When
he opened them, they shone bright blue. He sat,
head level, palms facing upward on his knees.
Slowly, distantly, as though he wasn't really
there, Demitri began to chant.