Marker of Faith

CHAPTER 50

CHAPTER 50

The sky overhead gave one last ominous rumble and then cleared the darkness with a whoosh. All the echoes and stains of madness washed away in the gentle glow of the setting sun. The field beyond the mound was empty, and the shattered standing stones formed a crude wall around the remaining tattered corpses of the Markers of Faith; the jagged pieces of limestone a monument to the battle waged for humanity.

Minerva's eyes wandered over the ruined bodies of the murdered holy people and she said a silent prayer for their final peace. The people who succumbed to the lure of darkness and became soldiers of the Shadow Army were gone, sucked into the chasm for an eternity of torment from the Old Ones.

Roddy and Rattle stood up, and helped Minerva to her feet. They were all healed physically, but their hearts felt torn and raw. John was dead.

Roddy pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one for himself and one for Minerva, Rattle holding out his hand for one as well; the gesture netted a shocked look from the others.

"I've earned it," he said.

Roddy handed over a lit cigarette with a shrug, and watched Rattle draw in the smoke deeply without coughing. The old man started to thumb his nose at the sky but stopped, thinking of John's sacrifice with a reluctant, sad smile. He reached out instead and linked hands with Roddy and Minerva, the cigarette dangling from his lips just like John had always done. They all stood staring at the patch of blackened earth where the Void Gate had been; John's body lay peacefully in the center.

"I can't believe he's gone," Minerva whispered.

Roddy took a deep breath and walked over. "You're the man, John Bergenson," he said through a muffled sob.

Rattle came up behind him with Minerva in tow. "He did it. Five-oh saved the friggin' world."

Minerva started crying and crouched down next to the body. She put her hand on John's chest, her fingers slid through the torn fabric in his shirt where the Old One punched through. She touched the puckered flesh where the wound had closed up, healed by his power, and sobbed deeply. "He's so cold."

"So is it over?" Roddy asked. "Are the Old Ones gone?"

"They'll never be gone," she said bitterly. "But they won't be back for a long, long time."

Rattle exhaled a long stream of smoke and stared at the blackened ring of earth with a grim smile, picturing the Old Ones trapped behind the sealed Void Gate.

"Time will bide, and when the Old Ones come again the Guardians will be ready."

"That's right, sugar." Minerva looked up at the old man, her gaze drifting over to Roddy, who was staring down at John's lifeless body.

Roddy swiped at the tears on his cheeks and dropped his half-smoked cigarette on the ground, angrily grinding it into the dirt with his foot. "I can't believe he's fucking gone. John, thank you. You pulled it off, you did it. Gracias, hermano."

Minerva looked down at John's face and whispered, "You did a good job." She leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead. The chill of his skin numbed her lips.

John's face twitched, his eyelids moving like he was dreaming, and he started shaking. A crackle of blue energy bubbled up from the sealed wound in his chest and raced over his body. Minerva screamed and fell backwards. Roddy and Rattle grabbed her by the collar and hauled her further back, fully expecting to see the gnarled hand of an Old One punch through John's flesh.

With a shuddering gasp, John sat up. He started shivering, his teeth chattering wildly as he looked around with a dazed, confused look on his face. The group rushed him, and knocked him flat with their hugs.

"Thank the Goddess!" Minerva shrieked, nearly choking him as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're not dead!" Roddy shouted.

"Christ in a tea cup, Five-oh!" Rattle's cigarette danced between his lips as he embraced John, wrapping his arms around both Minerva and Roddy to get to his friend.

John coughed and tried to speak, clearing his throat until a hoarse whisper came out. "I thought I was dead, but I guess it's part of the deal. Be a Guardian, get super powers." He smiled at Minerva.

"The Old Ones couldn't open what they couldn't kill," he said with a wink. 

He noticed Rattle's cigarette and scrunched up his face. "Hey!" John pointed as Rattle smiled mischievously. "Since when did you start smoking?"

John laughed and took the cigarette away, popping it between his lips with a flourish as he thumbed his nose at the sky.

The End