A Caleb Carol

Stave 2: The First of Three Spirits

Caleb, frustrated by his encounter with his talking stick voicing the message of doom, crawled back into bed, which invited him with open arms. Comfortable mattress, warm sheets, soft pillow. He didn't even bother taking off his clothes again. Sleep was the only thing on his mind. He looked over to his pocket watch on the nightstand to check the time. One o'clock.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light lit up the room, glaring the clock out of readability. Caleb squinted his eyes from the luminescence and tried to look where it was coming from, holding his hand in front of him as a shield.

At the end of the bed a white gargoyle hovered in the air, keeping aloft by flapping its wings. An ethereal light broadcast itself from its body, augmented by a wreath of fire floating around its head. It was of slightly lesser size than the gargoyle master Cheogh, but still embodied all his grotesque inhuman qualities - the bony membrane wings jutting out of its back, the muscular build on a disproportionate body, two little horns set above two pupilless yellow eyes and an upturned pig nose, and a mouth full of long, pointed, vampiric teeth. What was unusual about this was that whereas the other gargoyle soldiers had skin tones of brown or gray, this one was all white, a sort of cream color. Plus the fact that it had a halo of fire and somehow had gotten into the room without crashing through anything.

Caleb instinctively and slowly reached under his pillow for his Smith & Wesson he kept for safety's sake. "What the hell are you, some kind of albino gargoyle?"

"I am the spirit whose coming was foretold to you, the spirit who beckons the past." The gargoyle spoke in a beautiful melodic voice, like that of a female child, very uncharacteristic of the gargoyles.

"Are you now, dollface? How did you get in here without breaking anything?"

"My spirit transcends the normal plains of existence. We are not limited by the space between."

"Uh-huh. Neat. What's the deal with the ring of fire?"

"Why do you question me so? Is it not enough that I appear to you?" she said in a ghostly echo. "Is it not enough that I come here to your door? Would you so soon turn me out, to put out the flame that lights your way?"

"Yeah. Because that flame is keeping me awake. And what business is my way to you anyway?"

"Your welfare."

"Aw, ain't that cute. It's better for me and my welfare, and yours as a matter of fact, if you get the hell out."

"Your salvation then. Take heed. Come."

Caleb rolled his eyes and concluded that this effeminate monster was not going to leave him alone no matter what. So he pulled off the sheets once again and approached the beast, who was standing near the window.

"Come with me."

"Sorry, whitey. I don't do high-wire acts," Caleb said as he peered down at the ground many mortal feet below. "Hey!"

Suddenly he felt the piercing grip of the talons of the beast taking hold of his shoulders. With a flap of large wings, he was lifted off the ground and through the window. They sped at an enormous velocity through the forsaken wasteland of the earth, speeds so fast everything was but a blur. Caleb shut his eyes from the wind, not seeing the transition taking place before him. They began descending to the ground, still traveling life-threateningly and unnaturally fast.

With an upward flap of the gargoyle's wings, their speed slowed down to a crawl in an instant and she set Caleb gently on the ground and released him. Dusting his pained shoulders off he took the chance to survey his new environment. He looked to be in a grassy field on a hill. One single room building was on that hill.