Heaven on Earth: Terminus (Book 1)

Chapter 16: Guidance (Nate)

Camp Seraphic

I walk out of my bedroom with a slight tingling in my stomach, I walk down the two steps before taking the main staircase downstairs. Immediately, I notice that all furniture has been pushed to the sides of the main room, the dining table, the couches and the coffee table. On the floor is a pentagram made of duck tape and Tom, Josiah, Gabriel and Rafa stand at each of the points on the star but there’s a space free, “Nate.” Tom calls for me to move away from the stairs and he points to the empty space.

“Me?” I ask,

“Yeah.” He says with a smile but judging by the tear stains around his eyes, he’s still a bit shaken from the events of earlier. “Rafa needs at least three people who have emotional connections to Azalea so he can perform the separating ritual.”

“So soon?” I ask as I take my place on the point between Tom and Gabriel.

“Yeah, she’s still a bit weak and I doubt you want a strong Atalya in the house.” He replies but I barely comprehend because I’m too focused on the demon. She’s floating in midair at the centre of the pentagram and her hands are chained behind her back, red bangs, that she must’ve recently cut, cover her eyes. Her corset looks incredibly tight and I find her black heels lying clumsily on the floor leaving her barefooted. I shake my head in pity.

“What happened to her earlier?” I ask Tom,

“Rafa told me that Atalya was trying to destroy Azalea’s body from within so that we couldn’t capture her.” He replies, “But something happened. I guess Azalea was resisting.”

“Everyone ready?” Rafa asks and I turn around to focus on him, we all nod. “Not much will happen to you during this ritual but in the book where I got this from, it said that anyone in the pentagram is not allowed to leave, no matter how risky it gets. Understand?” We nod again, “Then let’s get started.” He opens up a book with a pentagram on it and holds it in one hand and on the other is the Partition Rod. He taps the rod on the floor three times before speaking in an enunciated and clear voice, “I, Rafael Archival, call forth the powers of the Partition Rod to expel the demonic spirit from this body. Let it cleanse the soul and let the body be protected from corruption again.” He closes his eyes and taps the rod on the floor another three times and shouts, “Divisus!” Suddenly, the pentagram on the floor glows a powerful red and lifts up from the ground before stopping above the tallest person’s head, Josiah. Starting from Rafa and going clockwise, each leg of the floating star slams hard back onto the floor. It goes Gabriel, then me, Tom and finally, Josiah. 

Now, all that’s left is the centre of the pentagram that’s hovering over Atalya. It starts spinning slowly and the demon’s eyes open and begin scanning the room and when she finally notices what’s happening, she begins to struggle against her restrictions and scream, but it’s useless. As the pentagon above her begins to spin at a malevolent speed, something begins to separate from her body, something spiritual. At every turn, the spirit flashes again and at every flash, it gets further and further away from the body until all of a sudden, the spirit breaks free and turns into an overflowing vapour that has hollows for eyes, mouth and nose. It floats around the pentagram at a vexatious speed and it even zips through our bodies but it doesn’t affect us. This must be Atalya’s soul.

“No!” It hisses but it’s too late, the pentagram starts to spin just as fast, the other way and now, it acts like a vacuum, sucking the cloudy vapour, bit by bit. “This isn’t the last of me, fools!” She shouts just before the creepy indentations in the vapour disappear and get sucked in too. The pentagon shrinks briskly into a ball of red light and flies to the bifurcated end of the Partition Rod. Slowly, the branches equally drain the ball in until it’s no more.