The Morning Star

Chapter VI "Keeper of the Black Sun"

Ray sank into silence and shock, was this really of his own doing? Even though it was for a split second of him wishing the pain stops, was this what he asked for? He held back the questions in his head, this wasn't the right time to be considering how ignorant he was to his current situation; he took off his jacket and placed them on the girl's hands to hide the wounds, he then gently said "Come, lets clean up those wounds first, we'll talk about this later.'' The girl shook her head in denial and replied "I'll tend to my injuries, but I'll keep your jacket till we meet again; I can't be walking around with this obviosity." She then carried her weight back up and started walking away, and just before Ray could ask she paused still and said "tomorrow, meet me at the central park on 6pm sharp; close your eyes and let your instincts guide you, you'll find the way."

Ray wandered off back to his house, even though the female helped him clear the bigger picture of his situation, there were a lot more of new blurred pictures and hypotheses. His nightmares were relentless that night, the face of so called Jengrith kept flashing every time his eyes shut, the following morning was even worse, his fatigue consumed his actions and tiredness was extra visible. "You don't look okay today, is everything okay?" the recognizable soothing voice of his mother asked. "Yeah I'm fine, just couldn't get much sleep yesterday." Ray replied while sitting himself down for breakfast. Even though he wasn't an early bird, his mother knew he isn't usually this gloomed for waking up early, "Well Jenna invited us to go to church with her today, will you be able to attend or should I call you off sick?" she asked politely, yet Ray knew "No" wasn't the answer she was waiting for. He shook his head and confirmed his attendance for later on. Soon enough Jenna picked up the two and they made their way to church. Just as Ray stepped inside the church doors, he felt his chest being torn inside out, the chains pulled him in different directions, yet they all demanded him out of the holy place; all, but one chain. The distinct sound of chains ringing on friction, the chain wasn't pulling him anywhere, Ray's vision of the chains was clear now, five chains pulled him back, while one stood upfront, relaxed and still, not even pulling to get out of where it was. The vision slowly started to fade away, but before it did Ray had his first clearer vision of his antagonist, a slender figure, dark, confident, and disrespectful to all other beings in his premises, it didn't care for nor human, nor holy boundaries. Outlined with scaly skin, two large horns came out of its shoulders souring for the skies, its claws perfectly melted on its fingers making it hard to know if it even had fingers or just razor claws. The creature tilted its head to the right looking at Ray, cold chills went down Ray's spine, it's been so long since Ray saw this creature last time, this time it looked more nourished, it looked powerful, sinking in the everlasting dark aura. The vision ended as suddenly as it started, what lasted for countless minutes was actually a split second in reality, Ray was gasping with his hand on his chest, his mother and Jenna looked at him worried clutching his shoulders to support his stance. "Ray? Ray what's wrong?" his mother whispered to avoid attracting further attention. "I'm fine mom, I'm sorry but I'll have to skip church today." He replied faintly before walking out of church.

As soon as Ray walked out of the sacred land, the pain just vanished and he was back to normal. He knew then that there was no going back from where he was. Ray head straight to the central park, he knew he was more than 7 hours early, but he couldn't do anything about what's going on, and he couldn't deal with any more mistakes like the one he just committed. Ray settled himself on the bushes under a tree and laid back on it, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath praying for some rest. "Close your eyes and let your instincts guide you, you'll find the way." He suddenly remembered what the girl have told him, he didn't understand her, but he kept his eyes close and focused on the silence of the park. It was still early for park visits, only a few people were in the park that stretched for miles, soon it would be crowded after people finish their prayers, but for now it was silent and peaceful. With his eyes shut he focused his senses on his surroundings, he could hear the birds, the sound of wind flushing through the trees, and the far sounds of people talking to each other. Ray felt as if he was floating around the place exploring every aspect and inhabitant, suddenly his mind pictured a voice he heard. A mouth of a young lady speaking with a smile. "Keeper, you're here early, follow me." His eyes opened immediately breaking contact, but he could still sense her presence, he could feel where she was standing sharp on point. Ray stood up and started walking to her direction, he couldn't see her yet but he knew by the distance she was standing under the bridge that crossed over the lake. Reaching there he found her standing waiting for him, she smiled and kept formal as she greeted him and gave a proper introduction. "We meet again Keeper, I'm called Lilia, the Keeper of the Black Sun." Ray didn't know how to reply to her, he stuttered before Lilia raised her hand handing him a paper bag.

"First thing's first, here's your jacket Ray, I hope keeping with me wasn't unpleasant."

"Not at all, I should be the one apologizing for what happened."

"No worries, my Astra can heal my scars over time, I provoked your demon Intentionally to have him active for today."

"T...today?"

"You wanted to learn your praying summon didn't you? I'm going to help you find your first."

Ray seemed a bit surprised, not only did she knew his name, but she had everything planned ahead as if she's been doing this forever. The two went to the mid section of the park, otherwise known as "The Forest", the section didn't have pathways, instead it was covered with trees and bushes. As they walked further, Lilia fully avoided human interactions, she made her way through sensing and switching paths to keep their secrecy. She took Ray to a round clearing of grass that was surrounded by trees, the area seemed to be perfectly oval with no trees within the perimeter, yet the trees almost entirely blocked sunlight making it dim with chilling air breezes passing by. The two reached the center of the clearing and sat on the instructions of Lilia facing each other, Lilia then had Ray close his eyes and meditate to her voice. "keep your eyes relaxed and shut, try to vision the Aura around you, and let your mind harvest all of it, once you're done, keep breathing and call upon your demon, Jengrith was his name. if he appears, allow him to talk, and recite after him, without the prayer you can't protect him, nor can he protect you."

As asked Ray slowly focused on the Auras around him. He envisioned white ribbons stretching through the darkness, one of the ribbons was black, he couldn't see it, yet he knew it was floating over there. He tried grabbing the ribbon and called out "Jengrith" suddenly the ribbon stopped floating, it was pulled to its limits from both sides almost tearing apart. A voice from the other side whispered "Corrode all holy to ashes..." And Ray followed along "Corrode... all holy to ashes." The voice continued with Ray chanting behind it "Burn the desires of pride, Rebel, Jengrith." When Ray finished his prayer, he heard a deep sigh, more of a growl from the other side of the ribbon. Ray opened his eyes to witness a new world, his sight barriers was finally broken; Lilia froze to the sigh in shock as Ray started into the monstrous eyes of Jengrith. The stares of blood thirsty eyes hovering on a needle sharp teeth smile. The demon breathed heavily through its mouth exhaling in a deep growl awaiting the final stage of its release, the unconscious mind of Ray forced the mutter out of his mouth. "Rebel, Jengrith." And the chain binding the two disintegrated into rubles setting the demon free.