From Embers

T W E L V E

I let the phone ring because I trusted the messenger. I guessed it was the same person who hacked my computer and sent me messages. The ringing of the phone drilled itself into my head and I felt scared for a moment. After a little while, it finally stopped ringing. Relief flowed over me. Then, out of nowhere, there was a piercing squeal that erupted from the phone's speakers louder than I thought possible. I covered my ears and shut my eyes in pain. After a few moments there was a smashing sound and the wailing stopped. I opened my eyes and uncovered my ears to see Scott standing beside me. What the hell was that? I knew without question those were the bad guys. There wasn't a doubt in my mind. 

"Fuckin' uglies trying to get you mate. Good thing I showed up when I did." He said.

"What was that sound?" I asked.

"Banshee. Screaming bastards. They'll shatter yer eardrums if you're too close, best to stay clear or have ear protection."  He answered.

"What would have happened if I answered the phone and how did they call that?" I asked.

"Ye wouldn't be able to hear for a bit while yer body healed itself, and they would have been able to track you down. Since you didn't answer you're still safe here." He responded.

"Anyways, time to train. New trick I'm gonna teach you today." He stated.

He placed his hand on my chest like last time and we were suddenly in the other world. The same barren wasteland we were in as last time. 

"Alright mate, today you gotta learn how to summon a weapon for yourself when in danger." He stated.

"I can do that?" I asked.

"Ye, it's called a celestial weapon, only people like us can do it. It's not difficult at all. All you have to do is focus yer energy into creating a weapon for yourself. It's almost like getting yer powers to turn on. Just focus and create one. You can create pretty much anything. You'll be able to do it here and in the normal world." He answered.

I focused as hard as I could on forging a bow and arrows out of thin air. At first, I felt nothing, but after a few moments I felt power surge through my arms and into my hands. The air around my hands started sparking and shifting. A glowing blue bow started appearing in my right hand and an arrow in my left. It started slow at first, but after a few moments, I put everything I had into it and they appeared almost instantly. I waved it around a little bit. Both the arrow and bow were brightly glowing and almost see through. I put the end of the arrow on the string of the bow and cocked it back. I let go and right before it started its decline to the ground a target appeared in front of it's path. A direct bullseye. I looked over at Scott and he smiled wickedly. 

"Good shot mate." He stated.

I stopped focusing on the bow and instead started trying to create a set of throwing knives. The bow dematerialized and almost instantly the knives formed in my palm. I put two in my left hand and looked back at the target. I took aim and threw the first one which landed directly to the right of the bullseye. I threw the second and third and created a circle around the center. I smiled in my success. It was exactly what I wanted to do. I'm pretty accurate for never having used anything like this before.

"Don't think you can do that perfectly mate, yer mind guides the projectiles and lands where you want them. You could throw it backwards and still hit the target. Try throwing it a different direction and guiding it this time." He said.

I turned ninety degrees to my right and threw a new dagger I formed in that direction. I forced it to turn directly for the target. It curved and flew straight into the center of the target. I finally stopped focusing and all of my creations shimmered out of existence. I chuckled quietly. This was amazing! I had a way to defend myself now. I didn't even know I could do anything like that. 

"Think fast." Scott said.

 I turned and looked at him as he threw a tomahawk at me. I reacted quickly and formed a shield around my arm and put it in front of me. It stuck into the front of the shield and then disappeared shortly after. 

"Quick thinking, but I wouldn't ever let it hit you." He laughed.

"You just scared the heck out of me Scott." I laughed.

"I'm not the one ye should be worried about mate. It's the uglies that live in here." He chuckled.

I formed my bow and arrow again and quick-drawed the string. I released the arrow straight at him he was fast at reacting and a suit of armor appeared around him to deflect the arrow. It bounced off and he formed another tomahawk and threw it to his left. I formed a wall beside me and it bounced off. I drew another arrow and shot it straight into the air, then another and shot directly at him. I flung the one in the air directly at him, they both hit at the same time. He somehow moved the air around him and both arrows deflected and flew past him. I stopped and let my weapons dematerialize.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"That's a lesson for later day mate, yer not quite ready for that one yet." He stated firmly.

I didn't ask anything else about that.

"Oh by the by, ye might wanna duck." He said suddenly.

I looked behind me and a tomahawk was flying directly for my head. I ducked just as it passed over me. Scott caught it by the handle without hesitation. I looked at him and we both started laughing hard. All of a sudden, he stopped laughing and his face went stone cold. It was almost like he was afraid for a moment. 

"Mate, don't move a muscle." He said almost whispering. 

I froze and materialized a mirror right over my right shoulder. I looked into it without moving my head. There was a tall slender creature standing twenty feet behind me. 

"I'm gonna get us out of here, just don't move." He stated.

I dematerialized the mirror and looked back at him. Every muscle in his body suddenly flexed and he was sprinting full speed before I could even register he moved. His hand hit my chest like a ton of bricks. There was something that hit me from behind the second he transported us back into the real world. We were in a treeline of the forest, and I could see all of the campus from the edge. There was a loud screeching sound behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see the same large slender beast from the other world. It's skin looked decayed and shrivelled up. It was extremely skinny like it hadn't been fed in years. It's eyes were pure white and it had teeth like stalgamites. It's hands were contorted and it had fingers that looked like daggers. It was extremely tall, probably three our four feet taller than I was. I had never felt fear like I had in this moment. I forced myself away from the creature, and when I did I felt a snap mentally. My abilities had awakened. I landed twenty feet away from the creature and Scott joined me by my side in seconds. He was extremely fast. Scott pulled a pistol hidden in his pant leg. Gunslinger style, he shot the beast twice in the chest. I materialized my bow and drawed two arrows at once. I released the string and they hit the creature directly in the stomach. It screamed once again and took off running in the other direction. Neither one of us chased it. Realization hit me like a truck. We just brought back one of the elder creatures into the normal world. 

"This isn't good." Scott stated.

"What was that thing?" I asked.

"Probably the most terrifying creature of them all." He replied.

"But what was it?" I asked again.

"A Wendigo." He answered without emotion.