It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave alll my valuables un my room (They weren't much anyway), which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack.
Our quest had been financed the standard amount. An infinite credit card that would adapt to any currency and pure golden coins called Daric.
They were as big as your averahe metal nuts and were imprinted ancient words of various.
I recognized one of the symbols as meaning 'precious.'
'The Celestial world deals in nothing but pure gold.' Acacius informed. He said the coins might come in handy when we least expected. That on whatever plane, money spoke.
He gave Rachel a flask of amrita, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was divine essence, je reminded us.
It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals.
And too much of it would cause a Nephilim to combust into a pillar of flame.
Rachel was the picture of perfection in normal mortal clothing, she already had vere drooling, which annoyed me to no end.
She wore a ripped jeans and denim jacket over a black T shirt with a single strap backpack slung over her shoulder.
I quickly turned away, genuinely afraid that I would fall in love with her if I looked for too long.
She wore a pendant apparently fit all of her magical items in its gem.
You know, if she wasn't like seven foot tall she might have passed for the average city toppling beauty.
Vere on the other hand wore his baggy Khakis and a full shirt, making him look like a junior professor.
His bright silver backpack was full of Crakers (He was obsessed with them) and a magic flute.
We said our goodbyes and took one last look at the Sactuary before walking over to the center ilse where a gateway into the mortal world had already been prepared.
Acacius was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him was the three eyes dude id seen in the sick bay.
From what I heard he was the Sanctuaries Sentinel. His powers gave him the ability to forsee immediate dangers to the Sanctuary.
Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra
peepers on his hands, face and neck.
'This is Beru,' Acacius introduced. 'He will drive you to the capital, and, er, well, keep an eye on things.'
I smothered a laugh.
I suddenly heard footsteps behind us.
Cain came running up the hill, holding an ancient compass.
'Hey!' he panted. 'Glad I caught you.'
Rachel blushed. I noticed she did that often when Cain was around.
'Just wanted to say good luck,' Cain told me. 'And I thought… um, maybe you could use this.'
He handed me the compass, which looked really old.
Still, it did seem to be made out of pure gold.
'Awesome!' Vere said exitedly, like he knew what it was.
Cain smiled. 'They show you the way to your hearts desire. Found it on a shipwreck in a quest. Havent got much use for it these days…'
I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that he'd come to wish us well. But here
he was giving me a magic gift… This guy...
'Hey, man,' I said. 'Thanks.'
'No sweat, So just… kill some demons for
me, okay?'
We bumped fist. Cain and Vere shook hands, and he whispered something to Rachel, who looked like she might pass out.
After je was gone, I told her, 'You're hyperventilating.' She wasn't.
'Am not.' She said, flustered.
Okay now she was hyperventilating.
'Wow, its just butterflies in there isnt it?' I laughed evilly.
I had discovered her weakness!
Before I could follow, Acacius caught my arm. 'We should have had more time. You should have been trained better. You are stron Abel. More so than most beings as youll come to see one day. You should have had more training.'
'That's okay. Ill just have to make do with what I have.'
'No its not. Before, you were able to summon your divine strength to perform miraculous feats.
But not many demons will allow you the time you need, and you still aren't able to do it at will. Nor is your body able to bear it.'
I stopped myself because I knew he spoke the truth.
'What am I thinking?' Acacius cried. 'I can't let you get away without this.'
He opened his emptu palm and a Redwood Cane appeared within.
It was an odinary redwood cane, but my pupils when I recognized it.
'It was the spear that had vapourised the Yowie.'
'It was once your fathers weapon. It seems only right that I return it to his bloodline.'
I imagined it as the spear from then and then it grew longer and heavier in my hand.
In a split second, I held a shimmering bronze
A celestial spear with a crimson blade.
It felt perfectly balanced in my hand, like it was made for me.
'The spear served your father his entire life. Its name is 'ijorrati.'
'"Doombreak",' I translated, surprised the Ancient tongue now came so easily.
'Use it only when your life is at stake,' Acacius warned, 'and only against demons. No hero should ever harm mortals.
'Good to know.'
'Now imagine it as something more your stye.'
I closed my eyes and conctrated and the spwear shrunk into an ordinary leather bracelet adorned withe a red skull.
'What if I lose it.'
'You cant,' Acacius said.
'Can't what?'
'Lose it,' he said. 'It is enchanted. It will always return to your wrist. Try it.'
I was wary, but I threw the bracelet into the swirling gateway and watched it disappear into the white light.
'Sometimes it takes a second,' Acacius told me. 'You see?'
Sure enough, the bracelet was around my wrist again. 'Okay, that's epic,' I admitted. 'But what if a mortal sees me pulling out ancient weaponry?'
Acacius smiled. 'Mortals percieve reality in their own way.'
'What do you mean?'
'Whenever divine or demonic elements enter the mortal world, they obscure themselves from the vision humans. You will see things just as they are, being a Nephilim, but humans will interpret things quite differently.'
I took a deep breath. For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving the only safe heaven for my kind. I was heading to a different continent with a teenager and a sprite, no backup plan.
'Acacius …' I said. 'What exactly are you keeping from me…
The last but one line; 'Yet what is gained may bring despair', you know what it means right?'
'No, actually I do not. I only have a very bad suspicion'.
'About the demons?'
Acacius pursed his lips. 'Your father, Orion has been missing for a while. For one such as him no power should be able harm him.
No power except that of the Lord of destruction. The devil god himself: Magog.
The Celestials tjemselves were not unkillable, but he is..
In some form he still exist, decimated in Hoth.
Forced to endure endless torture, but still
very much alive. He cannot rise yet, but evil does not die so easily. And he has had Eons to plot.
Perhaps...' No! Acacius said fervently. 'Perish the thought.
'Don not mind my words just now,' Chiron told me. 'Keep your fear in its place. And
remember, the survival of your kind will likely be decided by your success or failure.'
'No pressure,' I chuckled, givine Acacius one last smile as I jumped into the gateway.
Beru drove us out of the moitain ramyes and into the center of the continent. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Vere was sitting next to me in the passenger's seat while Rachel sat in front with Beru.
After nearly three weeks in the Sanctuary, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every KFC, every hotdogs stand and shopping mall.