Chapter 14 - Deacon - A Knight Returns

 

Chapter 14 - Deacon - A Knight Returns

Deacon awoke with a start. The room was dark, the windows covered and the smell told of a musty house that hadn’t been lived in for a while. His whole body ached and Deacon couldn't remember why or what had happened to cause it. His head was throbbing too with the beginnings of a migraine. Luckily the Omni on his belt was still there. It was the thing that helped him navigate the time streams and the ethers. Omni stood for omniscient or all encompassing, basically his internal compass in mechanical form, his true north compass point that would always lead him home. And right now home was finding Faith. He couldn’t imagine what had caused this weird occurrence. One moment he was there at the outbuilding ready to go inside and then boom, he was here, who knows how long ago that shaky memory was from. The Omni glittered and thrummed. He checked his vitals with it. All his Knights powers were still intact. But there was something nagging at him.

He bolted upright causing his head to throb in protest. “Faith!”

What had happened to her? How long had he been knocked out? His head felt like he had been drugged more than him being forced to sleep with a magical intention.

“I see you finally woke up,” said the voice, a peculiar mix of male and female tones. His eyes had to be deceiving him. What he was seeing was a blending of both Jax and Kara. Neither quite in full form, just hovering mid-phase. “Your powers are coming more online. A seer, perhaps? You two will definitely compliment each other. Unfortunately, I can’t let that happen.”

“Why, Jax?” Deacon asked, confused.

“She left me,” he grunted, like a boy who had lost his favorite action hero toy.

“Faith? That’s not what I heard.”

“She bowed out. Her sister wanted me and she bowed out. Who does that?”

Deacon could see it almost as if he was watching a movie. Andra looked much different than she did now. He had seen her social media page. She was so pretty and vibrant now but then she was in that horsey phase all kids go through. Being around Jax made her feel pretty and she shined when she was near him. Faith could see that light in her sister and let that relationship grow while hers with Jax faltered. 

Then Faith’s mother got involved. Faith didn’t know but her mother was a dark mage. She decided to gaslight Faith to try and get her to come to the darkside. Having powers like Faith’s would prove useful. So Faith only knew that Jax left her, no real reason why. It crushed her spirit but she made her way. She found Christian music and began to sing for God. Her mother was incensed. It made her mad Faith could survive her magic manipulations.Faith was a real warrior for God and she never really knew she was so powerful.

Deacon sighed. It was no wonder Faith had been able to so easily deal with the demons she encountered now. She had been attacked a lot as a child and she just didn’t remember. He could see her Grandfather, the one she so loved, had helped to protect her back then. Bud was a Master Magician for the Light. God had sent him specifically to protect her and move her forward when he could not. The Dark Lord was always watching her so he had snuck Bud into her life by way of her Grandmother. God did that a lot, snuck people into Faith’s life. He had snuck Deacon into her story months ago and now he knew why. God had a plan, had one since she was a child and it only now was coming to light.

“Stop thinking so much!” Jax snapped. He was more Jax now. HIs form had melded into a specific persona.

“So, what is your plan, Jax? To woo her back?”

Jax sighed. “I can’t get through to her. All she can see is you.”

Deacon tried not to smirk.

“The Dark Lord wants her, Deacon and he is going to get her. A showdown is afoot as we speak.”

That was all he needed to hear. He didn’t make a move, just shimmered and disappeared.

Chapter 13 - James/Faith - Suspicions

Chapter 13 - James/Faith - Suspicions

The Legacy facility on the outskirts of town was hidden in the middle of a large blanket of trees. No one knew of the castle structure, it was well camouflaged and cloaked amongst the growing vegetation. Much of it was an illusion to keep people away. 

The building out front housed the Knights Foundation. It was the face of the secret spy agency. As they are also beginning to realize their true company's Legacy isn't all based on discovering intel or hidden truths. It's really much deeper than that. King Arthur wasn't really a man. It was more of a concept, a mantle, a manner of being to aspire to. In this story there are a few who fit this description. They all have faults, everybody does. But at their core they are all Arthurs.

James is keeping a secret from Faith that is crushing him. Hailey is pregnant and the baby isn't his. He has his suspicions but all of them are too unbelievable to comprehend. Why had Noah really disappeared? He is beginning to suspect his friend and it's really hurting his heart. But worst of all he had taken Hailey back after all her lies and now this. How did a man trust his spouse who had stepped out on him? Like Faith had at the beginning of this story, he is wondering if stepping into the interim position was a mistake. James really needed to talk to her, get her take. She was a good sounding board and always got to the truth of things.

He can't see her from his position outside and Danny had disappeared earlier. He wasn't truly sure where. All he knew was that this was scaring him more than he thought it would. Usually he was so detached when conducting surveillance. He was just realizing he had lost that calm edge he normally had on cases.

He knew it was because how close he and Faith had become during the last few months. Singing with her had filled a hole in his heart he hadn't realized was there. They were talking about a new song, a mash up of some of her old CCM favorites. She was really looking forward to it. James had asked her to step up to lead worship when half the team left when Kara did a weird disappearing act a few weeks back. 

Faith was just getting her feet wet but the spirit inside the sanctuary was so much more calming and worshipful. It was a feeling he had missed with all the showmanship that had previously been on stage. There was a place for that at times, but sometimes you just needed simple songs that cried out to God to come in and heal you. 

He spied Danny off to his left. The man looked like he had been through the ringer. 

"Are you okay?" James asked. 

"I don't know, man. Something happened back there. I felt this weird vibration all around me. And now I want to go all Hulk on someone for no reason at all," Danny cleared his throat. "It's actually kind of scaring me."

***

Inside the Knights Foundation building, Kain Newcastle slid into the room at a run. He was a man now at just over forty but managed to keep his boyish charm in tact. 

"We've had a ripple in the time stream. I think we lost Noah."

Mac looked up from the new disguise he'd been crafting. To say he was a bit of a chameleon was an understatement. It was no wonder Enigma was his codename. 

"Was he hiding in a knight when it happened?" Mac was the team's troubleshooter. But they both shined in that area. 

"We can't really tell but we think so. My theory is that it pushed him into limbo."

Kain could see Mac inwardly curse. The man was true north and hadn't cursed in front of him the entire time he'd known him. 

"Not good."

"The team has other ideas they are working on. Darien and Robbi are doing their mental gymnastics and Steve and Gia are studying up on the history of similar situations. Everyone's all in."

"Good. We need a good challenge to brush up on our skills." Mac didn't crack a smile. 

"You're real funny. A comedian in fact. You gonna go on the road with that act?"

"I'm worried Kain. It's like God is working in fast forward. Something is up and we need to get a handle on it. It's not like we have history to rely on here. We are on the leading edge, creating reality as we go."

"Don't worry, Mac. We'll make it work."

Mac prayed to God he was right. This reality was scaring the crap out of him. 

***

In a forest directly south of the church compound, Kara stood in a whirlpool of energy. No one knew about her power or what she had accomplished already. Getting rid of Noah had been step one. Nick was next. That secret white knight was on her last nerve. He had fooled her too many times. Now both he and Faith would pay the ultimate price. A double sacrifice would give her spell more power. The demons already followed her lead and attacked the more important church members. Getting rid of Crossroads would be a big win for their team. 

Kara laughed at the people reading this. "You think this is just a fairytale? We are in a war here. The dark against the light." She held in her hand the true north part of Noah's heart. The evil part was still in Danny. She was looking forward to using him in the future. Faith was just his type. She could use him now to lure her to her ultimate doom. Nick would surely follow. The man was so noble, too noble. All those Knights Foundation guys were. 

She laughed. James would get a real surprise pretty soon. Time ripples were making changes even she couldn't foresee. 

***

I inched toward him and reached for Nick just as the time ripple hit. His clothes changed and so did his face. It was much like her red Merlin cloak but in a deep hunter green, plus he had the same interesting belt around his waist. Attached to his left side was a device peeking out from under his shirt. It was vibrating energy waves. I reached for it and he grabbed my hand. 

"Don't," he muttered, his speech slurring. "I don't want them to get you too."

I moved my hand to his face making him look at me. "Nick, this is attracting them to you. It's hurting you. I can see it."

He grunted as one slammed into his chest. "Better me than you."

I am pretty stubborn and have dealt with the demon realm a lot in the past few months. The longer he let it go on the more dibilating it would be. 

I found the salt in the kitchen of the outbuilding. God had laughed at her once calling it is inside mineral just like she was his inside man at the newspaper before she quit. Salt was the secret thing in every kitchen that repelled demons. 

I made a potion of salt and water and sprinkled it all around, especially around Nick. Then I lined the doorway thresholds with salt crystals. 

"These things are annoying."

"You're telling me."

I reached to his waist and turned off his device. "I knew you had an unnatural amount of energy. That really necessary?"

"Inside spice." He pointed to the salt. Then he pointed to himself. "Inside man."

I smiled. "Mind reader now?"

Nick returned my smile with a half smirk. "One of my better talents."

"You're an enigma for sure," I laughed. 

It felt good not to suspect him of wrongdoing. but someone was manipulating them all on a masterful level. 

"What are we even doing here?"

"Not sure. I have a bit of a memory gap."

"Manipulation can do that." My inner knowing was screaming at me to move.  "We need to get out of here. James is outside."

Nick shook the entities off his aura then attempted to stand. "I can't. I'm undercover."

"So is he. Get over it and work together." Geez, men!

Chapter 11- An Inspiring Role Model

 

My Faithful Friend

My pastor, Ronnie Tabor, gives such inspiring sermons that back in March he sort of magically woke up the dead writer inside me. I had been receiving a lot of good story ideas by that point and by July that sleeping writer woke up. God had tried many times to revive the storyteller in me and this time it seems to be sticking. The writer me is on fire again

I talk to God every morning and God kinda snuck a lot of people from church into the story too, not to mention people from my past series. It really wasn't a story at that point, just a reflection about a point in my past. God started calling my story being obedient to God. Everyday he would point out things to me and I would add them to the story. The story just sort of blossomed from there. 

He calls it paying attention to the little things. You know the kind of things I mean, right? You hear a song lyric that sticks in your head. What is it saying to you? That is God speaking. You hear someone say something that sticks out or a word keeps coming to you over and over... That is God too. He is prompting us, nudging us where we need to go. He has a plan and he is guiding you to it every day.

God said I was using history and my real life experiences to prove God exists. I am still doing that with my mixed up fairytale. It's really fun for me to write in this way. I am a big overthinker. When I created The Legacy of Spies concept way back in 1998, I kinda went character crazy, spinoff after spinoff, series after series: The Hollow, Ambrose, Shattered/The Trust, Murder in the Choir Room, By Any Other Name, Trouble With UFOs, Web of Lies... I even wrote a few episodes of the 5th Virtual Season of Poltergeist The Legacy (go to fanfiction.net under the name Bradygirl) which is what inspired this series' name. Go click on the profile link in the right sidebar. It's all there. I need to rewrite Bulgarian Underground which is Ethan's first mission. I was still teaching myself to write when I did that. It's a big dream of mine to reboot that spy series. I love it so much.

Right now I am crafting a cool concept that is sort of along the lines of my mixed up fairytale. History is all wrong and we have protector knights go back in time to fix historic glitches that changed history. In my mind, the history we know isn't right. We need to fix it. I like this concept because back when I took history, history didn't speak to me, my mind couldn't grasp it. A series called Voyagers did. I got it then, I could see it. They fixed history. They fixed me. I want to do that for others using my same obedience to God writing style.. I told you that the writer in me is on fire and I am so excited to begin.

Fairytale story tagline

I came up with a clever tagline for my mixed up King Arthur / Maiden Marian fairytale:

FIGHTING FOR THE SIDE OF LIGHT
BY WRITING A FAIRYTALE
THAT'S NOT QUITE RIGHT

😃 

Chapter 12 - Faith - Under Attack

 

Chapter 12 - Faith - Under Attack

Something changed today. I’m not exactly sure what but I can feel it in the energy. This money laundering thing is much bigger than I originally thought. I can feel my newspaper is involved too. Kills me to say that even to myself. They think they are safe but really they are fooling themselves. Whatever actions they take today will be their ultimate downfall. I can sense that so strongly.

I am not really sure when I realized I was awake. I had been sort of in an in-between state, in limbo for a while. I can feel the demons are back trying to attack me. A demon attack is not all that uncommon. Some people see it as anxiety or stress. Demons get into your psyche and subtly suggest things, tell you lies, make you believe the story they are spinning until you forget no one but you hear these things.

Having demons on you makes you very consignant of the events unfolding around you. You affect so many people during the course of a day that any number of them could catch one of these demons. Even big businesses have them too. My old newspaper has demons called sentries. They guard and watch, and not in a good way. A newspaper disseminates information so I figure it is a big axis point for the darkside. God snuck me in years ago. I am kinda like God’s inside man, or I used to be before they laid me off. They knew about me, my talents and it scared them. Now they know that I know. Today it all changes. The undercover investigation unit already knows about it. I have told James of my fears. He is an undercover cop. Now God has led me to Crossroads where more of this nonsense is going on. God is super serious about this right now. God is on the warpath. So they all better watch their backs.

I can see Nick out of the corner of my eye. He is totally infested with these demons that I wonder if he is just a lackey they use. The guy is like an energy generator. That must be really attractive to a demon army. And that is what this is about. We are in a war. God is fighting the darkside now more than ever.

Strangely enough, my intuitive powers seemed to have grown times three. I can sense James outside. I’m not sure why only him. I think we are internally connected in some way. Something changed between us today too. The world shifted slightly and now we are working with a whole new level of things.