Anti-ascension

As some would say, it never ended at being the truth; it was a fact. Death himself  whom had always being an accomplice for two distinguished entities would make his way to the humans, no longer  as a part of life or nature. instead he will be showing himself as the well-known legendary figure, the incarnate form of himself - the angel of death.

The ominous look written on the faces of the fortunetellers after they finally break free from the endless stare on their tarot cards, could immediately erase the doubts concerning the anti-ascension of death which was at first perceived by the sorcerers, witches, and several occult organisations.

Only a few priests could sniff the air and smell the doom approaching... but what does the *black-book *say? even science could do nothing but envisage death.

Out of dark clouds came raindrops piercing through the atmosphere as they left a trail of heat before ending their journey on the city streets omi.

"its raining heavily now, and the heat..."

maybe, not long from now it will be the city streets splattered with blood."

"common! don't just stand there, we can no longer stay under this shade, lets get out of here and besides its getting hot and you know mum and dad will be back home soon.

"that's right... we better hurry"

The two brothers had gone to a nearby cinema to see a movie, but as expected it was dull gathering.Though it was an anticipated action comedy, most teenagers didn't seem to pick interest; the ones who did were perhaps too young to understand what was going on around them. Even the grown-up in-charge could be seen repeatedly checking his watch; most likely impatient for the movie to end, and some other time he was lost in his thoughts.

Finally, it was the end of the movie. Now  the older brother, Aaron could have time to chat with his friends,for this same reason many had come, not for the pleasure of the movie but for friends they they were to see. Several schools had closed due to inconsistent lectures, and as for the teaching staffs most had resigned; was this due to the evil about to escalate? This would be one of several questions to be asked as they finally get time to pair with each other.

For Alan the younger brother, he followed the majority - not picking interest in the movie, but then as the movie came to an end, he fixed his gaze on the antagonist whom had pointed a gun to a tall lanky dude. In this scene the lanky dude was highly hysterical about the antagonist breaking the oath of agreement.

"Tch! are you not one of us? so why defy the oath? and now you point a gun at me, you think you're gonna go free." he paused for a moment before laughing carefully so as not to irritate the antagonist as well as show off the impression that he's still the boss.

He spoke slowly now, trying to sound more serious.

"I called you here to help me, and now this... why?"

Too bad the antagonist had made up her mind. Her first finger did the job as the bullet ran through the dudes head leaving blood splattered on the wall. The exciting moment for Alan wasn't just the blood splattered on the wall, but most likely the words she said before pulling the trigger: mind the way you ask the devil for help. Alan's eyes saw the screen but his head rang with those words. He never saw people leaving their seats until until a tap on his shoulder stopped the words from ringing further in his head.

"Hmmm ... how intriguing ..." Alan mused to himself as  he turned around to see who tapped him.

" c'mon Alan! , the movie is over " a familiar voice called from behind, it was his elder brother. Aaron's words coupled with his tightened grip on Alan's shoulder  had finally broken into Alan's head. in a couple of minutes they should be home, if Aaron takes less time with his friends.

***

After dinner that night,Aaron and Alan could hear mom and dad discuss in low tones on a possible flight to a neighboring country. Aaron and Alan slowly pushed themselves away from the door; they've being eaves dropping.

"Things are gonna get worse, Alan." Aaron spoke as he walked his brother to their room, then he slowly closed the door and whispered. "i'll be at my favorite spot, so sweet dreams."

A stray lightning  ran across the night sky setting light to the dark room for a moment before being accompanied by an angry thunder. It was 1am, and the rain has started falling again, but this time with no heat.The wind blew from side to side with no direction, occasionally sending rain drops to the window. Behind the window stood Aaron  who had in mind little or nothing of what nature seemed to be planning outside. Aaron took delight in watching rain drops drizzle down the window, but now an outraged thunder had sounded, it waves shook the window frames only to remind him of the storm up ahead. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed the chair behind him.

As he sat down, his mind traveled back to the conversation he had with one of his close friend, Mika, at the cinema. Mika had interrupted Aaron's optimistic sentence with his pessimistic statement: this bad things are meant to happen, we never can change them.Aaron was about to disagree before Duke burst into the scene.

" you know," he began, "for a guy like Mika to say such words, in fact it would  only take someone with undiluted ignorance to take his words as a false." he paused for a moment to see if his words had made an impact, instead Aaron and Mika just waited for his next round of words but for Duke it was a good sign, so he continued.

"haven't you heard of the rumors people claim to be mere stories , but for someone like me who've traveled far and wide... " this time he smiled jokingly as his eyes widened, showing off brown vicious pupils so as to emphasize his point. "i know rumors from *omi * villages always come through, and i don't expect this one to be exempted.

"What rumors?"Aaron countered. "sorry to tell you but we were not talking about rumors about concerning omi, instead our gist..." his eyes found Mika who was standing innocently next to Duke. "our gist was centred on the antagonist biography and the curse people say follows her famil..."

"Too bad." Duke cut in. "so you mean to say you're interested in other peoples affairs rather than the pressing issues around you? how pathetic!"

'Yeah you're absolutely right, and this days you make a lot of sense." Aaron remarked with a sting of sarcasm in his voice.

However, Duke ignored Aaron's remarks as he again continued with his lectures.

"I suppose you know," this time glaring at Mika whom he knew had no threat with words, "that the local authorities are running around in a bid to sensitize the public about this trend as well as cut-down the incoming razzmatazz."

Pointing to the window after an intended pause he continued.

"I mean check out the clouds, no! the rains, each drop is covered in steam... what the-- and here is the stunner." He pulls out a sheet of paper from his ****** pocket. "Take it!" he roared, forcing the paper into Aaron's hand.

Back to Aaron. He was done with his flashbacks, and now he remembered he had a paper to read. Searching his jean pocket for the paper, he finally brought it out ; having hiding it for a long time, not wanting to disclose it to his younger brother whom had insisted on knowing the content of the paper given by Duke.

Running his eyes through the article on the rumpled paper, nothing sounded ominous, in fact the heading had said it all :Local authorities guidelines Omi inhabitants. Unfortunately for him that wasn't all, the article had ended with an end note which read : The DS organisation claims to have more insight on the situation as they try informing the public of incoming plagues which they predicted would take a diminishing fall before the fulfillment of the anti-ascension beginning from the 6th of the sixth month of 2006. they also stated the plague would pose a great threat but if their instructions should be followed there would be no cause for chaos. Soonest the instructions would be passed to every social media body and then to the public.

To Aaron the article sounded like a part of a news bulletin to be read on TV, but what a drama it would be if actually read. plagues? the last time he heard of plagues was in the bible.

The DS organisation where known for their supernatural, if not Elysian intellects Which people often condemn. Anyway they had often used this ability to steer omi away from bad situations. They are well known for recycling omens or impending catastrophy which was the trash into a more favourable result. Nevertheless they've got their own rainy days- people seem not to care about them, anymore.

"But most schools are closed down, a lot of persons are relocating." All this he thought to himself. Now for once he might have seen a reason to align with his parents idea of relocating because right there in his mind fear was gradually building up, but then he had to shove everything aside telling himself it was just the DS organisation pulling the strings again just like before.

He eventually heaved a sigh as he took a slant posture on the chair ready for his forty-winks that will totally knock him out till dawn or perhaps till he hears the birds chirping.

***

Just like every other morning, breakfast preparation was always a norm as well as the commanding feminine voice associated with some random morning errands, but this time the feminine voice was way too high.

"Aaron! Aaron!!"

"yes mum! just a minute" feeling irritated not because of his mum but because of the persistent blaring of the car horn by his dad who was waiting outside. It was a signal for him to hasten into the car. His mum also felt irritated by the constant blaring now had to make sure Aaron wasn't stalling.

"What's taking you so long? pls hurry up! your dad has being waiting."

"It's my foot wear, i can't find... oh! i found it Aaron replied."

Before 9am, father and son had to go refill the gas tank in a near by gas station and along the line pay the ATM a visit.It was some few metres between the car and the gas station,then Aaron's dad thought it a good opportunity to break the silence and talk to his son.

"Aaron" he began," did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes dad." Aaron replied, recalling he had answered this same question earlier this morning or was dad about to open up the discussion he had with mum in the bedroom lastnight right here in the car; wrong! it was just about the night.

"If you ask me," he said steering the car to a free parking spot near the car wash garage at the gas station. "I really had a bad night... both of us, i mean your mum and i, but since you said you had a good night; i presume that goes the same way for your  brother Alan.

He left the car obviously not wanting any instinctive question, opened the boot took out the gas tank and headed straight for the filling room. Aaron was left alone in the car, but of course he was left with his thoughts to himself. he wondered how employees were up so early, perhaps they ran shifts. Then his eyes caught something- a bill, not just a bill, rows of bills posted on the wall. Leaving the car he went straight for the bill. Surprisingly it looked exactly the same as the one given to him by Duke. He scanned through it and here it came another surprise,the end note was omitted from the so called article.

Dad was back in the car,so it was time time to take out some cash. Aaron's dad was long sighted; the whole reason why Aaron had ta accompany him to the ATM machine, his lens was now over used. Right behind Aaron and his dad was too unashamed adults probably in their late thirties, while waiting for their turns to withdraw they started a conversation. The taller one had started with his yesternight experiences.

"I thought i had the best of dreams," his voice which had sounded happy now trailed in regret. "until..."

"Until what?" the average looking adult asked with curiosity.

"Yesternight, i had to wake up now and then, in my dream it was one hell of an activity. I had a blissful back and forth movement behind the *** of my gay self but when it came to the moment for me to spray my fluid the way catholic priests do spray the holy water on their congregation..." wincing his face he continued."I felt extreme pain for as long as i don't know, then i..."

"Wait! you say pain?" Mr average inquired.

"Yes so when i woke up i tried sleeping but the same thing kept repeating it self so i never slept until now."

"How sad Mr average managed to mumble. "It was the same for me... i mean painful sensations in my dream and... but of course not, i wasn't having your type of dream."

Aaron thought them to be friends because it was unusual for people to open up their private lives to strangers in public.

So after a late breakfast he sat on a sofa, trying to clear his head and then...

"Big brother yesternight was pretty awkward for me" Alan complained.

somewhere in Aaron's mind he was like: DAMN! you too!!

"In my dream," Alan began narrating,"i was starring at a white board filled with chemical elements from the periodic table written all over in scabs, i had finished reading all and then decided to memorize them. I wanted to close my eyes with my palms but instead i poked and got my eyeballs stuck with my first fingers." Alan stood by Aaron who was obviously listening but annoyingly scratching the sofa with his fingers. Such an action Alan thought was intercepting with his voice so raising the volume of his voice wasn't a bad idea.

"One by one in their respective orders i called each element and the pain grew terribly, so i had to scream the rest element and i felt something drooling down my cheeks from my eyes it didn't feel like liquid but in the end i fell down, i felt dead, i then woke up, then after some time tried sleeping but the same dream repeated itself, but i've got to admit reading out the elements was like a crescendo, the volume was perfect for me the dreamer."

That was it for Aaron, he's gonna have to find Duke, ask loads of questions and of course get loads of controversial answers, but he would have to wait till then.

* Anti- ascension ii*

"Stop! wait! stop!! wait!!" Aaron found himself repeating those words as he ran in a haste to meet up with Duke who was about shutting a door behind himself.

Duke who was totally surprised at the sight of Aaron so he had no choice but to usher him into the house.

"So, why were you running after me? and how the hell do you know this place... wait, were you stalking me?"

Seconds passed by as Aaron tried catching his breathe, and then he managed to speak.

"I was at your house, i mean the other house." finding the phrase 'the other house' the appropriate thing to say having seen another of Dukes family property. "I met a maid, she said you had left the house about seven minutes ago, she said if i could run i would meet up with you,so after giving me a nice description of where you're headed, i chased after you."

"That woman..." Duke thought to himself.  "So what brought you here?"

"This!" Aaron snapped.

"What's that?" Duke asked as he strained his eyes to see what looked like a folded sheet of paper.

"You're such an idiot Duke, didn't you give me a piece of paper back then at the cinema, now you've totally forgotten."

Aaron had to remind himself that Duke is a bully and using such an insulting adjective was not the right call. Countless times Duke had dealt with students who had bad adjectives oozing from their mouths, even sarcastic statements like the ones Aaron pulled up in the cinema few days ago was enough for Duke to land him a punch, but he didn't clench a fist. All this left Aaron wondering if Duke had gone soft.

Aaron took a glimpse of Duke, trying hard to read his countenance. He looked poised for anything or was he angry with the remarks? Aaron also took a quick glance at the interior part of the house noticing for the first time he was in the house of a bully, though it was an exotic place filled with lots of space, few furniture, but if Duke were to teach him a lesson there was no place in the first floor to hide so he thought it wise to be calm and collected.

"So what do you think?" Duke asked breaking into Aaron's thoughts.

"It..." stalling for time so as to understand Dukes' question. "It left me clueless, i mean almost everyone had a bad nightmare but me! whats the meaning of all of this?" Aaron replied.

"I'll tell you then, my father... Gregor Oxette. Am sure you've heard of him,  he's a member of the Double Shadow organisation, he..."

"You mean the DSorg?" Aaron cut in.

"Yes! he told me of the chaos that awaits us, the same as what you read on the article, he stressed the fact that  this ones really big unlike the ones before.

Aaron wanted to take a seat but that wasn't the issue now; for him his questions wasn't answered and he needed to know more about the so called plagues or whatever. Does the nightmares has anything to do with the chaos?

Duke offered Aaron a seat on one of the exotic sofa, but that was only to help him feel at ease as the controversial answers he wanted began weighing down on him.

Duke asked, "What did you notice in the article?" Without waiting for an answer he continued. "The date! the date!!" Duke bellowed. Then he began lamenting about the date on the article, as well as complaining about his misfortune.

Aaron was shocked at Dukes attitude noticing  he shivered, quite unlike the Duke he knew.Though he was furious he could also see the fright in Dukes eyes.

"My father..." he began, "Kept telling me of plagues that were to happen. He informed me of the date saying a lot of persons were going to die.

"Look!" he continued, "He gave me several instructions to follow, though uncertain but its the only way at least to avert the incoming uncertainties."

"So why should we believe in the DSorg after what happened the other time." Aaron asked, sounding like a critic.

A moment of silence passed as Duke stood still starring at Aaron with a serious gaze and with what looked like a smile on his face. Then out came a question.

"... What's today's date?"

"6th of June!'' Aaron replied, baffled by the way Duke payed unnecessary attention to the date of the so called anti-ascension.

"So... whats the big deal about the date?" Aaron asked.

"Tsk! don't you get it, the article made it clear the plagues are gonna begin in preparation for the anti-ascension." Now he sat down, feeling he had stood for too long.

"Before we met at the cinema i was really happy, having known through my father about the situation at hand. So i decided to follow all the instructions meant for persons who haven't been soiled by the curse that follows the so called *half a fortnight ,*but it has all come to nothing..." he paused, and then screamed in regret. "Just because i fell asleep! damn!! and then a miserable nightmare... am so unlucky."

"Wait wait wait... you too, you're among those complaining of the nightmares from yesterday?" Aaron asked jokingly.

"Of course!" Duke shouted, his tone of voice reminded Aaron of how serious the issue was. "Yeah! you think its funny? have you ever had a nightmare were a seed is forced into your left ear and it has to germinate with you feeling all the painful sensations that comes with its spiky adventitious roots piercing through your ear drums and then only sprouting a single shoot at the surface of your right ear, and then you hear several voices saying at the same time: 'test failed lets start allover again with the right ear'!?"

"No" Aaron replied. "I don't think that's funny, because my dad, my mum and most especially my younger brother, they all complained of silly nightmares."

"Hmmph, and am sure your're included."

"No am not."

"You mean you never had such experiences?" Duke asked shockingly.

"No, i didn't experience any nightmare."

After a moment of silence, Duke began. "According to my father the signs for the anti-ascension starts from 6th June and that was yesternight... so if i may ask, by what time did you sleep yesternight?"

"... I guess by--"

"Don't guess! be precise" Duke yelled at Aaron.

"Ok ok! 2am" Aaron replied.

"I see... that's the reason you didn't have any nightmare because the midnight didn't meet you in your sleep. So at least your're free, you just have to make sure you're gonna be fortunate for the next six days."

"So what about you? what are you gonna do?" Aaron asked with curiosity."

"If you ask me... i'll just have to follow the instructions set out for persons like me."

"I can see this anti-ascension rubbish is getting too deep... so i have got no choice but to help."

"Help who?"

"Is it not obvious, i want to help my family. They know nothing of such and i think am in the best  position to help them out."

"Ok then, go back home set things straight and comeback by 6 pm. You know parents won't allow their kids outside. Its almost like a curfew, so i'll be waiting."

"I'll be on my way then." Aaron replied as he opened the entrance door.

"Good luck! lucky ***." Duke shouted as he hurriedly locked the door.

"I should have told him..." Duke thought to himself.

Duke father had made it clear... ' if by any means the midnight meets you in your sleep, you have no choice but to do as i have told you. Stalk to the grave at the christened path after the white bush. this is a way out at least for those who the midnight met in their sleep and if your friends have similar problems and even anyone else don't hesitate to give a helping hand, don't be rude!"

"And remember after performing the required rituals, the creature Mograi will help you out."

"I'll do as you've said father." Duke had answered.

"But be careful, he's unpredictable." Gregor added.

*Anti\-ascension – countdown begins*...

The DSorg sank the roots of it's headquarters in the southern region of Omi city. There they made their mark– a statement to Omi citizens regardless of Omi uprising disregard for the organisation.

They also had most of their branches spread across other regions of Omi city– an opportunity to expand their domain.

In the night, right In the headquarters a gathering assembled. personalities of various hierarchies, weilding known and unknown kinds of dark art but all under one canopy– the DSorg.

A voice broke the silence, it's pitch smooth but toubled...

"Seeing the state of things right now,you all know we have to act fast, after all we've done our best to explain to the people about the plagues and it's aftermath... but all to no avail."

Kishh Uchida, the one speaking was apparently their leader but in some cases was branded a 'figure head'. He spoke with conviction rather than authority. Kishh Uchida sat a few metres away from the others, his seat and table were excluded from the others; this indicated his height in rank and of course his height in leadership over his members. From the position, he faced a convex shaped table with seats occupied by various individuals.

On one side of the table were six persons– members of the DSorg:

Gregor Oxette, well known for his ability of fertility, mass cleansing and healing. He is a Branched priest of a Deity (female divinity– goddess of the earth).

Novak Bell, sparely known. His ability is the misunderstood incipio. His source of power is unknown.

Peter Edorakk, also a Branched priest of a male Divinity or deity ( Deora of the surface). His ability is the dreaded tempest.

Lastly there sat Dawn Euichi, Dusk Hattori and Dove Kinno. They are the triangle sorcerers. Known for their all seeing abilities not to mention their sorcery which involves dark dense magic. They claim self edification as the main source of their powers, but what of other sources– this remains unknown.

Whilst on the other side of the table were three empty seats. Obviously three other individuals were absent and a little space was left on the middle of the table for the symbol of the organisation for visible reasons.

"Right from the start," Kishh Uchida continued. "We've all been notified by our benefactors (their Deities) that the anti-ascension is in regards to the dense corruptive Radiance which had spread from the south to north of Omi and now both the east and west are enveloped by this strange Radiance

"But unfortunately our benefactors never gave us a clue of the perpetrators be it a group or an individual. But I can bodly say who's behind this." He paused allowing them some time to get through their murmurings, before resuming his speech.

"After much persuasions I came to know these are the doings of the soul of a Nephlm, a demon. There's no doubt about it."

"Kishh Uchida..." Edorakk called from his seat, never willing to recognise him as the Grand priest even though it was a fact. "You are so slow to get info, and what did you just say about our benefactors giving us no clue." The voice of Edorakk rang with great disappointment.

"Look here, Kishh Uchida, if the benefactors of yours and everyone else are so slow, fine. But certainly not mine! I've known everything right from the beginning. I just wanted to see what a Grand priest could make out of the situation."

For Kishh Uchida being the Grand priest comes with great responsibility. So nevertheless he had to keep his composure never wanting to loose against the likes of Edorakk. He knew Edorakk wanted his own mask branded with the Roman numeral "1". Now he noticed the sorcerers, their voices were loud enough to be heard– they were saying something.

"...Grand priest" Dawn Euichi called out with respect. Apart from Edorakk, the rest of the members never failed to give Kishh Uchida his due respect. "Sorry to say this but we knew from the start but we kept silent thinking you might have known and was already devising a plan to curb the issue."

In almost every occasion Dawn Euichi would be the first to start a sentence followed by her subordinates. They spoke sequentially– one after another. What Dawn would say will definitely match with that of Dusk and of course Doves' words will match with the latters. Making it seem like their brains are linked together. This behaviour baffled everyone and left everyone asking if this ladies are for real.

"Hmm... so your murmurings back then we're not out of surprise for my findings. if so, then we will—" Kishh tried finishing his sentence but was cut short by Edorakk.

"Pardon me for interrupting, I just decided I had to say this. It seems non of you know that the Radiance in question is not alone, it's entangled with another... it's entangled with a Fallen." The last word he said with clear satisfaction. he always loves it when he's the only one with something outside the box, in this case not an idea but a fact.

"What?!" Kishh exclaimed. He was obviously surprised, same with the sorcerers. Novak and Gregor the quiet and confined ones were not left out.

"Oh... you are all surprised?" Edorakk shook his head. "I forgot, what should I expect from the Grand priest himself and his incompetent members..." Edorakk found it worthy to call Kishh Uchida a Grand priest only when he commends him for his flaws.

"You all are always one step and four million feet behind information, infact behind everything!" He ended his cold remarks with a deep sigh.

"However!" Kishh began, obviously trying to get his mind off Edorakks' remarks. "Death himself will descend soon, so we have no choice but to leave that to his incarnated form."

Kishh saw the look their eyes he wanted to believe their calmness in body also reflected their calmness in mind. He would have preferred them putting on their mask at least as a guise to suppress their fake countenance because he knew deep down they were all extremely concerned about the happenings around them.

"Instead we all need to concentrate on those whom we can save right now..." Yes Kishh thought to himself, bringing their minds to the main goal should be the main priority. "Knowing the ritual can be performed for one person at a time, it will be able to keep their bodies from harm or destruction on the day of Death's excecution. But for their soul..."

"Since it's one person per ritual how are we going to accomplish this? knowing fully well few hours from now we will be left with six days." This was the first time Novak Bell decided to talk since the commencement of the meeting, all along he had been listening and paying attention to the outspoken disrespect shown by Edorakk towards the Grand priest. He sure wanted a solution after Edorakk explained a Fallen to be connected with the Nephlm's radiance.

"Novak?" Gregor called.

"Yes?"

"I certainly think you will be of great help help here. If we've got six days left, time consumption should be brought to the minimum."

Gregor Oxette, known to have similar qualities with that of Novak Bell in the sense of character confinement. And it was also a big plus to the Organisation; having someone like him who's capable of bringing up solutions. Everyone paid attention to him when he talks, even the so called Edorakk was marvelled at Gregor's competence. But as far as Edorakk was concerned, praising Gregor or even commending him was a diminishing virtue. His pride won't let him.

Gregor made it clear to everyone how key the ability of Novak (the incipio) was key to their success. This ability of Novak will draw a large number of persons to the ritual ground quietly. But the Government he explained to be an obstacle.

"The Government you say? you're wrong!" It was the voice of Edorakk. "The Government is not an issue, rather it's the Light bearer attached to the Government representative incharge of Omi city, because of him we won't be able to do a thing. His influence contradicts our good intentions. So taking him out of the picture would sort everything out." He ended his speech but started another almost immediately.

"Moreover a clan under my Deity, I don't know how they were able to come about the recent happenings, but anyways they've decided to donate..." he paused as he tried finding the right words. "To sacrifice some certain individuals among them. They claim these individuals are willing to be sacrificed and they seem to accept they are meant for this situation."

"So what was your answer?" asked the Grand priest.

"Of course! it was a yes."

"You're too irrational Edorakk!" the Grand priest shouted in disregard. "Your Deity, Deora. Does he approve of this?"

"If he doesn't, then he certainly wants the death of this large human society." Edorakk answered much to the displeasure if the Grand priest.

"And about the Light bearer... don't do anything rash or stupid, Edorakk. Angus Kensuke, Noah Satoshi, and Xheen Yutaka. You can see they are not present, they're the ones assigned for that purpose." The voice of the Grand priest sounded with a warning note.

"Hmm... those three eh..." Edorakk mumbled to himself. Everyone knew Edorakk. Would he conform to the Grand priests' words?

"Anyways, we will begin from the third day" with that he concluded the meeting or so to speak the gathering.

But as time passes more occurance where to unfold...

*sthgisnI* ...edosipE txeN