Order of the Shattered Cross: Pt. 06

"August, please," she tried one last time. The man next to August removed his cross and draped it around August's neck. He handed him the torch in his hand and nodded to the boy approvingly. The memory looked into August's eyes and saw that he was looking straight through her. He touched the torch to the tinder beneath her. The last thing she remembered as she burned to death, was the cross around his neck.

Eterna took Timothy's hand and returned them to the cliffside. Timothy watched the fire in the village, and slowly turned to Eterna.

"How did your soul end up on a battlefield in Korea?" Timothy asked.

"Our souls explode from our bodies when we die," Eterna began. "That energy attaches itself to whatever it can cling to. Some materials don't hold that energy for very long. Some can hold it indefinitely. Metals like iron and steel tend to repel it. Glass holds onto it firmly but doesn't let it go easily. Wood can hold and release with ease. The strongest portion of our souls is all that remains. The rest of it returns to the creator."

"That cross," Timothy said. "Take my hand."

Timothy took them to Korea. Not to his death, but to a good memory. A memory of Johan holding a Sunday service in a field tent. His memory sat in the corner as Johan preached. They walked up to Johan and looked at his cross.

"The strongest remaining piece of my soul clung to August's cross. He gave the cross to his son, and so on and so forth. Johan is August's descendant," Eterna said. "Our souls became entwined when the cross was destroyed. When you returned to the living, only the strongest piece of your soul came back. Meaning, there was room for others to join you."

"We need to stop Gwendoline," Timothy said and Eterna released his hand and walked away. "Maiden."

"You'll have to make me, because I'll have no part of it," Eterna said and exited through the flap of the tent. Timothy followed her and walked into his apartment in Savannah. He turned around and now the flap was his door. "You know my name, just compel me, get it over with."

"I will never compel you," Timothy replied, and Eterna huffed in disbelief and sat on his chair.

"You say that now. The moment I become difficult you'll force me. You'll betray me like everyone else has."

"I won't," Timothy said. He walked over and kneeled in front of her. "You can make me forget."

"What?"

"You can make me forget that I ever knew your name. We can go to that memory, and you remove what you please from it."

"You'd let me do that?" the maiden asked, and Timothy nodded.

"Even if you won't help me. I need your help, but I won't demand it."

Eterna looked into his eyes and slowly smiled. After forty years she felt that she knew Timothy better than anyone. He had allowed her to use his body without him. While not a perfect man, she knew he was a fundamentally good man. An honest man. He wasn't always honest to others, but he had never lied to her. She placed her hands on his temples and closed her eyes.

"Before I forget it, you have a beautiful name, Eterna," Timothy said and closed his eyes as well.

"I Eterna, daughter of Lilith, grant Timothy Augustine, fractured and my mortal vessel, my name and complete essence," Eterna said. Timothy opened his eyes and felt her lips kiss his forehead.

"Thank you, Eterna."

--

Timothy opened his eyes. For a moment he assessed whether he was truly awake. He was lying flat on his stomach, so rolled over to rest on his shoulder. Above him he saw a crystal chandelier with four arms, each with a different color flame. He tilted his head and saw Nora sitting on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her. Her head was drooping toward her lap, and it appeared she had recently stopped crying.

"How long have I been out?" Timothy asked as he tried to push himself to his feet, but gasped in pain when he remembered his back was severely burned. Nora didn't reply. "Nora?"

"I will kill her. Slowly. Intimately," Nora whispered under her breath.

"You can't," Timothy said, mustering the willpower to push through his pain and rest himself on his knees. "You ambushed her with four other witches, and she swatted them down like mosquitos. Face it Nora, Gwendoline is far more powerful than you."

"I'm the High Priestess..."

"...your position is a popularity contest. Gwendoline has had hundreds of years to perfect her power," Timothy said and tried to rise to his feet. He started to fall forward but touched the still active protective barrier and used it to steady himself. "Your ego got them killed."

Nora threw him against the barrier and levitated to her feet. She crushed Timothy's back against the barrier until blood began to drizzle like rainwater streaming down glass. Her blue eyes were the most intensely lit he had ever seen them.

"Consider your next words carefully, Timothy."

"You tried to fight a dark witch in a cave," Timothy said while pushing back against her magic. Nora felt his retaliation and tilted her head in disbelief. She didn't sense the magic coming from another. Just him.

"It wasn't supposed to be a fight..."

"...your hubris got them killed," Timothy said, and shoved her back hard enough to release her grasp on him.

"How did you? She submitted? No, you used her name to force her to give you her powers, didn't you?" Nora asked.

"I granted him my powers willingly," Eterna said, and Nora saw her. Timothy was using his magic to project her in such a way Nora didn't need her own to see and hear her.

"Fool. You cannot trust a man with the power of a witch," Nora said.

"I trust him more than I trust most witches with this power," Eterna replied. "Certainly more than I trust you."

"You bow at the feet of a man. What kind of witch are you?" Nora asked in disdain.

"Cooperation is not submission," Eterna said. "Chamber, release us,"

Timothy stepped past the barrier and Nora tried to follow. She collided with it, and demanded it release her as well. It refused.

"Chamber, let me out!" Nora shouted as she pounded on the barrier.

"You're only going to get yourself killed, and the chamber knows it," Timothy said without turning back. "It was charged to protect you. It's protecting you from yourself."

"You can't leave this room without me. Only I can open the seal," Nora said.

"I have a the feeling the chamber will be more than accommodating," Eterna said, giving Nora one last grin before returning to Timothy's body. "Ready, Timothy?"

"We need to make one house call first."

"Anyone in particular?"

"We need an expert on doorway magic."

--

It took a full day for her body to feel normal. Having your soul ripped out and thrown back inside of you makes your body feel foreign and too large, like a baggy sweater. That fractured had stretched out her body as if it was a shirt removed from a torso two sizes too big.

Indigo couldn't deny that she was grateful. The fractured had every reason to kill her. He only came to talk, and she had attempted to kill him and his exorcist. It was largely a misunderstanding, but the murderous intent was there all the same. As far as she could tell, he hadn't informed the Confederation of her whereabouts. Still, she needed to hide again. Somewhere different. Somewhere different was her specialty.

Being a practitioner in the art of doorway magic left her with many options. After the fractured and his exorcist departed, she left shortly thereafter. Only in a less traditional way.

The Sisters of the Keys is a misnomer. Most covens believed it was a regional name for their sisterhood. As in, the Florida Keys. While that was where their coven originated, the name itself held a dual meaning. They were the Sisters of the Keys, because they held the keys to any door. All covens had secrets they kept, even from the Confederation. Especially from the Confederation, as Indigo's mother would say. The Confederation was as corrupt an institution as any other. It was only as good as the person leading it, and Nora Abernathy was as inflexible as she could be cruel.

Indigo opened her doorway and walked into her coven's most closely guarded secret. Her Sisters had been killed, the survivors tortured, and had their minds ripped apart and pieced back together to discover their secrets. Even under threat of death and their memories laid bare, each sister resisted and died with their secrets intact. They all died protecting a secret five generations in the making. The Compendium of Doors.

It appeared to be nothing more than a never-ending hallway with doors on each side. Some doors looked the same. Others varied wildly in shape, color, size, and material. Metal doors. Wooden doors. Sliding closets. Paper doors commonly found in parts of Asia. There was no door the Sisters of the Keys couldn't access, regardless of if they had ever walked through it before, as was typically required.

Indigo only wished the Compendium of Doors was somewhere she could hide. It was a pathway, not a destination. In the event of its discovery, it contained powerful enchantments that prevented a prolonged stay. Anyone who intended to linger and not travel would be thrown through the nearest door. Even the members of the Coven. It was a failsafe to prevent its study.

Indigo entered the Compendium and thought of where she needed to go, and the doorways raced past her until her desired destination was in front of her. A thin door which was the dressing room of a department store. She stole new clothes, soap and shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a bag to place it all in. She then entered the Compendium and exited through another door. It was the girl's locker room of a high school. She cleaned herself, staying longer than she intended under the hot water. She hadn't bathed in nearly a month. She brushed her teeth for well longer than two minutes.

Indigo entered and exited into a grocery store.

Indigo entered and exited into an unoccupied home and cooked her meal. It was dangerous to stay for so long, but she needed the comfort of a warm home-cooked meal. She sat at the table alone and imagined her mother and sisters sitting in the chairs surrounding her. Before Nora and her Confederation killed them for trying to stop an impossible monster. They figured it out too late. Flauros was not the Black Winged Angel. No demon was. The Black Winged Angel was something else, but Flauros wasn't unimportant to what it truly was. They never got to ask the demon before they were killed.

Indigo entered and exited after asking for a safe place to sleep.

Always on the run, never staying long enough to be discovered.

It had nearly been a week since she had been confronted by the fractured. She entered and exited the Compendium after requesting a place with a view. She exited onto the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York City. She would have preferred a different view, but that's what she got for not being specific. She rested her forearms on the edge and ignored the tourists taking photos around her. She allowed herself to drift her attention away, until she felt a burst of magic. She quickly turned and saw the fractured step onto the observation deck from his own doorway.

"You are hard to find," Timothy said with a grunt as he limped his way over to her. "I've never felt someone use doorways so fast."

"How did you find me?" Indigo asked, tensely looking over her shoulder toward the edge of the building. The barrier was in the way, but she could make quick work of it and jump. She'd figure out how to survive and escape long before she hit the pavement.

"She cleans up well. I almost didn't recognize her," Eterna said, and Indigo was surprised she could see and hear her.

Indigo was nearly unrecognizable when compared to their last encounter. Before she was covered in grime from head to toe. She hadn't bathed, and her teeth were beginning to stain yellow. Her dress was in tatters. Her hair was caked with mud and frazzled like a homeless woman. She looked absolutely feral.

After a shower the sheen of her blonde hair had returned. Her skin had become pale after hiding in the day and moving at night. The dress had been replaced with faded blue jeans, boots, and a leather jacket over a long-sleeved flannel shirt. Her eyes were the only thing that hadn't changed. They were the same color as her name, but after recent events in her life, they didn't shine as bright anymore.

"Relax, I wasn't with the Confederation before, and I'm still not," Timothy said, following her eyes and assuming she was developing an escape plan. Indigo felt herself loosen up, but only a little. This man could have easily killed her before, but he didn't.

"How did you find me?" Indigo repeated.

"I've been in direct contact with your soul," Timothy said, and that was all the explanation she needed. "Your soul to me is like a magnet and myself a compass. All I have to do is hold it straight. You made that needle spin."

"What do you want?" Indigo asked. "Also, are you hurt?"

Indigo noticed his strained movements and limp along with the cuts just starting to scab over at the edge of his scalp.

"I require the services of a doorway expert," Timothy replied, ignoring her inquiry of his injuries. Indigo exhaled and turned to face the city.

"You seem adept. Where do you need to go that you can't get to yourself? Short of somewhere you haven't been?" Indigo asked. Timothy joined her at the edge and rested his shoulder against the barrier that prevented people from jumping to their deaths.

"Eden," Eterna replied, and Indigo laughed.

"Eden?" Indigo asked, still unable to control her reply. "Why not the moon while we're at it?"

"Can you do the moon?" Timothy asked. Indigo hesitated in her response before looking at him. "You can?"

"Even lunar modules have doors," Indigo admitted. "I wouldn't recommend it. Imperfect metaphor, but Eden doesn't exist."

"It does exist. I was born there, and he's been there, at least in spirit," Eterna said, and Indigo turned her body to face her. "You immediately recognized me as a first-generation witch."

"Magic over the soul itself is exceedingly ancient magic," Indigo said. She looked at Eterna, and then back to Timothy. She finally noticed someone was missing. "Where is your exorcist?"

"It's why we need to get to Eden. Whatever is there has something to do with the plans of Gwendoline," Timothy said.

"Who?" Indigo inquired, that name being foreign to her.

"You likely know her as Angelica of the Sisters of the New World," Eterna replied, and Indigo took a cautious step away from them.

"If Angelica has her, you don't have the time to be seeking a place that can't be found," Indigo said. "I can give you a door to her, but you walk through that alone. Angelica is crazy, even by the standards of witches."

"Angelica needs her for reasons I don't know, but she needs her alive. That buys us some time. I'm tired of playing her game and being one step behind her. Whatever her plan is, Eden is part of the final act."

"I'm going to say this again, but slower. Angelica, is, crazy," Indigo said, slowly and sarcastically. "Whatever her plan is, it is going to be crazy, because she is crazy. Her coven has been prophesizing the end of the world for hundreds of years. Last time I checked, we're still here. You seeking Eden is playing into her delusion."

"Eden is real," Eterna said forcefully, and Indigo huffed and looked down at her.

"Humor us," Timothy said, and Indigo shifted her eyes to him. "If you were going to create a doorway to Eden, how would you do it?"

"That's like asking me how I would build a door to Narnia. I wouldn't, because Narnia isn't real."

"Humor us," Timothy said, his tone more exasperated.

"I'd need someone who has been there before," Indigo said, and both Timothy and Eterna raised a finger to point at their own faces. "If you say so. The second thing I need is a connecting pathway. Doors work best because they have a very clear conception of separation."

"Are there doors in Eden?" Timothy asked Eterna who shook her head.

"No. My home was a shelter but had no door. We had no need for them."

"Doors work best but are not required. A mirror is a pathway. Are there mirrors?" Indigo asked, and Eterna shook her head. "Any reflective surface?"

Eterna paused to think for a moment. "Yes," she said, though not with confidence. "Yes, yes. The lake, or pond. There was water."

Indigo crossed her arms and closed her eyes to think.

"Can you do it?" Timothy asked.

"If it's real," she replied and walked toward the door that led her to the roof of the building. "One condition. Never find me again. If you can find me, so can the Confederation."

"With the information we've managed to unearth, the high priestess has decided that your coven can be readmitted into the Confederation," Timothy said, being careful to not say Nora's name in fear the enchantment was still active. Indigo stopped and turned around. She walked back to Timothy and stepped up on her toes to shove her face into his.

"Why would that homicidal bitch ever assume I'd accept the privilege of rejoining the group that murdered my entire family?" Indigo said with tears of anger in her eyes. "My mother is dead. My sisters are dead. Everyone I have ever loved, is dead!"

Her screaming was beginning to attract the attention of the people around them. Timothy grabbed her hand to pull her away from public eyes, and Indigo dug her heels into the ground, but he dragged her around the corner.

"Hey, are you alright miss?" a man asked while looking at Timothy with accusatory eyes.

"We're fine," Timothy said dismissively.

"I'm asking the lady..."

"...forget we're even here," Indigo said, her eyes lighting up for a brief second. The man stood confused before turning around and walking away. "I'm not rejoining the Confederation."

"I don't care if you do or don't. Get us to Eden, and you'll never see me, or the Confederation again."

"Fine," Indigo said, shoving her way past Timothy. She made her way to the door and opened it. "Wait here."

"Why?" Eterna asked.

"Because where I go, only the Sisters of Keys are permitted to see."

"You're all that remains of them," Eterna said.

"And I will die with this secret if required," Indigo said and stepped through the door. Timothy crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Eterna paced next to him, her hands behind her back.

"Timothy?" Eterna asked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I could always feel Johan. Even if he didn't reveal himself, I could feel him. I can't anymore. What happened?"

"I let him go," Timothy replied, and Eterna stopped pacing to look at him.

"Would you let me go if I desired it?" she asked.

"If you could leave, and wanted to, I would permit your absence."

"Even if you lost my power?" she asked.

"Your power doesn't belong to me. It's a privilege to use."

The door opened and Indigo stepped out and closed it again.

"Where do you go?" Timothy asked.

"You don't need to know that in order for me to get you to your mystical land of bullshit and sunshine," Indigo said and completed her drawing. She activated the seal and opened the door for them to enter first. "Right this way."

Timothy stepped through the door and smelled chlorine immediately. They had stepped into an indoor swimming pool that was currently closed. The windows at the top of the structure told him they were somewhere in the world that was later in the day. They traveled to the other side of the world in a few steps.

"Where are we?" Timothy asked.

"Tokyo," Indigo replied matter of fact. "Okay, assuming you're telling the truth, and you've been there, I'm going to turn this water into a doorway."

"Just like that?" Timothy asked, and Indigo kind of shrugged. "Small issue."