As the sun set they entered Vandalia. Cars littered I-70 and the ramps for the exits. The group gathered around the metal dragon that over looked the access road and began grumbling about the slow progress. To punctuate their dissatisfaction a fleet of Saurian ships flew over their location. When the Cahokian Spire arose from the ground, the Saurians immediately started to attack it. At first they worried at every passing fleet and battalion that the Spire would fall. Sounds of battle would echo through the air, and then everything would go quiet, and our travelers worried that it fell, until the next battle. Now, 80 miles away, the sounds were more faint, but the battle raged on.
“ Come, shelter we must seek.” They all turned, including the dragon, and started up the hill. Ahead laid a shattered arch laying in the parking lot of an Econoline Hotel. “I wonder if they allow pets?” Pupil pondered out loud. The sisters shot him an odd look.
A few moments later they wandered into the lobby, Pupil was looking around, searching impatiently for something. He hopped over to a crushed front desk and shuffled through the debris.
“Five star rating receive you will not.” he said, still digging around.
The girls looked around at the damage. Ceiling tiles were scattered around on the floor with large chunks of insulation mixed in for good measure. Light fixtures hung from the ceiling, held up only by their wires.
“Ah ha!” exclaimed Pupil as he pulled something silver from the wreckage. He carefully placed it on the broken counter. It started to slide away from him. He snatched it back up and slammed it back into place. With his tongue sticking out of his mouth, and his right eye closed, he slowly released his grip on the object. He watched it to make sure it wouldn’t move. Then he tapped the top of it, and it rang. Pupil smiled when the bell worked and waited, expecting someone to come to the counter. No one did, so he rang it again. He smiled at the girls, and ignored their looks they shot him, and rang it again. He began to drum his fingers on the counter, growing impatient. “We are never going to get a room!” he exclaimed to them.
Erika walked up to him and grabbed his arm. “Come on.” she said to him.
“Oh, self service hotel. Pick out our own rooms we will.” He said as she pulled him down the hall.
A low grumble came from behind them. Pupil looked back and saw the dragon trying to come down the hall. He couldn’t fit, he barely fit in the lobby. Pupil looked back at the sad dragon eyes. “Stay boy, stay. Safe here we are. Especially with big brave dragon guarding entrance.” The dragon seemed satisfied with what he said and curled up on the floor with his head facing the entrance.
They found a couple of adjoining rooms that weren’t totally destroyed and settled in. Pupil walked in and turned on a light, its soft glow cast long shadows on the wall.
“What about the TV?” Eriana asked.
“Nothing ever good on anyway. Come, plan we must. May have been good fortune that brought us here.”
“Hows that?” Erika wanted to know, she was fascinated by the light, it wasn’t even plugged in.
“Sense a Nephilim I do.”
“There’s a mound here? Never heard of one being here.”
“Mound long since destroyed. It rests under a mine. Mine looks like lake now, no mine anymore.”
The girls looked at him for the first time since the battle at the Spire. They both noticed something different about him.
Eriana spoke up first. “Pupil, your skin looks different.” she said as she poked his forearm. “It’s soft.”
“Yeah, it looks healthy now, instead of waxy,” Erika agreed with her sister. “And you have a hair.”
Pupil had been pinching the skin on his arm and noticing it was indeed different when Erika mentioned the hair, “Ha ha, girl make jokes. Say I have pupil hair.”
“But you do have a hair.”
“You make bad dirty joke.....pupil hair......hair in no no place.”
“That’s pubic!”
“No, that private.”
Erika groaned at the impossible situation and reached over and showed it to him. “There, on your shoulder.”
Pupil reached under his shirt and felt the hair, it was long and stuck out of the collar of his shirt. “Great, get hair back and it’s on my back.” He said as he yanked it out. He winced, then held the hair up to his face. He twirled it there, between his thumb and his forefinger, his eyes looked distant, lost in thought.
“Pupil......Pupil?” Eriana spoke as she gently nudged him.
“That won’t work.” Erika said as she walked over and slapped him in the face. Pupil snapped out of it and looked at her with a what the hell look on his face. “Hey, remember us?”
Pupil nodded. “I remember,” he whispered, “I remember it all.”
The girls exchanged confused glances. “You remember what?” Eriana asked
“Pupil remembers how Pupil became like this.” he said, waiving his hand at his twisted form.
“How?” asked Erika.
“Torture.” Pupil whispered. He looked around to make sure it was safe. Then looked back at the sisters, nodded. Then whispered again. “Torture.”
“Pupil.....Pupil..... Get up!” Eriana was shaking him violently as Erika peeped out the door toward the lobby.
“Ten more minutes mom, I won’t be late.”
Eriana sat on the bed and put her feet in his back and shoved him onto the floor. Blankets and legs flew into the air. Once he stopped rolling on the floor, Pupil pulled the blanket off of his face and looked around the room. “I’m really starting to not like you.” He said.
“Shut up and listen.” Erika whispered.
“Why?!” Pupil said, trying to dodge kisses from Bambi.
Then he heard it. The roar of the dragon, and shouting voices, shouting human voices. He jumped up and was out the door before the girls could stop him. He came to the edge of the lobby, the dragon caught his movement and looked over at him, then back to the intruders.
“Were the hell did a dragon come from?!”
“Has to be Saurian.” some one replied.
“Some one else is in there, look, it keeps looking down the hall way.” returned the first voice.
“Who the hell is there?”
“You not ring bell, I no answer.” Pupil yelled out.
“What the hell.....”
“Ring bell rude person.”
“What ?” the voice sounded annoyed, and worried that they were dealing with a crazed mad man, or worse.
“Ring the bell or it gets the dragon again.”
“Okay, okay....... Ding Dong.”
“What the hell was that? Ding dong?”
“It was a door bell.”
“I not say door bell idiot, I said bell. It on desk.”
Pupil peaked around the corner and saw one of the men inch passed the dragon towards the front desk. He reached out a tentative hand and slapped the top of the bell.
“Who is it?” Pupil said in a high pitched voice, trying to his best to mimic a feminine voice.
The men decided to play along. “Colonel Jacks of the third Indiana resistance battalion.”
Pupil recognized the name. “Colonel?” he said coming out of his hiding spot. “How you get demoted?”
The tall, thin man was taken aback by both Pupils appearance and that he knew he was demoted.
“I did it myself, when we lost the Ransford family.”
“Most honorable, but silly. I have the daughters of the Master.”
“I don’t believe you.” he said as Gryphon, Princess Luna, the tiger, and Bambi walked in behind Pupil.
“Is this a joke? You may have found the dog, but......” he trailed off, jaw hanging low when the girls walked in.
Pupil walked up to him and gently closed his mouth. “This is getting bad. Stupid looks must be spreading.”
The Colonel, Pupil and the sisters spent the rest of the day trading reports about what they saw. The remnants of the 3rd scattered around the hotel, some played cards, others read books, most slept. As the sun set, Jacks stood up and said. “Well, we leave in the morning, the Ransfords will come with us.”
“No, they will not.” Pupil said. “Their journey leads them east, after our business is done here.”
“There is nothing east but the dead, and the Saurian horde. It is advancing towards Cahokia en mass. They are leaving nothing living in there wake. Our best chance is at the new spire.”
“Yes, you’re best chance is at the spire. Our path is ahead. Take dragon with you, he will never sleep, never fail, and never die. Safely he will get you all to spire. Avians, Nords, and humans await you there. Talk no more of taking Ransfords from me and their destiny.”
Something in Pupils eyes told Jacks not to argue. He dismissed himself and took his leave.
Pupil walked up and whispered to the dragon and then came over to the girls. “Come, we go now. Trust him at night I do not.” He climbed onto the tigers back and waited for Bambi to hop in her basket. Erika and Eriana climbed aboard their steads and into the night they went.
When they arrived at the mine there was a lake, the surface looked like a mirror.
“Yes, here they are. I can sense them.” He said as he looked at the sister. He seemed dismayed at there blank looks. “Can you not sense them? Do they not call to you?” They both slowly shook their head. “Closed yourselves off again did you? The power can be frightening to some, especially when as great as yours is. There is no evil that will slip in if you leave the door open that is not already inside you. Be not afraid. Reach out with your senses, your heart, your mind, and your very soul. Open yourselves to the world and all the energy it contains.” Bambi barked excitedly as she saw them glow, lights darted around them, swirling in bright streaks from head to toe.
The ground shook, water erupted from the lake and spilled out amongst the tailings and washed them away. One large spire and nine smaller ones began to emerge from the lake, like giant emeralds. Pupil smiled at the girls. They had learned much in such a short time, he was very proud of them, and hopeful for the future. In just a moment, his smile faded. He knew there was only so much he could teach them. His part in their journey would soon be at an end.
The shaking stopped and ten doors opened. One had a 12 foot goddess exit, the others had smaller nine foot women exit.
“It must be time for the final battle. For our cousins have set us free.” said the tallest, her voice sounded like wind chimes. “I am Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, and these are my daughters, the muses. Bringers of inspiration. We are at your service.”
ns 15.158.61.48da2
