It was a week after the funeral. Zaneta had been inconsolable, and had been in her room for awhile. She had only been coming out when Sebastian made her favorite foods, every night. He didn’t really have the heart to say no, most of the time. She was young. She was taking in the hardest, and would probably get better the quickest. At least that’s what one of the whispered conversation’s Jan had heard at the service was.
It had started as a small thing, but it had grown bigger when the rest of the town got involved. Ostoja was a small place. And it felt like almost everyone was there to celebrate the life of the departed. Even if Jan hated that thought.
They had gone missing six months before Sebastian resigned himself to a funeral. Long after he’d filed all the right paperwork to make sure that neither Jan or Zaneta would have to leave, taken to one of the group homes in Warsaw, or elsewhere. He had, at the time, thought it would be closure, if they weren’t going to be founded. He and Jan had fought about it, but it had happened, and it had just left him feeling hollow. Empty.
Because no amount of nice words, no amount of condolences, none of it could give him real closure. None of them could knit closed the maw of uncertainty in his heart, because ultimately, when two people vanished in the middle of the night, and there were no leads for six months…
What else could you feel?
He kept expecting them to come back, but they never did. The investigator said they may have fallen into the sea, and been swept away. The docks needed renovations, after all. And it had been a storm.
He didn’t believe it. He’d told Sebastian why he didn’t believe it until he was blue in the face. But eventually, even the eleven year old Jan could recognize that he was only making his older brother feel worse. So he’d stopped bringing up. And a prevailing silence had ended up falling over the Mendyk household.
It was one of those days. Jan was laying alone in bed, wondering when he should do the homework he’d been neglecting, even if his teachers were giving him grace, especially in the wake of the proper funeral. He’d seen some of them there, as a matter of fact. But that grace wouldn’t last forever. And he did want to try and succeed, even if the urge was pushed down, and muted. Especially when it felt like everything had been torn open and shaken again.
His day of nothing was interrupted, when Sebastian knocked on his doorframe. He’d decided to stop shutting the door, just in case Zaneta wanted to wander in.
“Hey. Your friend is at the door. If you don’t feel up to it, I can send him away.”
Your friend meant Marcel. Jan had seen him at the funeral, but not since then. And not much these past couple months.
Jan sat there in silence for a moment, before he sat up, moving to silently slide his boots on-it had just snowed, after all. Then came his coat, and gloves, until he was ready. Sebastian had taken that as his answer, and had gone over to Zaneta’s room to try and coax her out. Meanwhile, Jan descended the stairs, and moved to the front door. He took a deep breath before opening it.
Marcel was there, wearing his bright green jacket, and his lopsided hat. He gave Jan a big smile, as if nothing was wrong in the entire world.
“Jan! Sebastian said you might be busy with homework…does this mean you’re done?”
Marcel’s voice brimmed with hope, he was practically bouncing on his feet, as he eagerly awaited Jan’s answer.
“…Yeah. I’m done. Why, what’s up?” Jan said, trying not to sound dreary or dead, and partially succeeding.
“I want to show you something! C’mon!”
Marcel turned, and took off running. Jan paused a second…then took off after him. Marcel had slightly better stamina, so Jan was the first one to settle back into a panting walk, and Marcel had to turn around and stop for him, as the two slowly made their way out of Ostoja, and into the snowy fields that wreathed the town, spotted trees looming far over their heads. Their only company was their footsteps left behind them and the occasional sharp birds which cawed overhead. For a moment, when his feet were starting to hurt, and with Marcel still joyfully trudging ahead, he wondered if this is why people went missing.
And that’s when it came into view. It was one of the larger hills that overlooked the sea, in series of other hills. Occasionally, people took visiting family here, so they could get a nice view of everything.
But the hill was different this time. A large portion of it had been smoothed over, made steeper, and sloped around to one of the other hills…up and down, and up and down. At the apex of the tallest hill, Jan saw the shape of a sled. Marcel turned around, beaming.
“I made this earlier today! It took awhile, but…” He looked back over to his work, then back at Jan. “…I figured it would be fun! Have you gone sledding recently?”
Jan couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. Striking one at a time, stinging into the snow he stood in. He could faintly see Marcel frown.
“Are you ok?” He said, sounding pretty worried.
Jan paused…then threw his head back a little, and laughed as the tears streamed down his face, before looking back to Marcel, as he wiped them away with a gloved hand.
“Yeah! C’mon, let’s go!”
He said, running up the hill, having gotten his energy back. Marcel, joining him in laughing, swiftly moved to follow, the two racing to reach the sled which waiting for them atop the hill.
Just as he and Marcel both moved to get onto the sled…
Jan awoke in his bed to the sound of a sharp popping sound.
A bit of fatigue hit him all at once, as he sat up, dazed, in his bedroom. As his vision came into focus, he saw an annoyingly familiar figure. Tres, a wad of pink in their mouth, flipping through…Jan’s Division Manual. His eyes widened, and he moved to get out of bed, only for a spike of pain to get him right in the ribs.
Tres smirked at him, looking up from the Manual.
“Bet that hurts. Don’t worry, solider boy! Nothing in here is worth being classified anyways. The amount of times they use the word Pandemonium in there is really embarrassing! I would give them a very low grade.”
Tres tossed it aside, landing atop his bag again. Some of the pages were creased. And a bit of gum was stuck to the side. Something about that hurt Jan’s soul, just a little.
“How did you get in-” Jan started.
Tres looked at him.
“…Stupid question. Right. How long have I…”
“You have been asleep for…ten human hours! Sunset comes soon, relatively speaking. With the injuries you sustained, your survival was miraculous! Angeline said you needed your sleep.” Tres said, very matter of fact like. Jan tried to wrap his head around it.
“Ten hours. Alright. How did…everything go?” He asked, cautiously.
“Well! After you valiantly fell in battle against the foul vampire and her minions, I swiftly dispatched your backstabbing friend! This made the fight two against two, an even duel! Unfortunately, we were put on the backfoot! Angeline managed to deftly handle the large man, transforming him into some kind of fish, but-”
Jan cut them off.
“…What do you mean turn into a-“
“I wasn’t finished speaking! It was then just us facing the vampire, who chose to retreat rather then face our might! Taking your backstabbing friend with her! Which must have meant he survived. Unfortunate! It seems my bladework could use improvement!”
Tres fished the weird looking butterfly knife out of their pocket, and spun it around a few times.
“…Ok. So…you escaped, and found…my house?” He asked, still sounding rather cautious. Or so he imagined he did.
“Angeline did! I’m not quite sure how.” Tres actually sounded confused, at that. Scratching their head. “Your family is quite nice! Your sister especially!” They said, beaming.
“…Thanks. You uh…met both of them…?”
“Yes!”
Fuck.
“…Alright. Anything else I should know?” He asked, with a bit of a sigh, as he began to move to stand, a bit more slowly this time.
“Angeline wanted to speak with you when you woke! She’s downstairs, talking with your brother.” Tres said, as if this was somehow an achievement on their part.
“Alright. I’ll head down then.” He said with a lot less bravado then he’d wanted.
He managed to stand up in full. He stretched the best he could, then moved for the door. As he did, Tres called after him.
“Oh! I did have one question for you! About your little manual.” They said, picking it back up from the top of Jan’s duffel bag. He turned back around, giving them a bit of a wary look. Not that he was ill equipped to answer questions, he’d ready it cover to cover at least a hundred times, out of paranoia and curiosity both. But he didn’t trust Tres.
They flipped through it as if he’d given them permission. They stopped on a page, and turned it around. It was a two page diagram, showcasing a cross section of the Control pistol and rifle respectively. They pointed at it with large amounts of energy.
“These contraptions! Do they work as this text claims?” They asked, golden eyes making fierce eye contact with Jan.
“Uh.” He paused. “Yes. Very much so. I’d be dead several times over if they didn’t.”
That much was true. Not technically classified either.
“I see! And where might one acquire such a mighty weapon!” They asked, with again, a lot of energy.
This did cause Jan to squint a little at Tres.
“Why do you ask…?” He said, with eventually, a bit of a sigh.
“If these work, they may be one of few ways of slaying me! I must destroy them.” They said, inflecting way too much vitriolic hate into their voice for it to be reasonably taken seriously.
Jan rolled his eyes. Of course that was the reason.
“Most of the Division’s materials got decommissioned pretty recently. But any of them that are left are probably buried in some Kremlin vault somewhere. Not worth the troubl-“
Tres disappeared mid sentence. Were they actually off to go break into the Kremlin? Could they do that?
Jan shook the stupid questions from his mind, and exited the room, moving down the stairs slowly but surely, and gripping the railing. When he descended, he saw a scene that surprised him for only a moment.
Angeline was sitting in his living room. Quietly reading a book labeled “Treatise on Faerie” as the fireplace roared. Jan had thought it had been broken, to the point that it spewed smoke in and not out. But evidently not. Her bag rested in one of the other armchairs, and on the table, a glass bowl rested, with a very large catfish sitting in the center of it. If a fish could look angry, this fish was.
He heard the sound of movement in the kitchen. Probably Sebastian.
Jan moved down the stairs, and into view. Angeline smiled, looking up from her book.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good. How do you feel?” She said, marking her place in the book, and setting it down next to the fishbowl.
“A little bit sore. A little bit of pain. But better then I felt…ten hours ago?” He offered, sitting down on the couch, settling slightly. He offered a small smile of his own.
“Very good. I gave you the same herb I gave you for your previous wounds. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for everything. But as long as you get lucky, and it lasts a few days and not one, you should be all healed up. The woman did a number on you, though. I wasn’t expecting her to have…tricks. Especially not faerie ones.”
She lowered her voice slightly, when she said the last sentence. Before Jan could respond, however, Sebastian leaned out of the kitchen, and the sound of light footsteps swiftly descending the stairs could be heard.
“Oh! Good to see you up and abou-” Sebastian started, just as Zaneta tore around the corner of the stairs, sprinted across the room, and dove onto the couch, tackling Jan into a hug.
“I’m so glad you’re ok! You scared me, Jan!” She said, making a scary looking face at him, as if to try and punish him with her visage alone.
He reeled slightly from the impact, but smiled at his sister all the same. “Sorry Zan-it was just-”
Angeline cut him off. “Rather nasty spill you took young man. This world just doesn’t reward good deeds like it should, with you slipping on that ice after offering to show me and my godchild around. But I’m just glad that you’re alright.”
Zaneta crawled off him, now sitting on the couch like a relatively normal person. Sebastian had entered the room proper as well.
“You really shouldn’t be out that late.” Sebastian chided. Jan just nodded.
“I was supposed to meet with the agent supervising me anyways, and ran into her along the way” He said, hoping he wasn’t contradicting anything. He saw no reaction that indicated that, though, at least not right away. Sebastian sighed, but nodded his head.
“Your new friends are so cool!” Zaneta said, practically squealing. “Miss Angeline told me about how she fought a dragon in Paris, and met a fairy in America! Oh! And how she made friends with an angel lady!” Zaneta said, practically shaking as she recounted it. At first, Jan was unnerved, until he heard Sebastian chuckle.
“She’s a great storyteller all right.” He said, giving Jan a wink. Which put a lot of relief through Jan.
“And Tres is so funny! They were talking weird, and they showed me how to blow bubbles in gum! I’ve never had gum like that before!” And she probably wouldn’t for awhile, if Moscow had their way, Jan thought. Either way.
“Well, they’re nice people. It’s why I was offering to show them around.” Jan offered, with a bit of a shrug.
“Speaking of that, young man. I’d hate to trouble you so soon, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on your families hospitality any further. Would you be alright to show me to the post office, like you were going to before?” She said, raising her eyebrow in a signalling way. Jan nodded.
“Sure! Let me just get my coat…” He said, standing up. Sebastian shot him a concerned look.
“You sure you should be going out so soon? I mean…?” He said, gesturing at Jan’s general body.
“I feel fine. Just needed bed rest” Jan said, smiling.
“…If you say so.” Sebastian said with a shrug.
Zaneta, meanwhile, pouted.
“Aww…do you have to go?” She asked, looking up at Jan.
“I’ll be home in a little, Zan. Miss Angeline has places to be.” He said with a smile at her. She sighed, before looking at Angeline.
“Come back sometime, ok! I want to hear more about the flying lady!” She say, with immense energy.
Angeline smiled warmly at Zaneta.
“I’ll be sure to, little one. Until we next meet.”
Jan pulled on his coat and boots, then went upstairs for his bag. Angeline grabbed her book and the larger bag, and with a wave over his shoulder, the two of them departed out into the cold.
Once they stepped outside, Jan immediately noticed something was wrong. The sky was perfectly clear, no clouds. Yet rather then being blue, the sheen of the sky was a silvery color, with streaks of multicolored light running through it. In addition, on the horizon, as far as the eye could see, that same shimmery silver came down from the sky, as if forming a dome…around the town. He couldn’t figure out exactly where it started and stopped from here, but it still stuck out as a definitive border. He also noticed that all around the yard, and even out in the middle of the street, there were plants-flowers most populous amongst them, sprouting out from the snow, even where there should be paved street.
“What the fuck…” He exclaimed, as he took a few cautious steps forward, before looking to Angeline, as if she could magically explain.
Or maybe she actually could, evidenced by her opening her mouth.
“The Chimera Prince’s work. He’s actually properly enclosed the town now, which makes magic made to rework easier. Closer to the center of town…entire buildings have been wiped away.” She said, a grim expression on her face.
“What about the people in those buildings…and why isn’t everyone else noticing? Getting up in arms?” Jan asked, looking around again in disbelief.
“I’m not sure, on both accounts, but I have a guess for the second. I imagine he, or one of his servants put some kind of thin glamour over this whole thing. So thin, that you and I, who would subconsciously resist it, pierce it easily. But someone who has no reason to doubt their surroundings, won’t. Not until it’s too late.”
Jan let that sink in for a moment, before sucking in a breath of cold air.
“Alright. How do we stop this?” He asked, as he started down the street. Angeline following behind him.
“We need to deal with the Chimera Prince. Whether that be killing him, or disrupting him. He has to be at the center of it, he’s the only being powerful enough to be fueling it.” Angeline explained. “It helps that now I think I understand his motive.”
“And that is?” Jan asked, a bit impatient. He began rummaging through his bag.
“He’s trying to make a sanctuary. Between what I know of his reputation, and what we heard from Tres…the Chimera Prince is likely attempting to create a safe haven for faerie. And even other…similar creatures.” She said with a slight grimace.
Tres had told them that the Chimera Prince was some form of bigwig in the more…monstrous world. Some kind of radical figure who preached liberation from centuries old overlords. They didn’t actually know much about him, but had come into contact with, and had agreed to work with him after they realized he had an object they were after…some kind of special box. Once Jan and Angeline offered them the box, if they helped, they were all on board.
“…And he’s using my hometown to do it. Why?” Jan asked, with a bit of anger in his voice.
“He’s been here for a long time. And there is some power here. Something empowering. I’m not sure exactly why, but there’s a benefit to doing it here. I doubt the ritual will kill anyone who lives here, if that is any consolation…but it may change them.” She recounted with a bit of a wince.
Jan’s face contorted into a snarl.
“Not happening. I don’t care if he’s the fucking-monster Lenin. He’s threatening my family. We’re dealing with him. And whatever gets in our way.” Jan said, with venom dripping from his every word.
The two walked in silence for a little longer.
“Your friend, back at the hostel. Marcel. He wasn’t completely wrong.” Angeline said, breaking the silence.
“…What?” Jan said, half confused, and half hurt by the statement.
“Monsters isn’t a good term for them.” She said simply. “Most of them aren’t very different from us. Or if they are, many of them don’t mean us any harm.”
Jan paused a moment.
“…Sure. But they’re taking something that isn’t theirs, and are ok with that, because they want something. That’s monstrous, isn’t it?” Jan fired back. “They’re at least culpable in this-I want them out of my home.”
Angeline laughed again.
“You would think so. But they wouldn’t. I’m with you on dealing with the Chimera Prince, Jan. He’s…going much too far. And I doubt he’s as altruistic as his followers claim. But, there’s no need for a senseless rampage, hm?” She said, giving him a pointed look.
Jan released a long and heavy sigh. About to refute her. But he had a realization.
This had been basically what Artem Lysenko had said. And why he’d killed him.
“…Fine. Being precise is better, anyways.” He admitted.
They reached their actual destination. A large snowy field, nestled between neighborhoods. In the center, a large tree stump. Angeline cleared the stump of snow, and began to draw with chalk she produced from her bag. The two stood in silence for a little bit longer, before Angeline spoke up again.
“You spoke with quite some fervor when speaking with that Marcel boy. I take it you didn’t know he was a sorcerer?”
That stung slightly. Even if Angeline said it so casually.
“…No. I didn’t know. We…used to be best friends, before I went off to military academy. We…didn’t exactly part on good terms. And now he’s wrapped up in this…” He trailed off a bit, not finishing the thought.
“It didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt you. Or any of us, really. He seemed to me like he had a good heart. He’s just sorted in with the wrong crowd. Creatures like the Chimera Prince sponsor sorcerers or other magic users all the time. Teach them tricks, then keep them in their debt. I wouldn’t be shocked if Marcel helped set up this ritual.” Once again, casual with information that felt like a slap in the face.
“…Yeah. I dunno about that. He’s been pretty cruel to me, ever since I got back. I guess I know why now.” Jan said, crossing his arms.
Angeline turned, raising an eyebrow, before turning back to her work.
“What happened between you two?” She asked, curiously.
“It’s a long story. There was a…bad choice made, the last time we saw each other.” He shifted a bit uncomfortably, when he said that. “And then, when I got back, apparently he’s been spending a bunch of time with my sister…and apologizes like it was his fault, and then also denies it happened. I figured he was lording it over me, but…”
He sighed.
“I don’t know anymore. Especially with all of this.”
Angeline paused her work.
“What exactly was this “Bad choice”, Jan?” She said, once again curious.
Jan felt himself get a little bit flustered. Bad choice of words. Literally.
“It’s not really import-” He started.
“I disagree.” She said, pointedly. “If he’s our enemy, we could use any information edge we could get.”
“…It’s just not-” He started, again.
“Was what you did a crime?” She said, looking at him with a pretty ironclad stare he refused to meet.
“…Depends on who you ask.” He mumbled. She seemed to hear perfectly well.
“Would your family think less of you for it?” She said, eyebrow raising.
“Probably.” He said through gritted teeth.
“Was i-” She was about to ask another question, when he shouted out, in frustration and embarrassment.
“I kissed him! It was a stupid idea, I was fourteen, and he ran away right after!”
He was breathing heavy. Half glaring at Angeline, who looked…a bit surprised, as her expression softened.
“I see. Were you acting on proper feelings? Did you love him, or was it an experiment?” She posed, gently pressing.
“I…don’t know. It was a long time ago! Maybe both?” He said, a little weakly. “It doesn’t matter now! Since apparently, he’s joined up with an evil fairy who wants to wipe my home off the fucking map!” He said, half fired up, half deflecting.
Angeline just shook her head.
“We’ll stop the Chimera Prince. And make sure you have plenty of time to…sort things out. I was in a similar situation, a long time ago, and wasn’t afforded that chance. I was only given grief. I would like to avoid that for you.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, such a potent spoken word of virtue. He lapsed into silence. And so did she. Until a loud shout cut them off.
“Jan! Angeline!” Tres shouted, as they jogged around the corner, a box under their arm. “There you two are! I have something to offer!” They said with a grin, seemingly not out of breath as they simply appeared directly in front of the two. Angeline paused again, looking over, putting her hands on her hips.
“And where have you been?” She asked the Transgressor, a bit indignantly.
“I! Have done my true American duty!” They said with a massive grin. Jan hadn’t noticed before, but…did Tres have fangs? “I have stolen valuable contraband from the Kremlin itself!”
They held the box out to Jan.
“For you, Jan Mendyk! A weapon worthy of your prowess as a warrior!”
Jan, a bit confused, took the box, and opened it.
Inside the box was a familiar weapon, with two perfectly pristine clips of ammunition next to it. The weapon itself looked a bit dinged up, but perfectly functional. A little note on the inside, written in Russian, read “For Museum of Moscow in 20 years”.
The Control Pistol was removed from the box. Jan turned it over in his hand, a smile forming on his face.
“We might be able to make this precise after all.” He said, with a grin to the other two. “Let’s show the Chimera Prince what for.”
Kindling And Miscellany 