The Sign of the Keeper - Softcover

Zeelie, Alec R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1438964951 ISBN 13: 9781438964959

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2009

Synopsis

The Sign of the Keeper The Sign of the Keeper

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SIGN OF THE KEEPER

By Alec R Zeelie

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Alec R Zeelie
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-6495-9

Contents

The Chosen One & The Shadow Crystals.........................................ixChapter I The Seven Deadly Voices of Sin.....................................1Chapter II The Flaming Raven.................................................95Chapter III The True Form of Evil............................................135The Jewels of the Lightning Sun..............................................167Chapter IV Friends or Foes?..................................................169Chapter V The Two Halves of the Central Dimension............................197Chapter VI The Inter-dimensional Championships...............................227Legion and the Mega Beast....................................................283Chapter VII The Mighty Iron Knight in the City of Saints.....................285Chapter VIII The Demonhunters................................................307Chapter IX Discovering the Power of the Gift.................................335Chapter X The New Owners of the Grey House...................................359Chapter XI The Restless and the Lost.........................................385

Chapter One

The Seven Deadly Voices of Sin

1

Hell, Hades, far south of Heaven, the abyss of eternally lost souls, realm of eternal damnation, the domain where angels fear to tread, the bottomless pit for the eternal dead, the Dark Realm ...

It has so many different names, yet the Dark Realm looked exactly how most mortal men had pictured it in their minds since the dawn of time. The raging blood-red flames burned non-stop as the sound of the lost souls' screams echoed throughout the entire desolate wasteland which surrounded the sea of flames.

All of the lost souls were bound together with burning black shackles and chains in the middle of the raging sea of flames. Tortured and tormented by the Dark Realm's legion of hideous demons and evil specters, the lost souls suffered for all the unforgivable sins which they had committed throughout their mortal lives. But, in the middle of all the pain, suffering, anguish and despair, something sinister was about to begin ...

There was along, wide, dirty solid stone stairway which spiraled up from the middle of the sea of flames, all the way up to Lucifer's stone throne. Sitting on his hideous throne — which had serpents, skulls, and pentagrams engraved all over it — Lucifer stared down into the sea of flames. The bright red light from the flames down below reflected in his pitch black eyes as he stared down at all of the lost souls who were all screaming in agony; clawing and punching in an futile attempt to ward off the demons that were torturing them. The sound of the lost souls' endless screams brought an evil smile to his face. Lucifer ran his fingers through his long black hair as he sat waiting patiently.

Suddenly, he heard a deep gruff voice say, "You sent for me, master?"

Lucifer looked down and saw the hideous little demon that was kneeling in front of his throne.

"Rise, Reffago," Lucifer commanded.

Reffago rose and faced its creator. It was indeed one of the most unsightly demons in the entire Dark Realm. The demon's entire body was covered with small cuts, scars, cracks, wrinkles, and warts. The skin on its face looked like black leather. It had six boney fingers on each hand. Drops of pitch black slime dripped from the tips of all twelve of its razor-sharp talons. Its beady little blood-red eyes glowed brightly as it revealed its snake-like fangs with a toothy smile.

Lucifer sat back, folded his arms, grinned and said, "You have proven yourself to be one of the most powerful demons in my entire dark army. Of all my demons, Reffago, you have proven yourself worthy enough to be my right-hand demon. In the past, when I sent you to the Earth Realm, you used the few dark demonic powers which I granted you to wreak havoc on those mortal pigs that you call humans. You have tainted, tortured, tormented, and brought many mortal souls to the Dark Realm. You truly make me proud. You have never disappointed me, so do not disappoint me now."

Lucifer got up off of his stone throne and took his black, metal scepter which hovered in the air next to his throne. The scepter had a small silver skull at the top and dirty bloodstained razor wire wrapped around the bottom.

"Do you wish to know what your next assignment will be?"

"Yes master," the demon replied eagerly.

"For many centuries, I have sent a number of my most powerful demons and dark beings to the Earth Realm on a specific assignment. Demons and dark beings which I thought were powerful enough to fulfill that specific assignment with ease ... All of them failed bitterly. If you look down at all of those suffering mortal souls below you," Lucifer pointed his scepter down at the sea of flames. Reffago looked down and smiled when it saw the lost souls that were burning in the raging flames. "... you might see some of your demon brethren amongst them. They now also burn in my never-ending fire of pain and suffering, because they failed!"

"I shall not fail you, master," Reffago said before it looked its creator in the eye.

"I am glad that you sound so self-assured, my dark child. I have said it before and I shall say it again. Remember one thing ... FAILURE is NOT an OPTION!"

The demon bowed its head as it asked, "What is my assignment, master?"

"In the Earth Realm, there are six crystals. They are known as the shadow crystals. The first shadow crystal is known as the compass crystal. You use the compass crystal to find the five other shadow crystals. Once you have all of the shadow crystals, you will have the power to open the gateway between the Earth Realm and the Dark Realm."

"Gateway?" the demon replied sounding somewhat confused.

"Yes, a gateway. Unfortunately I am unable to enter the Earth Realm through the portal through which I send you and your dark brethren. I have tried and tried a countless number of times, yet all of my attempts to enter the Earth Realm were in vain. That is why you must find the shadow crystals and open the gateway between the two realms. Once you have opened the gateway, the two realms will merge with each other to form one new realm of never-ending pain and suffering. A new realm which you and I shall rule together."

"Together? Will we really rule it together, master?" Reffago sounded shocked, surprised and ecstatic.

Lucifer saw the expression on the demon's face and laughed out loud, before he continued, "Yes, together. If you manage to complete your assignment by finding the shadow crystals and opening the gateway between the two realms, you will rule the new realm right by my side. Once you have completed your assignment, I shall dub you as the Master of Darkness. With my dark powers, I shall make you more powerful than any of my demons have ever been. Your powers will almost be equal to mine. Together, we shall feast on the billions on unsuspecting, mortal souls in the Earth Realm."

Pointing his scepter at the demon, Lucifer grinned.

"Prepare to feel more powerful than you have ever felt before."

The silver skull on Lucifer's scepter began to glow. The blood-red glow of the skull grew brighter and brighter until a bright red bolt of lightning blasted out of the skull, and struck Reffago in the chest.

The demon screamed before it fell to its knees in pain. As Lucifer lowered his scepter, pitch black smoke rose out of Reffago's chest.

"Do you feel it, my dark child? Can you feel the power of true, everlasting evil racing through your blackened veins?"

"Yes ... YES! I can feel the power of evil within me!" Reffago sounded overwhelmed. The dark powers which Lucifer had just given Reffago not only made it stronger, the dark powers also made the demon twice as hideous. Reffago's beady little eyes grew bigger and brighter, two thick horns started growing out of its forehead, and its fangs grew longer as well.

"The dark power that you feel within you right now is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The more mortal souls you collect in the Earth Realm, the more your dark powers will increase. You can't collect any pure souls, but the dark powers which I have granted you will enable you to tempt those pure hearted mortal souls to commit sins. Once you start collecting mortal souls, you will gain new dark powers and abilities. You will not only feel how your dark powers grow stronger, you will also see it. Whether you are inside a mortal's body, or in your true demonic form, you merely have to look at your shadow to see how powerful you are. With every sinner's soul that you collect, you will notice that you shadow grows bigger and darker."

The once child-sized demon was now tall enough to look its creator straight in his evil pitch-black eyes.

"You are now more powerful than any mortal man could ever even dream to be ... except for one."

The demon looked surprised. Reffago couldn't believe that a mere mortal man could prove to be a match for it, seeing as that it was now more powerful than it had ever been before.

"But who, master? What mortal man could possibly prove to be an obstacle in my path to victory?"

"The Keeper of the shadow crystals. The shadow crystals have been guarded by Keepers for many centuries."

"How many of these Keepers are there, master?" Reffago asked while thinking that it would have to fight an entire army of Keepers.

"There is only one. Every new generation of mortals bring with it a new Keeper. Every new Keeper is told of all the secret powers of the shadow crystal and taught how to use the Keeper's magical items by his predecessor. Do not underestimate the powers and abilities of the Keeper ..."

A blood-chilling scream, louder than all the screams of the lost souls in the sea of flames, drew Lucifer and Reffago's attention to the huge portal which opened in mid-air — not far from where Lucifer's throne stood. The portal looked like a huge burning black hole. The two burning black bells — hell's bells — rang six times when the portal opened. Hell's bells always rang six times when a new lost soul was cast into the Dark Realm. The lost soul screamed as it fell through the open portal, straight into the sea of flames. The burning portal closed slowly but surely.

Lucifer laughed out loud. He was pleased about the new arrival, because that meant that his dark minions now had yet another new lost soul to torture and torment.

"When the next lost soul enters our realm, I shall send you into the open portal. Once you reach the Earth Realm, you will begin with your assignment. I wish you luck, Reffago. May the powers of my eternal darkness be with you."

The reason why Reffago had to wait for the next lost soul to enter the Dark Realm was because the portal only opened when something entered the Dark Realm. It was easy for demons and other dark beings to enter the Dark Realm, but the only way in which they could leave was to wait for another lost soul to be cast into the Dark Realm. Both Reffago and Lucifer waited silently for the portal to open again. While they waited, Lucifer felt somewhat bitter about the fact that he couldn't open the portal with his dark powers, and send one of his demonic minions to the Earth Realm whenever he wanted to. It made him realize that he wasn't as all-powerful as he thought he was.

The flaming portal finally opened as another lost soul reached its final destination. As the lost soul fell into the sea of flames, Lucifer raised his scepter and pointed it at the open portal. When the silver skull on his scepter started glowing bright red, small bolts of red lightning began flashing in the middle of the open portal. Lucifer pointed his other hand at Reffago and, when his black fingernails began glowing bright red, Reffago's whole body lifted off of the ground and floated up towards the open portal. As the demon entered the open portal, the small bolts of red lightning formed a burning force-field around it. After Reffago had vanished into the open portal, Lucifer lowered his scepter. The skull on his scepter stopped glowing and the portal slowly began closing. All Lucifer did then was stare up at the closed portal, and whisper softly to himself, "Once Reffago has completed its assignment, all of humanity will learn the true meaning of agony and suffering. To them love, joy, and happiness will soon be a thing of the past."

The portal didn't lead straight to the Earth Realm. Any demon or dark being that wanted to enter the Earth Realm, or wanted to return to the Dark Realm, had to travel past the Cerberus — the three-headed doglike demon that guarded the burning black gates of the Dark Realm — and through the Valley of Death.

Between the Dark Realm and the Earth Realm, in the Valley of Death, the force-field which surrounded Reffago carried it through the gloomy valley. As the demon hovered through the air, it looked down at the river of blood which flowed from the Earth Realm's portal, through the Valley of Death, to the island of the Grim Reaper. What Reffago saw next, it had seen many a times before. Entering the Valley of Death through the Earth Realm's portal, the Boatman rowed his long wooden boat toward the island of the Grim Reaper. The Boatman's hooded cloak made it impossible for anyone to see his face. Sitting side by side in the Boatmen's creaky old boat, the four lost souls were unknowingly on their way to their final destination.

Reffago laughed when it saw the four lost souls in the Boatman's boat, because it knew that they were on their way to the Dark Realm.

The Boatman rowed his boat to the island of cracked black skulls on which the Grim Reaper stood waiting. The Grim Reaper wore a long, torn black cloak, held his sharp scythe in his one hand, and a big black book in the other. Every lost soul's sins were written in that book. The Grim Reaper read the four lost souls' sins out loud for each of them to remember what unforgivable sins they had committed throughout their mortal lives. Pointing his scythe at the four lost souls, the Grim Reaper cast them through the burning gates, into the Dark Realm.

Reffago's demonic laugh echoed in the Valley of Death before it entered the Earth Realm's portal.

2 It was a quiet October night in the city of Grahamstown. It was almost two o'clock in the morning. In a dark, smelly alleyway behind an old bookstore, something evil was about to happen. Six teenage boys were preparing to perform their sadistic initiation ritual. Five of the boys were already members of the group called: The Eternal Brotherhood of Chaos and Anarchy. The sixth boy wanted to be a member, or a so-called 'brother' of the rebellious group of young criminals. A white pentagram had been spray painted on the ground. The new member — a skinny seventeen year old boy with blonde hair — stood in the middle of the pentagram. The five other boys stood around the pentagram and began to chant something. It sounded as if they were either chanting something backwards, or in a foreign language. The boy in the middle took a razor-sharp dagger out of its leather holster, tossed the holster aside and cut the palm of his left hand. When drops of blood dripped from the boy's hand onto the spray painted pentagram, a sudden gust of warm wind blew through the alleyway. The five boys who stood around the pentagram looked at each other, looked at the black smoke which rose out of the ground, and ran away like true cowards. The one boy, who stayed behind, looked down and saw that every time a drop of his blood dripped from his hand, it began burning as soon as it struck the ground.

Without any warning, the portal between the Valley of Death and the Earth Realm opened beneath the boy's feet. Something which looked like nothing more than a small puff of pitch black smoke rose out of the portal. It was the demon. Reffago entered the Earth Realm and possessed the boy's body.

The gust of warm wind, which blew through the alleyway, quickly subsided. The black smoke vanished into the boy's eyes. The boy who wanted to devote his entire fragile life to a gang of no good troublemakers now didn't have a life at all. He was now nothing more than a suit made of flesh for the demon to wear. His soul now belonged to the demon.

It took Reffago a few minutes to get used to being inside a human body. Many years had gone by since the last time Reffago possessed a human body. Keeping its assignment in mind, the demon didn't wish to waste any more time. It walked out of the dark alleyway, straight into the middle of the street.

A speeding motorist raced down the street at breakneck speed. The driver of the sedan was a young woman who was in a hurry to get to the hospital. Mere minutes earlier, she had received the terrible news that her mother was in a critical condition after suffering a severe heart attack. When the woman saw Reffago standing in the middle of the street, in front of her, she slammed on the brakes and her car spun out of control. A speeding minivan, which came out of the opposite direction, crashed straight into the spinning sedan. Both vehicles' fuel tanks exploded on impact.

Reffago laughed out loud like a raving mad lunatic as it walked away. The heat of the flames and the black smoke reminded it of home. A sadistic grin appeared on its face when it heard the screams of a homeless woman who witnessed the crash.

Two blocks down the street, Reffago stopped in its tracks when it saw a beautiful old church across the street. Being an unholy dark being that was created in the very heart of darkness, the demon stared at the holy place of worship in disgust and spat on the ground. It couldn't bear the sight of anything holy.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE SIGN OF THE KEEPERby Alec R Zeelie Copyright © 2009 by Alec R Zeelie. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1438964951
• ISBN 13: 9781438964959
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416