9 Dark Halo (Part 4)

"Thanks, I still think I should be wearing jeans. I think this is going against my character somehow," Kris said as she put a hand on Anthony's shoulder. "Are you ok? I know you had no choice, but you know, the promise you made to your mother."

Anthony's smile faded as he set his chin on his hands. "I would protect the family."

"Yep, that one," Kris said in a whisper as she leaned her head on his shoulder, "Want to talk about it?"

"No, not really," Anthony responded.

"No, you're going to talk about it; did you think you had a choice," Kris said with a smile as she moved closer and wrapped her arms around Anthony. "Start from the beginning. Rationalize everything. You know, therapy."

Anthony sat there for a moment. He didn't want to talk about what just happened. He just wanted to move on past this current problem, but he was stuck. He had just killed another member of his family. Sure the guy was an asshole who tried to kill him and left him to starve to death, but that made him stronger. No, that's not right, he was a baby, his grandson, and his grandfather tried to kill him. There was no need to try and rationalize this. Anthony was stuck, so he decided to reach out to the wave, but it was not there. He tried to pull in magic but it to had disappeared. He was alone. No, he was not alone. He had Kris, and all she wanted for him right now was to talk.

"After we learn how to make Synthesis passive, we started to put our plan into motion," Anthony started, "We needed a way to survive long-term, and so we started to think of my body as our house. I mean there is a lot of people in there. There is you, crazy and me. Plus my head is going to get bigger when the rest of the thirteen show up; your words, not mines. So, we thought, for a house to last it needs a sturdy foundation. What is our foundation? It is our body. We needed to strengthen our body, the problem, I'm an infant. But, that was a blessing. Babies are flexible, so if we could keep our flexibility as we gain muscle, then we would have an excellent path to set a foundation."

Anthony took a breath and continued, "We used electricity we gathered from the air, our body and what we could create from the mat to help simulate the stretching and contracting of muscles and tendons to ensure both groups stayed flexible and it seemed to work well. That took us a month. The following month we tried to think up a way to not control but to feel the synchronicity wave. What you came up with was brilliant by the way."

"Thanks," Kris said as she started to rub his side in a comforting manner.

"The synchronicity wave was just the idea that every action reacts, and every choice made would create a fixed state in which you are ushered down a path. That path could either be good, bad or inconsequential. We wanted the inconsequential ones. We figured the more events we put ourselves in, the more chances we would have to feel the wave, giving us more opportunities; you know, we take it slow. For, the first time in my short five months in this world everything was working out fine."

Anthony tightened up as he stopped talking.

"Do you want to stop," Kris asked.

Anthony could feel the wave at that moment; he had to make a choice. "No, let's keep going." Anthony could feel the wave receding. "Then, he walked into the room."

"Say his name."

"Paris. Our grandfather. We were meditating. You were trying to make the Body Spark passive; I was trying to find out how, as an infant, I could put us in a situation as to where we could start to feel the wave. Then," Anthony stopped.

"Then what," Kris asked demanding that he continue.

"He started laughing, "Anthony started, "That part that split from me, Mr. Crazy started to laugh. It was hunting. It chilled me to my core. That was the first time I heard his voice. It was cold like he knew a joke that the world would never know. I knew something was wrong, so I opened my eyes, and I was in the arms of my grandfather. I could see blood on the ground. I knew it was no good. I tried to struggle, but no dice. He cut my wrist. My blood dripped on the circle. Then he spoke. Come to think of it that was the first time I heard his voice as well. Mr. Crazy laughed harder. Then he placed me down on a strange carving. I needed to heal myself, so I activated Synthesis at a higher rate. He walked away; did something, and the blood began to glow. I could smell iron and hear chains; then I woke up here."

"What happened when you ended up here," a voice called out to Anthony and Kris.

Anthony and Kris looked up in shock at the sound of a voice. But, when they saw who the voice came from they both relaxed; it was Death, and they knew they had nothing to worry about.

"I'm sorry I'm late, we have a lot of miss placed souls ever since that speedster merged the worlds. We go from infinite worlds to only fifty-two and they didn't think it would be any repercussions. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you would have someone with you. I only left you for, how long has it been now, five months, and you've already found yourself a new girl. Who is this pretty girl you have found yourself," Death asked?

"This is Kris; she split off from me, when you left me in the womb; I had, complications."

"Okay, nice to meet you. I'm Death, but you can call me Dee."

"Hello, I'm Kris."

"Okay, now Anthony continue and tell your story."

Anthony looked at Kris than back to Death, sighed and spoke, "When I got here I could feel everything become slower, so I knew that only meant that I had all thirteen bits of intelligence in my mind again. I could also feel the wave more strongly than ever before. My soul began to shake, and I was imprinted with knowledge of this place."

"I'm not surprised, this is the Shadow Realm. This place is one of the personal soul domains of the Laughing Magicians. Your bloodline has full dominion of this place," Death said.

"I kind of worked that out with all the time I had felt as I waited for my grandfather here. I knew in this place I could do anything," Anthony said as he snapped his finger as he made their surroundings turn into a coffee shop. The sounds of jazz music could be heard in the background.

Death perked up, "I knew you would come around to jazz."

"Nah, I still hate it," Anthony said as he raised his had and made the music stop.

Death groaned.

"In this place," Anthony continued, "I can do anything, but before that, a death game is needed to be played. I needed to keep my grandfather talking. I needed to think of a plan. So, Kris came up with one. Thanks by the way."

"That might be the sixth time I've save your butt, but still no cakes or wine and dine," Kris said as she grabbed on Anthony's arm to ensure he was doing better. Anthony smiled and patted her hand to let her know he was okay and made a fancy spread of food, cakes, and wine appear. Kris eyes lit up as she said, "Awe, you really know how to treat a girl."

"So Kris suggested that I would throw him off by letting off what I knew. I could tell from his actions he was afraid; he was losing his magic. He was becoming flustered, so I sparked him on and let him play a game of chance where I held all the cards. His biggest mistake was letting me choose the game. Laughing Magicians, outsmart, outlast, get out first."

"Well good job in staying alive, we still need you. No, I can not tell you what for but you don't have to worry. I just came to collect this soul; he has been missing for a long time. So, I'll see you later, I hope not anytime soon though," She said getting ready to leave while picking up Paris.

"Wait," Anthony said, "I'm a baby, and I just killed my primary caretaker. Can you at least take me somewhere, like a nice orphanage so that I can grow up in a loving environment?"

"I don't have a physical form, and won't for about another ten years. Plus, the owl has chosen you for their totem, they will take care of everything," Death spoke as she faded away with Paris.

"Wait, what?"

In the darkroom where Anthony laid, the blood circle started to breakdown Paris's body and formed into a purple mass that fell in between the eyebrows of Anthony, leaving a blue diamond-shaped rune on his forehead. The Owl, let out a shriek as the feathers landed on the body of the baby. The boy started to absorb the feathers. The owl walked over to stand over top of the child and leaned down until their foreheads where touching. The Owl began to cry, and its tears ran down into the eyes of the infant. The bird flapped its wings and disappeared. Anthony started to grow feathers as tiny owls broke away from his body flying away from the cabin in the ancient hamlet in the Himachal Pradesh of Malan in the India subcontinent.

*Two*

In a desert on the outskirts of a forgotten city, a man could be seen walking. As this man continued to walk, he noticed a naked baby lying on the sand. The man stopped in his tracks and started to unpack and pitch a tent.

"I will give it five days," the man spoke.

Five days later the man walked over to the infant and saw that it was not only alive but somewhat healthy. He picked the boy up and began to tickle his stomach.

"Good, you have shown me that you have the will to live so I will personally train you. You shall become my successor. I Raʾs al-Ghūl, The demon head, shall name you Abn Alrayiys Al Shaytan, son of the Demon's head.