Chapter Twenty-Nine - Message From The Grave

the stranger about to turn up. Roxy lent against the door, watching and laughing at Tyler's restless behaviour.

"She'll come, Tyler. Just give it time. I want answers just as much as you do. I don't quite understand how someone can send a message from the dead! And I want answers about your father. It's scarce, almost unheard of for a Magician to join the ranks of Hunters."

Just as Roxy finished her sentence, she spotted a girl with blue hair come running over the hill. "Is that her? Over there?"

"Yeah, that's her! Hey, Hannah!" Tyler called, waving at her to catch her attention. Hannah noticed, jogging towards him.

"Hey! Who's this?" She asked, pointing to Roxy.

"This is Roxy. She's my partner in all of this. My girlfriend, to be more exact, is a Hunter too. So you can trust her."

"Ahh, Roxanne Smith? Alister had a message for the both of you, not just you, Tyler."

"But you told me he had a message for me that you had to say somewhere private. So why now is Roxy involved?" Tyler questioned suspiciously.

"I didn't know you two were a team. This makes my job a whole lot easier."

"Maybe we should head inside and talk properly, Hannah. After you." Tyler gestured for Hannah to enter the hideout, and Roxy followed behind.

"So, this message you have from us. It's from Alister Crowley, right? The Occultist?" Roxy asked, pressing for answers.

"Yeah, that's right. I knew him quite well, and he sent me on a journey to seek out you both." Hannah explained.

"How can that be? He's been dead for nearly fifty's years?" Tyler exclaimed, struggling to believe her story.

"It's difficult to explain, so stay with me here. See, I used to be an apprentice of Alister Crowley back in 1926. I know that sounds crazy, but back then, he was working on the way to build his own pocket dimension. A reality where he could practise his rituals and sacrifices without the town's people knowing what he was doing." Roxy looked confused but believed her story, allowing her to continue, "He was experimenting one night, alone in his study with alchemy, when he was approached by what he described as ghosts. He told me they were the spirits of the people he had wronged and sacrificed, telling him how he broke their families and took their lives. This went on for days before Crowley had another visit. He claimed it was the Angel Gabriel and told him that a righteous man had spilt blood in Hell. Crowley recognised these signs and took to the books, the Bible, to be exact. He found that the Seals of Hell were opening up and the apocalypse with it."

"So Alister sent you here how and why?" Tyler asked, frustrated at the absurdness of it all.

"I'm getting to that now!" Hannah retorted, "Two Horsemen were unleashed to break the rest of the seals, creating carnage and spilling the blood of innocent lives. Pestilence and War. Just when we thought we were at our lowest, both Magicians and Hunters were brought to the brink of extinction, a young girl and a dear friend of mine, River, fought the Horsemen using the First Blade. Destroying the Horsemen and saving the lives of so many, she gave her own in return. River became one of them to keep the universe's balance intact, sacrificing her life to save everyone's. Gabriel watched this all happen from Heaven. Seeing River's sacrifice for this world, he gave Alister a message. Specifically, to give to four people, you two being half of them. So, he worked hard, making sacrifices and lots more to create doorways in time, searching for you both. I've been through seven different doorways trying to find you both. I faked my injuries because I heard of the werewolf attack, and I figured the best way to draw you out was by being bait."

"Wait, so you aren't the werewolf running around town?" Roxy asked, anger crossing her face.

"No, I needed a way to draw you into the open. I'm sorry about that. I truly am. But Crowley was told to find you, with hopes of bringing the paragons together and stopping the rest of the seals from breaking, unleashing Hell on Earth. You, Tyler, are the Hybrid. A force of both Magic and Wit, bringing the harmony of two factions into one. And you, Roxy, you are Master Hunter. The one who brings down the old force and starts it anew. You are two of six paragons. It is your job to locate the other three. I do not know their names, only that they are not born yet. As for the other, my dear friend River is banished to the Hellhole of the Horsemen. As for the sixth, I do not know." Hannah began to glow white. Blinding Tyler and Roxy.

"What's happening?" Tyler yelled.

"I've run out of time, Tyler! Search for the paragons and stop the seals from breaking! I'm sure we will meet again soon!" The room filled with the white light shooting out of Hannah's body before she disappeared, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the floor where she once stood.