So what’s wrong tonight?
Usually it didn’t take him twenty minutes to pick up a girl. At least this one thing in his life always worked out. He'd found out early on that sex was an excellent distraction from all kinds of problems.
He turned away.
Not your night, mate. Apparently. With his luck, the rubber would tear or the bed collapse.
He made his way to the exit, slammed the door behind him, and left the club. There was a taxi waiting outside. He ignored it. Instead, he took in a deep breath of the cool air, kicked a stone lying in the street, heard it ping against a freshly painted Mercedes SLK, and began to make his way towards Brixton through the streets of London at night. Autumn was almost over and winter was coming.
He walked past a dilapidated house. With the glass panes missing, the windows looked like empty eye sockets, following him with their gaze. Probably an investor had driven away the previous tenants so he could redevelop the building and quintuple the rent. The tree's branches rusted in the wind. Leaves swirled away. A light drizzle set in.
Of course. It’ll probably start pouring any minute now.
And, just like that, he was drenched in icy cold rain. His jeans, his shirt, his hair were soaking wet. He still had a good ninety minutes’ walk left to get home. Impossible in this weather. Alex cursed himself for not getting in that cab.
"It's just not my damn day," he cursed.
"How right you are," a female voice sounded near his ear.
A blow hit Alex between the shoulder blades, knocked him off his feet, and he crashed onto the sidewalk in a daze. When he raised his head, she kicked his chin. The sudden pain wiped out his senses. He looked at her through the fog in his head, wavering between alertness and unconsciousness.
What the hell was going on?
The woman wore a long coat and had a scarf wrapped around her neck. Her face was covered with age wrinkles, her grey hair in a bun. She slowly walked over to her purse and picked it up. She gave Alex a quick look before reaching for him and just throwing him over her shoulder.
He struggled, which only earned him another punch.
"Don’t worry, son, I’m doing you a favor," she said. "You don’t want to get involved in all this."
Alex recognized the ramshackle house that was coming his way. He was carried up the stairs, through the open door, down a corridor. Rough, brick-lined walls began to appear out of the darkness as hundreds of candles lit up, as if by secret command. In their gloomy light, he saw pools of water, mold spots, rebar protruding from the concrete, and brittle floorboards.
She dropped him on the ground like he was no more than a sack of potatoes.
Suddenly he was wide awake again, the dizziness easing away as quickly as it had come. He jumped up, tried to lunge for the old woman, but an invisible barrier held him back.
He looked down.
A hexagram had been painted on the planks with red paint. There were tiny symbols all around in a language he could not even begin to identify. They glowed in a gloomy, almost dark light and then were extinguished.
To the beat of my heart.
He somehow knew that these symbols were holding him, and only him, captive inside the hexagram.
"Ah," the old lady said. "The legacy is awakening. I found you just in time." She chuckled.
"What the hell is going on?" he shouted, using his commandeering tone that friends had always said could cut through iron. "Let me out right now or I'll call the police." He pulled out his smartphone.
The old woman seemed completely unimpressed. She drew a symbol with a scornful smile. Alex opened his eyes. Her fingers had left behind a muddy-green, glowing trace in the air. The next moment, a single great magical symbols essence emerged.
Esscence? Magic? How do I know that?
An invisible force grabbed the smartphone right out of his hand. Instinctively, he clung to it for dear life. His… mind was holding onto it. His jaw hanging open in wonder, he stared at the small device floating in the air, changing directions every now and then.
Now the old woman seemed almost horrified. "You’ve only just been awoken." She came closer. "You shouldn’t be able to do that." She looked at him like an insect she was getting ready to dissect. "You’re not like those who have come before." Lost in thought, she paced up and down before the hexagram.
Alex grabbed his smartphone and quickly dialed 911. Only then did he realize he had no reception.
"But then why the command …?"
While the old lady kept babbling, Alex realized for the first time what was going on here. Invisible barriers, floating smartphones, sudden knowledge out of nowhere.
"Ecstasy!" He put his hand to his forehead. "They put something in my drink. Damn it!"
The old lady looked at him in surprise. "You’re even dumber than I thought." With two short steps, she was right next to him. "But, fine, let’s test my theory. Your sigil is already sufficiently hidden. I can’t get to it anymore. It has adapted to you and changed shape and color. If only I’d been there sooner." She waved it off. "Your aura has to become visible. And that’s going to hurt." She chuckled. "At least a little."
Her hands pierced the hexagram barrier, touching his shirt at chest level.
Pain flared up.
Alex yelled as the damn woman ripped something out of him.
Your essence, he understood.
The power ebbed away. His legs grew shaky, gave way. He collapsed. He lay helpless in the center of the hexagram, watching as something nebulous passed from him to the old woman.
She gave him a thrilled look. "This is incredible. I’ve never tasted such a bright essence before. It will add years to my life." Her eyes widened with greed. "I want it all!"
Alex reared one last time or at least he tried. But his body no longer obeyed. At that moment he realized that it was not some Ecstasy flash that was holding him captive.
The nebulous connection between him and the old lady began to fray.
"What?"‘ She was taken aback as she looked around.
Alex almost screamed in horror. Suddenly the shadows in the corner of the room came to life. A silhouette took shape and a woman was suddenly standing there. Just like that. Nebulous blackness lay over her face, darkness traced her contours. Otherwise he couldn’t make out any details. There was only fear , manifesting itself almost physically. He trembled.
The old woman shrieked again, backed away. "No!"
"Tsk, tsk," a distorted voice sounded. He couldn’t tell how old she was, just that she was female. Clearly. "I thought I made it clear that he must not be attacked under any circumstances."
"He ran into me by accident."
"You freeloaders always think you can break the rules. And then you try to lie? How embarrassing!" The unknown woman glided towards the shriveled old woman, thrusting her hand into her chest and ripping her heart out.
The old woman exploded into a cloud of dust and the heart crumbled to ashes. The woman from the shwows approached Alex with serenity. She crouched next to him. "You don’t know it yet, but your arrival will change everything. I’ve been waiting so long." Slowly, almost tenderly, she stroked Alex’s right cheek. "I’ve been here since the beginning, for over a hundred years. But today it starts. The spell is about to expire." She was silent for a moment. "She’s coming. It’s time, it seems." She stood up: "Unfortunately, I can’t let you remember all this. You’re still in the awakening process, so a little tweaking of your memories won’t do any harm." She sighed. "But it will be painful. It’s always painful. And that’s a good thing."