Chapter 5

Jason looked at the demon.

'There is no way I am going to release this thing, until I figure out how to banish it, ' he thought as he turned to leave.

"Wait! Don't leave me locked within. Free me!" it said in an almost pleading tone of voice.

"I'll think about what to do, and return," Jason said.

Jason made his way up the stairs, and out of the house. He made sure to erase all evidence of his having been inside. The footprints he could do nothing about, but the rest, well, he did what he could.

The evil that rolled off the house and permeated the area, explained why the body had never been removed, let alone found. He doubted anyone would be able to fight their way through the miasma of evil that was here. He had done it because of the sword he pictured in his mind. HE was sure of that, and now he had to figure out how and why he did it.

He walked down the road back to his car and got in it. He turned around, and headed back to the little town he had passed through not too long ago. It was getting late. He decided it was time to find a room for the night, and try to get some more information on this place.

He found a little hotel on the edge of the road. He pulled in and registered for the night. Next, he asked the desk clerk about restaurants. He was informed that there was an all night diner located a couple blocks away.

After eating a decent meal of 'the special' (which was a salad, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and gravy), he relaxed a drank a cup of coffee. He got a local paper from the waitress, and started looking through it for any items that might catch his interest.

The countryside around the town was beautiful. While farmland was in the area, there were also trees everywhere he looked outside of town, and even in town. He was actually surprised at how much of the land was wooded.

After eating, he returned to his motel room, and settled in for the evening. While the room had a television, there was really nothing on that interested him. He decided to turn in early, and get a fresh start in the morning.

He was dreaming, and he knew he was dreaming, but could not tear himself out of it. He was talking with someone he had known from a time unimaginable. They were on a gigantic wall, and he had a glowing sword in his hand.

The one he was speaking to was the most powerful Guardian there was. He knew this, because he had similar power, just not quite as much of it. Still, he was expressing confidence to his leader.

Soon enough, a battle was joined with those in revolt. He could not believe that they were actually trying to overthrow the ONE!

He fought, filled with a tireless energy. Where his sword struck, those in revolt lost form. It would be ages before they regained a form, if ever they did.

Finally, the assault ended on his section of the wall. He could hear a voice whispering to him. He shook his head, and tried not to listen, but it was difficult. While it was not the voice of the ONE, it was persuasive, and what it said sounded reasonable.

"Step aside," the voice was saying, "It is time to bring return to how it was, before the mortals were created. The world should be ours."

He awoke with a start! His heart was thudding in his chest, and he had a feeling he had been falling, falling for an endless distance and an inconceivable time. As he became more aware of his surroundings, he calmed, and got up from bed. It was five thirty AM, and he was wide-awake.

The image of the sword was clear in his mind! He knew it as well as he knew anything. It was called "Vengeance", and he had received it from the ONE! His heart ached as he remembered this, but could not remember what the ONE looked like. He was surprised to discover tears coursing down his cheeks.

After cleaning up, he went out to find breakfast. He then asked for and received directions to the realty company that had listed the place he was at the previous day. After a breakfast of three eggs over medium, hash browns, sausage, toast, jelly, and orange juice, he topped off with two cups of coffee.

Forty minutes later, he was sitting in his car in the small parking lot of a small wooden one-story building that housed the realty company he wanted. Finally, someone showed up. He waited until they went inside before getting out of his car.

The company was a small branch from a much larger corporation that was located a few hundred miles away, in a large city. She was the local rep for the corporation. She was responsible for all properties handled by her company in the surrounding countryside. She was also in contact with the main office, via computer. She could find just about anything that someone wanted in the way of property for a customer.

She was surprised when he told her which property he was interested in. Apparently, the company had picked it up for back taxes. They were unable to move it, and it had been sitting on their books for years.

The property had started life as a small 120-acre farm. But, it had not been farmed in over seventy years. It had the house listed and a couple outer buildings, which Jason had not seen when he had been there.

She was very surprised when he said he had walked around the main house yesterday, and that was how he knew there was no barn standing where the plat map insisted there was one.

He did admit that he didn't walk very far into the woods surrounding the house, as everything seemed overgrown with weeds and young trees.

The company had not done a survey of the property, but had relied on old plat maps and the title descriptions on which most people base property calculations. Jason invited the agent to accompany him and to see for herself that what he said was so.

He noted with interest she became uneasy when he invited her to go to the property in question. That made him curious.

"Why are you uneasy with going out to the Hamilton place?" Jason asked curiously.