The Legends of Anigma: Ethiel Archer | ONC 2023

PART XV

From the next video, Ethiel came to know that the place where Alice had kept all the information related to the Pyramid of Lomeyin; it was back in Earth, at some small town called Morbury near London.

Ethiel, Tifa, Lord Veer, and Maya went back to Earth, to Alice's home – dragging along a complaining Red Wings with them. Upon their return, Mr. Tan was told to keep the asked things for the quest ready.

Since they had to travel through London, Lord Veer turned back into a normal-sized monkey, Maya was given a long coat that belonged to Aunt Louis to hide her wings and a hat to hide her bat ears, and as for Red Wings, Ethiel decided that in the rare possibility that anybody asked about him, they were going to just lie about him being a recently discovered, very rare bird species. Nobody among them was carrying any weapon other than Tifa because her staff looked like some Halloween project. So they were pretty much all set to travel undercover among humans.

However, the most unpredictable thing happened when they came back to their home and were about to climb down the stairs; Matt called out Ethiel and Tifa's name, yawning with his eyes closed and heading up the stairs, a pizza box in his hand.

"Kids, come out. I bought some pizza for you." He scratched his butt and opened his eyes. He stopped right where he was, surprised.

"Of all the times..." Ethiel whispered under his breath.

It was too late to hide.

"Who are – Who is she?" His eyes popped and locked on Maya, unbelievably not taking note of the never-seen-before bird hovering beside her.

"Is that the jerk you were talking about?" Maya asked Ethiel.

"I can smell him all the way from here! When was the last time you took a bathe, you filthy egg head?!" Red Wings scorned.

First, Matt was bowled over the insults. Then, he asked a question which seemed like a declaration of his unrivalled stupidity, "What kind of a parrot is that?"

"Uhhh..." Ethiel was trying to think of a believable story.

"I'm happy I brought my staff," Tifa stepped forward and pointed her staff at a confused Matt. "Sleep!"

Immediately, Matt started snoring.

"Ha, easy. Now, he will be asleep for long. You're welcome." She turned back to Ethiel and beamed until she suddenly heard Matt crash behind her and roll back down the stairs. "Oops..."

"You could've instead used a fragrance spell," Red Wings remarked. "Oh, my nose!"

Fortunately, Matt was fine. After putting him on the bed back in the room, they left for the secret place of Alice, but not before Tifa destroyed Matt's beloved speakers, tired of the noise.

They travelled through the bus in a rainy weather. The streets had become wet, the dark and silver skies glimmering on them. Being back in the atmosphere of Earth, the place he had grown up in, wasn't pleasant for Ethiel; it almost felt like he was seeing the whole planet and its people in a different light, in its true light. The things he noticed was the discord, the dense and toxic fumes in the air, the indifferent people, the detachment from reality in their lifestyle, the noise, and the absence of nature. He could only imagine what Lord Veer, Maya, and Red Wings – the ones who were there for the first time – felt like. There was no need for them to say how displeased they were, their gestures and facial expressions conveyed that already.

Maya had her nose covered for most of the trip, Lord Veer was smiling but his eyes were perceiving the misery in everything to its depth, and Red Wings was frowning at all that he saw, heard, or smelt.

But it wasn't all bad surely. They did seem to enjoy the architecture and buildings, after all it was raining and it made the experience a bit appealing at least. And despite the majority of disgust, Maya did curiously ask Ethiel about all the new things that showed up along the way.

The weather had become darker when they reached Morbury, making it look all the more desolate and bleak than it actually was maybe. Very few people came in sight. No vehicle was rolling up or down the streets. Except for the thudding rain, silence accompanied. The houses seemed as old as the withering trees. The shops were empty.

Given the faded plates out the gates, finding the address would've been quite a bother if they had not luckily come across the young boy playing in the rain outside his home.

When he heard the address, his joyous expression faded, "You... are looking for this mansion?"

"Yes," Ethiel said. "You know where it is?"

"Are you... going to go in?"

"Why ask?"

"And what's with the face?" Tifa asked.

"It is haunted... The guy who tried to rob there came out screaming and crying... He never robbed again."

Ethiel looked at Lord Veer and Maya and squinted.

"Oh don't worry," Maya smiled at the little boy, "we are professional exorcists."

He looked at them doubtfully.

"Just tell us where it is please." Tifa sighed.

"Well... I warned..." He gave them the directions and went back into his home.

On arriving there, Ethiel was surprised. It was a mansion, one having quite a green and scary compound adorn with a few small, grotesque statues. The compound walls were stonework over which creepers had grown. The rusty gate clanging in the wild wind was like a cherry on top, the final touch to the entire haunted mansion feel.

"Here we are," Ethiel muttered.

"Well, it's not like a ghost will show up and welcome us in, right? Come on, now." Tifa started climbing the wall.

It looked scarier when they were in. When Ethiel took a few steps towards the mansion, an angry cat noise echoed around them.

"Did you hear that?" Maya asked.

"If you're talking about the cat noise from the movies, then yes." Ethiel looked around.

Most of the area was covered in shadows cast by the tall trees and bushes.

"What was that?" Tifa whispered.

"The noise?" He looked back at her.

"No. There," she pointed with her fingers, "I think I saw the shadows move?"

"It might just be your mind."

"No." She looked at him and suddenly her eyes widened.

"What happened?"

She didn't seem to be looking at him. She was looking behind him.

Slowly, he turned on his heels.

A big shadow was swirling in front of the house. It drifted swiftly towards him, shaping itself into something horrifying. When it was closer, its face revealed; it was monstrous but it remotely resembled a black panther. It stretched out its shadowy hands and screamed terror as it opened its mouth wide, revealing its crude fangs.

Ethiel jumped back in reflex. "What the heck is this?!"

Tifa grabbed her staff. "I got this!"

Suddenly, as spontaneously as it came for his blood, it stopped. The mouth closed and the arms merged back into its shadowy body.

"Nice going, Tifa." Ethiel took a deep breath.

"What? I didn't do anything. It stopped by itself."

"Huh?"

The shadowy figure shrunk and the darkness faded till it became a small, black cat with gem like eyes. It meowed at them and turned to the mansion.

"What is happening?" Ethiel looked at Lord Veer, hoping he'd have some explanation.

"Apparently, it's a spirit that Alice put here to ward off uninvited guests." Lord Veer chuckled. "Once an Anigman, always an Anigman."

The cat meowed again, beckoning to them to follow it.