Kneeling in the street, Dusk's face contorted in various expressions of pain and agony. Evening shadows fell over his broad chest, which rose and fell in heavy panting breaths, and every muscle in his arms bulge and strain like they are trying to burst free from his dark skin.
Shadows stalked around, each in the shape of wolves or dogs. Their black forms slink waiting for the moment or command to strike. Their growls sounds echo off the surrounding buildings.
Shilpy had never been fond of dogs, and these monsters, for there were few other words to describe them, didn't improve her opinion of the creatures. Some primal instinct urged her to run, but she couldn't. That would mean abandoning Dusk.
The man named Wolf stood opposite Dusk with a revolver in one hand, and the sword from the previous vision, in the other. Wolf pointed the sword towards his opponent and the creatures surrounding Dusk grow louder.
The shadows rally in response to Wolf's command. En mass they gather to a single spot a few meters in front of Dusk and then descend on him. Together they leap into the air and soar into Dusk's chest. Blood flies from Dusk's mouth hitting the concrete in front of him. Dark shape after dark shape leaps forward until they merge funneling into a single point on his body. Each twisted and turned over the others fighting for the first position until they are spinning like a screw or water down a funnel. At the apex of the tunnel, a ball of green light filters the dark shapes through its glass surface and then focuses them into his chest.
Dusk's mouth goes slack, and his body tilts left and right like a reed in the wind until the last of them disappear. For a long moment, Dusk hangs in the air poised like a puppet before collapsing to the concrete. The green ball bounces off the ground and rolls away into the middle of the road.
#
Denise placed a cup of tea onto the table and gave Shilpy the strangest of looks. It was only twenty minutes by train to her house - a three bedroom affair in Strathfield. Her flatmate, Tim spent most of the year overseas doing god only knows what, so they had the place to ourselves.
If Keres Ter Nyx were watching it then they knew Shilpy was here, but that didn't seem important anymore.
Shilpy gave Denise a verbal dump of everything she'd seen up until now in the visions, along with the discovery that Dusk may be involved with the Erisian, but would be betrayed in the not too distant future.
Shilpy didn't tell her that he had been a child soldier. She was still working through that one herself.
Denise sat with her arms crossed, trying to untangle it all. When Shilpy finished, Denise leaned back in her chair and stared across the table through half closed eyes.
"I need to find this sword. Maybe if I have another vision, or can figure out how to focus it-"
"I'm worried about you," Denise interrupted. Shilpy raised her eyebrows. Worried? "I want to forget about Dusk for a moment, and talk about you."
Shilpy nodded, a little confused, "OK."
"How often are you having visions?"
Shilpy's eyes dropped to the cup of tea. She picked it up and took a sip. The heat from the liquid scalded her lips. "I'm not sure," she answered. "Once a day, maybe three times. I think the sword, the shadows, and Eris are all connected. If we can find it first then my vision won't come true. Also, they won't be able to use it against Keres Ter Nyx."
"Stop! Listen to yourself!" Denise said, slamming her fist onto the table. Both coffee mugs jumped a fraction into the air. Brown liquid painted the wood. Denise's face twitched as she tried to regain control of her emotions. "What good is finding the sword, if you're losing your mind. You said you wanted to stop these visions."
"I do, but Dusk-" Shilpy replied. "I can't leave him to his fate? I won't, Denise. I don't want to lose him. The visions are all building to this one moment if I can stop it..."
"No one is suggesting you abandon him," Denise replied, her tone softening. "What I'm saying is, you need to take care of yourself, too. I've never seen you like this. You're telling me all these things, and there are times when I'm not sure if you even know where you are."
"I can't think of me right now. Not until Dusk is safe."
"OK then, let's talk about Dusk. You think he's involved with the Erisians, but they are going to betray him." Shilpy nodded. "What do you know of his involvement? You don't think he's actually ..." Denise trailed off, her eyes fixed on my face. Denise studied her, and her expression dropped. "I see."
"I can't know for sure," Shilpy said, quickly. A little too quickly perhaps.
"How sure are you?" Denise asked. "He's a big guy. Would make a good soldier."
Shilpy could feel her stomach turning, but ignored it. That wasn't who he was anymore. Or was it? A little voice whispered inside her. Why else would the Erisians hire him, and not just him? They'd hired Hond as well. Two men who'd once been soldiers.
"I don't know what Dusk did or didn't do. What I do know is this sword is a weapon. Wolf used it to control the Shadows. If the Erisians possess the sword, then they can use it against our sisters."
"Stop them? What happened to avoiding Angela's war?" Denise asked.
"This isn't about her."
Denise chewed on her bottom lip and played with an earring. It was unfair to ask Denise to be involved in this. The visions, the war, and Dusk part in it, whatever that was, had nothing to do with her. She had, in fact, turned her back on it all.
"Ok, so you want to find this sword. How?" Yes, she'd turned her back on Keres Ter Nyx, but not Shilpy. When this was all over, Shilpy was going to owe her big time.
"I haven't seen anything in my visions, yet. I could wait for a new one..."
Denise stood and started pacing about the room in exasperation. "You're impossible! Why is the only way for you to locate this sword through your visions? Surely we can find a different way."
"How?"
"We could call Angela. Warn her."
Shilpy recoiled at the suggestion. If Angela found out about Dusk she would never forgive him. He'd become a target. She shook her head. "
"Or not." Denise threw her hands up in exasperation. "Fine, then we do this the same way everybody else does. My computer is in the other room. Let's see what google has to say."
With Denise, that was an option.
Both Keres Ter Nyx and the Erisians avoided having any Internet presence. Everything around each religion and the associated activities remained shrouded in secrecy.
Alone, Shilpy would have no chance of finding the sword. Denise though had a background in the families lore and her experience with researching the obscure could give them a chance.
Shilpy nodded, and for the first time today, Denise's face relaxed. She held out her hand, and together they retreated into the bedroom and shut the door behind them.
"OK, describe this sword." Denise took a seat near the computer.
Shilpy shut her eyes and tried to recall the sword's appearance. Without meaning to, she was back on the street watching Dusk talking to Wolf.
"It has a thin handle. The hilt is long enough for me to wrap both my hands around," Shilpy almost whispered in a dreamy voice. "The blade is wide, about the same length as my leg. Inscribed in the center of the sheath is a symbol of a man mostly naked kneeling forward, he is carrying a giant stone on his back".
When she opened her eyes again Denise was glaring at her.
Shilpy shook her head. "Let's find the sword."
They reasoned that the symbol in the center of the sheath was probably the most searchable feature, and began the search with that. Denise's fingers danced across the keyboard in a blur. She took them down various rabbit holes and into some of the more interesting corners the Internet. Anyone else would have found this task impossible, but Denise knew what she was looking for and where to look for it.
She knew which websites to browse, which to scrutinize and which to ignore. They sat glued to the screen, and despite her initial statement, she didn't refer to google once for over an hour. Then Thomas arrived home.
He burst into the room complaining loudly about the complete incompetence of drivers and their continued crusade to run all cyclist off the road. After a very passionate and moderately amusing rant, his eyes flicked to the computer, and then back to them.
Denise was still focused on her search and Shilpy, being little help to Denise, alternated her attention between each of them. When it became clear they weren't going to move Thomas then launched into a bitter tirade about truck drivers, Sydney people, stop signs, small dogs, and Sydney people.
Shilpy listened patiently, and after several minutes he appeared to calm down. He blew a raspberry with his lips and then disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a beer for himself and wine for each of them. Shilpy took hers and sipped.
Thomas took a seat on the bed and chatted amicably while Denise scrolled through yet another website. Shilpy thought he might get bored, but then she noticed him glancing toward the computer again and chewing his bottom lip.
"D, are you going to be much longer?" he asked at last. "I was hoping to use the computer."
Denise didn't look away from the screen.
"You're not still trying to infiltrate the Dark Web are you?" she answered.
"You make it sound like I'm doing something dodgy," he replied failing to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Aren't you? This is pretty important Thomas."
"The guy I've been talking to said he'd message me in about ten minutes."
"Why don't you use the internet on your phone?"
"I hate the keyboard," he said making a face. "My fingers are too fat."
"Who is messaging you?" Shilpy asked, confused.
"Just a guy," Thomas replied.
"He's trying to buy a fake ID," Denise said her irritation giving way to exasperation.
"Fake passport, not a fake ID. I'm not a sixteen-year-old trying to purchase a packet of cigarettes."
Shilpy shook her head. How much trouble was this guy in? Based on his body language he was definitely agitated. His eyes kept returning either to the computer or his watch. He'd previously alluded that he was running from something, but Shilpy had always thought it was just talk.
"Who are you running from that you need a fake passport?" she asked.
"I told you before; I'm trying to avoid certain people who I don't want to go to war against."
Shilpy frowned. There was that word again - war. It was strange that she kept hearing it. What if-
"Maybe we should take a break," she said, sipping her wine. "I don't know we're getting anywhere. We've been at it for ages."
"Thank you Shilps. See Shilps knows how to share." Thomas grinned.
"Found it!" Denise cried and spun the laptop screen around so Shilpy could get a better look.
Displayed on the screen was a list of various strangely worded objects. The row Denise pointed to contained a link to an item, which read - The sword of Ponos. Next to the link was the same symbol on the sword's sheath in her vision. Shilpy leaned forward for a better look. Then something else caught her eye and she froze.
Above the link to the sword was a different link, with a picture of a small green ball next to it. The green from the ball was the same as the green ball from her visions of Dusk kneeling in the street. Next to the picture was the name of the item: the Star of Fate. A shiver moved up and down her spine. She'd heard that name before. The Moirai spoke of it on the night of the Ritual of Seers.
"You ok?" Thomas asked, looking at her.
"Fine," she said. As much as she wanted to follow the link to the Star she chose the link to the sword instead.
"The sword of Ponos belonged to the God of toil and labour, son of Eris, the goddess of discord." Denise stopped and glanced in Shilpy's direction, her eyes wide. She read on: "The sword itself features heavily in the trials of Stipaul, the Greek demigod who supposedly retrieved the sword from a stone vault buried deep within the earth. Stipaul is then said to have used the sword to have defeated the Shadow King in the war of shadows, according to the ancient texts of Thalna."
Denise scrolled down the page, and Shilpy leaned forward watching two different photos come into view. Thomas moved next to her and frowned looking at the screen.
"What's this?" He asked.
"There are two known swords, which each claim to be the Sword of Ponos." Denise read.
"That one," Shilpy said pointing to the image on the right. Both Denise and Thomas looked at her. "That's the sword I saw."
"You saw this?" Thomas asked, his eyes narrowing. The two women glanced at each other.
"I saw the sword in a magazine. Dusk is into swords, and I thought I might buy it for his birthday," she said hurriedly.
Denise rolled her eyes.
Thomas looked at Shilpy skeptically but then shrugged.
"Well," he said. " You might have found the sword online, but it doesn't say who the owner is. So I don't know how you find it."
Shilpy typed the web address into her phone.
"Could I use the computer now?" Thomas asked. Denise pushed her chair away from the desk, and they left Thomas to his shady transaction. Denise offered to cook dinner. Shilpy agreed and as her friend was preparing the meal studied her phone.
"The Star of Fate is a sacred relic belonging to the Moirai, the goddesses of fate. According to mythology, the Star changed the fate of a baker boy and turned him into the king of the realm," she read to herself. Why was she having visions about an object that can change a person's fate?
"What was that?" Denise asked from behind the oven. Shilpy pocketed her phone and smiled.
"Nothing," she replied.