Black Spots.

Chapter Two

Black Spots

“Loss opens up the darkest parts of one’s mind… The mission is to find the light before the darkness wins…”

The one thing Abby hated when coming out of a healing sleep was her eyesight was always on the fritz. She saw the colors of souls, little spots- one for each soul she ever created, but today the number of black spots made even this time hardened warrior want to cry. There were just so many new black spots, where beautiful colors once were instead.

She sat up and took a deep breath. She checked the gash on her chest, thin and pink, and soon it would be nothing. She stared into space as the black spots danced in front of her eyes as the souls choose their paths. Vengeful spirit, guiding presence, restless soul, or they move on to judgment; those were the choices for the souls she had created. She prayed they moved on. Not that her father listened to her pleadings anymore. She knew her pleas fell upon the deaf ears of a man who should never have been a father. Let alone created any type of life. He wanted power. Pure and simple. And when his children did not fall in line…

Well, she had been alone for a long time now.

She was not even sure he knew what she had been through these millennia on the planet she helped create for him. Some part of her being still had hoped he loved her. But what child did not hope their father loved them?

Abby sat there and watched the spots as she got her magic, her power, her life force, under control again. Soon the spots became more like sunspots, once more becoming that translucent sort of color, and that allowed Abby to focus on moving. Abby sighed as she sat in the sunlight. It seemed wrong it would be so bright after her people, her family of sorts, were all betrayed and murdered. Then again, she knew she could cause a storm and let the weather reflect her emotions. She had done that before… and look where that had gotten the world. In hindsight, her anger and sorrow made it seem as if destroying three quarters of the world’s population was a good idea.

She was unsure how long she had sat there, but she knew she had to move. She had to find… 

She closed her eyes in pain, to the very thought of the word, but she forced the thought out… 

Replacements. 

She took a deep breath and whispered the word. “Replacements.” The word tore at her soul. But it must be done. The magic she had pumped into the ley lines she had created when her brothers abandoned Earth needed to be protected. She forced herself up. “I can do this. I have before;” she whispered to herself as her heart felt torn in two.

Abby moved to the middle of the room; she held her hands out in front of her and took a deep breath as she created a mist of magic that filled the room and when it lifted there lay the list. The list of unknown Keepers, Protectors, and Guides… Well, possible ones. She just hoped she could keep the ones she will choose safe. She picked up the list. Now to find them, test them, or view their life’s test, and choose five Keepers, three Protectors, and two Guides. 

She looked at the list of dozens and cried because her lists used to be hundreds. The tears dropped on the list and as the tears smudged the ink, Abby could not help but think of the list as a Death Warrant for the names listed. 

But she had no choice. 

With all the choices she made in her existence, she still wonders if she made the right choice to give the world magic or if she should have thrown in the towel like her brothers. However, it generally only took one moment for her to feel the whole painful existence of magic was worth it. Life was made up of moments. 

Grief and loss caused the darkest parts of the mind to come forward and try to take over the light and happiness of life. The mission for any being was to find the light before the darkness won. 

She sighed. She did not have time to waste with her doubts, because if she did not get the mines and catacombs back open and magic protected and the Sisters, temporarily, stopped soon then she was afraid she would have to end the word to start it over… 

And that is not something she wanted to do, no or ever. Because for as much hate in the world, there was so much love. Cliché, yes, she knows, but clichés are clichés for a reason. She moved to leave, to feel the stickiness of her blood. She had time for a shower and a change of clothes. She could spare the fifteen minutes to clean up. She could not show up in front of her new people covered in blood. That would not go over well. And she could not mess up the recruitment.

After all, she was the one in charge of the end of the world.

Abby stood in the shower under the almost scolding hot water washed over her. She kept her head down and watched the red dyed water, dyed red from not only her blood but the blood of her chosen Keepers, Protectors, and Guides. She as good as got them killed by choosing Jesse. Of course, Jesse was young, naïve, but he had so much potential in him. 

Well, until Leslie slit his throat. 

Leslie was just like her mother and grandmother, and every other McKinnon female. An amoral human, with green eyes that showed their greed, at least according to Abby’s viewpoint. 

Green has been associated with greed since the dawn of sin. It was fitting that the McKinnon line was known for their pure green eyes, as they were the greediest beings Abby ever has known to exist. They were always after something that was not theirs. After something that could kill them. Just because of their greed for power.

Humans were greedy. Needy. They need constant praise and validation that they are doing right. It may seem strange that one of the creators of humanity would even think this, but Abby knew that just like her father, like her siblings, and just like her, underneath, all a living creature was looking for was love and acceptance. And to fill that hole in their souls, some turned to greed and the other deadly sins. 

They were called deadly sins for one reason, because a being can lose themselves in the sin and never find their way out. A being prideful to ask for help when needed, they can lust for something that in the end drowns them, glutton themselves upon superficial vices to fulfill their souls hunger, envy what another has without every seeing what they have right in front of them before they lose it all, allow greed and that need to OWN destroy their soul, allow themselves to fall into sloth and never achieve their potential by never taking a chance, or they can even allow the wrath of their pains push everything good and wholesome from their lives. In the end, it ends up the same. They have destroyed their existence and life drowning in their sin.

She shook her head. 

She did not have time to dwell on her mistakes or the actions of Jesse. Or the philosophy of living beings. 

She had to test the names on her list. She had to find replacements or everything she had done to preserve the Earth would be for naught. 

She finished her shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve tee that had a name of her favorite show on it, that show about a pair of brothers saving the world. And the creator was not wrong. God’s a dick. So are angels. She should know. 

She gave a weak smile. She was glad that they did not destroy the imaginations of her humans with how much bloodshed was in their history. She threw on her black military boots and grabbed the list. 

Time to find some Keepers. 

With that, once she was outside, she took a breath and let her magic take her to the city of the first name that stood out on her list.

Dean Cooper, twenty-four, Central Point Iowa.