Horace of the Horizon-Part 9

Graham smiled. With weariness but sincerely as he turned to face me, seemingly having resolved to allow the giant manta ray creature to take us where it may. It was as if he was willing to take the chance or perhaps more so that he simply trusted the creature.

“The universe, and on a more personal level, the world, is intrinsically a good place, and that core purpose, that magnificent spark that brings forth life, it provides for us, it sustains us, spiritually as well as physically. “ he explained his eyes bright like a child engaged with the wonders of the universe, and indeed that is what he was.

“It is such a shame,” he continued “that as human beings we are drawn into negativity and industriousness for the sake of useless naked industriousness and for greed. It pains me to no end to see the wickedness and pain and suffering human beings are willing to inflict on themselves, on each other and on the planet that gives them life. There are beings, supernatural entities that for a multitude of reasons hold and maintain an interest in the affairs of mankind, and the cold soulless ugliness, that seems to permeate the world, it draws the attention of the darker, more insidious of these beings, and that is why I am here. I am guardian of the world, not so much for its man-made nations and treasures, but for its soul, and it is that soul, that life force that gives me these amazing abilities. It is the spirit power of the earth, of creation made manifest in the physical world through me,”

“That is a lot of responsibility Graham,” I said, “but I am grateful to have you, to have someone on my side in all of this strangeness”.

Hancock smiled sheepishly “Well it is a job that can make it a bit difficult to explain to one’s readers why a book might go past its intended release date!”

I nodded and stared off into the dark, feeling a sudden need for quiet and to withdraw into myself.

My mind divested itself right then and there of all awareness and articulation of either preservation or peril or of my situation at all. I simply sat on the back of the manta ray creature; my legs tucked in against my chest and stared out, numb and blank.

I looked out into the endless black of the void watching without seeing, my mind and soul weary and worn had retreated in an act of self preservation and recuperation. Had I been more alert I may have noticed that a patch of the inky darkness was just a little inkier, just a little darker, just a little colder, and moving our way radiant with hate and ill intent.

I heard my name, like a whisper inside my head.

I could feel something, someone dark and disgusting reach out and touch my mind.

Despite my revulsion to this invading, probing thought I answered in my head “Yes?”

“Yoris” the voice rasped again.

“Yes” I replied again, this time speaking the words out loud.

I could feel something rushing toward me, toward my mind like a foul wind when Graham suddenly jerked around to face me, raised his hands and shouted “Stop!!”

Ripples of pale green light exuded from Graham’s hand and the light coalesced into millions upon millions of flying beetles, completely surrounding us on all sides.

The manta ray creature banked steeply and then began to pick up speed, beating it’s large fleshy wings.

I looked about in amazement and perhaps a hint of horror at the buzzing, humming clacking penumbra of beetles that had formed around us.

“Graham? “ I said my voice urgent and tight with the first hints of panic welling inside me.

“They are helping us,” Graham said, sensing my dilemma “They should obscure us as well as making you a lot harder to mind probe.”

I could see the stress in Graham’s face, and it chilled me to see in the eyes of the great adventurer, the indomitable Graham Hancock, the shadows of fear.

“I’m scared too” I said. I knew it didn't help at all, but it was the most human thing I knew to do at that moment.

Graham nodded his mute appreciation and then turned, waving his arm in a broad arc. A section of the cloud of beetles opened up in front of us to form a view port.

We flew through the darkness with quiet desperate urgency, with fear and doubt an ever growing beast that gnawed at our innards.

We were fooling ourselves thinking that we would ever get out.

We were fooling ourselves thinking we could get away.

I did not even know if there was a me to get back to. For all I knew my body, the physical me had long since died. Good lord, had I requested I be cremated? I wasn't sure and the question somehow bemused me more than terrified me.

I knew that there was no point, and that this endless abyss I was in held more terrors than a soul should be meant to endure.

I was sent scrambling backwards when a flash of claret red light crashed down between my legs. Where the light had struck was a wicked looking harpoon, glowing with a malevolent energy and a long beam of light that seemed to move as if it were rope. Thick black gore oozed from the back of the manta ray creature where it had struck.

“What the hell!!” I exclaimed, trying frantically to stay on the manta ray creature’s back as it lurched and rolled violently.

Graham spun around and rose up into the air, borne up on disks of light. “This is not good!” he said looking about wearily.

I looked up along the red rope of light which disappeared into the darkness. I did not know what was at the other end, but I knew it was not nice at all.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read the latest installment of Horace. It is something I do because writing stories is something I stopped doing, and this has been my attempt to continue that thread in my life. Not to impress or to educate but simply to share.

That being said it is nice to know that if one is sharing something that there is someone to share it with. Places like Hub Pages are fantastic for publishing articles (which of course I also do) but as a general rule unedited unprofessional fiction tends not to garner very robust readerships, and I am no exception to this rule.

This is a truth I think I simply have to accept. I will continue to write the story, and hope that it is enjoyed by the small group that does read it. I just think I may slow down quite a bit on putting out new episodes. Hopefully they will be worth a quick read when they do come out.

See you soon!