The Warriors of Light
Chapter 15

We arrived. Stepping off the plane, the crisp air hit me first, then the view as I stood at the door, the last thing that engulfed me was, looking out at the beautiful city lights and landscapes. I remembered that I hadn't been out of the state, let alone the country to even begin to fathom the pure culture shock I was experiencing. When we see Africa on TV, this is never what they show. It has beautiful views and is full of civilization.

"Ray?" Gregory's voice brought me out of my trance as I realized I was holding them up from getting into the car. Serene placed handcuffs on herself and Johnny to keep him from running off. I took one last look at the city and got out of the plane and into the car. We went to a hotel for the night to rest and prepare for the dreaded trials of replaceing the book.

Serene went to her room alone, leaving Gregory and me with Johnny in another room that included two double beds and a sofa bed. I stretched as I wiped my eyes. "So we made it. Where

is this place?" I asked, looking towards Johnny as he searched the fridge.

"You would think we would have complementary..."

"Hey, if you are leading us in the wrong direction..." I stood in his face as Gregory placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You have been rather hostile with me, Ray, ever since you found out what happened to your brother," Johnny observed. "I'm betting you have a hidden agenda to get the book for yourself and hand it over to Agares to save him. Am I wrong?"

Gregory stepped in even more as I took another aggressive step toward Johnny. "Enough. You need to answer the question, Johnny. Where are we going next?"

Johnny jerked away walking towards his bags-pulling out a map of some sort. It was handwritten with some kind of fine black ink. My first time seeing it, but clearly not Gregory's. Johnny pointed out the window in the direction we were assuming we needed to go. He then walked over to the counter, and grabbed the map holding it up in front of the window.

"It's about three hours from here. This around here, this open area..." he circled an area on the colored map. "This is said to be nothing but desert and then a jungle...an oasis if you will. It's undiscovered just because no one comes back from there."

"Doesn't mean the book is there." I quickly retorted.

"Gregory, I need to analyze that key." Johnny ignored me as he continued to circle things on the map, while Gregory went to fetch the artifact that we took from him. There was a symbol on it as Gregory looked closer at the map. "It's there. I know it is."

"How were you planning on going there all alone if this path is so dangerous?" Gregory asked, snatching the artifact back from him. "Did you even think this all the way through?"

Johnny shrugged as he sat on the couch. "Never know. I may have people here ready to fight with me to get that artifact. It's been the only thing on my mind since I found out I sold my soul- for real-to the devil. I didn't believe in that mess. I just wanted to get rich and famous." He reflected, shaking his head and reminiscing about the choices that led him here.

"Far too late for regrets, now," Gregory replied. "Did The Forgotten tell you about the book? How

is it that you came upon this knowledge?" He sat in front of Johnny, waiting to hear his tale. Johnny didn't start talking right away. He turned his head from him in shame.

"Yeah, something like that." He said, simply.

"These Forgotten assholes seem to know a lot that The Order doesn't." I chimed in now to Gregory. "Why hasn't Pope Richardson done something about them? I thought you could erase their memories."

"We can, but somehow they all started remembering. They all started to ask questions. I'm not too familiar with them, unfortunately, that is Elias's department." Gregory was very dismissive about the subject, so I decided I would ask him about it later. "We should eat to get our strength up for tomorrow."

While Johnny was sleeping on the sofa, I went up to the roof of the hotel and started training on what I knew so far. The stars were so vivid and bright- unlike anything I had ever seen. It was the perfect place to practice and, perhaps, release some anger I had after meeting with Agares. I punched the air as hard as I could, straight forward, as if I was hitting someone in the chest- that was about my height, ignoring the pains of my body.

Then, again, with a kick as high as I could get my feet. My hand went to my gun, instinctively, sensing someone behind me. I pulled it from my waistband, pointing it at, who I now know is, Serene. She only smiled and tilted her head away from the path of the gun. She easily placed my hands down as she walked over to the edge of the building.

"Your form could use a lot of work."

"Ouch, what a way to tear my spirits down when I thought I was doing pretty good...well for having trained for only a week."

Serene turned back to me as I looked her up and down. The tight leggings she wore fit her body so perfectly. And, her hair was braided into one big braid cascading down her back. Her shirt was just a plain black t-shirt, but it was long enough to cover her hips. She seemed ready for combat, comfortable. I, on the other hand, still held on to the slacks and t-shirt, now regretting my decision not to change.

Before I could think anymore, she came at me fast. I dodged only as fast as I could see her attacks-a slight head movement to the left trying to dodge her right. I took several steps back, swinging my arms so I could evade any movements from her. Serene was quicker than me, though, and hit me in the chin and her other fist stopped right in front of me.

"You rely way too much on your weapon, Ray. What are you without the gun?" She asked me and

I couldn't give her an answer. She gestured for me to attack her. "Come on. Hit me."

I didn't want to do that, not that I could, anyway. Her eyes never left mine during the challenge. How could I resist her, even if I knew this was going to be her way of humiliating me? She was obviously more experienced. I didn't understand if this was her way of teaching me a lesson or to have an excuse to touch me. Either way, I charged at her.

My fist went up into a 90 degree angle uppercut that should've sent her flying off the roof. Instead, she grabbed my arm, flipping over me oh so elegantly, placing my hand behind my back as she did so. Stuck now in a crouched, vulnerable position, she used me to balance her weight. Therefore, she never touched the ground, but hit my shins with her foot-knocking me down towards where she would've landed. I'm not sure what happened next, but her foot was pressed into my chest as I grunted from hitting the ground.

I couldn't waste any time. The look of satisfaction on her face caused me to want to try and take her down harder. I swiped my free arm, hoping to throw her off balance. She stepped on my arm with the foot that was in my chest, laughing. "You won't be able to get me so easily. I need you to really think about your next move. How are you going to get out of this?"

"I feel like I'm training with Gregory all over again," I muttered under my breath. I sighed, defeated, but released the other arm from behind my back-helping myself up. I used my strength to push my other arm up, trying my best to throw Serene into the air. She did another backflip. This time her entire body landed on my chest, in a crouching position, causing me to yelp from the weight. The smirk on her face was gone, now, as she balanced her weight on her feet, still crouching over me. She put her hands in her pockets and gazed up at the stars. "You know there will be demons waiting for you out there waiting for you to take one false step so they can feast on your soul. Which, is why I want to know, Ray..." She removed herself from me and stood looking down waiting for an answer. "What are your true motivations for doing all of this? You clearly aren't motivated to join our cause."

"Excuse me?" I stood holding my chest, trying to hide the pain from her. "We want the same things."

Serene shook her head. "No, we don't. I know men like you, Ray Segal." Ouch, she used my whole name. I knew I was in trouble. "You aren't doing this for anyone else, but yourself. You and Johnny are a lot alike."

I quickly objected, "Don't place me in the same category as that selfish prick. I am doing all of this for Brad. He is the only thing keeping me going at this point."

"Are you willing to die to take your brother's place?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in my voice which shocked Serene. She looked away from me for a moment to reevaluate her argument and then back to me, but I started to walk off. "I'm not that asshole you see in me, Serene. You will see." The ground started to tremble. We heard the rumbles of something similar to an earthquake. It caused me to pause and walk quickly back to the edge of the building so I could see whatever Serene was seeing.

I held on to a weak pole as she gasped. "What is this? What's happening?"

"Don't you feel it, Ray?" I shook my head at her question trying to understand. "That evil stench. That flow of power. This isn't a regular earthquake. The Kukulkan is very close. Which means this journey of ours will soon come to an end."