The Omen

It tempted us all. Fools, every single one of us. Idiotic, I began to think. Starving, tired, cold, I lie against a bare tree deep in the forest of a region I have never been. My target, watching me from a distance. Its head was turned to the side as its large black eyes locked on to me like a radar. Legend spoke of this beast to be prosperous, but no man had ever come as far as I had. But now that I watch it from this close, I questioned that philosophy as well. I had lost everything I ever held dear to me. Sleepless nights spent at bars drinking nearly everything they had, to spend my days sleeping on park benches. Wasting my life away. I had long missed the life I once had. I'd do anything to have it back—just once more. I had spent the majority of about eight years trying to drown out the memories. Tears fell from my eyes, then froze in the Aridan Tundra. My beard was latent with ice from the snow. It had been days since I spoke. My lips were sealed shut due to the moisture that escaped my mouth. My arms and legs were exhausted and mostly frostbitten. I could clearly see my body in front of me, but it felt like it belonged to someone else because I no longer had control. Oh, how I wish I could rewind the clock. Maybe that is the kind of thought that brought me here in the first place. Everyone I had pushed away warned me of my desires. However, I did not listen to them. But I should have. All this time I tried to prove them wrong; I ended up being the one who paid the ultimate price.

This winged beast mocked me in my misery. Making me cling to false hopes and pulling me from the very brink of death. Though a delightful sentiment, I much rather die. I much rather give in to the departure that I should have done myself so many years ago. It knew that I wanted to end it, but the beast seemed to have different plans for me.

I much rather not be here, sitting in the cold, wet snow. Moisture from the groundwater soaked into my shirt. My pants and shirt both frozen to the barren ground. My stomach vibrated at the fact that I had no food to consume. And the delusions of my mind made me see people that were not really here.

I sat against the tree in the frigid wastelands of The Aridan Tundra, recalling my journey here. I did live a good life, despite having many setbacks. I have had many blessings and many reasons to live. But at this moment, I would gladly trade those for death. No man should ever witness this form of torture.

I do, however, find it comical that I am not the first to encounter this. Many men before me have come to this same fate. The legend of this place remains the same. But there has never been a man that could return to discount the lies that have been passed down through history. My weary eyes shift around this place at all of the bones of men who once yearned for the things they had desired. Many wanted wealth and riches, and others wanted peace. Me, I just wanted to see them again, those I had lost.

The more I watched the beast, the more I was cast into memories of my past—specifically, moments where I held my strongest regrets. I was forced to see it. Blood on my hands, I looked down at my knuckles and began to cry. I looked down at my feet, and her fragile body lie at my feet, holding the most precious little thing I had ever seen. Beside her, a broken bottle of Vodka that I had been drinking for hours, next to a red necktie. My frozen lips ripped apart as I began to scream.

“Why are you showing me this!” But, no answer. I began to taste the blood from my damaged lips as I felt on that day. I wanted it to stop, but I could not control my body, just like my reality. I watched again as I leaned down and grabbed her. Suddenly, I heard a scream. A terrible screech startled me back into reality.

In the distance, the sunset behind this terrible creature that screeched, holding its giant wings out to its side, as if it was about to fly away. I hoped that it would. Then, maybe, I could die in peace. I noticed the red stains on its white, fuzzy legs and talons just before it hid them again behind its wings. It would be my explanation as to why the many skeletons are missing their heads.

Tears fell from my eyes again as I began to scream from the pain of my eyes freezing in the cold. There was no doubt in my mind that I deserved this punishment. I think this is God’s way of punishing me for the things I have done. I had never repented for my sins before. Maybe this beast was God on Earth, which was how he punished evil, selfish men like me.

I tried to move the little bit of my body I had control of, even though I had lost all feeling at this point. The beast screeched again. My body began to feel heavy, and I slammed backward to my seat on the tree, smashing the back of my head on the bark.

“Please, no! Stop!” I yelled. But again, I was taken into darkness. When I came out of it, I was mortified at the vision that the beast had conjured.

“Mr. Tallus, are you sure about this?” Nelson, my old assistant, whispered to me as we stood near the water sanitation plant's outlet channel. It was dark that night. So dark, the only thing I could see was signaling lights from the many towers above the main building and the skyline of Avant City in the distance.

“Of course I’m sure, Nathan. Why would I want to miss the opportunity to capitalize on the biggest cash-grab of my life.” I asked him as I held up a beaker of the green serum up to the sky. My assistant’s cell phone light shined at the neon-nectar that I thought looked so beautiful as it glowed in my hand.

“Mr. Tallus, if I’m going to be breaking the law for you, could you at least remember my name?”

My nerdy assistant then walked over to me, grabbed the vile from my hand, and angrily stepped over to the output channel.

“My boy, none of that matters now! When this is done, and I become the richest man in the world, I will buy you a new name!”

“Could you quiet down, please!” Nelson whispered as he unscrewed the hatch to the drain. I remember watching with a smug look on my face as I watched the liquid splash into the tube. Suddenly, I heard something. Fear hit me as I looked back to the ladder from the lower deck and saw flashlights. Instinctively, I fled, leaving poor, innocent Nelson there with the evidence in his hand. I escaped down another ladder as two security guards climbed up to the platform from the other side. That night, I ran like my life depended on it. But as far as Nelson’s life, I had no concerns about that. I ran until the darkness around me turned to light.

In an instant, I was standing in the living room of the penthouse apartment I once owned. That was before my horrible decision sent me down the dark path that led me here to my snowy grave. The news was on, talking about how cold it would be that day.

“Carter, honey, I found that tie you were looking for.” I heard a woman say. I turned around and saw the slender blonde beauty that I once had the pleasure of calling my wife. Stunned, I watched her walk around the sofa to bring me the red necktie. I looked over at her, and tears began to form in my eyes. “Are you okay, Honey?” She asked me. I nodded as I took the red garment from her hand.

“I’m fine, love,” I said, reaching for her waist with my other hand, pulling her close to me.

“Ooh,” she bellowed out. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Lyra, I want you to know that I love you so much,” I said to her, not realizing that this was just a figment of my imagination. I smelled her perfume. My arms wrapped around her slender frame, and I saw her eyes. The same eyes that I had fallen in love with so many years ago. The eyes of my high school sweetheart and the woman I decided to spend my entire life with.

“Breaking news from the West Ventross Water Sanitation Plant, we take you to Kyle Burgess on location.” The news anchor said.

“The Sanitation Plant? I wonder what happened there,” she asked me. I pretended not to know a thing and focused on the television.

“Thank you, Helena… We are here at the West Ventross Water Sanitation Plant, where an act of terrorism happened last night. A man was caught here last night pouring an unknown substance into the Avant City Water Output Channel. The suspect, 29-year-old Nelson Samuel, denied knowing what the substance is and said that he was threatened by an unknown terrorist of harm to his family if he didn’t carry out their plans.”

“Wait, Nelson!” Lyra yelled. “Your Nelson?” I did not respond. In an emotionless gaze, I just helplessly watched the broadcast.

“CDC has tested and labeled the substance as the illegal, poisonous substance known as Ambidextrin. All of Avant City’s water supply has been deactivated until further notice.

“Ambidextrin, what is that?” Lyra asked me.

“Please!” I begged to the winged-beast. But my plea was ignored with a screech, and I went back into the next vision. I went out that day to find a way to save Nelson. I thought I was helping him, but in reality, I was helping myself. I spent my entire life looking out for nobody but Carter Tallus. This time was no different. Once I realized that the naive man kept his mouth shut, I went back home that day, justifying my actions. I even told myself that it was all for the greater good.

I returned to a quiet penthouse suite that evening, and I hurried to undo my necktie. All of the lights were off, and the sun was setting over Avant City. I assumed that my wife and baby girl had gone out. I turned the TV back on, and the news was back on.

“Breaking News. Following the water sanitation facility's incident late last night, there were casualties in the number of ten-thousand or more individuals who consumed the water and grew ill, and over eight-thousand dead. That number is constantly increasing as we speak. We urge everyone not to drink the water and throw away any remnants of the water left in your home.”

A cold sweat beaded up on my brow, and my mouth began to get wet. I ran to the bathroom and vomited violently for about ten minutes. I sat down on the couch and grabbed the bottle of vodka that occupied the coffee table. I pulled the cap off and began to drink as if to drown myself in alcohol.

In a drunken fit, I called my wife after drinking for hours alone. I wanted to know where she was. It had been hours, and it was unlike her to be out without calling. As soon as I dialed her number, I heard her phone ring from within the apartment. Angry at her for leaving her phone behind, I grabbed that vodka bottle and jumped up from the couch. In the dark, I could see her phone on the island in the kitchen. I walked over, grumbling under my breath as I turned on the light in the kitchen. I tried to pull myself out of the vision, but this is what the beast wanted me to see.

I came around the kitchen island and saw my wife and one-year-old daughter lying on the kitchen floor.

“Lyra!” I screamed out as I threw the bottle down to the floor and began to cry out for help, but it was too late. I flashed back and forward between tending to my deceased wife and having an out-of-body experience, watching myself do it. Again, I stood there, looking down at the blood on my hands that poured from my wife’s mouth, nose, and ears. I looked down at myself, who was foolish enough to cause all of this. Suddenly, the giant, white barn owl flew past the window in the night. It glowed as it flew past the apartment like a floating majestic and magical light. With one last scream, the giant bird brought me back to my painful reality.

I opened my eyes again, and the owl was still in front of me. Its round face, and large eyes still stared at me as it slowly spread its large wings. This time, in the darkness of dusk, another large being stood behind it. A being that I hoped that I was dead long before it came. I looked up to see his red pupils peering down at me. I could hear the echoes of steel chains clinking in my ears. The legend that bought me here flirted with my desires, making me believe I could find this shrine and fulfill my greatest desires. I spent my days trying to repent for the chaos I caused. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. This barn owl is known as the Spirit of the Goddess of Light. Its presence could either mean chaos or fortune, depending on its target. In my life, I had done too much bad to be considered for prosperity. In a moment, it will fly towards me and be the last thing I see before it finally allows me to rest.

If the sacred text is correct, I will receive no rest once the bloody talons take hold of me and pull my soul out of my body. But I will no longer feel the pain of the mortal world. Thus by coming to this shrine, my mortal body knows where his soul will end up. I guess I received what I wanted after all