Matthew felt his legs shake as the spectral form of Jonas de Longford appeared in front of him.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the gaunt, ashen face, the black eye sockets, and the lipless mouth.
Matthew dropped the torch, sending the beam darting around the cave like a manic spotlight.
“These men who pursue you are very dangerous.” Jonas said.
“Who are they?” Matthew asked surprised at how confident he sounded.
“They are of the Order of the Gate and are after one thing…”
“The Key,” interrupted Matthew.
“Ah yes, I forgot, you have been doing some checking. Yes, the Key, and they will not stop until they find it.”
“Is the Key for some mysterious door?” Matthew asked, “and why are you able to talk?” he continued.
“So many questions my dear boy.”
“The Key is…” Jonas said as he faded.
“Jonas! Jonas!” Matthew shouted.
In frustration he picked up the torch and shone it around the cave as if this would bring the phantom back. He moved further into the cave shining the torch into any crevice. On and on he continued, passing a small spring which flowed out of a crack in the wall, following the main path to the rear of the cavern. He rounded a bend and halted as the beam of the torch picked out an altar carved out of what was the back wall of the cave.
“It’s where the Order worshipped their demon, or Goddess as they called it,” said Jonas Matthew jumped around with the hairs standing on the back of his neck.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I am at the moment in one of the dark dimensions. What you would call hell. You must understand many dimensions, both good and not so good surround the physical world. Light planes being good and closer to the earth; the dark planes further away. The reason you can't see any of this is due to limited human perception.”
“The day you saw me being chased I was placed in an energy grip and brought here. It is taking most of my mind power to support this shape in front of you and, fend off the mind probes of the entities here.”
“What entities?” Matthew asked, wishing he hadn’t.
“The black-robed demons you saw were once humble monks like me. The demon Hel, one who takes female and male form, led them astray. They are chanting, trying to take my mind. Once that occurs all will be lost, so, although it runs at a slower rate in the dark dimensions, the time is short.”
“I don’t understand—why did they wait all this time?”
“Ah, that’s because I eluded them by choosing to walk between the veils. You see, my young friend, between the dimensions there is a place known as the Void. I hid there after I took my life. I did that when I realised what I had done, and what the demons wanted. Anyone with a black-heart could not touch me in there.”
There was a shimmer in his ghostly form. Jonas pressed on, and said: “But because of my love for the physical world, I passed through the veil and walked once again on the earth. It was on one of those occasions the demon monks caught me.”
“They wanted the Key. But what was it you did?” Matthew asked.
“Because of a weakness for the pleasures of human sensuality. Hel seduced me in her physical form, which she can maintain for a limited time only. And I brought forth demon seed into the world as a boy child, who years later tried to take the Key.”
“The Key is for the gates of the Dark Realm! It’s not the actual artefact itself that’s the problem, it's what’s written upon it. Many aeons ago the Powers of Light used it to close a portal to the Dark Realm, Niflheim, which lies beyond the dimensions. Conversely the Key can open the portal. Hel’s
from there, but she walked the dark dimensions. Do not confuse the two; the Dark Dimension is the place where malevolent human souls walk; Niflheim is where demonic entities exist, a place not governed by the laws of our universe and Godless.
“I don’t see why I’m tied up in all this?”
“Through the centuries pure-hearts guarded the Key. That’s why trust has been put in the abbots of the guardian monks. But I have wavered, and that is why I have taken the burden with me into the void, to stop this occurring again.
There was a prophecy which said there will be one, descended from pure—heart and demon that will destroy the Key and this is where you come in my friend. Because Matthew, you are a direct descendant of mine, you are the only one who can destroy the Key. You are of pure-heart and demon seed, which the generations have diluted, that still persists in small amount.”
Matthew pondered on all this for a moment and then asked: “Why didn’t these… Powers of Darkness take the Key?”
“Because the guardian abbots would have rather died than reveal where the Key was, and as long as they remained pure the Powers of Light ensured protection from darkness.”
“Can’t these demons just read minds and find out where the Key is?”
“No, people’s thoughts are their own. Demons can talk to you inside your head, but they can’t read your mind.”
“If this demon can only keep human form for a while, how did she give birth to a baby?”
“Ah this also puzzled me until I was in the void where I discovered that she saved the seed from our coupling. Then in her male form she seduced a local woman thus beginning the line that has led, through the centuries, to you my young friend.
“What of your son, did he try to take the Key again?” Matthew asked.
“No, because after he left, I made the conscious decision to hide it and not come back. I did not want another monk to suffer as I had.”
“He is demon seed, but also pure-heart.”
“David is mostly demon and the pure-heart tainted he inherited from me.”
The darkness in the cave seemed to gnaw away at the torch light as the batteries grew weak.
“I pronounced Brother George as the new Abbot and gave him a sealed letter to be given to David, after a period, outlining what I was doing.”
“So, David wouldn't approach him for the Key,” said Matthew.
“Yes, I also sent a similar letter to the Pope, and then set off on a journey telling no one where I was going.” Jonas flickered, “so now you know the facts and how important it is that you succeed.”
“Where is the Key?” asked Matthew, astonished at how he had asked the most important question.
“I paid for passage across the North Sea to Bruges. Then went on to an abbey in the Maas Valley where the abbot was a Tironensian monk and a trusted friend. On the return journey over the sea, after much hesitation, I jumped into the water and…drowned, thus completing my mission.”
Jonas paused. “Now you must complete the task before you. Take great care, the enemy are cunning. I fear by now the Key might be in the wrong hands. It is in Su…,” but he disappeared again before he could finish.
Matthew stood with the fading light of the torch for a while. But, as it seemed Jonas’s powers had weakened and he would not return, he turned toward the sound of the waves from the mouth of the cave and left.
With Jonas’s words ringing in his ears, he climbed the steep path up the cliff and set off for home. He made his way along the cliff top path. It was still dark, and the torch had given up its fight for life. But he had to quicken his pace, had to take risks, the path ahead would be just as tricky.