the Diabolus entered into the mortal world through.
Church made a cup of tea and studied the ancient English text about the last Diabolus encounter. He read how that demon had come in through the Potts portal.
The entry was dated March 1859.
Mortal Keeper: Joshua Potts. Spirit Keeper: Samuel Potts.
Joshua had written:
“I had a terrifying encounter with a powerful Diabolus spirit, known in the living world as Adam Weishaupt S.J., a professor, Jesuit, mass-murderer, and founder of the Illuminati, who entered the spirit world and thwarted all attempts by Spirit Keepers and Guides to contain the demon. The Diabolus flitted from Portal to Portal before finding and entering ours. I was unprepared, with little knowledge known or written about these demons.
I was awaiting my father, the Spirit Keeper when the demon burst into my portal sucking the life out of the room and knocking me off my feet. With fear and trepidation….”
Joshua described his epic battle with the Diabolus, using all his power to keep him in the portal room until his Spirit Keeper, accompanied by many other spirit guardians rushed through the portal. Joshua described the scene and then wrote. “Although it took our combined strength, the spirit guardians ushered the demon back through the portal and herded it to the afterlife.”
Joshua then wrote a stark warning. “It is crucial to avoid these demon spirits leaving a portal that a pentagram along with our symbols of protection must encircle all portals. These symbols would contain any spirit within the portal with no soul able to cross.”
Church then noticed Joshua’s writing became a scrawl as he wrote: “It has been several days since my encounter with the Diabolus. I feel that with the demon entering my body, some of his demonic spirit remains inside me, making me weak and unable to regain my strength. I am now preparing to take my place as the next Spirit Keeper at our portal, to expel what remains of this demon for eternity.”
Church looked at the heading of the next entry also dated March 1859 and gasped:
Mortal Keeper: Arron Potts - Spirit Keeper: Joshua Potts.
Confused and shaken, Church took a drink, sighed, and stared into his cup, deep in thought. ‘It’s 1986, I don’t know of anyone nowadays who I would describe as pure evil, so if there was now a Diabolus, who could it possibly be?’
After wiping pearls of sweat from his brow, Church looked over at the faint pentagram and symbols painted on the floor in the corner of the portal room and thought. ‘From what I’ve just read and the terrifying emotion that I picked up from Granny Pearl, I hope I never come across a Diabolus.’
6
The true guide of life is to do what is right.
Years passed, and with Church almost forty, he felt content with his strange lifestyle. With his stocky build, thinning hair and jovial features, he could be mistaken for Bob Hoskins, and with his powerful gift, he had led a solitary life, only meeting people briefly while on assignments.
Granny Pearl noticed a change in his demeanour. She knew it was a time for a change to occur in his life. She had explained many times about the Joining, the time when Chosen-ones found their eternal partner. Although usually at an early age, there was no timescale for the joining and Church was not looking forward to that bit.
He now thought himself to be too old and hoped the spirit world had overlooked this part of his edict after the turmoil the Diabolus had caused decades ago. Besides, what did he know about women? He’d never had one and couldn’t see much use for them.
Some of his rewards had been generous and he’d amassed treasure and money, living well within his means. The external features of the cottage remained untouched, but he had landscaped the grounds with a large wall and gated fence now surrounding the property with a new BMW 3 series parked in his new garage. His driveway now led to the main road into Radcliff town.
He had modernised the interior of the four-bedroom cottage with modern furnishings throughout and large televisions in every room along with the most up-to-date computers and surveillance equipment. Large monitors and a flat-screen TV now hung in the portal room, which had now become his plush office and where he spent most of his time. He had redesigned his kitchen with more storage facilities to stock food and other supplies for months at a time.
The remote cottage suited Church during the early years as his gift made him reclusive. By the time he would become familiar with his special talents, he had grown accustomed to the solitude… although he was never alone.
Church decided a few years earlier to form a company. He called the company Paranormal Assisted Treasure Hunter, or PATH, for short. He found this to be a good icebreaker when meeting the relatives of the lost souls, making first contact less obtrusive and reassuring.
* * *
His ability to converse in every language came in useful with one of his most important cases.
PATH PNK183: 2009.
Church was in the portal room when Granny Pearl, accompanied by a Danish spirit named Heidi, came into the portal. He not only picked up Heidi’s sad emotion, but she had a crimson aura, so he realised she was a Spirit Guide.
Church felt baffled why a Spirit Guide needed help. Granny Pearl, detecting his confusion said, “As you know Church, Guides cannot use their power to help themselves and Heidi’s problem was special.” Both spirits sniggered and Church picked up a mischievous emotion from Granny Pearl, one he had not felt before from his Spirit Keeper.
He frowned at Granny Pearl smirking, as Heidi related her story.
Heidi lived alone until her death aged fifty-two in a small village near Aalborg, Denmark.
As a teenager, Heidi became reclusive, suffering from frequent headaches and claiming to hear voices. Heidi’s sister, Greta, was different, although twins, Heidi had a pallid complexion and looked drawn, while Greta had rosy cheeks and was outgoing, unlike her standoffish sister.
To earn money for the family, after finishing school they found work on a small dairy farm in the next village. Greta would go into the village at night to party, while Heidi remained in her room, becoming ever more distant and reclusive as the headaches and voices intensified. While Greta dreamt of Prince Charming and living happily ever after, Heidi dreamed of normalcy, believing she was mentally ill.
Before long, the sisters ran the farm because the elderly owners could not work.
Heidi and Greta continued working the farm until the owners passed away. First, the wife and a few months later, the husband, with the farm bequeathed to their son, Svend Pinquist, who had moved to England during World War II to fight alongside the Allies. He remained in England after the war, where he married and started a family.
Svend and his wife, along with their twenty-year-old son, Harold, came to the farm to bury their father and sort out the estate. Harold and Greta, now almost eighteen, fell for each other.
Svend sold the farm, giving both Greta and Heidi a chunk of money to resettle. Heidi bought a small house in the village, while Greta and Harold married and moved to England. It was many years before Harold and Greta had a daughter, and Heidi told Church that their daughter, Sharon, would be eighteen the following
