Read Beyond (Afterlife book 1) for Free Online Page B

like anger, hurt, and greed over forgiveness, love,
and compassion. That is why they need us to guide them,” Mrs.
Higgins explained.
    I was wowed. All of a sudden it came to me
that there was an ongoing battle between the evil forces and the
good ones—the battle over humans. But I never seemed to be able to
get Mrs. Higgins to talk about how those Se’irims could affect us.
I asked several times but never got a straight answer from
her.
     
    In our self-defense class I got a little
closer. Here our teacher—Professor Hjalte Havskäg, an old ancient
Viking from Denmark—told us how to defend ourselves against demons
and the Se’irims. He was huge and looked exactly as you would
expect a Viking to look. He had a big beard that he told us used to
be red like his hair, a helmet with horns, a big cool axe of some
sort and muscles growing on top of muscles. He always groaned and
roared and told us he used to have hair growing between his
teeth.
    He had fought many demons in his time, as
well as dragons and zombies, as he said.
    “ We even had a poltergeist
living with us on our boat when we sailed the Norwegian and Baltic
seas,” he roared.
    We didn’t quite know what to believe of
all his many stories that got wilder with each telling. More evil
creatures would emerge, like vampires and evil wizards and witches.
It seemed like he had gotten it all mixed up a little bit over the
years. He had been dead for more than a thousand years, so maybe we
couldn’t blame him for making the stories a little more colorful
along the way.
    But he did know how to fight. Not only by
swords, axes, and fistfights, which he was indeed quite good at,
but he also told us how the demons and Se’irims will try to
mind-trick us.
    “ First they tell you that you
are no good, that you will never be any good,” he growled. “But
don’t you dare believe them. It is all in your minds, you know.
They will especially try to attack you now when you are fresh and
new and vulnerable. That is when you need to defend
yourself.”
    “ Pah,” said Portia. “I am
not scared of that.”
    Hjalte Havskäg looked at her with one eye
while closing the other. “But you should be. Those who don’t
protect their hearts against the evil ones will fall into their
hands,” he said. “Se’irims are among the most vicious creatures.
They haunt the darkest and dirtiest places. They flourish in
despair and decay. They suck all life, peace, hope, and happiness
out of people who are near them and who choose to believe what they
say. All humans sense their presence even though they do not see
them like we do. They lie to the humans and to us and they will use
your own mind against you. They are nothing but the purest
evil.”
    A sound of shock went through the class.
    “ Pah,” said Portia again.
“You are just making up stories again. We all know none of them are
real.”
    ” But you must believe what I
tell you. No one will go free. The Se’irims will try to make you
join them on the other side. They will lure you, and tempt you into
believing you are better off serving the dark side. Every year we
see examples of students who make the wrong choice. We call them
fallen. We even have examples of Angels who have fallen. Everybody
is in danger of becoming their victim. Not even those who are
closest to our Mighty God can be safe. They go after anyone who
will let them in. And you are the easiest targets of all they can
find. You have to remember that you are still children and you
haven’t totally let go of your human nature yet. And the evil ones
use that against you. They know the secret desires of your human
flesh and they will use that to get to you. Don’t you let them.
Argh, don’t you let them into your poor little hearts.”
    Portia looked at him with contempt but I
couldn’t help noticing she also looked a little frightened. As did
we all, I guess.
     
    My worst class, I quickly realized, was
The Art of Transition. It was taught in the cellar of