The Last Diablero
Seeking enlightenment and black sorcery, a supplicant wanders in the Mexican desert where a transparent black dog and a luminescent coyote lead him to his destiny. Inspired by the works of Carlos Castaneda and with nods to Stephen King and the Ghostrider...
They say that the last diablero, a type of evil male witch, was killed in 1942 after having killed dozens of villagers with his sorcery. This could not be tolerated, and so the villagers acting as a group took the sorcerer by surprise one evening, binding him and burning him alive. Although the stake he was tied to was made of fresh wood, there were no ashes, and nothing was left following the burning except for a large pool of black grease. The locals say that it is best not to speak of such things, and discuss it only reluctantly in hushed voices...
Wandering in rural parts of Mexico at night to learn more of such mysteries and whether diableros still walked among men, I came across a large, black dog that appeared to be strangely transparent. Looking at the creature, I could see clusters of stars and even galaxies swirling within him, an extire universe in miniature. The dog froze and stared at me for a few minutes, then appeared to lose resolution and fade away into the night. I shuddered and turned towards home, pondering the meaning of what I had seen.
I slept deeply that night, and the morning was well-advanced before I awoke. Emerging into the dazzling sunlight, I squinted and went in search of one of the village elders to see if he could make sense of what I had seen. When I found one of the old men, he took me into his abode, listened to the story of my strange encounter, nodded knowingly, and gave me a concoction to consume which contained peyote. "Your journey is far from over," the viejo advised me. "You must wander further in the desert for the answers which you seek. I believe it is there that you will begin to understand," he advised me. I thanked the old man and embraced him.
As day wore on into night, I prepared a small pack and began my journey, my perceptions strangely altered by the peyote which I had ingested. Advancing into the desert, I saw a number of coyotes, and somehow was able both to understand and converse with them. Crows perched at various locations at my steps progressed, and seemed to be watching me. Somehow, I seemed to share a kinship with all life that I encountered, and I felt at one with it. As dusk approached, I beheld a luminous coyote who was much larger than any of the others that I had seen that day. He emitted a self-generated light which seemed to pulse and intensify as I followed him to the edge of a cliff, stopping in the darkness just in time before I fell fell from the precipice.
"Be not afraid," the coyote said from within my head. "You know what you must do!," he admonished, glowing brightly. "Take the leap of faith!"
Trembling in the presence of this supernatural being, I closed my eyes at the brink, extended my arms, and fell forward. The air rushed against my face as I fell towards certain death; the fall would certainly not be survivable. Miraculously, however, I did not not fall far, for I opened my eyes to discover that my arms were now wings, and covered with black feathers! I had transformed into a crow! Exuberant, I soared effortlessly through the air, and could see for miles around me. I descended to the ground surface, and by force of will shape-shifted into a coyote.
On four legs I returned to the village to greet the new day, shifting back to human form so as not to alarm the villagers with my approach. They were sleepily going about their early tasks of the new day, but I could see all of their auras now; they appeared as glowing eggs of varying intensity with slender tentacles of light extending from them. I knew then that I was the last diablero, and embraced my destiny. I would live long, see far, and know much. And although my powers came from a dark place, they were not who I was, and did not define me. I smiled at the villagers as they unknowingly moved about, eager to explore both my animal and my divine natures...this incarnation would be different!