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Shady Impressions:Gaggle of Ghosts(Not the Christmas Kind)#1
Shifting focus back to Jem and Dax, the two must come to terms with the guild suddenly becoming plagued by ghosts at this festive time of year. That and try to find a way to get rid of them. And no, the ghosts aren't at all Christmas related. Sorry, they're just the regular kind.
Man I have got to try and come up with a new numbering system for these chapters while I'm at it. Oh! I also changed things up a bit by submitting this as a MS Word download as opposed to a PDF.
Note: Icon is © to
citrusfreebies
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 24
“Xis, do you have any idea who or what that might that might have been?” Tyr uneasily asked as the group hurriedly made their way out of and away from the temple.
“Worryingly, no.” The kitsune turned his head back towards the temple every so often, suspiciously eyeing the structure. “I strongly counsel the both of you to cease frequenting that temple.”
Flanking him on both sides, Tyr and Morgan struggled to keep Russo upright. The fox and raccoon propped an arm upon their shoulders and did their best to carry his weight as the human took slow and wobbling steps.
“What happened to you in there Russo?” Tyridia asked.
“I’ve got a better question. What the hell did you do?” Morgan butted in.
“I don’t know…” Russo slowly replied as he shook his head. He was still having a difficult time wrapping his head around what all had happened. His eyes drifted down and his gaze fixated on his left arm, the black crescent moon in particular. He weakly clenched his fist and everything felt like it should have.
“You just have a knack for seeking out trouble don’t you?” Morgan replied annoyed as she glared at the human.
His head hung low, eyes heavy and staring at the ground, Russo remained mum.
“I posit that this is not the first time this mage has inconvenienced you?”
“…Sorry.” Russo quietly uttered, before Morgan had a chance to confirm Xis’ assumptions. “Seems that’s all I’m good at.” He feebly muttered as he continued trudging along.
Morgan sighed as she motioned to Tyr to stop walking. She looked to Xis with pleading eyes and the kitsune sighed. “What?”
“Could you carry Russo while I prep to warp us home?”
The kitsune harrumphed, his eyes narrowed as he settled his gaze on the pathetic human barely standing before him. “Be prompt about it.”
Morgan and Tyridia slowly lowered Russo onto Xis’ back. Swishing his tails impatiently the entire time, Xis grimaced as the mage flumped onto his back.
Reaching into one of her cloak’s pockets, Morgan fetched out a bright white magic crystal. She curled her fingers around it and as she concentrated soft streaks of light could be seen escaping from in between her fingers. The group disappeared in a flash and reappeared before the entrance of the Yash guild. Xis promptly shook Russo off his back.
The fox and raccoon both frowned at the kitsune who arched his brows in response. “Your request was that I assist him while you prepared to warp. You never asked if I would continue to lend my assistance after the fact.”
“It was implied that you would,” Morgan curtly stated as Tyridia helped pull Russo up back on his feet.
“Hmph. YOU are not my summoner. I do not have to so much as acknowledge any of your commands.” Xis’s concentric eyes focused intently on the raccoon. “Even if you were, I would not tolerate being burdened with such a menial task.” With a swish of his muzzle he disappeared in puff of wispy purple flames.
“Arrogant ethereal know-it-all,” Morgan griped as she swatted at the smoke that lazily drifted through the air.
“He has mellowed out a bit over time,” Tyridia interjected as he grabbed one of Russo’s arms and helped him maintain his balance.
“I’d rather not dwell on how much worse he used to be,” Morgan sighed as she held open the guild’s main door for Russo and Tyr. The white mage scrunched her eyebrows as she looked over the mage’s left arm and the odd black ring and marking upon it. That and how incongruous it was that his right arm was still fully clothed while his left arm was not. “How did you lose an entire sleeve?” She asked curiously as Russo slowly trudged past her.
“I… I’ll try to explain later. I need some sleep,” He tiredly said. He took a few more steps before coming to a stop to briefly ponder. Russo turned back to face the duo and struggled to think of something to say. “Ummm, thank you. The both of you. Thanks for… looking out for me. Even though all I’ve done is cause trouble.” The human let out a tired sigh as he made his way to the back of the guild and opened the door to the basement.
With a somewhat somber expression on his face, Tyr turned to his best friend. “Think he’ll be okay?”
“Here’s hoping. I haven’t the faintest idea what the hell he ran into, but he looks pretty worn out. Regardless, he’s got a lot of explaining to do,” She said as she crossed her arms.
“Think we should tell Master?”
“Absolutely. Come on, let’s go debrief her,” She motioned for Tyr to follow as they began to make their way towards Nadie’s office.
“Arooooo… Why do all the books about learning magic have to be on the top shelf?” Dax softly whined as he gazed upwards at the bookcase looming before him. With an entire week having passed since Russo left, Dax had decided to take Russo’s lesson to heart about being a proactive rather than a reactive guild member. If Russo wasn’t around to teach him magic then Dax would just find a way to teach himself! His determination, and persistent pestering and badgering of Jem and the master, had led him the Tedrah guild’s library. It wasn’t terribly large or comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination though. Tucked away deep in the heart of the guild hall’s first floor, the library was an infrequently used guild feature. Most guild members never made use of it, and there were plenty that didn’t even know of its existence. Dax certainly hadn’t prior to his pestering.
The wolf gingerly checked and double checked every nook and cranny of the library, calling out to see if anyone else was around. Realizing that he had the entire place to himself, the wolf eagerly tiptoed over to the bookcase with the desired materials. He smiled as he slid off his cloak and dispel necklace and deposited them on a table behind him and began to slowly grow in height. He carefully stretched his limbs so as not to rip his snug clothing as he swelled.
“Much better!” He happily remarked as the top of his head became level with the twelve foot tall or so bookcase, having effectively doubled in height. Reaching forward with one hand he pulled nearly the entire contents of the top shelf down into the crook of his arm.
“Maybe just a few more…” He said with a smirk as he reached back towards the bookshelf. Perhaps a little too eager in his quest for knowledge, the wolf’s large furred hand smacked against the back of shelf. Not knowing his own strength, even at his diminished size, the bookcase began to teeter.
“Hmm? Oh no no no no no no!” The large wolf began to panic as he reached towards the falling bookcase, dropping a plethora of books in the process. The accumulated knowledge of generations past promptly smashed the poor wolf’s paws. He bit his lip in pain as he brought a leg up to his chest and wrapped his hands around his aching hurting paw. Unfortunately, standing on one leg is never good for one’s balance and the wolf found himself tumbling back in the opposite direction of the descending bookcase. Shedding a single wax stained glistening tear at the sight of the incoming rump, the table behind him was utterly crushed underneath Dax’s fat furry behind. The bookcase opposite of him smashed into a wall, cracking the wood paneling at the point of contact.
“Owwwwww…” Dax whined as he rubbed his paws and slowly got to his feet to worriedly inspect the damage. His ears drooped when he saw the damage done to the wall and his heart caught in his throat when he turned around to inspect the damage done to the table.
“Oh no! My cloak!” He gasped as he knelt down and picked away the debris covering it. He plucked it off the ground and held it between his thumb and index finger as he sadly inspected it. Even though it was a hand-me-down to begin with, Russo had bestowed it to him in good condition. His eyes nearly watered as he gazed upon the tears in the fabric and how crumpled it looked. He softly whined to himself as he shrank down to appropriate size and put his cloak back on, uneasily swishing it to and fro. Fortunately his dispel crystal had held up fairly well under all that weight. He fished his necklace from the debris without trouble and slid it back around his neck. Before he had the opportunity to lament the state of his cloak any further, Dax’s attention was caught by the sound of something creaking. His ears flicked towards the source of the noise and his eyes were drawn to the bookcase now propped against the cracked wall. The wooden wall itself was creaking under the weight of the bookcase. Dax looked on fearfully as the wall creaked and groaned increasingly louder until finally something gave way. With a crash the bookcase tumbled through the wall, breaking through it completely. Dust and splinters rose from the newly christened hole in the wall and Dax’s ears flattened against his head at the sight. When the dust had settled, the wolf approached the mess with trepidation, terrified that he potentially harmed or startled anyone in an adjoining room.
“H-hello? Is anyone in there? Are you okay?” He called out in concern as he approached the hole in the wall. Upon poking his head inside, to the wolf’s surprise, he found the hole emptied out into a pitch black chamber of sorts. He cautiously extended his arms into the hole and tried to feel for something, anything. Pressing against the interior walls of the chamber, his furred fingers felt the unmistakable touch of stone. “Hello?” He shyly called out once more.
In response to his call, a tiny blue ember flicked to life in the dank chamber. Too weak to cast aside the darkness, it slowly began to float towards the wolf. A wispy humanoid outline began to form around the tiny ember and Dax stepped back from the hole unnerved. As the ember flitted out of the chamber, clarity was cast upon the vague outline surrounding the flame. A blue, emaciated, and nearly transparent bear hovered before the now cowering wolf.
“Hello yourself. And in response to your earlier question; I’ve seen better days,” The figure snarkily replied. Behind him, a multitude of embers flickered to life in the lightless chamber. Dax yiped as he hauled tail out of the library, a multitude of emaciated ghostly humans and furs drifting out of the chamber after him.
“M-master! Master!” The wolf fearfully yelped out as he ran through the guild halls. The terrified wolf barged into the main hall and raced up the stairs to the master’s office. He began frantically pounding on the door, calling out for him the entire time.
“Something the matter Dax?” The old man asked with concern as he stared up at Dax from the bottom of the stairs, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. “You were in such a hurry you ran right past me.”
“Heheh, oops. M-master I had a bit of an accident,” Dax said ashamedly as he twiddled his fingers.
“Come now Dax, I’m sure it couldn’t have been that ba-“ The master was cut off by the sound of ghostly moaning and groaning. The various ethereal figures that had chased Dax out of the library began phasing through the walls into the main hall. “…Does this have anything to do with your accident?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay yeah this is actually pretty bad.”
Guild members looked on in shock as dozens of ghosts filtered into the hall and began to harass them. Some flitted into the kitchen and began hovering in the pots of broth that were brewing. The guild chef hesitantly reached into a broth of roast beef with a ladle and emptied some out into a bowl for a waiting cat. Holding the bowl with both hands, the cat warily eyed the culinary concoction. Chunks of potatoes and beef had taken on light blue hue and the bowl quickly went cold. “I’m not very hungry anymore,” The cat weakly said as she pursed her lips and passed the bowl back to disheartened chef.
Elsewhere in the guild a horse walked into one of the men’s restrooms and prepared to relieve himself at a urinal. Or he was planning to until a ghost poked its head through the wall in front of him and proceeded to stare directly at him. The horse’s pelvic faculties promptly locked up due to the awkwardness of the situation. “…I guess I could hold it in for a little while longer,” He painfully said as he zipped back up his pants and fled from the bathroom.
In one of the guest rooms, a lazy mouse was attempting to sleep the day away. Every so often an unexplained damp and bitter chill struck against his face. He scrunched his nose and eyes and tried to hide under the covers, believing it to be a draft in the room; Yet the feeling continued to persist even when he hid himself under layers of sheets. Tossing off the bed sheets in frustration the mouse opened his eyes, determined to ascertain the source of this strange feeling. The sight of a transparent hollowed in jackal's face hovering inches above his own greeted him.
“Boo.”
The mouse’s eyes went wide as he began to shake fearfully. His eyes slammed back shut and he pulled the covers up entirely over his head.
“Aww dammit he’s hiding under a sheet. Guess there’s nothing I can do now,” the ghost said in a sarcastic tone as he hovered above the bed. The mouse continued shivering under the sheets. “…You do know that trick doesn’t work right?” The mouse nodded his head under the sheets. “And you are aware that I’m still going to be here when you lower them?” The mouse nodded once more. “Want to quit dragging this out then?”
“O-okay,” the mouse said subserviently as he lowered the bed sheets and opened his eyes.
“Okay now where was I? Oh yeah, Boo.”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” The mouse screamed as he leapt from his bed and hauled ass out of the guild.
The Tedrah guild emptied in a hurry, the local members having been scared or driven off via various means. The master and Dax stood before the guild, the wolf apologizing up and down for causing such a mess. “I’m so sorry about this master,” Dax profusely apologized over and over.
The old man simply sighed as he shook his head and ran a hand through his gray hair. “In the back of my head I was afraid something like this would happen one day. *Sigh* Hell, I always thought Russo would wind up being responsible for causing something like this. What on Earth did you do to cause this Dax?”
“W-well you see… I… I…ummm” Dax shrank back from the master as he choked on his words. “Ohhhhhhhhh I wish Russo were here,” the wolf woefully thought to himself as he crumpled under the master’s gaze. Russo would know exactly what to say, he –
“Something happen here?” Jem asked perplexed as he approached the old man and wolf, an eyebrow arched in confusion.
“Oh thank goodness,” Dax thought to himself as he heaved a sigh of relief.
“You could say that,” the master replied dryly as he turned his attention towards the rough collie. “Dax here had an accident that ended up releasing some wayward ghosts. They’re currently haunting the guild.”
“Accident?” Jem turned to the wolf, who bunched up his shoulders and looked down at his paws in response. The collie’s expression softened as he realized the message Dax’s body language conveyed. He’d press him about it in private at a later time. Jem turned his attention back to the master. “And ghosts? Where did they come from?”
It was now the master’s turn to act uncomfortable and dodge questions. “Ah, well uh, you see that’s a story for another time. Let’s leave it at that.” Both the wolf and collie looked at each other warily.
“Well then… what are you going to do about it? Surely you’re not going to stand for having the guild being haunted?”
“Of course not. It’s just getting rid of ghosts isn’t that easy. Traditional magic spells and weapons really have no effect on them. Now holy weapons and magic will do the trick just fine.” The master’s shoulders drooped as he paused. “But unfortunately, I am in possession of neither of those. There is another way to get rid of ghosts but the exact details escape me at the moment. I’m sure it’ll come to me later tonight though.” The master whipped out a piece of paper from one of his sleeves and plastered it against the main entrance to the guild. It read:
TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO HAUNTING
NO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VARIOUS GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS
THESE ARE JUST THE REGULAR KIND
SORRY
“I’ll try and get this sorted out by tomorrow, don’t worry. In the meantime, you don’t mind Dax tagging along with you for the day, do you Jem?”
“Not at all!”
“Good. I’ll see you two tomorrow then.” With a wave the master bid them good day. After the master had departed and the collie and wolf had walked a ways, Jem began to badger Dax.
“So about that accident?”
“R-right…”
“Oh Dax,” Jem trailed off as he gently shook his head. “The reason why we gave you that dispel crystal in the first place was so that you wouldn’t grow. It’s not something you’re supposed to pick and choose when it applies to you at your own leisure.”
Dax sighed and looked down at his paws dejectedly as he sat upon the collie’s bed. The duo had relocated to Jem’s abode to discuss the matter in a more clandestine manner. “I know, I know it’s just… I feel cramped at this size. Sometimes all I wanna do is, you know, stretch out. I never meant to make a mess or hurt anyone,” Dax softly whined as he reiterated his point. Jem sighed and patted him on the back. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with.
“How about this then; Next time you feel the need to stretch out, just bother Russo or I. We’ll find a secluded place where you can grow as much as you please without any worries. That sound fair?”
The wolf smiled softly as his tail began to wag. “I think I can live with that.”
“Great. Now uh, what are your plans for lodging tonight? I know you usually sleep at the guild but given the new occupants at the guild, that’s out of the question. Would you like to crash with me tonight?”
“Sure!” Dax said eagerly as he quickly accepted the collie’s generous offer.
“Alright then. With that out of the way, do you want to grab some dinner at the pub? My treat.” The beaming smile on Dax’s face was fairly easy to interpret. Jem chuckled as he opened the front door and ushered Dax out. “Hold your horses there, do you even know where we’re going?”
A few hours later
With a thud, both the collie and wolf flumped back onto the only bed in Jem’s small abode. “Dax, when people offer to treat you to dinner, that isn’t an excuse to gorge yourself. You do know that right?”
A loud belch erupted from the wolf’s mouth. “Sorry…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just try not to take advantage of other people’s generosity, okay?”
“Sorry Jem,” Dax said quietly as he rubbed his stuffed belly. “I can’t help myself sometimes. Food was always so scarce back in my village and I never really was a good hunter. I hardly ever got to eat back home and had to savor every piece of food I got. But here, no one ever runs out of food! I can eat and eat and eat to my heart’s content and never worry about when my next meal will come.”
“Hmmmmm. I can understand where you’re coming from but learning to exert some self-control couldn’t hurt. There’s nothing wrong with eating well, but gorging yourself at every meal might be a tad overkill. Eating yourself listless, to the point where you’re a lethargic slob IS a problem,” Jem said as he poked at the wolf’s belly.
“I-“ Dax interrupted himself with a huge yawn before continuing. “I suppose you’re right. After all, I don’t want all of this,” He smiled as he shook his distended stomach, “getting in the way of learning magic.” Jem sighed as he shifted onto his side, his back facing towards the wolf. Dax let out another big yawn as he stretched out his legs and wiggled his toes.
“Night Dax,” Jem curtly stated as he pulled the covers up over his furred form.
“Good night Jem,” Dax happily stated as his eyelids weighed heavily upon his face and he drifted off into the world of dreams. For some time, Jem lay in bed next to Dax letting out slow and measured breaths, sighs of frustration and disappointment occasionally interspersed among them. After Jem has finally put the multitude of thoughts bouncing around his mind to rest he settled down to slumber for the night. What seemed like seconds later the collie heard a loud knock at his door.
He grimaced as he rubbed his tired eyes and climbed over Dax’s sleeping form. A dull gray light shone through his windows as he shuffled over to the door and opened it. With a yawn Jem greeted his guest at this early hour. “Hell-“ His half-hearted greeting was cut off as his eyes jolted open upon seeing the master standing before him. “M-master? What are you doing here?”
The old man rubbed a hand along the side of his face as he looked past the collie. “We’ve uh, run into a snag with regards to clearing out those ghosts. That other method of dealing with ghosts never did come to me last night,” the master said with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck. “My first thought was to simply check the library and see what some of the tomes had to say. But uh, the ghosts holed up there are much less innocuous than the ones floating about most of the guild.”
Jem looked down at the old man’s arms, alarmed at the multitude of scratches and bites. “W-wait you didn’t actually try venturing back in there on your own did you?”
“Try is the key word,” the master said ashamedly as he rubbed his arms. “I’m kind of at a loss right now. I know there’s another way to harm ghosts! It’s just, dammit it all, I don’t remember what that method entails. *Sigh* Can’t believe I’m saying this but I wish Russo was around. He’s pored over most of the books in the library, surely to hell he’d have at least an inkling of an idea about what to do.”
The collie scratched at the fur on his cheek as he furrowed his brows. “Do you think we might find anything of use at his place? He does takes plenty of notes and borrows out tomes from the library fairly liberally. Maybe we’ll find something of use amongst Russo’s belongings.”
“Hmmm, couldn’t hurt.” The master peeked behind Jem and saw Dax still sleeping peacefully. “For now though, let’s leave Dax out of this.” The old man quietly said as he reached behind Jem and started pulling the door shut. The collie scooted out of the way and locked the door behind him. There was thick cover of soft gray clouds blanketing the sky, giving the light of the sun a depressing gray tint. A damp and chill wind blew through the air as well, it having rained sometime the evening prior.
“Any reason why we’re not bringing him along, master?” Jem asked in confusion as he trotted alongside the old man.
“You’ll see in a moment,” The master assured him as they made their way across various crisscrossing cobblestone streets, searching out Russo’s residence. “Ah, here we go,” The old man stated with satisfaction as they stood before Russo’s front door. Hastily observing his surroundings, the master saw that there was hardly a soul in sight. He quickly gathered magic into his hand, the energy quickly taking on a yellow-white aura, the old man’s hand crackling with electricity. In an instant the concentrated energy bolted from his hand to the lock on Russo’s door and blew it apart completely. Quickly pushing open the door, the master pulled Jem inside along with him, before any witnesses caught on to the fact they were breaking and entering.
“Reason I didn’t want Dax coming along was I didn’t feel like giving one of those ‘Do as I say, not as I do” spheels,” The master said as he shook his hand, arcs of electricity infrequently leaping up his arm.
Jem looked back at the door’s broken lock in a state of shock. “…I did have a spare key you know.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I gave Russo a spare key of mine and he gave me one in turn years ago,” The collie said bluntly as he fetched out a key from one of his vest pockets.
“Why didn’t you mention that sooner?!”
“You never told me we were breaking in!” The collie replied in exasperation.
“What’s done is done, I’ll see to it that everything is repaired soon enough. For now though, let’s hope that breaking in was actually worthwhile.”
Jem groaned as he slumped his shoulders and shuffled over to the chest Russo kept next to his dresser. “If there are any tomes to or books to be found, they’d be in here,” He said annoyed as he flipped open the lid. Inside, Jem found a half dozen or so books neatly lining the bottom of the chest. Carefully placed on top of them were various necklaces and rings.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen these,” the master chuckled to himself as he reached down and plucked up a ring inlaid with an orange gem. “I remember giving this to Russo ages ago, when he was first learning the basics of fire magic.”
“What does it do?” Jem asked out of courtesy as he moved aside the remaining trinkets and plucked out the books one by one.
“It’s a fire resistance ring. These protect against burns and extreme heat and are invaluable when learning how to cast fire spells. Mistakes are bound to be made when learning to conjure fireballs and the risk for people getting harmed is great. Hmm, goodness how many years has it been since Russo started dabbling in all that magic has to offer? Heh, for a time there I was terrified we had a pyromaniac on our hands.” The old man said with a smile as he happily reminisced.
“Master, there’s a time and place for reminiscing and I REALLY don’t think either criteria have been satisfied. The guild is haunted and we just broke into my best friend’s house!” Jem struggled to control his voice as he berated the master. He tossed a book at the old man and set the rest on the dresser. Jem began thumbing through the book on the top of the stack
“Remember, look for anything in them that has to do with ghosts. How to kill them preferably.”
Jem breathed out heavily through his nose in an attempt to mask his frustration. Betraying Russo’s trust and sifting through his belonging ate away at the collie’s conscience. Couple that with some mixed feelings towards Dax and currently the collie could be considered borderline pissed off. He channeled those feelings into his fingertips as he tore through the pages, his eyes scanning for the slightest mention of any ethereal beings. His first run through yielded no results, so the collie thumbed the pages back to index. There was but a single page dedicated to ghosts apparently. The collie huffed as he flipped to the page, doubtful that it would yield anything useful. Jem frowned when he found that what barely qualified as a paragraph was all that was dedicated to detailing ghosts. He read it out loud regardless.
“Ghost: A cursed being that is formed when the soul of a sentient life form is torn from its body and cannot or will not pass on to the afterlife. As a cursed being, it cannot be engaged with by traditional means. Interaction with ghosts is constrained to two options.
1.) Holy magic/weaponry which can be used for banishment or absolving
2.) Cursed weaponry which can be used for direct engagement
“Succinct and to the point. No wonder Russo had this tucked away, that’s just like him,” Jem thought to himself somewhat impressed. He was half tempted to peruse a couple more pages and see what other tidbits of knowledge he could pick up.
“That’s it!” The master exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. “That’s what it was! Ah, I can’t believe I forgot something as rudimentary as that. Fighting fire with fire, curses with curses, I know exactly what to do from here! This little excursion was well worth it,” The old man said with pride in his voice. Jem bit his lip in response and groaned softly as he returned Russo’s books and trinkets to the way they were back in his chest.
“What now?”
“We’ll take a brief detour to the graveyard and then we’ll be ready to retake the guild from there.”
Jem shot the master a puzzled look as he followed him outside, closing the door to Russo’s home behind him. He prayed that there were no wandering heroes lingering about, they would loot everything from Russo’s home in a heartbeat if they were to ever try the door. “Why do we need to stop by the graveyard, master?” The collie pressed the old man as he followed closely behind him.
“I’m going to go ahead and give you fair warning Jem. This is going to be another one of those ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ situations. Basically we’re going to be desecrating a corpse.”
“Oh Jesus…” Jem sighed as he shook his head.
Elsewhere…
A certain chubby wolf yawned loudly as he stretched his arms after a good night’s sleep. “Morning, Jem!” Dax chirped as he looked over to his side and saw that his bunk mate was nowhere to be found. “Jem?” He asked aloud as he sat up in bed and looked around Jem’s abode. There was no sign of the collie. “Hmmph, I guess he must’ve started off his day without me,” he pouted as he flumped back in bed. A sly smile crept on his face as a realization struck him. He stuck out his tongue playfully as he tossed his dispel crystal to the floor and reclined on Jem’s bed, slowly growing all the while. After a couple of seconds his paws stretched out over the edge of the bedframe, soon followed by his ankles and knees. At the opposite end of the bed Dax’s head was pressed up and slowly rising against the wall as his arms draped over the sides.
“Hehe-YIPE!” Dax yelled as the bedframe collapsed under his weight, scaring the bejeezus out of the oversized wolf as he abruptly dropped to the floor. He rubbed his back in pain, realizing that he had flattened Jem’s mattress beneath him. “Uh-oh,” he nervously stated as one of his paws pressed against the ceiling and he warily began surveying the damages.
“You’ve never really tagged along with me for many of my errands before have you Jem?” The master remarked as he eyed the streets ahead, scanning for people.
“If this is any indication of a standard day for you, thankfully not.”
“You can chew my ear off if you like, Russo does all the time. I know I’m not much of a role model, but I’m not going to pretend to be,” the master said as he led the way to the outskirts of town. He spotted a spade on the side of the road by a half dug ditch and snatched it up as they walked by.
“Wait, Russo? He knows about the kinds of things you do?”
“It’s why he always causes so much damn trouble for me. I do my best to maintain the guild, but he is constantly giving me grief about how I go about doing it.”
Jem said nothing as he began to reconsider what he assumed to be the motivations behind many of Russo’s prior actions. They walked for a couple more minutes along the increasingly mucky road just outside the city limits until they came upon a metal picket fence. The master trailed his fingers along the metal rods until they came upon the gate that served as the entrance to Tedrah’s graveyard.
“Do I even want to know what we’re going to do here?” Jem remarked as the master pushed upon the iron gate. Jem warily followed him inside, the sight of countless headstones putting him at unease. The little ones practice of creating shrines to their dead always made the giant restless. He would never understand why they didn’t just let their dead return to the earth from where they originated, like he and other giants did. The process wasn’t pretty by any means, letting a body rot and return to the ground from whence it came, but it was the natural course of things. These cities of the dead frightened him, to be quite frank.
The old man remained quiet as he solemnly navigated the graveyard, the collie unsure as to what or who he was seeking out. The master came to a stop in front of a mausoleum located far in the back of the graveyard, a cluster of headstones crowded around it.
“…Whose grave is this master?” Jem asked uneasily as he stared at the crumbling stone structure before him.
“Tedrah’s first magic guild master, Ruo.” The master slowly entered the mausoleum, Jem hesitantly following him inside. Light struggled to pierce inside the structure. It was nearly pitch black inside and unnaturally cold. “Truth be told Jem, he is the one to blame for this ghost problem of ours, not Dax. And he’s going to lend a hand in fixing it, whether he likes it or not.” The master came to a stop in front of a stone coffin and whapped the spade against the stone slab covering it.
“Wait. What do you mean he’s to blame?”
“You remember how I said that the origin of those ghosts was a story for another time?” Jem nodded his head as the master directed the collie to stand beside him next to the coffin.
“Ruo left a frightening legacy behind him, one littered with hundreds of bodies. Every guild master after him, myself included, has done everything in their power to bury the Tedrah guild’s shameful beginnings. That and to try to atone for the atrocities that the very first of us committed.” The master began to push upon the stone slab, the collie unwillingly lending his assistance. They made slow progress, the stone slab grating loudly as it inched forward.
“Ruo… Ruo originally hailed from Peccamen,” The master said in between tired breaths as he forced all his waning physical strength into pushing off the stone slab. Jem’s eyes widened when he heard the name of that foul place uttered. The old man looked him in the eyes and nodded. “He relocated from there, to continue his research most foul. He’s part of the reason why all the current and former guild masters are fairly knowledgeable about Peccamen and its history.”
“Part?”
“Another time Jem,” The master grunted as the stone slab neared the end of its journey. With a crash it slid off of the stone coffin onto the floor, causing the structure and ground itself to rumble. The old man breathed heavily as he stared at the open coffin. A skeletal human corpse lie there, its arms crossed across its chest. The master reached in with the spade and pushed Ruo’s arms to his sides. Pointing the spade down, the master smashed it upon the corpse’s right wrist, severing it from the arm. He quickly reached in with his free hand and grabbed it, eliciting a disgusted reaction from Jem. “If an incorrigibly evil dead man’s hand isn’t cursed, then I don’t know what is,” The old man said dryly. He smirked at the corpse before he turned to leave. “Told you you’d be lending a hand whether you liked it or not. Bastard.”
Jem looked back at the desecrated corpse uneasily as he hurriedly made his way outside, the master slowly trailing behind him. The master turned back to face the corpse though when he heard a low and furious groan. A cerulean flame engulfed Ruo’s skeleton, casting the interior of the mausoleum in an eerie blue glow. Creaking and rattling could be heard coming from the coffin as a skeletal hand shot up and grabbed onto the coffin’s side, slowly pulling the skeleton upright into a sitting position. An otherworldly purple glow emanated from each of the skull’s eye sockets, Ruo’s livid gaze fixated on the master.
“Who are you to dare disturb my slumber and defile my person?” Ruo angrily accused the master.
“Varun, Tedrah’s acting magic guild master,” The old man replied resolutely as he turned to face his predecessor. The skeletal hand he was holding had been consumed by a cerulean flame as well. It was bitterly cold to the touch and a frost began to spread across the old man's fingers.
The corpse chuckled at the mention. “Ah, and just how is my pride and joy doing?”
“Fine, ever since you left. Every one of your successors has had to work their asses off the fix your fuckups and right your transgressions,” Varun angrily replied. “With you gone, it has turned into a respectable institution that lends its assistance to those who need it.” The collie observed the exchange quietly, trembling slightly.
“Tsk tsk, it’s a pity to hear that my poor creation has languished without my leadership,” Ruo said as he shook his skull from side to side. “Perhaps I should consider coming out of retirement.”
“Out of the question. You’ve already caused more than your fair share of problems. It’s taken us nearly two-hundred years just to clean up the mess you left behind.”
“Two-hundred? I’m disappointed my legacy hasn’t been further reaching. I’ll redress the indemnity soon enough when I reclaim my title as guild master.”
“You will NEVER take my title,” Varun decreed as he struck the ground with the spade.
“It’s not your decision to make. Before I tend to any unfinished business however, I believe you have something of mine,” Ruo impatiently stated as he gazed upon the skeletal hand in the master’s possession. Its bony fingers curled up into a fist of their own volition in the master’s grasp.
“Hmph,” Varun contemptuously snorted as he forced the fingers to loosen their grip. “Listen up Jem!” He yelled out as his gaze remained fixed upon the skeleton before him. “You’re about to get a crash course in how to kill cursed beings. Step One: Acquire something that is laden and overflowing with the ability to curse.” He held up Ruo’s flaming severed hand for Jem to see. “Step Two: Imbue your weapon of choice with a curse.” The old man twirled the spade around in his left hand, the metal tip pointing up towards him. He placed Ruo’s severed hand upon it, the metal quickly picking up an otherworldly blue glow. “Finally, for Step Three,” He paused as he tossed Ruo’s hand behind his back, Jem jumping out of the way to avoid being hit with the necrotic limb. “Purge any and all cursed beings that stand before you.” The master stated as he concentrated magic into his hand, yellow-white lightning crackling at his fingertips. He passed his hand back over the metal tip of the spade, causing it to not only glow an otherworldly blue but crackle and seethe with electricity as well.
The corpse before him let out a ghastly wail as it raised its left arm and pointed it towards the master, an icy blue aura of magic concentrating in its skeletal palm. Varun grabbed the spade with his right hand and held it like a spear as he rushed towards the skeleton. A burst of magic erupted forth from Ruo’s left hand. The master failed to sidestep it completely, wincing in pain as it connected with his left arm, a thick sheet of ice quickly spreading across and immobilizing his appendage completely. Varun lashed out with the spade, smashing the metal tip into Ruo’s bony left shoulder, breaking it clear off his body. The skeleton howled in pain as it glared at the old man. It let out another ghastly wail as its mouth opened wide, magical energies beginning to condense between its jaws as freezing air began pouring out of its mouth. Varun furrowed his brows as he buried the electrified spade deep into Ruo’s bony forehead, multiple cracks and fractures having spread out from the point of contact. The purple glow in Ruo’s eye sockets weakened and began to fade as the magic concentrating between his jaws began to dissipate. The old man grunted as he speared Ruo in the head again with the spade, chunks of bone flying off as the purple glow in his eyes almost completely faded. With one last swing, Varun smashed his makeshift weapon atop the skeleton’s skull, shattering it into pieces. The headless skeleton fell back into the coffin, a broken and bony mess. The old man breathed heavily as he looked upon his predecessor’s desecrated body. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” he bitterly muttered as he turned his back on the coffin and exited out the mausoleum.
“Are you hurt master?” Jem asked worriedly as the old man shuffled out towards him, the weight of the frozen ice slowing him down.
“I’ll be fine, though it is imperative that I melt this ice soon. Ruo was renowned and feared for his expertise with ice magic. If you only lost a few digits to frostbite following a fight with him, you were considered lucky. Could you do me a favor and grab that?” Varun said nonchalantly as he pointed at the severed skeletal hand lying on the ground.
Jem grit his teeth as he hesitatingly picked it up and held it out away from his body. “This’ll do the trick then?” He said as he stuck his tongue out and nearly gagged at the feel of it on his furred fingers.
“Positive,” the old man said with some strain in his voice. “Just rub that across your sword and you shouldn’t have any trouble clearing out the guild. Come on, let’s get to it.” He said as he slowly strode out of the graveyard. Jem shivered as he hurriedly followed behind the old man, not exactly eager to make use of their newly acquired resource.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Man I have got to try and come up with a new numbering system for these chapters while I'm at it. Oh! I also changed things up a bit by submitting this as a MS Word download as opposed to a PDF.
Note: Icon is © to
citrusfreebiesFIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Chapter 24
“Xis, do you have any idea who or what that might that might have been?” Tyr uneasily asked as the group hurriedly made their way out of and away from the temple.
“Worryingly, no.” The kitsune turned his head back towards the temple every so often, suspiciously eyeing the structure. “I strongly counsel the both of you to cease frequenting that temple.”
Flanking him on both sides, Tyr and Morgan struggled to keep Russo upright. The fox and raccoon propped an arm upon their shoulders and did their best to carry his weight as the human took slow and wobbling steps.
“What happened to you in there Russo?” Tyridia asked.
“I’ve got a better question. What the hell did you do?” Morgan butted in.
“I don’t know…” Russo slowly replied as he shook his head. He was still having a difficult time wrapping his head around what all had happened. His eyes drifted down and his gaze fixated on his left arm, the black crescent moon in particular. He weakly clenched his fist and everything felt like it should have.
“You just have a knack for seeking out trouble don’t you?” Morgan replied annoyed as she glared at the human.
His head hung low, eyes heavy and staring at the ground, Russo remained mum.
“I posit that this is not the first time this mage has inconvenienced you?”
“…Sorry.” Russo quietly uttered, before Morgan had a chance to confirm Xis’ assumptions. “Seems that’s all I’m good at.” He feebly muttered as he continued trudging along.
Morgan sighed as she motioned to Tyr to stop walking. She looked to Xis with pleading eyes and the kitsune sighed. “What?”
“Could you carry Russo while I prep to warp us home?”
The kitsune harrumphed, his eyes narrowed as he settled his gaze on the pathetic human barely standing before him. “Be prompt about it.”
Morgan and Tyridia slowly lowered Russo onto Xis’ back. Swishing his tails impatiently the entire time, Xis grimaced as the mage flumped onto his back.
Reaching into one of her cloak’s pockets, Morgan fetched out a bright white magic crystal. She curled her fingers around it and as she concentrated soft streaks of light could be seen escaping from in between her fingers. The group disappeared in a flash and reappeared before the entrance of the Yash guild. Xis promptly shook Russo off his back.
The fox and raccoon both frowned at the kitsune who arched his brows in response. “Your request was that I assist him while you prepared to warp. You never asked if I would continue to lend my assistance after the fact.”
“It was implied that you would,” Morgan curtly stated as Tyridia helped pull Russo up back on his feet.
“Hmph. YOU are not my summoner. I do not have to so much as acknowledge any of your commands.” Xis’s concentric eyes focused intently on the raccoon. “Even if you were, I would not tolerate being burdened with such a menial task.” With a swish of his muzzle he disappeared in puff of wispy purple flames.
“Arrogant ethereal know-it-all,” Morgan griped as she swatted at the smoke that lazily drifted through the air.
“He has mellowed out a bit over time,” Tyridia interjected as he grabbed one of Russo’s arms and helped him maintain his balance.
“I’d rather not dwell on how much worse he used to be,” Morgan sighed as she held open the guild’s main door for Russo and Tyr. The white mage scrunched her eyebrows as she looked over the mage’s left arm and the odd black ring and marking upon it. That and how incongruous it was that his right arm was still fully clothed while his left arm was not. “How did you lose an entire sleeve?” She asked curiously as Russo slowly trudged past her.
“I… I’ll try to explain later. I need some sleep,” He tiredly said. He took a few more steps before coming to a stop to briefly ponder. Russo turned back to face the duo and struggled to think of something to say. “Ummm, thank you. The both of you. Thanks for… looking out for me. Even though all I’ve done is cause trouble.” The human let out a tired sigh as he made his way to the back of the guild and opened the door to the basement.
With a somewhat somber expression on his face, Tyr turned to his best friend. “Think he’ll be okay?”
“Here’s hoping. I haven’t the faintest idea what the hell he ran into, but he looks pretty worn out. Regardless, he’s got a lot of explaining to do,” She said as she crossed her arms.
“Think we should tell Master?”
“Absolutely. Come on, let’s go debrief her,” She motioned for Tyr to follow as they began to make their way towards Nadie’s office.
“Arooooo… Why do all the books about learning magic have to be on the top shelf?” Dax softly whined as he gazed upwards at the bookcase looming before him. With an entire week having passed since Russo left, Dax had decided to take Russo’s lesson to heart about being a proactive rather than a reactive guild member. If Russo wasn’t around to teach him magic then Dax would just find a way to teach himself! His determination, and persistent pestering and badgering of Jem and the master, had led him the Tedrah guild’s library. It wasn’t terribly large or comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination though. Tucked away deep in the heart of the guild hall’s first floor, the library was an infrequently used guild feature. Most guild members never made use of it, and there were plenty that didn’t even know of its existence. Dax certainly hadn’t prior to his pestering.
The wolf gingerly checked and double checked every nook and cranny of the library, calling out to see if anyone else was around. Realizing that he had the entire place to himself, the wolf eagerly tiptoed over to the bookcase with the desired materials. He smiled as he slid off his cloak and dispel necklace and deposited them on a table behind him and began to slowly grow in height. He carefully stretched his limbs so as not to rip his snug clothing as he swelled.
“Much better!” He happily remarked as the top of his head became level with the twelve foot tall or so bookcase, having effectively doubled in height. Reaching forward with one hand he pulled nearly the entire contents of the top shelf down into the crook of his arm.
“Maybe just a few more…” He said with a smirk as he reached back towards the bookshelf. Perhaps a little too eager in his quest for knowledge, the wolf’s large furred hand smacked against the back of shelf. Not knowing his own strength, even at his diminished size, the bookcase began to teeter.
“Hmm? Oh no no no no no no!” The large wolf began to panic as he reached towards the falling bookcase, dropping a plethora of books in the process. The accumulated knowledge of generations past promptly smashed the poor wolf’s paws. He bit his lip in pain as he brought a leg up to his chest and wrapped his hands around his aching hurting paw. Unfortunately, standing on one leg is never good for one’s balance and the wolf found himself tumbling back in the opposite direction of the descending bookcase. Shedding a single wax stained glistening tear at the sight of the incoming rump, the table behind him was utterly crushed underneath Dax’s fat furry behind. The bookcase opposite of him smashed into a wall, cracking the wood paneling at the point of contact.
“Owwwwww…” Dax whined as he rubbed his paws and slowly got to his feet to worriedly inspect the damage. His ears drooped when he saw the damage done to the wall and his heart caught in his throat when he turned around to inspect the damage done to the table.
“Oh no! My cloak!” He gasped as he knelt down and picked away the debris covering it. He plucked it off the ground and held it between his thumb and index finger as he sadly inspected it. Even though it was a hand-me-down to begin with, Russo had bestowed it to him in good condition. His eyes nearly watered as he gazed upon the tears in the fabric and how crumpled it looked. He softly whined to himself as he shrank down to appropriate size and put his cloak back on, uneasily swishing it to and fro. Fortunately his dispel crystal had held up fairly well under all that weight. He fished his necklace from the debris without trouble and slid it back around his neck. Before he had the opportunity to lament the state of his cloak any further, Dax’s attention was caught by the sound of something creaking. His ears flicked towards the source of the noise and his eyes were drawn to the bookcase now propped against the cracked wall. The wooden wall itself was creaking under the weight of the bookcase. Dax looked on fearfully as the wall creaked and groaned increasingly louder until finally something gave way. With a crash the bookcase tumbled through the wall, breaking through it completely. Dust and splinters rose from the newly christened hole in the wall and Dax’s ears flattened against his head at the sight. When the dust had settled, the wolf approached the mess with trepidation, terrified that he potentially harmed or startled anyone in an adjoining room.
“H-hello? Is anyone in there? Are you okay?” He called out in concern as he approached the hole in the wall. Upon poking his head inside, to the wolf’s surprise, he found the hole emptied out into a pitch black chamber of sorts. He cautiously extended his arms into the hole and tried to feel for something, anything. Pressing against the interior walls of the chamber, his furred fingers felt the unmistakable touch of stone. “Hello?” He shyly called out once more.
In response to his call, a tiny blue ember flicked to life in the dank chamber. Too weak to cast aside the darkness, it slowly began to float towards the wolf. A wispy humanoid outline began to form around the tiny ember and Dax stepped back from the hole unnerved. As the ember flitted out of the chamber, clarity was cast upon the vague outline surrounding the flame. A blue, emaciated, and nearly transparent bear hovered before the now cowering wolf.
“Hello yourself. And in response to your earlier question; I’ve seen better days,” The figure snarkily replied. Behind him, a multitude of embers flickered to life in the lightless chamber. Dax yiped as he hauled tail out of the library, a multitude of emaciated ghostly humans and furs drifting out of the chamber after him.
“M-master! Master!” The wolf fearfully yelped out as he ran through the guild halls. The terrified wolf barged into the main hall and raced up the stairs to the master’s office. He began frantically pounding on the door, calling out for him the entire time.
“Something the matter Dax?” The old man asked with concern as he stared up at Dax from the bottom of the stairs, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. “You were in such a hurry you ran right past me.”
“Heheh, oops. M-master I had a bit of an accident,” Dax said ashamedly as he twiddled his fingers.
“Come now Dax, I’m sure it couldn’t have been that ba-“ The master was cut off by the sound of ghostly moaning and groaning. The various ethereal figures that had chased Dax out of the library began phasing through the walls into the main hall. “…Does this have anything to do with your accident?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay yeah this is actually pretty bad.”
Guild members looked on in shock as dozens of ghosts filtered into the hall and began to harass them. Some flitted into the kitchen and began hovering in the pots of broth that were brewing. The guild chef hesitantly reached into a broth of roast beef with a ladle and emptied some out into a bowl for a waiting cat. Holding the bowl with both hands, the cat warily eyed the culinary concoction. Chunks of potatoes and beef had taken on light blue hue and the bowl quickly went cold. “I’m not very hungry anymore,” The cat weakly said as she pursed her lips and passed the bowl back to disheartened chef.
Elsewhere in the guild a horse walked into one of the men’s restrooms and prepared to relieve himself at a urinal. Or he was planning to until a ghost poked its head through the wall in front of him and proceeded to stare directly at him. The horse’s pelvic faculties promptly locked up due to the awkwardness of the situation. “…I guess I could hold it in for a little while longer,” He painfully said as he zipped back up his pants and fled from the bathroom.
In one of the guest rooms, a lazy mouse was attempting to sleep the day away. Every so often an unexplained damp and bitter chill struck against his face. He scrunched his nose and eyes and tried to hide under the covers, believing it to be a draft in the room; Yet the feeling continued to persist even when he hid himself under layers of sheets. Tossing off the bed sheets in frustration the mouse opened his eyes, determined to ascertain the source of this strange feeling. The sight of a transparent hollowed in jackal's face hovering inches above his own greeted him.
“Boo.”
The mouse’s eyes went wide as he began to shake fearfully. His eyes slammed back shut and he pulled the covers up entirely over his head.
“Aww dammit he’s hiding under a sheet. Guess there’s nothing I can do now,” the ghost said in a sarcastic tone as he hovered above the bed. The mouse continued shivering under the sheets. “…You do know that trick doesn’t work right?” The mouse nodded his head under the sheets. “And you are aware that I’m still going to be here when you lower them?” The mouse nodded once more. “Want to quit dragging this out then?”
“O-okay,” the mouse said subserviently as he lowered the bed sheets and opened his eyes.
“Okay now where was I? Oh yeah, Boo.”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” The mouse screamed as he leapt from his bed and hauled ass out of the guild.
The Tedrah guild emptied in a hurry, the local members having been scared or driven off via various means. The master and Dax stood before the guild, the wolf apologizing up and down for causing such a mess. “I’m so sorry about this master,” Dax profusely apologized over and over.
The old man simply sighed as he shook his head and ran a hand through his gray hair. “In the back of my head I was afraid something like this would happen one day. *Sigh* Hell, I always thought Russo would wind up being responsible for causing something like this. What on Earth did you do to cause this Dax?”
“W-well you see… I… I…ummm” Dax shrank back from the master as he choked on his words. “Ohhhhhhhhh I wish Russo were here,” the wolf woefully thought to himself as he crumpled under the master’s gaze. Russo would know exactly what to say, he –
“Something happen here?” Jem asked perplexed as he approached the old man and wolf, an eyebrow arched in confusion.
“Oh thank goodness,” Dax thought to himself as he heaved a sigh of relief.
“You could say that,” the master replied dryly as he turned his attention towards the rough collie. “Dax here had an accident that ended up releasing some wayward ghosts. They’re currently haunting the guild.”
“Accident?” Jem turned to the wolf, who bunched up his shoulders and looked down at his paws in response. The collie’s expression softened as he realized the message Dax’s body language conveyed. He’d press him about it in private at a later time. Jem turned his attention back to the master. “And ghosts? Where did they come from?”
It was now the master’s turn to act uncomfortable and dodge questions. “Ah, well uh, you see that’s a story for another time. Let’s leave it at that.” Both the wolf and collie looked at each other warily.
“Well then… what are you going to do about it? Surely you’re not going to stand for having the guild being haunted?”
“Of course not. It’s just getting rid of ghosts isn’t that easy. Traditional magic spells and weapons really have no effect on them. Now holy weapons and magic will do the trick just fine.” The master’s shoulders drooped as he paused. “But unfortunately, I am in possession of neither of those. There is another way to get rid of ghosts but the exact details escape me at the moment. I’m sure it’ll come to me later tonight though.” The master whipped out a piece of paper from one of his sleeves and plastered it against the main entrance to the guild. It read:
TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO HAUNTING
NO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VARIOUS GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS
THESE ARE JUST THE REGULAR KIND
SORRY
“I’ll try and get this sorted out by tomorrow, don’t worry. In the meantime, you don’t mind Dax tagging along with you for the day, do you Jem?”
“Not at all!”
“Good. I’ll see you two tomorrow then.” With a wave the master bid them good day. After the master had departed and the collie and wolf had walked a ways, Jem began to badger Dax.
“So about that accident?”
“R-right…”
“Oh Dax,” Jem trailed off as he gently shook his head. “The reason why we gave you that dispel crystal in the first place was so that you wouldn’t grow. It’s not something you’re supposed to pick and choose when it applies to you at your own leisure.”
Dax sighed and looked down at his paws dejectedly as he sat upon the collie’s bed. The duo had relocated to Jem’s abode to discuss the matter in a more clandestine manner. “I know, I know it’s just… I feel cramped at this size. Sometimes all I wanna do is, you know, stretch out. I never meant to make a mess or hurt anyone,” Dax softly whined as he reiterated his point. Jem sighed and patted him on the back. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with.
“How about this then; Next time you feel the need to stretch out, just bother Russo or I. We’ll find a secluded place where you can grow as much as you please without any worries. That sound fair?”
The wolf smiled softly as his tail began to wag. “I think I can live with that.”
“Great. Now uh, what are your plans for lodging tonight? I know you usually sleep at the guild but given the new occupants at the guild, that’s out of the question. Would you like to crash with me tonight?”
“Sure!” Dax said eagerly as he quickly accepted the collie’s generous offer.
“Alright then. With that out of the way, do you want to grab some dinner at the pub? My treat.” The beaming smile on Dax’s face was fairly easy to interpret. Jem chuckled as he opened the front door and ushered Dax out. “Hold your horses there, do you even know where we’re going?”
A few hours later
With a thud, both the collie and wolf flumped back onto the only bed in Jem’s small abode. “Dax, when people offer to treat you to dinner, that isn’t an excuse to gorge yourself. You do know that right?”
A loud belch erupted from the wolf’s mouth. “Sorry…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just try not to take advantage of other people’s generosity, okay?”
“Sorry Jem,” Dax said quietly as he rubbed his stuffed belly. “I can’t help myself sometimes. Food was always so scarce back in my village and I never really was a good hunter. I hardly ever got to eat back home and had to savor every piece of food I got. But here, no one ever runs out of food! I can eat and eat and eat to my heart’s content and never worry about when my next meal will come.”
“Hmmmmm. I can understand where you’re coming from but learning to exert some self-control couldn’t hurt. There’s nothing wrong with eating well, but gorging yourself at every meal might be a tad overkill. Eating yourself listless, to the point where you’re a lethargic slob IS a problem,” Jem said as he poked at the wolf’s belly.
“I-“ Dax interrupted himself with a huge yawn before continuing. “I suppose you’re right. After all, I don’t want all of this,” He smiled as he shook his distended stomach, “getting in the way of learning magic.” Jem sighed as he shifted onto his side, his back facing towards the wolf. Dax let out another big yawn as he stretched out his legs and wiggled his toes.
“Night Dax,” Jem curtly stated as he pulled the covers up over his furred form.
“Good night Jem,” Dax happily stated as his eyelids weighed heavily upon his face and he drifted off into the world of dreams. For some time, Jem lay in bed next to Dax letting out slow and measured breaths, sighs of frustration and disappointment occasionally interspersed among them. After Jem has finally put the multitude of thoughts bouncing around his mind to rest he settled down to slumber for the night. What seemed like seconds later the collie heard a loud knock at his door.
He grimaced as he rubbed his tired eyes and climbed over Dax’s sleeping form. A dull gray light shone through his windows as he shuffled over to the door and opened it. With a yawn Jem greeted his guest at this early hour. “Hell-“ His half-hearted greeting was cut off as his eyes jolted open upon seeing the master standing before him. “M-master? What are you doing here?”
The old man rubbed a hand along the side of his face as he looked past the collie. “We’ve uh, run into a snag with regards to clearing out those ghosts. That other method of dealing with ghosts never did come to me last night,” the master said with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck. “My first thought was to simply check the library and see what some of the tomes had to say. But uh, the ghosts holed up there are much less innocuous than the ones floating about most of the guild.”
Jem looked down at the old man’s arms, alarmed at the multitude of scratches and bites. “W-wait you didn’t actually try venturing back in there on your own did you?”
“Try is the key word,” the master said ashamedly as he rubbed his arms. “I’m kind of at a loss right now. I know there’s another way to harm ghosts! It’s just, dammit it all, I don’t remember what that method entails. *Sigh* Can’t believe I’m saying this but I wish Russo was around. He’s pored over most of the books in the library, surely to hell he’d have at least an inkling of an idea about what to do.”
The collie scratched at the fur on his cheek as he furrowed his brows. “Do you think we might find anything of use at his place? He does takes plenty of notes and borrows out tomes from the library fairly liberally. Maybe we’ll find something of use amongst Russo’s belongings.”
“Hmmm, couldn’t hurt.” The master peeked behind Jem and saw Dax still sleeping peacefully. “For now though, let’s leave Dax out of this.” The old man quietly said as he reached behind Jem and started pulling the door shut. The collie scooted out of the way and locked the door behind him. There was thick cover of soft gray clouds blanketing the sky, giving the light of the sun a depressing gray tint. A damp and chill wind blew through the air as well, it having rained sometime the evening prior.
“Any reason why we’re not bringing him along, master?” Jem asked in confusion as he trotted alongside the old man.
“You’ll see in a moment,” The master assured him as they made their way across various crisscrossing cobblestone streets, searching out Russo’s residence. “Ah, here we go,” The old man stated with satisfaction as they stood before Russo’s front door. Hastily observing his surroundings, the master saw that there was hardly a soul in sight. He quickly gathered magic into his hand, the energy quickly taking on a yellow-white aura, the old man’s hand crackling with electricity. In an instant the concentrated energy bolted from his hand to the lock on Russo’s door and blew it apart completely. Quickly pushing open the door, the master pulled Jem inside along with him, before any witnesses caught on to the fact they were breaking and entering.
“Reason I didn’t want Dax coming along was I didn’t feel like giving one of those ‘Do as I say, not as I do” spheels,” The master said as he shook his hand, arcs of electricity infrequently leaping up his arm.
Jem looked back at the door’s broken lock in a state of shock. “…I did have a spare key you know.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I gave Russo a spare key of mine and he gave me one in turn years ago,” The collie said bluntly as he fetched out a key from one of his vest pockets.
“Why didn’t you mention that sooner?!”
“You never told me we were breaking in!” The collie replied in exasperation.
“What’s done is done, I’ll see to it that everything is repaired soon enough. For now though, let’s hope that breaking in was actually worthwhile.”
Jem groaned as he slumped his shoulders and shuffled over to the chest Russo kept next to his dresser. “If there are any tomes to or books to be found, they’d be in here,” He said annoyed as he flipped open the lid. Inside, Jem found a half dozen or so books neatly lining the bottom of the chest. Carefully placed on top of them were various necklaces and rings.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen these,” the master chuckled to himself as he reached down and plucked up a ring inlaid with an orange gem. “I remember giving this to Russo ages ago, when he was first learning the basics of fire magic.”
“What does it do?” Jem asked out of courtesy as he moved aside the remaining trinkets and plucked out the books one by one.
“It’s a fire resistance ring. These protect against burns and extreme heat and are invaluable when learning how to cast fire spells. Mistakes are bound to be made when learning to conjure fireballs and the risk for people getting harmed is great. Hmm, goodness how many years has it been since Russo started dabbling in all that magic has to offer? Heh, for a time there I was terrified we had a pyromaniac on our hands.” The old man said with a smile as he happily reminisced.
“Master, there’s a time and place for reminiscing and I REALLY don’t think either criteria have been satisfied. The guild is haunted and we just broke into my best friend’s house!” Jem struggled to control his voice as he berated the master. He tossed a book at the old man and set the rest on the dresser. Jem began thumbing through the book on the top of the stack
“Remember, look for anything in them that has to do with ghosts. How to kill them preferably.”
Jem breathed out heavily through his nose in an attempt to mask his frustration. Betraying Russo’s trust and sifting through his belonging ate away at the collie’s conscience. Couple that with some mixed feelings towards Dax and currently the collie could be considered borderline pissed off. He channeled those feelings into his fingertips as he tore through the pages, his eyes scanning for the slightest mention of any ethereal beings. His first run through yielded no results, so the collie thumbed the pages back to index. There was but a single page dedicated to ghosts apparently. The collie huffed as he flipped to the page, doubtful that it would yield anything useful. Jem frowned when he found that what barely qualified as a paragraph was all that was dedicated to detailing ghosts. He read it out loud regardless.
“Ghost: A cursed being that is formed when the soul of a sentient life form is torn from its body and cannot or will not pass on to the afterlife. As a cursed being, it cannot be engaged with by traditional means. Interaction with ghosts is constrained to two options.
1.) Holy magic/weaponry which can be used for banishment or absolving
2.) Cursed weaponry which can be used for direct engagement
“Succinct and to the point. No wonder Russo had this tucked away, that’s just like him,” Jem thought to himself somewhat impressed. He was half tempted to peruse a couple more pages and see what other tidbits of knowledge he could pick up.
“That’s it!” The master exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. “That’s what it was! Ah, I can’t believe I forgot something as rudimentary as that. Fighting fire with fire, curses with curses, I know exactly what to do from here! This little excursion was well worth it,” The old man said with pride in his voice. Jem bit his lip in response and groaned softly as he returned Russo’s books and trinkets to the way they were back in his chest.
“What now?”
“We’ll take a brief detour to the graveyard and then we’ll be ready to retake the guild from there.”
Jem shot the master a puzzled look as he followed him outside, closing the door to Russo’s home behind him. He prayed that there were no wandering heroes lingering about, they would loot everything from Russo’s home in a heartbeat if they were to ever try the door. “Why do we need to stop by the graveyard, master?” The collie pressed the old man as he followed closely behind him.
“I’m going to go ahead and give you fair warning Jem. This is going to be another one of those ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ situations. Basically we’re going to be desecrating a corpse.”
“Oh Jesus…” Jem sighed as he shook his head.
Elsewhere…
A certain chubby wolf yawned loudly as he stretched his arms after a good night’s sleep. “Morning, Jem!” Dax chirped as he looked over to his side and saw that his bunk mate was nowhere to be found. “Jem?” He asked aloud as he sat up in bed and looked around Jem’s abode. There was no sign of the collie. “Hmmph, I guess he must’ve started off his day without me,” he pouted as he flumped back in bed. A sly smile crept on his face as a realization struck him. He stuck out his tongue playfully as he tossed his dispel crystal to the floor and reclined on Jem’s bed, slowly growing all the while. After a couple of seconds his paws stretched out over the edge of the bedframe, soon followed by his ankles and knees. At the opposite end of the bed Dax’s head was pressed up and slowly rising against the wall as his arms draped over the sides.
“Hehe-YIPE!” Dax yelled as the bedframe collapsed under his weight, scaring the bejeezus out of the oversized wolf as he abruptly dropped to the floor. He rubbed his back in pain, realizing that he had flattened Jem’s mattress beneath him. “Uh-oh,” he nervously stated as one of his paws pressed against the ceiling and he warily began surveying the damages.
“You’ve never really tagged along with me for many of my errands before have you Jem?” The master remarked as he eyed the streets ahead, scanning for people.
“If this is any indication of a standard day for you, thankfully not.”
“You can chew my ear off if you like, Russo does all the time. I know I’m not much of a role model, but I’m not going to pretend to be,” the master said as he led the way to the outskirts of town. He spotted a spade on the side of the road by a half dug ditch and snatched it up as they walked by.
“Wait, Russo? He knows about the kinds of things you do?”
“It’s why he always causes so much damn trouble for me. I do my best to maintain the guild, but he is constantly giving me grief about how I go about doing it.”
Jem said nothing as he began to reconsider what he assumed to be the motivations behind many of Russo’s prior actions. They walked for a couple more minutes along the increasingly mucky road just outside the city limits until they came upon a metal picket fence. The master trailed his fingers along the metal rods until they came upon the gate that served as the entrance to Tedrah’s graveyard.
“Do I even want to know what we’re going to do here?” Jem remarked as the master pushed upon the iron gate. Jem warily followed him inside, the sight of countless headstones putting him at unease. The little ones practice of creating shrines to their dead always made the giant restless. He would never understand why they didn’t just let their dead return to the earth from where they originated, like he and other giants did. The process wasn’t pretty by any means, letting a body rot and return to the ground from whence it came, but it was the natural course of things. These cities of the dead frightened him, to be quite frank.
The old man remained quiet as he solemnly navigated the graveyard, the collie unsure as to what or who he was seeking out. The master came to a stop in front of a mausoleum located far in the back of the graveyard, a cluster of headstones crowded around it.
“…Whose grave is this master?” Jem asked uneasily as he stared at the crumbling stone structure before him.
“Tedrah’s first magic guild master, Ruo.” The master slowly entered the mausoleum, Jem hesitantly following him inside. Light struggled to pierce inside the structure. It was nearly pitch black inside and unnaturally cold. “Truth be told Jem, he is the one to blame for this ghost problem of ours, not Dax. And he’s going to lend a hand in fixing it, whether he likes it or not.” The master came to a stop in front of a stone coffin and whapped the spade against the stone slab covering it.
“Wait. What do you mean he’s to blame?”
“You remember how I said that the origin of those ghosts was a story for another time?” Jem nodded his head as the master directed the collie to stand beside him next to the coffin.
“Ruo left a frightening legacy behind him, one littered with hundreds of bodies. Every guild master after him, myself included, has done everything in their power to bury the Tedrah guild’s shameful beginnings. That and to try to atone for the atrocities that the very first of us committed.” The master began to push upon the stone slab, the collie unwillingly lending his assistance. They made slow progress, the stone slab grating loudly as it inched forward.
“Ruo… Ruo originally hailed from Peccamen,” The master said in between tired breaths as he forced all his waning physical strength into pushing off the stone slab. Jem’s eyes widened when he heard the name of that foul place uttered. The old man looked him in the eyes and nodded. “He relocated from there, to continue his research most foul. He’s part of the reason why all the current and former guild masters are fairly knowledgeable about Peccamen and its history.”
“Part?”
“Another time Jem,” The master grunted as the stone slab neared the end of its journey. With a crash it slid off of the stone coffin onto the floor, causing the structure and ground itself to rumble. The old man breathed heavily as he stared at the open coffin. A skeletal human corpse lie there, its arms crossed across its chest. The master reached in with the spade and pushed Ruo’s arms to his sides. Pointing the spade down, the master smashed it upon the corpse’s right wrist, severing it from the arm. He quickly reached in with his free hand and grabbed it, eliciting a disgusted reaction from Jem. “If an incorrigibly evil dead man’s hand isn’t cursed, then I don’t know what is,” The old man said dryly. He smirked at the corpse before he turned to leave. “Told you you’d be lending a hand whether you liked it or not. Bastard.”
Jem looked back at the desecrated corpse uneasily as he hurriedly made his way outside, the master slowly trailing behind him. The master turned back to face the corpse though when he heard a low and furious groan. A cerulean flame engulfed Ruo’s skeleton, casting the interior of the mausoleum in an eerie blue glow. Creaking and rattling could be heard coming from the coffin as a skeletal hand shot up and grabbed onto the coffin’s side, slowly pulling the skeleton upright into a sitting position. An otherworldly purple glow emanated from each of the skull’s eye sockets, Ruo’s livid gaze fixated on the master.
“Who are you to dare disturb my slumber and defile my person?” Ruo angrily accused the master.
“Varun, Tedrah’s acting magic guild master,” The old man replied resolutely as he turned to face his predecessor. The skeletal hand he was holding had been consumed by a cerulean flame as well. It was bitterly cold to the touch and a frost began to spread across the old man's fingers.
The corpse chuckled at the mention. “Ah, and just how is my pride and joy doing?”
“Fine, ever since you left. Every one of your successors has had to work their asses off the fix your fuckups and right your transgressions,” Varun angrily replied. “With you gone, it has turned into a respectable institution that lends its assistance to those who need it.” The collie observed the exchange quietly, trembling slightly.
“Tsk tsk, it’s a pity to hear that my poor creation has languished without my leadership,” Ruo said as he shook his skull from side to side. “Perhaps I should consider coming out of retirement.”
“Out of the question. You’ve already caused more than your fair share of problems. It’s taken us nearly two-hundred years just to clean up the mess you left behind.”
“Two-hundred? I’m disappointed my legacy hasn’t been further reaching. I’ll redress the indemnity soon enough when I reclaim my title as guild master.”
“You will NEVER take my title,” Varun decreed as he struck the ground with the spade.
“It’s not your decision to make. Before I tend to any unfinished business however, I believe you have something of mine,” Ruo impatiently stated as he gazed upon the skeletal hand in the master’s possession. Its bony fingers curled up into a fist of their own volition in the master’s grasp.
“Hmph,” Varun contemptuously snorted as he forced the fingers to loosen their grip. “Listen up Jem!” He yelled out as his gaze remained fixed upon the skeleton before him. “You’re about to get a crash course in how to kill cursed beings. Step One: Acquire something that is laden and overflowing with the ability to curse.” He held up Ruo’s flaming severed hand for Jem to see. “Step Two: Imbue your weapon of choice with a curse.” The old man twirled the spade around in his left hand, the metal tip pointing up towards him. He placed Ruo’s severed hand upon it, the metal quickly picking up an otherworldly blue glow. “Finally, for Step Three,” He paused as he tossed Ruo’s hand behind his back, Jem jumping out of the way to avoid being hit with the necrotic limb. “Purge any and all cursed beings that stand before you.” The master stated as he concentrated magic into his hand, yellow-white lightning crackling at his fingertips. He passed his hand back over the metal tip of the spade, causing it to not only glow an otherworldly blue but crackle and seethe with electricity as well.
The corpse before him let out a ghastly wail as it raised its left arm and pointed it towards the master, an icy blue aura of magic concentrating in its skeletal palm. Varun grabbed the spade with his right hand and held it like a spear as he rushed towards the skeleton. A burst of magic erupted forth from Ruo’s left hand. The master failed to sidestep it completely, wincing in pain as it connected with his left arm, a thick sheet of ice quickly spreading across and immobilizing his appendage completely. Varun lashed out with the spade, smashing the metal tip into Ruo’s bony left shoulder, breaking it clear off his body. The skeleton howled in pain as it glared at the old man. It let out another ghastly wail as its mouth opened wide, magical energies beginning to condense between its jaws as freezing air began pouring out of its mouth. Varun furrowed his brows as he buried the electrified spade deep into Ruo’s bony forehead, multiple cracks and fractures having spread out from the point of contact. The purple glow in Ruo’s eye sockets weakened and began to fade as the magic concentrating between his jaws began to dissipate. The old man grunted as he speared Ruo in the head again with the spade, chunks of bone flying off as the purple glow in his eyes almost completely faded. With one last swing, Varun smashed his makeshift weapon atop the skeleton’s skull, shattering it into pieces. The headless skeleton fell back into the coffin, a broken and bony mess. The old man breathed heavily as he looked upon his predecessor’s desecrated body. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” he bitterly muttered as he turned his back on the coffin and exited out the mausoleum.
“Are you hurt master?” Jem asked worriedly as the old man shuffled out towards him, the weight of the frozen ice slowing him down.
“I’ll be fine, though it is imperative that I melt this ice soon. Ruo was renowned and feared for his expertise with ice magic. If you only lost a few digits to frostbite following a fight with him, you were considered lucky. Could you do me a favor and grab that?” Varun said nonchalantly as he pointed at the severed skeletal hand lying on the ground.
Jem grit his teeth as he hesitatingly picked it up and held it out away from his body. “This’ll do the trick then?” He said as he stuck his tongue out and nearly gagged at the feel of it on his furred fingers.
“Positive,” the old man said with some strain in his voice. “Just rub that across your sword and you shouldn’t have any trouble clearing out the guild. Come on, let’s get to it.” He said as he slowly strode out of the graveyard. Jem shivered as he hurriedly followed behind the old man, not exactly eager to make use of their newly acquired resource.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 117px
File Size 37.2 kB
Listed in Folders
NO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VARIOUS GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS
THESE ARE JUST THE REGULAR KIND
SORRY
I have to say, I absolutely love your sense of humor in this. That "papal pooper" scene from a few chapters ago required me to catch my breath from laughing before I could continue reading.
THESE ARE JUST THE REGULAR KIND
SORRY
I have to say, I absolutely love your sense of humor in this. That "papal pooper" scene from a few chapters ago required me to catch my breath from laughing before I could continue reading.
Yes seriously. :U After all the grief Russo has put him through, their master has begun to walk around with a plethora of pre-made custom signs to try and cover for and warn against any damage done. It's been a while since he's had to make a new sign to carry around fortunately.
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