The Family Ghost

“Hey, kids. Thanks for saving our town. My uncle loved you kids. Did you know he was formerly an S rank adventurer?” This middle-aged guy who looked like Arg without the white hair walked to us. He was carrying their Sacred Cat.

“Hi, um, hello! Wow, I didn’t know. I mean, he turned all of the blood to wine in a snap. That makes a lot of sense.” I didn’t know how to act. I was super sad, but I was also amazed by this Jesus dude.

“Traya Artium, by the way. Our Sacred Cat has been restless since Uncle Arg died. I think it’s been looking for you guys.”

The cat looked at us, and smiled like a human. It threw up what looked like a hairball, but it was glowing, and it moved like ectoplasm from Ghost Busters. The ectoplasm formed into a funny cartoon looking ghost, shaped like Arg.

“My good kids! Did you miss me?” Arg was now a ghost. I laughed really hard because it seriously looked like Ghost Busters. Lara and Artium looked at me, kinda pissed off, but they bowed to Arg and the Sacred Cat. Oops, this might have been a culture moment. I remembered from Gally’s experience that elves not only worshiped the cats, but they worshiped their ancestors like crazy.

“Now now, my other kids. Par Gally, here, is from another world.” My jaw dropped. How the hell did he know?! Lara gasped and Artium raised his eyebrow. “I have become a spirit, so I know truths that are hidden from the light of day. I know you were trying to hide this truth, but you must embrace it, Gally. You have a bright, wonderful future. You have talent beyond time and world. You will become the Hero of Sorgez!”

Hero?! I just wanna rock! Lara looked at me in awe, and Artium went to one knee and bowed to me. What the hell?!

“Um, Arg, what do I do now?”

“Young child, do not fret. I will be in your presence as your guardian spirit.”

I think Lara and Artium were much more surprised than I was. They looked like they saw Dio walk right in front of them and wave. Again, I remember from Gally that as adults, elves are assigned a guardian spirit by their father, and that guardian will give cool things to the new adult, like some secret power, or some new skill. Normally, they’re animals. My dad’s guardian is a lion, or whatever they call it here. Pridecat? That’s sick actually. But it seems like an actual ghost was out of the question, like if you were a pilot and you were chosen to fly a spaceship instead. That’s crazy, right? I have a family ghost as a guardian! King Diamond would be proud of me.

“Now, Gally, take my ghastly hand, and let us utter the Sacred Vows.”

“Hold on, shouldn’t my dad be here? Father?”

“Oh, right. Sorry!” Arg disappeared for a short second, and literally in a blink of an eye, my dad and my mom, Pare Yoki, appeared in the funeral room.

“Gally boy, what just happened to us? Who-” My dad stopped short suddenly after seeing the ghost of Arg. He and my mom immediately bowed down. Oh man, this became such a big deal.

“Righty then, Gally, take my hand and utter the Sacred Vows with me.”

I can’t believe it, but I remembered the words clearly. It’s not even the same language as I speak with everyone. Wait, what language was this anyways? I feel like I’m speaking normal California English, but everyone can understand most of it.

“Parthx nad nomma, morius nad berorth. Quaiz nad nomma, werz lad Galaka.” We spoke slowly at the same time. I think it means “Together we stand, forever we win. All of us stand, in Galaka’s hand.” That sounds like Helloween’s lyrics.

All of a sudden, I lit up like stage lights. My body floated up with my chest puffed out, and Arg was sucked into my chest like a vacuum cleaner. When he disappeared into my chest, I fell to the ground. What the hell was this?

“Son, you have been chosen by a Grand Spirit. Do you know what that means?” My dad placed his hand over my head. “It means that you were destined for greatness. My great grandpa was chosen too, and he was one of the highest heroes of the Western Wars. Remember the one about the first battle bard? That was him.”

Holy shi-

“Gally, I knew you were incredible, but to be chosen before you’re an adult?! That’s unheard of!” Lara was genuinely excited for me. She hugged me, even though I was still on the ground.

“Sir, as a half-elf and a relative of the Grand Spirit, I must become your family’s retainer. Will you accept?”

“Dude, don’t be our slave.”

Everyone looked at me funny.

“What is dude?” My mom asked. Lara and Artium looked at me and at each other. I nodded to them. They explained to my parents that I was from another world. They asked me to describe my world and who I was before Gally.

“I am Ricky Roxx, lead guitarist of Leather Katz, and I shred!” I showed a horns-up sign. As I did that, a magic circle randomly appeared around my hand. My dad noticed and slapped my hand away as fast as possible.

“Did you not know what that hand symbol meant?! You were about to cast Radiant Light! You almost destroyed Artium’s house!”

So horns-up was a laser?! That is so cool!

“We need to train you, dear. It’s clear that whatever allowed you to be born as our son gave you immense power,” my mom suggested.

“I agree, honey. Galley, or Ricky, or whomever, needs to learn his powers before adulthood. Those S ranks will try and poach him right when he’s graduated, and they won’t have time to show him.”

“I can help too! I actually knew that Gally wasn’t Gally anymore a few weeks ago. It was really hard for me, but I want to help as much as I can for my best friend.” Lara seemed to be more forgiving to me than before. Either she respects me because I’m chosen, or she’s more sympathetic to the fact that I had to die to get here.

“I shall help guide him as well as the nephew of Traya Argus. I will become your family’s retainer.” Artium was serious, man. I think half-elves are seen as inferior to both humans and elves, which makes sense why they had so much trouble finding help for the whisletree.

“Mr. Traya, do not worry about serving us in any way. We do not follow the Orthodox, as we are not discriminatory against any kind.” My dad is a saint, by the way. This world is racist as hell, but my parents and most of the people I interacted with as Gally were pretty cool and not racist.

“Please, Sir, I insist-” Artium was bowing his head to the floor.

“Arty, can I call you that? You’re like my friend, dude. You can hang out with us.”

“I am honored that you call me your friend, Sir Par Gally. Thank you. You give my family great honor.”

“Hey man, don’t worry about it. My first request is that you treat me like you would treat anyone else.”

“Okay, that I can do.” He reached for me and pulled me up for a hug.

The funeral, which was supposed to be pretty sad, ended up being one of the happiest things to happen to everyone here.

I was sad when I woke up here. I wanted to continue my tour with Leather Katz and Ozzy, see the world, hang out with chicks. But I realized today, I can actually do that in this new world. I can travel the world with party members, slay demons and monsters and stuff, hang out with chicks, and I can still play music.

I was born to rock in any world.