Chapter 10

Part 1

The cool breeze of an early morning, fog hanging in the air, and slight dew on the grass, weren’t things I was accustomed to yet, even with my new workout regimen. I ran for a little over an hour every morning, about 15 miles; at first, I started with less, but rapidly acclimated, pushing further, adjusting quicker and quicker over time. Obviously, the seed compensated, going from my lungs burning and legs feeling like jelly to only a small sweat coating my brow. Since the incident with Mary and the owlman, weeks had passed, and Anesha kept her word. Training me, pushing my body to its limits, testing the seed’s powers, and doing everything to make sure I was getting in shape to her accepted level.

My phone buzzed, meaning I’d received a message from Wacky_Magik. Our communications back and forth were all a desperate attempt on my end to retrieve the homunculus’s head. [Yo, sup’, Fate! You ever find out about the owlman stuff?] His message read.

I willingly divulged my own personal information, since I didn’t think details about me mattered, hoping to coax him into doing the same, but to no avail. [Not much. Seems like Chester wants to move on, since all the leads have dried up. We’ve got a trip planned at the end of the month for the next investigation.] While messaging him, my mind wandered. (How am I supposed to get this guy to meet me? I need to make sure that the head isn’t doing anything weird and no one else knows about it.) Throughout our correspondence, he kept quiet for the most part, not offering up any personal information. [Still haven’t tracked down anyone who’ll believe you about the head?]

[…No. Seems like everybody’s been thrown off by other videos online. Everything I post gets nothing but hate and people keep calling it ‘fake’. I’m kind of worried I’ll either come across people who just shit on me more or someone who’ll steal it and I won’t be able to stop them. So, idk lol!] That was the most candid answer I’d received from Wacky_Magik. I wanted to press further, but from the hairs standing up on the back of my neck and strong gaze being laid upon my shoulders, one obvious thing was signaled to me.

“…Anesha?” I turned to be greeted by my tormentor, aloft her floating broomstick with a smile.

She waved with a deceiving innocence from on high. “Splendid! You appear to be following my orders and doing as proposed in the training regimen. Have you also been taking care to avoid all types of alcohol, drugs and unhealthy foods?” I nodded, sheepishly. “Marvelous! How would one treat a dog normally when they’ve done a trick? A biscuit, no?” Placing her fingertip to her chin, made me wonder if Anesha was actually planning to feed me dog treats.

“…Have I been upgraded to a dog now?” I said sarcastically, disregarding my standing for a minute.

She scowled, so obviously, that didn’t go over well with her. “Yes…a dog…and as a dog I’ll have you castrated should you continue this disrespect. However, maybe a good doggy will be allowed to sleep at the feet of its master.” Ever insulting and full of herself, Anesha began to chuckle, leaning back on the handle of her broom and resting her chin on the back of her hand. The alarm on my phone buzzed.

“Anesha…I have to go to work…”

“Fine. Be off with you. Keep in mind however, after you’ve completed your daily work and whatever it is you do in your little group meetings, I expect you at my dwelling. Understood?” I nodded and she flew off into the sky.

Once that was finished, I rushed home, changed, and hustled to work. The whole time, I was expecting to hear back from Wacky_Magik, but my messages went unanswered. The workday proceeded silently; not many customers came in and the few that did I handled in less than a few minutes. After a while, Wally took over the front, expecting it to be a slow day, so I just spent time reading about homunculi research online in the back.

It’d became one of the only avenues of hope I could see. If I could, I’d track down a person willing to do a homunculi operation and remove the seed. According to Anesha, I was going to die anyway, so the fear of dying during an operation was insignificant. I was so enraptured in reading things on my phone I ignored Wally speaking directly to me.

“Fate!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry Wally, I was reading something…”

“That’s fine, but there’s someone looking for you up front.”

“Someone’s looking for me?”

“A very tall older…err…Native-American man…”

“…Tell him to leave, please.”

“Why? Is he like, a reporter or something?”

“…Less than that. He’s just some dirtbag. Tell him I don’t want to talk. He’ll go away, I promise.” I smiled as Wally walked back to the front, then messaged Mom. [Why does Dad know where I work?]

An almost instant reply came through. [He wanted to see you. I’m sorry honey!]

[I don’t want to see him. Tell him to stop trying to talk to me.]

[You two haven’t spoken face to face in nearly 10 years. Don’t you think you should try and have a relationship with your father?]

[He’s not worth it.] The day was off to a great start.

Part 2

Class droned on for what felt like an eternity. Listening to Mr. Russell prattle on about history was numbingly dull, but seeing Gabby sitting on the opposite side of the room, snubbing me, was painful. When I tried speaking to her, she’d not even acknowledge me. As much as I deserved it, that was infuriating and disheartening. The seemingly endless diatribe about how things were better when he was younger slowly petered out, and Mr. Russel finally excused all of us. On my way to the clubroom, I noticed Ken chatting with Gabby, who, the second we made eye contact cut away. I swear, as the two walked away, Ken brandished a smirk in my direction, the meathead!

The telltale sound of an approaching Chester aiming to jump me from behind, being what was akin to a knock-kneed elephant trotting down the hall, caught my ear. Only a few inches away, I simply shuffled to the left and avoided him. “My compatriot!” He said while flying to the floor face first. “How? Have you trained so masterfully that you can now perceive my attacks?”

(Yes, as a matter of fact I probably can.) I thought. “No, you’re just as graceful and quiet as a rhino doing backflips, is all.”

“I see, then I shall continue to evaluate you at another point!” Chester spoke with vigor that only made me fear for future annoyances. Demica, Teddy and Perry came running down the hall, joining us.

“You absolute moron!” Demica was clearly in a yelling mood. “You go jumping around and causing troubles, knowing full well that there have been police on the campus since the incident two weeks ago?! Are you that stupid?! No; don’t answer, I already know you are.”

“Woman! How dare you call my intellect into question? Not only do I have a 4.0 grade average, I am also the leader of this club and the most popular host of our renown web series! I expect and shall receive your respect!”

“Ok you two. Maybe we should leave before Mr. Russell stops staring at us from the doorway and actually comes out here to chase us off.” The wrinkled visage of a specter glared at us from beyond the glass door, prompting us to scurry off toward the clubroom!

“…Speaking of the incident from two weeks ago, the police say they didn’t find out where that guy went.” Perry recalled the upside-down man, but I attempted to swerve the subject.

“Well, the police haven’t been on their game for a while now. Remember the thefts of all those sportscars?” He persisted, assertive on the subject.

“I’m more interested in the druggie that broke into the school!” Each prod for the truth elicited an involuntary tightening of my fist. “I mean, Fate, Teddy, Chester, all three of you were in the school. Did you guys see anything?”

“…” I cast a pleading glace to Teddy and Chester, hoping for help.

“Hm…not at all, young Perry. I’d not seen a single hide nor hair of the druggie. When I discovered Teddy, he was already injured.” Chester lied for my sake.

“Y-Yeah, I got cut, b-but then he ran away really qui-quick!” As did Teddy.

“Right…” A dejected sigh was followed by a noticeable frown on Perry’s young face. As much as I wanted to tell everyone about my misfortunes, even knowing as much as Teddy and Chester did was dangerous.

I received a surprisingly sullen message from Wacky_Magik on my phone. [I don’t get it dood! No matter how much I try to get people on board they just keep calling me crazy!] He typed frantically sending message after message, most of which were just emojis and buzzwords! After a few minutes he slowed down and stopped typing.

[Hey, are you alright? Do you want to talk?] Whatever Wacky_Magik was going through, I knew it was an opportune time to try and get closer to him. I felt a little bad jumping on the chance, but it was served up to me. If I could get on a call with him, then it wouldn’t be too much longer to setting up a meeting.

[Are you sure?] Was all I got as a reply.

[Yeah, dude. If something’s wrong, we can chat.]

[I’m weird.]

[??? So? You’ve watched our stuff. So am I!] (Come on…)

[I mean, really weird. People think I’m crazy.]

[Again, come on! You’ve seen the Occult research stuff we do!] The creaking of my phone as I tightened my grip alerted me to how anxious I was getting. (Why is he so hesitant?)

[…I’ll wait downstairs for you.]

[Sure!] (Wait…what?) Obviously not the response I was expecting.

“Fate, my comrade! We sally forth to the clubroom!” Chester called to me.

It took a minute to rationalize that last message. [What do you mean?] I replied to Wacky_Magik.

[I’ll wait for you in the lobby.] My brain finally connected the dots!

“What the hell?!” I yelled, exploding at that sudden realization.

“My friend, are you troubled?” Chester and the others all looked at me concerned.

“…Oh, yeah! I’m fine…but um…I have to duck out…haha…” The looks I was getting were harsher than any homunculi glare.

“*Sigh*…Unfortunate. We will reschedule-”

“Are you kidding me?! Again?!” Perry cut Chester off mid-sentence. “This keeps happening! You do get that we’re really close to a big break on the website we’ve been working on now for years, right?!” I’d never seen Perry so angry; with his face turning bright red, vast wrinkles forming on his brow, all the fuming was directed at me; while I awkwardly withdrew into my hoodie, ashamed! “You’ve been neglecting all of the work with the club! We’re so, so close to getting our big break and to make matters worse, you won’t tell us why!”

“…I…Perry, it’s really hard to explain.” It was impossible to explain. Anesha swore me to secrecy and breaking that promise could’ve ended in either my death or someone else’s.

“You can’t seriously think this is alright. Teddy, Chester, sis!” Both Chester and Teddy averted their eyes.

“…Let him go.” Demica flipped her dirty-blonde hair and walked off, dropping another pit into my stomach.

“Demica!” Perry groaned as he trailed behind his older sister. Teddy followed the others as Chester shot a look back at me.

“Sorry.” He walked off. Alone, I stood in the hall, disappointed in myself for failing my friends. (No time to feel down. This is what I’ve been waiting for!) The elevator was taking too long, so I ran down the stairs, dodging around people, I hustled to the ground floor! Once I made it, I scanned the area for Wacky_Magik. A myriad of people loitered in the lobby, talking, or in the case of the security guards, keeping watch. (Now that I think about it, I’ve got no idea what to look for when it comes to this guy. I’ll message him.) As soon as I got out my phone a message from him came through. It was a picture of the back of some long black-haired guy, standing in a brightly lit foyer in a baggy hoodie… so it was me, obviously. Turning to locate the source of the picture, the door leading to the back of the school had been left billowing in the wind as a small figure ducked out of sight. “Hang on!”

I burst through the door and ran up to the much shorter guy I’d seen, grabbed him on the shoulder and spun him around, revealing a radically different Wacky_Magik, looking nothing like I’d anticipated.

Part 3

Shoulder length black hair with hot pink highlights, a stud nose piercing, and metallic pink chain linked between a pair of matching gauges, leashed around the back of her tiny pale neck were adorning the young woman I’d apprehended. “Oh shit! I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else!” Immediately releasing my grip and apologizing, I backed off the small woman.

“Huhuhu…” Her low gutted chuckle verged on maniacal. “You’re…just like you are on video. Funny.” The woman’s overtly monotoned voice contrasted with her outlandish appearance. She wore a mishmash of black leather belts and pink chains; somehow outdoing Anesha in terms of weird dressing! “Fate…Fate is such a cool name…wish my name were Fate. Huhuhu…” Trailing off, I couldn’t even hear what the girl muttered on about.

“Uh…you’re not Wacky_Magik, right?” I hoped.

“Oh, are you not happy to see I’m a girl?” My hopes were dashed. Using all my self-control, I managed to stifle a massive groan. “Huhuhu…I see…that’s alright, I expected as much. What’s wrong…my looks…my voice…my clothes…” With each word, she progressively shrunk more onto the ground; her small form swallowed up by the strange jacket she wore, looking like a black belted leather traffic cone, seated in the fetal position.

“I…just was surprised you were a girl.” Anything to ease my conscience, also it wasn’t a total mistruth.

“Hu…huhuhu…I should’ve known. Of course…huhuhu…” Wacky_Magik slowly rose from her slump, a grin curling the corners of her mouth, again chuckling. Thus, I reluctantly welcomed another strange woman into my life. “Fate, now would you like to see it…see the homunculus?”

“Y-Yes!” Nearly jumping out of my jeans, I reigned in my enthusiasm with a deep breath.

“Then follow me.” Wacky_Magik began to lead me off campus. As we walked, people would turn their heads, noticing the small young woman casually strolling by, oversized jacket almost scraping the ground.

“So…Wacky…er, should I just keep calling you Wacky_Magik?”

“Hm…it’s up to you…doesn’t matter to me. I can tell that you don’t…know my real name despite…me being in the same college as you…”

“So, you are a student?! How long have you been at Benson?”

“A few months now; studying medicine and biology. You were gone most of the time, so it doesn’t surprise me that you didn’t know me.”

“That makes sense. How come you never tried to join the Occult Research and Study club? I mean, you’re into occult stuff, right?”

“…I thought about it, but…I’m not very good with people.”

“Neither are we. You should swing by!” A glace over the shoulder showcased what I presumed as the smallest hint of a blush.

“Erna, by the way…”

“Oh! Alright.” Erna and I hopped onto the subway, riding toward her home on the other side of town. She insisted on sitting opposite of me, with an aisle of space separating us, only adding to the awkwardness. Again, her appearance turned heads; people would point and gawk while some whispered jokes or snickered to themselves. Peering out of the window just beyond her thin shoulders, I only saw the dank and grime crusted subway tunnels. The ride was far longer than I’d ever ridden before, nearly from one end to the other. It wasn’t until I was greeted by the underdeveloped portion of the city that I could guess where we were. The ghetto streets were nearly deserted, only abandoned, and unfinished homes, or factories were standing within the ghost town.

The second our stop was reached, Erna hastily exited the cart, nearly leaving me behind as she speed-walked, almost into a run from the station. We reached an old single level home with an unkept lawn and weathered, white picket fence outside. In through the front door, entering near total darkness, paralyzed me.

“Oh, sorry…I’m just getting used to living alone.” She flipped the lights on to a neatly kept front room. “It’s in the basement. Come on, the door…is in the back.” Knickknacks cluttered the walls; everything from old coo-coo clocks, dream catchers, braided vinyl lanyards and handcrafted picture frames nearly overlapped each other. My picture of Wacky_Magik I imagined in my head was nothing like the oddball Erna I’d met to that point.

(All of this just doesn’t add up. It’s like the person I was messaging online, this girl, and this house are all totally separate. I need to watch myself. If this is another person trying to get the seed and I fall for it…) Maybe it was because of the cautiousness bread into me by past experiences, but the seed started pumping energy into my system. My body normally heated up when the seed kicked in, but a sudden and strong chill overtaking the entire room cooled me down.

“What the…why’d the clocks stop?” Every single coo-coo clock had frozen as if all the batteries had died at the same time. From behind, I could feel something carefully watching me, a strong malevolence. Erna checked the clocks, and I turned to be faced with the ghastly transparent form of an old woman. She stood, hunched over with a cane supporting her and a smile on her sweet, wrinkled face. She began to giggle, then bow and fade away. As soon as she was gone, the malevolent energy also vanished. “Oh, they’re working again. Ah…now I’m going to have to reset them. Fate, sorry…is everything alright?”

“Did you not see that…?”

“What? The clocks? It’s the first time they’ve ever done that.” Erna was unaware of whatever ghost I’d seen. “That’s something I can fix later. Let’s…go see what we’re here to see. This way…” The small woman pulled open a massive cellar door, wafting out dust and soapy smelling air from deep within the basement. We descended the stairs. “And…light.” Erna turned on the ceiling lamps revealing the freshly cleaned floors, surgical instruments, and the half-decomposed skull of the homunculus. “Incredible, right?”

It was clear by the scalpels and dried blood on the tarps that she attempted to dissect it. “Yeah…amazing…” Swaths of hair was still attached and one of the bloodshot red eyes remained intact. Right as I moved in closer the eye darted in my direction! “Wha!!”

“No way. It moved…” Erna pushed by me and inspected the eye, with a small flashlight, but the gaze was locked onto me maneuvering around the room. “It only cares about you…spooky.”

The reminder siren on my phone blared! It signaled that my meeting time with Anesha was coming up, which I’d almost forgotten about. “Erna, I have to go!” Her already pale face somehow managed to get even whiter when she heard that.

“Huh…you’re…why? Where are…you going?” A frantic little hand gripped the sleeve of my shirt. “You…you’re not going to…” Through a choked back wince, she continued. “…see you…” Erna turned her back to me and went about jabbing the head with a scalpel. “You can just go…I’ll lock up.”

My prodding into who Erna really was would have to wait, I needed to meet Anesha and being late wasn’t an option! “Alright, we’ll talk later!” I ran back up the stairs and off to my meeting place with Anesha; the dilapidated home, isolated within the middle of an endless forest.

Part 4

Running down multiple diverging paths that led nowhere with the moon’s light becoming shrouded by mist, as my shoes cut through the increasingly thick fog, not knowing exactly where I was going or coming from, was exhilarating, in a way! Deep down, anytime I’d interact with Anesha, I would be terrified and uncomfortable, but getting to flex those powers…I’d be lying if I said it didn’t play to my love for mythological heroes and tales of battle.

Each turn would lead to dead-ends, and every roundabout to nothing, though getting lost was all a part of finding Anesha’s abode. The fog became so dense, it shrouded my hands right in front of my eyes. When the sensation of a frigid gaze laid upon me, I realized, I had arrived. The gigantic being, wrapped in a set of ragged, black robes, guarding Anesha’s barrier towered over me. It floated with its weathered deer skull head above the trees, looking down at me, unmoving.

I smiled and waved at the forest’s guardian, receiving a slow wave back, as the hostile aura drained away instantly. From my bag, I presented the guardian with a rather sizable book. “Like I promised! You don’t really do anything but sit here all day, right?” No answer, of course. “Uh…well, I’m not sure what you can understand, but this shouldn’t be too much!” Though the creature lacked lips or skin, I’d hoped to at least see a minuscule reaction while placing one of my beloved crypto zoology almanacs in its enormous skeletal hand. The guardian accepted the tome then pointed a finger down a worn old path as the fog parted, revealing the dilapidated two-story house.

“Marvelous! You’ve learned how to come on time, I applaud you!” Anesha spoke condescendingly as she floated down atop her broomstick.

(Just her normal state.) “Thanks…I guess. He stands out a bit. Now that I think of it, you never told me his name. I’m guessing…Willow?” A twitch shot across her brow as Anesha’s eyes narrowed. She jumped down to the ground and gripped the collar of my shirt with all the force of a metal vice.

“Listen very carefully…if you’re referring to the guardian, then hold your tongue, and…” Anesha snapped her fingers, igniting the book in the hands of the guardian. “Do not gift it anything, particularly books with any form of knowledge. That creature, that familiar will cipher any form of information given to it, to gain sapience, and when given a name it will also be given free will. If that were to happen, I’d have to make another one.” I felt kind of bad, looking back at the guardian who watched us longingly; seeming disappointed that the gift was suddenly gone. The wall of fog swallowed up the surrounding area, slowly blocking out all entrances and exits again. “Now…vanquish those who oppose me, vanguard, rise!” Small lights formed before me, glimmering into the black and white humanoid wireframe chess pieces.

“We’re starting with this?” Tossing off my jacket and bag leaving just my training sweats, I took a deep breath, trying to call forth the seed’s power. Each piece readied their long glowing energy spears, gesturing for battle as the heat finally surged throughout my body. Burning from head to toe, like fire ignited in my blood, the seed transformed me, darkening my skin, graying my hair and changing it into a silvery waterfall flowing down my backside.

“Of course. Your instincts are still unsatisfactory.” She snapped her fingers, and the pieces lunged forward. They, in coordination, jabbed at me with their weapons as I leapt back. I launched myself a bit too high and wasn’t prepared, as I fell back to earth, losing my footing and slipping on the moist ground. “Pitiful! Even after all this time you’re not used to your own strength?”

“I keep getting stronger. It’s hard to measure!” Before I could recover, a piece had caught up to me. With everything I had, I blasted forward, raising my knee to its head, shattering the wireframe entity. “I don’t get why you just can’t teach me magic!”

“Because you lack talent for it.” The attacks continued as I ducked and dodged each strike, having to guess every movement! “Being physically capable is an underrated asset.”

It wasn’t based on instinct, but planning; I managed to get three of the chess pieces in a line. So, copying the spinning outside crescent kick that I’d seen Anesha herself do, I destroyed the heads of all three…before once again, losing my balance, falling to the ground. “Agh! Why is it you can do stuff like that so easily? You have magic, what’s the point in being able to do martial arts too?”

“You refer to my hand-to-hand capabilities, no? Hmph, that’s simple enough to explain. From self-defense to attacking, nearly everything that would require any type of serious physical exertion by magekin is done with magic. Without verbalization, or the use of ones’ hands, casting spells becomes impossible, and we’d be rendered nearly helpless. Thus, I was taught hand-to-hand by a…unique individual as a way defending of myself, and naturally one must remain in shape when it comes to matters of physical combat.”

After nearly 20 minutes of combat training, I’d defeated only 5 of the 10 chess piece familiars. “…Instincts…huh? That’s what you said I’m lacking before too.”

“Yes. I can tell by watching your eyes, how you hesitate before each movement, and worst of all, you mumble to yourself.” Having my idiosyncrasies read out to me was massively embarrassing. “Next we’ll have to focus on hex immunities, magical defenses and general mana control.” Anesha looked very official, pulling out a clipboard, which I didn’t bother to ask where she’d gotten it from.

“Why so much? As long as your barrier holds in Graewood, we should be good, right? I mean, nothing has happened since…Mary…”

“Still using its name? Honestly. We must be alert, now more than ever. The seed of Yggdrasil grows stronger, producing more mana day by day; meaning anything on this planet that craves mana will come for it. Homunculi are the least of our worries. Your body exist as a home for the seed – similar to soil, if your body is not kept rich and healthy, the seed shall not bloom properly. Consuming alcohol and unhealthy foods, being out of shape, ingesting drugs, or poisonous materials, even viruses entering your system will cause the seed to focus on that and give you less power. This…seems like the most opportune time.” Anesha waved her hand making the chess familiars fade away. “I sensed something a few days ago. It would seem even in all my years of planning and near perfect record keeping that I’d neglected to write the parameters of the barrier to cover all those in Graewood.”

“I’m lost. What’s happening?”

“I’d written the formula over the course of many years to affect every single inhabitant, by name. It was meant to seal them within. A few days ago, I sensed an ebb in the barrier, I ignored it believing as though it was something so simple as an attempt to escape, and yet, I haven’t been able to let the idea pass me. It wasn’t until today that I confirmed someone had indeed made their way through.”

“What?! That’s really bad, isn’t it?!”

“Far worse than you may be imagining. Whoever it was, I’m unable to track, have no knowledge of and is likely very dangerous. I’ve been using all available resources at my disposal to locate the person but have not managed to pinpoint them.”

“…So, what do we do?”

“I’ll be leaving to tend to the barrier again, as it will not last forever, letting it weaken would only make things worse. The sooner the better, to the town of Salem, I go. That is where the entrance lies.”

“Wait. It’s just in the town?”

“No, that is where the entrance is. One must know the incantations and be recognized by The Great Witch’s Cabinet. Fate, listen closely. As I said before, you’re a target for the entire world of creatures that shall return to its surface, yearning for the seed’s power. The stronger you are the wider the reach will be. We must remain vigilant, the both of us.” Anesha crossed her leg atop the broom as she floated upward. “I’m leaving for now. If it becomes too dangerous in the time I’m gone, then retreat to this barrier. The guardian is quite powerful, so it will be able to defend you until my return. I shouldn’t be gone more than 3 days, but in that time, anything can happen, and I cannot bring you with me. Having the seed move about will draw attention from the Cabinet and every creature scouring for mana, thus I leave you…expecting you to not disappoint me.”

I nodded. “Right.” Anesha walked back to her home as the fog began to lift.

Part 5

I arrived at home and crashed almost immediately onto the couch nearest the front door. Mom left the usual food on the dining room table along with plenty of medicine for me. “I feel like she thinks I’m a druggie or something.” I dug my phone out of my pocket and started reading messages, none of which were from Wacky_Magik…from Erna. “That girl is…so weird even to me…” I sat up and started going through my ‘notes’ application. Everything from Anesha’s description of homunculi, the many creatures I’d encountered and terms she’d used were written down. “Three days without Anesha…maybe I’ll be able to work with Erna after all. I’m…going to keep living.” That was my resolve. (If Erna is really studying medicine, is there a chance she’d be able to remove the seed? Maybe not today or tomorrow, or even if she can’t do it herself, Erna could put me in contact with someone able to do it. Guess I should thank Mary. She left me pointed in the direction of some hope…hope in the form of Erna.)

End of chapter 10