6 Choices (1/2)
Slick, shiny, huge dog-like creature well over four meters had just come out from a park nearby. From its neck there came four long tentacles fluttering in the air. And Mandy's eyes were drawn to its head without thinking. But before she could linger on it, her eyes were hidden behind a hand.
”No crossing eyes,” August reminded. ”Especially not with this type.”
Mandy nodded, turning her eyes to a safe space - August. She realized that they were awfully close to one another. Not a wonder considering August had arched his arm around her from behind to hide her eyes. You had to be pretty close to play 'who's there' after all. She felt oddly conscious of this presence, despite the fact that she had just seen something terrifying and this was certainly no time for trifling matters of that sort.
”What is that?” She asked, forcefully switching her attention away from silly matters.
”A thing that chases down and eats those who slipped out from the boundary crossing two worlds,” he said. ”Its name is hard to pronounce. But it does at times attack others if it feels hungry.”
”Not crossing eyes prevents that?” Mandy asked, although… 'two worlds'? Two Worlds? Something big was dropped once again.
”That's the first one, second is not touching it, third is not attacking it to save someone it is targeting,” August listed, moving back a bit.
The pressure from behind had eased, so Mandy carefully glanced back only at the feet level of the said creature and what she could see is it running away down the street.
Mandy let out a relieved sigh. ”Thanks.” She didn't want to imagine what might have happened had August not been here.
”Be careful,” August said, all the while holding his phone by his ear. He had made some odd gestures just now, but at least he wasn't 'talking to himself'.
Now that the creature had gone, however. Boundary crossing... ”two worlds?” She voiced the question. What about there not being another hidden reality… Her eyes squinted.
”Ah, that's a long story,” August said.
”I don't mind it being long,” Mandy said with a smile that had force behind it. 'I'm not going to let you slip out of this' it said. What about her previous disappointment, huh? Wasn't that the time to mention something like this, not let her be disappointed at reality.
”Then let's walk through the park,” August said, giving up. Shouldn't be that many people there at this time.
The story went. ”There are two interconnected worlds - Ahea, the land of immortals and Urea, the land of mortals. There are stories in almost any culture about there being something like the realm of gods or the stories of someone slipping away to it only to return a century later. There's some truth to that, but no consistency, since that world is just as diverse as this one. The 'gods' one person meets will be different 'gods' another meets for geographical reasons.”
Mandy nodded at that. ”So beings like Odin or Zeus actually exist?” She asked.
”Probably... You would need to be in Sweden or Greece to slip through to meet them and... have a way to either evade or defeat that tentacle dog, though,” August replied. ”Unless they passed over to this world, and in that case, they might have died. Aheals are only immortal in Ahea, after all. In this world, anyone can be killed.”
”Even ghosts?” Mandy asked.
”Of course,”August said matter of factly. ”What do you think you risk by crossing eyes with astrals?”
Urk. Certainly. Although she had a feeling August told her to be careful for that reason. Returning to the topic of gods, though… So they might be dead as well. But the bit about geography did explain the variety in religions kind of. Wasn't it the same thing with cultures, though? No one set of tradition was ultimately 'best' for everyone, since people were different, so no one set of 'gods' could suit all either way.
If they were aliens, though… ”Does prayingand sacrifice actually do anything useful?” Mandy asked. Perhaps aliens or aheals ate that way?
”Depends on whom you pray and sacrifice to. No utility to do that towards Aheals, but there are some creatures that might give you something in exchange.”
”Is the Christian god like that?” Mandy asked.
”That's a good example.” August nodded slightly. ”But that something is not an afterlife or looking after you, or granting wishes,” August said. ”By forming a contract (christening), praying and sacrificing your desires, aka, being a 'good person', you grant it power and that power is, in turn, granted to one scary bunch within the church.”
”Exorcist priests that battle with vampires, witches and demons?” Mandy asked, tongue in cheek.
”Well...you aren't wrong,” August said looking uncomfortable.
”Oh…” Mandy looked at August's expression. ”You've met them? Or rather - vampires, witches, and demons are real too?”
”Yes and no, but kind of.” August shrugged. ”I met them, had to run for my life, they destroyed my kidney, as, guess what - by their standards, I'm a warlock.”His expression seemed to spell 'can you believe that?' as August shook his head.
'Since you do magic by common sense standards.' Was a retort Mandy didn't voice. She could believe that. Yet rather than dwelling on that comment she listened further.
”Thanks to that I have a kidney with its own will now and can't drink any rum…” There was a true hint of sadness in August's voice.
Ah, that might actually be for the best… Mandy thought. ”Kidney with its own will?”
”Yes, there is a special type of astral you can use to replace your missing organs or blood, they stay in your body while you live and leave when you become a corpse. There are some side effects, but generally, they can't be distinguished from normal organs by normies.”
Mandy recalled the scars she saw in the morning. ”Is your lung…?”
”Yes, thanks to that I can't smoke a single cigarette or weed…” More sadness came. ”That's not related with the church, though.” August shook his hand, in a gesture of 'moving on, moving on'.
Ah, that might also be for the best… given August's daily life habits drinking and smoking on top of it would be a killer combination. Losing some organs, in this case, might be a blessing in disguise. Mandy wouldn't voice that, of course. She wasn't that insensitive and losing said organs must have been an awful experience she wouldn't wish on anyone. ”Is that why you quit exorcist work?”
”Among many things,” August replied.
”Is that common? I mean, being like that for an exorcist?” Mandy asked.
”Depends on your luck,” August replied. ”And also how careful you are. And your skill. My dad lost his heart, but none of my siblings are missing an organ. At least, two years ago they didn't miss any. Two of them have astral blood, though, so they do know what bleeding to death feels like.”
Mandy pursed her lips. She had no question whatsoever why August didn't want to continue the work, it was more of a wonder why the rest of them kept doing it.
August continued on the topic: ”That said, Tia wasn't done in by the curse, because her blood refused to flow to the wound, thus the curse didn't circulate throughout her whole body. That's one of the perks. Neither of us four will experience bleeding to death again, at least.”
'Us four' probably meant: 1)himself, 2)his father (made sense, considering he lost his heart, losing a lot of blood seemed to come as a set), 3)Tia and 4)an unknown another sibling. It was a gruesome thing to listen to, so Mandy switched back to the previous topic. ”So vampires aren't real?”
”There are astrals that suck blood for nutrition and there are some who just bite, but don't suck blood just drain something else, and there are also some who bite to form slave contracts. A being that combines all those traits does not exist as far as I know and only about half of them are harmful, half are actually very beneficial to humans. Not that church cares. They kill them all.”
So basically they exist. Mandy concluded. Just under different names. Same how August's undoubtedly-looks-like-magic ability is named 'skill' in August's rounds.
”The same case with witches and demons, there are very few beings or people that combine all the myths surrounding each name.” August made a wry smile.
In short - vampires, demons, witches and crazy church exorcists were all real. What a crazy world to live in. Compared to vampires where August didn't know of a creature or someone who followed the definition, this time it seemed like August knew some examples of witches and demons matching to a point too.
”At least, church members who target non-normies call themselves 'paladins', otherwise the wrongness of their definitions would be beyond help.” August huffed.
To Mandy, it seemed like August was very...anal about definitions and words. In a sense not an unexpected trait for a writer. But perhaps names were important and she would see that even more if she happened to meet more people from August's side. If she was with August she might. Meeting a 'real witch'... The idea itself filled Mandy with excitement.