Chapter 3: little bundle of joy.
“-HELL!”
His heart beat wildly.
“WHAT WAS THAT!? AND WHO WAS THAT?!”
He gestured to his shaking palm, then to the fiery crater.
“Demon! No! I mean, whatever you are, explain! Please!!” His voice quivered, stressed.
The quiet worried him.
Archibald shut his eyes tight, only to find a black void softly eroding the pulsing golden-jade light.
“DEMON!! NOOO!
DON’T GO!
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!”
A faint breathy whisper reached his ear.
“Find consecrated grounds and structures, any idols of worship, and I may speak to you again.
For now Archibald, guard your spark of divinity well.” The whisper echoed softly into nothing, the black void consumed the light.
“NO! You owe me a damn explanation!
WHAT AM I!?”
Archibald blinked furiously, but all he saw was the back of his eye lids.
An idea flashed in his mind.
‘Right! The forest demon made a… What is it…’
At the edge of his mind sat memories locked away, just out of reach.
But the demon circle brought one bubbling to the surface, geometric shapes began to layer on top of each other.
‘A ritual circle!’
Archibald hurried back to his feet.
“Heavens this is disgusting!”
With a wet thud, he sank his arm into the mud, and began to drag it around him in a circle.
‘Uh, damn! What did it look like!? It was circular, and it had lines intersecting it.’
He drew a circle with a diamond inside.
“Ok, now I just-“
He tried activating the circle again with a wide grin, eyes snapped shut, looking around expectantly.
“DEMON!
DEMON I DID IT!
…
COME BACK!”
He nearly plopped himself back into the mud, before imagining the hassle of getting back out again.
His heart quickened and with deep breaths, he tried to fight back the building emotion in his chest.
“What is all this!?
WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?”
He punched back into the center of the circle.
*THUMP*
His heart suddenly ached, and not in a normal way.
He sobered up from his tantrum, eyes darting around in thought.
‘The angel?’
He straightened up, and tried to relax himself, he closed his eyes, and pictured her in his mind.
‘She can help right?
What was she?
Jade shoulder length hair, tiny body, a warm smile, and deep jade wings.’
“That’s you, that’s what you looked like right Jade? Is it ok if I call you Jade?”
He felt a happy little buzzing sensation that ran up his spine.
‘I prefer that over the heart ache, and I’ll take that as a yes.’
“Alright Jade, please, help me out here, how do I do this?”
…
“Do I just-?” He kept her form, her light, her warmth in his mind, and sank his arm into the middle of the circle once again.
*THUMP*
Both the impact of his arm and his heart thumped simultaneously.
The pain of his heart beating out of sync felt invasive, but nothing happened.
*sigh*
He plopped himself into the mud, wallowing in doubt of what was to come.
*THUMP*
A sharp pain and the flashing mental image of Jade invaded his mind, but when fading, it overlapped with the mental image of the ritual circle.
“What? Was that you? Do you want me to do it again?”
He rubbed his chest. ‘Too many of these would be exhausting.’
He put his hand in the hole of the circle and-
*THUMP*
The image of the circle came to the forefront of his mind. It began to fade and the became overlapped with the image of fresh mud.
“OH! You want me to DRAW it again!”
Excited by the response he shot back up from the mud, and faced a new direction, with fresh canvas of mud to draw on.
“Right!” Hope renewed, he plunged his arm into the mud for the umpteenth time, only to hesitate immediately before starting.
He went to draw again, but couldn’t shake off the nerves.
‘Huh?’
He closed his eyes and pictured Jade, at this point he could envision her pretty well, and just then, he felt an inkling, a want, a gut reaction to draw the circle.
“Ok! I get it now! We’ll do it your way this time.”
Following his instinct, the circle was much neater, but then the intersecting inner shape was different, instead of a diamond, he drew something different, a triangle.
Throughout the whole drawing he maintained Jade’s image in his mind and once it was complete, he felt it was right this time!
“Let’s see what happens this time then!”
Hope surging, he sank his muddy arm into the center of the triangle inscribed into the circle, and…
He felt it! Warmth flowed through his body, a little joyful shudder made him open his eyes.
“IT WORKED!”
The circle lit up with a deep jade glow, sparks swirled around his palm ever increasingly.
He jutted his arm out. Green ichor surged out his heart and through his veins, then a deep Jade bubble began to surround him.
He pulled back his arm, envisioning it getting cut off by the bubble, shuddering at the thought.
Archibald had half a step in all directions to move, and a few fingers’ width of headroom. He relaxed, relieved it worked.
“HA!! GREAT, JADE! Now how about a ritual circle to let me talk to the mind demon again?”
…
‘Not a heartbeat out of place, huh.’
…
All his rising hope took a steep dive off of a cliff, his heart sank deeper and a squeak of frustration escaped his throat.
“FINE!
OK, I’LL DO IT YOUR WAY!
I only have to trudge onwards on a days long journey to only heavens knows where, with NO FOOD! AND NO WATER!!”
…
His heart physically strained, his head began to pound, then the bubble disappeared.
‘Onwards it is then.’
Mind set on advancing, Archibald looked around.
When his eyes landed on the crater, he was stuck with guilt and shame.
‘She was a real person, she was happy and sung and-‘
His thoughts drifted to his immediate situation.
“AHHH CRAP! ALL HER CLOTHES BLEW UP! I NEEDED THOSE!”
Rock bottom, he’d finally arrived.
— — —
Finally out of the mud, he had laid his hopes on the smoldering crater of viscera.
Having begrudgingly searched every chunk of the woman’s corpse, he found nothing useful except for a few loose scraps of cloth and leather, fragments of horns, and some round metal coinage.
He set it all in a pile and tied the cloth scraps together to make a bundle.
‘I can’t believe I did that, all for this…
This’ll have to do for now.’
Carrying the bundle, Archibald took one last look at the place. He felt a heavy burden on his mind.
“Archibald, just get to a consecrated building, that’s the first step. That’s all I have to do. That’s manageable, right?”
*THUMP*
Her warmth spread through his body.
‘I'm glad you agree Jade. Thanks for the support.’
— — —
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