Flashback A New Beginning in The End

[Junie Rose Frostfawn]

Flashback, 23th of Winter AV513

"There's no food, There's no light... I've been running for days now, There's no hope. The stitches sting in the winter." Junie wrote in her small handwriting into the Journal she had stolen from a woman's hut as well as a white dress she wouldn't need but simply no longer cared for her warmth, It was freezing in the bitter cold of the forests and swamps she had been traveling through, she wanted as far away from her mother as possible. The woman had finally gone completely mad and stabbed her deeply in her bad leg that she now limped on, her auburn curls seemed to want to escape her very head in the freezing wind as she started to see lights over the hill before her, It was a strange sight to the blue lipped child who stared forward with pain filled just as blue eyes. she limped forward to find the source, hope growing in her chest as she was warmed with the idea of freedom from her pain. I won't starve... I won't die.. I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry I was bad.. I'm gone now.. the sorrow filled thought echoed through her wrongfully guilt filled mind as she started to cry.

Flashback, 24th of Winter AV513

She had fallen in the snow passing out to find a creature of utter ugliness before her baring it's wicked black teeth as it's stripped tail curled and made it's mates head nod and bob at her, bleeding tears of blood as the creatures tail end squirmed out of her open mouth covered in blood as if it were a tongue or maggot eating the poor creature, It grinned eyes glowing a dark red as it crept forward looking like a large wolf in ash fur, She screamed painfully through her sewn shut lips crawling and scrambling away in the snow trying to run but her legs and arms mostly her toes and fingers were frost bitten, her nose and lips dark like the blood of her dead tissue were waiting to seep out. She was bitten a number of times before loosing three fingers to the horrid creature along with most of her hand.

She was doomed but didn't loose hope as she scrambled to make her numb legs move towards the now visible city of Lhavit, it was an odd place and the path to the gates looked to stretch forever but she limped and crawled for what seemed like miles as the creature played with her, creeping behind her and nipping at her heels to make her run and stumble more having an odd sound like laughter follow behind,

When she finally made it before the guards past the tower she was blacking out, a bloody mess and frozen as well as she fell to the their feet crying in her fear. She whispered faintly through her forced shut lips, voice cracking. "I don't w-want to be lost..." but she couldn't finish as her eyelids fell and her heart came to a pause, her last breath leaving her as the guards slaughtered her murder.

[Ollic Rimesage]

Unhurried and without a strong need to be at work early, Ollic’s stride was faltering. For a few seconds he would walk smoothly across the street and then he would abruptly stop to catch a glimpse at an unusual pebble found only a few feet from where he stood. Sometimes he would stop to say a quick hello to a local he recognized or other times when he was too shy to speak, he would wave and carry on his way.

The sky was dark, the clouds taking up the only sunlight that tried to peer down and touch the surface of the earth. This gloomy mood didn’t set Ollic’s however, because for some reason, he was content, his eyes a sapphire blue, unlike the shade of the sky above him.

The buildings he past reminded him of the time he spent writing out poems describing the exterior features, never entering unless it was the Skyglass Restaurant, but that was only because he had heard rumours of the beauty there was on the inside.

He had kept all of his poems, having forgotten to give Eshe the one he liked best, the prose detailing the scenery he had found up near the Amaranthine Falls. Lhavit was such a marvelous place, and everyday simply waking up made Ollic smile. It was a much better place than the haunting effect his hometown Avanthal had given him.

Continuing on his path, traipsing in a care-free passion, his eyes began to roam down alley ways only to find them empty, some streets being the same way. Looking down the alley way of which Ollic had observed a wreckage of boxes and crates from the day he had lost his companion, he saw no remains that tied him to ever being there. All of the debris had been moved or trashed.

Finally, coming to the entrance of the city, taking a short detour, he noticed the bright light that sat on top of the Cosmos Centre, much like a beacon or a large star in a clear night sky. And when his gaze settled upon the gates of the city, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

He had seen her walking up, a limp far too severe to have been an injury from the past already healed. A few droplets of blood left her leg and her hair was all matted and messy like she had just gotten out of bed, or had just escaped a near death fight.

Fear consuming his heart, Ollic rushed over to meet the girl, only to see her fall to the ground in a heap as if someone had pulled out the only thing that kept her energized; as if she were a wind-up toy who no longer had any more room to roam.

Dropping to his knees to stand beside the poor girl, her eyes already glued close, a sign that gave him the chills, he immediately began to locate the source of such exhaustion.

After a close examination, Ollic realised that her leg might only have been slightly bloody, but from the time to when the incident had happened to the time it was now could have been any amount of chimes, or bells. She could have bled out, yet managed to make her way to the entrance of the city.

Other ideas entered Ollic’s brain as he conjured up several diagnoses relating to the possible effects of dehydration, hunger or pure and simple exhaustion. Sadly, those types of issues were difficult to cure and time was an essential factor in healing.

“Hello?” he called to her, hoping that his voice didn’t sound far away, or worse, didn’t sound like anything to her at all. “Miss, are you still awake?”

Suddenly a few guards were surrounding the couple, but Ollic knew better than to swarm in on a dying patient, if she was indeed dying or dead already.

“Get back! I’m a doctor.” A little white lie wouldn’t hurt anyone would it?

Putting his ear to her heart, wet as if she had been sweating increasingly or had fallen asleep on the snowy ground, he tried to make out the sound of a heartbeat. When nothing returned to him, he began to panic. He decided to try a different tactic and instead put two fingers against the inside of her collar bone and when there was no sign he put his fingers on the underside of her chin so that they were pressing against the large vein that ran up her neck.

There was no response.

Quickly switching tactics, Ollic averted his attention from her neck to her chest and proceeded in pumping her diaphragm with the palms of his hands. He had learnt this from one of his parents, whether it be his father or his mother, the face escaped his memory.

It was said to help get the heart started again, to enforce the flow of blood that entered the heart through its system of circulation. But after a few chimes of doing so, there wasn’t a pulse in reply.

Frantic, he began to pushed her chest in a little harder and every now and again beating against her diaphragm to try to restart it. He was glad he hadn’t wasted any time running to get a superior doctor, one with the label professionally plastered on their name. It would have wasted precious time and in doing so, it wouldn’t have led to helping this poor girl to live again.

Sitting back and wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow, Ollic’s eyebrows crinkled together and his eyes drew down in the appearance one would look as if they were about to cry. He was sad that such a young girl had travelled from wherever she came and hadn’t even made it that far inside Lhavit. He was also sad that he wasn’t able to help save her.

“I’m sorry, dear,” his voice like honey soothed her as he just took a few chimes to rest.

A few questions infiltrated his mind, adding to the many that were already stirring inside. What was he going to do with the body? What was to become of the remains? Where was the girl’s soul going to go now? Where was she coming from and why was she all battered and bloody?

And an even more selfish one rose to the surface. What if he’s late for work?

Coming to his senses, the least he could do was report the time of death to higher authorities and let them deal with it. The guards could easily do something or anything. Right now, Ollic was too in shock to even move without scaring himself. He had just witnessed a death, and whether it was a murder or not had yet to be found out. A part of him desperately wanted to avenge the young lady, but another part of him was unsure of whether or not he should become involved.

Either way, the girl didn't have to die so young and at least he was sure about that.

[Junie Rose Frostfawn]

Mommy?

The question seemed to trail as she felt the blackness take her and she was no more...
"Young soul, you must come and rest... I call you, come." The voice was genderless and persuasive as it tried to pull the straying soul away from her body, The child lashed out in her anger thinking the voice to be her mother, No reply came as she woke and stirred from her sleep, or at least what seemed to be her sleep.

It was later, she could see the light from a window... The sun? I remember this... she thought in a haze as she pulled from her body with a shock seeing herself laying on a metal table to be examined before buried. What! Am I dreaming... she wasn't speaking, she had never tried since her lips had been forced shut. she saw her pale body laying there, lips opened slightly and eyes sunken in while her cheeks and nose were dark with dead tissue, frost bite taking it's toll on her while the rest of her was covered, she saw her lips had been cut free from the stitches and her hair had been cleaned as well as her face... wake up... WAKE UP!!! she growled grabbing at her body in her sudden rage but her fingers went through her, she noticed she was there but, was she? she seemed to flicker slightly and even glow a bit ecstatically when she had grown mad, I have to get out of here...

She ran from the room or what she thought to be running as she shockingly went to through the door only to find herself going through a man who suddenly shuddered and looked around, she quickly ran off to find a mirror eyes starting to tear up as she started to realize what was happening, she had died... she vaguely remembered this as her memories came crashing down and then she was hit with a wall of emotion when she found a mirror on the wall in some room she had ran into. She was flickering indeed and looked see through and shadowy, what scared her the most was her glowing blue eyes and the aura that surrounded her in blue, My eyes... They change don't they? I am stressed I am stressed... she started to panic seeing that they stayed blue, normally they would have turned gray but what did shift in color was the aura... or smoke? what could one possible describe such a strange cloud?

She noticed the room she was in then, it was painted to be a light blue and the medical tools were unmistakable, the floor a gray tile and the tables were metal. It had a cold air about the place like they normally did, was it a coincidence that she had been taken to such a place only to hear a somewhat familiar voice? She heard it from behind her, a man... she did not know him by sight or memory but the voice was the last thing she could remember strangely even though she had died far before he had arrived to her death spot, maybe she had lingered before almost being pulled away from earth and life only to fight back, only she would know and even then the child was confused.

The room had gone cold then when she had stopped cold seeing the people becoming extremely nervous and anxious, The air was filled with this strong emotion as her soul mist started to cloud around almost instinctively, protectively or even cowardly as she slowly backed away as if they could see her which they actually couldn't... she wasn't trying to let them see her, she in fact didn't want to be seen and felt the urge to flee when a feverish and almost flashy sort of thought came to mind, I am a ghost am I not?

She blinked a few times realizing her death almost all over again but this time saw some sort of brightened point of view, I am a ghost. Ghosts can do many things. prove it. she looked around then not even paying attention to what the people could have been saying when she ran forward to the man she had recognized the voice from and stared hard at him before reaching for the metal plate of herbs and even a few tools for medicine but she did not pick these up, no... she picked up the simple papers he had been using to scribble notes and things on it as he spoke with the man just seconds before, her fingers pinched at it and felt it move but soon went right through her fingers to fall to the floor.

She pouted seeing it fall and shoved at the metal tray that only shifted enough to shake the cup of water sitting among these herbs and medicines making her anger grow even more as her soulmist changed to a deep tone of red, with all her force and energy she took it out on the man shoving him in her anger. she had moved him...

Oh no... the thought came quickly as she hid beneath a table looking around with wide frightened eyes, can he see me? can he see me?!

[Ollic Rimesage]

Watching the body leave the ground sent shudders rippling through Ollic’s chilled skin. He saw gooseflesh erupt from his lower arms and lower legs up to his neck. The frigid air did nothing to help the situation, but in the intelligence he had, to bring a coat wasn’t on the list.

It was a terrible sight to see; such a small body hanging limp and weak, her limbs flailing as a few burly men picked her up and took long strides in the direction of the Catholicon.

For some apparent reason, Ollic was inclined to go with the lifeless body, as if to make sure she made it safely to her final destination, even though he clearly knew her final destination was in a safer and better place, or so he hoped.

As he kept pace with the men, Ollic did his best to take his mind off of what had happened only a few moments ago. He observed his surroundings with favourable pleasure, all the while continuously thinking to himself frantic thoughts.

Where was that young girl coming from, covered in s much blood like she was? Why was she out there all alone and especially bare in the cold of the winter? Why did the gods have to take her before her time?

The sky was seemingly darker, and so was his mood, a damper having been placed firmly onto what he was feeling. Who even cared about going to work now? He was late as it was, and although he was heading toward the Catholicon, he didn’t want to be put to work. What he wanted, what he needed was a nice, long nap under a comfy blanket, his companions at his side.

But that was not going to happen, for he had better plans to do than take time for himself.

Hauling his left foot over a step of the drastically many stairs the Catholicon had to offer its patients and employees, time went by quickly as if Ollic’s numbed body had corrupt his mind, sending his consciousness into a different dimension for the time he had to walk up the stairs.

Barging through the doors, the men continued to walk the poor girl up another set of stairs made out of the grand skyglass material inhabited by the city of Lhavit. The central staircase felt longer than the initial stairs it took to get into the building, but as the men tried another level, they settled with a surgical room of which a more superior doctor would initiate everything he did to the dead.

A set of double doors were abruptly slammed in his face, causing Ollic to stumble backward and grab at his nose, crying out a little at the pain.

Instead of blowing into the room like he owned the place and wanted an answer to his most fathomed question, he stood still and paced the room, having mixed thoughts about many different reasons entirely.

What was he doing here? He didn’t even know the girl, yet he stood outside the room she was lying dead in as if he was a part of her family. Having been the last one to see her alive, however, gave Ollic some positivity, giving him a sense that he was her family, although as to why wasn’t clear.

The doctor who was soon to perform the examination was nowhere to be seen, but he felt a strange feeling as if he was being watched. Looking around the hallway he stood in, he found no one. There were no people around and there certainly weren’t any lurking eyes.

Suddenly a small burst of icy air hit him from the back. Whirling around to see if there was anything of which had created such a thing, Ollic tried to get himself to calm down.

“You’re just imagining things,” he ended up whispering to himself, doing enough to slow down his rapid breathing.

Taking a risk, Ollic felt the need to look around the room the girl laid helplessly in, to make sure there wasn’t anyone around to have given Ollic such strange feelings or to have caused that sudden rush of cold air to hit him from behind.

Walking through the doubled doors, he noticed a piece of paper fall to the floor, nothing near it to have caused it to do such a thing.

Chills continued to creep up Ollic’s arms and he could faintly see his breath in front of his face. What was going on?

Shortly after, a metal tray that sat next to a container of water moved by itself, knocking into the container. A few drops of water came splashing out, staining the papers that sat next to it.

What was happening here? Was someone playing a prank on him for being somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be? Was this some sort of mystical being like a god or goddess trying to teach him a lesson or give him praise for trying to help the young girl?

The next thing that happened was a response that made Ollic understand he was in a very bad position. He had done something wrong or something malevolent and demonic was trying to tell him something he didn’t necessarily want to know.

It was as if something pushed his chest, sending Ollic to the ground after losing his footing. He had already unbalanced himself with a foot in front of him in terms of taking a step backwards, but whatever it was that wanted to hurt him had scared him enough to understand that he wasn’t wanted.

But instead of running away like a coward, something he would originally have done, Ollic decided to try to reason with whatever was in the room with him.

“Who’s here?” he asked the air that surrounded him like dark shadows trying to crush his body from the outside in. The air grew heavy around him as realisation hit him suddenly.

There was a spirit in this room with him. What else could it possibly be? And the only person who had died or whose body still remained in this room was that of the girl he had so effortly tried to save back at the Amaranthine gates.

Trying to make himself sound sweet and innocent, yet protective and intelligent, Ollic regained his footing and cleared his throat and spoke softly, “Little girl?”

And to clarify what exactly it was he was talking about he continued, “Little girl? Are you the little girl who died at the gates this morning?”

He didn’t know if the spirit could hear him or if there truly was a spirit in the room, but he wanted to avoid being pushed again, so making a connection with whatever it was who had been doing the harm was a great idea.

“Are you here with me?” he went on as he took a side step to the door, just as a precaution.

He didn’t know how ghosts acted, for he had never met one, but incase this young girl wasn’t happy with him, he wanted to make sure he had a straight pathway out the door and to safety.

[Junie Rose Frostfawn]

He's here... He's here...

She stared out from under the table shaking, she couldn't control the smoke that rose and chaotically surrounded her protectively. He had come in through the doors and saw what she did, she knew...

He began to call for someone making her shake from under the table much more uncontrollably, It only growing worse when he started to call for a little girl, I'm a little girl... is he calling to me? she narrowed her eyes watching him thinking there would be no sense to call back in answer due to the stitch-- Wait...

Her hand flew up to feel her mouth and lips that rested there above her rounded chin on her even rounder face framed by dark auburn curls that fell to her shoulders, all of it flickering and fading like she was an old light bulb ready to just flicker off. Her eyes trailed the man unsure a few times before she reached up from under the table where he was standing ever so close to, fingers curling through the fabric of his sleeve only to make her aura flame with red once more.

Frustration crossed her face as she tried once more... still her pale fingers went through even his skin..

By the third time she was ready to beat against him when he shift away towards the door calling out, she was ready to scream... so she did, "HEAR ME!!"

Her voice rang out surprisingly loud even though she hadn't spoken more than whispers and mumblings for years of being silenced, it felt good.

She fled from the table and moved past him to the wall farthest from him sending a cold chill as she ran, floated or hovered... anyone of the actions would have been used to describe this sudden action, it was all so strange.

She hugged her knees then sitting on the floor as she peeked over her knees as the dress rested just above them to hide her face in it's purest of white fabric, she was watching then hoping he wouldn't flee from her... she was lonely even with company it seemed, the aura resting around her in it's slow movements of deep blues that matched her glowing eyes that watched him as she slowly became visible to the naked eye.

She was deeply frightened and sorrowful in her ways as she watched him for a reaction, "Can you hear me? Can you see me?" she wanted to add more but the last bit was just too heavy to spill from her lips, the words born in thought but died at her lips. Am I a monster?

[Ollic Rimesage]

Ollic prepared for the possible reply that was to come. What if he angered the girl’s spirit by asking her such questions that brought back terrible memories or clarified that she had indeed died. He certainly didn’t want to be reminded that he had died and he most certainly didn’t like being asked so many questions relevant to it.

There was an empty silence that hung in the air for a few seconds before chills bubbled to the surface of his skin and formed gooseflesh that covered him with the appearance of small pebbles laying on his arms.

“Hear me!” It wasn’t a scream necessarily but it was a loud outburst coming from the corner of the room where a table stood.

Could the child be over there? he thought, his eyes like lasers, boring holes into the location he had assumed the voice came from.

Instead of being terrified like any normal person, Ollic was naturally intrigued. He was conversing with someone who had passed on, yet had regrets that kept them wandering around on the earth.

“I hear you,” Ollic whispered, trying to calm the girl. The poor thing was probably scared, or confused not knowing what was going on. She hadn’t looked much older than ten years old from the glimpses he took of her when he wasn’t frantically trying to save her life or trudging behind the muscular men who carried her to the Catholicon.

A wave of freezing air washed upon Ollic as the position of the spirit shifted. Where she had gone, Ollic couldn’t tell, but she had definitely either moved near him or through him to get to where she was now.

Then, suddenly a tiny voice squeaked out two questions relating to whether he could hear her or see her, and with a turn of his head, Ollic could clearly see a small girl with long reddish-brown hair hanging down in curls. Her eyes were a deep blue that reminded him of the ocean on a stormy morning.

Crouching down to the girl’s level and with a hint of fear suffocating his words, he spoke as if he were a father.

“I can hear you. I can see you as bright as day.”

And with his words came more interest and with the interest that was continuously bubbling up inside him, he decided to press a more important, yet emotionally enraging or saddening question, depending on the person receiving said question.

Letting out a deep breath he hadn’t know he had been holding, he lowered his crouch and peered at the girl through his hair, of which had gotten longer since he never cut it.

His voice was ragged and cold, nothing close to how he wanted it to sound as he asked her, “What happened to you?”

[Junie Rose Frostfawn]

Who is he...

She stared at the man that was now returning her stare as well, she knew he could see her, she knew it because he had crouched just a few feet from her. She backed against the wall and even went through it a little but not enough to pass through into the other room, Her eyes were watching for any signs of fear within his expression as he let out a breath.

He had heard her, she was relieved, she could speak... I am gifted with words but my body is elsewhere... How can this be a gift if such a gift comes with such a heavy price as ones physical form? She thought to herself as she let the seconds fly by in her deep thoughts, leaving a pause between the two as she stared out with eyes that would remain permanently in their blue sorrow.

"I remember things..." she whispered out to him even in such a low tone she could be heard, she was feeling at her lips then as she spoke, he would probably remember the haunting image of her sewn shut lips... "I remember a creature that bit and clawed, he followed me in the snow... I-I.." her voice waved as well as her form as she remembered it more vividly.

"I was hungry... I couldn't find food to eat and the food I did find was too big to fit through the little holes in the stitches, you see... My mother did it to keep me quiet, I must have been very bad... I don't remember that."

she spoke quickly as she saw the faint memories as if it were a movie playing backwards, skipping and restarting within her mind. "I was warm in the snow... I do not know why but it was warm snow, I wore a dress. I am wearing the dress in there... and here."

she looked at him confused, she hadn't accepted her death entirely it seemed and even when she spoke with such a high intelligence she seemed too blunt, too rushed and quick.... As if her mind was going to fast for her mouth like any young child.

"I heard you, I heard you before I heard the other voice call out to me... I can't remember what they said... It was dark and then I woke up next to... Me." she had paused in confusion before adding the last word quietly, her soulmist turning a darker shade of blue as it swayed around her being.

[Ollic Rimesage]

As Ollic listened intently on what the little girl had to say, he felt his stomach flip and flop. He couldn’t help but want to rip the monster that killed her to shreds even if he didn’t seem like he was able to.

With a different, more malevolent side to him, he cursed the air with his tone of voice so low he couldn’t even hear himself speak it. All he could sense was the vibrations flow off his lips as he did.

When the young one touched her lips with tentative fingers, he remembered back to when he had found her. Her bloody leg and the fact that she wasn’t breathing any longer did much to steal his attention, but the stitches that kept her mouth sewn shut hadn’t gone unnoticed.

He was near close to asking her why she had her lips sewn shut, when a shiver rippled down his spine as if warning him not to. His indecisiveness was soon put to rest as the girl explained it to him.

“My mother did it to keep me quiet. I must have been very bad... I don't remember that."

What kind of monster was a mother who stitched her own flesh and blood’s lips shut? That wasn’t a form of punishment Ollic had ever heard before. It was a form of torture!

Suddenly as if she were reliving the memories and was being chased by the monster that ended up killing her, her voice rushed on, the words spitting out at an alarming pace. She spoke almost too fast for Ollic to understand, but he was barely able to.

The girl spoke of wearing a dress and Ollic glanced at the girl’s vessel, lying still on the table above him. He was still crouching down, listening to the girl as she told him the story of what had happened.

The spirit wasn’t making much sense by now as she kept going on about hearing Ollic’s voice before the other. There was another voice she had heard before she was completely lost to Death?

“Who’s voice did you hear?” Ollic asked her as he slowly shuffled closer to the girl.

The Vantha wanted nothing more than to change the events that had taken place before the girl’s death so that her life was able to end happily like they always should. But they didn’t and it was a sad shame to see someone so young pass away so soon.

Somehow things started to connect in Ollic’s brain as he took the girl’s mother and her harsh actions to the possibility of the girl running away. He stuck the monster that attacked her with the warmth of the snow she had lain on and assumed the blood must have surrounded her, the heat from the liquid keeping her body temperature warm long enough for her to have trekked the distance she had to the Amarathine Gates.

He was questioning himself now, doubting his efforts to save her life. Should he have gone to get help or was his actions appropriate for the situation that was unfolding before him at such a rapid place?

As he watched the female before him, he noticed a sort of mist hanging around her, the tint a dark blue. It was thick, like fog found in the early mornings and Ollic wondered if like his eyes, the thickness and colour changed with mood.

“Were you running from your mother?” Ollic asked, trying to tack on as many questions as he could in terms of correcting his assumptions of disapproving them.

“Do you know what the beast looked like?” He had pondered this over in his head for a few moments, wondering if the creature she had seen and that had attacked her was indeed a monstrosity or a regular wolf wandering the wilderness.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he apologised to her, concluding his words to see how she would react.

[Junie Rose Frostfawn]

So many Questions...

She stared out at him quietly as she watched him go through the possibilities, fitting it all together like puzzle pieces. "It was black, everywhere. I didn't have a body, I felt like I was search for it when s-something held me back. It was weak, it spoke in a voice that had no body either. I think it was telling me to leave, to come with it but I didn't listen, I pulled away because I thought it was my mother. Then I woke up." She hugged her knees more tightly then, her arms wrapped around her legs.

"I remember first my nose hurt like it was asleep and then my cheeks and fingers, even My toes hurt... Then the hole in my leg was chipping away like old paint. I'm used to the cold, I lived in it all the time. But... My legs were numb, I had fallen asleep in the snow and woke up to my limps all hot and I was sweating I think. It was warm snow..." She was mumbling, repeating....

"The monster had red eyes slanted like diamonds only rounded, There was no other color, No black dot." She pointed to her eyes and then started showing with her arms how wide it was, "It was big and black furred, with a black and white tail like a rats. It looked like a dog with a rat tail and black teeth, it had a bloody crying wolf head on it's tail too." She wasn't making much sense with her hand gestures and stuttering then, Overall she had avoided the question of her mother entirely.

[Ollic Rimesage]

It was like listening to a ghost story, the trembles starting to take ahold of Ollic’s body. The ghost’s presence didn’t do much better to warm him up. She naturally cast out a frigid temperature. It was part of her nature and he didn’t judge.

He still didn’t understand what voice was calling out to her, but neither did she, so they were basically on the same page of confusion. Perhaps she would one day know, perhaps not, and it was all in the way of life to be unsure about things.

Ollic had learnt that the hard way.

The girl’s description of how she had lost feeling in her nose, arms and legs made the Vantha shudder in a way that would make any Vantha who had lived in the coldest city in Mizahar shudder.

Chipping away like old paint? What did that make her? It was like describing a an old building with painted walls aging and stripping the paint off as it did. It was eerie and he wished the spirit hadn’t of put that image in his mind.

The beast had red eyes? No pupil in the centre? This sounded like it was all coming from a horror story and frankly, Ollic didn’t know if he could believe what she was telling him. Perhaps she knew that, seeing as how unrealistic the story sounded and was just telling him because he had asked.

Half rat, half wolf? Was this truly what this child had to have seen? If she was telling the truth, and by the frantic urgency in the voice as she spoke it must have been true, then he felt terrible for the girl having seen such a monster.

The spirit’s hand gestures were elaborate and sometimes became fuzzy through the mist that surrounded her like a coat.

“That’s what you saw?” he asked her, a hint of subconscious disbelief clearly heard in his voice. He cursed himself for not sounding more understanding.

Trying to make up for himself he added, “I’m sorry you had to see something so terrible,” with utmost sincerity.

He wished he could go over to the ghost and hug her, but obviously since she was a ghost, he couldn’t, so instead he chuckled slightly, his voice like honey and said to her, “I wish I could give you a hug right now, dear.”

Without realising how cruel that sounded, Ollic stood up and brushed off his pants, trying to think of what else to say. He had never conversed with a spirit before and in seeing one for the first time, he was quite flustered.

Suddenly an important thought came to him as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

“Why did you stick around, do you think?” Not all children got to continue their lives as a ghost, but in hearing this particular girl’s story, he had assumptions that she had stayed around due to her poor life with her mother. She had also died too quickly for her to keep up.

However, he wanted to hear it coming from her.

Secret :

If you don't mind my asking, what was it that Junie saw?