6 Choices

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 praying and 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.

"What will happen if I meet a paladin?" Mandy figured asking, although she had a feeling she knew.

"You will be chopped into pieces and die" August replied simply. "So float underground or inside buildings. Many of them have the ability to materialize wings so don't go up, thinking they can't follow. As long as you keep most of your body intact, it will patch itself up with time."

Mandy shivered. Not a meeting she wanted to have now or ever. They had walked through most of the park, reaching a light-filled district and while Mandy had not finished asking all she wanted to know about that other world, she felt it wasn't a bad idea to just sightsee for a bit and for the next twenty minutes she did exactly that, asking August bits about technology and other changes. To which August often said 'use google', since he didn't know (or didn't want to say), Mandy couldn't tell.

Yet-- then it happened. Mandy crossed her eyes with something slimy looking. And that happened because it had eyes just by the feet level. In fact, it had eyes all over its muddy body.

"Shit," August dashed into a run, dragging Mandy with him.

"Sorry--" Mandy wailed, as August slipped through a gap in a fence and Mandy passed through it.

She kept looking back at the creature rushing after them and didn't even properly see where August was pulling her. It moved like a liquid blob, tumbling over itself, sliding over the ground like a slug, but not leaving a trail. A creepy looking thing. She didn't wish to know what would happen if it caught up. August's running wasn't a good sign.

When she did cast a glance at her surroundings, they had broken into an abandoned apartment building. Up the stairs, down the hall, she lost sight of the creature as it tumbled after them. August picked a door and slipped in, ran through the room, then ducked behind a dusty armchair.

"Close your eyes," he whispered.

Mandy nodded and closed her eyes. She felt herself being pulled or pushed into something, yet she also felt August's hand holding her own. Then she heard the sound of flowing water and something faintly rustling, but she didn't open her eyes. The rustling moved away, gradually. Time passed, Mandy waited.

It might have been five, ten or fifteen minutes, it was hard to tell the time, but eventually, she felt the pull, then heard August's voice again. "It left."

She opened her eyes finding herself in the same apartment they had run into before, only now noticing how creepy this place was. It looked like a place after a wild party - tapestry torn, something written on the walls, faint stench of iron in the air. She squeezed August's hand a bit tighter.

"What was that thing?" She asked.

It wasn't hard to guess what she was asking about. "I'd say a forgotten living god," August said.

"They live in shrines normally, but when they are forgotten and their shrine is destroyed, then they roam like that till they reach a forest. In the forest, a corpse plant normally guides it to the boundary between worlds, so it can be cleansed and then it can pass on. If it had caught us, it would have made us sick and we would need to get to a forest and take it to the boundary by ourselves. That would have taken all night and then we would need to go through purification rituals..." August spoke in a way where 'such a pain' was written over his face.

Mandy had a feeling that had happened to August before. At least... she was glad they weren't risking their lives with that. Unless that 'sickness' was fatal. To think she could get sick even as a ghost, though...

"Will it be fine?" That muddy creature had been a 'god' once. Mandy felt a bit sorry for it.

"Yes. It usually takes them a week or so, but they can sense a forest, so - there's no need to worry."

Mandy nodded softly. That was reassuring. At least, it wasn't the case that it needed to catch someone to guide them there.

"Take a look at that" August said, pointing at something ahead.

Mandy took a closer look and instantly clung on August, realizing what that is. There was a transparent and faintly glitching head a little bit further ahead, stuck out from a wall.

"Let's leave," Mandy said.

August nodded and got up.

"What is that, even?" She asked.

"A ghost. Not the same type as you, though." August replied.

Her expression turned pained at the thought. It was a fellow human then. Much like herself…

"Most likely there are more on the other side of that wall. They are all stuck into some eternal nightmare, reliving it over and over again," August continued, looking towards the place.

"Why?" was the only thing she asked.

"Misuse of a dreamcatcher. I don't know the details of this case, though."

"Will someone come to free them?" Mandy asked. She only saw a part of the head, but it was an incredibly horrifying thought…

"There hasn't been a request most likely, and it seems like this house is set to be torn down." August said, then pondered a bit. "Some bigger astral might come and consume them as they are when the house is gone and they are exposed. That would end the curse, but their souls would be lost too." August's expression seemed neutral as he talked about it. Neutral to a point that it might not be natural.

"...Can you free them?" Mandy asked. She knew it was a rather stupid thing to ask, but August did have that suitcase with him and…

August cast a sideways glance at her. "Alone I can't." Came August's reply.

Mandy's shoulders dropped. But it couldn't be helped then. Leaving this did leave a bad aftertaste, but it's not like she knew how to help. Those were strangers too, just that… if it had been her, in a state like that, she would prefer being freed.

"...Together we might, though," August added, looking in her direction.

Mandy startled, looking at August in surprise.

"Solving the case takes something only a few astral types are capable of - delving into others dreams."

Mandy remembered what August had told her a while ago, she herself was one of those few types, although she had yet to try that on anyone.

"It might be quite dangerous, though," he said, peering at her face intently.

Mandy looked sideways. It almost seemed like he was offering her a chance to do something… or testing her, maybe testing was more the word for it. Doing something like this was… the type of work August had quit. If she said she wanted to try, would he do it even if he had quit? And then there was a question of. "How dangerous?"

"You might get stuck in there," August said.

"..." Mandy didn't want to get stuck somewhere when she had just gotten unstuck from that apartment. Not to mention in some sort of endless nightmare… perhaps leaving this place and going home was better. "What will you do if I get stuck?"

"Go home." August replied.

No mercy… Ah, going home really was the best choice. Logically Mandy was certain of this. But then she let out a long sigh. Knowing she could have helped and not helping would haunt her… and the fact that August would go home if she failed not… be stuck here with her was kind of reassuring in this case. Meant she could try. Mandy let out a faint smile.

"So, what do I do?" She asked.

A glint of surprise passed August's eyes, but he returned her smile.

At that moment, Mandy had a faint feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, August had been intending to do this from the start and he was merely testing if she was the same type of person he himself was. Yet if August was like this... why had he quit the job? Yet that was not something Mandy would ask right now.