Book 1 Chapter 32: A walk amongst the haze of purgatory

Chapter 32: A walk amongst the haze of purgatory, part 1

Jaeger watched on as the two golden glowing lights that had split grew farther in distance from each other. One to the left towards the school, the last to the front gate.

"Let me ask you something watch…does the night end, and I succeed on the quest of 'surviving' a night if I follow Tom?"

Several seconds passed by.

"Come on don't be a such a di…"

*ding*

'Boon of MYSTERY: The time grows near. Make a DECISION on what perspective to follow.

Quest: Follow Tom to the church, and fight off purgatory's grasp on his life, alongside the attack of the mysterious spirit amalgamation curse, the future will change accordingly to youre outside influence while not being known to TOM.

Quest: Survive the rest of the night within the school with the students, your decisions and interactions with them will truly have them killed if they die in this scenario. The occurences of the future will change accordingly. For every live you save, another must die.'

"Jesus fucking Christ" Jaeger's mouth hung open, 'Why did it have to say some of that in caps…yeesh…'

"I'm sorry boon of mystery…I really am" Jaeger rubbed his neck and looked up at the rain.

*ding*

'Boon of mystery: Make a choice on that in which person to follow, the time you knew will change within the choices you make. Be careful not in your choice, but that in which you do after you have chosen the path to take. Think wisely.

Quest: Follow Tom to the church, where he will find the secrets that inhabit the lands. The well is merely one door of several to the land of purgatory.

Quest: Follow those that fight the spirit of the amalgamation curse, their actions will either prevent once the opening of the door within the well, or with your assistance seal it forever. This comes at the cost of the lives already lost within the dark dwellings of the abyssal well.'

"Thank you…" 'But also…does it respond to my attitude? I need to be more careful when I voice an opinion…'

The decision, albeit slightly differently put then the previous quests was still the same quests.

It would seem it formatted the quests within the perspective that I took on as a person to the situations, and thus through a 'soft touch' the choices confer also a deeper understand if I so choose to ask.

Or…rather…that mysterious fucking boon has a mind of its own and its toying with me.

"Either way…that also means that the 'door'?... within the well can still be prevented from opening, I think by helping Tom I will stand a greater chance in the long run but…something still doesn't feel right…" Jaeger looked over to the golden light that was on the precipice of the entrance to the school grounds.

"Tom…you better feel lucky your guardian angel chose you" Is that the right way to put it?

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Tom left the school compound under the cover of light after talking to his friends. The plan had to be set into motion as soon as possible, and after their conversation in the morning he left for the front gate with one unconfident righteous step after the other.

'For them…for them…' He muttered to himself as the clank of the front gate locked behind him.

Jaeger watched Tom's face contort before a stubborn willful gaze broke out on his face.

'Kid seems to have some balls that's for sure' Jaeger silently trudged behind Tom as he left east in the direction of the church.

The two old men weren't outside as expected, because somehow it would seem that Jaeger was truly within the moment that had occurred before. He must have been sent about 2 and a half weeks into the past.

'or so I think…no…it said the events of the future will change, that must mean I'm in the past and not here. However…why not send me into the past from the get go? Let me kill those 5 and take their bodies rather than half them dropped into the well?'

Some things simply weren't adding up.

'There might be some tie between that of the curse, the lands upheavel from the original dimension, as well as the ability to interact with the dimension in the time of the 'past'…it said the 'door to purgatory' which could only mean a state of existence inbetween places…or rather, one that might repeat itself continually. If this is true, then a cycle must occur with events unfolding as they were destined to. With me going into the past, or rather…me being sent into the past…it was to take an outlier and thus change the cycle.'

'A circle…by changing the events in the future, I might also change the events of the past? No…that wouldn't make sense, because if I break the cycle then it wouldn't repeat itself…no its not a circle, it's a disk on a wheel that keeps skipping backwards while trying to correct itself'

This was also confusing.

Tom continued into the village, keeping a wary eye from anyone stopping him in his journey. He stopped by the 'talisman and spirit protection' shop and picked up an assortment of things that might be useful before heading east again. Jaeger tailed him like he had with others in the city known as Abyss, it brought him back a nostalgic feeling, albeit that rain wasn't endlessly falling from the sky.

The teen that trudged forward seemingly alone never wavered in his step, and at a point began to run as hard as he could.

Jaeger fluttered between the trees with a step, two runes glowing for lightning lightly upon his hand. He didn't mind this however, the drive this teen showed him in the face of what seemed to be absolute evil was quite enchanting.

'I bet he would've grown up to be a good guy, hell…he IS a good guy'

Tom stopped in his steps after wheezing hard for a long while. He reluctantly sank to his knees as the night grew near, hours having passed in his lonesome travel. His eyes darted several times, and after moving about a bit gathered some sticks into a pile before creating a fire.

He sat in a stupor to the glowing orange aura surrounding him in its embrace. Jaeger, who was watching from beyond the trees sighed as tears glittered to the earth beneath Tom.

'This wont get easier on him…how did I feel?'

Jaeger couldn't remember what he felt, which made it seem estranged. He had questioned the reality, and yet still moved forward without halting but maybe that was because he had people he cared about.

Tom had people he cared about to, even a girlfriend and a close friend which ironically was like Solomon and Anna. Yet the results were different, maybe it was the dark stage of the Abyss but something had clicked differently when you knew the world had magic and powers already.

This world was the closest to real as real could get.

Yet, Tom sat near the fire clutching his knees as he silently cried.

'Hmm…' Jaeger mulled over several things.

A lantern clinked off from the ring on Jaeger's waist, and was sat lightly on the ground. Jaeger stepped away and then tossed a rock at the lantern half buried into the earth with an old warn looking talisman set upon it.

Tom's sniffles stopped as his gaze crossed the tree line. He slowly got up and grabbed a stick, before crouching forward in the direction of the sound. He rounded the tree the sound came from and yet no person was there, that was when in the dim moonlight that sprung forth from the casted clouds of the sky he saw a lantern.

"Huh?" He picked it up and studied it for a while until his hands traced over the old talisman hung off from a ring set upon the top. Its straight edges and rounded bottom bowl like body gave a strange other worldly feel that Tom just couldn't place.

He slowly walked back to the fire, his attention drawn for only mere moments before the thoughts of failure crept their way back into his mind.

His parched eyes watched the fire as his hands subconsciously played with the lantern before a finger lightly rubbed the bottom of the lantern. The fire dimmed spontaneously for a second causing Tom to flinch and drop the lantern.

"What?" His eyes looked to the trees and found no wind dancing upon them. No draft amongst the tufts of grass around him, his eyes gazed down upon the lantern that now had a small ember like flame set into the inside of the bowl like bottom.

He picked it up and studied it for a long while but no matter how many times he prodded and poked it no strange opening could be found let alone a mechanism. "Is there writing on it?..." He brought it closer to the fire and rubbed the top portion of it near the talisman before flipping it over and rubbing the rounded bottom to find calligraphy or pictures if there were any.

That was when his fingers caressed it again, and with it the fire dimmed substantially before giving out completely as if its life was sucked away. The lantern roared to life with its own burning gaze that brightened the surrounding area.

Tom coughed with his mouth open in amazement.

His fingers slowly caressed the bottom portion and with the action the glow from within dimmed like mood lighting. It was miraculous.

"A light…"

Jaeger who stood not far away leaned slightly closer to where Tom was to hear his words with great struggle.

"A light in the darkness…" Tom began to repeat over and over.

A smile bloomed unknowingly on both their faces at the same time. It would seem the 'sign' out of nowhere had been taken well. Jaeger bet a 80/15 chance with the worst being that Tom wouldn't figure out how to even use it. With the 15 percent chance of not just failure to use it, but failure to even bring it back to the fire. Some people if they found a talisman on something would assume a spirit was locked inside.

Yet Tom who was drawn away by his thoughts carried it back with him, using that last 5% of a chance to figure out how to use the lantern that Malcolm had given Jaeger a long time ago.

'The point of the lantern…is to introduce a magical effect on his faith in himself. That a fire can bloom out of thin air lighting the way…or that's how he took it…I just meant to give him a source of light incase he got locked in some place dark…heh…' Jaeger's smile brightened just a tad more.

"Little spirit…I ask sincerely to use your vessel in my time of need, and when I have fulfilled my quest I shall lift the talisman releasing you from your cage…I beg of you." Words suddenly sprang into the night air catching Jaeger by surprise.

'What the…oh…right…'

This world believed in the spirits of the afterlife deeply. To Tom this might very well be the soul of a spirit locked within the lantern, or even the soul of a saint who used himself as a conduit to light the way for a monk long ago. The lantern did look pretty beat up after Jaeger's many…adventures.

'This works too'

The light didn't dim, and thus Tom nodded to the lantern in thanks before rekindling the fire back up in front of him and slowly caressing the base of the lantern to dwindle the flame down to an ember.

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Tom fell asleep next to the warm fire, his arms lightly clutching the lantern against his chest. While he got rest, Jaeger gazed around the forest with trepidation.

'Spirit amalgamation…' *flick* a light ember glowed from his hands as smoke drifted out slowly from his mouth, 'that means that like that undead creature the 'undead amalgamation' which is a physical monstrosity of flesh clumped together…this 'spirit' is a mix of sources…yet it said 'spirit amalgamation curse' and ended with curse specifically rather than the curse being the cause and the spirits gathering the effect…'

'No…' *puff* a white and warm smoke slowly chilled as it floated up through moonlight in the trees, causing beams of light to scatter before fading away, '…why didn't those kids see the spirits of the five before? No even when the quests were offered to me it said the 'spirit amalgamation' would attack both groups regardless…this can only mean it isn't just a single entity but something that merely exists and grows with that of spirits…'

That uneasiness that Jaeger had felt for so long within the school slowly crept up his legs like ants that had been pissed off.

'It isn't a spirit of vengeance…no…the curse itself has taken life!'

*whoosh*

A chilly wind suddenly sprang forth in the light, the dim streaks of moonlight were soon smothered with dark and ominous clouds.

*whack*

"Ow what the fuc…" Tom suddenly sprang up as he rubbed his fore head where unknowningly a rock had struck just seconds ago.

His hand slowly lowered to the lantern in his embrace as he felt the cold air passing by him and licking at the flames as if to devour them entirely.

'It's…started…' He thought to himself as he tossed several sticks onto the fire to keep it going.

Jaeger clutched the pistol tucked in the holster under his arm pit as he kept one eye on Tom and the other on the trees around him. He flicked the ember off from the cigarrete and tossed it into his breast pocket underneath the trench coat.