Chapter 3: Spirit World

  After reaching the end of the bridge, Shade stepped on a large platform of white marble and saw a large round table with chairs surrounding it.

  On the wall behind the round table stood multiple doors and only one of them was open.

  With heavy steps, Shade walked through the door and saw an office space with a large wooden desk. Behind the desk sat a muscular man with styled black hair and brown skin.

  “Hmm? Are you the new kid?”

  “Yes, um… I am… the Magician.”

  The man looked the young man in front of him up and down. He made a facial expression that didn’t show any of his inner thoughts.

  Shade noticed that the man in front of him had rather large muscles as he stood up to shake his hand.

  “The Magician, like the tarot card?”

  “Huh, ah, yes!”

  Too embarrassed to say the truth, Shade confirmed the deep brown haired man’s guess as he looked to the side.

  “Good, I was about to get you but the saintess said that she wanted to do it.”

  “Huh? Saintes?”

  Shade’s question reverberated in the room by an ethereal force. One that Shade could not feel. The man laughed heartedly while patting Shade’s back.

  Shade felt the powerful slaps to his back and groaned quietly in pain. After calming himself down, the muscled man continued to explain.

  “Yes, she is rather aloof isn’t she. Not what comes to mind when one thinks of a saintess. But don’t worry, her title isn’t for show.”

  “Huh? Alright?”

  Shade didn’t believe in any religion because he was an orphan. Shad didn’t have time to pray to some unknown being, but he knew what a saint and saintess was.

  He was a bit surprised that he walked next to a saint but then noticed something off… Why is a religious temple underground? It doesn’t adhere to any of the common knowledge of the religions I know of. What is this place and who are these people?

  Shade had numerous questions pop up into his mind, but he felt it best to not say anything and simply listen to gather information.

  He felt the need to run away, more information would be perfect. The muscular man looked Shade up and down and smiled while talking.

  “I forgot to introduce myself, I am Rouge. Nice to meet you

  Mr. Magician. Your letter came rather timely. It’s like the goddess herself sent you to us.”

  After hearing Mr. Rouge’s last sentence, Shade thought of him as a pious believer. Mr. Rouge continued speaking, but his voice changed to a heavier tone.

  “It’s unfortunate that the person you spoke with when you were younger is no longer alive. May he find rest. But let’s leave that for later, follow me!”

  “Yes, Mr. Rouge!”

  Shade felt bad that the one he spoke to when he was younger was dead. However, that didn’t change the fact that he was planning to run before he gets absorbed into the cult.

  Mr. Rouge and Shade left the office and took the bridge back to the central circular platform. They talked while walking.

  “Your welcome party will have to wait, all of our mystics are out right now, searching for a missing child. Did you meet a woman with a black dress at the reception hall?”

  “Huh, yes.”

  Shade’s brain went into overdrive… Mystics? Missing child? What is this place?

  He started thinking that he was simply dreaming, waiting to wake up. Mr. Rouge continued his explanation with anger in his voice.

  “She received the gruesome remains of her husband along with a note stating that they had taken her child this morning.

  The kidnappers and presumably murderers demanded 100 pounds as a ransom for her child’s free release.

  She was worried for her child’s safety but couldn’t trust the kidnappers to return him even if she did pay.

  Everyone is searching for clues and hunting down suspects but for the most part, we have nothing. Our divination expert is having trouble finding anything and she is exhausted.

  That is where you come in. Call upon the spirit world, make a contract with a spirit that is good with divination, becoming a mystic, after that, help us find the child.”

  Hearing what Mr. Rouge had said turned Shade’s brain into mush. His thoughts trailed off… I should had asked for a work description. I didn’t know that I would be working in a mental hospital. Is the saintess the nurse or doctor? Or is she one of them?

  The two men reached the central platform and on it was a small wooden altar. The altar had a scented candle and a silver card placed on it.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Mr. Rouge looked at the altar and nodded, while Shade’s mind nearly went blank… What the hell is this?

  Mr. Rouge looked at the water with the silver fishes swimming in it. And exhaled a sigh of relief.

  “An altar, vanilla scented candle, and a spirit protection charm, perfect. This wasn’t here before, right? The saintess probably prepared it, that saves us time.”

  Rouge pushed Shade to sit in front of the altar and then lit the scented candles. Shade didn’t resist because he was still stuck in his own thoughts.

  “Now close your eyes and stop thinking, I will chant the correct spell to enter the spirit world, repeat after me thrice.”

  With reservations, Shade closed his eyes and before letting go of all of his thoughts made one final internal joke… If I get killed, I promise to haunt Catelyn. Wait! No! I should haunt Rouge, not Catelyn! Why did I think of her by reflex?

  Rouge opened his mouth and started chanting in an ethereal tone, Shade repeated as he thought it best to not resist.

  “Home of Spirits. World of Mysticism. Incarnation of Power. I ask for permission to Enter.”

  Home of Spirits. World of Mysticism. Incarnation of Power. I ask for permission to Enter.

  Home of Spirits. World of Mysticism. Incarnation of Power. I ask for permission to Enter.”

  The third time Shade chanted the spell with an ethereal voice. He never intended to chant with an ethereal tone, it was as if an invisible force made him do it.

  He felt an itching feeling in his eyelids and were forced to open his eyes. When Shade opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings that had changed. White light of different colours surrounded him as if it was fog.

  Shade noticed movement in front of him, but he didn’t know how far away the thing was from him.

  “Focus on target.”

  “Huh?”

  A monotone voice sounded from above him. Shade looked up and saw Ms. Silver floating above him.

  “Ms. Silver! Where are we?”

  “Spirit World.”

  Stunned, Shade opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out… That exist? So that man wasn’t crazy? Or am I actually dreaming. And why does Ms. Silver speak in so few words?

  After collecting himself for a moment, Shade asked another question to the aloof Ms. Silver

  “Ms. Silver, what should I do?”

  Ms. Silver looked down at Shade, she thought for a moment before speaking with a somewhat blank expression.

  “Target, divination capable spirit. You need to make a contract, then use dream divination to find the child.

  Everything is prepared. His shirt is in your physical hand. Chant his name three times, with a divination statement.

  His name is Alan Williams.”

  Ms. Silver shifted her gaze towards the light in front of her before continuing.

  “First, find a spirit. Think about the spirit’s characteristics. I will help.”

  “Alright…”

  Though Shade started to believe that he was dreaming, he couldn’t completely eliminate the possibility that everything was real.

  If he wasn’t a dream, then a child is missing, and the child’s father has been murdered. Though the woman above him was a little weird, Shade decided to trust her.

  Shade couldn’t help but think of the kids in the orphanage, their faces flashed through his mind as he made up his mind to help… Think of the spirit’s characteristics. What was it again? Great at divinations?

  A shifting beautiful scenery showed itself in front of Shade, the surroundings shifted and changed until a paper figure appeared from the lights.

  The paper figure could fit in one’s palm, and it was in the shape of a thick stick figure. Ms. Silver was the first one to speak.

  “This one is… great at divination, anti-divination, and illusions. Not fit for combat. What we need, but… too strong.”

  Shade looked at Ms. Silver. The initial shock that should had come with the appearance of the spirit didn’t come.

  Shade had acclimated to the unbelievable situation. He reined in his thoughts before asking his question.

  “Will that be a problem?”

  “Don’t know. Trust the goddess. But it will hurt. Ready?”

  Shade swallowed a large amount of saliva… She doesn’t know if it will be a problem. Why does she want me to trust a goddess? Which goddess? And how bad will the pain be?

  Shade started to weigh his options. He wanted to search for another spirit if he could, but that would take up more time.

  It was unknown how much longer the kidnapped child could wait… It will hurt, but who cares if it will help save a child.

  After thinking about the kidnapped child, Shade made up his mind. He felt fear welling up inside of him, but he ignored it.

  “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “Alright.”

  Ms. Silver nodded at Shade and stretched out her hand. The paper figure moved closer to Shade, and a spiritual light enveloped them.

  Ms. Silver made chains emerge and bound Shade and the paper figure spirit.

  The silver chains slowly disappeared, and a beautiful ethereal voice sounded in Shade’s ears. The voice didn’t belong to Ms. Silver, but it was clearly a woman’s voice.

  “It’s you! You sure have grown up.”

  A warm feeling enveloped Shade’s body while a silver light bloomed around him, startling Ms. Silver.

  “A blessing…”

  Ms. Silver knew by instinct of what was happening, a god had just given Shade a blessing. She couldn’t help but speak her thoughts out loud. The ethereal voice spoke once again.

  “Now my Magician, chant his name and ask your question thrice.”

  The words Shade needed to say came to mind. He closed his eyes and started chanting with an ethereal voice as his physical body outside the spirit world clasped the child’s shirt in his hand even harder.

  “The Location of Alan Williams.”

  “The Location of Alan Williams.”

  “The Location of Alan Williams!”

  The Magician hadn’t noticed when he had returned from the spirit world. He opened his eyes then closed them once again, he fell asleep as if cued by a god.

  The scented candlelight was blown out by an ethereal wind that flowed through the room.

  Images flashed in the Magician’s dream, and he saw the child bound with chains in a dark place. Time reversed and he saw the faces of the people that kidnaped the child.

  A body was dragged into the dark place believed to be a basement and a knife was dislodged from its heart. The corpse turned from dead to alive through the reversal of time in the dream.

  As more time reversed, Mr. Magician noticed that the scenes weren’t complete, but Mr. Magician saw the kidnapping happen, and then the images shifted to a street sign… The street sign, their faces, the house.

  Mr. Magician opened his eyes and noticed that his body refused to listen to him. As he opened his mouth, he suddenly closed it and gritted his teeth as he then groaned in excruciating pain.

  The pain was the worst he had ever felt before. The pain made him feel as if the bones in his body were broken then healed and then broken once again multiple times.

  Mr. Magician knew that he would soon black out, he decided to use his last conscious moment to convey what he had seen in the dream.

  “24th Street! Painted wooden house, black!”

  Holding back his scream, Mr. Magician did his best to remember the details.

  “Three windows! Green Mailbox! Kid in the basement!”

  The kidnappers’ faces flashed through his mind. He felt his consciousness was about to fade.

  Mr. Magician refused to black out before he could give any descriptions of the kidnappers.

  “Kidnappers! One of them has freckles! Dark hair! Other, blond! Scar on nose-”

  As he slowly lost consciousness, the Magician could hear people running around him, while shouting. No voice sounded clear, all of them sounded muddy, except one ethereal voice.

  “You did well, my dear Magician. Be sure to remember my name well. My name is…”