1st of Vhalar - The Bones
He came to where he'd put to sleep on the 30th of Saun. Crashing on the sofa in the foyer of Efah's old residence, now his, and Lacrima's he supposed. More his, at least in an official capacity. And though he ought to have been asleep in all that time, he was cared for, and not covered in a layer of dust as he'd expect, being in this dirty place for ten days without moving at all. He was wearing different clothing, just as imple tunic of brown cloth, trousers of the same, and still wearing boots. He was staring up at the ceililng, through the darkness of the early morning of Vhalar. Finally the suns would have taken their rest at this point, as he awoke at dawn.
He felt a slight twitch of a hair on his left brow. Like the sneakin gof a bug across clesh, it teased at the hairs of his brow, until he realized... there was indeed a bug there. He lightly slapped his own brow, expecting that would be the end of that. But when he removed his hand, he heard a voice in his mind, "I was just about to hit the right note, thank you very much. I'm composing a dancing tune, to impress my beloved."
Was this a new spirit,, a haunting, or else some trick of his mind from over-indulgence in the exploration of Lacrima's subconscious mind? He thought it could've been anyone of those, but he knew that the Order advised against overuse of the Calming Whispers of Sevrath. Perhaps now he was learning just why. He slapped his hand across his brow several more times, but never feeling the movement there subsiding.
"Ow ow ow, stop it! You savage!" The voice came through in a tone that was entirely too cultured to be a true spirit. Perhaps some disembodied soul taking a form that defied its living shape. A powerful manifstation? Was this the first ghost Woe would encounter in the Bones?
"I'm no ghost, my lad." The creature crawled across his brow, down over his eye. There, he saw the eight legs, the furry body, and the bulbous little eyes. A spider?
"I'm still dreaming." Woe concluded.
The spider's voice chuckled in his mind, "'Fraid not, and good luck that. You may not ever have a peaceful moment's sleep fro here on. But then, that depends... Will you help me with my
problem
?""Courtship?" Woe quirked his brow, but in a swift motion, swept the spider off his face. To which it went flying, with a loud click as it hit the mortar fully with its body. This didn't seem to damage it at all. "What are you, who are you, if notn some twisted ghostly apparition?"
"Why, we've met before. When you were a child? 'Tis I, Apples! The most handsome and eligible bachelor in all of Idalos!"
Ethyl's spider? That... then where had he been during that dream? Was Ethyl real, was the Nurse? Sintra, at least, he knew with some dread was very real.
Apples stared up at Woe, and the mortalborn could feel the incredulity oozing in the tension that hung on the air. "You do remember the task, the request she made of you?"
Woe thought on it, and though the experience had been one of utter confusion and loss, he could retrieve its memory.
"I want you to bring me people ...."
"Visit me in your sleep."
"I will see your life. This Cycle, I will watch you. Always watching"
"Bring them, their lives, their deaths. Bring them to me."
"Make new connections, strengthen old ones. Choose wisely and bring them."
"Visit me in your sleep."
"I will see your life. This Cycle, I will watch you. Always watching"
"Bring them, their lives, their deaths. Bring them to me."
"Make new connections, strengthen old ones. Choose wisely and bring them."
"Those words she spoke to me, those were a task..." Woe shook his head. "What does it mean?"
Apples cocked his body to one side, as he stood on the nightstand, and then lowered his forefangs. "Well, I'd say that's rather up to you to figure out, wouldn't you say good chap?" Apples hopped off the nightstand and onto Woe's chest. "I suspect you have an idea what to do, deep in that dark heart of yours... Now, best get to it?"
So saying, Apples faded into the Beneath, or into hiding, wherever spiritual familiars went when they weren't pestering their bondmates. Woe could definitely sense something spiritual about that spider, at least.