Story: Chimera: Class of 666
Part: One "Waking Up"
Chapter: Five "The Chimera"
Authored by:
Hannah Nyland (The Irreverent Revenant)
All Rights Reserved.
Chimera: Class of 666
By Hannah Nyland and Jerad Sayler
This
conversation is pretty up and over my head but at least in the sunlight it is
less frightening. I still wear the amulet, I still dissect and retain these
quick dive-ins. “These types of beings, made of pure ephemera usually exist
apart from our world, unable to directly act upon people. They are separated by a barrier of
interference. The world of the collected
resonance we call The Shadow Realm for it is a shadow of our own. But sometimes they manage to cross over. When they do they are still usually formlessness
and out of sync with physical reality for the most part. They cannot be
touched, felt, seen or anything like that. Physical reality isn’t easy for them,
ephemeral beings have to either use what little power they can to
interact. Think cold spots, strange
manifestations, poltergeist activity. It takes a lot of juice but sometimes
they even can gather up enough ambient matter to fashion a temporary material
body for themselves. After a short while their bodies they turn back into slimy
goo, ectoplasm, what ephemeral matter looks like when it gets consolidated
enough to become something like flesh and blood.”
“So
you were probably seeing spirits where they don’t belong, or ghosts that should
move on. I would say they are ‘naturally’ occurring except I have a universal
theory that operates on the world being broken and flawed.”
“And
creepy-crawly could have been a manifestation of a ghost or spirit. There are
too many other things out there it could have been to know for sure. You said
it had dog-level intelligence, that doesn’t narrow it down much.”
I
take all this information in; with it, the creatures have started to lose some
of their menace. Though I probably won’t feel that way if I come face to face
with one again. At the moment though, I’m shifting over to a more analytical
mindset; the situation is a puzzle to be solved.
“The
spirits, is it possible to send them back to the Shadow Realm? And is what they
do harmful to people? It definitely looked like they were leeching off them.
I’m more worried about that dog-thing though. Don’t like not knowing anything
about it since it was in my neighborhood. I wonder how long it’s been in town.
How long it’s been doing . . . whatever it’s doing.” I frown, and shift
restlessly. There are too many unknowns for my liking here. “So, got any ideas
on what I should do about it? I would really prefer not to leave this
uninvestigated when it’s so close to home.”
He
smiles, seemingly impressed by my resolve. "I do suggest you investigate.
And to ensure I don't lose my new apprentice I will equip and empower you for
success."
My
mind is racing. I’m looking forward to investigating this, in a weird way.
Wasn’t expecting that. There’s still a voice in the back of my head screaming
caution, but it’s easier to ignore here, away from immediate danger.
"Yes,
it is possible to send spirits back across into the Shadow Realm, but you are
far from learning these mysteries now. Usually spirits that manage to slip into
physical reality are weak and have trouble influencing objects or living
things. They can be harmless,
manageable, and even positive. But yes, they leech energy off of people's emotions.
This life-force or animus they eat, best I know, seems to be a byproduct of the
soul with relation to sentience and emotions or states of mind. People and other living things seem to
produce a seemingly endless supply of this charged resonance.”
I
put up a hand. “Wait. Hold up. What is resonant energy?”
“That
is a long conversation we can have later.
But what it boils down to is this: what happens in the physical plane
resonates in the spiritual world, creating ripples of action. As below, so above. Resonance is what we call
those traces of psychic energy that is left behind by these interactions and
they can build up and collect in places over time. A slaughterhouse has the
general resonance of cows for sure, but what is stronger is fear, pain, and
death resonance. Different resonances can give rise to spirits, resonance that
now has instincts or even artificial intelligence, wants to find more food
wants more of what it is. Your mage
Sights make you able to perceive physical and mystical phenomena as well as
different types of resonance.”
This
deluge of information is a welcome relief after a week of having nothing but my
own paranoia and anticipation to chew over.
“Perhaps…”
he concedes after a longer pause, “we should assess the spirits and ghosts you
see as well, ensure they are no harm... but we are at another slippery slope.
Are you planning on fixing every problem in Jamestown and go from there? We are
not alone, messing with cryptids or spirits could step on someone's toes.
Either way we need more information. As far as I know Jamestown is on the edge
of both Horsemen and the Fargo territory... as far as I know it is unclaimed by
mages. But that gives me no intel for any other supernatural society that may
hold claim there. Werewolves and vampires are the ones I at least know exist in
regional and global level conspiracies but there are rumors of other, stranger
things."
My
expression shifts from sad to slightly amused. “Werewolves. I can add that to
my list of things that are real. Anything else? It seems like pretty much
everything is. And Honestly? I probably would try to solve every problem in
Jamestown if I had the power to do that. It’s my hometown. I’d prefer for it to
be safe.” I look a bit wistful and shrug, acknowledging that this is perhaps
unrealistic.
Casstiel
chuckles.. “I know how that feels, I am the same way about Beulah. Well hell,
both sets of my grandparents and an aunt and uncle in that town. Nergal,
Kairos, and I have pretty much regulated everything supernatural thing there
since 2010. It is okay to go check these things out now that I have your back,
but little critters in the dark could very easily be just the tip of the
iceberg. Just know that throwing yourself at every problem makes a lot of
enemies, but sometimes it is worth the cost. We just need to be smart about how
we go about it. We don’t want to attract outside attention, like the critter’s boss
or something.”
“Hopefully
I can at least do something about this. I’ll check both the spirits and the
other thing out. Investigation only. But I don’t understand why other mages
would want these sorts of things running around if they are harmful.” It just doesn’t make any sense.
Casstiel
finally remembers his manners and leads me inside and into a spacious kitchen
with granite countertops. Over to my left extends a huge living room with
vaulted ceilings, dark wood floors and a fireplace that always seems to be
retreating further from me. Some kind or architectural illusion? No, it is not
a simple trick, okay maybe a trick. I can feel the distance recede too. There are distortions here in space, and also
flickering of mental energy like static. I catch a phantom whiff of brimstone
and instantly become anxious. This place
resonates with Hell. I can feel their breath across the back of my neck. I’d
say I was getting scared by that just wasn’t true. It is a little unsettling but also
exciting. This place charges me with
that potential and reminds me of the trails I surpassed. I make a mental note to ask about the weird
aura in the house later.
Casstiel
still has his back to me as we walk, still talking. “Yes, werewolves exist, vampires have a whole
blood-sucking society. Pretty much everything from myth has some aspect of
occulted truth. There are lots of things out there. I am sorry you saw something nasty and I didn’t
show up like I promised. I was careless.
I thought I could watch everything or notice when you are in trouble. I should
have set up some shifts for myself, but I had no reason to believe with the amulet
you would get into any trouble. And you didn’t… but still that creature is
worrisome.”
Genuine
remorse. I had wondered why he hadn’t
shown up but assumed it was because I hadn’t been in danger at the time.
He
leads me over to a white garage door on one wall of the living room and past a
small statue of Bast in bronze sitting on a runner table near a leather
couch. He picks up two familiar looking
boots from the shoe rack. My boots.
I’m
not really watching him though. A wrought Iron globe catches my eye. Well… less
a globe and more like rings of iron moving on various axis in very slow rotations.
In the center appears to be a geometric shape of heavy dark metals the size of
a child's fist. I study it and instantly
know it is 80-faced polyhedron-icosahedron.
I can feel each side of it as if I were touching it with my eyes. Each of its tiny faces is inlaid with multiple
symbols. This rotating globe radiates
with magical energy I can feel but not see, a kind of warm like invisible
sunshine fills the whole room. I’ve got my eyes trained on the iron globe,
trying to pick out any symbols I recognize. Some look like astrological signs,
also Roman numerals maybe? The rest looks like foreign, Hebrew and even more
exotic lettering. The whole die radiates
unseen energy, creating a sustained field of magic.
I
notice Casstiel is watching me patiently and tear my eyes away. He doesn’t comment, just holds out my boots
to me. I stare at the die for a few
seconds longer before giving up, frustrated and intrigued. This is apparently a
mystery that will have to be addressed at a later time.
The
rooms pull on me in conflicting ways, the influence of my watchtower making me
feel both unsettled and completely in my element.
“So…
what’s up with the house?” I finally ask
to fill the mounting silence.
He
smiles proudly, happy I’ve decided to comment perhaps. “The second we entered our house we entered
the private quarters and ritual spaces level of the sanctum. You see, with my understanding of spatiomancy
I am able to apply multiple layers of identical spacial templates and stack
them in spatially displaces pockets on top of each other. If someone broke in
they would enter a normal home. One with
two floors 9 rooms, and 4 bedrooms. But to those of us I have keyed to enter
I’ve copied and expanded the normal template out to 28 bedroom “sized” rooms,
14 hallways, 21 rooms with bathroomish components in them, and 35 massive
common areas… 84 viable spaces counting the original versions.”
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