Around 3 days have passed since the incident, yet at night I still can't sleep. I feel a part of me missing, still chained up to the metal table. Most tutors noticed my changed complection, but only asked surface level questions and moved on. All but one tutor, my theoretics professor. Will Burden was his name, and every time we crossed paths, he worried for my wellbeing.
Already knowing that tonight would be the same, I got out of bed and slowly escaped from my room. I made sure to cover my Imprinted Pattern, and as quietly as a ghost, I left the house. We lived on the outskirts of the city where the change from Day to Night was more seamless. This was one of the only truly neutral areas in the city Aube. The rest were filled with merchants and rich folk from Day and Night.
I walked through the plaza, gandering at the plethora of items for sale. I made sure to stick to crowds and torches, never being isolated. It was a lively time, there were singers who sang tales of faraway heroes and performers did amazing tricks.
The atmosphere was calmer than what one would expect. Under the light blue hue of the moon in the sky, where stars sparkled endlessly, there was a sense of serenity. I talked to the vendors, asked what they sold and about themselves. There were some from fallen families, some from war-torn areas seeking refuge and those turning a new leaf.
I…enjoyed myself- this hidden world of the Nuit was spectacular. But like an hourglass runs out of sand, my night ran out of wonderful experiences. One stall had special occult themed items on display that the owner re-affirmed were decorative. However, when I touched a black skull that was engraved with gold markings, I heard a scream. I nearly dropped the item as I turned my head, only to see nothing but the regular crowd.
Weird, I thought as I placed it back down and inspected a vial of maroon red liquid. The same scream echoed once again, this time joined by a second individual. I looked at the merchant, whose plump body and bald head was talking to a different customer. I stared at him and saw strange smoke blowing off him. The closer I looked, the more it resembled screeching skulls, and they noticed me too. The many skulls caught my gaze.
"ARGHHHH!"
It was a terrible scream. They floated off the body and charged at me, screaming that same insufferable sound that sounded like the flight of a million flies. I ran away. Why? I was scared. I was seeing skulls invisible to other people whose screams pained me.
I turned the corner to be met by the back of an officer. "Officer help." I yelled. My heart sank when he did. The man's face was rotting, showcasing his many layers of flesh and partially revealing his skull. I, I ran away again. The more I ran, the more strange entities chased me. It got to the point where hands clawed at the earth to pull up their rotting corpses. Wraiths, ghouls or whatever these were, I didn't care. All I wanted was to get rid of that piercing scream!
The world spun around me as I found myself falling down. Holes were present in the ground. The barrage of creatures jumped on me and tore my body apart, feasting on my regenerative body. It was painful, so painful.
"Young child, command them…" An ethereal voice spoke to me in my mind. Command them? How could I do that when so many creatures all surrounded me.
I raised my arm weakly and extended it to touch one of the rotting men in the dead parade. "Please, please disappear," I said as I cried cold tears. The marching dead stopped moving and crumbled to dust, leaving nothing behind. I blinked multiple times to see that I was still in front of the plump and bald merchant, holding onto the vial of blood.
What…what was that? I placed the vial down and walked away to the only safe place that I knew. A small church made of stone remained open at all hours that respected all religions and beliefs. It didn't turn away any visitors or those in need, and at my current time, this was probably the only place where I could come. I must have started hallucinating from the lack of sleep. Next might be insanity.
"Hello child. What brings you at this hour?" There was a member of the clergy tending to the building.
"I have trouble sleeping. Do you offer anything that could help me?" I shouldn't tell him that I was imagining ghosts and zombies eating away at me.
"We do have some lavender oil or chamomile tea that may help. I recommend the tea as the smell isn't as intense." The individual handed me a bag of chamomile tea. I apologised that I had no donations, but promised to volunteer my time to help.
"No need, child. This is a place where kindness is shared. Safe travels."
****
"Today's lesson will be about the practical uses of Will crystals and how to use them." Sir Don Corter talked about manipulating a crystal to expel the stored Will and use that rather than Will from your body. It would be helpful if I could see Will without needing this stupid accessory. The glass lens was fragile and could break if I didn't use it carefully.
I rummaged through my pockets looking for a pencil, only to feel a small cold cylindrical object. My body froze. It couldn't be what I imagined, I made sure to leave it at the merchant's stool. Yet, it was. It was the vial of blood.
"Sir." In a panic, I lied that I felt ill and was allowed to go to the restrooms. I ran and barricaded myself in a stall, isolating myself from any individual that could possess that skull-like black fume. I waited…and waited…but no spirit came to haunt me. The vial was still in my pocket, as if it were attached to me.
I was scared. Could this be a curse put on by voodoo? Then again, I was imprinted by the Element of Death. "Wait…" I whispered to myself as I stared into the vial, as it finally hit me. Death must mean that I am able to not only cause pain and death, but also commune or control the deceased's spirits.
Who was that merchant then? And that strange world where my body was eaten by spirits?
I still had the translucent vial and the temptation to open it and touch the red liquid was overbearing. l slowly pulled the lid off and the stench of blood hit me like a tidal wave. I swirled the liquid slowly and observed the compection of red hues interloping. I was brough back to reality by the bathroom door opening and clossing.
"Mort," a voice rang from beyond the bathroom stall, "it's me, the nurse. Are you feeling alright? You never went back to class after saying you felt sick." From the voice I could tell who this was, a person with a similar background to me that was able to leave the life of poverty, Nurse Sante Visage.
"I,I'm fine ma'am. Have you got any medicine for headaches?"
"I'm sure I do! Come with me to the nurses office and I'll give you some."
As we walked, I could tell a substantial amount of time had passed while I was trapped with the cursed object. When I first joined the academy, I would often end up in the nurse's office for many reasons: I would get into fights, trip due to my clumsiness or try asking for any experimental drug that could force my eyes to awaken.
"Ah, here we are!" Nurse Visage handed me a circular pill. "Take this and you should feel better. Oh and also drink more liquid, your pale complexion is worrisome." I made my way outside just in time for the bell to ring and for my next lesson to begin, which should be Natural Studies where we learn about the world around us.
*****
I'm screwed. A piece of trivial information was mentioned by the professor, one so small that it was mostly ignored by nearly, if not, all the students. All but me.
"Humans can't control Will and be Imprinted, and vice versa. If you become Imprinted, you lose the capabilities to develop into a Conjurer, including your awakened eyesight."
Normally you wouldn't worry about this as you'd just be truthful and announce your Imprisonment. I nearly exploded in fury. How could my circumstances just keep getting worse. Not only am I unable to see Will, but staff have started to catch on about my appearance being different. Time was not in my favour. I needed to figure something out quickly.
I walked out of the classroom while biting my finger, trying to piece together a puzzle with misshaped pieces, to the point I wasn't registering where I was walking.
Clunk.
"Ouch," I said while rubbing my nose, "So sorry, sir…"
In front of me was a familiar black and shiny armour. I looked up to see a familiar helmet with two horns sticking out.
"Oh my look! Mort stopped that dangerous-looking knight." People pointed, not knowing the brief history between us two.
"Hi…Sir?" It was an awkward greeting. How was I supposed to know they would show up here? "What can I do for you?"
What shocked me the most was what followed- the knight, whose very presence sucked in positivity, burst out laughing a mighty laugh. "Mort, do not worry about it! And drop the formality, son."
Oh no. What were you doing, knight? From behind the mask, I could practically see their sly smile. "Ha ha nice jo-"
"SON!" The crowd became agitated and outraged. In my mind I imagined myself deflating under the pressure. The knight grabbed me, snapping me out of my pleasant dream, and running away while carrying me on his shoulder.
"Ahhhh. Stop it!" I yelled, only for them to increase their speed.
"Blegh." We were now in a secluded area with no prying eyes, where I could vomit up the stress of being carried away at a high velocity. "Knight, why are you here? You said you'd sponsor me next year?"
"No time. Quick question, have you heard about grafting? The process where one part is attached to another, becoming whole?" Gone was the formal and professional tone, now replaced by a more relaxed and even cheerful tone.
"Yes I know what grafting is. People do it to trees to make new fruit, what about it?"
"Mort you probably have realised by now that you can no longer awaken your eyes. And by the start of next year, people will start suspecting your true nature."
The knight wasn't wrong. I had put off the thought but it was sadly true. There is no such thing as a late bloomer when it comes to awakening your eyes.
"Where does grafting come into this? I can't just remove my eyes and switch…them for other…eyes." I stared at my hands then looked at the knight who hadn't responded to me. "No you don't mean." The knight slowly nodded their head.
Pointing their finger towards, the knight uttered the most insane sentence that had never been said before. "You will acquire a pair of already awakened eyes and graft them into your eye sockets."
A shiver ran down my whole body as I tried to comprehend the thought sequence that lead to that result. "How are you so sure that I can do that? I barely know how to communicate with spirits, yet you want me to do a body transfusion?!"
"I know you can do it. After all, you are blessed by the element of Death. You might not understand it now, but you will later on."
"How do you know?" I shouted in anger as tears swelled up in my eyes but my body refused to let them flow.
"Hm? What do you mean?" The knight seemed confused by my question.
"How do you know so much about this non-existent element? Book after book I searched and searched but never was it mentioned." I spoke quickly, while spitting my words of frustration, to the point of nearly hyperventilating. I took a deep breath to calm down. "How are you the only one in this world to know about the element of Death."
"Heh. This might shock you, but I'm not the only one who holds this knowledge and even funnier is the fact that there is another individual in your academy that knows about it. So while the general public doesn't know, there is some knowledge."
What? Someone else in my academy knew? But who? Could it be the genius Conjuror, Don Corter? No, he is a master Conjuror, not an Imprinted specialist.
"For now," the knight resumed talking and grabbing my attention, "We will be changing our plans. During your next school break, I will take you on a trip to a place where we can acquire our item." For some reason, the knight had raised his guard, making me sure that someone was closing in on our conversation.
"What about the sponsor, Dad?"
My words took the knight back, but went along with it. "I will announce it to the academy tomorrow. It's better to start the training sooner to capitalise on your youth. Now, let's head back."
It felt…weird, referring to this total stranger as my father, who was still present in my life. I whispered to the Knight that when I became strong, I will give them the beating of a lifetime for what's about to happen at school.
"Heh. First you get strong, then you make impossible goals. Also stop calling me Sir Knight, when in front of others. Just call me Eclissi."
Hidden from the sight of Mort and Eclissi was a figure, high above in the trees, spying on this interesting yet ordinary conversation. "A Dark Knight wearing custom armour with both a Sun and Moon emblem and a child no older than 15. What a strange combination. Too bad the knight caught me and changed the conversation when I approached. Just what could they have talked about?"
This strange individual left the trees and went back to civilization, switching from a feminine to a masculine build, while still keeping their face hidden, and as both Day and Night reached equilibrium, one person from each faction disappeared without a trace. Only blood marked the ground.