Flashback Break with the past Part 6

[Karsynwa]

6th of Spring, 490 AV

On the next page there was a crude drawing in one corner with an explanation written beneath. Above it was written, ‘For you my son’. The images depicted were hard to construe at first till he started to read a little bit of the description beneath, then it started to come together. It was a necklace of sorts with seven metal balls sewn throughout. On each ball was his family mark which looked like a capital T and S put together. He went on to describe it as such below:

[I have reason to believe there are those around me who would deprive you of your inheritance my boy. Though you are still in your mothers stomach, I care for you deeply and wish to make sure that you will be prepared for this world. It is my deepest wish that you continue my practice long after I am gone, which is something me and your mother argue about even still. If I go unexpectedly, this journal will be yours, a paltry summation of all that I have learned over the years, but there is only so much a book can teach you my son. You have to go out there into the world to learn that for yourself.

Look for the necklace I have drawn above if I have not already given it to you myself. It was your grandfathers before it was passed on to me, and it has been with our family for a long time. If it does not have that symbol etched on each of the metal beads, I am afraid someone has taken it and you will have to craft your own. An what a shame that would be to lose those ghostbeads after so many years. If you have to make your own, do it with lead for the beads and please for me, use your own hair so when you pass it onto your son one day you can start a tradition of your own. You can come up with your own symbol if you like, but please do those two things. They are a very important part of our practice, and more than just a symbol of our profession. Once you have gotten more adept at producing soulmist you will be able to smear it over the ghostbeads to create a barrier that ghosts cannot cross. Use it often because above all, I want you to be safe. I love you son.]

Karsynwa turned the page, but hesitated before reading the next passage. It felt suddenly strange to be holding this tome now. He could feel the history in its pages and he wondered how it came to be in this library. Had it ever been passed to his son, or had it been brought here with his son never knowing what his father had done for him. It sounded like a story out of one of his tales, though this one had a breath of life in it as it had been written in the man’s own words, if not his script. Looking at the pages he thought the script was a little too neat which made him think that a professional copyist had gotten his hands on it, and having heard about the value of such books, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

WC - 557

[Karsynwa]

Date, Season, Year

The next entry was made months later and was quite a good deal different than the rest in tone. It red at almost a frantic pace with Karsynwa picking up on his fear. That was more unsettling than all the rest that he had read so far, for now it seemed he was getting into a serious part of the man’s life. Spreading the final few pages between his thumb, he saw that he was near the end of the book which filled him with a slight dread. Had this been the last entry the man had ever penned? Karsynwa dared to read on.

[I have come across something I had not dared to think I would see ever in my practice. A mass haunting. One in the most unusual of places, in a small grotto just outside of Riverfall tucked against the base of the cliff. It came up when sailors reported seeing men and women trapped in the water at the base of the cliff. When they went to rescue them, at great personal risk to themselves, the people disappeared into a whiff of smoke. The first time it happened the militia was willing to let it go as just tall sailor tales but then it happened again, and again. When a boat disappeared one afternoon on a route that ran by that very spot, the militia decided to do something about it and contacted me.

I should not have accepted. Even now I am thinking of backing out of the whole ordeal and not just because the route down their is a treacherous climb. There is something off about it all, about that cave. Those ghosts are working together down there, but why I cannot fathom. I’ve staked out the entrance to the cave for now, but I am not sure it will last beyond the night. The tide is said to rise high and there were only so many spots I could put them. Besides with so many ghosts, there is no doubt at least one of them that is crafty enough to foil my snare. I left it at that for now, but I did managed to draw a few names from some of them. I am not exactly sure how many there are, between 5 - 11 would be my best guess though it was hard to count with them flitting about constantly. I am going to take these names to where they keep their records on the citizenry to see what I can dig up on them before I return to that cave. If I return to that cave. I must sleep on it.]

Karsynwa blinked away the apparition of the cave he pictured the spiritist describing. One with ethereal figures drowning in the water perpetually. The idea made his skin crawl, and he shook off the sight. As he turned the page he realized there was no way he could not finish reading now as he had to know how this all ended up. Whether this man had solved the problem with the ghosts or not, which he was distinctly hoping was the case because the idea of it still being there, lurking in the night was terrifying. With a deep breath, he continued to read on the next page.

WC - 547

[Karsynwa]

Date, Season, Year

[How could I have known? I went there again today thinking these were simply drowning victims that were congregating together because of shared experience but I was wrong. Only two of them had drowned before, the ones that had given me their names. The rest I am not sure where they came from but I don’t think it was Riverfall by the way they speak. For a mass haunting such as this that presents a clear and present danger to Riverfall’s interests, I decided that coming in hard would be the best course of action. All it took was me souldarting one of the ghosts and dusting them for the rest to disperse. I had to use the lie to get in among them. I used the visage of one of the drowned ones dead relatives but I couldn’t speak because I did not know what voice to use.

Once that ghost had readily accepted me in, I decided to listen for a time to hear what if anything the other ghosts had to say. However, I was not able to do this long as the one who’s relative I was pretending to be kept trying to coax me into the water where I believe they would have attempted to drown me. The other ghosts were standing back out of respect but this one was insistent. I decided he would be my target since so far he was the most dangerous one among them that I could tell. I coaxed him onto the land by pulling away from the waters edge and there I pinned him down with souldarts. It was chaos after that, I barely had time to get my circle of ghosts beads up before they came surging forwards like a maelstrom. Dusting that ghost was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and afterward he spoke to me though he was but a fine light blue ash. He still tries to whisper to me from his vase that I stowed under my desk earlier. I will have to find a good place to inter him, somewhere deep, and dark where he will not bother anyone ever again.

After the ghost was dusted, the others made an attempt on my life. Fortunately my armor held and the militia that accompanied me managed to beat them back. I had the presence of mind this time to coat their weapons and armor with soulmist as well as my own just in case of such an eventuality. Eventually the ghosts all dematerialized without many injuries having been sustained, though one militia man had been nearly drowned by one of the ghosts. Still, even after they dispersed I had the most unsettled feeling like something was watching me. I could smell it lurking there in the back of the cave, waiting in the gloom though for what I shudder to imagine. I knew better than to press my luck, so after gathering the scattered ashes we retreated back the way they came with them thinking the ghosts have been dealt with. I haven’t the heart to tell them yet that this isn’t so, that the ones we fought off today will re-materialize again and likely try to cause havoc when they do. I still have a job ahead of me, only I’m not sure if I am strong enough to do it anymore after what I sensed in the back of the cave. I must request a friend of mine come to the city before I make another attempt to rid that cave of the presence.]

The passage ended there so Karsynwa took the time to write down some of the weapons the spiritist had mentioned. He wasn’t sure what souldarts were, but if they followed the trend of the rest of the items in the spiritist’s arsenal then they were likely normal piercing weapons smeared with soulmist. Speaking of, he mentioned coating other weapons and armor with it as well which he interpreted to mean that it made them affective against ghosts which was rather interesting to consider. That had to be what Zandar meant by focusing on what you were going to use the soulmist for when you were creating it. He turned to the last page, and saw with trepidation that it was much shorter than the rest.

WC - 722

[Karsynwa]

Date, Season, Year

Maybe that meant he had written another Karsynwa hoped as he continued to read on.

[I saw it. Tonight I actually saw it! I didn’t know until just now that I have been smelling it all this time when it came just outside of my window and its overpowering presence washed over me. Its presence as been like an itch on the back of my scalp, but now it burns. I think it is following me now. I don’t know what I am supposed to do. My friend will not be here for another season at least, and I cannot convince the militia to go back down there with me. They are convinced that the thread is gone, and think I am trying to extract more mizas from them. They have strongly asked me to vacate the city if I persist with this delusion and cause the people to people to panic in anyway.

Then it came to me tonight. I think it came to taunt me as it did not try to test the barrier that I had set about my quarters. It simply watched disappearing sometime between midnight through until the first break of morning light over the horizon. I haven’t got a wink of sleep. It is a desolate one, I am sure of it. I am afraid I will have to come to the watch with this, but I am not sure they will believe me. Such beings are incredibly rare, and powerful. I am not equipped to deal with it on my own. I don’t even think the militia are. If they will not listen to me, I will see if I can find anyone in the city to help. I have heard there are quarters for folks like minded for myself, but I think they will not listen either. Maybe I should just leave the city while I can, and come back with my friend. Or leave this place far behind and leave this problem for another man. Alas this is not so simple. I have a family here, and we cannot just move. I can’t think right now. I need sleep.]

Karsynwa came to the end of the page and breathed out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. A desolate one? The name was ominous and hung over him like a perverse shadow. It crept across the back of his mind until at last he could still himself against the impulse no longer. He looked over his shoulder. Of course there was nothing there but a bookshelf. He sighed with relief, feeling like a child that had been told his first ghost story. Chagrined he closed the book and dug into the basket for an egg. He rolled it between his palms for a few ticks while he thought.

There were a thousand different reasons why the book didn’t continue. Maybe the other pages had been too damaged to read. Perhaps he reached the end of his journal and had to start another, one that the library did not have access to, or Zandar was keeping from him for now. What mattered was the information it contained which turned out to be a lot more than he expected from a simple journal. He’d learned that ghosts could be dangerous outside of tales and the some of the reasoning behind why this art was practiced. Also he felt like he was starting to get a grasp of this djed thing even if he had been unable to manipulate it so far.


WC - 590

[Karsynwa]

Date, Season, Year

Staring down at his bowl disappointed, he tipped it over into Zandar’s and cracked a fresh egg into it. Then he mixed in flour with a little soft cheese. Once it was good and gooey, he stuffed the mixture in his mouth. While it certainly didn’t taste any better, Karsynwa found it easier to manage his revulsion as he concentrated on chewing the substance. As he did, he focused on what he want it to produce though he quickly had difficult on ascertaining just what he was trying to achieve. Food for ghosts was the abstract, but that was hard to picture by itself. It didn’t feel like an effective use of his time. Besides, his mind was too cluttered from that story earlier for him to focus for long.

Frustrated, he tried clearing his mind. Breathing in deeply through his nose, he worked at bringing to mind the words Resvie had told him. To focus on what nostril the air was coming through and his state of mind at the time. It was currently coming through his left nostril. His state of mind was one of slight anxiety as he feared failing again at his task to create soulmist. A strange thing happened as he acknowledge that fear. The fear became lesser somehow, shrinking back in his mind to the point that he found it easier to think over it. As if knowing that the anxiety was there made it just another factor of the equation, easily dismissed. Karsynwa breathed out, and felt a whole lot more relief. He tried focusing on his task once more as he chewed.

To picture what he was truly trying to do, he imagined djed flowing through him like water into the concoction in his mouth. Imparting into it his energies so that it could become something an ethereal presence could interact with. He focused on the coolness of its touch, and on the soft white glow it emitted. Karsynwa imagined himself interacting with one of the wispy being. Again he thought about the djed absorbing into the mixture, slowly strengthening it as he chewed. It didn’t feel like anything imparting his magic to it, if that was what he even was doing. He tried remembering what he had learned about djed. About the three principles and how it was a part of everything in the world. An he focused again on gathering his energy into this small blob of dough to create the soulmist. As a final measure to aid him in his progress he thought about the spiritist. How that man must have done this a lot in his time, and how he had discovered so many uses for it. He breathed out. Then looking down at his bowl he spit it out. The dough was the same gooey off white color it had been before.

Disappointed, Karsynwa poked it with a finger. It was slightly warm to the touch at first but then he brushed up against something cold in the center. A familiar chill that he had felt earlier, and made his skin prickle again now. Carefully with his fingertips he dug into the center to find a small piece of dough that had separated from the rest. It glowed softly and was unnaturally cool to the touch. His heart leapt as a grin spread across his face.

WC - 559