Phasmatta -ch 16-

Having spent the entirety of the morning and most of lunch wandering around the woods, Ryan was exhausted.

Several police had shown up and Ryan had begun walking them around to make sure every single spot was found. It wasn’t hard for him when the spirits in the woods were eager to lead him to where they had been disposed of.

Isadora was apparently unable to truly bless or lay everyone and everything in the woods to rest, as that was the domain of a priest she said, but she did all that she could. Walking with Ryan and committing to religious duties whenever she felt it prudent.

Though he did note there were several times she pulled out her phone, clearly took a picture, sent it somewhere, and followed it up with a text or a phone call.

There was far more going on here than she was letting on.

That or this really is just that screwed up and I’m a bit blind to it because I’m part of it.

Could just as easily be that.

Closing his eyes, Ryan pressed a hand to his face and leaned back in the seat of the car. Isadora was currently driving him back into the city.

“Does it drain you to see and speak with the deceased?” Isadora inquired.

“No. I’m just tired from nearly dying, escaping a serial killer, surviving a night in the woods of west virginia while nearly freezing to death, and then spent most of the day after that trucking back and forth through the very same woods.”

“I-yes. That’s a very good point,” Isadora admitted then sighed, glancing over at him as they drove along the long winding road toward the city. “You’ve been through a lot in a very short time. You’re holding up far better than I would expect one to. To the point that I genuinely forgot what you’ve gone through.”

“Not my first apocalypse shit-show rodeo,” Ryan mumbled and then sighed. “Though I’ll tell you this, there’s some definite places where you wouldn’t be able to get me to go in my life.

“Those woods were kind. Peaceful. Blissful, even. Compared to how some locations are probably. Sites of truly awful battles are probably littered with anger, violence, and fear.

“Spirits there are probably just… always looking for someone or something to take it out on. Not something I’d like to experience anytime soon. If ever.”

“Ah, yes. I can see what you mean. It makes me wish to consider much of my homeland. It took much blood to reclaim it,” Isadora mused softly. “Many years and much blood.”

“I mean, you’d be fine. You can’t see them. They tend to notice if you can see them and that’s what sets them off,” explained Ryan. Speaking from his own experiences. “Especially those kind of hauntings. The house kind of things are pretty simple and easy. Small area, nowhere for them to hide, and it’s their anchor.

“A battlefield or an entire area? Hell with that. Not my forte.”

“They are… that strong? The spirits? Demons?” Isadora asked.

“Really depends on the type and their feelings,” Ryan answered immediately. He didn’t consider the fact that she was Catholic and part of the Holy See. For her, it was different than how he saw it. “Most or just lost spirits. Some become what you’d call demonic, but not demons. Some are just evil in life and become evil in death.”

“Demonic but not demons,” repeated Isadora, sounding rather disbelieving in the statement. “That seems unlikely.”

“I… well, all things are true,” tried Ryan. “Demonic beings were mortal, demons weren’t. Those demonic beings don’t exactly ascribe to the catholic belief sometimes.

“I’ve found they respond to more evangelical beliefs or just… neutral things. Like salt. Lot of salt. Saw a preacher-man fire a shotgun with custom hulls at a demonic spirit. They were filled with salt. Was kinda wild. Blew it apart.”

“It’s hard to speak with you,” Isadora said as they took an oddly gentle curve that had a deep steep drop off to the side.

As the road straightened, Ryan could see the edges Noxfield out in front of them.

“You bolster my faith one minute,” she continued. “Then tell me that another faith also holds sway and power the next.”

“Wish I could explain it better. Sorry,” Ryan admitted then opened his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Carl in the backseat. The kid was laid out flat, staring up at the interior of the car.

Wish you’d explain more, too.

But you seem as recalcitrant to speak as ever.

“What’re your plans for dinner and the like?” asked Isadora.

“Uh, dunno. Don’t have a car,” Ryan reminded her. “Gonna be whatever I can have delivered or have in the fridge. Need to call the rental company today.”

“Ah, yes. I can see that being an issue. Would you care to have dinner with me?” asked Isadora.

“Any other day of the year and I’d say yes. Tonight though, I think I just want to lay around in bed, not think about the fact I almost died, and try to distract my brain. Keep myself moving ahead and putting space between myself and Mirella.”

Ryan felt regretful about saying no. She was a beautiful woman and he didn’t mind being around her if only to look at her.

He hadn’t expected to find a Nun so attractive but he did.

“Tomorrow?” he asked instead.

“Yes. Tomorrow would be well,” Isadora confirmed. “I’m sure by then you’ll have your car situation straightened out. I imagine Lieutenant Murphy or the police chief, or the captain, might be able to help you out with the situation as well.

“I’m afraid the Bishop wouldn’t be able to do much, as the church doesn’t have a great many connections with businesses in the area. Mostly just the mayor, governor, and the police departments.”

Yeah, only the upper muckity mucks.

What a crying shame.

Boo hoo.

Your poor networking.

“You are thinking poorly of me or the church, Mr. Hale,” Isadora declared in a slow and low voice. One that caused Ryan to turn and look at her. “I’ll have you know, I’m staying at a rather uncomfortable motel. It stinks of mildew.”

“You can stay at my place if you want,” Ryan offered without even thinking his offer through. “There’s a second room that I was just using as storage. Has a bed in it and everything.”

“Oh? Why thank you, Ryan,” she replied, lifted her hand, covered her mouth, and let out a low and warm laugh. “It is almost unnerving how often I’m invited over since coming to the States. Though I think your offer is genuine, and not to get me out of my ‘habit’ as it were.

“I think… I think I’ll take you up on it. I am very tired of the smell and you are without a vehicle. On top of that, I was directed to remain here and watch over you. That is why I’m here and why Navarro is handling our other tasks.”

“Hot woman problems,” Ryan said, gazing down the road that spread out in front of him. He once again lamented that she was a nun. Their oaths were prohibitive when it came to relations with men.

“Yes, so I’ve come to find. Thank you,” Isadora agreed. “I will drop you off at your apartment and then come over tomorrow morning with my things. That will give you time to collect yourself and delete your computer history.”

Ryan snorted at that and looked at Isadora again.

She was most certainly so much more than just a nun.

“Yeah, gonna have to get rid of all that nun-porn I collect. Hard-drives full of it,” Ryan joked.

“I hope you were at least picky in your collection. They always get the habits wrong,” Isadora countered, clucked her tongue, and shook her head.

I… what?

***

Ryan slumped into his couch. Then fell sideways into it.

The only thing he’d managed to do after Isadora dropped him off was to strip out of his gear and put it away. Yet even in doing that it reminded him that he needed to go buy some things for equipment since some of it had been lost in the rental car.

At the thought of the rental car, his mind skipped from the pleasant cushioned feeling of the couch and his wordplay with Isadora to the missing vehicle.

“Noooo,” groaned Ryan, his eyes remaining closed.

“You sound like a zombie,” Carl remarked.

“I feel like one. Honestly I’d swear I’m still feeling the effects of whatever she stuck me with, but the docs kept telling me it was gone by now,” answered Ryan.

“It’s just the situation. You’ve survived again where many would die. I think if you had fled into the woods, Mirella would’ve found you,” suggested Carl. “I think that she absolutely would’ve found you, dosed you up further, put you in a oil-drum, and you’d be just another number.

“Minus your driver’s license, at least. I was and wasn’t surprised she kept trophies. Most of those type of people do keep something.”

“Nngh,” gave Ryan as his response. Then his brain went back to Isadora. “The nun’s hot.”

“So was Daisy and Misha,” Carl reminded him, followed by an ugly little laugh. “Speaking of that, you leveled up. Thrice. You put many spirits to rest, or gave them an avenue to find peace, while also ending a very prolific serial killer.

“They don’t usually get body counts that high because a lot of them choose children or babies. Often their own. Gets a lot of attention.”

“Nngh,” answered Ryan eloquently and with a great deal of thought. Followed by a sigh. “What’d I get for the level ups? Perks? Stats? Something?”

“A title, two stats, one is a reward, and a perk,” Carl confirmed. “The title is interesting. The… entity… you saw gave it to you.”

“A title,” repeated Ryan, really not sure how to handle that information. “Does it do stuff? Like… titles in game usually did a thing or were to broadcast to other players. There’s no other players here so-so it does something, right?”

“That’s right,” Carl agreed in a calm tone. It made Ryan uneasy. “Want to guess what it does? Or should I just tell you?”

“Too tired to guess. Unless you wanna tell me Isadora’s bra size. I could guess at that,” Ryan groused into the couch cushion.

“She’s a double-D with a small band size. Probably looks huge. It doesn’t look like that though because she does her best to hide it. I peaked,” Carl confessed. “Not that I blame her. She gets enough looks for her face alone.”

“Tell me the title?” Ryan suggested.

“Helper’s Helper. It was given by… Azrael,” answered Carl.

“Uhm… the Peter one, the Hebrew one, or the Islam one?” inquired Ryan. He knew that technically the Hebrew and Peter version was spelled in a different way than the Islamic one.

Yet that was the trouble with translations across multiple languages. Sometimes it was all the same thing, just pronounced or spelled differently.

“All of the above?” provided Carl.

“Alright. That’s… not good. I’m not sure I really wanted an angel of death, or wrath, being aware of me. Already bad enough all those other things knew me. And what does it do?”

“Well, they know more of you now. As to what it does, it gives those of the appropriate faith an awareness that you have acted in ‘good faith’. Your last title did nothing,” Carl noted. “Would you like to see your current level up screen?”

Acted in good faith?

But… which faith.

Azrael is kinda all over the place

“Sure, why not,” Ryan allowed with a huff, opened his eyes, and looked to Carl.

Who was standing directly in front of Ryan with his hands spread out.

Immediately his character sheet appeared.

Name: Ryan Hale

Level: 6

Affinity: Judeo-Christian

Sanity: 74%

Health: 92% (Injury-0.8)

Mana: 100%

Forbidden Knowledge: Rank 1

Guide: None

Title: Helper’s Helper

Body:

Sturdy (7)

Reflex:

Sharp (8)

Speed:

Swift (7)

Grit:

Unyielding (9)

Awareness:

Aware (7)

Likability:

Amiable (7)

Mentality:

Sharp (7)

Perks/Hexes:

Knowledge:

Awareness Of You:

Dauntless-I fear nothing

Spectral: Journeyman

The Dark Sees You

Numb-I feel no pain

Spiritual: Novice

The Ether Knows Of You

Terrors-Am I Awake or Asleep

Demonic: Journeyman

The After Speaks Of You

Springs Eternal-Cursed to Hope

Death: Master

Death Is Your Debtor and Ally

Mage-Blood-Inherited Legacy

Ending-Happy Harem End

—

“Dang,” mumbled Ryan, his eyes locked on the sanity percent. “My noodle took a cookin’.”

“Yes. It’ll heal. It was much lower before you started flirting with the Nun,” Carl told him. “Where do you want to distribute your two ability points? Your last point in Speed gave you a full ability point when it was paired with your health. Your knee is recovering.”

Blinking slowly as he looked over the character sheet, Ryan realized Carl was right. His knee didn’t hurt half as much as it normally would.

He hadn’t even put the brace on today and it only felt marginally annoying. Given how much effort and use he put on it yesterday, he probably should’ve been forced to ice it all day today.

That didn’t happen.

“If I put both points into something, would they increase?” Ryan asked.

“Depends on what it was. Though honestly… no. There isn’t any easy stat increases. Sorry.”

“Dump both into Awareness then. I’m not so sure I’ll be able to get that one up on my own,” ordered Ryan. “What’s the perks look like? Anything neat or interesting? As much as I want to say I’ll go through every single one… there’s too many for that. I’ll just get lost and then frustrated.

“I’m sure if I was a more of a gamer, or a… min-maxer… I might sort through them all. Too much work. Trusting you, Carl.”

“I’m worthy and deserving of your trust! I’ll look through them and get back to you,” replied Carl. “Uhm, though… do you want more perks like Happy Harem End?”

“If they help, yes,” answered Ryan, closing his eyes again. “Any new abilities? Soul’s Mirror is cool but… it kinda leaves something to be desired. Like the fact that I can’t tell if they’re a fucking serial killer.”

“That’s not how it works. Everyone is only true to themselves and their beliefs,” replied Carl. “It’s not our place to judge. We’re not the keepers of what happens after. Soul’s Mirror exists because there’s a point at which their belief is reality.

“The moment they’re converted from a mortal being to an incorporeal form, that belief sets their… destination.

“Where, I don’t know. How, I can’t even guess. Why, I don’t dare think of that because it’s too much to question.”

Ryan noted that Carl had said ‘we’re not the keepers’ rather than ‘you’re not the keeper’.

Whether he intended to or not, Carl mentally thought of himself and Ryan as equal, partners, or somehow, jointly in this together.

Coworkers?

“No new ability?” prodded Ryan.

“No. Not at this time. Soon though,” Carl answered. “It’ll likely be-well, let’s just wait and see what happens. It might change. It’s very possible it’ll be a different one than the one I’m thinking of.

“Oh! This is a fun perk. ‘Refractory Reset’. This’ll be perfect for you.”

“Refractory?” asked Ryan, not aware of that word.

“It’s how long it takes you to be ready to go again in bed!” Carl announced cheerfully. “Given your Happy Harem End, you’ll probably need this one.”

Ryan shook his head and pushed his face more firmly into the cushion of the couch. He didn’t really want to hear more about that at this moment.

“No? Well. It’s fine. Yours is fairly low to begin with if Marla wasn’t lying. Probably don’t need it? I don’t know. I didn’t get to date before I died.

“I think Daisy will be be best girl though. She’s seems really sweet. But I think Misha qualifies as first-girl since she kinda swept in pretty hard in this new adventure.

“Marla was the tutorial girl but you bungled that one so hard that we ruined the route. I didn’t like her though. She always stunk like cigarettes. Though hey, breaking up with her helped you break your own addiction.”

True. I did hate seeing her at the fucking gas station when I went to buy my smokes.

But… this is a bit much for a conversation.

Whatever.

I won’t say shit.

He doesn’t seem as pissy and that’s good enough for me right now.

So that’s good.

I wonder if Mullins bothered Carl in some way.

They were kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum. Mullins did a lot of normal living person things before he died.

Carl has been dead for… I think  really long time. Really really long time. When he died, he was also incredibly young.

They’re on opposite ends of the spectrum.

“Yeah. You’re not wrong. Not really sure what traits you’re looking at but… I could use some help. That guide position is still empty. How do I get that filled?

“That a trait I can grab that’ll let me get a helper?

“Or… am I thinking of this all wrong. What’s the guide slot for? What’s it do? Is it something I should be trying to fill or is that something that gets filled on it’s own.”

“I mean there’s some perks that’d let you fill it but you’d probably be all angsty about it,” teased Carl, his voice taking on a mocking tone. “As to what it is, it’s a guide to help you dealing with everything. Kinda like what I do, but they have to work with you and answer your questions if they can.

“A lot of guides are based on a faith or particular religion. They’re usually proficient with that little sphere and only moderately alright with other belief systems. There’s a few that are generalized but they don’t have the same depth that those who came out of a belief do.”

Uh?

Oh.

Well, that’s kind of interesting.

So I could get a Roman Catholic Guide and they’d be a lot better with those things, but weaker at everything else.

Or something like… I dunno… a grim reaper puppy, and it’d be decent in a wide spectrum, but be crap at higher level things like… Azrael.

That’s a lot to think on.

“Get me a list of all the guide perks? I think I should probably be looking into that,” Ryan said finally after a long pause. “Somehow… someway, I really get the impression that I’m not going to find my life getting any easier.”

“I mean, Isador is going to be living here,” Carl got out in a cackle. “You’re going to be dealing with the super-hot sister of the catholic church all day, every day. Let’s hope she doesn’t judge you too harshly.”

Oh.

Yeah.

Fuck.