-Augur, which is a real word, means to foresee, especially by the use of omens. To foretell, foreshadow, see the future, etc.
--It also means to promise that something will occur. Storm clouds and the smell of rain on the air foretell of an incoming storm. A harbinger of sorts.
-Augurs were religious officials in ancient Rome. They foresaw, foretold, foreshadowed, saw the future, etc.
-An auger is a type of drill used for making holes in wood. It is also commonly used for ice-fishing.
~
Hello!
You can call me Bright.
Right now, I'm laying in my bed, dawdling under this fluffy blanket as the thought of doing my calculus homework slowly rots away inside my brain.
I'm watching a 3-hour long YouTube video about something called 'The Augur of Dunlain,' from a game called Skyrim.
That's where all the stuff about augers- I mean, augurs- came from.
...
I should really get started on that calc...
It's Sunday, after all.
I've been super lazy this weekend. And this whole year, to be fair.
I don't know why I took so many hard classes. Your senior year is when you're supposed to just take it easy and relax.
I already got into my first choice for college.
That's only because I worked my butt off the first three years of high school.
Despite my name, I'm not the smartest. It takes me a long time to understand stuff in school, so doing schoolwork takes much longer for me than most.
Even without including the time I waste procrastinating.
I'm a generally lazy guy. Having been stuck in my house the last year, I've become even lazier.
My family would joke that I was bed-ridden because of how little I would leave my room.
I'm not a total hermit, though. I had a girlfriend for a while. Over a year. But, I kinda just stopped caring about our relationship after being stuck inside for so long.
"Distance makes the heart grow fonder," my ass.
I don't regret it, though. I learned a lot. Like that I really like hearing about people who are passionate.
I hope she's okay.
After our relationship, I didn't really talk with anyone besides my family. Don't get it twisted, I wasn't really talking to anyone else while we were in a relationship either.
My brothers and I are especially close. We kinda always have been.
We're all similarly super lazy. Despite that, we have no problems in social situations. At least, if memory serves correctly. It's just been a while is all.
My little brother is probably the most comfortable. From my knowledge of his school life, he's pretty social and popular, despite his love for anime and tendency for gamer rage.
Not capital G- Gamer rage, that's different. He just gets really angry at video games. No racial slurs, like with capital G.
Back to the topic of anime, though, he's actually the person who introduced me to anime.
I had always kinda been interested in it, but too scared to ruin my chances of remaining a part of normal society.
So that flew out the window a while ago.
I started simple. My brother and I watched an episode of Naruto together. He only watched the one episode, but my obsessive personality took over.
I watched all 720 episodes of Naruto (that's including both series) in about 3 weeks. To be honest, my memories of that time are kind of a fever dream, so I don't know if that's entirely accurate. Or possible, even.
I tend to get addicted to things I like, and exhaust all of my interest in those things at once.
That addiction carried over to manga and anime as a whole.
Just two days ago, I read through all of a webcomic called "Bastard". Stayed up until 6:00 AM. I just had to read it in one sitting
It was phenomenal. It changed the way I look at people, and reminded me that I would not be able to get away with murder.
I wish I had maybe spread the reading out across a longer span of time, though. My head hurts.
Anyway, like I was saying, I'm still not a total shut-in. I've been going on semi-consistent bike rides since summer. Even though it's starting to get cold, I've been trying to go a couple times a week.
I like it better to go at night.
There are a couple reasons why.
First, I can see the headlights of cars behind me, so I know when to get out of the way. I don't have to rely on hearing a car coming behind me to know when to move.
Sure, I could just hog the road and be an arrogant jackass with no care for anyone else and—-
Sorry.
I tend to get upset when talking about bike etiquette. Or rather, people who seem to not understand it.
It seems like most bikers don't care for the cars behind them, yet get upset when people don't share the road. Pisses me off.
Anyway, because I don't have to keep an ear out for cars, I can listen to music if I bike at night.
But another reason, the main reason, is because I'm friends with a ghost.
Well, it might be a ghost. It's actually an inanimate object
"How is an inanimate object a ghost?" You ask?
There's this streetlight that's usually shut off whenever I ride by. Sometimes it's on, but that doesn't make a difference.
As I ride past the streetlight, every time- without fail- it will switch to the opposite of what it was. If it was off when I rode by, it would turn on. If it was on when I rode by... well you understand.
I've gone by it for the past month. It's happened too many times for me to consider it a coincidence.
For whatever reason, I'm drawn to the forest at the back of the neighborhood of the streetlight.
It's really ominous, and I've never been able to make it in there at night. The ominous feeling I get might just be because I'm afraid of the dark, but who knows? Probably because a ghost though.
Today, I'm going to go into the forest.
To be completely fair, I've already been in the forest. Just when it was lighter out. While I was walking through it, it felt very important.
What does that mean? Beats me.
I tried to go again yesterday when it was lighter out, but it had just rained, and I didn't want to get my shoes dirty.
So now I'm going to wear boots when I go.
I decide to get up to eat. I'm pretty hungry. So I grab an orange from the kitchen table.
I wonder if ghosts can eat. Maybe I'll take an orange with me tonight.
I noticed something last night while I was, coincidentally, eating an orange. When I grabbed the orange, the sink turned on, and wouldn't turn off.
It's got like a touch sensor thingy in it that turns it on, and it's pretty janky. It's been kinda broken for a while. Turning on randomly and not turning off, not turning on when you touch it. Probably fault wiring of some sort.
Or... a ghost! And it turned on when I grabbed an orange. So maybe it likes oranges. I left a little piece of orange in the sink just in case.
As you can see, my plan to give this ghost an orange is based on more than just a hunch. I have empirical proof that ghosts like oranges.
After I finish my lunch, I head back upstairs.
I guess I should just get this calculus done. Reaaaaally don't want to though.
But, sometimes you don't get to choose what you have to do.
So, I just decide to tough it up, and work through it.
It takes me 4 hours, but I'm finally done. Well, more or less.
I have a couple problems left. I know how to do them, but it takes up like a whole page of work.
I'm gonna take a break.
Because it's the dead of winter, it's only 6 and it's already getting dark out.
So, at 6:30, I'm all bundled up, and ready to go.
I packed a towel, an orange, my water bottle, a portable charger, an extra flashlight, an extra pair of socks, and an extra pair of pants in a duffel bag.
I don't usually bring anything with me, but I just get the feeling I'll need extra stuff.
If I get lost in the forest at night, I'll want to make sure my phone doesn't die, hence the portable charger. If my socks get soaked while I'm lost, I could get frostbite and have to amputate my feet, hence the towel and socks.
So it's just rational forethought basically.
My dad left to go on a run, so he's not here to get suspicious about the bag.
Because what would I need a bag for? Drugs? Maybe if I was pulling an Andy Dufresne and digging a hole out through my wall? Taking the debris out one bagful at a time?
My dad would probably think drugs first, to be honest. I think most people would.
I slip my boots on, then my gloves, then walk out into the garage.
I'm wearing a heavy green jacket with the hood up over a red hat I got from my wrestling team.
I started wrestling last year, but before that I used to play baseball.
Wrestling was the hardest thing I've ever done. But, for some reason, I liked it a lot better than baseball.
Maybe it was because the team was so much more focused than my old baseball team.
Everyone was so passionate about the sport.
Those who weren't super passionate about it, like me, were always dragged into being excited with the people who were. And then, eventually, you just start getting excited on your own.
"Yoooo! Sweet toss, man!"
"That was a beautiful shot."
"That was amazing pace!"
I found that I was roped into saying stuff like this at first. But eventually, I was saying it on my own. Cheering on people I enjoyed being around because of how driven they were.
It was the first time I had seen anyone be so enthusiastic about a sport. Genuine enthusiasm. Not like giving cheesy pep talks about how hard we worked. It was awesome.
But anyway.
I plug my headphones into my phone, and run them up through my mask. Technically I don't have to wear it if I'm riding my bike, but it keeps my face warm.
It's just a black piece of fabric in the shape of a tube. Think of it like a tube top for my face.
I take one of my gloves off, and start my music.
nouri ue no cracker ~ ZUTOMAYO
The more time I spend listening to music, the more glad I am that I pirated it all. Not having ads and being able to conserve data while I listen to music is delightful.
I do feel pretty bad for the artists I'm ripping off, though.
I walk my bike out of the garage, and start petaling down the driveway.
Oh, and I don't speak Japanese by the way. I have no idea what the lyrics in this song mean.
But that doesn't stop me from vibing out. I've found that I only really listen to music for the beats and sounds, rather than the meaning.
Sure, I get the appeal of analysing what a person means in their lyrics, but I do enough overthinking already. I'd rather just turn my brain off and hear the catchy sounds and nice voices.
Getting back on track, the streetlight is about 10 minutes from my house, in a different neighborhood across a busy street.
I have lights on the front and back of my bike, so I'm at least somewhat visible while I'm out.
I start getting a pit in my stomach. It's that feeling you get when you're about to do something crazy.
I don't know why I have the courage to venture into the forest now of all times.
After reading Bastard and Sweet Home, I'm surprised that I'm able to leave the house at all.
I zip past the streetlight- it's on- waving as I go by. Usually I'd stop, but I get the feeling that I won't be able to get going again if I do.
I look back and see it quickly shut off.
The road leading to the forest is paved, but barren. There's nothing but grass and small hills on either side of it.
Because of the dark, the road feels more treacherous. Right now, it looks like it winds and snakes forever. When in reality, it's just a normal, pretty straight road.
It makes me feel paranoid. Like I need to check behind my back, but when I do that, I feel like something spooky is right in front of me.
Eventually, I reach the mouth of the forest. The trees look like gnarled, laughing teeth in the dark. It looks more like a maw than a mouth.
I check my phone.
CHAKAPOCO ~ NecryTalkie
I pause the music. This song doesn't fit the mood.
I leave my front bike light on. I let out a big sigh.
I kick the kickstand on my bike down.
It's really frightening. This darkness, that is. It coats my eyes all the way to the back of my head. Makes it so the only thing I can see, hear, and smell is darkness.
It's so imposing.
I walk into the forest.
I look around. I'm pretty paranoid still.
What if a raccoon jumps down, bites me, and gives me rabies?
Rabies has a 100% mortality rate.
Apparently, people with rabies hallucinate so bad that they're afraid of water. The produce a ton of spit, and then aren't able to swallow at all. And they experience some sort of insomnia.
Not that I was going to sleep easy tonight anyway.
Maybe I should-
"What took you so long?"
I freeze.
It's a voice... but I can't quite pin down where it's coming from.
I turn around.
My bike light got turned off.
"Uh... are you from the streetlight?"
"Can you answer me first?"
"The dark is scary. I've just been building up my strength I guess. I also wasn't super sure if you wanted me to come out here."
"Scaredy cat."
"Yeah, I know. Are you the streetlight ghost?"
"I'm not exactly a ghost," a light blue orb appears in front of me, "And despite your frightened feline nature, you're talking this pretty well."
"Are you... the Augur of Dunlain?"
"Uh... maybe. I'm not sure what that is. Nobody's called me that before."
"Well what do people call you?"
"Entity."
"Weird name."
"Your name is 'Bright'."
"Yeah, so? How'd you know that? That's not even my real name."
"You learn a lot of things when you're everywhere and everyone at once."
"Huh. Never thought I'd meet god."
"What about when you go to heaven?"
There's a pause.
"So what is it that you want? Have you been trying to get me to come here the whole time?"
"I've already got what I need. And yes, I have."
"Why me specifically though? I'm not that special."
"No, you're not. It didn't have to be YOU. But you were the first person to pick up on the signs."
"The signs, eh? Were you the one turning my sink off and on?"
"Perhaps. It's more likely to be a faulty sensor."
"Could be," I rub my chin, "Oh, hey. Do you like oranges?"
"Sure. They are quite aesthetically pleasing."
"Have you eaten one?"
"I haven't eaten anything."
"Ever?"
"I have no need to eat," he pauses, "Nor do I have the ability."
"Oh... well, I brought you an orange. Do you still want it?"
"Sure," I unzip my bag, and rummage around. I pull it out and toss it towards the orb. It floats inside of him, "Thank you. But why are you giving this to me?"
I shrug, "Iunno."
"Well... okay then. Thank you. Good luck."
"With what?"
"Nothing in particular. You would just say that to me whenever you would ride by," he vanishes.
Huh. Guess I did say that.
They left it kinda vague though. Like what was it they brought me here for?
When someone says something that vague, it usually doesn't mean anything good...
Wait. Yes it does.
That's usually what the omniscient god-figure says at the start of every adventure.
It's kinda like a cliche at this point.
I smirk.
I bet I have to go on some special mission.
I hear a noise behind me.
"Nope."
I make a mad dash for my bike, and hop on.
"Maybe another time."
I kick the kickstand up, and look around.
This isn't the same neighborhood that the woods are in.
I'm not getting any service on my phone. I press play on the music.
A familiar, energetic beat erupts from my phone, "CHAKAPOCO!!!!" I fumble around and shut it off.
I hope I didn't wake anyone.
There's a loud roar off in the distance.
"KRYAAAW!"
Well, I guess I did wake someone.
Wonder who could be making that noise... a furry, perhaps?
That or some kind of monster.
Oh god... please don't be a Sweet Home monster.
Either way, I don't really want to be around here to find out which one it is.
I don't know which one is worse to be honest.
I should head home then.
But...
Something's weird.
The subdivision is pretty different.
Before, there was just a paved road that ended at the mouth of the forest. Now, it's a completely developed neighborhood.
Houses line the road, and fill the space of the neighborhood as a whole.
What once used to be single floor ranch style homes are now basically mansions.
Each house is three stories tall. They aren't apartments or condos either. Just one address, just one front door.
And all of the lights are off.
I check my phone. It's only 6:56.
I'm starting to feel a bit weird.
This definitely isn't where I came in.
"Did I get fuckin isekai'd?"