(POV: Tristan Devroop Akvash)
After another massive beatdown that was handed to me by Orion, he threw the 600 bucks on my swollen face, which was deswelling at a substantial rate while I was breathing heavily on the ground at the front of the house.
Hearing his stupid laugh was grating my sanity, and I am now becoming more racially motivated to cause trouble… Don't even ask; that's just what it is.
From what I felt, I was probably sparring with Orion again for around another 15 minutes, and I had gotten a bit of an understanding of my body. Now, I regret physically enhancing my body the way I did before. It's completely different from just moving my shadows outside as I've always used it.
Even with my regenerative ability, the after-effects hurt a fuck-ton… I could still move my body normally as I started to stand up from the grass, but it's like mechanically; my body was like *REEEEEEEEE!!*, and my mind was like, "Keep moving, peasant, we ain't done yet. You think I'm Losin? No bitch we losing!!!"
…. It was such a weird feeling, and suddenly, I was interrupted during my stretching. "Hey, Tristan!!! Do you need help?" It was Cal's voice or Caliel… Whatever, we all have something we like to keep to ourselves, I said to her mindlessly.
"No, why?" She giggled and called out my bullshit.
"Pshh, Buddy, my eyes can see through your crap; your entire body seems to be working on an astronomical level as your cells seem to be multiplying and dying at a 50-50 rate creating an equilibrium… I'm just extremely impressed with your healing factor to keep you in one piece… But
Manipulating those shadows to enhance yourself like that wasn't a good idea, but no pain means no game sometimes. Let me carry you to your new room!! Even if you could walk by yourself, I don't think you should abuse that body too much for now." What she said sounded convincing to me, but I did have a question.
"Does this house have a basement, Caliel?" I said to her. Her eyes fluttered at my question, and then she put on a thinking face then said to me.
"Knowing that bloodsucking vamp- I mean Crowley, he might have built one in for his rituals… But why?" I then declared to Caliel.
"Well, I want to use that basement as a study place, as I still have that ornamented box in my shadows. Knowing Kai, he has something for me to learn about spheres or weed planting… Also, I think the stuff I'm going to do is better left in the basement…" Oh man, isn't this going to be a blast!
I finally could do my research on my inner self and use that 'anomalous energy' that Zil and I had nicknamed because of its unpredictability. I am incredibly excited to see into the mysteries of the spheres!!
She answered back, "Well, sure, you can… And if you were to grow some dope in the basement somehow, then tell me about it and not Orion!!! You got that, Tristan. I've only tried it a few times in the human world, and you're my only hope!!!" She yelled out with glee while shaking me, a ten-year-old child who was beyond sore beyond belief…
'I wonder if Caine's offer is still open?' Zil shortly cut off this introspection of mine
'You have some explaining to do when I'm alone,' I said to him, leading to Zil staying silent. Now that I'm focused.
I see that Caliel is carrying my body on her shoulders, and we're already inside the house through that long hallway… I really have to stop zoning out, and I think Cal already knows about this fact. If she doesn't, then I would be shocked.
Caliel then said something while she was trying to find the basement, "If I were good ol' Uncle Al, then I would put the basement near the extension room… Did you put all of Orion's luggage up yet? Or are they still in your shadows?" She brought up a good question, and I said.
"He hasn't really brought it up ever since we arrived at the house. He would either forget about all of the luggage, which is unlikely, expect me to put it all somewhere without his knowledge, or be entirely focused on finding a personal place to store all the stuff from my shadows. I would say the latter would be highly feasible as he left the house in a hurry after giving me that 600 bucks." I listed off my guesses, but Caliel finally found something while I was going off a tangent.
"Ohhh!!! Look at this, Tristan, I actually found something!!!" from the looks of it, she was standing in front of a normal-looking wall near the extension room, and she placed a hand. Her hand started to glow a fluorescent gold as symbols that one would usually see an occult would use for a pentagram.
Caliel's lips curled into a smile while saying, "Well, now, who would've thought I would see a Unicursal hexagram from the time when Goetia or Enochian was a thing? Neat…" Yeah, that smile of hers didn't really fit that emotionless tone she was using right now; Cal's hand glowed even brighter, a door started to form out of existence, and the house began to shake as if her light was trying to undue whatever wicked rituals that was set in place by the vampire and his Thaumaturgy when all was done she spoke up.
"Here's the door to the basement!!! Do you want to take a look or wait for a bit in one of the rooms up here? You still need to rest after that ass beating." I clicked my tongue hearing that, but I felt fine while she was still carrying me.
"No thanks, I think I could still hold up fine. My curiosity is stronger than my exhaustion. And also, when are you going to put me down?" My question caught her by surprise, and she said.
"Well, you do seem fine, so I'll let you down, but you'll have to hold my hand-!!" Caliel stopped her last comment as she started to shiver quite a bit, which worried me, so I asked.
"Are you alright, Cal?" She carefully set me down and looked at me with a half-smile; it was worrisome seeing that smile, but she said.
"I'm okay, Tristan; it was just a little cold I get sometimes… Just be careful walking the stairs, and don't trip; I'll follow behind you." She spoke with confidence, reassuring me just a bit, and I will force myself to believe it.
"Ok, Cal, I'm going to open the door first, then." And that was what I did, and through the door was like every standard hallway; it had carpet-like steps that had a red pattern. It seemed it bit dark, but my eyes didn't really have a problem with it, and then Caliel stopped me from walking.
"Wait a minute, Tristan. Isn't the basement too dark for you to see?" I looked at the steps and then back at her with confusion.
"No... It actually seems kind of light to me, honestly speaking." It was now her turn to become confused, and then she had that brain-blast look on her face as if she understood something.
"Never mind, carry on, Tristan!!" She said eagerly, making me question her even further, but I walked down anyway. The walls on the side of the steps were made of a red-like wood, giving off a completely different vibe from upstairs as the coloring was blue and white.
"The texture of this wood is beautiful." I blurted out loud as I marveled at it, touching the wood as I walked down the steps. Caliel then chuckled and said.
"*Kek~* Oh, Tristan, you wouldn't be saying that if you actually knew how this wood was made." It didn't really take a genius to figure out how it was made when the person who created this basement was an occultist. After Caliel's remark about Crowley being a bloodsucker, I quickly took my hand off the wood and felt disgusted with myself.
Beyond the red-carpeted steps, the floor switched to reddish-brown tiles with a long hallway that squared off to a larger opening that held a small amount of lighting.
For some reason, the dark in this basement felt nice to me, so I looked behind me and spoke to Caliel, who was behind me. "Hey, Caliel? Can't this place be my room instead?" I asked, and she gawked at Tristan, her surprise was immense as she tried to utter something.
"W-why, Tristan?!?! I don't want to do that at all. I mean, why would I put a child in a basement of all things?!!!! Do you KNOW how that would make me look if the parents next year at your school were to find out somehow that Orion and I would just keep a child in the basement?!? I may be a demon, but that doesn't mean I don't want to keep a normal persona of taking care of children like you??!?!" Huh? She's right about one thing: it would be weird to keep a child to stay in the basement.
"Can I stay here for a little while and then, you know, play around." Caliel gave me a thousand-yard stare, which made me uncomfortable. She said to me with a squinting glare.
"Just don't go overboard, Tristan. You're still a child. I'm neither condoning nor condemning you. But please, for the love of the lord, I have once forsaken; do not do anything weird!!!!!" What is she on about? I spoke mentally to Zil.
'Hey Zil, what is she trying to insinuate? I don't know what she's talking about?' Zil only kept his silence, frustrating me to no end.
Zil: <....>
Caliel spoke for the last time. "Well, now, I think you could handle things by yourself from this point on... But remember what I said, you're too young, okay... I'll be going back upstairs and wait for Orion." She went upstairs in a hurry for some reason, now with me all alone.
'Well fuck me!?! She ran away from me like the plague?!?! And I don't know why.' I said to myself once more, and oddly enough, when I asked why Caliel was acting so weird it felt like Zil just up and left me too.
Zil: <....>
I then continued walking through the hallway to see where it went, and the opening showed a change in the flooring; instead of the usual tiles, it was now solid concrete flooring expanding from a 25 by 25-meter range, with the walls made of orange bricks. The height went up without a ceiling in sight... Just pure nothing is what I can only describe it as...
I may not be an architect engineer, but that doesn't seem right to me. To the right were candles laid out, and a wall was painted with the same pentagram from the door. From the looks of it, this ritual seems unfinished...
My focus wasn't on the candles. I waved my hand to bring out my shadow storage, and every shadow in the basement started moving, snuffing out the only light source in the room.
'Oh... That wasn't supposed to happen? Maybe waving my hand in a dark room full of shadows wasn't a good idea...' Instead, I tried another option and tried to imagine which item I wanted from the shadows. I imagined an item that was a red ornamented box and raised my hand with my palm up, and a black-like hole with countless tiny orange eyes manifested right on top of my palm.
The red ornamented box floated to my hand, and I finally opened my eyes, '*Tch* Nice, I'm actually pretty proud of myself for once... Ok, enough of that; I need a place to open this Ornament box.' I looked around, and to my disappointment, there was nothing to sit on, no chair, no nothing except for the candles and written pentagram.
'*Sigh* I guess I have to make my chair and table.' I then decided that maybe I could try to create something from these shadows from the basement. I then again raised another hand up and focused on just forming a table and chair, and slowly, a deep black chair and a table began to materialize. When the forming was done, both of them had a slight orange pigmentation.
'Looking at my own creation feels great!!' I thought to myself, but I went back to focus as I immediately sat on the chair and set the box on the shadow table.
'And here it is!!! Let's see what's in the box!!!' I began to open the box with anticipation.
.
.
.
.
(POV: Caliel Velzula Montra Orthos Ezarothos ->)
I was looking at Tristan's swollen face while he was on the ground at the front of the house, and I wanted to help as his body looked horrible, even if he could walk it off, "Hey, Tristan!!! Do you need help?"
"No, why?" He said, and I stated while trying to hold back my laugh
"Pshh, Buddy, my eyes can see through your crap; your entire body seems to be working on an astronomical level as your cells seem to be multiplying and dying at a 50-50 rate creating an equilibrium… I'm just extremely impressed with your healing factor to keep you in one piece… But
Manipulating those shadows to enhance yourself like that wasn't a good idea, but no pain means no game sometimes. Let me carry you to your new room!! Even if you could walk by yourself, I don't think you should abuse that body too much for now." I answered and he only gave me a blank stare, like he was in deep thought, and then asked me the strangest question.
"Does this house have a basement, Caliel?" It was an odd question, but he does have a basement. But it has permanently been closed off ever since an incident where abyssal creatures would crawl their way to the material world.
Still, that hasn't really become a problem since many of the incantations for the high-level summoning for Obtenteration were destroyed in the basement. I told Tristan while not telling him it was a joint operation ritual with the Lasambra to bring the entire World into the Abyss.
"Knowing that bloodsucking vamp- I mean Crowley, he might have built one in for his rituals… But why!?!?!" I said with as much of a cheerful persona as I could.
"Well, I want to use that basement as a study place, as I still have that ornamented box in my shadows. Knowing Kai, he has something for me to learn about spheres or weed planting… Also, I think the stuff I'm going to do is better left in the basement…" Huh, Well, now I guess that basement wasn't useless after all. I guess I'll let him use the basement.
I immediately lifted him to my shoulders and carried him into the house to find the basement. It didn't take too long for me to find it, which was near the Extension room, which would make sense for 'Uncle Al. ' It's odd that Tristan didn't say anything while I was lifting him. I thought he would get into a fit.
"If I were good ol' Uncle Al, then I would put the basement near the extension room… Did you put all of Orion's luggage up yet? Or are they still in your shadows?" I said in order to keep him focused, as I was kind of worried about him zoning out.
"He hasn't really brought it up ever since we arrived at the house. He would either forget about all of the luggage, which is unlikely, expect me to put it all somewhere without his knowledge, or be entirely focused on finding a personal place to store all the stuff from my shadows. I would say the latter would be highly feasible as he left the house in a hurry after giving me that 600 bucks." Wow, a whole lot of information I didn't need to know. I'm going to get started with opening the door.
My hand touched the wall, and I willed my power to it. Surprisingly, I saw a pentagram from the old days.
"Well, now, who would've thought I would see a Unicursal hexagram from the time when Goetia or Enochian was a thing? Neat…" It was kind of surprising to see but my focus is opening this door.
My hand glowed even brighter, a door started to form out of existence, and the house began to shake with my light, trying to undo whatever wicked rituals the vampire and his Thaumaturgy had set in place. When all was done, I spoke up to Tristan. "
"Here's the door to the basement!!! Do you want to take a look or wait for a bit in one of the rooms up here? You still need to rest after that ass beating." I knew his answer, but I had to make sure.
"No thanks, I think I could still hold up fine. My curiosity is stronger than my exhaustion. And also, when are you going to put me down?" I feigned surprise hearing him, and I said.
"Well, you do seem fine, so I'll let you down, but you'll have to hold my hand-!!" I then felt so much killing intent to the point where I was shivering...
'THIS KILLING INTENT IS NOT NORMAL!??!!?' I thought to myself. Never mind, making sure he didn't trip by holding his hand. Tristan spoke up while I was shivering.
"Are you alright, Cal?" His honest question to make sure I was alright was nice to hear, but I said to him.
"I'm okay, Tristan; it was just a little cold I get sometimes… Just be careful walking the stairs, and don't trip; I'll follow behind you." I reassured him, but he didn't seem to believe me, which was understandable.
"Ok, Cal. I'm going to open the door first, then." He opened the door to the basement, and I followed behind him. The basement should be extremely dark, and it seemed like Tristan was okay with it, so I asked a question.
"Wait a minute, Tristan. Isn't the basement too dark for you to see?" His answer led me to believe that his shadows do affect his body, but passively, if he was in extreme darkness.
"Never mind, carry on, Tristan!!" I said to him.
We walked further down, and I saw that he was touching the bloody oak tree from the wall, which I didn't really see a problem with, and he blurted out loud, "The texture of this wood is beautiful."
I couldn't help but laugh at the remark. Even though it does look beautiful, how it was made is pretty sad, especially during the Dark Ages before the Inquisition began, when blood was used more for fun than a necessity... Knowing Aleister, he probably bought the wood from an Elder Vampire.
"*Kek~* Oh, Tristan, you wouldn't be saying that if you actually knew how this wood was made." My words were enough for him to understand what I was implying...
I would be uncomfortable explaining how vampires would use groups of 'Cattle' in an unsanitary way to mush them up together and give them to a blood seed for them to grow. Those seeds are extremely rare and will generally grow on the outskirts of The City Of Enoch. And then I heard Tristan say something that wouldn't be considered "kid-friendly."
"Hey, Caliel? Can't this place be my room instead?" My mind is now swirling right now
'Wait, what? No, no, no, no, OH, FUCK NOOO!!!!' I finally found the words to say my displeasure for a ten-year-old to stay in the basement.
"W-why, Tristan?!?! I don't want to do that at all. I mean, why would I put a child in a basement of all things?!!!! Do you KNOW how that would make me look if the parents next year at your school were to find out somehow that Orion and I would just keep a child in the basement?!? I may be a demon, but that doesn't mean I don't want to keep a normal persona of taking care of children like you??!?!" I feel like I stumbled a lot in trying to change his mind, but thank god that Tristan understood me... I hope he did... He then said something else that led me back to that thing that was with him when I peeked in his old room in Idaho.
"Can I stay here for a little while and then, you know, play around." I don't think he meant it like that, but I still can't help but look back at it... Oh fuck!!! The killing intent is more assertive this time on me!! I have to say something and get out of here!!
"Just don't go overboard, Tristan. You're still a child. I'm neither condoning nor condemning you. But please, for the love of the lord, I have once forsaken; do not do anything weird!!!!!" And why the fuck did I say that to a child... Well, whatever, it is what it is.
"Well, now, I think you could handle things by yourself from this point on... But remember what I said, you're too young, okay?... I'll be going back upstairs and wait for Orion."
'Oh, for the love of whatever's out there, I gotta get out of here.' And with that, I rushed out, leaving the bewildered Tristan to himself like a responsible caretaker.
I finally made it and went through the door, closed it behind me, and that killing intent splashing on me disappeared, letting me finally relax, "I have never felt so annoyed when it comes to killing intent till now, whatever that thing was, it could go fuck itself for all I care..." I slumped my back to the wall
I said out loud, and if I hadn't been so focused on my sanity, I would have heard an echoed laughter from somewhere just outside of the house, mocking me.
(3rd POV: Anafabula: %%%%% %%%%%%)
{NYHAHAAHAHHAHA~ That punk ass got what was coming to her!!!!!!! Trying to hold hands with Tristy!! It Should've been ME, NOT HER!!!!} Ana gritted her teeth, pulled her list out of seemingly nowhere, and crossed a name off.
{There! That's done!!! Next, it's YOU, Orion!!! And this time, I am not going to throw cheese wheels at you!!!} She spoke with conviction as she violently started repeatedly stabbing her list with the black pen. When she finished stabbing the now torned list, her smile returned as she talked to herself once more.
{But I'll be a good girl, Tristy, and wait till you call me~ Even though I haven't seen you for just about 18 hours, 58 minutes, 32 seconds, and 33.5 milliseconds precisely on the dot... and still counting!!!!} She pulled out her glasses from somewhere, put them on, and pushed them up as a watch formed on her wrist as the hands on the clock kept moving.
{I'll be waiting~🎶} She said and disappeared with an 'innocent' smile as her eyes ranged from yellow, red, and black fast enough to give people seizures or epilepsy as she disappeared from the other side of the house. Just outside of the extension room near Caliel.
.
.
.
.
.
(A/n: I think the primary focus should be on Orion and Tristan in the next chapter, as Orion will be meeting some people, and Tristan will finally see what's in that box. Peace out. I guess I am having problems uploading chapters too...)