Kimo sat on his bed, aggressively taking notes. Papers drifted through the air and the charmed books levitated in front of him. The lamp in the bedroom was set at a low level to give off a soft glow, door opened to the black hall and living room. He had hardly taken his eyes away from the books all evening, lids growing heavy and sclera turning bloodshot. When he heard footsteps in the living room, his attention shot to the hall. He knew the sound of Jonathan's steps, and at first hoped it was him, wanting desperately to speak with him since the boy had been MIA since the night at The Exspiravit. But those steps were not his, and Kimo slowly slid off the bed and grabbed his bat from his backpack. The symbols on the wood began to glow, the wire tightening around the surface. The footsteps were only whispers across the floor, the air growing hot as he entered the hall, bat over his shoulder, flames gently began to lick through the surface.
"Who's in here?" he said with a calm voice despite his elevated heart rate.
In the kitchen, a silhouette sat on his counter. He was hunched over, clear hands gripping the edges of the counter so tight his palms would be bleeding if he were alive. He lifted his head as Kimo walked in, black orbs in his eye sockets, thin lips pulled in a frown.
"What are you doing in here?" Kimo said to the ghost in a stern voice, bat slowly rising over his shoulder.
The ghost's head snapped around to face Kimo. "I heard something," he said in an empty voice. "The path I took led me here."
Kimo thought back to his lessons on Eidolon conversation to try to pull what information he could from the ghost. "What happened? Where were you before here?"
"Well, I was walking down 27th Street when something…pushed me to the ground. It was cold. I didn't want to be alone. There was something very wrong on that street tonight."
The figure looked at Kimo, face stressed in agony. His death was not a quick one.
"You got a name?" Kimo asked.
"Orval."
"Okay, Orval. Tell me why the street was wrong tonight."
"I've walked it so many times. I used to feel safe, passing those quiet homes, even in the dark. But not tonight."
"Why not?"
Orval turned his black sockets to Kimo and he felt the invisible eyes searing a hole in him. "Your Kimo?"
His brow knit together. "How do you know that?"
"There was one other on the street. I think he sent me here. A boy named Jonathan."
Kimo's eyes widened. "Was he there too?"
Orval nodded.
"Is there anything else you remember?"
"The other one was not human. He was what was wrong. Still not sure what he was…" Orval's mind began to drift and Kimo saw his soul loosing grip with the surface world.
Kimo turned away and began to pull on his boots.
"Don't go there," Orval said as Kimo pulled on his jacket, face wrinkled with sorrow. "Please don't go there. It will send you into a path of suffering. Please, Kimo, don't go there."
"I'm sorry Orval," Kimo said as he grabbed his rollerblades and backpack. "I hope you find peace when you leave this world."
When he hit the paved street he slipped on his rollerblades and rushed towards 27th street. What trouble did you get into this time Jonathan? He held his bat clutched in his left hand, symbols glowing, the wire tightening.
When he made it to 27th Street all of the streetlamps were out. There was a gas station that had closed a decade ago when a violent robbing ruined the reputation of the station, fading into a site for meetups of drug dealers and a shelter for vagabonds not afraid of staying in a haunted building. Without any light, the station stood in shadow behind a darker background, dense cloud cover erasing any moonlight. Kimo rolled slowly down the street, an urge to shout Jonathan's name but instincts telling him to be quiet.
He took off his rollerblades and switched them for the sneakers around his neck. He took a careful step onto the darkened street and almost immediately fell over when he saw Orval's body sprawled in the street. He was barely recognizable, his face looking like something heavy had smashed it in, red and crumpled bone matted with hair that had been pulled from his head.
As he approached the station Kimo stopped again. Glass littered the ground and a pair of red eyes were looking at him from within the station. Suddenly his body felt immensely cold.
"Come any closer and I'll kill you," came a scratchy voice.
Kimo raised his bat which now emanated a bright light that gave a view to the front of the station where Jonathan was sprawled, a pool of crimson growing beneath him on the pavement. Pieces of glass were embedded in Jonathan's face and torso, shards sticking out that glimmered in the yellow light, his face ripped with holes. Kimo tried to keep his composure as he looked from his dead friend to the red eyes.
"Why?" he managed to say.
"He got in my way," came the dry voice, growing distant.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Kimo shouted as he swung his bat through the air, flames bursting from the surface. The wave of flames crashed through the front wall of the gas station, the structure crumbling.
Kimo expected to hear a shriek of pain, but the flames danced around the man, giving a glimpse of light for him to see the owner of those horrid red eyes.
His white skin gleamed in the light; a long body that looked human but with an astounding height. Silver hair fell over his face and down his neck, matted and unkept. He wore an XXL t-shirt that hung off his skinny frame, ripped with holes and blood, his jeans in similar condition. His bare feet stood on shattered glass as he paused to smile at Kimo through the flames, thin lips spreading farther than they should.
The pale man let out a small laugh that began to stumble into a cough and Kimo clenched his teeth and swung the bat again, sending out enough flames to eat away at the abandoned station. He watched the flames with his careful eyes, hoping to see or smell a burning corpse. But as the roof of the station began to collapse, he knew the pale man was gone. Suddenly, the streetlamps ignited again, small spotlights on the pavement beside a burning building.
Kimo looked down at Jonathan and tried to fight back the tears. He swallowed the lump in his throat and he scooped Jonathan into his arms and carried him to the burning station, tossing him to the flames. They blazed a purple hue for a moment as Jonathan's body caught fire and Kimo bowed his head in respect.
He was sure to be gone before the fire department arrived, blading through the lit streets, cold air rushing across his face, tears flying in the wind. He struggled to keep his mind together, thoughts swirling in incoherent motions as he struggled to make sense of everything that had happened. The first thing he thought of was that he had to find Orval. He was not likely to ascend soon, as ghosts of users only tend to appear amid a brutal death and to come down from an intense tragedy took time. Kimo had done some reading on phantom apparitions and the source was suspected to do with a random, rare genetic defect. However, there were a few spells that could be cast to create a similar effect. As he thought it over he was becoming more convinced that Orval had been hexed, that Jonathan had something important to tell him.
When Kimo returned to Azure Skies Suites he rushed up the stairs and into his empty apartment. He felt a stone of dread drop in his chest, knowing the ghost would not give him any more details on Jonathan. He dropped the rollerblades and kicked off his shoes, dropping onto his bed as he was too depressed to do anything else.