The Haunts

Corvus took Levy deeper into the Haunts. They were in so deep that visibility was becoming hazy. Corvus’ hand went to his belt and pulled out a velvet pouch tied tight with a gold string. He threw it into the air and through a muffled voice; he commanded in Latin for its contents to ignite. A massive ball of intense light stretched over them and illuminated many feet around them. Wherever they turned to go, the bubble of light followed, illuminating the way.

“This place feels like I’m trudging through heavy, dry fog, and it hurts to breathe in here.” Levy’s eyes burned as he looked around in utter confusion. “For all we know, we could go around in circles.”

“Let me see if we are,” Corvus bent low and took out his bluish-tinted blade that looked like a flat, jagged tooth from the mouth of an enormous animal. It glowed the second he withdrew it from its sheath.

“That’s one badass-looking blade,” Levy said, rubbing at his burning eyes. Everything looked hazy and oddly out of focus.

“That’s because if you look at it close enough, you’ll see that it’s a giant tooth made into a dagger,” Corvus winked and then smiled at Levy, making the boy blush. “Eons ago, this came from a defeated ancient dragon. Now it stands before you fashioned into a formidable weapon. It seethes with powerful magic, and thus one must be very careful around it. Should a tiny nick from this blade were to draw just a single drop of blood, it would transfer enough poison to drop a giant.”

Levy gave Corvus a look of utter disbelief. But then again, he was talking to a crow changeling out from the renaissance era that could change into a young honour bound adventurist, and they were travelling through a precarious territory called the Haunts. So how did he know what was real anymore? Just a few days ago, he started being tormented by a hag goddess with a history of pursuing her ancestors for a gift that she gave them just because they no longer worship her.

“I know all of this is hard to take in as fact, but watch.”

Corvus placed the dagger on the darkly crumpled, dusty path, gave it a spin and spoke to it in Latin.

Both watched as the blade rose into the air. It spun round and round, and then it stopped and hovered in place.

“Where is it pointing?”

“The way home,” Corvus snatched the blade from the air and walked in the direction it was pointing.

“So, how do we get over to the mortal side?”

“I’ll use this,” Corvus weighed the danger in his hand, “to open a seam in the thick fog.”

“You could do that all this time, and now you think of it?”

“We had to distance ourselves from her first.” Corvus nodded and then helped Levy stand back up. “Now we should hurry.”

Levy motioned he would stand, needing no more help. “But how much further? This place is making me feel a little sick.”

“You can lean on me until we get there.”

“No, but thanks for the offer; besides, I think the Imp’s poison isn’t the problem anymore. I think it’s in this realm. My lungs hurt just from being in here; it’s like I’ve been smoking nonstop.”

“Usually we gear up before heading through the Haunts, but in your case, we didn’t have time to prepare for it. For that, I’m very sorry. Please forgive me.” Corvus bowed and then motioned for Levy to follow. “Now come on, we still have a way to go.”

Levy kept up by jogging alongside. “What are all these shadowy shapes of people and objects?” They passed a car completely covered in soot and blurred out just enough to look ghostly, unreal.

“We’re travelling between the Haunts and the earthen realm, your mortal world.”

“Well, this place both looks and feels like crap,” Levy remarked, then made a face. He was so damn tired and wanted to rest, even for just a while.

Corvus noticed Levy’s tiredness and stopped to slap the boy’s face.

Levy held his hand to the side of his face and asked, “What the heck was that for?”

“You don’t want to fall asleep in here. Time changes in here and if we get lost...” Corvus shuddered at the thought. “Believe me, you don’t want to get lost in here—ever.”

“So how much further do we have to go? I mean, she can’t see us and besides—I’ve said throughout this trip, I’m getting exhausted.”

“That’s the imp poison in you talking,” Corvus said, looking agitated. He noticed he was showing signs of reverting to his natural form. “You don’t want to stay in here too long. Wait, I promised Gundegisil that I’d get you back home.”

“Honestly, I don’t see why you even bother,” Levy trotted reluctantly along.

“What a horrible thing to say.” Corvus snapped back. His skin was breaking out in feathers. His eyes were changing shape and moving to the side of his head. Even his nose and mouth were merging and hardening.

“I think you’d better get us out of here before we’re both trapped!” Levy pulled against the giant clawed bird’s hand that had gripped onto his.

Before Corvus could protest, Levy pushed aside the feathered robe Corvus wore and grabbed the birdman’s dagger.

“What are you doing?” Corvus cawed and watched Levy get bigger and taller. “Don’t take that! I need that! Give it back!”

“I think it’s time that we depart from this creepy little place before we’re stuck here.” Levy held the dagger up to his face and noticed how the fog moved around the blue light that came off the blade. He pushed the knife around and saw that he was slicing through the fog like it was a thick section of foam. The blade glowed brighter. He noticed that Corvus’ spell has collapsed all around them. He looked to Corvus, twitching and succumbing to the Haunts.

“Don’t worry…I think I know how we can get out of here.”

“Well, whatever your brilliant plan is, you better do it soon!” Corvus cawed as his human form completely transformed back into a crow as he tipped over and passed out.

“I’m going to do this!” Levy closed his eyes to the power the dagger had, and he stabbed the blade deep into the thick fog and felt a tear form in it. Through the narrow split seam, he saw his world on the other side. The world he knew was now well within reach. So, with Corvus gathered under his arm, Levy slashed the blade until the slash was long enough for them to get through.

Levy crumbled to the ground the second they reached the earthen realm. Like an exhausted long-distance swimmer, he and Corvus (still in his bird form) lay aside each other, catching their breaths. After what felt like minutes of rest and weird looks from those that passed by, there came a sound in the distance that had Levy in an absolute panic. What he heard was that damn little squeaky wheel from a particular accursed old shopping cart that rumbled along the concrete sidewalk stuffed with bags and goodies discovered in bins and local trash cans.

“Corvus!” Levy poked at him with his finger. “It’s her! She’s found us! It’s Cailleach!”

Corvus’ eyes shot open with terror as he looked around at his surroundings. Then, with a wobble, he quickly propped himself upwards until he was standing upright, looking up at Levy with his head cocked at an angle (the way birds often do). Then, with a single squawk, he dropped a splattering of bird poop on the sidewalk and took to the air.

“Hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Levy shook his fist in the air as Corvus disappeared. “You can’t leave me to deal with her like this!”

Levy pushed off the sidewalk to look around. He felt much better than he did in the Haunts; all the while, the consistent sound of the squeaking shopping cart grew closer. Levy looked too exhausted to run off or put up a fight. He looked around and saw that he was still downtown, but at a different end of the city. With his back pressed to the brick wall, he checked his inner coat into a pack of cigs. Uncovering an empty pack, he swore under his breath and threw it aside. Now was as good a time as any to get going.

As a grocery cart approached from around the corner and ambled noisily towards him, his eyes went wide with terror. He couldn’t quite make out who was behind it, but it didn’t take away the gripping horror he felt.

He looked around at the ground for Corvus’ dagger, but it had slipped out of his hand while they were squeezing through the tear between worlds. He hoped he hadn’t dropped it somewhere in the Haunts.

Shit, Levy flinched.

Worried of what might happen, he pressed his back to the brickwork where he had just made a tear between the two realities and slowly watched the cart amble past him. The owner of the cart did not appear to be Cailleach, the Hag Goddess of Storms, but some other wretched old lady was surviving off the streets. The chubby old woman shuffled up beside him dressed in a filthy faded pink jumper suit, had these thick, cracked glasses on, and smelled so offensive that Levy had to fight off gagging aloud.

“Excuse me, kind sir.” the old woman had stopped her cart right in front of Levy, pinning him to the wall, so he had barely any room to move. “Do you happen to have a smoke?” She made a motion of smoking by holding her tar-stained fingers like an open “v” on her lips.

“Uh,” Levy quickly dug into his pocket for something, anything that would get her on her way; pocket change, a lighter, and or…even if miracles were even possible, a pack of cigs.

Strangely, he looked at the toothless woman smiling innocently up at him as he uncovered from his search a cigarette so perfectly preserved and unscathed that there was no way possible that it had been in his pants pocket. But there it was, and so he offered it to the old woman so that she would go on her way.

“Oh, Praise Cailleach!” She graciously took it in her hand, like he was offering her a gold coin.

“What did you say?” Levy dug deeper into his pockets for his lighter, but apparently she had it covered. She snapped her finger, and the smoke between her pursed lips started to kindle and glow.

He kept looking at the old woman in awe and a little dismay. What the heck?

The old woman chuckled as she took a long drag and then let the smoke drift out of her nose. It came out thick like smog as it passed through her dry and cracked lips and then curled up over her wrinkled features like tiny vipers venturing out into the world.

“How did you light that? I didn’t light it for you.” Levy felt that creeping feeling crawling up from his stomach.

“Are ya a person of faith, son?” She continued to take a drag on her smoke. Her eyes gleamed inquisitively.

“No, quite the opposite.” Levy felt agitated by the whole encounter. He wished he could create as much distance between them, but the cart, angled against the brick wall, blocked his way. That was unless he wanted to go the other way towards the old woman, and that was something he refused to do. With his back still pressed to the wall, she had his undivided attention.

“Might help ya in times like these, don’tcha think?” She mumbled with amusement as she took another deep drag and then exhaled more thick smoke. It was as thick as the visibility in the Haunts.

Soon the surrounding air grew thicker and thicker with smoke until the world around them grew thinner and thinner. Levy waned. His vision blurred, and he felt like he was close to passing out.

What’s going on? Levy put his hand to his head and felt about ready to fall over.

“How dare you even think that a mere mortal such as you has a chance of upsetting a God?”

“Maybe you were once a God,” Levy corrected, “but now you’re nothing but a hag with parlour tricks used to scare old people and children! You have no priest to represent you and undeniably no worshippers!”

“Such talk from a mortal fool!” The old woman cackled as she stabbed a pudgy hand into Levy’s gut. He grimaced as the smell of burning flesh and fabric assaulted his nose. “Gimmie it!” She moved her head sideways and gave him an uncomfortable look. “You know you want to.”

Levy grimaced as he felt her hand pressing deeper into his body, as her sharp fingers were poking and prodding his organs playfully. “What’s the matter, Cailleach? Scared of the truth? Your time has passed, and no matter how much you try to recapture it, you’ll see it has all surpassed you!” He felt that his hand, where the glyph was, itched. And then it grew bright.

The old woman’s face started to distort and stretch, and her eyes became pitch black. “Do you know what I am capable of?” Her voice took on a booming, screeching quality. It was enough to get the nearby shop windows vibrating. Her fingers elongated and curled around his beating heart like the roots of a weed. All she had to do was give it a good hard yank, and he would die as heartless as she was.

“Screw this!” Levy placed his glowing right hand onto her pudgy, greasy face and felt it shearing her flesh like a hot poker out of a roaring fire.

The old woman howled and stumbled back. Her face looked as if melted through to the bone; it smoldered with heat and formed sores that threatened to explode. Her glasses fell off as she glared back. Her one eye was burnt white and upon seeing that, Levy felt a tinge of regret. At first, the hag looked somewhat shocked that he could do something so shockingly unexpected, but then she laughed until it was shrill and grating.

“Oh God, will you just piss right off and leave me alone?” Levy held his hands to his head as the surrounding air thickened, and then he stood enveloped in smoke so thick he couldn’t see his hands in front of his face. Even the glowing glyph appeared muted and dull. Levy concentrated as he slammed hard against the brick wall and he noticed he was pushing back into the Haunts.

Through the slices he had made, he could go back through. The old woman and her creaky cart were fading to a blanket of smoky grey.

“Oh no, you don’t!” The old crone’s hand pushed through the haunts, grabbed Levy by the throat, and held him upwards. The arm was unlike the plump woman’s. It had long, black, sharp nails with deep black veins weaving through the thin, gnarled arm.

Levy struggled, but he was losing consciousness again. Something about the Haunts was shutting him down. He fumbled in his pockets for something to defend himself. The dagger he had taken off Corvus could, in fact, open the portal was now lost somewhere in his world, and thus the lingering Imp poison that lay dormant in his body had circulated back through his bloodstream. It didn’t take long until he felt lightheaded and numb all over.

“I could crush your neck, boy!” the old woman cackled. “But I need you to volunteer your eternal gift to me! So I’ll leave you on the other side with just a wee warning.”

She dropped him to the ground as the tear to the mortal world closed.

“I wouldn’t worry, boy. I’m sure that you’ll find something to occupy your time while you’re stuck in there. In the meantime, I’ll be taking something away from you here. Let’s see how you like having something taken from you.”

Levy crumpled to the cold ground. The fog enveloped him until he could feel nothing but a deep chill digging deep into his joints and bones. As he fought to keep from passing out. Levy spotted a growing little horde of tiny figures materializing from the surrounding whirl of grey ash. Confident their prey would not resist, the Imps opened their small mouths to show off their sharp teeth.