Phasmatta -ch 8-

Chapter 8 - Forked -

Driving along the road back into town after dropping off Daisy, Ryan was leaning back in the drivers seat and moving down the winding hilly road.

With trees on both sides, a lot of loose gravel, and a heaping helping of debris, Ryan had the ugly thought that a lot of people could end up going right off the road and never being found.

This was certainly a nowhere that’d simply vanish people as if they were never among the living.

“I like her,” Carl blurted out from the passenger seat, causing Ryan to jerk the wheel partially to one side.

His tire caught the gutter of the gravel’s edge so when he pulled the wheel back the other way, the car jumped an inch or two as it rebounded. Giving Ryan a wide-eyed shock as he nearly lost control of the vehicle.

Pulling the wheel straight, rather than whipping it the other way and fishtailing madly, he felt the tires catch and the car got back into a forward stable direction.

“Carl,” Ryan growled through clenched teeth.

“Sorry! Sorry. I thought you knew I was here. I didn’t-I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Ryan,” Carl immediately stated. Sounding extremely guilty “I really thought you’d seen me.”

Blowing out a shuddering breath, Ryan saw a pull out with a cliff side view. Where trees had likely once been, but had been subjected to a landslide of some sort. Wiping out a good portion of the land and the trees that’d dotted it.

Easing the car over into the pullout Ryan put the car in park, turned it off, and leaned into his seat. He closed his eyes and just tried to not think about what’d just happened.

Because if he hadn’t gotten control of the vehicle it was very likely he’d have gone right through this very same pull out, off the cliff, and became part of this little scenic vista.

“So… you leveled up,” Carl ventured. It was clear he was trying to change the subject with something he viewed as a positive. “It’s a stat level and-and-and a perk! A perk, too. We should probably go over it and see what you like?”

Ryan just sat there, his eyes closed, not responding, and working to slow his hammering and rapid beating heart.

“A perk,” Ryan murmured. “You said that this level would have better perks?”

“Yes! Quite a few perks. We can go over all of them if you want. There’s so many! There’s a lot of really good ones, too!” gushed Carl. “There’s also the stat increase but I think you should just apply that evenly. But that’s just me.

“That way you just end up more of what you are and you’re not changing what you are. If you end up trying to push in one stat only you can end up causing weirdness with yourself.”

Ryan snorted at that and then blew out a long and slow breath.

“Oh, uhm… hello,” Carl mumbled, sounding confused suddenly.

Ryan opened his eyes quickly and felt his heart start hammering again. His hand went straight down into the sidepocket he’d attached to the right side of his seat.

He felt the rough grip of his pistol fit in his palm even as his eyes landed on the new arrival.

And realized the gun wouldn’t do a damn thing.

A fully embodied ghost stood outside Ryan’s window.

He was a dark brown haired man in his mid to late thirties stood there. He had a full length coat on, a loose tie, a work shirt, a pair of slacks, and a crew cut.

His face was somewhat stubbled and a strange look was lingering in his eyes.

Ryan couldn’t see any signs of what’d killed the man, which meant it wasn’t his death that’d bound him here. Nor could Ryan really see someone being stuck to this particular patch of road unless they’d gone off the road into the ditch that was a good thirty feet below the road.

Yet the man would likely be bound to the car, rather than the road.

“You can see me,” said the ghost, suddenly demonstrating that not only was he fully formed, but also deeply cognizant. This manifestation wasn’t an echo, a lingering trace, or anything else. “You met my gaze and the boy next to you was actively talking to you. You can see me. You can even hear me. I can tell.”

Opening his mouth, Ryan stared at the man then blew out a short huff.

“Yeah. I can see you. I can hear you,” Ryan confirmed and reached to turn the key in the ignition. It was now time to go.

A ghost free roaming on a road with this level of awareness meant they were bound deeply, or extraordinarily strong. In either situation, Ryan didn’t want any part of it.

“I’m detective Mullins, Vern Mullins, out of the Noxfield PD. I was murdered. I think it was ten years ago but… but I’m unsure. The time around my death is hazy to me,” said the man, a frown creasing his brow and mouth alike. “I can’t offer you much, but I buried a good part of my earnings out behind my house. Fucking bankers were always looking to sell you on things that’d just roll over the moment you put money in it. But if you help me track down my killer. It’s all yours. I never told anyone about where it was. Not even my wife.

“I have to catch the bastard. They’re a serial killer and I was just starting to piece together what was happening. I… I had… I had the pieces. I just had to assemble it. I know it.

“But… it’s been so long that I think I’ve forgotten some things. I think I’ve lost pieces.”

Staring at the dead detective, Ryan really wasn’t sure what to think of this.

“I think if we helped him, you’d get at least two levels worth of experience out of it. Maybe even three,” Carl interjected. “This is clearly one of the reasons we’re here. Now that we’ve cleared the tutorial.”

The reasons we’re here.

Add that to the creepy talk he mentioned last time… and the tutorial… it’s… it feels like there’s so much more here.

A lot more to all of this.

Except honestly it feels like even Carl doesn’t know. He just knows there’s more, but not what.

“Detective, what’re you even bound to? Why’re you here?” Ryan asked instead. “You said you were part of the Noxfield PD but what was even the year you were around in? Do you remember that?”

“Last year I can remember is twenty-twelve. As to why I’m here… I don’t know. I can’t leave this area,” admitted the detective. “I’ve tried. I’ve tried many times. To talk to people to… do anything.

“There was a period of time I figured I was just plum crazy. That the whole of it was more than my mind could handle and this was all nonsense.

“But… you’re here. You’re talking to me. I’m-I’m having a conversation. I clearly lived. I clearly existed. I’m dead but I’m not crazy.”

Ryan had heard a creeping accent in some of what the detective said. A way of speaking that had caused Ryan to pay attention. It didn’t match the normal West Virginian way of speaking.

As if he were fighting against his own heritage to be something different in front of others. Perhaps he was even embarrassed by his natural accent, given how quickly he’d reigned it in.

“Carl… this… leveling thing, it’s real?” Ryan asked and looked away from detective Mullins. “I actually get stronger and the perks are things that happen and… it’s… all real?”

“Yes! It’s absolutely real,” Carl said, gazing into Ryan now in a way that left him feeling strange. “It’s all real. Though I should warn you the stats are kinda weird. They don’t have a numerical value, just an approximation with words. It’d be hard to actually quantify that kind of stuff. Its more like how you compare to others.”

“I… alright,” Ryan mumbled and looked down at his lap. “Let’s see the character sheet, I guess. I know you said you can’t give me numbers but… can you like… approximate them for me? Even if it’s a stretch?”

“I guess I could do that,” whined Carl, then sighed and held his hands up. Between his hands was Ryan’s character sheet again. “Pretend it’s out of ten.”

Name: Ryan Hale

Level: 3

Affinity: None

Sanity: 100%

Health: 92% (Injury-0.8)

Mana: 100%

Forbidden Knowledge: Rank 1

Guide: None

Title: Odds and Ends

Body:

Sturdy (7)

Reflex:

Sharp (8)

Speed:

Above Average (6)

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 Nothing

Terrors-Am I Awake or Asleep

Demonic: Journeyman

The After Knows You

Springs Eternal-Cursed to Hope

Death: Master

Death Is Your Debtor and Ally

Ending-Happy Harem End

—

—

Huh.

I uh… I guess my knee really is better. The injury already went down by point-two.

That’s pretty neat.

Or, wait.

Did it go to point-two with the most recent level up? I’ll have to test it when I get home.

Do some low impact movements and see if they’re still a bother.

Maybe I won’t need the brace soon?

“Alright. Thanks, Carl,” Ryan said as he read over the character sheet. He noted that the perk at the end was indeed ‘Happy Harem End’ though he still had no idea what that meant. “If I put that stat point into Speed, would it go to seven?”

“No,” Carl answered. “It’d get better though. An entire stat point is really hard to increase. In some stats it does even less than for others. Mentality is really hard to level up. Likability is really easy to level up, but that can also be increased with self-maintenance and care.

“Or surgeries. You get the idea, right?”

“In other words. I could add it to body, but I can get that from working out,” Ryan intuited. “Then… let’s add that stat point to speed. Because as far as I’m aware of, fast twitch and slow twitch muscles aren’t changeable. But I’d see benefits in that.”

“Done! Not a bad idea,” Carl stated.

“I… what’s… going on?” asked detective Mullins from the back seat. The ghost had entered the vehicle and sat down at some point. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“I’m weird,” Ryan answered with a snort and a glance to the detective, then back to Carl. “Alright… perks. Let’s-I… I want to be able to do more with mana. You’ve said there’s no magic in this world though.

“If that were the case, how come I can power spells? Why do I have mana at all? If there’s no magic in the world, how does any of that happen?”

“I can’t answer that,” Carl said with a sad smile and a shrug. “There is no magic in the world. You do have mana. You can power spells.”

“Is magic mana then? Is it a verbiage whatever problem? Boilerplate, ad infinitum, ad naseum puke-buckets, mumbo jumbo?”

“Magic is mana,” confirmed Carl with a sharp nod of his head. “Magic is mana. There is no magic in the world. You have mana. You can activate spells.”

“But… others can do it, too. Otherwise the spells wouldn’t work at all. I’ve met others who could do what I do. To cast even greater magic than I,” argued Ryan.

Carl only smiled at him and raised his eyebrows.

He knew the answer to this one, but wasn’t answering.

“Fine. Is there any perks that’d give me a chance to cast spells directly instead of through my Wish delivered Grimoire?”

“Yes! There is, actually,” Carl answered excitedly. “Mage-Blood. Grants the perk-holder blood conducive to working with spells. It won’t make you able to cast spells, however. You don’t have the knowledge for it.”

“Ugh,” Ryan grunted and looked away from Carl. He saw the detective in the rear view mirror. Looking between himself and Carl. “Any perks that give me better super-natural defenses?”

“Yes, but no. You can get a perk-defense against certain spirits, but it depends on… their background,” Carl hedged.

Ah.

Yeah.

Not all Demons are created equal.

Baptist derived Demons are very different than Jewish Demons. They call them Shedim, I think. So I can get defenses but it depends on the type of entity.

“I’ll look at the perks later,” huffed Ryan, giving up on it. In the time he took to look into his level up, he’d come to a choice with detective Mullins.

If leveling was real, than Detective Mullins was a gold-mine.

“What’re you bound to, detective?” Ryan asked. “Do you know?”

“I… I don’t have a body here, if that’s what you’re asking,” Mullins answered, seeming somewhat cagey all of a sudden. Then he sighed and looked away. “It’s my duty badge. It’s at the bottom. I can feel it.”

Ryan stared at the detective.

He had an idea of why the man wasn’t being forthright.

There were others down there that maybe weren’t as aware as Mullins was. Remnants, echoes, or shadow-people.

Existences that had lessened with time or a lack of anchors.

“Any perks that’d get me the damn badge?” Ryan asked with a heavy sigh.

“No,” answered Carl.

Shaking his head, Ryan pulled the key from the ignition, opened the car door, and got out. Walking out to the edge pull-out, that had a rusted barrier that might as well have no existed, Ryan looked down.

The grade was pretty damn steep and it didn’t look like something that’d be easy to get up or down from. In fact Ryan was pretty damn sure it’d be a one way trip unless he came prepared.

Rope.

I’m going to need rope.

If I hit the hardware store, buy rope some cinches, come back, it’d probably be noon. Give or take. I could tie it off to the damn car itself and then repel down.

Wouldn’t be pretty, but also not awful.

Looking back up Ryan couldn’t see much.

The side of a hill and ever more trees.

West Virginia was a nightmare for the modern world by and large.

Ryan heard the grind and crunch of tires rolling across gravel. A car was approaching from the direction of the city.

Moving back to his car, Ryan opened the door, and sat down into the driver’s seat. Reaching down he assured himself that the pistol was there and ready and looked to the road while pulling his phone out.

In little under a minute he had the directions to get to a nearby sportwear store that sold climbing rope and climbing gear. Given that the area was filled with coal mines, caves, and rock crevices, Ryan hadn’t been concerned at all about getting the gear he needed.

Looking up, he watched as a Noxville PD police cruiser slowly rolled up the hill toward Ryan. When the officer got close to Ryan, he rolled his window down and held Ryan’s gaze.

He had pale brown hair, dark-blue eyes, and seemed to be in his twenties. Not new to policework but probably not a full veteran yet either.

He lacked a deadness behind the eyes that Ryan expected. Something he’d seen often from military and police alike.

Well shit.

The hell does he want?

Ryan rolled down his own window and smiled at the officer, but said nothing.

He didn’t have anything to say and didn’t want to volunteer anything either.

“Your front license plate is missing,” the officer said after a pregnant pause.

“Oh, yeah. The DMV in downtown didn’t have a plate ready for me to take. Said it’d be a few weeks,” complained Ryan with a click of his tongue. “I’ve got the temp on the back, but someone stole the front temp off last night. I was just driving back into town. Want me to report it?”

The officer’s eyebrows twitched and he looked surprised about that. Apparently Ryan being from Noxville wasn’t what he expected.

“I’ll take the report,” the officer answered, then grinned. “As to stealing it… well, that’ll make it easy to find if they’re still in-state. Chances are though they took it just to pair it with someone else’s temp plate or make a duplicate. People don’t often notice the front’s missing.

“Just give me a second to take a picture of the temp, the missing front, and then you can get out of here.”

“What a waste of time,” said Mullins accusingly. “If he got your attention to make a point out of the license plate he should’ve asked you about the car and if he could do a search.

“If he wasn’t going to bother to push that hard regardless of your answer, what the hell was the point at all? Damn timewaster.

“Had a lot of timewasters in my day. Looking for little things to fill their time to justify their work, or lack of it. Some things clearly never changed.”

Ryan nodded his head with a smile and watched the cop pull away then ease up behind Ryan’s car. A hand swung out of the vehicle and a phone was held outright. There was a pause, then it vanished back into the car.

Then the cop waved a hand and started driving off down the road, up the hill and away from Ryan.

Rope.

Rope and gear.

Waiting not a moment more, Ryan set off. Driving off toward the store to pick up his needed supplies for the job.

An hour and a half later, a purchase that was a bit more than he wanted to spend, and right around twelve-thirty, Ryan was at the bottom of the pullout.

A rope tied into the highness he’d bought and a tarnished badge in hand.

The surface had likely been plated in something resistant to the weather, though it looked as if it were flaking at a number of places.

“Noxville Police Department. Detective. Seven-sixty-three,” Ryan read aloud and looked to the side where detective Mullins was standing. He had his hands in his coat pockets. “Well, detective Mullins, where do we start the investigation? I’m not a cop.”

“Precinct would be my first inclination but… they won’t give you anything. Certainly not about my death if it was anything other than a heart-attack and publicly known,” growled Mullins with a nod of his head. “We need a way to find out what happened to me. If we can get to that point we can go from there. Because whatever happened to me-whatever killed me, feels like it was related to the serial killer. I know it. I know they killed me I just… can’t… remember it.”

Ryan clicked his tongue at that gently broke away the rotted leather remains that the badge had been stuck into, then pocketed it afterward.

Precinct is out.

But… maybe a private detective?

Someone qualified to dig into backgrounds?

I’ll play it off like I’m looking into the detective because I heard of him through an uncle. Long lost relative.

Hell, Mullins could feed me family information that’d make it almost too easy.

Though, damn, I’m really getting involved here.

I didn’t do even an eighth as much before this.

I just… worked… went home… and tried not to think.

“Well, look at me go,” Ryan muttered to himself and started to climb upwards, pulling on the rope as he went so he could keep himself from falling back down.

“Yes. Look at you go. You’re growing,” Carl said from where he was floating upside down above Ryan. “You’re still haunted, but… no longer stagnant. Congratulations!”

“Shut up, Carl,” growled Ryan as he clambered upward.

Only to lose his footing and end up hanging on his rope, flat against the hillside.

“Fucking… West Virginia,” he growled.