Coincidences

Three woven baskets bigger than a man, a single bar of soap and a river. That’s what Tim was dealing with.

By the north of Lycan Woods resides the small but happy River village. Tim had taken a job off the guild board concerning their laundry. And, no, this was not a prank. Putting out jobs, slightly high-ranking ones especially, have some degree of clout concerned about the sort of mages who will come about and try solving their problems. Tim had not realized this till he rose up the ranks of his guild. Yes, he had taken a similar job categorized as bottom-ranked before: He had helped an owner find lost puppies.

But this was different. The people within the village had an air of secretiveness to them about how the problem came about. The job description said it was because of ‘unforeseen circumstances’ and hoped a mage would come and clean the clothes. They even added a little footnote that they would prefer to have a mage who ‘aren’t easily grossed out.’

Tim, of course, asked about the irregularity of such a job to one of the staff and they told him the strangest thing. “They actually paid extra so they could keep the job categorized as high as they could.”

When Tim arrived at the village, he had taken a tangent and asked about the situation. Why did they put in so much effort? But they gave a half-baked answer about a local festival event gone wrong. It wasn’t enough to convince Tim, and they knew it too. But the young man observed the village elder as they briefed him earlier, there was an earnest resolve to how they tried selling their story.

Whatever they were hiding, it wasn’t something illegal. Not to them, anyway.

Tim’s hair would always stand on end thinking about it. He wasn’t sure why, but it had been a recent occurrence since he had joined the guild. He had been attuned with magic his entire life, but he truly had never actively pursued being a mage till he had taken this new profession.

“You know what, I’ll just finish this and go.” Tim shrugged to himself and started to open the baskets.

“Tim?” He was sitting on a very smooth rock by the river when a familiar voice called out to him. When he looked over his shoulder there was a man who was the spitting image of Tim, the only difference was his longer hair and his baggy eyes.

“Timόtheos.” The young man was greeting his ancestor, the special son of Nyx.

Timόtheos sat beside Tim. There was an awkward silence between them as Tim looked at him. Tim saw him last back in Silver Wolf’s guildhall, when they spoke in the hot springs. That was when Tim had just joined and knew little of the truth behind his lineage save for the stories he had been told, the books he had read and how his curse manifested since its awakening.

“What brings you here?” Timόtheos asked, his voice slow and careful.

Tim sighed; they had an argument the last time they saw each other and it doesn’t look like the man forgot about it. “A job.”

“I see.” He nodded along. “You’ve gotten stronger.”

Tim quirked his brow.

“I could tell, the magic around you is very particular. My instincts are screaming to attack you or run.”

“That’s usually not how you compliment someone when they get stronger.” Tim’s eyes became half lidded. “But I-”

“I heard about you learning God Slaying magic.”

Tim paused. “Hemera?”

“Baldr.” Timόtheos practically spat the name. “He didn’t even have the common decency to tell you what that is for. Tim I’m here to tell you …”

Tim laughed dryly. Timόtheos could only shut up at the young man’s display. “Hemera and I found that out the hard way.”

Tim had been taught by the Sinnian primordial goddess of light how to harness her domain. But taking a magic from Gods does not mean that magic is a holy one. It turned out to be the opposite! Because Tim had bastardized the domain of a deity, the result was corrupted magic. Tim should have seen it coming, the light emitted from his magic even from back then was purple. A stark difference to Hemera’s golden glow. But it had already been too late when Tim learned such was the case. He had effectively killed a long distant relative when he tried to save them.

Timόtheos actually cried as Tim told him what happened. Tears rolled along the man’s cheeks, he pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down as he closed his eyes.

“It never goes away.” He finally said between sobs. “Even time doesn’t numb me from feeling for every dead descendant I encounter or hear from.”

“Erebus was there…”

“What?” Tim noticed Timόtheos flare up at the mere mention of the God’s name. The edge in the man’s words could cut through glass.

“He possessed the kid, congratulated me for the kill.” Tim’s voice was softer.

“Tim, don’t listen to that man. He only-”

“I know! Alright? I know…” Tim hissed, Timόtheos nodded in understanding. “I only slipped up controlling this curse once in my life.”

“Right. You’re right.” Timόtheos reassured himself. “Is that why Hemera’s not with you?”

“She took it hard.” Tim could still remember the goddess’ reaction when she saw. “I never seen her angry.”

“And I’ve never seen Erebus made his presence known to anyone who wasn’t under his influence before.” Timόtheos muttered. “What’s happening all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know.” Tim sighed. “I’ll just finish this job and go back. We can…”

Tim had stopped dead in his tracks. He had opened one of the baskets of dirty clothes and found it painted with dirty inklike blotches which swirled along the fabric trying to find any cover from the sun. Timόtheos was looking in the basket as well.

“I’m going to talk to the elder.” Tim stood up.

The young man started to walk towards the direction of the village hall. Timόtheos was beside him, brow furrowed. “That was…?”

“The job was to clean dirty laundry. They said it was because of ‘unforeseen circumstances.’”

I should’ve just called the bluff and pressed them. If there’s one of those monsters loose-! Tim shrugged off the thought, there was time.

It was now a good hour before sunset.

The River Village Hall wasn’t big. It was a half-stone half wooden structure which housed the bare essentials for anything the village council needed to govern it. Tim had been seen by the villagers earlier when he first went into the building to ask about the job. It was about an hour ago and from the way they trailed their gazes at him as he walked purposefully without the load Tim had brought as he came out; they knew he wasn’t there for the cleaning job. The pair passed by a rather plain looking stone fountain in front of the guild hall, it laid between a stone pathway straight into the main road.

Timόtheos was right beside Tim as they entered the building.

The waxed wooden floors reflected the elder’s nervous face as Tim locked eye with them. They were called the village’s elder, leader of its council, but they were younger than Tim. Probably only gone past their early twenties not to long ago. “Ah, sir mage. I-”

“Where are you keeping it?” Timόtheos spoke before Tim.

“What do you mean by-”

Suddenly Wolf materialized and pulled out Tim’s sword from his side with its mouth and pointed its blade at the elder! “Ah!”

“Wolf! Damn it! Calm down-” Tim grabbed the ethereal mutt by the scruff, trying to pull it away from the elder. But with its size, it wasn’t an easy feat to do.

“We are not here for a quarrel, Miss Elder.” Timόtheos didn’t mind the Wolf’s assistance. “We simply wanted to see the cause of these stains Tim here found when trying to do your laundry.”

Timόtheos produced one of the stained handkerchiefs.

“Who are you-?”

“Listen to me.” Tim grabbed the elder by her shoulder. “I don’t know why you’re keeping extra lengths to keep it. We understand how to stop it more than anyone here.”

But before she could answer Tim had already seen Wolf sniff the handkerchief. It nudged its large head over Tim’s side and started moving outside the building. “He found it.”

Timόtheos understood and walked out of the hall with Tim. The elder followed them shortly shouting ‘Wait! Please! Nothing’s happened!’ The others must’ve overheard her, because it didn’t take more than a few seconds for a few heavyset fishermen standing between Tim and his ancestor. They didn’t want to do anything to innocents, unless they’ve been controlled by the monster in some capacity. Tim had not heard from either Hemera and Timόtheos of such an ability, but when it comes to these monsters it would be a mistake to rule anything out.

“Don’t push it, kid.” One of them warns him. “We’re grateful you picked the job up, but this is something you don’t want in your conscience.”
It was how the man worded it that made Tim quirk his brow. Timόtheos was about to do something when Tim patted him on the shoulder. The man actually backed off and waited. Wolf was getting further and further away from them, but Tim took his time. “We’re not here to kill it.”

“Of course, you’re not.” Another says. “But if the council winds up about this, they’ll take her away!”

“So you know who the host is.” Timόtheos spoke.

Tim looked at them as if that was his plan all along. It wasn’t, but it pays to give out a good poker face to people you don’t know what their intentions are. Tim knows how well this technique played when he went against hardened gamblers back in Hargeon. Even the way Tim spoke of knowing who they meant was deliberate. “Tell me… would she want you to beat the guild representative you hired, even if it’s for her sake?”

Their reaction was the one Tim needed to see. From their sheer look of guilt alone meant whoever this host was, they didn’t want a fight on their hands. At least, it wasn’t completely sinister on their part. They’re just protecting her. Timόtheos definitely noticed, as well. Tim could feel the man’s aura soften considerably. One of the men who confronted them held Tim by his collar. “You don’t know anything about what we’ve been going through the last few days. You bark about all this? You’ll have blood on your hands.”

Tim must have taken his time too long. There was a crowd gathering right in front of the hall behind them. A mob of people, and from the looks of things, they weren’t on their side. Tim didn’t expect things to escalate this far.

“Hey, you leave this matter alone.” “You should’ve just done your job and taken the dough, kid.” “Damn nosy mages, I told you guys hiring one was a bad move!”

Before things could get any worse, a piercing howl was heard from across the stone pathway. Tim couldn’t look over the shoulder of the large fisherman who was gripping him, but he knew it was wolf.

“Please stop this.” Because not even a second after Wolf howled a voice of a girl could be heard. Wolf managed to convince the host to come out. It was a longwinded, luck reliant plan. But it’s either that or beaten up the fishermen who only wanted to protect the host. Tim was a gambling man and he knew Wolf would step up.

The fraction of time the villagers spent gawking at the girl they were protecting was the moment Tim needed to get their attention. The sunset was shining beautifully over them, its ray was very pronounced. Tim, cladding himself with Bastardized Domain, and let his body light up in a fiery purplish glow and passed through the fisherman who grabbed him. He passed through the bodies of the other fishermen in his way and the rest of the mob didn’t bother stopping him anymore. It was totally needless showboating on Tim’s part, but if these people needed to take him seriously after this it was a necessary show of force.

“Are you the one who stained those clothes with magical inklike blotches?” This was a stupid question to ask. The girl was wearing a white nightgown and it was completely evident how her skin was covered by a nightlike hue running across her body to her face. Even one of her eyes was blotched, only a red glow emanated from where her iris should be.

She looked at Tim as if he grew a second head but, despite that, she answered softly and honestly. “I am.”

Practically the entire village had flocked in after the girl had invited Tim and Timόtheos over to her house for dinner. It wasn’t the biggest place, but her parents were kind enough to let Tim and his ancestor in without any problems. The girl was sitting by their dining table along with them. Wolf was sitting comfortably with Tim’s sword leaning over its resting ethereal body.

“You really know what’s causing that black thing wrapping around our little girl?” The father, a blonde bearded man, had his hand over his face. Tim had explained a few things about what had ailed their daughter. They left out Nyx’s part, but they mentioned Tim’s connection with the curse. Tim extended his arm and rolled his shirt’s sleeves. Some of the gawking villagers gasped, the others gossiped among themselves.

“You’re like me?” She sounded like she was supposed to scream, but her tiredness got the better of her.

Timόtheos also manifested his thick nightlike skin. “Both of us. And we have been trying to find people who have been cursed like us.”

“Why?” Her father muttered absentmindedly.

Timόtheos didn’t answer. But Tim didn’t want to sugarcoat the situation, especially when it comes to their curse. “So we can help them control it. There have been numerous cases of pitch-black monsters across Earthland’s history.”

“You’re telling my baby will turn into a mindless-!?” Her mother didn’t even finish what she was about to say.

“We’re here to prevent that.” Tim looked at the girl. “How long have this manifested.”

“A week ago.” She said meekly.

Tim leaned closer and placed his hands palm up over the table. The girl stopped talking and looked at his nightlike blotched hand. “Look, err-”

“Talia.” She supplied.

“Right, Talia. Sorry.” Tim sighed. “See how mine’s not as bad as yours? The blotches aren’t as big, right?”

She nodded.

“See it like this.” Tim held her hand. “Close your eyes and try to imagine your skin. Your usual skin…”

Tim taught Talia what Dr. Schwartz had taught him all those years ago. How to properly control her power and the mentality needed to keep that level of control. In the hour-long time Tim drilled the exercise to the girl without fail.

“Go on.” Tim finally said.

Talia closed her eyes, slowly concentrating and focusing on the things Tim crammed into her head. With a soft grunt she summoned back all of the black blotches she had excreted. There was a scream of ‘the clothes are all clean again!’. Tim had sent someone to pick the three baskets by the river back up. Officially, the job had been completed. But Tim had more important things to focus on.

Talia looked devastated when her nightlike skin was still present. “Does… this go away?”

“I-” Tim froze. But he sighed, hard and composed himself. “I’ve had mine for over a decade now. This may sound like a lifelong hell. But trust me, you are going to keep this controlled.”

She didn’t sound convinced. But Tim needed little to make her understand.

“You took back the ones you dripped all over the place.” Tim looked at her in the eye. “You’re already doing better than I did.”

That got her attention. Tim left the girl to practice.

“It’s like fate finally let everything run its course. I’ve never seen things happen so far in so little time. This is no mere coincidence.” Timόtheos muttered as they stood up. They went out of the girl’s house and cooled themselves in the night air. “Erebus is making his move; I just know it.”

“It won’t matter, will it?” Tim sighed at Timόtheos, for once. “We stopped a soul from entering his hands.”

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