[DISCONTINUED FOR THE TIME BEING] The Necromancer of London (Origins of Olympus)

Chapter 1: An Unusual Customer

Cal looked around his closet for his outfit. It was nearly night, after all, and he was sure he would have a few more customers than usual. Considering it was about 2 or so months before Halloween, people were most likely going to come see him as a dare or just to come see if he was real. Just like every other year.

It took Cal awhile to find and put on his outfit. After he did, he looked at the mirror that was leaning up against the wall. He wore a light, brick red hijab that reached near the middle of his legs. He also had on his red bird mask that had gotten him the nickname "Birdie" by a few customers. He wore a red shirt which he cuffed at the sleeves to reveal a brighter red, and also wore a pair of brown pants. He also wore a pair of navy blue shoes.

Cal realized he forgot something while looking in the mirror, and looked around in a compartment of his dresser. A brick red hair clip, that had a blue circle, with a gold colored crescent moon shape with a black Ankh of Anubis on it.

'There we go.. How could I have almost forgotten this?'  Bloodmoon thought, clipping it onto the middle of his hijab. 'No matter. Time to go to my shop.'

Bloodmoon walked back over to the mirror in his room and grabbed a key out of his pocket. He moved the mirror to the left, and put the key into a noticeably small hole in the wall. The wall opened to reveal a secret passageway.

 Bloodmoon walked through the torch lit hall for about 5 minutes until he got to a dead end. He looked through a hole in the wall and saw an empty, dark alley. 

'Good. Nobody's there.'  Bloodmoon thought to himself.

He pushed on the seemingly dead end, which opened. Bloodmoon stepped out of the passage and closed the now opened door behind him. He looked up at the dark blue sky. It was about 15 minutes until sunset.

"Good. I still have enough time to clean up the shop a little bit."  Bloodmoon whispered into the lonely night. He walked to the left and stopped in front of a dark brick building. He put his hand in his pant pocket and pulled a key out. Unsurprisingly, it was red. The same red color that Bloodmoon used as a main part of his color palette. He unlocked the front door which opened to show a slightly larger than average sized room.

The room was filled with mostly bookcases. The floor had a blue and white/yellow carpet covering it. Bloodmoon started walking to the back of the room but stopped to pick up a book on the floor.

It was a dark red book with 1 gold clasps on each corner. There was a large golden 6 finger hand with the number 3 in the middle of it. Bloodmoon couldn't tell if the book looked either really, really old, or really new. Either way, Bloodmoon could tell 2 things. 1; it wasn't from this time period, and 2; he didn't own this book.

Bloodmoon continued to walk to the desk that was positioned in the back of the room. He decided to ignore the book for now, and placed it on his desk.

Bloodmoon took some flint and steel and proceeded to light a candle on his desk. He then went around the main room of his shop. Carrying the now lit candle, he lit the various candles that he kept on his walls.

He sat down at the desk and stared at the book he had found earlier. He reached over to pick it up, when suddenly the bell attached to the door rang. He jerked his head up to see a guy around the same age, maybe a little bit younger, as Bloodmoon. Bloodmoon quickly stood up and said his usual greeting.

"Hello! My name is Bloodmoon. How may I help you, this lovely night?" Bloodmoon asked the ginger haired person.

"Oh! So you are Bloodmoon..! It's nice to finally meet you! I've been looking for you for awhile now." The man said with an American accent.

He had hair that stood up and almost looked like fire. The black, circle rimmed glasses covered his seemingly purple eyes. His outfit was very unusual. He was wearing a sun yellow shirt, with a black leather jacket. He also had a belt that was holding up a black skirt. Underneath the skirt, was a pair of purple pants.  "My name is Dranne."

"Nice to meet you, Dranne. And I must say, that's quite a unique name and outfit that you have." Bloodmoon told his odd customer.

"Um, thank you..! You also have an interesting name and outfit. But then again, that's probably just so no one knows who you are." Dranne smiled.

"Yeah, I can't have people knowing who I am. Otherwise, people would probably freak out and call me a 'male witch' and burn me at the stake. Anyways, what can I help you with?" Bloodmoon asked, getting back on track.

"O-oh! N-nothing much. I honestly just wanted to check out what you were all about. I've heard people around town spreading rumors about a man with a bird mask that called himself Bloodmoon." Dranne managed to stutter out, seemingly making up an answer on the spot.

"I see.. Well, as you know. I'm Bloodmoon. I like to call myself a necromancer, but I'm really not since bringing people back to life isn't really possible. What I am able to do, however, is summon spirits to speak with them for as long as they would like to talk." Bloodmoon explained.

"Oh, okay! Is there anything else that you are able to do?" Dranne asked, curiously.

"Now that's a secret that I can't tell customers!" Bloodmoon put his finger over his mouth, then laughed. Dranne laughed a little as well.

"Well, then. I think I've taken up enough of your time. I'll take my leave." Dranne said, turning around to leave.

"Oh, all right then! Have a nice rest of your night!" Bloodmoon said waving at Dranne.

"You too..!" Dranne said. After he left the building, Dranne looked at the sky. His face formed to create a face full of fear and sadness. He then continued to walk away.

After Dranne left, Bloodmoon remembered the book he had found earlier. He looked back at his desk but was shocked to find that it wasn't there. He decided to look around for the book for a bit before the next customer arrived. He searched for about an hour, but it was no use. The book had disappeared just as mysteriously as it had arrived.

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A few hours passed without any other customers, much to Bloodmoon's surprise. He was starting to doze off, so he looked at the clock.

It was an hour and a half until he closed up his store.

'It wouldn't hurt to close up shop early tonight. Besides, there's no consumers, anyways." Bloodmoon reasoned with himself.

Bloodmoon stood up and turned around to grab the keys he had in the drawer behind him. Just as he was about to grab them, he heard the front door open.

Bloodmoon turned around and looked at the door of the shop. There stood a hooded figure. The figure was wearing full black, and the hood was placed in a way that you couldn't quite see their face.

"Hello! My name is Bloodmoon. How may I help you, this lovely night?" Bloodmoon asked the stranger, but was only greeted with silence.

"Hello? Is there anything I can help you with?" Bloodmoon asked again.

"Cal.. Is that really you...!?" The hooded stranger finally said to Bloodmoon.

Bloodmoon stared in disbelief. No one knew that Bloodmoon was actually Cal.

"H...how do you know that name..!?"

"Cal... It's me...! Your old pal..." When the stranger saw that Bloodmoon was confused, they reached up to take the hood off.

Bloodmoon gasped and took a step back.

"No.. It can't be.. You're-"