Death Before Defeat

Chapter 2

Me, updating when I said I wouldn't? It's more likely than you think.

Sorry for not updating the past week, I really chose the best time to publish this story XD

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The girl turned out to be a really good and patient teacher, which was a blessing. Elias still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he was, well, dead, which made him a bit hesitant during the first couple of lessons.

He had thought that the only thing there was to learn was making sure he didn’t phase through things, but as it turns out, being a ghost consisted of a lot more than just that.

He managed to master not stepping through things relatively quickly. She had been impressed when he sat on a rock in the second lesson, she had told him it had taken her at least a week.

As far as the other things, well… Being solid also had its downsides, one example being that ghosts could move things if they went through them and focused hard enough. The problem here is quite obvious, isn’t it?

“No, no.” She sighed for what must have been the hundredth time, an amused smile on her face. “You want to go through it now. It’s usually the other way around you know. I've never met a ghost who had trouble phasing through things.” She said, gesturing to the small pile of wood he was attempting to move.

Elias grinned. “Sorry, I really don’t know why that keeps happening.” He looked at the pile with a determined look in his eyes. “Let’s try that again.”

After about two weeks she had declared that he was as adjusted to the life of a ghost as he could be.

“I’m afraid this is all I can teach you in such a short time. There is more to learn, but I’m sure you can figure most of that out yourself, you’re a smart one.” She said, giving him a sad smile. “I wish you the best of luck on your quest Elias, go get that God.” She shot him a wink, her eyes twinkling.

“Wait, how did you know that?” He asked, confused. “I don’t think I’ve ever told-” He blinked and looked around. She had disappeared.

He let out an amused chuckle and rubbed his face. “You were in on this whole circus, of course you were.” He looked up at the sky and smiled ruefully. “Thank you for everything.” He said and turned around to find his comrades.

As he walked away, a voice drifted through the clearing, full of gratitude and relief. “No, thank you.”

<*~*>

Finding the first person turned out not to be that hard. He had been walking back to the city, when a figure suddenly charged at him, magical knife in hand.

Elias barely managed to duck out of the way, hissing as the thing grazed his right shoulder. He quickly glanced at it and furrowed his eyebrows. His usually transparent dark green jacket was shifting between different colors and his shoulder seemed to be glitching, the edges looking blurry.

It also hurt, strangely enough. But it was not just the physical pain, like he was used to, he felt this pain in literally everything. He immediately decided he would stay as far away from those things as possible. He put his left hand on the ‘wound’ and winced.

Would he be able to hit them if he focused hard enough? He decided he’d rather not find out when this person was waving a deadly knife around, maybe another time. That resulted in him spending the first couple of minutes trying to talk his attacker down and avoiding their blows. One glitchy shoulder was enough, thank you.