Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 2 | Summer Demon

Summer flew through like a swift breeze. After a long dreadful week of staying in his room with Yun sneaking in every night, Remigius's grounding was finished and he spent the rest of the summer following along with Yun's antics. Maven was dragged along as usual, and Mr. Clarity scolded them more than they could count.

Like every summer, there was a period where Yun returned to the Real World to attend a mandatory summer camp the Church ordered the moment the seven-year-old stepped foot into the Heavens. Remigius stayed inside during that time, writing letters to Yun that he stuffed under his bed. He had better luck burying the letters than using the Underwater's mail system. 

Yun returned to the Heavens and filled Remigius on the adventures he's experienced. He chatted nonstop about his Reg friends back in the Real World, the films he watched in the cinemas (they were the proper theatres apparently, not the ones they had here), and 'crème brûlée' which he said he would have brought some for Remigius if he could. Remigius told him he didn't like sweet food anyway, but Yun insisted one day he would drag him to the Real World with him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Yun continued gesturing wildly and he listened. 

They fell into routine again. The day was like a regular summer day activity. Mr. Clarity sent Yun and Maven to the town market to purchase a can of beans and a few other ingredients for the soup he planned to make that evening. Remigius decided to tag along. His father needed herbs from the local herbalist, and he supposed some company wasn't too bad.

The trip went by quickly. Maven suggested heading to the town's grocery store where they bought their supplies and moved on to the greenhouse where the herbalist, a buxom and eccentric woman, wrapped a long stem of weggu vines into brown wax paper tied with twine. 

After handing her three bits, Remigius placed the package into the satchel his father gave him. The satchel's black leather was glossed with the breath of a moonstone cat. It contained a cooling property that would keep the herbs fresh. Weggu vines were susceptible to the heat and if he arrived back home with the leaves shrivelled up, his father wouldn't make Caius's medication. 

Everett Atwaters was a renowned apothecary. He was. When his father was in a good mood, he would ramble about his youthful years when he'd invent new remedies that all of Theschost had never seen. A gifted Zenith in his craft and literature. The textbooks he wrote and illustrated sold everywhere, even to the other realms of Theschost. The original copy belonged on the shelf of Remigius's bookcase. 

His father's eyes would glimmer until the end of the story. It always led back to the same pitiful ending. His passion dwindled until it flew away, smothered by society. For it was his wife's existence causing a smear to the Atwaters. Then his two sons, one with an abnormal Ivion and the other with severe aspiriosi hammered down the shame. 

"Check it out." Maven gestured over to Remigius, beckoning him to walk to where she stood in front of a sealed glass cabinet hung on the wall. Yun was on his trail, his interest piqued as well. 

"It's bedra fangs." She pointed at the jar with yellow-stained fangs as long as her finger. "You only see this kind of stuff in Darling's Forest."

"What does it do?" Yun asked. Never paying attention in class, any information pertaining to potions passed through his ears and failed to process.

"Well, the fangs are highly venomous and could kill you in less than an hour."

"That's the venom." Remigius stared at the jar. He heard stories of the serpent-like creature dragging down victims in rivers with its fangs piercing through flesh like soft dough. "The fangs are harmless."