Once Upon a Story [ SLOW UPDATES ]

The Wanderer (2)

"It's so dusty."

"The place was left vacant after your death," Grim explained. "The lingering spirits fled once you passed. The area should be clear until I return. Take this."

He gave Akari a key: black with a dragon charm.

"In case I'm late," he said, returning to the portal. It closed behind him, leaving the boy in her care.

"So, Lex, anything you want to do?"

"I'd ask to sleep on your bed, but I think the dust would put me in eternal sleep."

"It's not that dirty," she said, patting the bed. Instant regret swarmed her mind as grains entered her airways. Alexi smiled as he watched her cough.

"I told you."

She leaned her body out the window, inhaling fresh air. "You know, I have enough of that from Grim. I don't need your attitude either."

"By the looks of it, you'd be a wanderer without him. Shouldn't you be a bit more grateful?"

She concealed her shock with sarcasm. "Are you sure you're a kid?"

"Well, this body is," he smiled, swinging his legs. "Grim was correct about me, although he did get a few things wrong. I can read spirit energy, but it's because I'm a wanderer."

"Then why do you have a body?" she asked, searching her mind for information.

"I took possession of it. Akari, I thought you were supposed to be smart," he giggled, showing his true colours.

"Then your name is not Alexi."

"We wanderers have no care for names," he replied, sliding off the bedside. "We take the identity of whoever we possess."

Akari tried wrapping her mind around everything he told her. She pulled out multiple files from her archives but found little information about his words. She only found one thing, and it unsettled her.

Wanderers are challenging to deal with. They possess living bodies and assume their personalities, living amongst humans. If separated from their host, the body dies, and the soul with it. The wanderer lives on to find another host. In case of an encounter, do not reap. They only grow stronger with each soul they devour.

Devourer? Did he eat Alexi's soul?

She looked at Alexi–the wanderer–and paused, still skeptical that this child could do much harm.

"What are you?"

"You can worry about that later," he giggled, pointing at the window. "We have company.

She followed his finger and saw what could only be described as hell on earth.

"Oh god."

Alexi laughed. "He can't save you anymore, Akari. You're already dead."

His words unnerved her. Between calling Grim for help and running with the child, she didn't know what to do. She looked at the key in her hands, trembling. Never before had she fought such a large swarm.

Alexi stood by her, still smiling, but now it gave her the creeps.

"So? Are you going to protect me?"

***

Grim searched the rubble for the woman's soul. She was nowhere to be found, and her spirit trail was sparse. Something had weakened its energy before she passed.

"Reap, find her."

His scythe glowed, morphing into a dragon with a ghastly breath. Reap's eyes were filled with circuits with a high affinity for spirit particles. Scanning the area, he caught track of her trail.