When the Penny Drops | ONC2023

Day Five

My arrival at the manor is quiet. I immediately call for a guide.

The sound of a clawed something skittering above is the first tell that the brownie has arrived.

"Hello? Um, Brownie sir, are you there?"

"Yes." This voice is slightly deeper than the one from yesterday, but still has that same nasal quality. The word is drawn out, and I get the distinct feeling this particular brownie is annoyed at being called.

I fix my gaze on a patch of ceiling and address the imperceptible being. "I would like you to take me to Tetra, please."

"Alright." The voice comes from my lower left, near the little table with the decorative vase of flowers. A single lily rises smoothly from the vase and floats up to the ceiling. It sways as it rises and stays close to the surfaces of the wall and ceiling. "Follow the flower, Sir." There's a note of amusement in the voice. The flower sways in the air, practically taunting me as it hovers just ahead of my reach.

I wonder if Brownie's gossip. The fact that I can't see them has obviously travelled fast.

Despite the visual reference, following the brownie is still incredibly difficult. It seems that whatever power keeps them hidden from my sight extends around them in a small area. The stem of the flower appears almost smoke-like, and whenever the flower bobs higher and, I assume, closer to the brownie it blurs and becomes harder to track, almost like it's concealed by fog.

I wish I could see the brownies. It would make this so much easier.

Ting.

The penny in my pocket suddenly blazes with heat and my ears ring with the chiming of a bell.

My eyes burn. Tears well up as my vision blurs and my eyes start itching with the feeling of a thousand crawling insects inside my sockets.

"Ah!" I stop and cover my eyes with my hands, rubbing frantically to try and dispel the feeling. "What the fuck!"

The skittering flower stops at my cry of alarm.

It burns! Make it stop!

As if an angel answered my silent plea, the temperature drops and the itching fades; but then white frosts over my vision.

Blinking does nothing to dispel the haze clouding my vision. Please no, don't let me go blind.

As if the motion was a trigger, cracks appear in the white, colour spills through, and a scale-like substance begins to fall from my eyes. I rub and pull around my eyes until all the scales are out of my eyes and on my hands. They're light as air and melt on my skin, leaving the faint feeling of cool dampness, similar to the aftermath of running your hands through the morning dew.

"Are you alright, Sir?" The brownie's voice comes from above and I tilt my head up, searching for the voice even if I can't see them.

Except I can see them.

The brownie looks like a small squirrelly man wearing a small yellow vest and shorts, tufts of auburn hair peeking out from under a yellow cap. Fur covers its arms and legs, which end in sandal-clad feet. Its mouth curves up in the centre towards a twitching nose, further supporting the squirrel image. Its large black eyes are bright and glimmer with intelligence.

What is more shocking is that the brownie is not alone, it's riding a giant lizard-like creature, in the same way someone would ride a horse. It looks like someone took an insect and painted it to look like a lizard. The muddy-scaled skin and overall shape are reminiscent of a giant gecko, but the six legs and stinger-ended tail make it clear this is definitely not a gecko. Each of the six legs ends in a five-clawed foot, digits grasping the ornate carvings in the cornice. The creature's eyes are bulbous and compounded like a fly's. A leather saddle is attached around its chest, and two clips on either side attach to a belt around the brownie's waist allowing the brownie to stay seated hand-free, even when upside down as it is now.