Nightwalker

Twenty Four

Riordan

I'm beginning to understand how Marvallia's brain works.

In the last few hours, I've acquired information on things that I shouldn't have, without having visions or dreams about them.

I knew what Martie's mother was making for dinner, what Thor was planning on watching before bed and what chapter my brother was on of his school assigned book, "The Giver."

Within the last few hours as well, I'd read most of the guide book I was given.

Just by flipping through different chapters, I've had visions about the people who had this book before me.

I saw their lives, their ambitions. Their worst fears.

Tactile touch is a rare clairvoyant ability where one is able to gain visionary knowledge about a thing or object simply by touching it. It manifests by giving the holder a blistering sensation in their extremities, and ceases to persist when the power has fully been acquired.

My hands pulsed as I squeezed the guidebook tighter in my hands. I wondered how long that would take. I'd gotten use to the sensation by now, and the pain ebbed and flowed throughout the day.

As Marvallia warned me, daemons and angels exist. I haven't been able to see an angel just yet, but whatever possessed me in that classroom definitely wasn't one.

According to the page I was currently on, there were several types of daemons, all of them inhabiting different levels of danger.

A Cacodaemon ate away at any luck you had, festering around you in your daily life, making people think that nothing good is ever going to be in store for them. It's basically the personification of an evil eye, often depicted as decrepit youth with ram-like horns curled around its head.

A Deimosdaemon instilled fear into one's body until they went rigid. Their mere presence is meant to cause despicable terror, ultimately ruining the lives of those it follows. Old theories suggest that constant anxiety was caused by these entities. They were depicted as black hollowed spirits that wavered like smoke on air, wrapping around their victims until their hearts stopped.

It was what attacked me in the classroom, just before Soren banished it. I'd never felt so cold in my life. It took over my body in seconds and the urge to resist it was virtually nonexistent.

Last but not least, the Incubaredaemon, or Incubare. The Permanent Possessor they called it.

Once in a host, was nearly impossible exorcise without the help of a warlock. Feeding on any dark emotions it could find like shame and guilt. Possessing mostly children, as their pure form is easiest to control.

It takes over the host the longer they inhabited the body, and its full strength is conjugated with the moon phases, as they're ruled by the moon.

The scary thing about them was their ability to recruit. They were able to infect others and turn them into hosts by transferring a part of itself into unsuspecting people. The process was quick and painless, something like a breath of fresh air.

Once their full strength is reached and it would like to exit the host, it kills them by tearing their head apart on its way out.

Luckily, they were omnipresent, so if the original Incubaré is defeated, all the extensions or 'transfers' will be defeated as well.

The guide book was able to show me what each entity looked like, except for the Incubaré. The others were hand drawn, but it's like no one could draw it properly, or that it was too frightening to sketch out.