The Veil That Divides Us

Chapter 1: The Contract

I was just walking down the street when it happened.

A mere shadow amongst the yellowed street lamps in my neighborhood. But a shadow all the same. I was walking down the hill, on the road leading behind and beyond my house to the rest of the neighborhood below. I lived on the top of the hill, in a small cul-de-sac with 3 other houses, all two story and not very grand looking. The sky was dark, navy blue with only a sprinkle of stars in it's wake. The moon was hung, orange and lazy, along the opposite horizon behind me.

I should've ignored the shadow when I saw it, but curiosity kills the best of us, does it not?

I jogged all the way down the hill, slowing and padding to a stop at the bottom, the shadow now disappearing amongst the trees leading into the forest at the left end of the intersection. I'm not supposed to go in there after hours, there are coyotes and bobcats that run rampant in the canyon that resides near my home. It's dangerous and stupid, and possibly could get me killed if I continued.

Of course, I did, because what's NOT fun about dangerously stupid things?

I ran straight for the little gate left slightly ajar to the forest's path, went through it, being sure it didn't close at all behind me, just in case I have to make a quick getaway later. I slowed back down to a walk, warily searching around me in the little light I had left from the street lamp behind me. It was starting to get too dark to see, so I took out my phone, switching the light on before proceeding forward, after,... whatever it is I'm searching for.

I legitimately have no idea what I'm chasing after. What even is it exactly? I pondered about the shape of the shadow when I first saw it earlier, padding down the left path towards the forest clearing I've visited a couple of times before. It looked like it had legs, but it didn't seem to have any,... arms. Like as if it was cloaked by something, a cape. But it didn't exactly look like fabric. Almost like,... feathers?

Suddenly all my mental pondering was interrupted by a short cough. I whipped around, flashing my light towards the sound to see,...

A crow. Do crows cough? No, they caw, like a hoarse, loud sort of wheezy bark. Where did a cough come from then? And why a crow all of a sudden? What I saw was as big as a human, although I couldn't exactly tell whatever it actually looked like from the small short glance I got of it,...

Another cough sounded, and I stepped back like 5 steps before my heel caught on a log and I fell back on my butt, sounding out a loud thud and crackling twigs and leaves in the middle of all the silence the forest provided, save for the singing crickets. Thanks to my clutzy self, I now have most likely alerted half of the forest and canyon critters that some clumsy human has made herself an available meal for all to enjoy. Ahhh, lovely.

But I was not expecting to hear what I heard after, even through groaning from my new pain.

"Well, good to see you've made your presence known to literally everything here, now could you please sit up and look me in the face so that way I'm not discussing business to a girl on the floor? That'd be much appreciated."

I shot up from my laying position on the ground, looking up to see the crow was replaced with a person covered in a black cloak of feathers, a hood made of the same material covering his face in shadow. He wore white tuxedo pants, black dress shoes, and a white shirt, though I couldn't see the rest of his outfit due to the cloak covering the rest. He was sitting on a fallen tree, one leg bent resting on the log beneath him, the other hanging towards the floor, his arm draped across his knee, the other holding him up.

I think my mouth lost all its function in that moment, because it was hanging from the rest of my jaw like dead weight.

He shed off his hood and said, "Rather than be quite shocked at my appearance, which I can understand, I'm really nice to look at, open your ears a bit for a lil' proposition I have on hand for you. At least, once you're standing."

I took small offense to that, but squelched it immediately and got up from my position on the ground, blushing as I dusted off my butt and thighs from the dirt. I took a small breath and stared at the figure before me. Pale skin, wild pitch black hair, and are those,... are his eyes white? Is that color even possible? Whatever, I have too many questions to ask right now that I want answered.

"Who are you, first of all. Second, are you even human, and third, what do you want from me, of all people?"

"Right to the point, I like that. To answer all three of those, my name is unimportant right now, I was once human, but that changed a long time ago, and I need you to agree to the same change I took way back then. And anyone else could've had this opportunity, but I'll explain that later." he replied, eyes staring a bit hungrily at me. That totally didn't give me more creeps than I already had.

"What if I don't want to take you up on your offer? I don't like this. How can I trust you? What even are you?" I was slowly backing up with each question spoken, my distrust for the situation getting worse and worse. My instincts were on fire, screaming there was something off, and I wanted to listen to them more than I wanted to listen to another word of what this,... thing, is asking of me. "What are you even offering me? Is it dangerous?" I started to quickly think back to the open gate I left behind me in my previous chase. I kinda hoped to be going back through it right about now. I was about to book it out of here.

"Now hold on, don't get yourself in such a tizzy quite yet, I haven't even explained myself. I'm merely offering a trade of sorts. Don't you want magical powers, or whatever you teenagers want to be besides human nowadays?" He spoke quickly, his position on the log changing from one of being relaxed to one sitting tensely against it, slightly leaning forward in an attempt to still seem relaxed, but most likely getting ready to catch me if I tried to bolt.

My slow movement away from him stopped short. I gave him a hard glare as I mulled over what he just said. Magical powers? For real? I wouldn't mind, but,... what do I need to trade back in return? What are the powers he's wanting to grant me? My mind was going to start spinning soon from all the curiosity I've got held up in it, I needed to get answers now.

"What are you wanting to give me, and what do I have to trade in return? And why?" I mentally smacked myself immediately for my rash decision. I just made it sound like I wanted whatever he was offering me, even though everything in my body was screaming run.

He grinned wide, seeing his proposal caught interest. "Oh nothing big, really. I just need a drop of your blood to touch one of my feathers on this cloak here, repeat a couple of sentences, and you should have your powers immediately afterward. Doesn't that sound easy?"

I balked. Blood? Why does he need my blood? Um, no, this is sounding sketchier and sketchier by the second. But my curiosity was taking full reign of the moment, and I spaced for like a minute before I realized my body was moving on my own towards him, as he beckoned me with one finger to come closer. No, step away, run, don't get any closer, no,...

It was too late. My hand was in his right as he pulled out a really ornate looking silver blade in his left, and with a quick flick of his wrist, he slit a small cut into my index finger, moving to an already plucked feather on the log and letting it drip one tiny droplet onto it.

"Now love, repeat after me. Haec gutta sanguinis foedere repetunt a te quae autem, ut plurimum, et lucifer aeternam. Rumpere vincla daemonia septem peccata remitte eos in inferno sunt." he spoke in a smooth and subtle tone.

Out of pure dizziness, I repeated after him, the control of my own body for some reason seeming ethereal and unfocused as my eyes were guided down to the feather on the log. A seal of red emitted from the feather suddenly, glowing and small, before it grew in size and a small snapping noise could be heard as it zoomed to the floor below my feet. It grew to the size of a tiled plaza floor, complete with strange symbols and lettering aligning its edge, a giant star connecting all its corners to the borders of the seals' circle. It cycled around my feet, glowing brighter and brighter, and immediately my body started to heat up, my head started to grow of a strange headache, and my mouth was suddenly filled with the want to spew the bile coming into the back of my throat. A loud explosive noise ensued, and it felt like my bones instantaneously snapped onto each other after expanding, and darkness overtook my mind.

That was the last I could remember that night in the woods. The last night I would consider myself human.

To this day I wish I would've stayed home.