COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 30: How to Tear a Dimensional Rift (Part 1/3)

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Hey guys, if you didn't get the announcement, this chapter was delayed by my cat. He decided to pull a Jeremiah - except he's chubby and black, and who wouldn't steal a chubby black cat? His chonky butt is now grounded, and he owes me a new chocolate stash. 

I'll get the next update out as soon as I can while making sure it's readable. Cheers~

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          Káel felt relaxed. From what he could now feel the return ritual had stopped gnawing at his wounded leg, his eyes closed to a peaceful veil of black while he laid on his back. He waited for the voices of his friends or even the frightening boom of his uncle to welcome them back, but was disappointed when none came.

          And so, he reluctantly opened his eyes. A cream coloured ceiling stared back - the wrong ceiling. It wasn't the one he had timidly stepped under, the one made of dreary grey stones stained with water and the scorched scars of failed experiments before his uncle could get a paravelt to work. 

          This was a fancy ceiling. He twisted his neck, feeling the soft and feather stuffed fabric hugging his body. He was in a bed, in the middle of a fair sized bedroom that was lavish enough to fit the palace of Fairez Stella, but somehow homier than his bedroom back on Earth. It had a desk propped in front of one of the windows, right next to a line of wooden shelves built into the walls and weighed by a line of fairytales. Káel almost let out a laugh when he saw the other side of the room, a painting of a shimmering blue dragon hanging above a squared off wooden pen that was stuffed with a generous amount of plump white pillows, and his guardian, belly up and snoring.

          Káel perked as a shadow passed him, the red of Phantom's coat dancing in his corner-sight. He rubbed his eyes with a groan. "Did all of that happen?"

          Phantom rounded the bed to sit at its foot facing Káel. "All of what?"

          "The tree, those people, Sora..." He shifted his leg, white pain shooting straight to his spine.

          Phantom chuckled at his squeezed face. "That answer your question? The Earthlings really took a turn after the portals were shut down."

          With a soft knock, a woman came through the door, dressed in a white blouse and charcoal black pants. A cookie topped platter was balanced upon the hand that wasn't on the door, and the ring of a golden bucket looped her wrist, the serpent carved to its surface befitting the yukkla fruits it was weighed with.

          She paid Káel a tiny bow, wordlessly resting the treats on his nightstand and leaving the bucket for Puff, who had awoken at the sound of the door already expecting the treats. Mere minutes after the woman excused herself, the door opened again, this time filling with the tapestraic shadow of his uncle.

          The deep red robes he was dressed in shimmered orange with living flames as he approached, the aggressive garb sharpened by the black runes embroidered in ribbons on his sleeves and collar. 

          He sipped a familiar flask before even speaking, dragging the cushioned chair at the desk over to Káel's bedside. Before he sat, he gently pulled the crown from his head, laying it next to the decadent tray. "The great spirits of Alta Staar needn't see this." Elisious hushed, grabbing one of the cookies and shoving the entire thing in his mouth.

          Káel waited for him to finish the treat and wash it down with more of whatever was in his flask. Staring only at the soft green sheets, he raised his voice just enough to reach the man. "Is there a way you can make me exist?"