Ghost and the Writer

Albus side, part 2

As they reached a walking crowd, August stopped and so did the rest of them.

August made a reluctant expression as he asked: "Leum can you make it look like a gust of thick vapor just gushed out of the pipe on right from us." August wasn't looking in the direction of it, as he asked, so Albus too avoided to look thinking there was a reason for it.

"Shall I do it now?" Leum asked.

August nodded and took a hold of Leum and Veri this time. Veri took Albus by arm.

There was no forest there, but it felt like moments before setting out on a fae path. Albus felt confusion, but then it came to her memory that there was something about forests not being the only places you could walk like that.

Aether shifted around them and Leum chantlessly gathered aether by the very pipe in question. Albus admired how easily dragons could command the aether found in the air, but she didn't have a long time to marvel. As soon as the vapor gushed out covering both them and the people around, August stepped ahead, pulling them all in a vividly colored, yet grotesque space where buildings blended together with human body parts. Dark shaped blobs ate these very same body parts, tearing them out of buildings, then feasted on each other too. Albus caught on her own mouth, not to throw up from the sight alone. This looked like a moving and shifting expressionist painting of a nightmare.

But that was not the worst part of this space.

The air held lingering feelings that were pushed on to those visiting. Something, or rather, this place itself, was raw, wounded and hurting, vulnerable and uncomfortable, like a living being pushed into a small cage with bars sinking in and cutting into their skin. Albus had a hard time breathing, she too felt crushed. She couldn't help but feel sorry for this place, regardless of what it was.

A few steps and August let go of Leum, reaching out towards a silver-colored blob. Leum switched to hold on to Albus. In the next moment, a boy not older than fourteen was pulled in this space, shock painted over his features.

He looked like a regular human - brown hair and gray eyes, but there was a silvery aura leaking from him - at least it looked so in a unicorn's eyes. Albus was shaken to see the Hadean royalty having a human body. She was aware that some Terreans and Soleans could descend on Urea through willing hosts, but that shouldn't be possible for Hadeans.

Before the kid could get over his shock, August made a few steps backward, as he did, his presence thinned and the same happened to all of those he was touching. When they exited the space in another crowded place, their presence was like that of a grass strand in a meadow and none of the humans passing them by seemed to notice them popping up just like that.

Albus drew a deep breath, no longer feeling like she was crushed and, while not as extreme, Leum and Veri also showed relief on their faces. The kid tried to shake his hand free, fright and shock mixing on his face.

"Can you stop that?" August asked, his hand was trembling. "I can't conceal you if there's no skin contact."

Hearing August's voice, shock faded into confusion and the kid stopped struggling.

August sighed and without letting go of the boy's wrist, he walked towards a side-alley.

No one paid any attention whatsoever to their odd procession of holding hands, yet rather than it being avoidance to look, it was more akin to them being invisible, yet people seemed to subconsciously step aside not to run into them.

There was a park nearby and August entered it, going off the path and into a spot surrounded by blooming dogwood bushes that was more or less hidden from view.