Of Immortals and Men | COMPLETE

Chapter 46 Decisions

Chapter 46

Decisions

"I'm just holding on for tonight."

~Sia~

        The small muscles on his eyelids twitched slightly; there was a warm liquid smearing itself on his cheek, and he could feel how something brushed up and down on his face.

     "Ungh..." Terry grunted as he sat upright and adjusted his glasses. Wiping the slobber off his face, he turned to see his Artificia standing there like a giant otherworldly dog.

     On some level, the creature thought Terry to be his father, and technically he was. Being a creator of an artificial ghost was nothing he ever imagined possible.

        To begin with, Terry never even knew that such a thing could exist, but as the time he spent in the In-between helped mold him into a capable Savant, he started to learn things. Mainly, the spirits were his area of expertise, but as the real world flickered before his eyes during his imprisonment, he saw how Immortals went about their lives.

        It was just like in most shows and novels; they hid amongst the humans and remained in clandestine until they could not anymore. The beings he was most interested in learning about were the Succubi. He felt it was what he owed his sister, wherever she was now. The sad reality of those beings, however, was something he would never want for his sister. Most succubi were women sponging off of men just to get by—in other words, prostitutes or sex slaves.

        Slowly, as he watched the swirling skies flicker with ectoplasm and spiritual energy, Terry sighed and approached his Artificia who he called Poltergeist.

      "Looks like I let you control my anger again...," he said to the being, acknowledging how he made it back to the In-between.

       With one leap, Terry jumped onto the creature's enormous specter-like back as it carried him on their journey. The being was incredibly powerful, and its muscles were proof of that. In addition, being in the In-between allowed Poltergeist to be stable, for his body need not flicker from solid to translucent.

         It was another reason why Terry would lose control of his temper so easily. There was a part of Poltergeist that lived within his soul whenever Terry was in the real world, and because of this, the creature always gave him cravings for the In-between. No matter how much he would fight it, the urges never ceased, but they did lessen in intensity.

        As Poltergeist traveled towards Terry's desired destination, the boy noticed just how far off he had calculated the landing. When Melisse was mentioned, something within him snapped; Poltergeist fed into that and it forced Terry to open the rift into the In-between. Now he was but a short distance away from the spot where he opened the rift in the real world.

        Fortunately, his time spent in the realm was enough for him to learn that the In-between was just a reflection of the World of the Living. So it was not hard to move around, especially with the sight he possessed.

           There was not one ghost he could not see.

        "There boy, here is good." Terry patted Poltergeist's head as the being moaned and allowed him off.

        The forest that was once green and lively was now dead and desolate, for the trees bore no leaves and they resembled a sea of branches due to their superfluity. In addition, as Terry watched the smaller peaceful spirits fly past him, his glasses gleamed under a reflected light that was before him.