Dragonlord

Ep 141.2 (Extra). Spirit’s Whisk

Extra entries are celebratory pieces written on random, special occasions; they’re not necessarily a part of the main story. Take them with a grain of salt.

Happy Halloween!

Ep 141.2 (Extra). Spirit’s Whisk

Months ago, sometime during Serenis’ institute days…

“Hey, where’re you going?”

“…?”

When Patrick warily eyed his sibling reaching towards the door to leave the house, he was quick to stop the dragonlord. When Serenis turned around to face him, she could see his brother beckoning her over to the couch he was on with a confused expression.

But then again, she was even more confused than he was.

“It’s Thursday, Patrick.”

“Uh…yeah?”

“It’s not the weekend.”

“…Yeah, but…it’s Spirit’s Whisk. It’s a holiday.”

“…It is?”

“Do you not keep track of dates at all? Now get back here. It’s dangerous to go out today.”

Serenis briefly closed her eyes, retracing what memories she had to recall this foreign day. But despite it being a holiday, all she could recall were Zion’s memories of shuddering in fear and wishing for the day to pass.

Finally, the dragonlord returned to her brother’s side, taking a seat with a serious, forlorn gaze.

“…I remember bits. But I don’t recall ever being happy about this holiday.”

“Of course not. It’s not a celebration.”

“? Then why is it a holiday?”

“…Oh yeah. I never told you that, did I…thought you’d be crying all day if I did. But eh, I guess you’re old enough now.”

Serenis squinted at her brother, to which elicited a bout of laughter from the blue-haired mage. He jokingly wove his hand at her, shaking his head.

“You know, you don’t have to give me your ‘I’m-thousands-of-years-old’ face every time.”

“...”

Clearing his throat, the mage took on a more serious tone once his laughter came to a cease.

“Ahem, alright. So…Spirit’s Whisk. We say it’s a holiday, but really, it’s more like…nobody’s allowed to go outside. Or well, shouldn’t go outside.”

“Why?”

“You see, this time of the year is when a lot of strange things happen out of the blue. And I don’t mean things like magic or monsters, it’s more like…”

“…Like?”

“…Heaps of metal falling out of the sky.”

“What??”

“Or glass. Or weird items. Sometimes you even get weird animals or their skulls. Anything, really. Sometimes, people just straight up disappear.”

Serenis’ eyes narrowed further as she listened to her brother’s ridiculous description of the supposed holiday. She looked towards the window – where she could see a perfectly sunny, peaceful street.

And Patrick likewise followed her gaze, adding onto his previous explanation.

“Oh, it only happens at night though. It’s kinda okay to go out now, but…it’s just recommended that you stay home all day. Just in case.”

“…And what reason lies behind this phenomenon? If what you say is indeed true, I don’t see how any of them could happen without a cause.”

“We don’t know.”

“What?”

“We don’t know.”

The mage shrugged back at his sibling, forming a sorry smile on his lips.

“That’s why we call it Spirit’s Whisk. It’s the day spirits play tricks on us…or so we tell the kids. The truth is, we just don’t know.”

After a small delay, the dragonlord let out a long, disappointed sigh. She then rose to her feet, briskly making her way towards the door.

“? Woah, wait! Where’re you going?”

“To see these ‘spirits’ with my own eyes.”

Even as the door closed behind her, neither Serenis or Patrick actually believed in the spirit explanation. If that was true, then a soulseer would’ve long clarified the phenomenon by now.

But at the same time, the enforcer knew the realities of this day – that disappearances weren’t just rumors, but actual reported personnel that went missing on this very day.

“…Oh, for Twelve’s sake. Wait up! At least hide your horns if you’re going out!”

✧   ✧   ✧

For hours, the two roamed Partivine’s streets.

Even as the sun began to set, neither Serenis nor Patrick managed to come across a single person. They saw nothing besides Partivine’s empty streets, emptier stores, and closed drapes on every window.

Eventually, Patrick placed his hand on his sibling’s shoulder, pulling her back towards him.

“Sere…I mean, Zion, that’s enough. Let’s go home already.”

“…”

“Hellooo?...Yes? No? Maybe? Say something.”

“…Patrick. Do you see that?”

“See what?”

“Over there…beyond the hillside.”

“…?”

When Patrick followed his unmoving sibling’s gaze, he could see…

Nothing. It was just a grassy hill, next to the city’s walls.

“…Are you hallucinating things, or do you just have really good eyesight that I didn’t know about?”

“There’s a rupture. It’s different.”

“Uh, no, it’s a hill.”

Grabbing hold of the hand that was on her shoulder, Serenis summoned her wings as she took Patrick into her arms. Moments after the two took off the ground, making a brief flight over Partivine’s walls and towards the hill beyond it.

“Hey, what’re yoouuuuuuuwwoah!”

“Patrick, be quiet.”

In fact, Patrick did shut his mouth as the two took flight – not because he was told to, but for fear someone would look out their window and see their local enforcer being kidnapped by his own younger brother. Not to mention it was hard to speak with all the air rushing at his face.

Patrick made an internal promise to hold a 3-hour scolding session when his feet would touch solid ground.

But when his feet actually did touch the ground, such trivial thoughts were washed away by what was in front of his eyes.

“Zion, you can’t just…wait, what the hell?”

“I told you.”

 In front of the two siblings was a hazy, fractured gap, as if there was a broken glass wall separating their world from across. Beyond the gap they could see an endless span of red and orange lights, skeletons and phantoms serving to decorate every house in the street, and small monsters running about from home to home.

But as far as Patrick knew, this place has always been a simple hill. There shouldn’t been any houses here, let alone an entire city.

“…What am I looking at? Is this an illusion?”

“It isn’t. There’s no mana coming from beyond. In fact…there’s so little mana beyond this rupture.”

“Yeah, but…it’s…”

Before Patrick could coherently gather his thoughts, Serenis began walking forward, straight into the street beyond the ruptured gap.

And obviously, her elder sibling did not approve.

“Hey, hey! Where’re you going?! You don’t know what’s there! I bet this is exactly how people disappear! What if it’s dangerous?”

“More dangerous than I am?”

“Well…I don’t know!”

“Come, Patrick. Where’s your human spirit? I thought curiosity was one of your kind’s most notable features.”

“Wait, don’t go alone! Ugh, fine. But only for a few minutes!”

“Alright.”

Coming to a compromise(?), the two soon stepped through the illusion-like rupture completely. But the sight before them refused to change, and the well-lit night streets were still just the same.

What did change was the scenery behind them – as the rupture they’d stepped through had somehow disappeared without a trace.

“…I told you this was how people disappear.”

“It’ll be fine. If worse comes to pass we can fly back home, wherever this may be.”

“Easy for you to say…woah!”

Stumbling forth a few steps, Patrick struggled to not fall from the sudden bump on his back.

When he and Serenis turned around, they could see a blob of white cloth – who they first thought to be a wandering spirit – until it started talking in a girl’s voice. The blob was accompanied by several other teenagers, all of whom were disguised as various sorts of monsters.

And finally, a pair of human arms jutted forth from the blob’s sides, rubbing the centre of the white cloth – which was probably where their nose was, aching from the bump just now.

“Ow…um, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there, this costume really makes it hard to see…”

Patrick squinted, tilted his head, looked around, and scanned the blob before him. He then studied the three kids behind the blob, then the blob itself, and finally came to the most logical conclusion he could come up with.

“Wait, you’re all…kids.”

The group nodded in unison, including the blob. They then held out the bags and baskets in their hand, which were filled with an assortment of colorful…items. Whatever those were.

“It’s okay, our parents said we just need to stay together!”

“Are you two trick-or-treating too? That’s a cool cloak, mister!”

“Yeah! And staff! You look like a wizard!”

This time, Patrick turned his head around to face Serenis. But the dragonlord only shrugged back at him, unable to process the situation herself.

Finally, Patrick turned back to face the kids, beaming an odd, forced smile towards the dressed-up children.

“Uh…yeah, uh…I am one, actually.”

“Really? Can you do magic then?”

“Um…sure?”

“Show us! Show us!”

When the four children looked at him with gleaming eyes, the enforcer found himself at a loss. Wherever they’d ended up was certainly not the realm of spirits.

“…Why not? Here, stand back a little.”

The mage confidently wove his staff in the air, emitting a bluish glow from its tip. The light soon exploded in a dazzling flash, scattering into hundreds of snowflakes that lightly rained down upon the amazed children.

Finally, one of the children stepped closer, pointing at Patrick’s staff in their wolf-paw glove.

“That’s so cool! Is that staff expensive?”

“Huh? Uh…a little bit?”

“Can I see? Can I see?”

“…Eh. Sure, here.”

Patrick soon handed the staff over to the child, which he received with both arms. The wooden rod was taller that the child itself, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Even when he turned around and ran.

“Haha, it’s mine now!”

“What? Wait, you can’t just run off!”

“I’ll give it back to you if you catch me!”

When one child began running, the others all followed…except for the blob. Patrick blankly watched them run for a few seconds until the blob’s arm poked him on the waist.

“Um, sorry…we’re just a little excited for Halloween. Chris is just playing around, I’m sure he’ll give it back to you once you catch him. We should go!”

Afterwards, the blob child also began to run after her friends. Patrick let out a sigh mixed in with laughter, preparing to run after them.

“Zion, let’s go! I lied to the kid, but that thing cost me a fortune!”

“…But…I don’t think…”

Serensi watched the children run off the way they’d come. Interestingly enough, it seemed to be a perfectly fine street – and the rupture they’d stepped out of was nowhere to be seen.

But as soon as her sibling began running after them, the rupture showed itself once more, taking the enforcer back to Partivine’s hillside – before disappearing from sight once more.

The dragonlord watched her brother pointlessly disappear, staring at the rupture with an expectant, indifferent gaze.

“…That you can go in that direction.”

Shaking her head, Serenis dusted off the item she’d picked up from the ground.

She then walked along the same way, stepping through the rupture to join her brother’s side.

✧   ✧   ✧

“…I can’t believe they got away with my staff.”

“Let it go, Patrick. You didn’t even need it.”

While her brother grumbled with crossed arms, Serenis quietly took a seat beside him, back in the safety of their home. Her human disguise soon melted away as her horns and tail reappeared.

She then produced a small, brown wallet from her robe – and only then did her sibling’s grumbling come to a cease.

“…Wait, what is that? Since when did you keep a wallet?”

“It’s not mine. I picked it up from the ground. It’s likely one of the children’s.”

“Really?...Shouldn’t you have returned it to them?”

“I would have, but…we couldn’t.”

“…Oh.”

When the two had returned to the hill, Patrick had immediately attempted to step back into the rupture to retrieve his staff…only to find out that the rupture was completely gone. Hence, the two had returned home missing an expensive staff, and a wallet they could no longer return.

Serenis then opened the wallet, curiously shuffling through its contents.

She produced several sheets of paper from within, marked with a number, a drawing, and all kinds of symbols she couldn’t even begin to understand. Patrick likewise squinted his eyes, and held the paper to examine it up close.

“…What is this?”

“I’m not sure…there’s coin here as well.”

“Well, yeah, it’s a wallet. I’d expect there to be coin.”

“…It’s not the coin we know.”

Serenis shook the wallet above the table, letting several coins drop onto the glass surface. They each gleamed in a silver light, but none were the actual silvers that the siblings were familiar with seeing.

In fact, they weren’t even sure if it really was silver. Or if it really was coin, or just a fancy, circular metal token.

“…Okay, just where the hell were we?”

“Perhaps that really was the spirit realm.”

“You know that’s ridiculous. You saw those kids – they were just dressed up. They weren’t spirits!”

“Who knows? Perhaps children are allowed to roam free amongst spirits.”

Finally, Serenis plucked out the few remaining items from the wallet. All of them were flattened surfaces with strange words and engravings upon them, but as flat as they were, Patrick found them surprisingly durable.

“Hey, these aren’t paper like the first ones. Are these cards? I’ve never seen them so fancy…durable, too. Wonder what these are made of.”

“…”

“Zion?”

“…”

“…? Hey, what’s wrong?”

Patrick called out to the dragonlord several times, using both her original name and her current human name. But none of them registered properly as she held the last of the strange cards in her hand.

“What are you looking at?...Is that a license?”

“…”

“Let’s see here. Bliss Carman Secondary School, Grade 7. Student Name Ed…”

Before Patrick could read out the name in full, the card suddenly burst into flames. Patrick reflexively flinched, staggering back with arms raised above his head.

“Woah, what the hell?! What’re you doing?!”

“…Nothing.”

“Uh, no, that wasn’t ‘nothing’! What’d you do that for?”

“…It’s nothing. Good night.”