trans-dimensional ghosts

So if OneNote decides to delete this again, here it is.

--

Eventually, Caden just stopped telling people his warlock path was Death.

He could only be mistaken for a necromancer so many times before wishing to disappear off the face of the earth. It was an old superstition that should have died out years ago but that regular non-magical humans seemed determined to cling to.

Caden was most certainly not a necromancer.

He was a junior warlock still in university who was in his second year of Death studies. That did not mean raising people from the dead, researching the afterlife or pulling memories out of dead bodies. Death was not the opposite of Life. It was the companion. Death and Life warlocks learned and worked together as they were both Spirit paths. Death studies were much more like Life 2.0 than their own thing, really.

But not everyone was a warlock. Some people didn’t even have a bit of ancestral magic in their blood. Those sorts of people were the type to make necromancy jokes that grated on Caden’s nerves. Death was a noble pursuit. It was nothing like the dark magic that others who knew nothing about magic talked about. Death was a positive study, not a negative one.

But it was often seen that way. So, to avoid judgmental stares and jokes that really were quite offensive, thank you, Caden started to say that he was studying Time. Even those who knew nothing of warlock studies knew that Time warlocks were very secretive, long-winded and used far too many technical terms for any conversation on the subject to be enjoyable or understandable.

And this served Caden perfectly well until some guy named Terence showed up at his door with a werecat and what looked like a ghost and Caden just knew that his quiet, orderly, private university career was going to be thrown into the void.

(If he really was a Time warlock, that would come with a complex explanation.)

--

Caden immediately assumed that Terence knew he was really a Death student and that’s why he’d brought the ghost along, but the werecat was puzzling, as were Terence’s initial words on the subject: “Yes, he’s looks like a ghost, but he’s not dead yet and he’s not even alive yet, I think, and I don’t know how to get him back if he’s not alive but also not dead.”

Which, after a couple repeats and rephrases, Caden knew to mean that Terence was under the impression that he really was a Time student and he didn’t know how to break it to him that he had no idea what to do about this problem that he didn’t even understand in the first place because there was no such thing as bringing back ghosts from the future, because that wouldn’t be back in the first place and ghosts could only move forward, not backward, and even if ghosts were indeed part of the Death path, time-travel certainly wasn’t, and if Terence wasn’t a Time warlock, how did he get a hold of this ghost anyway and now that he mentioned it, the ghost did seem to be stuck to Terence by a time string - as least as near as Caden could figure it, not being a Time student - and did the werecat have anything to do with this because he was staring and it was quite unsettling.

“Also, it’s almost midnight, which I know doesn’t mean much for students because it’s summer so we can study whenever we like and I like nights much better than mornings, but it’s generally accepted to be a time when people sleep rather than knock on doors with ghost problems, and besides it being midnight, why did you come to me?”

The ghost was looking distinctly embarrassed at this point. Caden was pretty sure the werecat was amused. It was always hard to tell with them, but those eyes and tilt of the head really did look like he was enjoying the scene before him. Terence opened his mouth but nothing came out of it and Caden ended up waving his hands in front of his face to get him to close it.

“I heard you were a Time student and someone else also said you were really smart and ahead of your classes and I didn’t want to talk to a senior warlock - you know how they drone on and on - especially a Time one. And I had to come now because Qaz wouldn’t stop yowling. Which is very annoying, because I am not a night person and I’m exhausted.”

Qaz the werecat blinked and Caden swore he rolled his eyes. One paw came up to point at the string connecting the ghost and Taehyung.

“You know you’ve got a time string attached to you, right?” Caden was still put out by this problem he had no business discussing, but he couldn’t resist discussing it at least a little. He’d never met a time-displaced ghost before.

Terence looked at the string and poked at it. The ghost winced. “Yeah.”

“Well, how corporeal was the ghost when you met him?”

Terence looked at Qaz. “Um, I couldn’t touch him.”

Caden blinked. “You can touch him?”

Terence nodded.

“That's…that’s not good.”

Qaz nodded his head emphatically.

“Why is it not good?” Terence asked like he didn't want to know the answer.

“Because,” Caden answered reluctantly. “It means that either intentionally or not, the ghost is drawing out your life energy and eventually…”

“It’ll kill me.” Terence said it point blank.

“Yeah.”

“Well.” Terence bit down on his lip.

“Could we possibly come inside? I swear I’m not draining him intentionally but maybe we shouldn’t be outside if he suddenly falls over.”

Caden, Terence and Qaz all swung their heads around to face the ghost. He frowned, looking rather confused at the reaction.

“If you can talk that’s even worse,” a third voice sounded. Qaz was suddenly not a cat but a human with a dark expression and short stature. “We’re coming in.”

“I guess you are,” Caden sighed in resignation.

All four trooped inside and Caden shut the door and locked it. He looked at each of his guests in turn. “You can go sit in there and I’ll get some valerian.”

“What for?” Terence shuffled his feet along the tiles.

Caden pointed toward the cluttered sitting room. “To send you and your ghost to sleep before he steals too much more from you, idiot.”

Qaz pulled on Terence's arm which pulled the ghost via the time string toward the sitting room. “Thank you. If you have any moonstone dust, that would also be helpful.”

“Why don’t I just make a full on sleeping potion, then?” Caden grumbled.

“That would be optimal,” Qaz replied with far too much cheer. “If you are too put out to make it properly, just direct me to your brew room. I’ll make it.”

Caden glared. “Go watch your friend.”

“Moonstone dust!” Qaz called after Caden.

Caden wondered if maybe he should’ve just kept his mouth shut from the beginning.

And take down that “ring for service” sign outside. He might be a junior warlock, but he was still just a student and this whole thing was far ahead of him.

But he was a warlock, and turning away someone who needed help was against the oath, so Caden trudged to his apothecary room and dug out valerian and moonstone dust because he was not making a sleeping potion tonight but he couldn’t let the ghost steal a person’s life if he could help it.

–

“Alright, here’s the valerian-” Caden stopped mid-handout to see Terence and the ghost holding hands. “Uh,” was what he said next.

“He was starting to fade away,” Terence defended.

“Then why didn’t you just let him? Ghosts need a connection to life to stay visible and present, not to mention semi-corporeal. He could’ve just gone away!”

Qaz took the valerian and pouch of moonstone dust from Caden and began to fashion a sleep wreath with practiced hands. “Terence was fading too,” he mentioned quietly.

Caden plopped down onto his favorite chair with a childish whimper. “What?” This really was too much, far too much for a student. “What exactly is your connection to this ghost anyway?”

Terence looked at the ghost, who squirmed in place. “I could see him when my cousin pulled him up to get Time secrets out of him and he attached to me because he didn’t have any answers that my cousin wanted and we have a family bond against hurting each other so if he was linked to me then he didn’t have to do what my cousin wanted.”

“I didn’t know it would start draining him,” the ghost put in. “I just didn’t like what I was being asked. And I didn’t know anything about Time anyway.”

“That’s a lie,” Qaz remarked, setting the finished wreath on Terence’s head.

“I’m not a Time warlock,” the ghost rebutted, looking distinctly offended. “I study Dimension, so anything I say here won’t matter. I mean, it won’t apply. It wouldn’t apply even if I was just pulled out of time.”

“Right.” Caden ignored the fact that the ghost just admitted he had been pulled not only out of time but out of dimension, which was an incredible feat requiring a large amount of power and practice. It was too much to think about just now. “And how could Terence see you?”

“I’m not a warlock, but I have a soul sensitivity. And Qaz can see him now that we’re attached. And apparently he’s gotten enough life from me to be seen by anyone with any magical sensitivities.”

“I’m not his pet, though,” Qaz clarified, rather unnecessarily, as Caden was perfectly well educated enough to know that werecats were just as, if not more so, intelligent as humans and were quite magical in their own right. “I’m a transformation-specializing magic-user,” Qaz continued sourly.

“He’s very skilled. He looks young but he’s already a senior,” Terence mumbled sleepily, the wreath obviously doing its job.

Caden covered his face with his hands. A now sleeping human, half-asleep ghost and a feisty werecat were seated on his couch and Caden wanted nothing more than to just kick them all out.

“If you could bring us a couple blankets, I’m sure we’ll be very comfortable in here,” Qaz said all too politely.

Caden smiled without humor and stood. “Sure. And I’m sure you can find your own way home in the morning.”

“If Emrik is still here then we will need you to help us send him back.”

“Emrik?”

“The ghost.”

Caden rubbed at his face. “You knew his name this whole time?”

Qaz shook his head. “Discovered it just now.”

Werecat magic was seriously weird sometimes. “Well, I’m not really a Time warlock, so I don’t think I can help y-”

“It has to be you,” Qaz said firmly.

Caden’s shoulders slumped. “Why?”

“Because I knew your name. And because this is the last place Terence’s cousin will be looking for us. And,” Qaz leaned closer to Caden with a rather terrifying expression on his face, “because you’re a Death warlock. The good kind. Terence’s cousin is the bad kind.”

Caden couldn’t look away.

“It’s your responsibility to defend against necromancy and to preserve life. I’m out of my element just like you and just like you, I’m also under the oath. You can’t turn us away.”

“I guess not,” Caden whispered. He really couldn’t. It would go against his fundamental nature as a warlock and as a human.

Qaz suddenly smiled and it made his whole appearance change into something angelic. “Don’t worry too much. You can count this as your yearly project, if you want. And how many students get to deal with trans-dimensional ghosts?”

Caden shook his head. “Trans-dimensional ghosts. I’ve only heard of them before.”

“And now you’ve seen one.”

“And it’s sleeping in my house.”

“Cheer up and get some sleep. We’ve a lot to do tomorrow.” Qaz was at once human and animal and then he was a large cat, curled up in front of the fireplace.

“Oh stars,” Caden groaned, moving to get his unwanted guests some blankets and pillows, “I can’t wait.”