Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Things that bump in the night

“I’m going to take a look around the world,” Henry said. “Check out what we’re dealing with. I’ll be back before you wake up.”

“Oka – wait. What?” Damien asked, jerking upright and blinking groggily.

“I need to scope the area out,” Henry replied. “Relax. I won’t do anything. I’m just going sightseeing. Nobody will even know I’m there.”

I’m not so sure about that. How do I know you won’t try to do something?

“That’s the funny thing, boy. There’s nothing you can do about it. This is in both of our best interest, so the contract isn’t stopping me. I’m just letting you know. Enjoy your rest,” Henry said.

A cold wind blew through the room. Damien’s shadow stretched and pulled away from him, vanishing into the sky and leaving the boy staring at it helplessly. A wave of intense exhaustion washed over him, turning his thoughts even more sluggish and fuzzy than they already were. His mind suddenly felt profoundly empty, like a large part of him had vanished. Considering Henry had half his soul, Damien supposed it had.

He didn’t have the energy to worry further about the consequences of a deadly eldritch creature roaming the world. The call of sleep was a siren, and Damien was no more than a hapless sailor. The boy fell back onto his bed. His head hit the pillow and conscious thought blinked out as he fell into a deep sleep.

Damien blinked. He was sitting on a grassy hill completely naked, which was rather strange considering he was quite confident he’d gone to sleep in his bed wearing underwear.

Surrounding the hill, there was… nothing. Blank, empty darkness enveloped the world, starting at the base of the grass and stretching onwards beyond the horizon. Damien started to stand up, then glanced down at himself and thought better of it. Strangely, he felt no fear or panic. Instead, the emotion circling his mind was more of a detached bemusement.

“Hello?” Damien asked. His voice echoed out, repeating itself to him several times before fading away into the darkness. “Is anybody here? Where am I?”

A cold breeze brushed against Damien’s back. He shuddered and hugged himself as goosebumps raced up and down his spine.

“Within your mind. A very small part of it, anyways,” Henry’s voice came from behind Damien.

Damien turned around. Henry sat before him, dark smoke rising up from his shadowy form. In his chest, a miniscule pinprick of white light shimmered faintly. Thin lines of energy stretched from the dot of light and into his chest.

Henry noticed Damien’s stare and grunted. The darkness surrounding him flared up, smothering the light.

“It’s rude to stare,” Henry said.

Damien shrugged in response. Henry sighed. He waved his hand in the boy’s direction. A tiny dot of darkness floated through the air and passed through Damien’s forehead. He blinked lazily, then drew in a ragged gasp.

“What in the hells?”

“Much better,” Henry said. “Your subconscious was trying to sleep, but we have important matters to discuss.”

“And that involves you bringing me to a hill in the void without any clothes?” Damien protested.

“It’s all in your mind,” Henry replied. “This is where I reside while you go about your happy little mortal life. Don’t complain too much. And, again, your mind. It’s not my fault you’ve showed up naked.”

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Damien frowned. His normal clothes popped into existence around him as if they’d always been there.

“Huh. That’s cool,” Damien said.

“You’re literally just imagining things. It couldn’t be more uninteresting,” Henry grumbled. “On topic, please. This is serious.”

“Right, sure,” Damien said, massaging his forehead as he dug through his memories. His brow furrowed. “Wait, you ran off last night! What did you do?”

“I told you. I was scouting out the area. Nobody saw me, and I didn’t bother any mortals. You have nothing to fear.”

“Right,” Damien said, crossing his arms. “That’s why you say we have a serious topic to discuss.”

“Okay, there might be a little bit to fear,” Henry admitted. “But it isn’t my fault.”

“Just tell me already!”

“If you insist. I’m not the only creature from the void in the mortal plane.”

Damien blinked. Of all the things he’d been expecting, most of which had to do with getting caught by Dean Whisp, that wasn’t one of them. As he processed Henry’s words, he realized that he would have preferred the dean to have found his secret.

“Just for the sake of clarity, could you expand on that?” Damien asked slowly. “This might be a time when numbers matter.”

“I detected five other presences in the world,” Henry said, floating to his feet and pacing back and forth. “They are all void denizens like me. Luckily, all of them were bound in some manner or another. I did not get close enough for them to identify who I am.”

“That’s… really bad,” Damien agreed, well aware his words were an understatement. One world ending creature was bad enough. “You don’t sound particularly happy about this. I would have thought you’d want more eldritch creatures on the Mortal Plane.”

“Of course I don’t!” Henry snapped, spinning towards Damien. “I’m the one who’s going to devour this plane, not them. They aren’t my allies. They’re competition. If they get free before I do, the world will be completely ruined by the time I get around to it.”

“That would suck,” Damien said in a dry tone. “I’m sure you’d lose a lot of sleep over it. Not like life itself would be snuffed out for all eternity or anything. Just some spilled milk.”

“Destroying this feeble, worthless plane is the reason for my existence,” Henry said. “Imagine being in a race for someone to learn magic, and only the winner would be able to do it.”

“I am not going to empathize with something that wants to end the world,” Damien said, glaring at Henry. “However, if you’re serious about there being other eldritch creatures on the Mortal Plane…”

“Why would I lie?” Henry asked, throwing his hands into the air. “Listen, boy. We need to work together on this. The other eldritch creatures cannot escape. We must find them and kill their hosts before they do.”

“What? Isn’t there another way we can get rid of them?” Damien asked, frowning. “I can’t even cast magic yet! And, I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you enough to kill random people with nothing but your word to go on.”

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