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How to Seer, Part 10

copyright comidacomida 2020

In the many years since I first received The Gift I have encountered many different spirits. While most of them have been pleasant, or at least neutral, the fact of the matter is that not all spirits are friendly and some are downright dangerous. I've dealt with Feral Spirits before, which can be very aggressive though they aren't always a threat, but when it comes to 'dangerous' there are a few kinds of Spirits I hope I never encounter ever again.

Among the worst of them are the Nihili, Barghests, and Rakshasa. The Nihili are forces of pure malevolent destruction but they're predictable; I've had to face them on many occasions. Barghests are aggressive and lethal hunters but they can be reasoned with, and out of the three encounters I've had with them only one ended in violence. Rakshasa... well... I've only met one once, and it was my first ever encounter with an Evil Spirit.

During my trip back home during the holidays I spent just as much time at home as cruising the streets where I'd grown up. It was strange that, despite my familiarity with town, it didn't really feel like I had returned home; it felt alien and indifferent and I was almost glad nobody recognized me. Looking back, I think it would have been almost impossible for me to face if not for the fact that my Spirits accompanied me; they gave me the strength to face the place that had so many negative memories from my final years there.

Just after new years, during my second-to-last day there, I was out on one such trip around town and I'd stopped at a local burger joint to get lunch. It was the same place my friends and I used to go back toward the end of middle school and I ended up getting the exact same thing: a number three-- bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. I also got a cheeseburger for Talapus, a chicken sandwich for Kon, seasoned fries for Raven, and a bottle of water for Mishupishu. We had settled down on a wooden picnic table across the street at the park to eat when I noticed something strange: a humanoid Bat was standing across the street staring.

My parents had told me when I first arrived that the town had finally got high speed internet installed. I didn't know it at the time but with it came a pop culture Spirit, riding on the latent Spirit Energy created by having so much information at the collective fingertips of the town's population. He was a relatively young Spirit, not quite 60, which was basically considered a baby. I didn't know any of that at the time though; all I knew was that a strange Spirit taking stock of me and my companions-- and I wasn't the only one to notice him.

Raven and Kon were up in an instant, moving to interpose themselves between me and the Bat. Raven cawed out a challenge. "Keep moving! Nothing to see here!"

The direct statement had the opposite result; the new Spirit immediately turned fully toward us and came jogging across the street. I was used to the world of Spirits enough by that point that I wasn't surprised when a truck passing by plowed right through him and kept going without an impact, but I heard Talapus behind me mumble to Mishupishu "So graceless... he's either really young or really old, and I don't know any red-haired Bats."

The fur atop the Bat's head wasn't red, precisely, but it was definitely dyed, and slightly longer than elsewhere on his body; it reminded me of hair. He slowed, well beyond 'confrontation distance' as he stepped up onto the sidewalk and came to a stop just beyond where the grass met the sidewalk. He was dressed in a black shirt with what looked like the cover of Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon", blue jeans, and a white hoodie with a black circular logo on the front. Addressing a question posed to him by Raven, the Bat turned around, motioning back toward the way from which he came, and I saw two ovals on the reverse side of his hoodie, one blue and one orange-- it made me think of that one computer game about portals.

Kon continued the conversation when the Bat turned back around. "That's great, but this is our Seer. Go find your own."

Despite the dismissal, the newcomer was still all smiles. "I've never seen a Seer before-- are you sure he can see really you?"

Unable to help myself, I spoke up. "See AND hear, yes. I have The Gift."

I could sense Talapus tense up behind me, and heard a groan of displeasure from Mishupishu at my statement; the Bat's purple eyes gleaming in joy at being addressed. Once I addressed him he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of the pocket of his hoodie and put them on as he flashed a happy smile, revealing pointy teeth. "I heard Humans talking about someone that sounded like a Seer... I didn't know if I was just imagining things. This is so cool!"

I knew better than to give him my name; that kind of interaction wasn't done carelessly. Although I could tell that my companions were ill at ease over me revealing myself to an unattached Spirit, I also didn't want to be rude and he didn't seem like he was doing to cause a problem. Playing things cautiously, I worked on establishing a baseline for interacting with the Bat. "I would like to know what to call you."

It was a safe request because it would allow him to gain a small amount of Spirit Energy without overdoing it, and it show him that I wasn't about to be tricked into naming him, which would provide a huge amount. Surprisingly, he didn't try to game more out of me. "I don't really have one since I haven't got a chance to deal with Humans... but when I first got here I heard a name I liked-- it was 'Aiden'."

I had little doubt where he got that name; in my graduating year alone there were three in my class, but one of them was one of my best friends and the Raven Spirit with me already had the market cornered on Spirits-with-the-same-name-as-one-of-my-friends. I was just about to request a new option when Mishupishu shouted a warning from behind me in his native language; I'd become familiar enough with it by that point to respond to "Seer! On the ground!"

Dropping off of the bench, I was surprised when a large, dark shape launched over me and landed on the street behind the Bat. It was without form for several seconds, rising up from a pile of blackness until it took on the shape of a Tiger, but not in the way that the other Spirits resembled animals. Unlike them, it appeared far more Tiger than man; although it stood on two legs it did so in a hunched posture, and it was pure, three-dimensional blackness, all except for its eyes, which resembled smoldering coals of pure red. Kon was the first to identify it. "A Rakshasa..."

The Bat took a step closer to us and then turned around to face the shadow Tiger, adopting what looked like a martial arts stance. "That's a bad thing, I take it?"

Talapus grumbled, pulling out a stone axe. "Yep... REALLY young."

Raven fluffed up his feathers, shaking out his wings as his pinions shimmered, gaining sharp metalic edges to them. He shot a glance at the Bat. "Better get out of here, Aiden... these things don't play nice."

The Bat shook his head, shrugging his shoulders as he pulled his hands back beneath the cowl of his wings; when the reemerged they were each holding a submachine gun. "Then I won't play nice either. This is my first Seer I've ever seen, and I'm not about to let some Feral Spirit eat him... Conspicuous Consumption is NOT okay."

Kon scoffed. "Orokana baka... this isn't some Feral Spirit. It knows what it does... and what it does is eat Humans."

And then the fight began.