Warning: Swear words, zalgo text, obviously summons. Several centuries after Transcendence.
((Wow, I cranked this out in only two hours. Nice. Anyway, lots of warped text, swearing, and mild reference to Ouija boards.
As the summary said, this is an AO3-exclusive series, so I'll be writing more about this specific era of TAU over there under "Sweets and Demons". If you wanna go read that series, go bookmark and stuff! ^w^
Have fun!))
«~=~»
"Are you ready?"
"Hell yeah, let's get this party started!"
"Um, I really think we should get some things to protect ourselves first-"
"Don't sweat it, Lizzie! We got this, if we need to use it we got ice cream too!"
"Yeah, I agree with Rae: let's start!"
"If you say so..."
This slumber party was finally starting to get fun: my two older brothers were out of the house at a college party they crashed, my parents were out on a cruise to Hawaii, and my friends- Lizzie and Cana- were allowed to sleep over at my house until my parents came back! There's nothing better than getting the house to yourself! We were playing with our hair, gossiping, and even ordered a pizza! It's been great!
That's when I started to remember something.
While I was digging through the attic out of boredom a few hours ago, I found this old steel tablet with weird symbols engraved in a circle pattern on it, and it looks like some ancient Ouija board or something, so I decided to show my friends. We sat in a circle on the carpet of my living room around the weird board, inspecting it. Of course, we were going to try it out- we liked doing this sort of thing.
Well, me and Cana did. Lizzie didn't want to, but we just let her watch-she didn't need to do anything, me and Cana will do all the talking. After all, we didn't know what to expect.
Luckily I found instructions to go along with it that were actually in the language we understood, somehow- apparently, the symbols on the board were HELLA old English text- like, several centuries old. So that was cool to know I had an ancient artifact in my house the whole time.
There was some even weirder letters in the instructions- Cana explained it was Latin, whatever the fuck that was, she was the history nerd here- and me and her started chanting, with a few stumbles (which I don't think was good in this context but whatever as long as it gets results)
"Splendidum stella, te invoco. Te invoco ut facere voluntatem meam. Dico nomen tuum: Alcor!"
We expected some sort of creepy poltergeist-thing to move the little piece I was holding in place on the tablet, but we didn't get ANYTHING for a good minute or five. I just assumed that nothing was gonna happen, so I asked if we could try that again. I got different replies than I wanted.
"We just need to wait a little longer. Maybe the summoning thing is too old?" questions Cana, looking a little disappointed. I was too, but you don't see that emotion on her face very often so she really wanted this to work.
"H-how about we just cut this off? I heard people die by doing things like this..." Of course Lizzie joins in with that, I didn't expect anything less. But it's still sweet she cares for our safety.
Right when me and Cana are about to redo the chant, the lights dim.
The only issue is, the lights don't turn off by themselves- we have to verbally tell them to. But no one said anything like "LIGHTS POWER OFF"...
Some wind that shouldn't exist because we closed the windows started blowing through our hair at this point, and now we're kinda freaking out. We were SURE AS HELL not ready for this shit, and we were practically clinging to ourselves as some... THING, started forming in the middle of the living room in front of us.
If we weren't so scared to move, we would be screaming bloody murder and dashing out the house. But we were, so we watched the Thing (I'll just call it a demon, at this point we all knew what it was) turn from a blob of inky darkness into a... Man?
It (he?) was nicely dressed, too, but I don't want to get that observant yet.
He still looked very much not human though: as if the gold-on-void-black eyes, floating top hat, shark teeth, and bat wings sprouting from his lower back meant anything.
...Yeah, the "no observing" rule didn't stick. Whoops.
"̨̡͠Ẃ͡o̶̕͢ẁ,͟ ͟I̵ h̛͢ave͜͢n͡'̡t͟ ̴̛h̛͝͠ȩ̢a͘r̴d̢͘ ͘͢͞T̵H̕A̢T̴́ ̀c̴h̀͜͞a͟͡n̸̢͢t̡̢̕ ̡i͝n͢͡ ̷̴͢á ͏̸w̨̛h̸͠i̷̛l̸e̛.҉̕ ̸Sure͢͝ ́͟b̷͢r̛͞į͘n̢͏g̛̀s͏ ͠b̧̛a̵c̢͘k͏҉̨ ̷̕͜mé̵m̷͘o̴̧̡r͜ì̡e̶͟ś.̨.̷" the demon said, wings fluttering as he floating in place.
Well, that voice was creepy as hell, I thought, cursing. The demon narrowed its eyes.
"̵̡W̶͏e̕l̨l̡ ̸é͡x̢ç̵̸u̡͝s̴e͠ ̢me̢ ̸̷͘f̴̡͜o̧r͟ ͟b̀͠͞e̢i̶ǹg̡̧ ̧a̵̴̡ d͘͏ę̧̀mo̡͏n͡҉̴.̷ ̸̸Tha̧͟t́̕'̵͟s ̴̀̀h̡͜͢o͏w̶ ̡҉͟t́͜h͝e͘͜͝ ̷͡v̡̡̛oi̕͢c̨̕è ҉wơrk̷͟s͝͡.̵̕"͢͜
"...Shit, I said that out loud?" My hands were starting to get all sweaty, and my friends were glaring at me, but I was too terrified to care.
"No̢͢,͘ bù҉̡t̶ ͢͜͠t͏̀ḩ͘e̢ ̷way͏ ỳ̕ou̡ ͜w̶e̶͘ŗ̀e̢̢͢ ̀l̶҉o̢͝o̶̡k̨̢ì̡͝ń̴g̛ ̸̀a̡t͏̸̀ ̧͢me any͟o̢҉nè̸ ͘͝c͏̨͝ou̷͝ld͝ ̴̡h͝a͢͠v̡̨͡e ͘k̷͏n͢o̧w̡̢͡n͏̷.̨" Shit.
̢̀"A̵͞n̨͘y̡w̧̕a͏y̶͜,̶͘ ͜w̶͘h̀̕͘a̷t̶̛̛ ҉͘̕á̕r̛͟ȩ͜ ̷̀͜y̛͘͢ou͢ ̢s̴͢͡u̢̡̨m҉̡m̨on̡i͢͟ng̢ ̸͘ḿé̵ ̛́f̨̀ó̴r̴̀?̵͠"̴̵̷
"We just wanted to see if it would work, heh heh... We didn't really think it would..." Cana suddenly trailed off like she lost her voice or something. Lizzie picked up right after her, voice just as quiet.
"S-so um... Sorry to take up your time?"
We were all just abut ready to cry. If we knew it would summon a DEMON, of all things, we wouldn't. We know better. But we thought it'd just be a ghost or something we could deal with! To hell with the consequences! But NOOO...
The demon didn't look too impressed and leaned closer to us, so I think this is the part where everyone dies. Sayonara, life: you were a good one.
After a pause- WHICH FELT LIKE TWENTY FUCKING YEARS FOR GODS SAKE KILL US NOW- we hear this:
"Y̵o̶ú ͢k͜id͠s̷ a̡r̵e҉ ́l̸u̡c͝ky͝ ͘I'm ҉l̶e̷nie͢nt towàr̢ds̕ ̴amat͢e͘urs.̧ I͡ c͜an ̡tak̴e̵ ͡an͞y s̴ma͞l͡l̕ deal ̨with ͘th̡at̴ ̕g̵a̶l̸l̴on of͏ ic͝e͘ ̡c͟r̛ea͜m̕ you̧ hav̧e t̶h͏e͞r̡e̵."̷
Wait, what.
WHAT.
Okay, we might not die today. (I'm surprised the ice cream didn't melt by now, it's been a few minutes.)
Gathering as much confidence in my voice as possible, I stood up in front of the demon in front of us and said:
"W-we'll offer the ice cream... in return for staying... and t-talking with us for a while."
I still stuttered. For fuck's sake, I can't do anything I want right.
It still worked, luckily: the demon thought over the deal and looked like he wasn't gonna kill us anytime soon. My friends might kill me, though.
"Are you kidding me right now Rae?!" Cana hissed under her breath, clenching fists that were gonna meet my face. I saw Lizzie cover her face with her hands in the corner of my eye, muttering something under her breath. Probably cursing me.
"I̕nter͏e͏st͢ing ̨d̶eál.͡ ..́.a̕n̷d̷ ͜what ͡f̨lavor̶ o͞f͠ ̴ic͠e̕ ͡cr̛e͡am̷ ͢is įt? ̡I̵ ca͢n't͝ s͞ee͟ ͘it̢ ̡f͡r͡o̧m ̧h̴eŕe."͘
Who cares what ice cream it was? I guess this demon does. "It's Rocky Road."
"D̛eal͢. ͡W̕e ha͜v͟ȩ ̧a͞ ͜d̶eal͞.̶" the demon replied quickly. It's as if the demon liked ice cream. That was super quick. He sticks out a hand covered in blue fire to settle the deal, but I was really afraid it would burn. It didn't though, so that was a plus.
And who can say they shook the hand of a demon without dying? Not many people. Cross that off my bucket list, then.
҉"̕T̶ḩank ͏you ̷k͝ind͟l҉y,͝ ́M͏iss ̶Ŗa͘e͢na,́ ͘C̵an̢a,͠ ̢El͡iz͜abeth."҉
Wait, it knew our names. Holy fucking crap. Lizzie shrunk away behind Cana- who had her mouth open in shock, by the way- as I passed the demon (I don't even know the name of this guy, what the fuck is wrong with me) the ice cream. I'm trying to hide my literal terror rolling in waves off my skin, but I still think the demon knows.
"̲̞̣̜͇S̱̭̠̩̦o̗͇̪,̪͙ ̫͚̯h͓̭o̰̜̪̺͉w̝̦̻̞̩ ͙̰̲ạ̻̣̗͕̘̱b̲̞o̫̤͚̟̗ͅu̥̟̮̳͈̳t͉͉͇̳ ͓we͉͙̯̰̭̥̪ g͉̹̜͕͓̖e͍̲̰̬t ͎͙͇ͅsta͈̭r̮̦͙͚͔̣̮t͇e͙̫͎̝̦̲͎d̲͕̖̙̗͇,̳̪̖͖̰̱͍ ͕̹̥̬̳̜̤s̰̻̖͉̠ḥ̖a̙̹ll̹̥̠ w͈̭e?̜"̻̣̼͖ THAT COULD MEAN MANY THINGS SHIT-
«~=~»
"So your name is Alcor the Dreambender, and you're the demon that emerged from the Transcendence?" Cana looked over the scribbles she wrote in a notebook she had, very interested in the conversation. Lizzie was still nervous around the de- er, Alcor-, and was clutching my right arm like a lifeline (which hurt like hell, but I didn't say anything).
We were currently sitting- in Alcor's case, hovering- on the carpet of the somehow-intact living room, asking questions for an all-knowing demon to answer. It was pretty fun, actually.
̱̘̩͇̦"̹Y̱̜̖̺̼͙̲u͔͍͖̥̲p,̗̗̦͈̜ͅ ̹̜t̹͍͎̳͍̼h̫̟͓a͕͉͇̫t'̠͚̙͖͇͕ͅṣ̳̰͍ ̝͉͎̥ri͔̹g͇̮̬̺̟̺h̲t̫̻̜̪."̣̺̼̯ Alcor affirmed through spoonfuls of Rocky Road. Cana tapped her pencil on her chin in thought, then looked to me.
"H-hey, is the Transcendence that happened hundreds of years ago the same as in our history books, Rae?"
This sleepover just got a whole lot cooler.