But everything turns cold with time...
"You have one business on earth – to save souls." - John Wesley
GhostWorm
Chapter 1: Mystery Meeting
A lullaby had awoken her. Just as it had every morning. It came in the form of a dream, constantly reminding her of the life she once had. The light from her window tugged at her face. Ciara extended her arms in a cat-like movement as she moved out of bed and changed into her day-time garments. Stepping out from the shower, she could smell bacon coming from the living room.
'The witch is still here...'
Ciara headed downstairs to find her guardians sitting across from each other at the dining room table. The king smiled at her, "good morning, princess."
His mistress scowled at her presence, "wake up earlier." She spoke in a distinctly Slavic accent, "or I won't feed you next time."
Ciara wanted to lash out at the women, but refrained herself. They were her guardians, and her kingship would expel her from his courtship if she harmed his mistress. Without saying a word, she picked out food for herself and headed to her room to eat breakfast.
She made sure to wait for them to depart before leaving her bedroom for school. She never cared for arriving there late, and most days she wished she wasn't compelled to attending it.
Casper high was a colonial styled building, which would normally be appealing to Ciara. And it was, the style and architecture made her feel like she was living in an age where witches were greatly feared. But Casper high itself was just another public school, and all public schools only existed for peasants.
She walked straight to the library. Self-studying was her preferred method of learning. For awhile, teachers penalized her for never attending class. But after a lengthy conversation with Mr. Lancer, she stopped getting pestered for skipping as long as she'd turn in her schoolwork on time.
Their shared interests in literature was probably what swayed him.
Ciara read away into her books, glad she could spend hours of her day encompassed into stories she loved. Eventually, her stomach grumbled. She hadn't brought lunch that day. The lord's mistress was still upset that she'd ruined the toaster the week before.
'How was I to know, that you shouldn't put forks inside of toasters...'
She wasn't getting packed lunches anymore, and it forced her to consume the slop that the cafeteria had to offer. Taking a deep breathe, she put away her book and walked to the cafeteria.
"What in Dante's inferno is this?" Ciara asked. The tray had grass on it... With mud still attached to the stems.
"New lunch menu," the school employee said. "Next!"
"But I require nutrition. Protein." Ciara pointed to her tray, pondering how the other students could accept that as food. "This is unfit even for strays."
Her voice came out low and raspy, indifferent to anyone else's opinion. "Look kid, if you don't like it, don't eat it. Do you mind letting me do my job?"
Irritated, Ciara left with her tray at hand. Instead of eating it after taking a seat, she rested her head on the table to bemoan at how low her life had become. "Reduced to eating soil unsuited for peasants, what a pitiful princess I hath becometh."
She sat alone. There were no friends for her in school. She'd never made an effort to reach out for other students. And why would she? She was a goddess in a world of insects. The need for camaraderie escaped her, largely because the faeries she'd collected were more than enough companionship for to her.
Ciara still wondered why the pathfinder had taken her to Amity Park. She was given a shelter with two guardians that made sure to take care of her, which was certainly better than what the orphanage had to offer. But Ciara still wondered why she was taken to Amity park of all places.
'I thought living here would give me purpose, not questions. Why was I brought here?'
"FENTON!"
Ciara looked up. A blonde haired hair athlete student marched across the cafeteria with a tray of garbage at hand. His blue eyes glared at a black haired teenager with fear in his eyes."I ordered three mud pies. Do you know what they gave me?" He pointed at his tray. "Three. Mud. Pies. With mud. From the ground! All because of your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend," the dark haired teen retorted.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" the goth girl added, not helping his argument.
The athlete grabbed the boy by his shirt, and spoke directly to his face. "These are the best years of my life. After high school its all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud!"
"Your awareness of the world is quite impressive, young athlete." No one payed attention to Ciara's remark.
"Actually its topsoil," the victim's friend unnecessarily explained.
"Whatever." The athlete threw Fenton back on the table. He placed the tray in front of him. "Eat it. All of it."
Ciara rested her head on her hand, curious to how the boy would respond. She supposed that conflicts between people could be interesting as story books as well. After looking a bit more closely at the boy, she noticed a cold mist release from the boy's mouth.
"Uh..." Fenton put the spoon down, and raised his tray. "Garbage fight!" He threw the mud into the athlete's face.
The cafeteria erupted into roars. Every student raised up their platters of garbage and flung it towards each other like animals. Ciara crawled under her table. 'Madness. Humans are mad, and I'm the only sane one!'
She crawled across the cafeteria floor towards the exit. She caught a glimpse of the athlete swearing his vengeance on Fenton, right before falling on the floor in mud. There were a few moments as she crawled where someone had nearly hit her with dirt, but one of her spirits made sure to slide the mud around her as though there were a barrier protecting her.
She made it to the hallways, brushing at her knees as she stood up. "Animals," she muttered. "They liken to animals."
Ciara walked towards the restroom to ensure that the garbage hadn't touched her. Her soft red hair was clean, though she still felt like dirt clots had landed on it. Her freckled face felt smooth after washing it under water. The gray dress outfit didn't have any noticeable stains on it, but she ran a spirit across it anyway to make sure germs hadn't fallen on her. Ciara's emerald eyes still seemed distant in front of the mirror, it was like she didn't belong in the world she was living in.
She hated it. Everything about the world. She wanted to become something more, but it was like existence was holding her back. It had been two years since she'd collected another fairy, and it was driving her insane. The world was becoming more dull, and she was almost willing to wipe out the school just to turn the her world into a fairy tale again.
'If there are no knights in this world, perhaps if I became a witch, a knight would come to rise?'
Hero or wretch, Ciara yearned to turn the world into a fairy tale. She stepped out of the bathroom, and noticed... Food, flying passed her.
Steaks, ribs, beacon and sausages flying passed her in a comical manner. The randomness of it all made her walk back in the bathroom and shut the door. She called forth one of her spirits, and asked it to become her eyes. "Elohim, Essaim, Elohim, Essaim, I implore you."
Her spirit became her eyes. It looked passed every surface, allowing its vision to reflect across surfaces and surfaces again until she gained a perfect vision of the school around her. The hallways were becoming a mess of meat, a ghost boy was facing off against an mad butcher.
'Why can't I see him?'
The mad butcher's faerie was obvious, she had grown old from dementia and madness. Her faerie hated change, and couldn't adapt as other humans could.
But the ghost boy... She saw nothing. He had no faerie yet what he did was clearly on par with what faeries could do. How was that possible? It was like he frolicked between this world and the next.
"Cookie?" The women stopped fighting to offer one in a polite tone.
The violet eyed girl shook her head fearfully.
The mad women screamed, "THEN FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"
Dementia. Ciara only pitied her. She watched the ghost boy tussle with the meat covered butcher, changing into various gross shapes to fight off the boy. It attacked out of vengeance, anger, and pain. She was excited to watch the boy fight, but then two teenagers entered the bathroom.
Her spirit lost sight of them, it could look across surfaces and opened doors, but not through people. The tanned teenager scanned Ciara from head to toe. Her hands were on her thin waistlines while her blonde friend stared quietly, wondering from which angle they should interact with this new student.
"Wow," she spoke in a thin Spanish accent. "I like how you dress up the same way my grandma used to."
Ciara understood the insult. "It's Celtic," she said plainly. "I wear it for cultural reason, do you honestly mean to tell me you don't understand that?"
The girl cocked her head back from the mild criticism, the response was very informative to her.
"You're from Ireland?" The blonde hair girl asked, referring more to Ciara's accent, "my grandma's from Ireland to."
The first girl crossed her arms, letting her friend know that she shouldn't talk. "I'm Paulina, are you new here?"
"I was home schooled last year. I moved to America two years ago."
"That's so cool," The blonde couldn't help herself. "Paulina, remember back when you came here for the first time?"
Paulina smirked, "listen Ciara, if you want to fit in in school, you have to start wearing outfits that are less..."
"Goth," the blonde blurted out laughing.
Ciara's mouth twitched, but they didn't notice it. Paulina took out a pen and paper and wrote her phone number on it. "Here, I'm gonna do you a favor. I have an idea about what would look good on you, so we're gonna go shopping later today."
Ciara arched an eyebrow, "why?"
"Because, you're better off hanging out with us than those losers at the loser table." Paulina and her friend took a moment to check their makeup in front of the mirror. Ciara took the time to check the fight between the ghost boy and the butcher. Nothing. It was over, she'd missed the most interesting thing she'd seen in years because two adolescents felt the need to disturb her peace.
She wanted to lash out at them, but then Paulina placed a hand on Ciara's shoulder. "Later, I'll even let you borrow my makeup kit, pixie girl."
Pixie girl? Had she called her that because of her small frame? Was it an insult?
"My name's Star, by the way," the blonde haired girl said. "Paulina likes giving people nicknames."
So it wasn't an insult, more like an acceptance to the group. Pixie, like those tiny magical creatures from fairy tales. She smiled, "sure," Ciara said, "I'd like that."
The two of them left ahead of her. Ciara left shortly after to find out what happened to the ghost boy. Her spirit skimmed across the hallways using echolocation to map out the people nearby. But it couldn't get a clear image of the people it could sense.
She decided to experiment. Using her echolocation ghost, Ciara added the third eyed spirit to direct its sights on the most likely targets.
Movement occurred in the basement. 'The school had a basement?' Her spirits carefully observed the butcher, trying to forcefully feed a a well cooked meal to a student.
"My dear child," the demented butcher spoke sweetly. "Meat is good for kids, it helps them grow, it makes them smile. Why won't you eat?"
The girl was covered in meat. She was sunken into a pile of it up to her shoulders. The women's powers kept it tight, making escape impossible. "Because we don't need meat," the girl answered confidently. Hostilely she added, "that's fat."
"Silence!" She screamed, causing pieces of food to rise up and fling across the room. "You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where that comes from? MEAT!"
Her tone lowered in an instance. She politely asked, "now, chicken or fish?"
Ciara noticed two warm bodies listening in on their conversation. The ghost boy and his ally. After an exchanging of words between them, the ghost boy jumped forward and attacked.
His element of surprise gave him a quick advantage, but that advantage short lived. He soon went on the defensive as he exercised his abilities of evasion. Shapeshifting, transforming and changing shapes to avoid the women's blows. In a few instances he fazed in and out of existence to avoid her attacks.
As she struggled to hit him, she eventually called upon the tons of pounds of meat in the basement, and covered herself in a bodysuit of flesh. She quickly gained the advantage as she tried to crush each of the running teenagers.
Eventually, the ghost boy decided to runaway. He grabbed a hold of his companions, and disappeared from the building.
'Where did he go? How did he do that?'
She used all of her tracking spirits to search for the three of them. They were nowhere to be found, at least not in the school.
'Did he pass through the veil?'
Ciara walked into the basement. The floor reeked in rancid odors leftover from expiring foods that had become unedible. The butcher was still scanning across the area for where the children might've gone. She was large, obese. Looked to be old either from the natural result of time or from a side affect of her awakening. She saw Ciara. "Why, hello," she said smiling. "Would you like some chicken soup?"
"I'd rather eat dirt, hag."
"Then prepare to eat destruction!"
The rancid meat quickly surrounded her again, and she launched her arms at Ciara. The hand exploded. Burnt meat flung across the basement leaving the lunch lady disorientated.
Ciara launched another explosion at her, this time at the body suit. Pieces of it flew off, exposing vulnerabilities.
A second spirit appeared. It came in the form of a three headed dog. Marching towards the women the dog devoured meats getting flung its way until it began biting off portions of the women's bodysuit.
The third spirit had eight invisible arms, each five meters long. The arms extended in front of Ciara and held the meat women against the wall. As the dog spirit finished devouring the food, Ciara spoke calmly to the butcher.
"I have a request," she said. "When you find the ghost boy again, don't hold back."
Ciara's voice came out venomous. She was not fucking around. The ghost boy was obviously the phantom pathfinder had spoken to her about. She wanted to know his limits, what he truly was, and why she couldn't see his faerie. "Kill him if you have to, I don't care. Just don't hold back."
The lady looked away for a moment. She whispered, "will you promise to eat a balanced meal with meat?"
Ciara rolled her eyes, "fine."
"Then they will regret ever having gone without a nutritious diet!"
She broke from Ciara's grasp, and meat pushed the dog spirit away. The lunch lady laughed maniacally as she floated around the room ranting to herself. Satisfied that the fight was over, Ciara slowly backed away from her, leaving her in her deranged state.
XXX
"But... I like my gowns."
Paulina and Star shook their heads disapprovingly. "You need color!" Star said to her, throwing a dress into her arms.
"And stop covering your ankles," Paulina added. "you've got nice legs, don't be afraid to show them."
Ciara came out of the fitting room in a tight-fit blue patterned sundress. She was embarrassed with herself, she always tried to blend in with her surroundings, the clothes made her feel like she was putting herself on display. "But, won't people... Look at me a lot?"
"That's the point," Paulina said in a matter-the-fact tone. "You're supposed to make guys want you. That way, they'll always want to be around you for when you need them."
"Need them?"
"That's how you make people like you," Star explained. "When enough guys like you, everyone else will fall in line. It's how popularity works."
"But, why would I want that attention?"
Paulina rolled her eyes, "Look, either everyone can like you. Or everyone can hate you. Which would you rather be?"
Ciara thought about that for a moment. She actually wasn't sure what category she wanted to fall under. 'To be the witch tugging at conflict in every legend, allowing for heroes to rise. Or to be the one admired, the centered focus of the tale?'
"Now try this one next," Paulina put another dress in her arms, and pushed her back into the fitting room.
XXX
Ciara's new gown was... Cute. Her shoulders were exposed to reveal her smallish frame, and her black skirt cut just above the knees. Star was kind enough to curl the ends of her hair making it feel more alive than it did before. Paulina showed her how to add light touches of makeup to brighten up her skin.
They only allowed her to wear the black dress because it had gold flowers patterned across the ends. She yearned to dress with class. Eloquence. Not simply attractive without style. Many people noticed Ciara for the first time since she began high school. For a moment, she felt like an adorned princess, with princes wanting to line up for her hand in marriage.
The feeling was short-lived. Two protests had organized at the school entrances, but they felt more like two festivals competing against each other. On the left side of the field, a cookout with staged dancers in meat costumes danced to entertain the audience. On the other side, hippies and grass root protesters sat on blankets cheering to a goth dressed girl's chants.
"Veggies now, veggies forever!" The hippies cheered with her. "Veggies now, veggies forever!"
A teenager in a red beret hat took up the mic on the 'meat' side of the field.
"What do we want?" The speaker yelled.
"Meat!" the crowd yelled.
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"
Ciara groaned, 'it's just a lunch menu, who cares!' Ciara ignored the causes and decided to walk to the closest food stand to buy a hot dog. 'I hope this doesn't make me endorse anything.'
Just before she could take a bite out of her food, the hot dog floated out of her hand. All the food from her side of the field began rising up, amassing above a food truck and forming into a twenty foot beast with no particular form. The shadow covered across the schoolyard. It's eyes had fire puffing out from it's head. It's scream shook the ground, "It's lunch time!"
The protesters from both sides dispersed as the ghost boy flew up from the crowd. Ciara watched in awe as the phantom faced off against the twenty foot beast.
'At last.'
He kicked it, and the ground shook as the monster impacted the ground. It must've weighed hundreds of pounds but the phantom wasn't fazed by his own strength. The lunch lady punched back, and phantom went flying across the air but came back as though he were a flying comet.
Like a comet, the phantom's fist caused an explosion of food at the monster's center. Ciara eagerly called upon a spirit to accelerate her own speed. She moved close enough to see miniature monsters of meat form and surround the ghost boy.
Using a hard flying hook kick, the hero took out each of the meat minions with ease. His attack dispersed the monsters into piles of heap but they soon regenerated back to their original forms. The minions rushed to pick up phantom and carry him off.
Ciara realized she had underestimated the lunch lady's power. Her insanity was much more relentless today than it was yesterday. Ciara tapped her heels, commanding her spirit to accelerate her speed further. She'd never been so excited before. Collecting faeries was easy, but watching heroes and monsters fight was exciting. She couldn't help but cheer for the underdog just as she would during all the fairy tales she'd read.
Eventually, the phantom faced off with the lunch lady. He had a... Soup thermos in his hand.
"No! Soups not on today's menu!" The demented women yelled.
He retracted, "I'm changing the menu. Permanently." He whispered to himself, 'please work.' He pointed the thermos at her, "I hope I'm right!"
A bright energy released from the thermos. Tinker Tech. The energy grasped at the lunch lady and pulled her inside the container. She screamed as her body shrunk and drained into the container. Phantom smiled.
"Astounding," Ciara said revealing herself. "Where do you hail from, Phantom?"
"Phantom?" The boy asked. From a distance, they both saw two adults in jumpsuits walking closer to them. "Uh, I gotta go."
He disappeared. Ciara's eyes widened. 'How did he do that?' She even wondered if he had a faerie following him or not.
"Cape detected." The two adults looked down at Ciara. One man was robust, large, with thick arms and impressive shoulders. The women in blue had a toned figure, she had auburn hair with violet eyes. Beautifully young for her age. The mechanism in the man's hand spoke. "You would have to be some sort of moron, to not notice the cape, directly ahead."
"He's..." Ciara murmured, "invisible?"
"I'll get you yet, cape boy!" The large man pulled out a... Butterfly net, and began swinging at the air.
Ciara pointed away. "I think... He went invisible that way."
"We've got a runner!"
He ran, and his partner followed after him. Ciara shook her head, 'what was that about?' An orange haired teenager covered her face in shame behind them. "Sorry about that," the girl said. "Just... I'm trying, okay?"
"What?"
"Never mind." The girl turned around to walk way. She muttered to herself, 'back to square one.'
Ciara looked across at the abandoned schoolyard. Things had become a mess, but she was glad to finally see Phantom pushed into action. Amity Park had knights of it own and Ciara wasn't sure what part she played in. Regardless, the young princess was feeling more alive than she ever had before.
It seemed, that a new fairy tale was finally coming to life.
XXX
Ciara looked at the mirror that night. She thought about what Paulina had told her. Looks matter. They don't say who you are, they say how you want the world to see you.
Ciara looked down at her dress. One of her spirits tapped the ends of it to change the pattern scheme on it. The flowers became fires, dyed as black. The rest of her dress became gray, symbolizing the blur between life and death.
It touched at her eyes, making the color go from an emerald green to a deep cold blue. Her hair transformed into an aurora gold. The freckles on her face disappeared and her eyes and hair dimly lit off their prospective colors.
Ciara was born anew. Someone different. A reaper? A watcher? A spirit? A witch? Ciara wasn't sure. She was completely clueless as to whether to become Phantom's adversary or ally. Either way, the Phantom's tale was finally about to begin.
XXX
A/N: Read and review. Hope Ciara's power demonstration was alright, I consider myself unimaginative when it comes to Wormverse powers.