I'm very, very, very sorry for the length of this chapter, and the sheer amount of dialog included. XD
Also, I know Krumpus is actually spelled Krampus…but I got really attached to the version with the U instead of the A XD Like I tried to go through the fic and fix it, but I just couldn't XD I'm sorry XD
-Saturday evening. The library-
Casper stared at the mysterious letter. He still hadn't received any other letters like it. The letter had a purple seal with a ram imprinted in it, and a lavender flower under the wax. He couldn't think of anyone who would use a ram symbol, or would make such a fancy letter. The necklace was quite pretty though, so he decided to ware it. Mantha had warned him not to, but at this point he decided to risk it. Maybe all of this was a riddle?
"Ok, ok, what could the symbolism be?" the ghost mused.
Lavender, it symbolized…focus? Or maybe it meant peace. Sleep?
And the ram, well he just wasn't sure. It could mean a whole plethora of things. Strength, a zodiac? (computer memory.)
Just then, he heard Sibella and Thatch's chuckling. He turned invisible on reflex. The two vampires walked past where he was sitting and headed further into the library. He would have felt depressed if not for his attention being on something else.
The necklace. It was glowing.
It glowed a bright pinkish purple. He went visible again from a rush excitement and shock. The gem stopped glowing once he did. He tilted his head and raised a brow.
"I wonder…" he muttered to himself.
He turned invisible again. It glowed again.
He then looked down at the letter on the table.
"Maybe..." Casper, still inviable, held the glowing gem over the paper.
Purple metallic letters started burning into the paper. He grinned excitedly as he ran the gem across the paper, burning a paragraph into the paper. He didn't want to risk the paper changing back, so he stayed invisible as he read it.
"Deer, Grandson
I know it's been such a long time since we've last seen each other, I doubt you even remember me, you were just a wee fawn. I'm sorry I haven't contacted you sooner, I had lost track of you and your parents a long time ago. It has been so long, I didn't think to look for a child, I had assumed you'd be grown by now. But, you can tell me as to why that is later. Now that I've located you, I invite you to my home for tea and conversation. Do you like tea? I have hot broth and hot chocolate as well. I am home most evenings. Below are the instructions to my home. I hope to see you soon, Casper.
With curiosity, your Grandfather, Krumpus Winterbane."
Casper blinked. "Krumpus Winterbane?" Wasn't Krumpus a German Christmas demon the dragged bad kids to hell? His grandfather shared the name of a Christmas demon…? How bizarre…
Furthermore, he had a living grandfather? The ghost definitely wanted to see if all of this was true, but to do that, he'd have to visit is supposed grandfather. He quickly ran the gem over the rest of the papers, burning the instructions onto the page.
He raised a brow.
Casper, Mantha, and Ra stood in front of the bathroom mirror of the boys' dorm.
"I still don't like this plan." Mantha muttered, leaning on the door.
"Yeah, what if he's just a creepy old man?" Ra added.
"That's why I'm having you two on standby, in case something goes wrong." Casper smiled.
"Now, let's start this." He pulled out the instructions, and began ice drawling on the mirror, using his index finger like a pen. He first made a big oval, then a smaller oval inside of it, like a frame. Inside the frame, he drew markings from the instructions. Then, in the very middle, he drew a large complex symbol that looked like the head of a ram.
"Ok, now the final step. Let's see if this works…" Casper muttered.
"This feels like we're trying to summon a demon…" Ra frowned.
The ghost shrugged and then did the final step. He ran his hands across the mirror, covering the whole thing in a sheet of ice. Nothing seemed to happen.
"Maybe you missed a step." Ra suggested, raising a finger.
"Or maybe this is some stupid prank by Thatch?" Mantha muttered with annoyance.
The ghost rolled his eyes. "Maybe it's touch activated?" He poked the mirror and became quite surprised as his hand went through it, sending a crystalline wave across the rest of the mirror, like throwing a stone into a puddle. He quickly pulled his hand out it.
"Ok, hand me the ribbon." The ghost smiled over his shoulder.
Ra held a large spool of ribbon, handing the end to Casper. The ghost tied it around his wrist.
"Alright, if you feel me tugging on it frantically, then I'm probably in danger, and you should go get Cap." the ghost stated seriously.
"Why Cap?" The mummy raised a brow.
"Because I know Alder and Dash wouldn't be any help."
Mantha crossed her arms and walked over. "I still don't like you going in there alone…" she frowned.
"It could be my grandfather in there, and I want to find out. But until I know it's safe, you two are staying here."
Casper turned back to the Icey portal. He took a deep breath.
"Alright, here I go." He paused for a moment before flying over the countertop, and into the portal.
The portal had been cold, and it seemed rather thick. It felt like walking through ice filled jelly at first. But just after a few seconds, he walked out of it, and into a warm breeze.
He stepped out of the icy doorway and into a field of heather and lavender, the sky was dark purple from the last stages of a sunset, stars were just starting to twinkle. He looked to his right and saw the area was at a rather high altitude; he was at the same height as a close mountain range. Past the flowers was the cliff edge, which looked out at the mountains. Behind the portal was a dense pine forest, the breeze shaking the branches gently. Directly in front of him, a few yards away were a couple of yurts. The largest one in the center had a chimney, and smoke was coming out of it, signaling somebody was likely home.
"Well, that must be his house…" Casper took another deep breath and walked forward. Despite the unfamiliar territory, he felt bizarrely calm. His common sense told him he should stay alert, but the area was so pretty and peaceful. It was like an enchanted meadow from a storybook. He'd say that it looked like a fairy meadow, but he supposed that would be stereotyping fairies. Fairies were individuals, surely some of them were goth and liked skulls rather than flowers.
He approached the front door of the main yurt, and knocked. Well, when I say knock, it was more of a tap. He was nervous and couldn't force himself to knock any louder than that.
"I really doubt he heard that."
The ghost whipped around in alarm, seeing Mantha behind him.
"Mantha! You shouldn't be here; it could be dangerous!" He hissed in a worried panic.
"Since when do I shy from danger?! Besides, I couldn't let you go alone!" She snapped sternly.
"Which is why I'm here too!"
Mantha whipped her attention behind herself, seeing Ra.
"He's here too?!" the ghost groaned.
"Well, I couldn't just stay back and watch you two go into danger! What kind of friend would I be? The mummy exclaimed.
"You were supposed to wait back in the bathroom incase things went wrong!" the zombie girl hissed. "Now who's gonna get help if we need it?" she crossed her arms.
"Well…ok, true, but with three of us, one of us would make it back to the portal!" Ra reasoned.
"What if we all get in trouble?!" Mantha exclaimed angrily, raising her hands in the air.
"Then we'll get out of it." Ra responded simply.
Casper gripped the brim of his nose in slight frustration, watching his friends bicker.
Just then the door handle turned, and the three froze, becoming dead silent. (puns, ha!...cause they are all sort of dead…yeah..)
The door opened inwards and they stared at the man before them.
Well, not really a man per say.
Hunched over was a creature with long black fur, and the hind legs of a goat. Though the creature was bipedal, Casper suspected it could run on all fours if it chose to. The creature wore a long, deep purple, Russian styled coat, with lavender fur around the neck and sleeve ends, a thick, black belt holding it closed. The coat was so long it almost reached the ground. (you know what I'm talking about, right?)
And then there was the creatures face. It was a ram skull, the eyes appeared empty aside from a bright glowing purple dot inside them. It's ram like horns with a pinkish, purple color, and were crystalline. They reminded Casper of his necklace.
The three teens looked up at the creature with fear.
"Can I help you?" The creature asked with a dark, but gentle male voice.
"Uh…" The ghost stared for a moment before scrambling to pull the letter out of his pocket.
"Are, you, uh, Krumpus Winterbane?"
The creature stared a moment before smiling delightedly, or at least Casper was pretty sure it was a smile…
"You must be Casper, it's been so long! I bet you don't even remember me." Krumpus chuckled.
The ghost smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, but no, I don't. This letter say's you are my grandfather..."
"Yes, I'm your mothers father. It might be hard to tell though; she didn't inherit much of my looks…" the ram chuckled again. "You certainly inherited her's though! You have a soft face like she does."
"Ahem." Mantha coughed nervously.
Krumpus turned his attention to the zombie and mummy.
"I expected you would bring guests, though I figured it would have been your uncles. Are these two your friends?"
"Oh, uh, yes. She's Mantha, and he's Ra."
"Ra? Named after the sun god, I see. I think I met him once…or was that Thoth…" Krumpus looked off in thought for a moment. "But any who, do come inside. The mosquitos don't need the prey." The ram smiled and turned around, walking inside. A long, black, forked tail swishing across the tile floor, from under his coat.
The three exchanged a look and then went inside, Ra closing the door behind them.
The three friends were sat at a simple round table, Casper in the middle, Mantha to his left, and Ra to his right. They were in a very rustic styled kitchen, like hobbit hole, but with a tan colored scheme. Krumpus placed a wooden tray in the middle of the table, it was full of various different kinds of cookies.
"The ones with the purple flowers on top are lavender tea flavored, the shortbread ones have a raspberry filling, those ones there are chocolate and orange, these are blueberry oatmeal, and these blue and pink checkered ones are whimsy cookies. They are a staple among fae folk." The ram creature smiled.
"Now, what would you kids like to drink?" he turned away, and to the fridge behind him, opening it. "I have water, almond milk, moon milk, chocolate milk/hot cholate, broth, orange juice, various teas, and I believe I bought some pomegranate soda this week."
"Uh, what's moon milk?" Ra asked.
"It's a lot like horchata, but with cool flavors. It's a recipe made by Artemis, it was quite popular with werewolves during the Viking era." Krumpus explained with a smile.
"Oh...sounds good, but maybe I'll just try the soda, if that's ok." The mummy chuckled nervously, still rather intimated by Casper's grandfather.
"Same." Mantha added with a smile. She was still unsure of the ram monster, but he was being polite, so she would do the same.
"What about you, little one?" Krumpus looked back at his grandson.
"I'm not picky, whatever's easiest I guess." Casper muttered shyly.
"I see, you're a sheepish one. Well simple is no fun for your first visit, and hopefully not your last. How about some moon milk?" the grandfather smiled.
"Ok." The ghost smiled kindly.
There was a moment of silence.
"So…I see you are a phantom now. You were not when you were born, so that means one day you died…" Krumpus trailed off. "I am sorry I was not there for you that day…" he frowned, guilt and sorrow in his voice. "May I ask how it happened?"
Casper looked at his lap and fought to push the memories away.
"I don't wanna talk about it…" he answered quietly, a slight shiver to his voice.
"Understandable." Krumpus responded equally as quietly.
The zombie next to him snapped her attention to him.
"Y-you died? You weren't born like this?" Mantha raised a brow in shock, her expression worried.
"Yes…I once had a really horrible, no good, awful day." The ghost mumbled, looking at the table.
Mantha wasn't sure what to say. "Oh…well…that's…awful." The zombie girl muttered sadly.
"Maybe this is rude but I gotta ask…what's it like to die? I was born a mummy, so I don't know." Ra
Casper sighed sadly, still staring at the table.
"I once told a friend it's like dying backwards. Instead of being pushed out, you get pulled into something…or rather, it's like you fall into something. You fade away and fall somewhere, and then you wake up, like it had just been a weird nap. But then you realize what happened when you see that your body is still where you first fell asleep…" The ghost explained in a mutter.
"Wow…that's…well that's…I don't have a good response for this." Ra frowned.
"I wonder, why do some people come back as ghosts, and some don't?" Mantha asked aloud.
"Well that depends." Krumpus spoke up. "Ghost is a very vague term used to describe a plethora of creatures and states of being. In Casper's case, he's a phantom. First generation phantoms have a special gene that activates upon 'death' of the body, mutating the body to be 'ghost like', as well as other abilities, usually related to how they passed. This is how most of the ghost's in the Ghostzone are. This is why phantoms can have children, and age. Technically, this makes them alive and not actually undead or dead. But then again, I suppose that depends on the definitions you are using." The ram placed wooden cups in front of the three kids, filled with their drinks of choice. He also had a cup, it was filled with tea.
The zombie blinked. "Oh…" she muttered.
"But any who, enough about that." Krumpus sat down in a chair across from them. "I suppose you have questions about me, dear grandson."
"…Yeah, a lot actually. Firstly, I hope this doesn't sound rude, but what are you?"
"My kind have many names, which is frankly quite annoying. Some call us Nether Beasts, or Spirit Beasts, or God Beasts from the ignorant and rude. I personally prefer the more plane term of Spirit." Krumpus explained.
Ra's mouth dropped open.
"Wait, you're a nether beast? God Beasts? Are you a god?" he asked with shock.
Krumpus burst into laughter.
"I am no god. And you likely give too much credit to them anyways. God's are far less 'all mighty' than you think. They are very powerful, yes, but they are still very much people."
"Oh…" the mummy mumbled.
"So…are you the actual Christmas demon in German mythology?" Casper asked awkwardly. "…The one said to drag bad kids to hell?" he asked quietly, a worried tone in his voice.
His grandfather laughed again.
"I am the very same winter demon, but I do not drag kids to hell. What would be the point in that? I'd have to kill them to do that, and to an immortal that just doesn't matter. I can go to the realm of the dead anytime I wish, so they might as well still be alive. And Hell isn't even bad anyways, it's just the city of demons, dead souls don't actually go there unless they have a pact with a demon, and even then, pacts only last so long. I'm sorry, am I rambling?" Krumpus frowned, he had a tendency to get off track.
"A little bit…But, how did you get your reputation if you don't drag away bad kids." Casper asked with a curious head tilt.
"I give bad kids, nightmares. Very bad nightmares. So I'd imagine they think it like being dragged into hell."
"Why though? Why do that to kids?" The ghost asked in concern.
"I give them nightmares that show the path they are currently on. The trouble their own bad attitudes will eventually cause them. I do this as a warning, so they might become better people, and save themselves in doing so." Krumpus explained, taking a long sip of his drink. "Also, I simply don't tolerate rudeness." He continued matter-a-factly.
"I can think of a few kids at our school who could use some of that." Ra joked.
"Yeah, Thatch at the top of the list." Mantha smirked, crossing her arms.
Casper frowned.
"Oh come on he's not that bad." he frowned at her.
"Yeah he is." She retorted simply.
"No, he's not." He turned his attention to his grandfather. "Please don't give him bad nightmares." he asked with a slight bit of panic.
"I won't, and I couldn't anyways. I can't go inside of Maine." The ram responded bluntly.
Ra raised a brow. "Why not?" he tilted his head.
The grandfather's face darkened, his boney muzzle forming a frown.
"That tyrant, Kibosh. He has the Cleptor, I can't risk him stealing my powers. The last thing he needs is the ability to go into people's dreams…" Krumpus trailed off with a dark tone.
There was a moment of silence. Casper frowned into his cup as he took a drink. It always comes back to Kibosh, doesn't it?
The ghost decided to break the silence;
"…I have another question, if you don't mind…"
"Of course not! what is it?" the grandfather smiled, taking a cookie from the tray and eating it.
"Why are you only now contacting me?" Casper tilted his head curiously.
There was a pause as Krumpus finished his cookie, but then he took a serious tone as he answered.
"When you were a baby, you didn't live in Maine. You lived in the countryside of New York. But one day when I went to visit you and your parents, you were all gone. They had taken you and left without any note or sign as to where they went. I suspect it had something to do with your father's side of the family… the…family business as it were." He trailed off, taking a sip of his tea.
"The mafia stuff, I know, my uncles told me." Casper nodded.
Ra turned and looked at the ghost, his expression dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry what?"
"I'll tell you later." Casper waved it off.
"I didn't know where to look, I had no idea where you had gone. I have been looking ever since, but I did not find you until recently." Krumpus finished.
Mantha raised a brow. "How'd you find him?"
"I have my ways..." The ram responded vaguely.
Mantha tilted her head and gave the spirit a suspicious look. Casper ate a cookie, trying to ignore the "I know how" feeling in the back of his head.
Then, Ra chirped up;
"So…is Casper like you? Is he a spirit beast, thingy?"
There was a long pause. Casper felt very nervous all the sudden.
"Perhaps…perhaps not." The spirit said quietly, giving Casper a knowing stare that Mantha and Ra couldn't see.
The three left back through the portal, waving goodbye to Krumpus as they did. The ram waved back and smiled. As they tumbled over the counter and into the bathroom, the ice portal shattered behind them, leaving thin sheets of ice on the floor. Casper taking great care not to smash the tin box in his arms.
"It was very nice of him to send us home with cookies." Ra chirped up, looking at the tin that the ghost was holding.
"It was!" Casper beamed.
"I think I know who you get your friendliness from." Mantha chuckled.
Casper laughed.
Alder and Dash sat at their desk, nervously twitching and blinking. Kibosh stood a few feet away, looking out one of the windows. They were currently in a room that used to be an unused dorm, but has been since converted into an office. Since, well, their office was nothing more than ash and melted metal now. The incident had been very worrisome, so they had reported it to the King.
"I read your report. I do not know what this creature is, but I have the supplies and plan to deal with it. I will leave special gargoyles and my assistant Snivel to oversee the operation." Kibosh turned around to look at the headmasters, his face serious as always.
"We shall catch this creature and deal with it accordingly."