A/N: OMG! I am loving writing this right now! I really am, even when I'm not writing it I'm thinking "What can I do with this situation?" or "What's that going to lead to?"
I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it lol.
Over the next two weeks I had spent every single day trying to get Tweek to answer my question about the black orb... and he had refused to tell me every single time. He also continued to tell us that Craig was not dead, becoming more and more insistent, to the point where Butters -the most gullible of our group- had actually began to believe him.
But I didn't have time to worry about that, I just had my mind set on finding out what caused Craig's death, my brain was constantly coming up with new theories. I had always been in to solving puzzles and mysteries, and at that moment Craig's death was the biggest mystery of them all. I mean, how did he know he was going to die? I refused to accept that this was just a case of his body rejecting the change, there was definitely something more complicated than that going on and I was going to get to the bottom of it. Starting with whatever that thing was inside Craig.
Since Tweek was adamant not to give away any information then I was going to have to ask an adult vamp. I considered going to see principal Victoria but then this sudden feeling hit me. I felt like I just couldn't trust her... I don't know, there was just something not quite right about her. So I decided to ask my archery teacher, Professor Arrow. I was going to wait until after class and stay behind to talk to him. Professor Arrow was a tall male vampire with short, thick, dark hair and warm chocolate brown eyes, his markings were two arrows, one on either side of his face. In a weird way he was like the older version of Craig, except he wasn't as impassive, but the fact that he reminded me so much of my friend just made him more like someone I could confide in.
"Ok class, can you please put away your bows and arrows safely and then you may go to lunch" he instructed. I was about to chicken out and just leave when he added "Kyle Broflovski, I'd like a word with you." It was so odd, that tone he used, it sounded exactly like Craig and I instantly relaxed and felt a lot less worried about what I was going to ask.
"What is it professor?" I asked anxiously, turning and walking back towards him as the others made their way off the sports field.
"You have a natural talent for archery Kyle" he stated.
"Well thanks but I-"
"However lately it has been going to waste, you aren't focusing" he interrupted concernedly. "Why are you so distracted?"
"I... I just..." I paused, gathering my courage. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course" he smiled reassuringly. "That's what us professors are here for."
"Have you ever come across like... how do I describe it... a black ball of smoke?" I asked, suddenly realising how random and out of the blue my question sounded. "I mean it's like an orb, an orb that makes everyone else around it feel lonely."
"Are you referring to an orb of isolation?" he questioned with a slightly confused look.
"I think so" I answered. "I was just wondering what they do... how they work."
"Kyle, you must understand that this is something far more advanced than the level you're studying at" he warned.
"I know" I nodded. "But I think saw one the other day and I'm just curious about what it does."
"You saw one?" he asked, looking bewildered.
"Yeah" I answered feeling slightly confused.
"But orbs of isolation are illegal in the vamp world, anyone who creates one would usually be sentenced to death" he stated.
"So they aren't just there, someone does have to be behind it?"
"Yes, they were originally made to be used as weapons should the humans ever try to rise against us. However, the way they work is so inhumane that they were destroyed and laws were put in place." He paused to try and think of how to phrase his next sentence, starting to pace slowly. "See once the orb gets inside someone's body, it... attaches itself to the person, vamp or fledgling's brain and uses their own insecurities against them. After a while it starts to feed them negative thoughts."
My brain flashed back to when Craig was fighting to get his body back, to when he said "Everyone hates me".That must have been the orb talking.
I pull away from my thoughts and back into the conversation "So what does it do after that?" I enquired.
"Well it keeps on sending negative emotions and thoughts to the brain until the victim begins to believe them and distances themself from everyone. The very soul of the victim begins to weaken, making it easy for the orb to take control of the body. But that's not the end of it, after a while it causes the soul to actually detatch itself from the body, the body becomes an empty shell" he explains.
"But it can't just stay that way...can it?"
Professor Arrow shook his head "No it can't, usually an orb of isolation is used to get rid of the soul... so that another thing can replace it... something much, much worse."
"Like what?" I asked curiously.
"Dark spirits, demons... anything that needs a method of transport to walk amongst the living" he answered.
A shiver crawled up my spine "Oh, well, ok" I said awkwardly. "I'll just be going to lunch now then." The professor nodded and I began to walk away, letting my brain mull over the information that I'd just heard. So if that was inside Craig... then who created it. More importantly.. why Craig? Because i-
"Are you sure you're ok Kyle?" Professor Arrow called before I had a chance to leave the field.
I turned to face him again "Yeah" I answered. "Why?"
"Oh I don't know" he stated. "It's just, you seem to be a bit lost lately, you're just sort of drifting around everywhere with your head in the clouds."
"I'm fi-" Wait a minute... "I'm sorry, could you repeat what you just said?"
"Uh, you seem a bit lost?" he answered, looking incredibly confused.
"No, the last part."
"You've had your head in the clouds?"
"No, before that."
He thought about it for a second "Oh... um... you're just sort of drifting around."
Drifting, drifting, drifting... why did that sound so familiar to me?
Then the answer hit me so hard that it caused me to gasp, the memory of Nyx's voice from the day I was marked echoed through my brain "You are not dead my child, you are simply...drifting."
"OH MY GODDESS! TWEEK WAS RIGHT! HE'S NOT DEAD! CRAIG'S NOT DEAD! OM -FUCKING- G!" I cried out happily. "Craig's not dead, he's simply drifting" I mumbled my epiphany to myself in a complete state of shock. I had to get to Tweek, I had to go tell him that he was right. "Thanks Professor Arrow, I gotta' go" I called, sprinting out of the room before the adult vamp could even think of a reply.
I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, speeding past the rest of the fledglings as they stared at me like I was some sort of lunatic. Unfortunately, due to my speed I collided with another fledgling, who was running just as fast as me. We both tumbled to the ground, before slowly picking ourselves back up again, unfased by the fall due to our quick recovery powers. When I lifted my head I came face to face with an extremely worried looking Wendy.
"'OhmygoddessCraig'" I babbled at the speed of light. Unfortunately Wendy was also trying to speak to me at the same time. "It'sjustIneedtotellhimhe'srightandIwantedtohelphimge-"
"KYLE!" Wendy shouted. "Tweek left."
"What?" I asked dumbly.
"He went to Stark's Pond" she explained. "He said that he was going to find Craig using his affinity and prove to us that he's right."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute" I replied. "Tweek is going to summon spirits out there?" I asked, pointing at the wall that surrounded the school.
"Yeah" Wendy nodded slowly.
"Out there, where it isn't just fledgling ghosts but also human ghosts and possibly a crap load of evil spirits that could severely hurt him for no reason?" I questioned, starting to panic.
"Yeah?" Wendy answered.
"SHIT!" I yelled. "Ok get backup and meet me at Stark's Pond" I instructed. Wendy nodded and I turned to sprint in the opposite direction.
I hope to Nyx that I can get to Tweek in time.
A/N: I tell you what, if that orb of isolation idea has already used I'm gonna die because I thought that was pretty original for me lol.
Stay tuned for the next chapter because it's going to be explosive, quite literally *evil grin*.
