Ghost And The Writer

***

If Ian had to describe himself, he would probably tell that he was a regular run of the mill policeman newbie. Second year on the duty and relying on his partner, Flinn, for guidance.

In fact, he had chosen to be a policeman exactly because he looked up to this very same partner. Not having a father nor siblings, he had ended up growing attached to his mostly busy yet frank neighbor and saw something akin to a older brother or even father in him, but that wasn't something he would ever openly admit, even if that very same neighbor had long since noticed and didn't particularly mind either.

They had a better relationship than most father-son pairs did despite having no blood relations and Ian had long since made a load of policemen acquaintances due to fishing and hunting trips Flinn had taken him along to. So joining the force was the obvious choice, Ian had always been muscle over brains type and he naturally fit in.

If there was anything Ian could take pride in, then it was his own health - he didn't even remember having ever caught a cold and any injuries he got, healed almost overnight. That wasn't the case for his mother, who was always out seeking for her next big love - she was on the frail side, so Ian had long since gotten used to being the one taking care of the house and her, by extension. Luckily, a couple of years ago his mother had successfully found her big love and now her husband took care of her. Ian, being an a.d.u.l.t already, neither had the chance nor d.e.s.i.r.e to develop a fatherly bond with his mom's husband.

Despite his youth, Ian didn't have any huge 'I will change the world' type goals, rather than that - his idea was making his own surroundings just a tiny bit better each day. He shared smiles easily, cleaned up behind himself and others and gladly helped out those who needed assistance. He took pride in his role as a policeman. Due to that, his duties were focused around dealing with people, usually nothing too major or important.

The rosewater serial murders were way above his league.

It was a simple case of bad timing that he was dealing with something one floor under the murder incident as an old lady screamed above, discovering her dead husband. Being on the spot, the two policemen - Ian and his partner - handled the location till more forces arrived and once Ian was free to head down, he used the chance to discreetly go and empty his stomach contents in a trash can.

There was something he couldn't describe about the scene. It was not his first time seeing a corpse, and the corpse wasn't even quarter as bad as the worst he had seen, but nothing had filled him with as much dread, fear, and disgust as this one and he couldn't tell why at all. Something was inherently wrong with it, inducing a primeval sense of dread and fear of unknown and none of the corpses had ever done that to Ian's senses.

So the words August had uttered shook him up far more than they should. He shared the voice recording with Flinn, yet that was as far as he got. The case was immediately passed on to a different department and he was both thanked and advised to not peer deeper into it. Flinn agreed with that notion. If not for the copy Ian had made, he wouldn't have any data on his hands at all.

Ian standing in front of August's door was not something he felt he should be doing. Rather, he had a strong feeling he was messing around with the work of some colleagues whose faces he did not know.

But he couldn't help it.

There was something completely and utterly wrong with that dead man and since he couldn't get to anything on his own, August Galord was the only person who might know something Ian needed to face. It was not about his duty, nor was it out of some sense of heroism, Ian needed to understand what was going on so he could move on.

...

August didn't recognize the man standing in front of the door. Ian not being in his policeman uniform didn't help there. August hadn't paid that much attention to the policeman's appearance, to begin with, so he might have failed to recognize him even if the uniform was present.

Ian hesitated, almost as if lost for words.

"Who?" August repeated with a suspicious look.

Yep, August totally didn't recognize him, Mandy made a faint not to herself. A trace of worry passed her face, though - she didn't think the man had left anything behind.

Ian made a troubled smile. "I'm the policeman who came a few days back."

'And?' August's eyes seemed to ask.

"Do you happen to know anything about the mysterious deaths in this neighborhood?" He asked.

Mandy had a bad feeling from that question. Would a policeman go around asking something like that without his uniform on?

August rolled his eyes and aimed to close the door, but Ian used his foot to stop the door from closing. He took out his phone and played the words August had said. "self-taught... this might be fourth or fifth victim, though...No, I just happen to know this particular one pretty well. … This will stay an unsolved case. I mean, to normies the only clues are the rose scent in the room and corpses that seem like they have been drowned with no water nearby."

Oh dear, this did not look good at all… that recording made August a prime suspect, didn't it? Mandy clutched her fingers.

August clicked his tongue, rather than seeming worried, he seemed annoyed. "Do you have a warrant?"

The policeman ignored the question. "How do you know all that?"

Mandy felt August's reaction was kind of odd. Why wasn't he worried?

August rolled his eyes again and opened the door, stepping aside.

Yet as soon as the policeman stepped in, August touched his cheek, something black sinking into the man's skin. The policeman's eyes seemed to glaze over.

Wow. Mandy's eyes widened, what sort of sorcery was this??? Like hell August could complain about being confused with a wizard or warlock or what have you!? And he was casting magic on a policeman no less-- GOD!

"Calm down and lea--" August started saying, not agitated despite the situation he was in, yet his words stopped and he stepped back in surprise.

Ian's eyes regained their clarity and he touched his own cheek. "What did you--" Ian's eyes stopped on Mandy and he started opening his mouth to scream.

August kicked the policeman's shin. That did prevent the scream from forming as Ian bit his tongue, yet August seemed more hurt than the policeman, his eyes tearing up in an instant.

"Telekinesis. Shut his mouth!" August called out to Mandy.

Mandy panicked but did as asked. Shutting the policeman's lips and blasting him to the wall by the door, pinning him there.

The policeman was in terror, trying to break loose, but to no avail.

"Wha-Wha-what is going on?" Mandy cast a bewildered look at August.

"I'm in pain," August said, crouching down to his poor foot. "His shin is rock hard."

Mandy let out a breath. "Not that…" Mandy tried to retort although August's words did make her relax.

"That's a normal reaction to seeing a ghost," August staggered up and went to pull the door shut.

"No, why, how-- he…" This was plain confusing. "What did you do?"

"Tried to use a simple suggestion spell to have him leave," August limped to the room, transformed his book into a suitcase and got a few pieces of paper and drew various symbols on them.

Ian stared at the sight with wide eyes, his terror slowly being replaced by wonder.

Spell? Mandy wished to retort, or more like - ask because August hadn't said he could do something like that. Although, fine, Mandy felt like just giving up and learning things on the go. Being surprised all the time was tiring.

"Turns out this dude has some astral blood in him. My spell ended up awakening his perception," August came back to the policeman, who had already given up on struggling.

Mandy pursed her lips. "Will he be fine?" She meant Ian.

August stuck the pieces of paper on the walls. "Would have happened sooner or later. Police has plenty of run-ins with astrals."

Mandy nodded, glancing over at the man by the wall.

August finished placing the charms. "Okay, you can let him use his mouth now."

Mandy moved her power away from the guy's mouth.

The policeman looked from August to Mandy, then back to August. "What is going on?"

"In short, ghosts and other as-- I guess you'd call them monsters, witches and what have you exist. Congratulations - you can now see them all and can never unsee!" August said with fake cheer.

That's… very concise. Mandy squinted at August.

The policeman opened his mouth but closed it. "Did you drug me?"

"No, but if you aim to act civil you can go back to wherever and get your bloodwork done or something," August's fake cheer was gone, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Mister…" Mandy spoke up.

"Ian is fine," the handsome man let out a sigh. "Miss…"

"Mandy," the ghost said.

"Miss Mandy, can you please let me down?" He asked.

August backed off and went to stand behind Mandy like a cautious maiden.

Mandy squinted at August, her lips forming a straight line.

"You are stronger than me in this body," August said at the ghost. "There's no way I'll be fine if he kicks me back. I can't use healing magic or potions. If my leg breaks, I'll be stuck in bed for a month like a normal person."

Ian looked at the scene in amazement. The conversation especially.

"Why can't you use them?" Mandy asked. More than being surprised about such potions being real, she inquired at that part. Wasn't that rather dangerous?

August sighed, not seeming happy about the timing of the question, but replied. "What usually happens in fiction if you throw healing potions at vampires and the like?"

Mandy thought for a moment, recalling healing spells cast at undead. "They get wounded?"

"I'll just get poisoned," August filled in.

Having August hiding behind her like that, Mandy felt strong, which was a fresh feeling, but this situation also felt disappointing in too many ways. Mandy cast a troubled look at Ian.

"I won't kick him, I promise," Ian said. It wasn't like his shin hurt all that much, it was more of a surprise that had him react earlier than the amount of pain.

"Alright then," Mandy said and gradually released her ability to have Ian slide down to his feet.

"Thank you," Ian said and stepped closer to the door.

Seeing his move, Mandy felt like giving a warning, not expecting August to. "Ah, um - if you go outside, you will see monsters and - don't look them in the eyes, they sometimes have eyes on their feet too, you might be in trouble if you cross eyes with them," Mandy said.

"Wait," August said towards Ian and went back into the room to rummage through his suitcase. He looked annoyed.

Ian waited, looking dazed. He had slowly nodded at what Mandy had said, but nothing more.

August returned with glasses and passed them to Mandy. Clearly not trusting that the man won't kick him.

Mandy figured she needed to pass them over so she floated them to Ian, although her eyes stayed on August, a question mark in them.

"You won't see astrals with those on. If you cross eyes with the wrong thing you will be dead," August said, ignoring Mandy's look.

"Hey-- I didn't know there was something like that…" Mandy peered at August with a pout. If she had something like this there would be no problems with chasing or anything!

"It's not like you can use them anyways," August said.

Well, true, if she did then August would have a flying pair of glasses following him…

Ian took the glasses and looked through them, then put them down, then raised them up - Mandy disappeared as he did that, also, the charms of the walls that August had put up also disappeared through the glass.

"I'm not really drugged, am I?" Ian asked.

"Unless you took some before coming here, you are not," August said.

Ian nodded slowly.

"Speaking of that recording," August started, a look of having given up present on his face. "You should go see the corpse of that man in the morgue. He was hexed. Not that seeing his true state will help the police solve the case, though," August added.

"You know who did that?" Ian asked.

"It was some light mage, probably a child, self-taught, the hex is overdone and messy, but there's some logic in it, so probably not the first or second try," August said. "My guess is fourth or fifth try."

Ian nodded, his gestures slow. "Fourth."

"Do you mind erasing that recording of yours?" August asked.

"...that won't help you. The original is in the database and I have no authority to touch that."

August rubbed his temple. "That one is already filed away most likely," he said. "And I will be made to work for free in exchange," August mumbled the last part with an absent gaze.

Mandy had a feeling this wasn't the first time this had happened.

A conflicted look appeared on Ian's face. "...I will erase it in exchange for some information," Ian said then.

August rolled his eyes. 'This is a pain' was written all over his features, yet there was some resignation there as well. "Wait a bit then," August said and headed back in the room to get dressed and pack away his suitcase again, placing it in his pocket this time.

Mandy looked over at August and felt a small trace of excitement. They would be going somewhere unusual - that was the feeling she had.

"Miss Mandy, were you here when he broke those dishes?" Ian asked, child like look of curiosity present.

"Yes," Mandy replied. She had a feeling Ian was having a bad misunderstanding, though. But that said, she recalled him asking the same thing when he was here previously. "August was acting out a scene from a book he is writing, he often acts out various things."

"Is he a published author?" Ian asked.

"Mhm, he writes under August Gold," Mandy said. A look of 'oops' appeared next, though… was that fine to say?

"Put on those glasses," August said as he returned to the corridor and was putting on his shoes.

Ian did as asked and stepped away from the door. He twitched his nose a little clearly not all that used to having anything on his nose.

August took out his phone and took a look at Ian through the camera lens.

Mandy glanced over at the screen and there seemed to be no difference between Ian in reality and Ian on the screen.

"Actually take off the glasses for a bit," August said, walking closer to Ian.

Ian raised the glasses up and showed an awkward expression seeing August being really close, too close at that.

Mandy's mind flew into the gutter-- August was close enough to steal a kiss if he wanted. God, No, why was she thinking about this… feeling like she was watching something inappropriate Mandy's hands went up to hide her eyes, but rather than actually avoiding to look, Mandy opened her fingers to peek through.

"Umm," Ian asked, glancing towards Mandy made his expression turn even more awkward.

"I see," August said and stepped back, not paying attention to Ian's awkwardness.

Mandy quickly put her hands down. "What is it?"

"He's a third generation Untral," August replied.

The awkward smile faded from Ian's features. "What does that mean?"

Untral… Mandy searched in her own memory. Sarah! Sarah is one! Someone who has gone to Ahea and back. Ian being third generation - grandchild?

August opened the door to head out as he answered. "It means you have a very powerful grandparent. And your natural lifespan is probably around a hundred and fifty. Broken bones heal overnight and unless your head is cut off or heart is torn out of your c.h.e.s.t, they will heal on their own. You've probably never even had a cold."

Ian followed after August, staring at him in surprise. 'How did you know?' was almost written on his face.

Right. Sarah said she would live till three hundred "Would Sarah's kid live till two hundred?" Mandy made a guess.

The ghost spoke before Ian could ask, but rather than interrupting, he chose to listen to the two.

"Two hundred fifty, if she ends up with a human," August replied.

It seemed like the drop was steeper as bloodline diluted. Ends up with a human hinted that there were other things to end up with. "What if she marries a ghost?" Mandy asked as she locked the door.

"Three hundred," August said as he walked down. "The mortal parent sets the lifespan of mixes with Ureal astrals."

Ureal astrals were… uh… she was one, that's for sure, at least. "What if she marries a dragon?" Mandy asked next. August had dated one, so… that ought to be possible, right?

August snorted. "There is no way in hell she'd get along with dragons!"

Ian walked behind the two, catching a glimpse of Mandy only with his peripherals on top and bottom of his glasses, he did hear the two of them normally, though. His eyes were still full of wonder.

"Okay, what if you married one?" Mandy changed her question.

"So that's what you meant to ask," a trace of recognition passed his eyes. "With contras (in other words, mythical or magical beasts with language comprehension) it depends on the situation. If the dragon is a familiar then half-breeds would have human lifespans and appearances. If the dragon is a male and uses astralea flower to take on human form, then a half-breed would live up to half millennia but have physical dragon traits. If a dragon is a female and uses astralea flower then a completely regular dragon would be born with perfect ability to shape-shift from birth, though. Other cases are individual and hard to predict - in other words - I don't really know what would happen if I had a child with a dragon."

Mandy made faint nods as she listened, not interrupting. That did answer her question more or less. Her initial guess that other options were possible was spot on. Oh, she realized that she had gotten carried away with her questions not minding Ian's presence.

Ian showed an amazed expression as he kept up with the two.

"Ian, do you have an unusual parent or grandparent?" August asked, shifting the topic.

Ian flinched. "I only have a mother and she's normal, she caught colds like other people around and her bruises healed slowly."

It sounded like Ian had never caught a cold for real… Mandy could only be amazed. Not that colds were an issue for the current her.

"I see," August said, nodding to himself.

"Mind sharing what you see?" Mandy asked, peering at August. It was clear that otherwise August would just conclude something to himself and leave them hanging.

"I was wondering if his family just wanted to fade out. Although in that case he would be a rebel just for joining police. Then he would only need to call up his grandparent or parent, make up with them and get training and direction," August said so casually as if something like that was a normal occurrence.

Mandy made a wry smile. That's a whole novel premise there, but not a novel August would write.

Ian had a troubled smile as well.

"But it looks like the guild is his best bet," August added with a sigh.

"Guild?" Mandy's eyes sparkled. Mandy couldn't help but imagine something akin to 'adventurer's guild' in fantasy novels. A place where all kinds of strong people found work and exchanged information. Of course, she was excited to go there!

"Guild?" Ian had also asked, his voice overlapping with Mandy's.

"Yeah." August scratched his head. 'It's a pain' was written over his face. Different to Mandy's shiny eyes, his were close to despairing. "All guild members have a duty to bring people who gain sight to the guild for training."

Mandy had a feeling Tia had mentioned something like that. She suddenly felt a pang of envy towards Ian. "Lucky…"

A question mark was written on Ian's face about it, especially Mandy's muttering. "What kind of training?"

"Evening lectures like in any university," August said. "So you can keep living like a normal human. If you don't want to get involved with guild more than that I'd recommend hiding what you are, though. Even quarter untrals are uncannily popular, you will be approached with ulterior motives."

Ian cast a longer look at August, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "Thank you," he said.

Mandy watched that smile, a narration in her head went. 'And then Ian realized that this crazy coward who was hiding behind a small girl was actually a kind person and this gap caused his heart to warm towards…' God, why? Mandy wanted to hit her head on the wall.

"If you feel thankful, erase that recording," August said.

"Okay," Ian said and took out his phone to follow up on the promise.

Phew. At least August ruined the moment before Mandy's inner narrator made things any worse.

"What options do I have other than living like a 'normie'(?)," Ian asked with a casual air.

"They will tell you in detail," August said. "Just make sure you don't take off those glasses before you are sure of your choice, and step back if anyone gets too close."

Basically, avoid other people doing the same observation August had done, Mandy concluded.

"Something in my eyes gives me away?" Ian checked.

"Yeah, Untrals have a flower or star shape in their pupil if you look at them at a certain angle. At each generation flower loses a petal and a star - an edge. You have flowers with three petals in your eyes marking you as a quarter untral; first generation have five petals."

Mandy wanted to see… but getting close to Ian didn't seem like something she wanted to do. She did resolve herself to take a proper look at Sarah's eyes, though.

Ian nodded. "What is an Untral exactly?"

"They will tell you," August said. "What you need to know now is that they are superior humans and everyone is out for their genetic material, if you get what I mean."

"... okay," Ian had a conflicted expression.

Mandy felt like helping Ian out, but she didn't know how far they were from the guild and thus, if there was enough time to tell what she knew.

"What are you?" Ian asked then.

"Half-ghost," August said.

Ian opened his mouth, but closed it, then became thoughtful. Then opened his mouth again, then closed it. Such motions repeated for two more times before he finally asked. "What do you do other than writing books?"

All the while they were walking, crossing various alleys, soon hearing a hushed sound of music coming from nearby buildings.

"Exorcist work. They'll tell you in detail what that is and what they do," August said.

Mandy noticed Ian's gestures with a wry smile. Ah, she could relate. From what she could tell, though, other than his earlier question about the dishes Ian seemed to be a considerate type and thought his questions through before asking. August wasn't the best person to teach others, so Mandy felt an even bigger surge of envy come up at the thought that Ian would get to attend lectures and ask helpful professors about all these things.

August turned to head towards the source of the hushed music - a staircase leading down to a club called 'Magician's guild'.

Both Ian and Mandy stopped seeing the name of the place. What? But since August didn't stop to wait for them, the two had no choice but to follow him downstairs.

As August opened the door, a medieval wizardry themed club came to view. It didn't have a cheap look, more like a graduation work of some art student. Light diodes were hidden in moss and mushrooms, cauldrons with changing lights giving out steam and bubbling mysteriously. Nothing would strike you as 'real' magic, just well-made props in good taste. The place was full with people and baristas in s.e.xy witch outfits were mixing up c.o.c.ktails, pouring them in beakers and vials - bright colored, reminding of potions in fantasy games. The baristas themselves were also colorful - bright hair colors and animal ears and tails, yet rather than feeling fake they felt natural.

Ian squinted at the sight, looking dumbfounded, but seeing that August was walking deeper in, followed after him. Ian could see all the props, yet baristas apprered as attractive human girls in witch outfits to him.

Mandy didn't even ask about anything here for now, there was probably more to it… just like with the magic supply store. As her eyes trailed after August, she noticed that he was following a path of blue colored arrows with "Guild reception" written under them.

Ian slipped past the dancers, still confused, he felt odd seeing how August just casually entered a door with 'Staff' written over it.

To Mandy's eyes, rather than 'staff' there was 'Guild reception' written on the door.

Inside the room, there was a sofa where two 'witches' rested - both of them had naturally unnatural hair colors, mismatched eyes and rabbit ears. They were having tea. They didn't say anything about seeing August and Ian, but their eyes narrowed upon Mandy.

Not again… the ghost's face turned sour.

"She's fine," August said and went deeper in the room to open another door.

The 'witches' relaxed somewhat and resumed their conversation by the tea.

Ian, meanwhile was shocked at the wall opening like a door, but as he peered over the frames of his glasses, he saw that there was a door there normally. Invisible through the glasses, but it was there in reality. He lowered his glasses more so that he could see half over them and startled a bit spotting the bunny ears on the witches.

As they passed through the door, this time Mandy made a happy smile. It was an actual fantasy guild! All kinds of odd creatures, people with weird hair colors, a board with missions and even a bar section! The romance! The dream! For once she wasn't disappointed. As the door behind them fell shut even the club noise disappeared leaving only the authentic fantasy scene in front of them.

Ian too stood dumbfounded. Through half the glasses he saw that a third of the people in the room were missing and no one had the odd features his eyes showed. The mission's board was also empty through the glass. Ian had played some fantasy games, so he recognized the place as a typical 'adventurer's guild', but it felt surreal to be in a real one. He wasn't dreaming, right? He pinched his own cheek. Pain told him that this was real.

August walked over to a divination ball in the corner and tapped it. Multiple choices appeared and he tapped 'other' at the bottom of the list.

Mandy only managed to read the first choice before they all faded. The first one had said 'Signing up for missions'. Rather than a paper sliding out like it would in regular establishments a red number '15' appeared on the hand August had used to tap on the ball.

August cast a cautious look around him and tried to move over to a less conspicuous spot, yet just as he had made a few steps.

"GUUUSSSSSS!" Sounded out and a green haired boy (?) with goat horns, ears and tail flew at him.

August was vigilant so he stepped asides and the boy flew into Ian.

Ian caught the boy. He already heard the call, so he wasn't caught unaware, but it was still surprising. Half his glasses showed that to normal people the boy showed up as a regular kid with brown hair and brown eyes.

"Ah, excuse me," the boy apologized to Ian.

August meanwhile was trying to slip away.

Mandy had a wry smile. Was this the reason why August was unwilling to come here?

"Gus!" the boy called out again. "Welcome back!"

August sighed before turning around. "I'm not back, I only came to bring a newbie."

"Hmm," the boy tilted his head and looked at Mandy, then Ian, but the lost interest in moments. "What'cha talking about, Sarah came yesterday and marked you on a mission."

Ian placed the kid down on the floor, looking over at Mandy with a questioning look.

Mandy shook her head with a shrug. 'No idea what is going on' her gestures seemed to imply.

A look of disbelief passed August's eyes, then he looked pissed off. "She's dead." He mumbled, fuming.

Mandy had a feeling Sarah would be in some trouble after this... oh well.

A sly look appeared on the kid's face. "Tsk, tsk, taking unofficial missions ain't good, y'know. They don't count towards advancement."

August stared at the kid, then sighed, glancing at Mandy. "This thing is called Grisham," he pointed at the kid with his palm.

"Oh, so she's haunting YOU," the boy cast an evaluating look at the ghost, not seeming offended at being called a 'thing'. "You are so like your father it's not even funny."

Mandy's smile cracked. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Mandy," the girl said.

"Ian," the policeman felt it would be awkward if he said nothing while standing among them.

August said nothing about being compared to his father.

"Since you are here, might as well update your info as well," Grisham said and grabbed August by hand to drag him away. As he did, the number on August's hand disappeared.

August looked as unwilling as a kid being taken to get his shots.

"You two come too," Grisham said as he went towards a door with 'guild master' written on it.

Mandy exchanged looks with Ian and the two followed. This situation was confusing, but Mandy hoped that things would become clear soon enough. If anything, she felt happy to be in this far from disappointing guild place!