eidolon
\ahy-doh-luhn\, noun;
1. a phantom; apparition.
2. an ideal.
lily-livered
\ LIL-ee-LIV-erd \ , noun;
1. Weak or lacking in courage; cowardly; pusillanimous.
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Grena hummed to herself as the trio
walked down the wide street. They had finally gotten a job that she
would actually enjoy. Not only was it unlikely to be very difficult,
it probably wouldn't be all that dangerous either. It probably
wouldn't even take very long, given what their employer told them.
Not only that, but the guy was filthy rich, and was willing to pay
more than their last three jobs combined had. All in all, this was
probably going to be a good day for them. Even Lars probably
wouldn't have room to complain about this one.
“I hate ghosts.” Said the
swordsman when they got to their destination. Grena was very glad
she hadn't voiced that last thought now. The trio had been hired to
dispel an apparition--commonly referred to as a ghost—from an
upscale inn owned by their employer. The ghost had not actually hurt
anyone, in fact it was more of an annoyance than anything. However,
it was driving away customers, and so the owner had hired the first
experienced adventurers he came across.
“No you don't.” Said Caruss. “I
mean, who was it who spent the night drinking with one the last time
we had to deal with one?” He snickered at his smaller companions
reaction. The last time they had to deal with an apparition, Lars
and the spectral being had hit it off right away, and spent the night
drinking. Well, Lars did anyway. Lacking a real physical body, the
egged the swordsman on, and reveled in the drunken antics that
followed. It was all very humorous, and a great time was had by all.
That is until the hangover struck, which is when Lars seemed to
develop his dislike of ghosts.
“Just be glad this one probably
won't try to get you drunk.” Grena said. She was very happy
whenever ghosts were brought up. She was absolutely fascinated by
them. In fact, if she had talents in anything other than combat
magic, she would have readily become a Ghoster, a type of
spellslinger specializing in the use of apparitions. Most thought
that ghosts were the spirits of the dead that were unable to pass on.
This was not true. They were actually magical constructs similar to
golems, just using the casters mind for a form instead of a physical
element. As such, they could look like anyone the caster wished,
although they did tend to take aspects of the casters personality.
This one was created by a complete coward who had learned ghost
magic in order to protect himself. Unfortunately, his ghosts tended
to be cowards themselves. This one had simply gotten away from it's
creator. It happened sometimes with Ghosters who grew too confident
it their skills. Or too careless, simply loosing track of how many
ghosts they had at any given time. This one most likely fell into
the second category.
“No, this one's probably just going
to run away from our shadows, leading us on a wild goose chase
through the needlessly large building.” Lars said. While he
didn't exactly mind ghosts per say, provided they weren't given
aggressive personalities, he wasn't exactly pleased with this one.
It was always a toss up whether or not he would be able to hit a
ghost, as not even the casters had complete control over the solidity
of their conjurations. This one was reported to be able to move
through walls, and so was of the non-physical variety. That meant
his job was simply to chase it towards Grena, who would get rid of it
with an appropriate dispell.
The inn was an extravagant thing,
meant for the rich, or those who wanted to feel rich every once in
awhile. It seemed like the entire thing was made of marble and gold,
but this was simply the result of being made from very well polished
stone and metals. The trio stood in front of the equally
extravagant, pillar lined doors.
“Alright, let the wild goose chase
begin.” Lars said, with a sigh. Caruss opened the doors, careful
not to let Lars see his eyes rolling. The lobby was the kind of
thing that seemed to belong in the manor of a noble. Plush, red
carpets lined the floors, fountains of various shapes and sizes
dotted the large room in strategic areas. Large, ornate chandeliers
hung from the ceiling, casting magically created light around the
room. And cowering near one of the fountains was the apparition they
were looking for.
This one took the form of a very
large, intimidating man, obviously the caster's attempt to ward off
attacks. It was built bigger than Caruss was, with thick, powerful
looking muscles, and a grizzly, battle worn face. It was hard to
tell how tall it was, since it was huddled in a corner, but it would
probably be around six feet in height. The caster clearly knew what
to make to scare people who would attack him. Probably because
whoever he was was always scared himself. It would work if it wasn't
so humorous to see such a big thing cowering like a terrified child.
“So much for the wild goose chase,
eh?” Caruss said under his breath so as not to alert it to their
presence. Lars grumbled, disappointed at being wrong, but happy they
wouldn't have to find the damn thing. They still needed to keep it
still long enough for Grena to get rid of it. She wasted no time
though. As soon as she saw it, she took out her string of beads and
began the slow, rhythmic breathing used to cast more powerful spells.
The apparition must have felt the
build up of arcane energies, because it suddenly turned around and
stared, shivering and wide eyed at them. A slight whimper escaped
its spectral lips, its huge mass already getting ready to flee. It
was now up to the men to do whatever it took to keep it in one place.
It wouldn't take much time for Grena to finish casting, but it would
all amount to nothing if the apparition wasn't there when she
finished.
“Ummm, hi?" Lars said, trying to be
friendly. The ghost simply shook harder and took a few steps back.
“Don't worry, we're not here to hurt
you.” Caruss said, holding his hands up to show he wasn't holding
anything. Not that such things would matter much to a non-physical
apparition anyway.
“Y-yes you are.” Said the
apparition, in a surprisingly high pitched voice. Apparitions tended
to take on the voice of their casters until said caster reached a
certain level of skill, which this one didn't seem to have.
“I
know you are. Everyone want's to hurt me.” It wined.
“Yeah, like that matters. You're
incorporeal, what do you have to be afraid of?” Lars said,
crossing his arms in front of him.
“Lot's of things.” It said.
“Like what?”
“Well, there's mice, big shadows,
noises that you can't see where they come from...”
“My god, how did this guy's creator
even leave the house long enough to create this thing?” Lars asked
under his breath while the ghost continued listing things it was
afraid of.
“Probably with several hours to
psych himself up.” Caruss answered. He was wondering the same
thing. Although, as long as the ghost kept listing its fears, it
wasn't moving. It may have just been scared simply to tell people
what he was scared of. That would probably explain quite a bit about
the caster though.
“Should we stop it?” Lars asked,
getting annoyed at the never ending list.
“Nah. It looks happy. Let's let
him keep going.” Caruss said.
“Are you sure? I think it's just
making things up now.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, since it just said cotton
balls, and butterflies, I think it's safe to say it's ran out of
things its genuinely afraid of and is just listing things for the
sake of listing them.”
“Good point.” Caruss said, “Ok
then, we get the point.” He said to the ghost. “But you don't
need to be afraid of us.”
“Why?” It said, apparently much
more comfortable now that it had been able to give a long list.
“We're just here to make you not
scared anymore.”
“Really?”
“Yup. That's what she's doing now.
She's going to take your fear away.” It seemed to contemplate this
for awhile. But by then it was a moot point, as Grena had finished
casting. She let forth a small ball of light that shot out, hitting
the ghost in the chest, where it slowly began disappearing. It
actually seemed to be happy with this as it vanished.
“Well, that was easy.” Grena said
cheerfully. She practically sang to herself as she left the
building, ready to collect their pleasantly large pay for such a
simple job.
*******************
Ok, so there's two words today, and there's a reason for this. See, this story was intended to be written on Monday, which is the word eidolon. Then the power went out due to Sandy blowing through and forcibly removing power from our house (As of the time of this writing, we still don't have power and this is being done at my aunt's house), and so I was unable to actually write it. Today is the first day since the storm that I can write and update this, and low and behold, the word is lily-livered. It just so happened that the two words fit perfectly together in so many ways, I just had to use both. And this is what came from it. Ok, so it's a few words too long, but I think everyone who reads this should be able to forgive me for that just this once.
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