Eldritch Exorcist

"Speaking," I said.

The voice on the other end was young. I considered hanging up, expecting a prank call with the "Samuel the exorcist" title, especially as my broker didn't inform me of any clients. But there was something in the voice. A tinge of fear and desperation that made me stop and answer.

"Are you really an exorcist?"

"Yes."

"Can you come and help us?"

"Depends. What's the problem?" I asked, half expecting them to say that they are haunted by ligma.

"I think my brother got possessed. And then he attacked us. And smashed our phones. And he is in a coma. And…"

"Wait," I said firmly. This sounded real. Coma was not usual with mental illnesses mistaken for possession. "How many of you are there, and are you still at the place of the haunting?"

"Um, eight people, and yes."

"Can you move?"

"We can't leave the house other than into the garden."

This was getting me curious.

"Okay. I want you first to tie the comatose person to a bed. And properly, no taut ropes or cheap wire. Use bed sheets with some ropes, then lock the doors to the room with the body and leave the house as far as possible during the day." I started giving instructions. "If you see any sign of the ghost, turn around and go back into the house immediately."

"O-okay. We will."

"Good. Now give me the address."

"About that–"

I took the information from the guy on the other end. The place was flooded, so I would have to either get myself a heavy-duty vehicle or a boat. Even if it required a helicopter, I would still pay for one. And the reason was simple. From the description, it seemed something pulled out the caller's brother's soul. But most of all, it did that in less than a week. And that meant a very powerful spirit.

Maybe I would be getting the third-circle mana sooner than expected.

There was a problem, though. If it were a third-circle spirit, then I would be punching up. One circle was not impossible to jump over, but it's a major circle, the ascension circle. I would need to prepare well.

I wanted to get there tomorrow in the morning as soon as the first light. I told the people that they can leave without any issue if they are outside the house and nothing happens. They promised to keep it on the down-low for now so that Liam's body doesn't get transported to a hospital.

Daniel, the guy who called me, would be waiting near the flooded area, and the rest would get some transportation back home, assuming the ghost lets them leave.

I broke from my thoughts when I saw Ophelia come out of the fortune teller's tent with a confused expression on her face.

"How was it?" I asked.

"Fine? I guess. I expected some more… mystique."

I gave a short laugh. "Well, you and me both," I then looked towards a sheet she had with her. "Can you show it to me?"

She extended her hand, but I stopped her.

"Just so we are on the same page. You can say no, and no matter what, if anyone else asks to know your attributes other than me, you are to reject them, no matter who it is. Those are very private. Understood?"

"Yes," she gave a firm answer.

I nodded and looked at the sheet.

Race: Human, Bloodline: ?
Magic Circle: 0

Stats:

Body
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 18
Endurance: 15
Constitution: 19

Mind
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 14
Willpower: 19
Mental Defense: 18

Spirit
Soul: 11
Instinct: 0
Faith: 3
Manifestation: 19

Social
Empathy: 14
Charisma: 14

Pressure: 7
Passion: 16

Skills: Poison Resistance, Familiar Manifestation, Minor Darkvision

Secrets: Life (apprentice), Death (beginner)

Mysteries: –

"Good. 19 in manifestation, the familiar is also at the brink of ascension. It should grow alongside you."

I then looked at the skills. "Poison resistance and manifestation are from the familiar. I'm guessing Darkvision came up when you checked basic skills, as your bloodline is still blank."

Ophelia nodded in confirmation. "Yes, she looked through a massive tome but didn't find anything and started swearing something about Alhazreds."

"You're technically not an Alhazred."

"Yeah, I told her the same, and she said we are worth each other."

I could see she was recalling it with a strange expression. Well, she couldn't be blamed. The fortune-telling woman was… interesting.

"You will get used to the weirdness of the arcane world. And on another note, it seems like you will see a proper exorcism sooner than you expected."

"Like in The Exorcist?" she asked.

"No, at least I doubt it will go like that." I then turned towards where the car was parked. "Come, I have to prepare. Oh, and call Q'Shar and tell him we need a pontoon."

"A pontoon?" Ophelia asked, looking at me with doubt.

"Yes. You need to learn to deal with the cats, so you call and get a pontoon."

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"And it's not because you are treating me like cheap labor and don't want to deal with cats yourself?" she asked.

"That too."

Ophelia just sighed and called the cats.

I took her to the storage to show my preparations. For years, I never actually performed proper exorcisms. The reason was simple. All the ghosts and spirits that naturally occurred were easy to beat in a fight.

But now I would need to acquire some proper tools, review the specifications, and follow all the necessary steps.

I first went over all the same stages as with the spawn, also preparing the concoction with bone dust.

After that, I prepared a proper exorcist toolkit. A silver needle, a spirit mirror, a golden bell, a set of amulets, candles, exorcism restraints, a salt circle base, pure salt, and finally an idol of an abyssal god.

"Do I get some tools as well?" Ophelia asked.

"Nope."

She visibly deflated.

"But you will help me with the investigation. We will see how well you read the Testament of Solomon."

She smiled a confident smile.

"So will you be praying over the person? Like in the movies?"

"No, that happens if the haunting is at the possession stage. But here we are past it. The ghost sadly skipped a few stages, and we are at the last one."

"Devouring."

"Yes."

"So the younger brother is dead? Technically, at least," she asked, concern clear in her voice.

"Not necessarily. It takes time to consume a soul, and the ghost won't necessarily start right away. It practically skipped the oppression and possession stages. So hopefully it will take some time before it starts on the devouring." I looked at her. "And Ophelia, don't get emotionally invested. It's not a movie. There's not always a happy ending."

She nodded.

"Go over your notes before tomorrow. And wear something easy to move in and comfortable. Also, probably take a few days' worth of clothing. I'm not sure how long the whole thing will take."

After my explanation of the preparation process, we went back into our apartments. Ophelia got hers recently from the cats.

The next morning, while the sun was still barely rising, we went to the case. The drive took a few hours until we finally got to the part of a small town affected by the flood. Both Ophelia and I took our backpacks, the pontoon, and made our way through the flooded terrain.

It was another two hours to get ourselves to the place pointed out by Daniel. The good thing was that the house was easy to locate as it stood on a hill, now with the water going down most of the hill, and the terrain around was more or less dry.

When we got there, two people were waiting for us. One was a young man, around 20 by the looks of it. He was blonde with tired brown eyes. Worry and exhaustion were clear on his face. Next to him stood a woman of similar age.

We paddled in with the pontoon as close as we could before getting out and walking through the shallow water.

"Samuel?" asked the guy.

"In the flesh. And this is my assistant Ophelia," I said, pointing at her.

After exchanging pleasantries, we finally got into the meat of things.

"No point in standing here. Let's go inside, and you can tell us everything while we sit down."

"Inside?" Daniel went a bit pale. "But shouldn't we stay away from the house?"

"It's daytime, and it's not the house that is haunted, if I have to guess. We will be safe." Saying that, I let some of my bloodlust color my aura as a warning so that the ghost doesn't get a dumb idea of getting into a fight during the day.

Ophelia and I entered the mansion with the remaining two hesitantly trailing behind. We sat down in the living room and started the talk.

We slowly got the same story, of which I got a short version from the guy over the phone. It was a fascinating case. It was obvious that they summoned a ghost. But the spirit itself was interesting. First things first, it looked like a typical case of a haunted object. However, what was unusual was that the ghost rushed into the devouring phase, from what it seemed, brute-forcing the process.

And that would suggest a nest.

But I doubt even at a third circle a ghost could create a proper nest unless it was again another spawn. Thankfully, it didn't look like it this time. Spawn can't become obsessions in the first place unless their object of infatuation was a mana vein, assuming this was an obsession case.

And another interesting part was that there should be a vein somewhere in the house, most likely in the attic.

"Can I see the Ouija board?" I asked.

"Yes. We locked it inside a separate room. I can take you to it. But first…" The man took a deep breath. "Can you tell me what happened to my brother? And…" He straightened up a bit. "And if he's dead."

"Daniel," said the woman weakly.

"What happened is, your brother had his soul pulled out of his body. As for whether he's dead, I don't know. It depends on the spirit. The ghost you all unleashed is a bit strange. One day is enough to injure a soul, but there is also a good chance that the spirit won't start to devour your brother right away."

"How big a chance?"

"Can't really tell."

Daniel nodded. I could see his jaw muscles flex.

After that, we went into a separate room where a box lay. Daniel and the woman stayed outside the room as Ophelia and I approached the board.

"You can go back to the living room for now. We will take some time here," I said, seeing how uncomfortable the two were.

They nodded and went back, relief visible on their faces. I picked up the box and looked it over, seeing a creepy rhyme on the back. I then opened it to examine the insides and frowned when I saw the mirror.

Looks like another unusual case.

"Okay," I said once I got a picture of what happened. "What can you tell me about this case?"

"Huh?" said Ophelia, surprised.

"The basic info should be in the Testament of Solomon, so you should be able to guess some stuff. So tell me, what do you think about the ghost?"

"I… um… It's some sort of spiritual being."

I raised my eyebrows at that. It was like asking someone to tell you something about a dog, and they tell you it's some sort of a dog.

Ophelia blushed a little, seeing my gaze.

"I didn't get to spirit types, I'm halfway through demons."

"I don't want you to tell me a type. Start with basic classification. The haunting pattern is quite telling in this case."

"Okay. So…" She went for her notebook.

She had all the knowledge needed, but she never used it. She didn't have a pattern established to follow, so with all the new info, she was clearly lost.

"Can the ghost be classified as a grudge?" I decided to lead her a bit.

"No." Firm answer.

"Why not?"

"The emotion holding the parts of a soul to our world would be simple anger or sadness. The haunting would also be simple. The most pronounced stages after infestation would be oppression and manifestation, with most likely no possession, with the spirit trying to kill its victim outright and go straight to devouring."

It was somewhat recited from the book, but it takes time to grasp the knowledge.

"Good. So what would you classify it as?"

"It's an obsession."

"And not a duty?" I asked.

"Duties shouldn't attack if unprovoked. And there would be no possession."

Another good textbook answer. So I decided to throw her a curveball.

"And why not an anomaly?"

Ophelia went silent.

"Everything can be an anomaly. So you can't ever fully discredit it. But also going into every case like you are about to be up against an anomaly is counterproductive."

"So not an anomaly."

Ah. I raised my hand. "Too early for that."

Ophelia looked confused.

"Anomalies can only be created by mages, so you can't cross them out until you know the story behind the haunting. If there is no mage or the case is clear, only then can you assume it's not an anomaly."

Ophelia nodded.

"Okay. So, from what we know, it is most likely an obsession with the Ouija board as the object of haunting."

"Good," I said.

Her analysis was very by the book, but spot on.

"What is weird about it?"

That was the main point. No two hauntings are the same, and whenever there is something unusual, you need to notice it. A small detail can be a matter of life and death.

Ophelia started flipping through her notes.

"Think about stages," I directed her. "Assume the ghost is at best in the third circle."

"Oh." She noticed the problem. "It shouldn't have a nest, so the possession should be the main goal, and then smoothly go into devouring without leaving the host."

"Yes, but it left the host with his soul, dragged it somewhere it felt safe."

She started flipping through the notes, but I stopped her.

"This part won't be in your notes. You don't know much about artifacts yet, so it's not something you can guess."

I then approached the box. I took out a dagger and delicately slipped it into the crack between the mirror and the box. Going over the entire length of the container, I finally managed to pop the mirror out.

And it was as I thought.

There were runes with a magic circle at the back. But what I was mostly interested in was behind the mirror. It was a black metallic sculpture. It depicted a birdcage sitting over a skull. The whole thing was slightly larger than my palm.

"Spirit cage," I said. That really complicated things. Sometimes I didn't want to be correct. "The ghost has an artificial nest."