The Seer - Part 2

The next night Lana makes plans to spend the evening with her boyfriend, so I make plans with Liam. We grabbed some dinner from the student union and take it to a table outside, so we can avoid being overheard. The faint white glow continued to surround Liam wherever we go. I can hardly wait until we are seated to ask him about it.

“Do you always have that glow?”

He chuckles at my bluntness. “Yes, I always have this glow. Sometimes it’s even brighter.”

“Is that because you always tell the truth?”

“Hardly.” He chuckled again. “I’ve always been this way. I’ve had to keep it reigned in for as long as I can remember. I realized people don’t notice I’m different as long as the light doesn’t get too bright. Have you always been able to see the lights too?”

“Yep, so I guess you can see them?”

He nodded before I continued.

“What about the Other Realm?”

“The Other Realm?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s just what I call the place where all the creatures dwell.”

He pondered me for a moment. “I don’t think I can see that.”

“Oh…” I replied as a blush creeps up my face.

“Tell me about it,” he says between bites of pizza.

I described the foggy veil that covers the Other Realm and the creatures that I’ve seen. I even tell him about my furry friend. He listened intently, but I still wanted to know more about him.

“What did you mean when you said that people don’t notice you’re different?”

“I’m not sure exactly. I can see the auras, so I know mine is always white. But I’ve noticed when it gets extremely bright that people have a strange reaction to me. They seem to be…afraid.”

“But you don’t know why?”

“No.”

“What are you usually doing when it gets the brightest?”

“I’m usually just being myself. Like, I let my guard down.”

“You’re saying if you relax, the light gets bright and people freak out?”

“Not exactly. You know how sometimes you are with someone close to you, and you can just be real with them? You act silly and share your secrets?”

I nod, thinking of Lana.

“That’s when it happens.” He paused. “It’s why I don’t really have close friends.”

I think about what it would be like if Lana knew the truth about me. Would she be terrified of me? Would she still want to be my friend?

“So where is this furry friend of yours?” Liam interrupted my thoughts.

I actually haven’t seen him all day. I close my green eye and quickly scan my surroundings, but I don’t see anything furry.

“I usually see him by my dorm. Maybe we can find him there?”

I led the way to my dorm in comfortable silence, as night began to descend. As we cross the parking lot, I noticed a blur of movement quickly approaching. I closed my green eye to find my other-worldly companion waving his arms outward and running towards me. I glanced at Liam and motioned for him to move to the side, unsure what is happening. When I look back I see another, much scarier, creature, following my furry friend, and gaining on him. He doesn’t look back though; he pumps his short legs, focusing on the barrier between us.

I barely have time to wonder what he is doing before he plowed through the veil of the Other Realm. The mist shimmered and warped, clinging to him as if it wanted to suck him back in, but he prevails. The barrier bounced back and the terrifying monster slammed against it. I dared to keep my green eye closed as I watched it prowl the edge of the Other Realm. It’s a lanky creature with unnaturally long limbs, covered in reptilian scales and with two curling horns atop its broadhead. Its red eyes roll around like when you’re trying to find something in the dark. I’m reassured by the fact that it can’t see us and turn to my furry friend.

“Can you…speak English?” I asked him.

“Now what kind of protector would I be if I couldn’t speak your language?” he answered with a tug to the right side of his mouth.

“How did you get over here? And will that thing be able to follow you?” I asked.

“Umm…what thing?” Liam asks.

“There’s a monster right over there, just inside the Other Realm.”

“It’s called a dhaceen,” our visitor said. “And our world is called Vaarn. To answer your question, the dhaceens found a way to cross the boundary into your world. Only one being from Vaarn can come through each quarter moon. I had to wait for the right timing to make my attempt, and I had to beat them to it. So, that dhaceen can’t follow me… for now,” he paused and glanced between us. “I see you’ve found the Revealer since I last saw you.”

“The Revealer?” I hold out my palms to him. “I don’t have anything…”

“The Revealer isn’t a thing,” he chuckled. “It’s a person.”

I cocked my head to the side before following his gaze to Liam.

“You didn’t tell me you were the Revealer, whatever that is,” I said to Liam.

“I would have if I had known myself,” he replied. “What does that mean, the Revealer?”

“You have the ability to reveal the true nature of beings. Just like the Seer can see their true nature.” He nodded as he said the second part.

“So, I’m…the Seer?”

“And you’re the Protector?” Liam asked him.

“One of them. All my kind are charged with protecting this realm. You can call me Tamniirt.”

“So, Tamniirt, why are the dha… ceens here and how do we stop them?” I asked, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

“I’m not sure what their plan is, and we’ll need to figure that out if we’re going to stop them.”

...

“So can you, like, disguise yourself? I don’t think we can just walk around campus with you like this,” I said.

“Oh, right, of course.”

Tamniirt closed his eyes and after a moment all of his furs disappear. He looked like one of those hairless cats, only much larger and standing on two legs.

“Ugh,” Liam cried out. “Please try another disguise. Any other disguise.”

“What’s wrong with this? I could put on some clothes and I’ll look just like you.”

I covered my eyes and shake my head.

“Fine,” Tamniirt says.

He examined Liam and closed his eyes again. After a couple of moments, his skin smoothed out and became less pale his ears round, and he stretched to have human proportions. Finally, hair appeared on his head, mimicking Liam’s hairstyle. I snorted at this last detail.

“Uh uh, no way,” Liam said as he strode toward our friend. He took his hand and mussed Tamniirt’s hair. “Much better.”

“Oh man, I didn’t even get a picture of the two of you together first.” I grin at Liam.

He just glares back at me.

“We could’ve put you in matching outfits,” I continued. “It would’ve been so cute.”

At that, he cracked a grin.

“We do need to get him some clothes though. Can you hideout somewhere while I run back to my dorm?”

I nodded and found a picnic table that was mostly surrounded by trees. Tamniirt and I chatted quietly, as I filled him in on the dhaceen that I have already found, and he tells me there is another that came through before him. I spotted a familiar darkness as it moved along the path in front of the trees, like a cloud rolling overhead during a picnic. I stopped talking and pointed out the disguised creature I saw in my dorm. We stand and move through the woods, mirroring the dhaceen’s path.

After a short time, it turned into the woods to sit at another table. We positioned ourselves behind a couple of larger trees to watch unseen. The monster faced away from us, monitoring the path it just walked down. A moment later a student strolled down the path from the other direction, his aura the same deep red. I scooted around the tree to stay out of his line of sight. I saw Tamniirt do the same out of the corner of my eye.

The dhaceens continued to watch the path as if they were waiting for someone else. It occurred to me that they may not know that Tamniirt crossed the boundary instead of one of their kind. I glanced at Tamniirt and he nodded, seemingly thinking the same thing. A few minutes later one of the monsters spoke.

“Something is wrong. I don’t think he is coming.”

“He must’ve missed the window, the fool. I gave him precise instructions.”

“This will set us back another quarter moon,” the creature growled.

“In the meantime, the two of us will just have to keep searching. We’ll cover less ground without him, but we’ll have to make do. We’ll meet back here to look for him again the next time the boundary opens.”

With that, the dhaceens parted ways down the path; the one I recognized heading toward our dorm.

“Now we know they are searching for something, but what?” Tamniirt asked.

“At least you’ve set them back a week, and they don’t know you’re here.”

“They will in a week though, when the other dhaceen comes through to tell them. We better make good use of the time, before they’re on to us.”

Liam returned with clothing a few minutes later. Now that Tamniirt has seen the human form of the creatures, and I’ve told them what room one is in, we decided that Tamniirt can watch him while we are in class. I’ve already spoken to him, so it might be too suspicious for me to follow him all the time anyway. We parted ways, agreeing to meet up tomorrow after class.

...

Mountains loom in the distance, as we walked the concrete paths through campus. We casually strolled together and chat, all the while keeping an eye on the dhaceen. We appeared to be heading to the north end of the campus, where most of the science buildings are located.

“Can you tell us more about what we are?” I asked Tamniirt as we stepped off the path and made way for a group of students.

“The Seer can tell the true nature of things, both in this world and in mine. There are two types of auras, and you can see them both. The others only see one, the current intention. You can see the aura that shows the sum of a being’s actions, how good or bad they are. You’re the only one able to discern this. That’s why you can see the dhaceens; they are very nearly pure evil.”

He turned to Liam. “The Revealer can show a person their own true nature, good or bad. If there is still enough good in them, this can lead them to change the bad and embrace the good.”

“What about the bad?” Liam asked. “Could I just reveal the evil nature of the dhaceens?”

“You could, but they are too far gone to change. Revealing them would simply terrify everyone around and cause mass chaos.”

“What do we do, then?” I ask.

“For now, we must find a way to stop them without revealing what they are. They will also not want to reveal themselves, and while they are in their human form they will be weaker. They won’t be used to the human proportions, and it makes them clumsy,” Tamniirt answered while we turn down a path to the left.

“So, we can fight them?” Liam asked.

“I still wouldn’t recommend it. They will still be strong, and more importantly, if they corner you away from prying eyes they can shift into their real form. None of us would be any match for them then. What we need to do is find the Redeemer.”

“There’s another one of us? What can they do?” I asked.

“The Redeemer purges the evil nature of a being. If they are too evil, their entire being will be consumed. Not enough of them will remain that is good. The Redeemer is powerful against the dhaceens.”

“Do you know where to find the Redeemer?”

“You are the only one that can find them. You must look for the same aura that you saw around the Revealer,” Tamniirt answered.

“But I only found Liam by chance. This Redeemer person could be anywhere.”

“Perhaps, but legend says the Tri Celestials will be brought together during any time of need. I have a feeling our last ally will be close by.”

The dhaceen entered the engineering building, a large structure of metal and glass, newer than most of the buildings on campus. We decided to wait outside the building on a bench; we didn’t want to be too obvious. Most of the classes are done for the day, so there won’t be many others in the building.

“So, what did he do all day, while we were in class?” I asked.

“He spent the entire morning in the mathematics building,” Tamniirt tells me as he pointed to a brick building next door. “Then he went to eat in the student union and headed to the biology building.” He pointed across the path from the math building. “After that, he went back to the dorm for a time, before coming here.”

I looked between the three buildings and noticed something. If I were going to search buildings in a methodical manner, that’s how I would do it. I wonder if the other dhaceen is searching the grounds, while this one searched the buildings, or if they knew the item they needed is in one of the buildings on campus.

“We should try to locate the other dhaceen again. I want to see where he is searching,” I say.

“We know he went the other direction from the picnic table. You and I could walk that way and see if we spot him,” Liam says.

Tamniirt stayed put whilst Liam and I trot towards the area of the picnic table. I keep my eye out for a dark aura amongst the chattering students. For a few minutes, I listened to the thud of our footsteps on the path and the sound of my breathing.

“So…what’s your major?” Liam asked the first question that pops into any college student’s mind when they don’t know someone.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and answer, “Education.”

“Ah, so you’ll know if the students are lying when they say the dog ate their homework.”

I laughed. “And how will you put your powers to use?”

“By becoming a prosecutor. I’m studying political science.”

“I’d say we both will do some good then.”

“Yeah,” he says with a crooked smile.

It’s quiet for a few moments before I asked, “What made you choose to be a lawyer?”

He chuckled and ran a hand through his dark hair. “I don’t know, really. Too much Law & Order?”

I laughed and turned my head towards him. “Maybe I watched too much Magic School Bus, then.”

Liam lifted one side of his mouth in a grin. I couldn’t help but mimic his smile with my own, and doing so made heat swell in my cheeks. I was beginning to feel comfortable with Liam, and just as that thought surfaced we reached the picnic table where we last saw the dhaceen. No dark auras in sight.

“Where should we head next?” Liam asked.

I quickly scanned my surroundings. There was a stoned pathway through some small trees. I had a gut feeling a dhaceen utilized this trail. It’s almost as if I could feel their dark aura.

“Maybe through this path?” I asked Liam, hoping maybe he could sense the same.

“Seems likely they would have gone this way, less out in the open.” Liam shrugged and gave me a reassuring smile.

We fell into sync walking towards the path. How the trees narrowed made it so our shoulders almost brushed with each step.

Suddenly there was a gurgling hiss to the right of Liam in the trees.

“I know you’ve been following us, we are not foolish.”

The dhaceen we had been searching for emerged. His aura was intensely dark. A beam of sunlight made his glossy eyes glow red for a moment.

“Uh…Jess his aura is darker than before.” Liam whispered in my ear so the dhaceen wouldn’t hear.

I gave him a worried glance and nodded to show understanding of our situation. Tamniirt’s previous statement persisted in my mind.

“They will still be strong, and more importantly, if they corner you away from prying eyes they can shift into their real form.”

We were in trouble.

...

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-Clever & WTF