33 Holy Man

After writing down the new beings and updating my Follower entry, I also tried to give me a tattoo.

I'm not an outer god or some other eldritch creature, so I am not afraid of the sign's drawbacks. And being invisible to them sounds like a good advantage to have.

There is also the entity who brought me here, which seems to be some cosmic or eldritch being too. So I hope that the sign can prevent me from becoming his plaything as well.

The alarming part is that not even Cthylla knows what it could be...

Since my finger heals constantly, and stabbing myself is kinda annoying, I pour my blood into my bourbon glass after emptying it.

Afterwards, I draw it above my heart, and it starts to smoke and then fuses with my body, leaving a black elder sign tattoo behind.

Despite this, I don't feel any pain or discomfort like Cthylla did. Only the draining sensation is there, but after a few seconds, it disappears as well, and I feel fine again.

Luckily, the sign seems to stay, and I finally have my first permanent tattoo after ten millennia. But, as soon as I take the bourbon bottle to celebrate, it fades away and disappears completely.

Well, that sucks. It kinda looked cool...

Unfortunately, my body never liked this type of modification, and whenever I had piercings or tattoos, my healing factor immediately removed them...

Since a tattoo doesn't work, I need to get a necklace or something similar and draw the elder sign on it.

I sigh, then walk to my car to get my pistol magazines and start engraving the front of the bullets. Maybe it will have a better effect on the fused Followers; if not, then at least the bullets will look cool...

"Hmm, it seems to have worked... what the hell are you doing?" says the half naked 'person' on the bed after nearly fifteen hours of sleep.

As soon as I finished engraving the bullets, I got bored and began to read about elemental spell casting in the grimoire.

Then bought some candles and tried to fire bend their flames, but with no success. Well, I can extinguish the flame, but I don't think blowing off the flame counts as spell casting...

So I stand right now in front of the candles with my hands outstretched and try to feel their energy, but it doesn't work at all.

It has no aura or something else that I can imagine or grasp, so I have no idea how to naturally feel it like it was described in the grimoire.

The book says it's the easiest form of magic because you simply channel another power source... but how the hell is this easy? Spiritual magic is easy... but this is witchery.

I stop my fire bender attempt and sit down on the bed next to the confused beauty and say, "I tried to become a Pyromaniac."

"And how's it going?" she asks with a shit-eating grin...

"Till now I have only managed to blow away the flames accidentally, so not so good." I let her have this win, but when she tries this too and it doesn't work, I will have the last laugh...

"That's such a shame... well, at least you managed to do that." she says and points to her new tattoo.

"Yea, I was always good at this. I mean, I inspired Leo and taught Vincent how to draw a night sky, so I should at least manage something like that. Even though the last part was drawn by you..."

"Yes... I simply wanted you to finish it." she says trying to sound naturally.

Sure...

Well, at least her aura didn't change, and she seems to be fine too.

So I let it slide for now, and ask with a sigh, "... What do you think? Are you feeling well enough to move? We should go and pick up our licenses."

She looks at me thankfully, probably because I didn't dig around, and says, "Yes, give me some time to freshen up, and I'm good to go."

I nod at her and help her stand up, then she heads to the bathroom.

~~~ Holy Church, Fairmont Minnesota ~~~

A very devoted middle-aged priest can be seen praying on his knees in front of his church's crucifix in the middle of the night

"Oh God, please forgive the sinners who don't know how to raise their children, and guide their lost sheep into my arms..." says the devoted man and raises his hands as if waiting for a blessing.

And he is lucky because someone actually listened to him today.

"Father?"

Says a young voice and a small hand grabs his shoulder. The devoted priest nearly fell to the ground after getting startled by the boy behind him.

He grabs his chest while trying to calm down then says, "Child! You scared me nearly to death. What are you doing here so late?"

"My parents went to a party, and I got lost while searching for them, so I ended up here," says the blonde boy while sniffing.

The rightful priest becomes angry at this and says, "What?! They went to a party and left their child alone? This... don't worry, child. I will take care of you. Stay here, and I will get you something to drink."

The boy nods and sits down on a bench and looks excited around while the priest goes towards his office, thanking God for listening to him.

But when he makes some tea and comes back into the nave, he sees suddenly the boy sitting with a dark-haired girl while reading the Bible.

He nearly wants to cry out of happiness, but then notices that he knows the girl from somewhere.

So he asks, "Huh? When did you come here? Aren't you from the child choir?"

The girl looks up from the holy book and responds confused, "Father, don't you remember? You brought me here a while ago, and since then, I have been staying down there."

Then points to the altar carpet.

"What are you talking about, child? There is nothing except a carpet," the priest says and begins to sweat for an unexplained reason.

"Really? But my other friends are down there as well. They all said you brought them down there," says the girl, still looking confused.

This makes the priest gulp, and he steps back from the children.

"What are you talking about? What friends?!" asks the priest, his expression now less happy about the children's presence.

"These friends," says the girl, and nearly forty children suddenly stand up after seemingly hiding under the benches.

They all have a Bible in their hands, but strangely their clothes are torn, and their faces are sunken. The devoted priest knows, of course, nothing about why they look so... dead.

[Did you forget us already, father? We are all down there], say all the children in unison while staring at the priest.

"No, of course not, but what are you doing up here? Shouldn't you all be in your room?" says the priest, who became one nearly thirty years ago.

[What do you mean, father? We are all still down there. You can look], say the children and point at the carpet, even the blonde boy and the girl.

The priest wants to open the hidden door under the carpet but doesn't dare and asks, "But why did you all come up here, children? You should rest down there."

The next moment, the light flickers in the church, and the children surround the 'holy' man.

[We came here to give you back the book because we don't need it anymore], say the children and raise the Bibles.

"What? Wait, no, they belong to you all. It will hel---" Before he can finish, a Bible flies towards him and hits him in the face, and he stumbles back, while bleeding out of his nose.

"Wait, no, I only---" he can't finish again because the next Bible hits him on the back of his head, and he falls to the ground.

[Didn't you say it can relieve any pain?], say the children as they begin to throw the Bibles at him.

"N- N- N- N- No!!!"

In the end, only screams can be heard from the holy man, who is found the next morning buried under a bunch of Bibles.

~~~ Interstate 90, Minnesota ~~~

After Cthylla freshened up and we grabbed something to eat, we hit the road towards Windom to get our new papers. I stayed mostly on the side roads till I had to drive on the interstate because of some road works.

"Let's rest in the next town, my ass is already flat after sitting the whole time... and we need to find a music store, this music is killing me..." complains the beauty next to me while looking at a road map.

If I wasn't immortal, I would get a heart attack now. Twenty years in another world and she suddenly doesn't like jazz anymore...

I stay strong after this emotional damage and say, "We are near Windom. Let us hit the last miles and rest there."

She thinks about it but when the sign for Fairmont comes into view, she says excitedly, "Wait! Let's rest here. There should be a few good lakes where we can relax."

Is this an octopus thing? Even in the old world, she always wanted to be near water... Ah, why not if this makes her happy?

"Yeah sure, why not? Let's relax there a bit." I say and take the exit to the city and hope they have no music stores there.

We park near Hall Lake, and Cthylla takes out her new bikini happily, which makes the trip here worth it, and we walk hand in hand towards the water.

But after a few minutes, she suddenly stops and looks around confused.

Since I can't feel anything strange, I ask her, "Is something wrong?"

"I thought I felt a familiar presence..."

"Familiar like father familiar?" I ask her and focus on my perception to find something.

"No... it's someone else. The presence was coming from this direction." She says and points towards a stall selling swimsuits.

But except for the stall owner and a normal guy with ugly red trunks and a white tank top, there is no one to be seen.