Fantasy Inescapable Shadows

[CeriseFern]

"The dreams are actually a byproduct of a bigger issue," he sighed trying another book, this was never going to work and he gave up just a moment "I must admit they're my fault. I intended for them to be contained in my dreams but after not sleeping for so long I guess they managed to worm their way into other people's dreams. Only blood relatives as far as I can tell. They're... Aliens, I suppose? It was the only way I could think to trap them."

What would be the best way to explain all of this? Where to start? It was... All too much.
"Have you heard of Dr Charles Shawcross before? I recall a time where not a single magical soul didn't know his name, but he's been dead a good 12 years. So, I'm not sure anymore what people know of him," it was likely a thing they taught in magical history Gracen figured, but that didn't mean Caleb knew of him. Or maybe they just buried that chapter of history the moment they buried him. Gracen hadn't thought much of it until just then. He held so much power in the magical community in his last few years, despite all the hatred. He'd invented so many spells and wrote so many books. More than people realized, he hadn't even published half of them. If it weren't for his twisted world view he could've been the greatest of his time. Early death was a blessing.

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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[div class=PostieBox][div class=PostieBall][div class=PostieAvie][/div][/div][div class=PostieName]Caleb Rulivae[/div][div class=Credit]Created by @IdyllicDreamer[/div]
If not for the fact that Gracen was currently explaining some of the situation to him, Caleb likely would have thrown his hands up in the air and asked why did he keep summoning all those books just to get rid of them. He might have also ended up asking what they were for, curious questions from a boy who liked to read. Yet now wasn't the time, as he instead tried to absorb the fact that the dreams weren't even the worst of it. Aliens were involved, an almost silly concept considering what he could have seen of them in movies, read in stories.

"I don't... remember if I heard that name before, Mom's the one teaching my class and she's mostly been having us practice basic spells and techniques. She said..." Pausing for a moment he couldn't help a little smile, since most of his class had found this funny. Most of his class had also agreed with him when they wished their other teachers felt the same way. She made it fun.

"She said history wasn't going anywhere, but we were, and that she wanted us equipped for the next few years before we... delved into the past." Beyond that if she had mentioned the name at some point, perhaps when talking about one of the books they might have been looking at, he didn't really remember it.

"Why, who is he...?" Curiosity, a desire to understand more about the situation, was starting to win out over the other emotions the boy was feeling. At least without how mom in the room, who was still the source of his a lot of his pain at the moment.

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[CeriseFern]

"He's... Well," Gracen tried another book and mumbled to himself "damn, my office is a mess now. I'll never find what I'm looking for."
He set it down on the coffee table not even bothering to send it right back. 'Dragon's Bait'. It was a gift Evie gave to him when they were both pretty young. A birthday or something. He was a bit surprised he still had it. Of course, he never threw out books if he could help it.

"Dr Shawcross was perhaps the most powerful spellcaster of his time. He created hundreds of spells in his lifetime, maybe more, and published a good dozen books and wrote even more that were undistributed. But, he was also a huge advocate of decriminalizing a lot of dark magic," Gracen took a second and unthinkingly opened up the book he left on the table. Reading over the clumsily written happy birthday note Evie left all those years ago. He couldn't help but smile, despite the darkness in their conversation.
"A lot of people thought he was committing crimes, they were right of course, but could never seem to prove it. Not until he turned himself in, for seemingly no reason... I should get to the point," he closed the book and sighed finally looking directly at Caleb, "your grandfather was Dr Shawcross, and as his last act he tried 'blessing' his bloodline with incredible control over dark magic."

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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[div class=PostieBox][div class=PostieBall][div class=PostieAvie][/div][/div][div class=PostieName]Caleb Rulivae[/div][div class=Credit]Created by @IdyllicDreamer[/div]
Another book came, and apparently there was just some problems with wherever he was getting them from? Which just brought about more questions, like why wasn't he cleaning his room, or something like that. Yet instead of getting into that, those questions, the boy just kind of blinked at the book he had, as if that was far more interesting than anything else he happened to be saying right now. Which it could have been, almost, for one specific reason.

"I have that book too!" Caleb almost sounded a little excited for a moment, which might have seemed very odd considering the entire flow of the conversation, as well as how upset he technically still was about certain details. It was just surprising to see him with that book, Dragon's Bait, since he expected him to have more grown-up books, or something like that. None of the others he grabbed seemed special like that, or familiar at all. Yet this one...

"It's one of the first books my mom got me for my shelf. Want to see..?" While Caleb still wasn't quite sure if he liked Gracen, he didn't exactly dislike him either. He did want to know more about him, about all of this...

"You can keep telling me about how bad the whole blessing with black magic thing went, on the way there and... there." He kind of motioned towards his room, and spoke in such a way that suggested he figured out they were connected. His grandfather 'blessed' them with dark magic and now there was dark magic causing problems? Clearly some kind of connection.

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[CeriseFern]

Gracen was a bit surprised on how excited Caleb seemed to be all of the sudden. It wasn't that odd that he seemed to enjoy books, he was pretty sure Evette saw to that. But given their conversation, he figured Caleb would be too upset to be distracted. Either way, Gracen rolled with it. Standing up he grabbed the book from the table and followed Caleb up the stairs. Opting to hold onto the book rather than returning it to his office.

"After finding out the side effects of his spell, I started researching his magic so I could find a way to reverse the effects," Gracen added, as Caleb told him to continue. They reached the top of the stairs and he stopped talking for a moment. He figured the conversation could pause so he could see what Caleb wanted to share.

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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[div class=PostieBox][div class=PostieBall][div class=PostieAvie][/div][/div][div class=PostieName]Caleb Rulivae[/div][div class=Credit]Created by @IdyllicDreamer[/div]
That might have explained all the books really, research or something like that probably took a lot of those. Like his school work could, though now a days a lot of it was on the computers so it was easier to access... Though he probably didn't have that option. Thoughts of that nature ran through Caleb's mind as he lead Gracen upstairs, though the mess he had made... that he was now starting to regret while calmed down. The boy would lead the man straight to his room.

The room was a bit of a mess as well, some old toys he had as well as newer ones laying around, the bed almost turned over sideways from his torrent of emotions that morning. One thing was mostly untouched, the large somewhat expensive looking bookshelf in his room. It was filled with books, of all types and sizes. A sturdy, old, thing that housed a passion he had while growing up. Though the biggest detail of it all would have been the carving of a book, a teapot, and a bell arranged in a way Gracen might have found familiar, with the words 'Hapless Dreamer' carved underneath.

"This is my book collection... annnd.... here it is, 'Dragon's Bait' see?" Caleb would have reached up to pluck the smaller book off of the shelf as he spoke, one that he read a couple years ago. It wasn't his favorite but his mom seemed fond of it for some reason.
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[CeriseFern]

"O-oh," Gracen's voice wavered as he walked up to the bookshelf. Staring at the carving. He slowly reached up and lightly traced the carving. He hadn't seen this in years, it was a memory he buried in the furthest possible recesses of his mind. There were a lot of things Evie left behind that Gracen kept, and a lot of memories he did his best to keep alive but this was one that he did his damndest to bury and forget.

He realized after looking at it for a long moment in silence his eyes had begun to water, taking a step back he wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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[div class=PostieBox][div class=PostieBall][div class=PostieAvie][/div][/div][div class=PostieName]Caleb Rulivae[/div]
To be completely honest Caleb was very proud of his collection of books, they were something almost unique to him considering how widely off it was from the interests of most of his schoolmates. It was another one of those things that made him feel special... even if he hadn't felt like reading much since all of this started. That almost made him sad now, looking at them now as he wondered what Gracen was thinking taking them in, the man clearly liked books too right?

What Caleb didn't expect to see though was the tears on the mans face, eyes widening at them for a moment. Thought panicking for a moment, why was he crying? Well, not full out crying but clearly there was something happening there! Caleb didn't really know how to deal with these kinds of things, when another kid started crying usually a teacher or an adult dealt with it, not him!

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't meant to... to well, I mean..." The nervousness peeked out of him obviously.

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[div class=PostieBox2][div class=FakePost2][div class=PostieBall2][div class=PostieAvie2][/div][/div][div class=PostieName2]Evette Rulivae[/div][div class=Credit]Created by @IdyllicDreamer[/div]
It would be while in her greenhouse, pleased with the state of most of her plants, that that prickling sensation came back. A small frown forming as she looked towards the house, still concerned over how the discussion in there must have been going. Was Caleb doing better...? Something told her he wasn't, the sensation more than anything really. The temptation to go inside and make sure they were okay was growing, but would that be the best course of actions...? She didn't want to... get in the way of it, be overbearing.

Maybe a peek wouldn't hurt. Rolling her lips slightly in thought, wondering what more she could really do as she made her way back towards the house, covering her ears to avoid... causing any problems for Gracen if she overheard anything. Though she felt a little silly all the while, only to pause a blink when she didn't see him, or Caleb, in the living room anymore. Where had they gone...?

"Caleb...? Gracen...?" Evette called out softly, confused, with her hands no longer covering her ears.
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[CeriseFern]

"Oh, Caleb, no, it's not..." Gracen just shook his head and sighed, "I'm sorry, well it's just..."
He put his hand back up the carving, tracing the lines as he thought over it. All those years, all those dreams. Just thinking about it he felt ready to cry some more but held it back for Caleb's sake. For a moment he debated if he should say anything more, but he looked over to Caleb a moment deciding that he might as well explain. Still, he turned his attention to the bookshelf as he spoke.
"Your mother and I were going to open a cafe and bookstore... We planned it, well all our lives really. I think I've wanted to own a bookstore since I was your age. She wanted to have it up and running before we had kids, and I... The last year we were together I was secretly saving some extra money so we could start it up earlier than we anticipated," he couldn't help but give a soft bitter laugh, "she actually walked out just a few days before I was going to tell here we had enough to buy the space we wanted."

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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It was concern that drove the woman upstairs, more than anything. After receiving no response, no sign of them anywhere downstairs, before she decided to check the only other place she could see Caleb taking him. To his room, probably to show something off... or maybe talk about the place the nightmares happen? That one was an odd thought, but it would have been more on topic than where there conversation had actually gone.

Evette made it up the stairs just in time to hear the tail end of that conversation, to hear mention of the once dream, the very reason she had written 'Hapless Dreamer' on the bookshelf. It was a message to herself, a joke for Caleb, and a permanent reminder of what could have been. A fond memory more than anything, that felt a bit bittersweet right now as she caught the last words. They had enough, her heart clenched at the words. Would she have been able to leave had she known that? Honestly she wasn't sure. There were a lot of new truths she had learned lately that had her second guessing what had once been a conviction.

"Oh... well... do you still have the money..? Maybe you guys could get it now?" Caleb suggested, the best idea he could think of on that. As if things were that simple.

"Now are you suggesting that to be nice or do you just want another book store to raid for your collection, hm?" Evette decided that would be as good a time as any to stop in. Smothering her feelings for the moment to try and spare Gracen from having to answer that, tone a mock teasing as she tried to put the spotlight onto Caleb.

"What? No! I-it's nothing like, nothing... like that!" His tone had become a bit more nervous again, as he glanced over at her before looking away quickly.

"Sorry for listening in I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, and just... I just came up the stairs a moment ago when I didn't see you two in the living room." Considering she had more than obviously given away she knew what they were talking about.
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[CeriseFern]

"Oh," Gracen couldn't hide fast enough that he'd been startled, turning back to look at her standing in the doorway. It was odd to him that he didn't detect her presence. Had he really been that distracted? He held up the book in his hand quickly trying to mask his upsetment, and move the conversation along "well, since my office is a mess now," he said jokingly accusatory, "I accidentally grabbed this book instead of the one I wanted to show Caleb."
He finally let the book go and it dissipated into the air, "I think I'd actually have to go back to find what I wanted, but it's fine. We don't need it or anything. Just a thought."
It probably wouldn't help any more than just talking over things, but Gracen always turned to books to explain himself so it was only natural. Despite the pain, he was glad to have seen the bookshelf.

 

[IdyllicDreamer]

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He was covering up about as much as she was there, the woman could tell. Though of course she wouldn't call him out on it, not wanting to make anything about this more painful than it had to be, not with how everything was right now. Instead she played along to it, the easier parts of it all, the safe joking around and having fun, rather than confronting any of the problems right now. It was easier this way, and with everything happening there was no need to really handle the 'adult' matters. Especially not in front of Caleb.

"Oh no, I didn't leave it a mess I organized those books. You so cannot call the haphazard way they were strewn about, safely I'll admit, as organization." She retorted, pointing a finger at him. Playful, lighter, away from the more complex problems as she wanted.

"I hate it when she cleans up my room too, always puts everything in the wrong spot." Caleb interjected, with a little smirk on his face that suggested he was trying to be a shit.

"No, you only hate it when you're hiding something under the bed. Should I check now...?" That would be about the point where Caleb would start pushing her out of the room.
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[CeriseFern]

As he watched the two he smiled and for the most fleeting of moments his mind entertained the idea that this was his life, that it always had been. That he hadn't by some poor man's luck the misfortune of walking in on a stranger's life. As much as that thought hurt, they really were strangers. And this could never be his life. He could almost feel the tears well up in his periphery, but nothing came.

"Ah, I," he didn't want to interrupt, yet, "I think I told him everything I can. At least, without a lengthy history discussion," a nervous half laugh and he adds, "you'll, understand when he explains."

He passed the two, overly careful not the touch either of them, and before he went down the stairs mumbled "I need some fresh air," perhaps overly quickly leaving the house. At least, noticeably so.