Day 2: Year C-009

...

"You're heading out with that sorry excuse for equipment?" Chenille called out as they were in the process of carrying timber inside the cabin.

"Oh, so sorry, I don't own deluxe fishing rods of the finest lumber and silver twine! This fishing rod is the most acceptable I could do under short notice, Lone Wolf." The medic sassily remarked as he grasped an old, navy-blue fur coat found in the front entrance closet. "Hah, now this is quite fashionable!"

The former Temple Guard shuddered and turned away.

"Whatever suits you, Airhead. Your quota for this late morning brunch is a minimum of five medium, eight-by-eleven fish. Don't come back empty-handed, and don’t bother Mikey, y'hear?"

Mikey clutched a duplicate grey coat and exited the house first, still adorning his out-of-fashion choir boy hat.

"I wish you both a successful and safe voyage!" Zanna called out as she gracefully entered the washroom.

"Ha!... Hey, Lone Wolf. We'll be gone for a while, so show the lovely Priestess a good time," The medic winked before closing the front entrance and marching into the snow-covered ground.

‘Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if I picked him up and hurled him as far as I could...’ They silently shook their head in annoyance and carried lumber inside the cabin.

As Chenille closed the door, Billiam and Mikey felt the chilling winter atmosphere embrace their faces. Though it was sunny, through winter pelts, the cold stung their fingers. Billiam refused to let the low temperature get under his skin, so he grinned and pivoted toward the choir boy, who was visibly shivering.

"Say, Mikey, care for a race to that pond we came across earlier?"

"I dunno, wouldn't that deplete the energy we need to conserve? We're not guaranteed to eat-"

"Bah, you talk too much, Mikey! Live a little, why don’t you and play a game of tag?" The medic grinned and quickly manoeuvred down a path with little snow.

‘This is a ploy to get me to use magic, isn't it? Well, it won't work!’ The choir boy internally grumbled as he dashed behind the untroubled surgeon for roughly 20 minutes.

As the two approached a small yet beautiful lake, Mikey's hat twitched, which brought panic to the choir boy.

‘W-What is it this time?! Stay still, stupid, finicky things!’

"You're looking paler than usual! What's under the hat?" Billiam chuckled as he grabbed bait for his fishing rod. "...Wait, now that I think about it, I've never seen you without it. How come you're still wearing that crummy thing from the Temple?"

"It's not crummy!" Mikey hissed before falling silent and holding his bait.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I don't have to."

"Oh, please spare me your half-baked confidence! What's the worst that I could do?"

"Steal my hat, like you always do with others' belongings, annoying thief, who barely qualifies as a proper medic," Mikey grunted as he and Billiam cast their rods. 

"Ouch, someone's starting to embrace his sassy side... But why are you so defensive about your head? Are the ears, bird wings or whatever the hell’s forming beginning to grow?”

Mikey attempted to ignore the medic, but Billiam read the ex-choir boy like a book.

“...You do realize all growing men on the Island have one animal-like feature that's a part of them. For example, I have wolf ears upon my head,”

Mikey huffed and paid attention to fishing. Though he slowly turned to Billiam with a confused expression.

"...Wait, if you have wolf-like features, why do you call Chenille ‘Lone Wolf’? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Ha! It's quite a long story. But I'll only tell if you tell me what's underneath your hat," Billiam snickered as the choir boy grumbled.

Just as Mikey cast his fishing rod toward the unfrozen part of the lake, he heard a voice.

‘I sense a great power within you, young Medium.’

Mikey couldn't help but flinch and fall back after hearing the mysterious voice.

In an instant, a figure of a ghastly woman appeared from seemingly nowhere. She materialized as breathtaking as the full moon with clear skies, her long hair dropped over her body, and her golden eyes shone with tenderness. The most noticeable feature was her wide bat wings attached to the side of her head. She sadly gazed at the frightened choir boy as he let out a terrified scream.

"Mikey, what in the devil is going on?! You scared the fish away!” The medic called out, unaware of Mikey's vision.

‘Why does he call you Mikey? Is that the name your parents chose?’

Before allowing the distant voice to continue, Mikey let out another, louder scream.

"PLEASE D-DON'T SAY ANYTHING!"

The choir boy's eyes rolled upward and developed into a ghastly white colour, revealing the woman to Billiam, who became uncharacteristically caught off guard.

"OH SHIT-"

"A-Ah! Mortals! Truthfully, I mean no harm!"

The medic froze in place and slowly turned to the woman, skeptical of her words.

"Oh, sure, and I have three arms!" Billiam sarcastically called out before realizing the ghastly woman stood on the water. She had no ice breath from the low temperatures.

‘A demon?! I thought they weren't real, like Saint Nicholas and taxes!’

The surgeon anxiously thought to himself as he attempted to move again.

"You both must understand, I am merely a messenger, and this young one named 'Mikey' will carry on as one as well."

"...You're saying the name ‘Mikey’ weirdly, why is that-"

"We have no time for name debates!" Mikey barked as he collapsed to the ground in awe. "...Are you... really..."

"An undead spirit? Affirmative, young one. Is it not everyday knowledge that our heritage possesses the ability to communicate with the deceased?" The woman depressingly questioned.

Billiam cleared his throat and folded his arms in amazement at the spirit’s benevolent presence.

"Ah, where we're from, the undead are considered demonic. The Head Priest and Royalty in charge claims ‘either you're alive or dead, and there's no in-between’..." Billiam rolled his eyes, sarcastically recalling teachings from the Temple.

Meanwhile, Mikey was unaware of his abilities and wondered why Billiam bothered to stay in one place instead of running away. Then, the former choir boy's sharp mind quickly wandered to his Mother's words about denying the existence of spirits.

‘So, my Mother was concealing something the day before I left, after all. She and Father prohibited telling me who our family were when I accidentally overheard them mentioning their deceased relatives... So does this suggest that they sent me to live at the capital's Temple that day... They could have?...’

The choir boy sensed a surge of negative emotions that overcame him like crashing waves against the dark sands of Grand Island. His tears began to creep at the corners of his wide, disappointed eyes.

“How heartbreaking. It appears the sands of time have pushed everyone to overlook our people's rich history. How many Mediums are left since I perished in this very lake? A thousand? One hundred?...”

The woolly hat of the choir boy had toppled over, revealing slim, sharp bat wings springing from opposite sides of his head. The spirit’s eyes widened as she recalled that the mark of Mediums, regardless of gender, was bat wings.

“One... Just one.”

Billiam genuinely looked terrified and immediately went to awkwardly comfort the young, weeping boy.

“I thought about it for a while. Well, no, that’s a lie. I’ve been distracting myself by constantly reading fantasy books… What I mean to say is, my parents haven’t written back to me in a long while, not since last year. I-I think they might have ended up…”

The rest of Mikey's words were unintelligible.

The surgeon’s sarcastic demeanour melted away in an instant. His eyes softened with empathy as he knew what the choir boy was implying regarding his parents’ fates.

Billiam immediately went to embrace Mikey. The surgeon rather inadequately comforted the sobbing boy. Alas, he tried.

“Mikey! I-I’m sure they’re alright-”

"You sorrowing thing. At such an age, no child should worry on behalf of their parents about wretched affairs... It seems my comrades, in the end, failed to provide our message to the people of our Island. I am mortified and apologetic that we could not save children like you... For our sake, would you please hear my message?"