A Swarm of Flies

The room faded away behind them as they began to float through the starry sea once again. John saw the vague outlines of neighbourhood rooftops below them, but the mist they chased showed little interest in invading other bedrooms. It was clear to John it had a destination in mind. The houses soon turned to skyscrapers as they soared into the heart of the city.

“The Astral Plane is closely connected with the material plane,” Lorelei reminded John, having sensed his budding question. “It is possible to travel to specific geological locations, as we are now, following the echo of this geist.”

The city was strange when viewed from the Astral Plane. Unlike Emelia’s bedroom, which had been reconstructed to the material, the skyscrapers they passed were roughly defined with gleaming blue light, forming a bare framework. Still, it was enough to get a sense of where they were. John recognised Chelsea’s apartment building, having visited it for the first time earlier that day, and soon after Mitchum Hospital.

Abruptly, John felt a tug on his arm, as Lorelei pulled them to a stop. “What is it?” John asked, sensing her alarm.

Lorelei pointed ahead, to a figure in the distance. John squinted, seeing what looked to be another geist currently floating along the face of a skyscraper. “That is not an echo; that astral geist is here with us,” Lorelei warned. “Look, there are several more,” she pointed to Mitchum Memorial Park below them, where gaseous clouds lazily floated over treetops and patrolled the paved paths. “We should find a place to hide and observe,” she advised, pulling them towards a rooftop.

“Fucking hell, how many are there?” John muttered, spotting dozens more from their new vantage point. From what John could see, their number was near fifty. “Why are there so many? We were pretty much alone until now.”

“They must be acting as a group.” Lorelei frowned as she answered. “Which is truly bizarre; until now I thought they were solitary hunters.”

“So something is organising them?” John suggested.

“That could be the case, yes,” Lorelei agreed. “Although, whoever or whatever that might be must be quite powerful to exhibit control over so many geists. In any case, this is a dire obstacle in our path; what is it you want to do?”

“We have to press on,” John grimaced. “We need to find out where those missing souls went.”

“I fear the risk is too great,” the seer worried.

“We have no other choice,” John argued back. “We can’t just ignore our best lead. And this isn’t the first time today Mitchum Park has been at the center of weird shit; I’m sure you’ve heard about the monster that attacked that park patrolman.”

“I have.” Lorelei nodded. “It is indeed a strange coincidence.”

“It gets more interesting,’ John continued. “When we spoke to the corpse, he mentioned the monster had some sort of gem embedded in his forehead. I’m wondering if that gem is at all similar to the ones that geist carried around its neck.”

“If you’re correct and there is a link between the two cases, then the situation could be far more critical than the Order realises,” Lorelei agreed. “We should return to the Material Plane and bring this to the attention of my Lady Warden and Lord Brighton.”

“We have no evidence, just speculation at this point,” John replied. “At the very least, I want to stay, watch, and learn as much as I can about what’s going on here,” he added, watching as one of the geists drew closer to their position. It floated a few stories down from where they hid, thankfully unnoticed. Once it was in range, John cast Observe.

“Alone it’s pretty weak…” John informed his companion as he experimentally summoned one of his swords. The katana materialised in his hand, the physical matter looking odd in his smokey hand. Nonetheless, his grip on the sword was solid; he could fight. His eyes drifted back to the swarm of them in the center of the park. “Altogether though… well, I’m not stupid enough to think I can beat them all.”

“Yet I sense your intent is to press on.” Lorelei frowned.

“How quickly could you get us out of the Astral Plane?” John chose to respond with a question.

Lorelei let out a heavy sigh, knowing his question was not asked with the intent of escape. “We would have to travel back to where we first entered.”

“Shit, that far?”

“It is not quite as ambitious as it sounds,” Lorelei replied, and lightly brushed the back of her neck. “We are tethered to the point where our bodies entered, it is a simple matter to return to them.”

John hadn’t noticed before, but a small wisp of starry matter lightly smoked from the back of the seer’s neck, forming a miniscule tendril that disappeared into the Astral Sea a short distance away.

“If I should desire it, we could be pulled back to our material selves in a matter of minutes,” Lorelei continued.

“So we’ll be able to move faster when pulled by the tether than we have been exploring the plane,” John suggested.

“That is correct,” Lorelei sighed again.

“Probably faster than those geists, say, if we end up poking the hornet’s nest and want to run the hell away?” he pressed.

“...We will be faster than the Astral Geists,” Lorelei relented, rubbing her temple in frustration. “I see you will not be swayed on this foolish endeavour, though I feel compelled to remind you, should we be at all separated, you will find yourself unable to return to your material body. You are not tethered.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna have us rush into battle,” John reasoned with her.

“I am, nonetheless, ‘worrying’.” The seer smiled wryly. “But if this is the course you wish to take, I, as always, will assist you as best I can,” Lorelei assured him.

”I just want to watch and see what the geists do, maybe kill a few and see what they have on them, and try to see where that geist we were following might have gone,” John continued. The echo of the geist had long since disappeared amongst the crowd of real ones.

It soon became clear that the vast majority of the geists wasn’t going anywhere soon. They were patrolling the area, guarding something. Whether that was something in the park itself or one of the adjacent buildings was unclear.

“Surely it's dangerous, having so many near a hospital,” John voiced the thought as it suddenly occurred to him.

“That is true,” Lorelei agreed, following John’s gaze to Mitchum Hospital. “A hospital would be a veritable feast for creatures like Astral Geists which prey on weak souls. That is why the Order has placed guards and wards on such locations. I worked with the Apothecaries to protect Mitchum Hospital myself.”

“Just one of the many ways you protect the city, huh? John mused.

“We do do more than just bluster at people and bludgeon anything we don’t like,” the seer scoffed playfully as a light smile spread across her radiant features. “But the aforementioned methods are certainly a faction favourite.”

John laughed. It suddenly occurred to him that she wasn’t all that much older than he was, and that he liked the young and playful girl hidden behind the wise and solemn seer. Then again, they’d just had mind sex, and John had a tendency to trip over girls he’d just fucked.

“I sense your thoughts are growing perverse.” The seer’s smile turned into a frown of disapproval.

“In the presence of such an upstanding member of the Order? Never,” John bowed in apology.

“Quips and sarcasm aside, seeing so many geists lingering, now, I am concerned for the state of the warding,” the seer said, steering the conversation back to the issue at hand. “It could certainly be what has drawn such a great number of geists, though it does not explain why they act so strangely. Unfortunately, from this distance, I cannot determine whether any wards remain working.”

“Then we should try getting closer,” John suggested.

If Lorelei had eyes, John was sure she would have rolled them then, but it seemed she had given up on arguing and resolved to aid him. So they began a careful creep along the buildings enclosing the park, heading towards Mitchum Hospital. They had to time their movements to avoid the patrolling Astral Geists, with a few very close calls along the way.

They paused once again, a building away from the hospital. “Looks like there’s several on the roof,” John said, while Lorelei cast a wary glance backwards to check if any geists happened to be creeping up on them. “Four total. If we’re quick, I can take them down.”

Lorelei nodded her assent, before they drifted onto the hospital roof and ducked behind some Astral matter which mimicked what John figured was a ventilation system. John summoned Tsuki, the silver sword reflecting the blue gleam of the stars around them, and bemoaned having to keep his left hand locked in Lorelei’s instead of brandishing his second blade. At least his powers still worked in the Astral Plane, else he’d have found himself totally unarmed, and given he could channel spells through his blades, one would probably still be enough.

“Can you tell anything about the building now?” John checked as he carefully watched the Astral Geists.

“It will take me a few minutes to get a sense for the entire building,” the seer replied nervously. “It is best we remove any immediate threats first.”

“Okay,” was all John said in reply before pulling them out from their cover and immediately slashing at on of the geists.

The blade caught the geist in the waist, slicing effortlessly through its incorporeal form. Its cloudy torso parted for a brief moment, where John had made his cut, before reforming, leaving him thinking his attack had failed to connect. His concern was quickly eased, however, as the hit registered for 67 points of damage, and its cloudy form began to fester and bubble with silverish rot where it had been cut. ‘Always make sure you carry a silver weapon,’ John noted to himself.

John heard a violent hiss in his mind as the spectre’s body whirled around to confront him. Before it could make any retort, John turned his wrist and immediately following up with a second slash that vaporised the geist. The other geists on the roof were beginning to stir now. John quickly dashed forward, Lorelei trailing weightlessly by the hand behind him, and thrust forward at the chest of another. The sword pierced easily through, skewering the spectre. John jerked the blade slightly, directing the tip of the sword towards another geist, which was fast approaching in its cloud form, and fired off a Mana Arrow. The magic attack struck true, bursting across the cloud in the blue light that quickly faded into their Astral surroundings. The cloud paused in its advance, shivered, turned, and darted for the edge of the rooftop. A second Mana Arrow finished it off. The geist still skewered on John’s blade let out a gurgling cry and reached a bony arm towards him. The arm fell limp as John twisted the blade again, before the spectre slid off the blade and faded into stars. The last Astral Geist was already flying away, but hadn’t yet escaped the roof.