Chapter 146 “Ashes”
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Heidi detected nothing out of the ordinary in her father’s manner of speaking when she began to describe her day.
“Certainly,” she answered openly, giving a nod for emphasis. “Vanna and I visited Mr. Duncan’s antique store today. We had a brief conversation with him, and then I conducted a hypnotherapy session for Nina. After wrapping things up, Vanna and I returned home.”
As she concluded her account, Heidi found herself hesitating briefly. She contemplated whether to tell her father about what Nina had shared concerning the recent museum fire, as well as Vanna’s peculiar reaction to that news. Ultimately, she chose not to divulge this information.
She couldn’t shake off the memory of Vanna’s grim facial expression during their drive back. Heidi had a lurking suspicion that there were potentially perilous forces involved in the recent events. These forces seemed so ominous that even discussing them could put one under scrutiny. Her father, Morris, although a devoted follower of Lahem, the god of wisdom—just like she was—was more of an academic than someone adept at navigating such treacherous waters.
Unaware of her internal struggle, Morris maintained his calm and placid expression. “You seem to have spent a considerable amount of time at the antique store,” he observed gently. “Did you get carried away conversing with Mr. Duncan? He’s quite an intriguing character, isn’t he?”
Heidi’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink as she felt slightly embarrassed. “Well, not really. The hypnotherapy session with Nina ended up taking longer than I anticipated.”
Upon hearing Nina’s name, Morris’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “With Nina, you say? Isn’t she one of my students? Did the session not go well? Is she struggling emotionally, perhaps affected by the recent fire at the museum?”
Heidi had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at her father’s rapid-fire questions. “Dad, you’re so invested in your students, aren’t you? Don’t fret; Nina is doing just fine. She was a little anxious, but my relaxation techniques seemed to work. She should be in good shape for her finals. The reason for the delay was something entirely different.”
Intrigued, Morris let out a curious sound. “Oh?”
“Ah, I guess I’ve been more worn out than I realized,” Heidi admitted, chuckling awkwardly. “After hypnotizing Nina, I actually dozed off myself and slept until the evening.”
Morris looked momentarily taken aback, but he quickly regained his usual tranquil demeanor. “Falling asleep during a hypnotherapy session doesn’t sound like something you’d typically do.”
Heidi waved her hand dismissively, becoming visibly impatient. “People aren’t perfect, Dad. Besides, I haven’t had a break in a long time. Can we please not turn this into an interrogation? Both you and Mom get so worried if I come home just a tad late, as if I’m not capable of taking care of myself…”
Morris gazed quietly at Heidi for a brief moment. His face then transitioned, as it usually did, into a kind and gentle smile. “Alright, I won’t pry any further. There’s some food in the kitchen you can warm up. I’m going to check on your mother.”
“Sure thing,” Heidi responded, nodding her head. She took a few steps toward the kitchen before abruptly turning back to face her father. “You’re planning on going back to the antique shop later, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Morris confirmed, pausing at the entrance to the bedroom. The light from a wall sconce in the hallway cast a muted yellow glow on his face, exaggerating the lines and creases and shrouding him in a patchwork of shadows. “Is there something specific you’d like to tell me?”
“I left the shop quite hastily today and didn’t have the opportunity to properly discuss Nina’s situation with Mr. Duncan. I intend to write him a letter about it; could you deliver it when you go?”
“Certainly,” Morris nodded. Then, almost as if musing to himself, he added softly, “Yes, I do have to make another visit.”
After Heidi left for the kitchen, Morris stood at the threshold of the bedroom with a look of deep thought. His eyes seemed focused on something far away, and it took nearly fifteen seconds before he let out a gentle sigh and opened the bedroom’s dark wooden door.
The room was dimly illuminated by a small wall lamp, casting a soft glow that barely revealed the figure lying on the bed.
Morris securely locked the door behind him and took cautious steps toward the bedside.
“My love, how are you doing tonight?” he whispered softly.
Before him on the bed lay a pile of ashes that eerily maintained a human-like shape, which seemed to emit faint murmurs in response to his words. From within the ash, a complex knot was being woven on a strand of beautiful silk cord, moving meticulously from one loop to another.
“You’ve always had remarkable craftsmanship,” Morris praised, interpreting the faint murmur as a form of acknowledgment. His face brightened into a warm smile. “The one you made for me still holds a special place in my study.”
The room returned to a contemplative silence as if time had come to a standstill. After about thirty seconds, Morris broke the stillness. “Heidi went out today. When she returned, I noticed that one of the carnelian beads on her bracelet was missing.”
The pile of ashes on the bed froze for a moment and then let out a low, guttural noise that sounded almost like a growl.
“We’re not entirely sure what happened. If it’s a sign of divine intervention from our Lord Lahem, then it implies that Heidi encountered something today that was potent enough to breach her psychic barriers. But Heidi herself seems unaware of any danger, and I didn’t sense any malevolent intent aimed at her,” Morris spoke slowly and deliberately. “It’s almost as if she unwittingly ‘brushed against something,’ which activated the protective magic imbued in her bracelet.”
Morris abruptly halted his train of thought, focusing intently on the subdued murmurs that seemed to come from the ash-like form resting on the bed.
“When I pointed out the missing bead, Heidi realized it was gone. But here’s the complicated part—she thinks the bead was never there in the first place,” Morris nodded, adding a layer of complexity to the situation. “I believe it might be a self-defense mechanism, perhaps stemming from her intuition or even what could be seen as a form of ‘enlightenment’ from our god of wisdom, Lahem. Regardless, this innate protective instinct is stopping her from looking deeper into the matter.”
“As for myself, I have every intention of investigating the situation personally,” Morris declared.
The ash mound on the bed seemed to undulate subtly as though acknowledging his resolve.
Shaking his head, Morris continued, “I recognize that there might be risks involved, so I’ll take precautions. I’ll pray and use divination methods for guidance. However, I feel compelled to go. I’ve visited that antique shop before, you see. It seemed like a typical store, run by a hardworking proprietor and frequented by an earnest young student—Nina. At that time, I didn’t detect any malignant energy or dark forces hiding in its corners.”
“So, if the element of danger only made its presence felt today during Heidi’s visit, then Mr. Duncan—the shopkeeper and also my student—may himself be in some form of peril. I have a moral obligation as his mentor and a spiritual duty as a follower of Lahem to investigate.”
Finishing his words, Morris paused to listen to the barely audible whispers emanating from the ash form on the bed. He seemed to be deep in contemplation before finally shaking his head.
“No, I cannot involve the cathedral authorities. Their methods, while potentially effective, are far too aggressive. They prioritize stamping out heresy and neutralizing evil forces above all else, which could inadvertently endanger Mr. Duncan. Plus,” he paused, exhaling a subdued sigh before proceeding, “I’d rather not draw the cathedral’s attention to myself. After all, I am a heretic in hiding, a man whose faith is slowly waning.”
Morris’s voice softened as his eyes settled on the ashes lying on the bed— the material remnants of his wife who had perished in a terrible fire eleven years earlier. His eyes seemed to fixate on the shadowy imprint she had left in this physical world.
A part of the ashes lifted, resembling an arm that gently caressed Morris’s cheek.
“I understand,” Morris bowed his head, his words both a mumbled soliloquy and perhaps a confession to some unseen divine presence. “I am a man of inconsistent faith, too fearful to sever myself fully from Lahem’s grace. On that day, the god of wisdom granted me the sight to see through illusions. But I lacked the courage to use it fully; I chose to live in a partial reality where I could keep you close, albeit not in a form I could hold. In doing so, I’ve trapped myself in this strange limbo.”
As Morris raised his head, he attempted to cup the ethereal arm of ashes in his hands, but his fingers effortlessly passed through the delicate form.
“How I wish I could be as blissfully unaware as Heidi so I could perceive another facet of you, another version of your existence. It’s been eleven long years since I’ve actually seen you.”
A delicate noise arose from the mound of ashes on the bed, resembling the soft rustle of sand shifting in the wind or the gentle crackling of a warm hearth. Morris attuned his ears to the sound, feeling his emotional turbulence slowly subside and stabilize.
“I get it, I really do,” Morris spoke softly, as if in an intimate conversation. “All of this is temporary. Every performance reaches its concluding act, and whatever mysterious force answered my desperate prayers that fateful day will, sooner or later, come to collect its due. In many ways, I’ve been ready for that moment for a long time. When that time does come for the cosmic scales to be balanced, I’ll disappear entirely from this plane of existence, vanishing without a trace. Even the tendrils of my presence in the subspace—the shadows of a once-living man—won’t be allowed to interact with or touch this physical world through the power of the ‘wish’ I once made.”
As he spoke, Morris lifted his eyes to focus on the ethereal shape within the pile of ashes, which was dimly lit by the room’s faint illumination.
“But until that inevitable day arrives,” he paused, his voice tinged with a mix of sorrow and hope, “please, could you stay with me, even if it’s just for a little while longer?”
Holy fuck. This story keeps getting better and better
Holy cow! I caught up with the story in the most anticipated clifhanger
Damn.
So there are “some” pland citizens that are dead but are still “alive” as an ash remnant. Maybe Nina is already dead?
probably that’s why they didn’t see nina in her own dream but doesn’t duncan can see through tempered reality?
you must not read the few chapters back thoroughly, Duncan already ask Nina about is she having a dream that night when Duncan invade Shirley’s dream, but Nina says that she didn’t dream about looking at the fire instead kicked by horse and cow, that’s why Duncan didn’t see her that time
THIS BEING KICKED SO HEAVILY MATCHES SHIRLEY’S BEATING THE SHADOW IN HER DREAM WITH HER DOG
Pretty sure the fact that Nina dreams about being kicked by a cow is a reference to the time Shirley said how bad her sleeping posture is.
no, at least what I understood is that Morris has been blessed by an evil entity to provide for his wife a little longer. Sort of like Ron who used some kind of blessing to cure himself of his illness, possibly
Why mr. Morris giving me old neil vibes, stoppppp i don’t want it?
I miss old Neil T_T
ohh no \ not this again haih
Well I certainly wasn’t expecting fucking that. I have been wondering since they went to the factory if the reason no one has had children in that area is because they aren’t alive.
And if so, how many other people in Pland are ghosts moving around with ashes as their anchor. I even thought for a moment that maybe most if not all of Pland was burned, and the people dead, but everyone thinks and sees it all as normal.
Fuck yeah my theory was right, the reason theres no births is because these mfers dont exist, how can they give birth