Monsters in the Dark (Oro)

The creature had barely managed to escape. It didn't understand what had happened. The hunter seemed to be able to track it which was something that had never happened before. On top of that the hunter had been able to avoid falling into the traps that usually gave the creature it's power and advantages in battle. As if that wasn't bad enough for the creature the hunter had seemed to easily find ways of hurting it.

None of this made any sense. The creature had already killed a number of hunters, exorcist, priests, and many others of their like and yet this hunter had been unlike any other they had met before. So it had not choice but to retreat for the time being. However, once it had recovered, the creature was hellbent on feeding to gain more power and then it was going to find the hunter and make them pay for harming them. The creature had no intention of letting such a potentially dangerous enemy live for any longer than was absolutely necessary.

As it thought this the creature made it back to the house that it preferred to hide in. Because of what it was even spirits couldn't sense it and so it chose to always hide in places that we're haunted. That way should an enemy find the house by chance then they would likely think that only the resident onyro was what resided their which would either allow them to be overlooked, or to provide them with potential prey when they are in the mood. With these thoughts the creature slide into the realm in which it hide and began to rest while it prepared for what it intended to do the next day.

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Fury, that's all Tristan felt at the moment. The Tulpa had just barely managed to escape him, but barely escaping was still escaping and that was absolutely unacceptable to him. There was no way he would permit the creature to live. Not only had it killed his parents so long ago, but it had continued to cause all sorts of chaos for those who lived within it's hunting grounds ever since.

Most people thought Tulpa were benevolent beings created to exist only inside of oneself. However a few people had started to realize just what evil the creatures could cause. Strong enough Tulpas could take over the bodies of their creators. This is what was happening when people usually discussed split personalities. Admittedly this wasn't always a bad thing. However there have been many situations of people who claimed insanity, voices, or split personalities were the cause behind them doing unspeakable crimes. This was caused by one of three possibilities.

First there was always the option that the person was truly insane and possibly suffered from any number of mental disorders. While this option is terrible in many ways it could also be preferable. That's because all you had to do was lock the individual away and the level of threat from them was greatly reduced. While the other two options were much more troublesome to deal with.

The second possibility was suggestion or possession by a malevolent entity. This could be anything from a basic vengeful spirit all the way to a Demon. This was a worst situation because it required confirmation of what type of creature you're dealing with first. Then you would have to retrieve any tools necessary to deal with the offending creature. Finally you would have to determine the level and type of hold and control the creature help on the individual.

Usually the person could be saved from the encounter with whatever creature had invaded their mind and/or body. The only repercussions being a weakened state that could leave them more susceptible to future possession of not properly attended to. But sometimes there would be no way to help the individual and instead you would have no choice but to kill them in order to make sure whatever creature had a hold on them could never cause harm again. It was without question a worst case scenario situation but that didn't stop them from being necessary at some times.

Lastly there were the so called split personalities. These were the Tulpas. These monstrosities where easily the worse. They would take over the body of the person who created them and they would cause unspeakable evil. This was terrible enough especially for the host of the Tulpa. But the real problem was that there was no way to stop the Tulpas in this state. Tulpas are bound the their creators body, but once the creators die the Tulpas simply escape into the dream realm. The Tulpas would then from their strength in the dream realm until they could eventually cause any manner of evil in the real world. But that was only the Tulpas who were created by one person and we're therefore contained within the creators minds. There was another even more abominable form of Tulpa that existed though. Tulpas that had been created by more than one person. Especially if it had been done unintentionally and without realizing that it had been done at all.

That type of Tulpa was instantly free to move about within the dream realm. Because since they had been made by more than one person they were never bound within a creator. On top of that it didn't take long for them to discover how to cross over into the material plane. Tulpas this way were always malevolent as they were created out of fear or other equally negative emotions. Usually caused by some sort of mass fear caused by a single event. Which could be anything from a natural disaster, to the threat of some form of impending danger, to even something like the creation of a new horror movie, story, or show. As such because of the number of people involved in the creation of such Tulpas it usually resulted in the creation of monstrous Tulpas of unprecedented power. Which had been exactly what happened with the Tulpa that Tristan was dealing with now.

It had been created because of a string of murders that had occured which brought to mind the story of a particularly malevolent onyro. No onryo of that type had been active in the area of course. But the fear in the area created a Tulpa that was even worse than the original creature actually was. Of course because of the combination of the killer and the chaos caused by the Tulpas arrival many things got worse in the area. While the killer was eventually caught the damage had already been done. The area never truly returned to normal. A number of true onyro that the Tulpa had been based on where created by both the Tulpa and the original killer, the arrival of so much supernatural negative energy also caused more and more different types of onyros to appear and also caused curses of all types to appear as well. Tulpas were always a problem but this one had caused way more than it's fair share of chaos. Any one of these would be more than enough reason to destroy the creature. But the main reason Tristan wanted to destroy the beast was because of what it had caused him personally. The creature had killed his parents and left him an orphan. Worse it had turned both his parents into vengeful spirits as well. One of them had been taken care of long ago by the very man who had trained Tristan but the other one had hidden away in their families old house and as far as Tristan knew they were still haunting that house to this day.

That would also be the very house that he was standing outside of now. It had taken Tristan longer to reach the house than he had wanted to. But that didn't matter. He could sense the tear that had been made between the material plane and the dream realm. He could also detect the unique aura of the Tulpa that he hunted. On top of that he sensed what he believed to be the surviving vengeful spirit of his parent that hadn't been freed from their old house as well as some other sort of spiritual being that he wasn't really sure what to make of them. They felt peaceful and powerful but they also didn't feel like a normal spirit. This situation was sure to be interesting. Then the aura of the vengeful spirit that had been left by his parent suddenly disappeared. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure what had happened but he knew he had to get in the house as soon as possible. He let out a loud whistle and his spirit wolf guardian and companion appeared by his side. He smiled down at the wolf and asked "Ready to continue with this hunt my old friend?" The wolf seemed to smile at him in response. Tristan smiled in turn and then said "Well then. Let's get to it." The two then rushed to enter the house.

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Inside the house the Tulpa had left it's hiding spot inside the dream realm in order for it to prepare to find food so that it could go after the hunter that had tried to destroy it the evening before. However at that moment it sensed the vengeful spirit that resided in the house being freed from the place. This intrigued the Tulpa and so it decided to investigate. That's when it saw the young Yurei. But there was something strange about it. The Yurei almost felt human.

The Tulpa felt a perverse glee rise up inside of it and it decided that it wanted to feast on the young spirit girl. It quickly flung itself onto the spirit who seemed unable to escape the Tulpas grasp. The creature then lowered it's masked face toward the girl and asked the question that all true kuchisake onna would ask. Though the creature was actually a Tulpa it still acted in a similar fashion to the onyro it had been created in the image of. So because of this the Yurei would hear the creature ask "Tell me. Am I beautiful?"

However, it was at that very moment that a ball of blinding holy light appeared in the room and the Tulpa flew back as it shrieked in pain. Tristan then walk into the room, holding his staff before him as light still came off the end of it that he pointed at the Tulpa. He then looked at the wolf by his side and said "Protect the girl." He then walked closer to the Tulpa and said "While I can't personally comment on the appearances of real kuchisake onna. I can tell you without any doubt at all Tulpa. You are unbelievably hideous" With that said the Tulpa shot up as it let out a deathly scream and it flew towards Tristan. A large pair of scissors suddenly appear in it's right hand and it raised them above it's head as it prepared to attack. However, when it swung the scissors at the young man the blades impacted a wall of light instead of slicing into the young man as the monster had intended to do. Tristan smiled at the creature and said "I'll tell you one thing monster. I'm really going to enjoy this."

The Tulpa glared at Tristan as it was considering what to do. It couldn't believe the hunter had found it so quickly. As it thought this that is when it realized that the Yurei girl had sent out wards to create a binding seal. The creature quickly changed it's focus and flew towards one of the walls to attempt escaping. The seals seemed to burn the creature but it did seem to still be making some headway as it tried to go through the walls. In fact it almost seemed like the wards themselves were starting to burn away as well.

Tristan looked at the seals that the spirit had threw up and seeing what was happening between them and the Tulpa he decided to add his own power to help out with her ward. He placed the end of his staff 9n the ground in front of him and his staff seemed to float in place as he pulled his hands away. He then put his hands together and started making different shapes with his finger as he quickly mumbled under his voice. After a few seconds he threw his arms out to the sides of himself and magical glyphs appeared behind the wards. The wards quickly seemed to be repaired and then they glowed brightly as the glyphs seems to be absorbed into the wards. As soon as that was done the Tulpa seemed to be blown back away from the wall as purple lightning seemed to jump off of the creatures body.

The Tulpa glared at Tristan once more and then screamed as it flung itself towards the Yurei girl. It did know if it would be able to kill the hunter but based on the fact that it had succeeded in tackling the girl it was convinced it could kill her. However as it headed towards the girl the wolf jumped in front of her quickly in order to defend her from the Tulpa. At the same time Tristan had just finished completing another set of shapes with his hands as well as finishing another mumbled spell. He pointed both of his hands at his spirit companion and then the wolf appeared to grow larger after which armor appeared on its body and large sharp blades seemed to cover the wolves claws.

The Tulpa noticed what had happened but couldn't stop it's attack in time it's scissors harmlessly bounced of the wolves mystical armor and before it could retreat it felt the impact of the steal covered claws as they dug into the creatures side as it was swatted across the room back into one of the walls. Once again the Tulpa was blown off the wall while purple lightning seemed to spark all over its body. Tristan once again grabbed his staff with his left hand and pointed the top of the staff at the Tulpa while at the same time flatten out his right palm as if he praying. Then he said "In the name of the Father, and in defense of those you would one day surely harm." As he said this he raised his praying hand slightly upwards, then he moved his hand down towards the right as he continued to speak "In the the name of the Son, and so those that you have slaughtered can find peace and at last rest." His praying hand then moved from where it had stopped directly to the left as he once again continued to speak "And in the name of the Holy Ghost, and in the memory of my own parents, Alexander and Yui Emanuel." As his hand reached the left side it was obvious that Tristan was shaking with rage. He then moved his had to the center where all three pints would've met. He then places the end of his staff into his empty hand and as he did the light on the end of the staff began to glow even brighter and changed from a pure white light into am angry red light. He then pulled his staff back with both hands like he was preparing to lung with a spear and yelled "And finally form my own righteous vengeance and personal satisfaction! I cast you unto hell with holy flames. Feel their heat and despair in the knowledge that you will soon find yourself forever trapped in fires that will be a thousand times hotter for all eternity. A punishment easily no less than you deserve. Now be gone wretched monster!"

With that he lunged forward with his staff and a red beam seemed to scream as it flew out of the light at the end of his staff. The Tulpa try to escape but could find nowhere to go. As the beam hit the creature it leat out a nerve wrackingly shrill scream. The light seemed to travel throughout the creatures whole body and it shook in pure agony as veins of burning fire seemed to spider web their way through the creatures whole body. It then reeled back in pain as it stood to it's full hight on the tips of it's toes and screamed even louder. The fire then seemed to pulsate outwards from the cracks and each layer of the creature was burnt away and disappeared. The outer skin, then the muscles and tendons, finally followed by the bones. Not even ash remained of the creature.

The light faded from the tip of his staff and Tristan visibly exhale I'm relief as he said "At last. It's finally over. Please! Lord above. Let my parents finally rest in peace and tranquility as they deserve." At the same time the armor and metal claws disappear from around the spirit wolf and it returned to it's regular sign. The wolf sat in front of the Yurei girl and panted happily like an oversized dog as it looked at her. Tristan then walked up to the girl and smiled at her as he said "I'm happy to see that you're alright. That was a rather dangerous situation if I had gotten here any later who..." Suddenly Tristan stopped speaking. On the one hand he couldn't really believe his eyes, but I'm the other hand he had no doubt of what he was seeing. No matter how little it made sense to him. The Yurei girl in front of him was obviously his childhood friend. He took in a deep shaky breath as he quietly questioned "Kimiko? Kimiko Oride! Is that really you?" Without thinking he reached his once more empty right hand out towards her as it shook with visible fear from disbelief at what he saw before him. He heard she was okay. That she was some sort of exorcist. But she was before him as a spirit. He had hoped to see her. But had he been to late. Had she died while he was away. Had he failed another person from his childhood. He didn't know what to think as he stared at the girl.

As Kimiko started to fall, after passing out, Tristan and his spirit wolf quickly moved to catch her. Tristan watched as she shifted back to her human form and his fear subsided. He had heard about people who could change between mortal and spiritual forms but had never met one before now. He was just relieved to know that she was still alive.

He then looked over her wounds and slowly moved his staff over her body as he chanted under his breath. He was careful with his wording not wanting to inadvertently heart Kimiko because of her dual existence but the healing seemed to work flawlessly. She still seemed tired, and honestly he was starting to feel that way too. He wasn't sure if she still lived in the same place so he had his companion find her scent and follow it back to her home. He climbed onto the wolves back with Kimiko and then used a spell to leash them onto the spirits back. Afterwards he half dozed off. Awake enough to maintain his spell that kept him and his childhood friend strapped to the back of his companion, but also asleep enough so that he could regain some of his strength. He wasn't entirely aware of how long they traveled but eventually he was being shaken awake by his companion so that he could get Kimiko to whoever was there in order to help make sure that she was alright.

As Tristan looked upon the residence he recognized it from his childhood memories. He hadn't seen the house very many times, but it had been enough to still recognize it from site alone. He hadn't even had the chance to call for assistance when a man who appeared to be a butler opened the door and announced that Kimikos parents weren't home but that Tristan should still bring his childhood friend in nevertheless. He wasn't sure what it was but there was something different about this man who said to call him Nori.

Tristan hated to admit it, but he wasn't as knowledgeable about the different spirits and creatures of his mothers land as he would like to be. Because, his rescuer and teacher, Lionel had taken him back to his father's native land of America to train him. Even when they traveled abroad they mostly stayed in the Americas or Europe. As such most of his knowledge focused on those regions. He had researched some of lore of his mothers land, but that had only been enough for him to know what to expect when he found the monster responsible for killing his parents.

He had climbed off of his companion by this point, but he had kept a hold of Kimiko and continued to do so as they moved to go inside. He hoped the wolf would be allowed to enter but he wasn't sure how Nori would react, or even if the man could see the spirit. As they began to enter Tristan looked at the man and questioned "If you don't mind my asking. I was curious as to how you knew we were here? Did you recognize Kimikos presence, or was it something else that alerted you to our approach? Also, will her parents be back any time soon, or are they away on business for the time being?"

His words would most likely seem like simple small talk. But in truth he was trying to get a sense of the butler. It's not that he didn't trust the man per se, but after what he had been through the pass few days, and because of his training in general, his nerves were simply on high alert. Not to mention that ever since he had realized that the Yurei girl he had seen earlier was actually Kimiko he had been even more on guard in order to make sure that she was kept safe. Even now he had to focus not to draw on his powers in order to put more defenses up around himself, his companion, and most importantly his unconscious childhood friend.

Tristans eyes slightly cut at the way that Nori had seemed to dodge truly answering his questions. The butler he was also sure now had been able to see his companion. He hadn't kept the wolf out which was a good sign. But his aloofness hadn't done anything to really help relieve Tristans anxiety. Tristan didn't remember meeting anyone like Nori when he was little, and since Kimiko was unconscious he couldn't check with her to make sure everything was alright. So he was still on edge. Of course everything could be perfectly alright. But since it was always possible something bad had happened and this could ultimately be some kind of trap that meant he couldn't let his guard down.

Simple paranoia, possibly. But it also wasn't something unheard of happening in his line of work either. So once he reached the room he laid Kimiko down and then he sat down on the floor a little away from her, but still facing her, in a meditative position. He then rested his staff across his legs and a moment later his large wolf companion walked behind him and laid down. The wolf curled around Tristan until his back and both sides were blocked by the wolf. The wolf was so large in fact that it filled in the rest of the room between Tristans back and the wall a couple of feet behind him. The wolf almost looked like it had went to sleep, but anyone observant enough would notice the quick movements of the wolfs ears showing that it's guard was still up. Tristan himself was also paying close attention to everything around the group as well. Without looking away from Kimiko he then simply stated "I'll just wait here then." He wasn't trying to cause any trouble, but with his nerves the way they were he simply wanted to stay with Kimiko until he was absolutely sure that everything was truly safe for her.

Tristan felt a slight sense of ire rise up inside of him at the butlers words, and his companion could sense the emotional imbalance from him as well. The wolf started to raise his head but Tristan placed his had on it before he could in order to reassure him. Tristan considered the words of the man for a few moments before speaking softly to his companion saying "I'm not sure of what he speaks, or how he knows my name for that matter, but the presence a spiritual wolf like you shouldn't bother her. Especially after seeing her in her other form. So stay with her, and keep her safe. I'll not be far my old friend."

As Tristan got up and started to leave the room he looked back at Kimiko with a sense of unease about letting her out of his site. He then looked to his companion who seemed to look back at him with an intelligence that made it clear he was no simple animal. The wolf seemed to be evoking feelings of understanding and reassurance in order to comfort Tristan. The young man gave a slight smile and a nod to the wolf before he at last walked out of the room. Yet once he was out of the wolfs sight and could no longer see Kimiko the unease inside of him seemed to have easily doubled at least.

The hope that he might see his childhood friend again had been one of his reasons for returning. He had heard some stories that made it sound like she had become some sort of exorcist. But nothing he had heard made any note of her being able to turn into a spirit. On top of that he still couldn't remember anyone from his past that reminded him of the butler. So how did the man know who he was? Even if the man had began to work for the family after Tristan had moved away, and even if he had been told about Tristan at some point that still wouldn't explain how the man could come to realize who he was.

Tristans unease continued to rise in him and as it did he paced back and forth in the hall while making sure not to come into site of any of the rooms around. That way he could have some privacy while also not unintentionally bothering anyone else who might be in the building. He considered the mans invitation to talk but he just couldn't bring himself to take the man up on the offer. He was still too on edge to be willing to be alone with the man though. But he needed to calm down and he knew that. So he pulled a flask out from one of the inside pockets of his coat and he began to drink from it.

Though it looked like any other mundane flask it was actually an enchanted object. The first one that Tristan had ever made for himself. It was a complex enchantment really. It just keep whatever drink was put inside of it at Tristans preferred temperature for the drink no matter how cold or hot that was. Currently he had some hot spiced chai tea with honey and milk inside it. He slowly drank from it as he considered what he should do next.

Tristan listened to what Nori said as the words seemed to almost come from the walls themselves. As he did he finished the tea in his flask and returned the small container to it's usual pocket. In truth the fact that the butler seemed to almost know exactly what was on his mind only caused his misgivings about the man to increase. But for the moment he tried to push those feelings aside as he tried to think more clearly on the situation. He then turned and headed to the kitchen as he considered what his words would be. As he entered the room he began to speak "I'm sorry, but if you would hear me out then you might understand my own feelings better.

"Firstly, I have no memory of you being here when I was little. While I admit that doesn't mean you weren't here it does put me on edge. Especially after what I've been dealing with the past few days. Secondly when I was younger I helped the victims of a monster attack back to there home. Once there I foolishly believed that we were safe. I was wrong. The home had been discovered and infiltrated before I had arrived. Once my guard was down we were ambushed and nearly killed. If not for my spirit companions assistance and my teachers arrival than both myself and the person I was assisting would've likely been killed.

"Since then there have been a few times where I've assisted others and found myself on similar situations. But I've never been caught unaware since that first situation. As such I tend to be on edge in general when I have someone under my protection. Lastly, the facts that Kimikos parents were both gone, that I couldn't remember ever seeing you, as well as the fact that I'm sensing strange energy from you that I can't place and don't recognize, and combined with my previous experiences. These things together have all made it so this seemingly convenient situation could easily lead me to believe that another trap is imminent.

"Honestly, it's perhaps prudent to say that my dealings with supernatural beings from the Americas and Europe have left me rather jaded when it comes to trusting unknown supernatural entities. I understand that there are generally a more abundant amount of benevolent creatures and spirits amongst the supernatural beings from the Asian countries than there are in many other countries from around the world. But my own knowledge of these beings, whether benevolent or malevolent, is far to lacking for me to blindly trust.

"Unfortunately this does also include the beings from even my own mothers country. I hope to change that while I'm here. But for the time being it simply is what it is. I hope you'll understand my uncertainty and caution with this explanation. Perhaps you'd even be willing to help me understand more about yourself. It may assist in me feeling more at is in this situation." Tristan was truly still very much on edge regardless of his seemingly relaxed way of speaking. He was still keeping an eye out for any trouble, because he just still didn't feel secure enough yet to truly relax.