lol too late for writing contest but //shrug//
Luke closed his eyes, concentrating. Sweat dotted his brow as he mentally struggled, softly murmuring an incantation he read off the open book in front of him. The air started to move around him, slowly at first and soon evolving into a whirlwind centered around Luke himself, the pages of his book now flipping to the atmosphere’s will. This did not deter Luke, as his eyes had now began to glow and their gaze began to drift off into nothingness. Without conscious thinking the words now naturally flowed through his tongue, unworldly alphabets meshing together into one seemingly never ending stream of sound. He rose into the air, leaves and debris circling around him as if in a dance.
All at once, the air stopped moving as the chant abruptly ended. Luke blinked and his eyes stopped glowing, going back to their normal light blue. Everything that had been held up by the wind now dropped.. including Luke, who attempted to not land face first by putting his arms out to somehow stop his falling(? He wasn’t thinking the most rationally at this moment) and ended up not breaking anything in his face but did end up breaking an arm. Crack.
“AAAAAAAAAUGH!!” Luke screamed after feeling the sharp burst of pain shoot through from his all the way to his shoulder, the cracking sound still embedded in his mind. His screaming drew the attention of his mother, who ran outside to the backyard to see what the commotion was.
“Are you alrigh- okayyyyyy that sure is, uh, an injury.” His mom took about a second to take in the scene and another one to process what his arm looked like. Luke had been avoiding looking at the damage but automatically followed where his mom’s eyes were looking-
“AhfaeuhfhjiUHFAUfjieuwniunEEQWUFJJAAAAAAAA BLOOD!!!” he yelped, jumping away from his arm but, surprise surprise, his arm followed him. If it hadn’t, I suppose it would have been more of a problem, he thought to himself in realisation, nodding. Y’know, I should just look on the bright side of things in situations like this. At least both my arms aren’t broken!
Luke’s eyes widened. He hesitated a second before glancing at his other arm. It did not appear broken. He breathed a sigh of relief.
His mom sighed, but then smiled. “Come here,” she said, gesturing to a cheap table and pair of folding chairs that had been thrown outside since they weren’t wanted in the house. Luke walked over, though with his arm still throbbing with pain and his balance being a bit off. He plopped down in the chair.
She leaned forward and muttered something under her breath. Luke’s arm twisted and contorted, skin piecing itself together and muscles regenerating until the arm was good as new.
“Woahhhhh thanks mom!!” Luke chirped happily. His mother nodded and patted him on the head.
“How did this happen, exactly?” she asked. Luke opened his mouth to answer but realized he didn’t have one to tell her. He had gotten mostly caught up in the broken arm thing and forgot what exactly he had been doing to break it in the first place.
“Uhhh…” he said, thinking. He glanced over to the scene of the injury. A book was out on a table and there was trash and leaves scattered on the ground. Luke walked over to the book, which looked slightly beat up. He picked it up and looked at the cover. Oh, right.. this is my spellbook. Luke made this observation based on the scribbled title on the front of the book, “Luke’s Spellbook :)”.
He shook his head a bit to try to clear his mind. Why couldn’t he remember what he was casting, which was probably what he had been doing? A moment passed and he ended up just shrugging. I’ll probably remember at some point, he reasoned. I’ve always had a bad memory.
His mother was still waiting for an answer as to what Luke had been doing and was watching him silently examine his book. He turned to her and said, “I dunno, I forget. Casting a spell, I think.”
His mother chuckled. “You and your spells.. try a safer one next time.” She stood up and ruffled his blonde, messy hair affectionately.
Luke smiled. His mom really was amazing.
He suddenly heard a sound and saw a bird flying towards him. It dropped a letter on the table and landed beside its now delivered goods, looking at Luke expectedly. Luke grinned and took some birdseed out of his pocket, then handed it to the bird. It gobbled it up, gave a chirp of thanks, and flew off to do the rest of its business.
He marveled at how fast birdmail was- a guarantee of under one minute delivery time for every package sent! How did that even work? From what he could see, they were just normal birds. Though.. magic is tricky, and maybe the fact that he sees normal birds almost proves the point something else is going on in of itself.
Luke remembered the reason the bird was here in the first place and opened up the letter.
GOD DANGIT LUKE DID YOU FORGET
I BET YOU DID DIDN’T YOU
THIS HAPPENS EVERY TIME I SWEAR
okay sorry I’m probably being too harsh but hurry up I’ve been waiting for like half an hour idk what you’re doing but stop and get over here
waiting for u at our spot
~Rose
Luke blinked. Was.. was he supposed to be doing something? He immediately thought of dismissing the note because who cares about whatever else when he was happy here with his mom? But for some reason he felt like he should go.. and that he wanted to go. Weird. So he figured he would at least check it out.
“Sorry mom, I gotta go do something. Be back soon!” he said, to try to reassure his mother.
“Okay! Have fun!” she replied with a smile. She waved as he took a running start, then leaped over their short fence and continued sprinting through the neighborhood.
Wait.. where am I going again? Luke thought to himself. Oh, right.. Rose’s and my spot. Shoot, we were supposed to meet up! How could I forget?! Sorry, Rose…
He was out of breath and panting by the time he got there.
Rose turned around and saw Luke. Her face brightened but then she blinked, and it immediately changed to a disapproving expression.
"Seriously, Luke? You forgot," Rose stated, staring at Luke. Luke shrunk under her gaze.
"S-sorry..," he mumbled, trying to remember why they even planned to meet up today. Well, he didn't need a reason to meet up with his best friend anyway, he figured.
Rose sighed. "It's okay. I understand you're always studying your spells, and on a day like today it's fine if you're a little empty headed. I still want you to know I'm here for you."
Luke felt a bit better, but was mostly confused by how serious Rose was being. He didn't think anything particularly big was happening today, but asking about it would probably make her more upset, so he just smiled at her sentiment and sat down next to her under their tree.
Their tree, the tree that had always been there for them ever since they had found it. The still slightly damp green grass surrounding it went on until it reached a cliffside, towering over a river that Luke knew from past experience was very VERY cold and not the best place for attempting a swim.
From the tree, Luke looked onto the scenery, a forest that stretched on until he could make out the faint outline of the village cemetery, a place designated to be out in the woods so that the spirits of the deceased wouldn't be bothered by the commotion of the normal townfolk's daily lives and could instead rest and be at peace out in the wilderness. Even out there, the still living could take the short walk out if wanting to honor the dead's graves with flowers or anything of the like.
Rose looked over at Luke, followed his eyes, and looked back at him with a solemn expression. She then seemed to remember something. "Oh, by the way, what have you been so engrossed in these past few weeks? You haven't given me much detail, as you kinda just said "you'll see" whenever I asked. Yesterday you said you might be at a breakthrough, though? How did that go?"
Luke listened to her words, processing them, yet struggling to understand. What was he working on? He vaguely remembered the feeling of determination and sleepless nights of study, but somehow could not recall exactly what it was he was looking for, trying to discover. He blinked. It seemed very important, whatever he was forgetting. Abruptly, he stood up. Rose tilted her head in questioning.
"I.. I'm going to go. I need to do some more research," Luke said, breathing becoming more face paced and finger tapping. He looked around as if to confirm he was still in the same place as a second ago and then nodded his head to himself. "Yes. I'm going to go to the archives."
Rose looked slightly concerned but shrugged and said, "Alright. Are you going to come back here-?" but Luke was already running off, as if he hadn't just sprinted over there in the first place
Luke realised mid way to the archives he would need his identification card in order to get in, and so changed his destination to back home where he had last left it. When he got there, the door opened and his mother smiled down at him.
"Welcome back, honey.”
Luke immediately felt the natural warmth and comfort flood through him and instinctively ran into his mother's embrace. He lost himself in the familiar smell of the cotton of her sweater, her perfume, somehow feeling that this clinging to her was essential. They stayed like that until Luke blinked and somewhat reluctantly let his mother's arms fall away beside him, figuring it was past time for this hug's end.
"Want to come inside and have some tea? Or maybe I can make those chicken nuggets you adore?" Luke's mom asked with a smile.
Luke's immediate reaction was to of course accept, but a nagging feeling in his gut caused him to hesitate. He had something left unresolved..
"Aaah, right! I need my ID for the archives, that's why I'm here!" he exclaimed. Was I not here to see Mom? Why would I want to go to the archives when she's not there, she's here?
Why would I want to do anything else?
Luke was extremely confused. Why did he want to even go to the archives again? He had no logical reason to go, he could just stay at home. Easy. But whatever his rational brain told him, some part in the back of his mind would not let him rest. He had to go to the archives.
He looked behind his mother inside the house and saw his ID on the table. He muttered a few words and snapped his fingers, resulting in the card popping into existence right in his palm, where he gripped it and prepared to run.
"Sorry Mom, I'll see you when I get back!!" Luke assured as he sped off towards the archives
“Goodbye, hun,” he heard his mom say, her voice growing quieter as he got further away. Looking up, he realised it was getting to be evening. How did that happen? He swore he was just at his house for a few minutes or so. But he never had the best perception of time.
The archives loomed over Luke as he slowed his pace, checking he hadn't lost his ID on the way over. The eye embedded in the wall above the door to the archives blinked, and slowly centred to look at Luke. He held up the card and the eye widened slightly, after which a wave of red light radiated out from it. The light, following the eye's gaze, looked over Luke's ID, and then promptly dissipated as the eye blinked once again.
The door of the archives swung open, and Luke walked inside, ready to find what he was looking for. What was he looking for exactly..? Eh, he would figure it out.
Luke figured he could fit like seven of himself stacked on top of each other when trying to reach the ceiling of this place; the archives only had one floor, but that floor was GIGANTIC.
Someone walked over and tapped Luke on the shoulder. He turned around and looked up to see Arnold, a very small runt of a cyclops with glasses (with only one lens, due to the whole one eye thing), who looked over the archives.
"Hey, w-what's up?" Arnold asked with a stutter and small awkward smile. Luke smiled back, a feat that came easily to him. He had known Arnold since he was a toddler, wandering around and staring at all of the mysterious symbols printed on the paper he didn't understand yet. As Luke was learning to read, Arnold would pick out picture books or scrolls that he thought the little boy would like. Luke has learned to trust Arnold and has learned a lot from him over the years, although finding the exact piece of literature he wants out of the thousands in the archives is some knowledge he still hasn’t learned, which is why he still needs Arnold’s help when he visits.
“Uhhh, good question..” Luke replied, admittedly not knowing himself what was up. Now being nearer to the archives, Luke had vague memories that were coming back of him being busy in the archives for days on end, researching and frantically scanning scrolls. “Okay, awkward question, but can you tell me what I’ve done in, like, the past week? Archives-wise. Or anything wise, I guess, but I’m mostly interested in what I had been looking up,” Luke decided to ask.
Arnold furrowed his brow. “Sorry Luke, you had actually started to be pretty dependent for the last weeks and I’m not really sure what you had been doing.. I offered to help but you said it was fine, so I ended up leaving you on your own.”
“But don’t you have a record of what I checked out, at least?” Luke pointed out.
“You never took anything out of the archives, you always read everything here.. actually, you tried to sleep overnight here a few times, but would never take anything back home. It was against archive law for you to stay, so I had to stop you, but the next morning you’d be back anyway,” Arnold said with a chuckle. “I like that you’re so eager to gain knowledge. Most kids these days don’t even bother going here unless it’s for their required education.. they’re too busy making trouble for everyone else, tricking the birds or making a house become sentient or whatever. Did you hear about that, by the way? Danielle gave a house consciousness and they’re still in a legal battle about whether or not to give it rights. The council was suuuper annoyed, hehe.”
Luke didn’t actually remember any of this, and couldn’t help but smile at the absurdity of it all. Feels like something he would remember.
“Oh, but you were probably too busy in here with your research to notice much going on outside,” Arnold reasoned. “Since that was a few days ago. Anyway, even if I don’t know much of what you were trying to find out, there’s one book you checked out before your whole research frenzy that are in the records.. here, it should be on the 43th shelf over there.”
Luke nodded. “Thanks!” he said earnestly and then walked off to find the one book of many on the shelf. “J, K, L, M..” Luke muttered as his eyes scanned the shelf. “Aha!”
He stood on his tip toes to reach the book. He looked at the cover, which read “Creative and Meaningful Birthday Gift Ideas!” It seemed to be an arts and crafts book. This made him realise something. Luke’s eyes widened.
TODAY WAS HIS MOM’S BIRTHDAY!!!
Was all that preparation for a present for his mom?! I mean, it would make sense. His mom was the most important person in the world to him. She was just so kind and caring, and he felt like the world was truly complete with her around. Oh shoot, did he botch the spell this morning?! He wondered what present he was supposed to have made her. She was even acting like everything was okay, wasn’t making a big deal out of it! But Luke bet that she would probably be disappointed if she didn’t get a present. Even if she pretended she wasn’t.. actually, she would understand if he needed another day, right? He could explain how he failed today and how he’s really really sorry but still loves her. And then he could just get her a present tomorrow! Perfect plan.
Luke heard a chirp behind him. Same bird as this morning, with presumably another note from Rose. He opened it up and read,
Yo, u good?
~Rose
Luke scribbled, “yea, mom’s birthday today whoops. going home to see her, forgot birthday gift, will get one tmr” on the back of Rose’s note and got more birdseed out of his pocket to feed to the bird, who happily ate it from his hand.
“Give this back to Rose, alright?” Luke said to the bird, who nodded and took the note. Luke then realised he was in a building.. how did the bird get in? Oh well, magic is magic.
Luke realised that the reason he didn’t bring anything home was probably because his mom was at home, and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise. It all made sense! But why had he lost his memory of all this? It must have been a side effect of the present he failed to make.. it must have been a really good present. Luke sighed. How could he have failed his mom like this?
Shaking his head, Luke walked back to the front to check out the book from Arnold. After all, he might as well check it out now. He felt better reading it nearer his mom, anyways, and the surprise was pretty much ruined at this point.
“So, you’re checking this out..?” Arnold said after having an eye in the wall scan the book’s cover. A mouth materialised, coughed up a receipt, and Arnold took it and handed it to Luke. He gripped it lightly with his thumb and forefinger due to the saliva, muttered something under his breath, and the paper suddenly dried and became crisp and new. Luke pocketed it.
“Yep! Thanks for your help. I gotta get this back to mom!” Luke said happily before beginning to run home. He just felt so energised, and really wanted to see his mother.
“wAIT-” Arnold started, his brow furrowing and a slightly confused or perhaps concerned expression crossing his face before Luke left the archives and ran under the darkening sky. He briefly wondered what Arnold was going to say, made a mental note to apologise for cutting him off when he next went to the archives, and just kept running home. He should get home before it’s fully night anyways. Luke looked to the sky and noted a few stars being visible already.
The wind in his face and his hair ruffling, Luke ran across the village to get back home. He arrived, paused for a moment to catch his breath, and knocked on the door.
A few seconds of silence followed. Luke felt the darkness around him, a second ago feeling so free and comfortable, start to creep into the edges of his vision. He realised he was alone out here, in the dark. His eyes darted around. What if something was behind him-
He whirled around, and saw nothing. His breathing started to quicken, and his hand started to shake. He reached to the door to knock again, but before he did it opened and he saw Mom. Thank god. He was safe. He breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled up at his mother. She smiled back.
“How was your little adventure today?” she asked, hugging him and then leading him inside. The lights were so nice and bright, making Luke feel warm. Or maybe it wasn’t really the lights, but that they were in his and Mom’s house.
“Good!!” Luke automatically exclaimed. He tried to remember what was good about it, but all he could really remember good about the day was being here with her. And, well, there was no point to telling her about that.
“Oh, wait, also!” Luke remembered to say. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”
Luke’s mom chuckled, sighing happily and looking at her son. “Awww, you remembered!” she said with a smile, picking him up and spinning in a circle. “Wooooo!! Hahahaha!” Luke exclaimed, “I’m flying!”
They spun around another time until she put Luke down. “I actually made a cake.. want to have some with me?” she asked, to which Luke immediately responded “CAKEEEEE!!!! Yes yes yes yes yummmm!”
She smiled and got the cake out onto the kitchen table. Luke heard a peck at the window. It was Rose’s bird, yet again. Luke walked over and looked through the window. It seemed to be holding another hastily scribbled note by Rose. What did Rose want to say anyway?
“I’m done with the cake now, honey!” Luke’s mom yelled over. Luke shrugged, and figured whatever Rose had to say wasn’t that important anyway. He walked over and saw what looked like probably the best cake that had ever existed in the universe. It wasn’t made by a master chef, sure, but it was made by Luke’s mom. There was pure love radiating off of it.
“Want to eat this outside? It seems nice out there. We’ll have to eat on the folding chairs, though.. are you okay with that?” she asked, gesturing outside. Luke looked outside, at the darkness which now seemed inviting and a nice, cool place to eat cake now that he was with his mom. He nodded with a grin and exclaimed, “Cake!” as he hopped over to the chairs and table. He noticed his mom had cleaned up any blood splatter from this morning, and it was all nice and clean. Luke sat down and took a bite of his cake, not being able to wait any longer. It was delicious. With the faint smell of his mother’s perfume from across the table, the slightly too much butter added as she always did and the messy pink frosting, this was the best thing he could ever taste.
“Mmmmghmm!” Luke murmured in approval with cake in his mouth. His mother laughed and said, “Thank you, thank you. I did try on this one.”
Luke never wanted this moment to end.
“Oh, mom,” Luke said still chewing, “Do you know anything about the spell I cast this morning?” He figured maybe he told her something about it without giving away the whole surprise, or something like that. Arts and crafts are well and good, but he wondered how amazing of a gift he must have been trying to make that it took a seemingly complex spell.
Luke’s mom paused. “Hey, Luke.. I love you. So much. You’re the most important person in the world to me.”
Luke couldn’t help but smile. “No mom, I love you more!! I don’t know what I would do without you. Like, I couldn’t live without you! You’re super super super awesome!” Luke got up and ran over to hug his mom. She smiled and hugged back. Luke got up and sat on her lap, which he used to do a lot more when he was a baby but was still small enough to do now. He sighed, relaxed, and smiled, closing his eyes with his mother’s arms around him.
“LUKE!!!!!!! LUKE!!!!!!” a voice screamed, getting closer. Luke frowned, and slowly managed to open his eyes to a blurry Rose, screaming and sprinting towards him. Oh right, she had sent a bird. Is it really so big a deal to not answer a bird immediately? Jeez. Why was she running?
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU HAD GOTTEN RID OF IT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!” Rose screamed angrily. Luke looked up, groggy and confused. Why was she yelling at him?
Rose held up a hand mirror. It was moderately dark, but the lights from inside Luke’s house illuminated him almost perfectly.. except for a large shadow surrounding him, seemingly for no reason. As Rose and her mirror got closer, Luke’s eyes focused and he saw himself sitting at a chair, the irises and whites of his eyes now smokey black and his mouth slightly open, surrounded by a beast made of shadow and seemingly pure black. Its body was wispy, yet solidifying around Luke, its body having a blob on top that had something resembling a face, two empty eye holes and a crevice operating like a mouth, which seemed to be nibbling on Luke’s hair.
Luke jumped in his seat at the sight. He looked up and saw his mom, who smiled back down at him while ruffling his hair.
He looked back at Rose and her mirror. She must be tricking him somehow.
“What are you doing?! Are you jealous of me and my mom’s relationship, so you’re making her look like a monster? I thought you were better than this!” Luke shouted angrily.
“Luke, I.. What have you DONE?!” Rose exclaimed desperately with tears welling up in her eyes. “Do you really have to make me say it?”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, what have I done?! I’ve been enjoying Mom’s birthday with her, what’s wrong with that?! My god!”
“Luke.. your mother is dead.”
Luke’s breath stopped. It seemed like everything stopped.
Rose’s panting breaths stopped midair, her exasperated expression and sweat frozen in place.
The bird that had Rose’s note had been mid-air, flying up and away from the noise.
Leaves swirling around in the wind had stopped, right in front of Luke’s eyes.
Luke’s mother’s hand stopped in the middle of messing up his hair, her crinkled eyes and small but genuine smile.
In the mirror, the smoke monster that had Luke in its grasp with a horrifying poor resemblance of a face that was smiling, causing Luke to shiver in place.
Luke himself. Luke suddenly felt he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything. Rose’s words cut through the air and knocked the wind out of him.
Contrary to Luke’s will, the world resumed and he began taking in short, gasping breaths, his whole body twitching to no rhythm and the world seeming to spin. He looked for his spellbook, saw it on the ground, and shakily got up and walked over. He picked up the book, hands still trembling and head reeling. He felt he could pass out any minute.
Luke began to open the book. He suddenly felt a sharp burst of pain in his chest, causing him to stumble and fall over. He somehow sensed where it had come from, and looked over at his mom. She didn’t come over to help him. Her smile had faded. “I.. I love you. Please don’t. Come back here.”
He felt himself being pulled back to his mother, to his mother’s warmth and the safety that came with being around her. He started to crawl back to her, but heard Rose’s voice.
“Luke, please!!” she frantically exclaimed, tears running down her face.
For some inexplicable reason, Luke found some small resistance against his mother. Against the one person that mattered in the world to him, against the person who had been there throughout his whole life, against the person who made imperfect but perfect cakes and who had given him his existence in the first place. Even though his mother gave him comfort, stability, and reason to life, Rose’s words gave him a small glimmer of that comfort. Maybe not the same feeling, but still meaningful nonetheless. He took a fragile breath, and used all of his strength and willpower to pick up the book again. His arms moved unwillingly and stiffly, but Luke felt Rose’s true caring for him and used it to power through.
Luke somehow knew exactly what page to turn to, but it was still a struggle. Finally, the page flipped, and he read the spell he had been casting.
CREATURE REMOVAL
Kokuen
黒煙
Kokuen are small, cute creatures made of black smoke. They usually reside in corners of rooms or under furniture when cleaning hasn’t happened for a while. They feed off affection, which is the reason behind their cute exterior. Most small Kokuen look something like mice which they accomplish by slightly solidifying their smokey form, and if they sense danger in this form they will dissipate into thinner wisps and dart away. If Kokuen get the affection they desire, they grow in size. The more powerful a Kokuen gets, the more it can create illusions in the minds of others which helps it to be loved even more. A common shape for a Kokuen is a pet, since they are usually small and do not require as much effort as attempting something big, like an elephant. Trying to imitate a human would be the hardest of all, as they would need to copy every facial muscle and human speech, so hardly any have either the power or the need to do this.
DO NOT engage with Kokuen. It might seem harmless at first, but the more you believe that the more they are able to prey on your thoughts and feelings. Past cases of Kokuen getting out of hand have resulted in some losing memories from the Kokuen’s feeding and more extreme can result in death and consumption of the soul. If a loved one is attached to a Kokuen, it is difficult to dissuade them. Before it gets too bad, use the spell below.
KOKUEN REMOVAL SPELL
消えて、黒い煙。ここでは歓迎されていません。私はあなたを愛していない。ここで即興演奏します。
Kiete, kuroi kemuri. Kokode wa kangei sa rete imasen. Watashi wa anata o aishite inai. Koko de sokkyō ensō shimasu.
WARNING: Do not think of anyone or anything you love during this. This is why it is crucial for one already affected by the Kokuen to not do this spell. It is possible to instead give energy to the Kokuen instead of taking it away, which can be incredibly dangerous depending on the power of the spell caster and their thought.
Luke read the page. He looked back at his mother. His mother looked back at him with a small smile.
Luke got up, without as much quivering. He walked to Rose and gave her the spellbook, face open, silently. He then looked away from his mother.
Rose looked at Luke, sighed, and wiped her eyes of tears. She looked at the monster on the folding chair, and began to read the incantation.
As Rose read from Luke’s spellbook, her feet began to lift off the ground. She hovered in the air as the power of the spell radiated around her, and even though Luke was not looking, he felt the overwhelming brightness that was shining off of Rose in the dark.
Luke, looking off into the night at nothing in particular, from somewhere heard his mom softly say, “Luke.. goodbye. I love you.”
“Koko de sokkyō ensō shimasu,” chanted Rose, finishing the spell. White light flashed, and then the night was once again cool and dark.
Rose gently dropped back to the ground. She lightly walked over to in front of Luke and said, “It is done.”
Luke bit his lip, attempting some semblance of control, but sniffed and his eyes started watering. Rose hugged him as uneasy breathing gave way to wailing, tears and snot getting all on Rose’s shoulder without her complaint. He gripped onto Rose’s embrace as tight as he could.
Luke’s wails echoed throughout the night.
The next day, Luke awoke in his empty house. He got up and walked to his and Rose’s spot, not needing a birdmail reminder, and walked with her through the woods.
“You’re not alone, you know. Please don’t try to deal with things yourself all the time. You didn’t need to lie about having gotten rid of the Kokuen, I could have just as well have done it myself!” Rose chided him as they walked.
“Sorry.. thanks for being there for me,” Luke said with a feeble smile. He didn’t feel an unimaginable sense of warmth, or safety, and the cool air he was walking in didn’t feel comfortable. He didn’t have a reason to be happy, like he had the last day.
He sighed. But maybe that’s just life.
They arrived at the cemetery. He laid down a plate with a slice of cake next to his mother’s grave. “Goodbye,” he murmured with tears in his eyes.
----other notes----
(I used a random writing prompt was generator for inspiration for this)
PROMPT: He had kept his mother alive in his thoughts. Too alive, perhaps.
kokuen = black smoke or graphite in japanese
fun fact, the removal spell says: disappear, black smoke. not welcome here. i don’t love you. improvise here
I thought the improvise part was funny (well that’s why I wrote it) because thats why Luke in the beginning starts to say things not even on the page and have the glowy eye thing, but then when Rose does the spell correctly she just literally says the words “improvise here” instead of improvising, since she’s more down to earth but Luke lets his imagination/creativity get ahead of him.