After they had jumped in the Van, Oliver was shocked on surprised, finally there, he couldn't believe it.

— What the Hell is happening?! —

Said Oliver from the back of the Van, watching over his headless corpse, which lay inert half-covered by a forensic bag on the floor.

— What, it’s not supposed to look like that? —

Stated Specter seated on his knees while examining the body with a pair of white gloves and a pencil, as a doctor, or someone grossed by it would.

— A-Are you joking? —

— Of course, I am —

In front of them, Oliver’s body lay stiff and half-melted into a translucent substance that remembered that of the slimed with which the youngest, and not so young used to get obsessed with.

— It seems like your body is melting —

Stated Specter, very intrigued by the fact.

— Yes, I can see that, but why? —

— Well, I’m not an expert on Entities Biology or Phantonomenology, but I would say that it’s a side-effect of having your head severed for, well… such an amount of time —

— Eh? —

— Haven’t you thought why after being possessed people were able to see you? or why you didn’t show the most common feats of being a wandering spirit like you did when Nightwalking? —

Oliver stopped and thought for a second.

— Well, I did… but, I never had a clear answer —

— My theory is that you became into a doppelganger —

Oliver stared at him unatoned.

— In other words, you transitioned to a phantasmagoric state, and unlike spirit-like creatures, they have their own physiology and functioning, mainly made out of plasm, a type of energy —

Then, sticking the pencil into the substance, Specter raised his arm drawing a thread made of plasm in the air between him and Oliver’s severed head.

— To me, it seems that while your head’s being out of town, your phantasmagoric body had started to rotten in lack of energy —

Then, the Van jumped over a street bump, and both turned on time to watch Kiki’s ick face.

— What is happening back there? —

— Eyes on the road kid, do you even have a driver’s license? —

— I… —

Kiki stuttered from her seat, red as a street stop sign.

— Anyways, we need to make this quick if you don’t want to be carried for the rest of your afterlife —

It was an old, wooded cabin on the top of a cliff, surrounded by woods that extended themself as far as one could see, into the sea. There the only way in —unless you were a hiking enthusiast— was a road swirling through the East of the city, barely a few miles from the Police Station. The cabin, rooted in the ground after being there who knows how long, next to the half-wrecked ruins of a well-like structure, was barely able to host a couple of persons at the same time, if you were to willingly skip all public safety lineaments to put yourself in.

— Okay, this is the place —

— The place for what? —

Asked Oliver

— For performing the union ritual you silly —

— Ritual? —

Dropping herself from the driver’s seat, Kiki blow out air while passing next to those two, amused by the looks of the cabin’s wooded engraves.

— What are you doing? —

Asked Oliver.

— I admire the art, this place must have at least four hundred years —

She said.

— Wait, no, I mean with your mouth —

— Oh, I’m whistling —

Oliver shouted out his mouth for a second and thought.

— Four hundred years —

Then, Specter stepped in the door front, handled one of the wooden beams, and shook it so hard that dust started to rain over the inner floor.

— Wait! What are you doing? —

— Well kids, you’re just looking at the nearest Sanctuary, luckily not that far away from a shithole like this, I’m actually surprised —

— I’ve heard about this place, when the town was founded, the… —

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Said Kiki, but before she could keep explaining, Specter stepped in.

— We don’t have time for that, do you have your Katana with you? —

Kiki looked at her waist, and the weapon remained there as usual.

— It isn't obvious? —

— I truly couldn’t tell, we’re also gonna need fire —

Both of them looked at Oliver. He remained confused for a second.

— Yeah sure, I swallowed a lighter before, of course, I don’t have a… —

Then he realized.

— … you mean Sympathy, right? —

— Or we could just search in the Van —

— Yeah I’ll try, but I need someone to draw for me —

— I have a pen! —

Said Specter, before starting to settle the place for the ritual.

Twelve candles stood over a dusty, oak-carved wooden floor aged by the centuries, drawing a circle. Six were meant for the outside corners of the Hexagram, another six for the intersections of the Hex, establishing an inner circle, both of which were ruled by the rune belonging to the Temple’s Patron, an ancient name long forgotten, yet still preserved into the Sanctuaries floor, it’s afterlife stronghold. When Specter walked in holding Oliver’s severed head, the sympathetic link started to shine.

— Didn’t you say you couldn’t do Sympathy? —

Asked Oliver

— Oh, I don’t, I just know a couple of tricks or two, it’s actually a stroke of luck that someone like you is here with us —

Said Specter, while Kiki dragged the ectoplasmic rotting headless body of Oliver.

— It won’t be instantaneously, but the energy gathered within this wall should help to restore your body after we stick your head back to it —

— How long? —

— A couple of days at least, enough time for Park to find out about what we’re dealing with —

After hearing the name, Kiki dropped the body’s legs heavily into the ground, buffed a string of air, and walked back to the Van.

— Is she okay? —

Asked Specter.

— She doesn’t like when people mention her brother —

— I thought she was into this for him —

— Maybe more like because of him, it’s… complicated —

— Yeah well, I don’t care, we need her —

— Just let me… could you? —

— Get you close to her? sure pal, do you want her number too? —

— … —

It was already three in the morning when companied by Specter, Kiki entered the cabin holding Oliver’s head.

— I’m sure this time! I swear —

Oliver lied

— Last time, I didn’t even know what was I facing, but after all I learned with you, Park, and Specter, to defeat Him would be a piece of cake! —

— You know I could beat Him single-handedly in close combat, right? —

— Eh, yes… I, you let it clear last time —

— I’m just worried about everything else… —

— My family would be ok, he won’t ruin his alibi —

— He could now, if he discovers we’re behind him —

Kiki gave Oliver a guilty look.

— And then he would kill everyone you love, just because I slayed the wrong head one night —

Then, one single tear sprang from her eye, mopping down through her chick.

— Well, you know, sometimes you just… slay the wrong head, you just need to… realize it and correct your mistakes… there’s always hope if you have the will! —

Oliver gave there a look to Specter, who shrugged his shoulders not knowing what to do.

— I think… you’re right —

She said, putting Oliver’s head down in the middle of the Hex.

— Am I? I mean … yes I am! —

She looked at him, pulled out her Katana from its sheath, and held it in position. Specter squatted over and bound together Oliver’s body and head, leaving only a barely perceptible space in between.

— Thy the thing that made them split be the one that joins them again together —

He said in a deep voice, sweating, Oliver’s eyes danced around the room, as he felt the Sympathy being drawn through his body. The Hex then shone, and the candles sparkled together, a sudden trembling, a loud silence, and a storming wind that turned everything off, bringing again the darkness that took control over the place.