10 – Taking a goat

The next morning Paul awakened to the voice of his new companion in his mind.

::When you go to your workshop you need to take a goat with you:: Tessera instructed with a clear and simple voice, like Benjamin might use to remind Paul to get some groceries.

◦◦Uuhh whhhat◦◦ Paul’s mind replied slowly, ◦◦Couldn’t you let me sleep? ◦~◦

::Early to rise, early to shine♫!::

Paul rolled himself further into the warmth of his duvet. The house was just waking up. Margaret hadn’t even knocked yet, which meant Paul had at least an hour before she forced his door to get him out of bed and help him get dressed.

::I’m serious. I’ve been monitoring your mental state. You won’t gain anything from staying in bed any longer::

◦◦But I don’t wanna ◦n◦

::I need a strong agent. Would you prefer me to approach Helen?:: Some menace crept into Tessera’s tone.

◦◦…◦◦

◦◦No◦◦

::Be strong for me, and I will make you great::

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That morning Paul made it to his workshop more than an hour earlier than he usually would, and with a goat.

::Lock the door::

Paul locked the door.

::Collect a small amount of the goat’s blood, and don’t let it lose consciousness::

Inexpertly, Paul did so. It was a lot more traumatic for the goat and a lot more effort for Paul than it needed to be, and most of the goat’s blood was spilled rather than collected, but eventually Paul had collected a thimble’s worth of blood in a pewter beaker. The goat glared at him. At least Paul thought it did. He’d have glared at himself if the positions were reversed.

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::Drink it::

◦O◦¿¿WHAT??◦O◦

::Drink it♫:: Tessera repeated with his sing-song voice.

◦◦That’s gross ◦ᴧ◦

::You know full well that the life is in the blood:: Tessera explained, ::To awaken your spirit eyes you must connect your life with another’s, and then pull your spirit along the bond::

◦◦And why would I want to do that?◦◦

::So that you’ll see♫::

Fine. With an equal amount of resignation and determination Paul lifted the beaker to his lips, drank, and swallowed. It wasn’t as gross as he’d thought. Barely almost as gross.

As soon as the blood was down his throat he felt a tug on his heart, in the direction of the goat.

::good :D follow that line, and PULL::

Paul pulled. And pulled. And pulled. And… Nothing happened.

::keep going::

Five minutes later, Paul was getting bored.

::keep going::

But Paul just… couldn’t.

::Fine. Do you want to me to show you a visual representation of your bond?:: Tessera sighed.

::close your eyes::

As soon as Paul did a red line came into his vision. It stayed there when he opened his eyes, connecting his heart to the heart of the goat. He could move his hand through it, slightly warping it. As Paul pulled on the tension in his heart in various ways the line sometimes flexed and its ends flared, sometimes the one end, sometimes the other, sometimes brightly and sometimes feebly. Sometimes he saw flickers of a strange something; a white al-encompassing mist; a black depth; the blazing sun in the sky. (No, he was pretty sure the roof hadn’t actually disappeared.)

Most of the time nothing changed at all.

In the early afternoon Paul’s spirit finally left his body. His vision faded and for half a second he saw the white mist all around him, the swallowing abyss below him, and the consuming fire above him.

Yet like an iron granule held between two magnets his spirit was unstable, pulled in two directions at once. It could go one of two ways. His spirit snapped onto the goat. Through the ears of the goat he heard his body hit the floor. The goat startled, and its mind fought back.

::good:: said Tessera ::good::

::now for your next lesson, you have to get back to your own body::