The boy couldn't have been older than 14. His thick protective overalls were covered in machine oil and dirt as he crawled on his hands and knees through his workshop. He wore steel toed boots which were a bit too big for him, and looked to be more made of bandages and bruises than flesh and bone.
"Alright you little sucker," Felix grumbled, gripping a large wrench in his tiny, calloused hands. "I know you're in here, come on out." As if to answer his request, the aggravating creature poked its head out of the floor directly in front of the boy as if it were a swimmer coming up for air. Its head was long and cone shaped like an anteater's, but had long floppy ears like a mule. It was the color of rust and feces and it grinned cruelly at the boy with its pure black eyes. Felix swung with all his might, but the creature dove back down, and the sound of metal clanging against the stone floor rang throughout the shop. He unleashed a tempest of swears as he dropped the wrench in pain and clutched his wrist. A few feet away, the creature surfaced, taunting the boy by coming further out of the ground.
Not thinking, Felix reached for the wrench and jumped up, only to be yanked back down by the wrench, which he quickly found had been submerged a few inches in the stone and fused there. Felix blinked away tears as he held his sore shoulder, and sat there as the pest leaped from the ground and danced. It clutched its stomach with three clawed hands as if it were laughing, but it made no sound, spirits rarely did. Its forth arm waved the brass gear above its head, tiny, but essential to the project he was working on.
"Damn Spirit." Felix swore quietly, glaring at the menace. He stood slowly and stalked towards his tormenter. The spirit looked on, wary, but still enjoying itself. They stood there for a few moments, arms length of each other, studying one another. Felix was short for his age, but this creature was only half his height. The spirit had stopped moving and it grinned, an unsettling sight considering the shape of its mouth.
It spread its four arms and exposed its belly, even bowing its head forward, leaving itself open for an attack.
Felix knew it was a trick, the spirit would just pass through his strike as it had the others, but he was pissed, and the vermin was literally asking for it. He brought his foot back, ready to kick, then swung it like he was kicking a ball. The spirit continued to grin that unsettling grin. It grinned right up until the moment it felt Felix's foot plant into its stomach. The thing flew back and smacked hard against the wall with a loud THUD, dropping the gear. For a moment, they were both stunned, motionless.
I hit it? Felix thought as the frightened creature scrambled into the wall and didn't return.
Felix looked around, he was alone. He sighed, and went over to pick up the gear. Then, as he returned to his desk, he tripped and fell hard on his face.
"Ow." He whined as blood trickled from his nose, then he looked to see what had tripped him. That had been his favorite wrench. He rested his sore head on the cold stone. “Lucky charm my ass.”
He must have fallen asleep because next thing he knew, he was lying face up on a much more comfortable surface. Another new bandage on his nose and an ice pack being carefully applied to his sore forehead. He heard someone humming the tune to a lullaby that helped him to sleep when the spirits haunted even his dreams.
“Mom?” Felix croaked.
“You gave me quite a scare, my lucky charm, I found you facedown in a pool of blood.” His mother responded with a worried, yet warm tone. Felix opened his eyes and found he was on the couch in his workshop, his head on her lap. He took a moment to study his mother's face. Heidi Magwhy was younger than she looked, only 35, but crow's feet, smile and worry lines marked her years. Felix shared her rusty red hair, though hers was speckled with white. Her eyes were brown, in contrast to his own eyes of violet.
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His eyes tracked over to the wrench still buried in the floor and Heidi followed his gaze.
“It happened again-” he choked.
“I know.” Heidi cooed, petting his hair reassuringly.
“Why do they come after me mom? Anytime I show up, they lose interest in whoever they were bothering before and come after me.” Felix felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he didn't care.
“Felix, look at me.” She urged, and he slowly obeyed, “you're a special boy, you're my lucky charm.” Heidi cracked her trademark smile that seemed to make her look 10 years younger. It had always brightened Felix's mood before and he tried to smile too, but couldn't. “You can see things others can't, and…” She hesitated, looking at his eyes. “You have the ability to help others in ways most people can't imagine. The spirits… oh I don't know. My grandmother, your great grandmother, she would've known how to explain. She used to see them too.” Felix sighed, but a thought occurred that lightened his spirits.
“Mom, I kicked it.” He carefully announced, watching his mother's reaction. She smiled, looking unsurprised, but relieved. “I mean it set itself up,” he fumbled “but-”
“But you can defend yourself against them.” Heidi finished. “My lucky charm, one day you will be much more than mine.” She beamed proudly. Felix couldn't help it. He broke into a smile and carefully sat up and hugged her tightly.
“Thank you mom.”
“Of course. Now, it is well past dinner time and I haven't even started making it yet. Can you stand?” Heidi asked, and Felix shakily got to his feet. “Good, now go clean up, and then come help me. It should go faster if we work together.” She stood, fussed over Felix's overalls and then hustled off to the kitchen.
Felix looked around the workshop, located the gear that the spirit had taken hostage, pocketed it, eyed the wrench one more time, then followed Heidi out.
Felix scrubbed at the grime that might as well have become a second layer of skin. He'd never remove it all, and honestly he was fine with that, but his mother always insisted he stayed a clean and proper gentleman. A gentleman. Felix looked at his reflection in the shiny plate of steel that acted as a mirror and smiled. He used some of the grease he hadn’t washed away yet to style his hair like some famous businessman like Galleleo Goldhand, or a man of high office like the Chief Inquisitior. He looked ridiculous, like he had a dead tarantula curling up on his head, but it made him laugh. He laughed, still inspecting his reflection, the bandages and bruises all over from various accidents and assaults by the creatures that haunted this world. He laughed till he saw his eyes and his mirth died. Violet eyes. The unlucky color, the worst color, he'd never met anyone else with eyes the color of the Solshard on the darkest days. The days when the spirits were restless. He looked out the window at the enormous life-giving crystal that served as the major light source for the cavernous country of Sterling. The Solshard looked like the root of a massive crystalline tree. It sprouted out of the cave roof that served as the only sky the people of Sterling had known for dozens, if not hundreds of generations. The Solshard twisted and branched out every few miles, like roots searching for water, before the main stem burrowed into the middle of the distant capital city of Luster. Luster, the first city of Sterling Cavern, that had sprung up around the base of the Solshard centuries ago. The Solshard was currently shining blue, the first half of the day Azyrm-pad. It would shine indigo on the latter half, and after that… Felix shuddered at the thought. Tomorrow was technically the shortest day of the cycle, only 13 hours as opposed to the 26 hours of the other three, but it always felt the longest. He'd get a lot of work done, staying inside, if he could drag himself out of bed. Everyone stayed inside on Drusk-pad. If only the spirits would stay out.
A gentleman? No. No gentleman has Violet eyes.
“Lucky Charm,” Heidi called, shaking Felix from his thoughts, “I thought you were helping me with this, are you done admiring yourself in the mirror?” Felix blushed profusely, washed the grease out of his hair and ran to the kitchen.