Danny waited patiently sitting in his bed as the darkness got deeper and deeper. Not long after the night had completely settled outside, Danny started to feel that chill in the spine again. He knew the monster was close, and soon it showed itself again. This time as a creepy smiling bear standing in two goat-like legs.
“Well, well, well, no warming reception today. I assume then that you chose to wisely accept my offer”. The creepy bear spoke without moving its mouth.
“Whether I will accept it or not is still unclear. There are still some things you need to explain before I make any decision”.
Danny still felt terrified seeing the source of his fears for most of his life, but he still forced himself to present a composed appearance. He had thought as much as he could with the time he had and established three objectives for tonight. With the few bargaining chips he possessed, he wished to achieve the most he possibly could. Therefore, keeping a calm mind was key.
First and foremost, Danny wanted to carve a path for himself, both his own desires and the promise he made to his mother rested on this. To finally take charge, and in order to find fulfilment and purpose, to live a truly complete life, Danny needed to get rid of the limitations of his condition.
Danny considered himself a cynic and pragmatic person. He often avoided companionship and true relationships. However, those traits were not because he enjoyed loneliness, but the result of the life he lived and the direction his own experiences led him.
Sure, in his time, Danny found people who helped him along the way, but most times it ended in disappointment. Of the few people that believed him when he told them about his circumstances, most did not want to have anything to do with him and fled as fast as possible. Danny then inevitably developed a semi-conscious habit to keep people at bay and look at everything skeptically.
Many times, he wondered: what was the point of life? Was it all just chaotic randomness? Or did it all had a place in the grand scheme of things? Danny did not know. And since he did not know, he chose to trust in his mother’s wisdom. He trusted that someday it would all be worth it. Besides, he thought that even if life itself had no meaning after all, humans might be able to give meaning to their own lives. Danny was no exception. He also could find something for himself.
In second place, in terms of priority, Danny needed to find out more about the so-called disaster that was, according to the monster, bound to happen. The extent of the problem, when it was going to show up and other details were crucial in determining what he should do moving forward, and would tell him what options he had.
Thirdly, Danny wanted to reduce as much as possible the influence the creature had over him. He didn’t hold much hope for this though, since the disparity between the two was so great, but if he could get a little bit more of a leeway with the monster he wouldn’t complain.
“Hahahahaha, what are you so afraid of little Danny? Speak then, what do you wish to know?”. The creepy smile stretched even further in its face, slowly taking space on the side of the not-bear face.
“You weren’t exactly very clear on the details of this deal. What would I give you and how? What can you tell me? How will we discern the value of what you tell me in comparison to what I give you? And how will we firm this deal? Is there some sort of ritual or something?”. Danny put his best poker face on, and started to negotiate while trying to ignore the fact that he was haggling with a shadow monster. Maybe he was crazy after all, and all he could not differentiate reality from illusion anymore.
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“My my, how cautious! I like it! Very well, I shall clear all your doubts”. The not-bear transformed into an owl before perching in the ceiling at the other side of the room, just like a bat would. It turned its head 180º in a way that its face was upside-down, before continuing. “You shall provide me blood every fortnight at minimum as I said before. The specific amount is one full cup”.
“One cup? Of which size? Will any cup do?”
The owl just pointed its wing. Following its dark feathers with his gaze, Danny saw a black chalice standing in his nightstand. He never saw the creature placing it there, a fact that made him uncomfortably aware of the cold sweat in his back.
Not wanting to show weakness, Danny stretched his hand and picked up the object. It was cool to the touch and made by some kind of metal. On its rims there where engravings of symbols or runes, which he did not understand the meaning of.
The chalice itself was not too big and Danny knew he would be able to safely fill the cup with blood in that timeframe year-round without causing harm to his body, though any more loss of blood would probably cause him to start showing symptoms of anemia. Danny suspected that the quantity the monster demanded took this into consideration.
“Whenever you fill the cup, I will be able to sense it no matter where I am on this planet, and will come to collect your payment”.
The voice coming from behind made Danny turn around and face the huge tortoise. He was getting used to the creature’s antics. And if not for the fact that it was extremely capable of murdering him, he might even think of it as some form of cute prank.
“So, I should carry this thing around with me all the time? What happens if I lose it?”. Danny was getting more confident as time passed and he started to get used to play along with the monster without showing any emotion.
“You can, or you can leave it in your own shadow. If you lose it, you will have to pay a price. You do not want to pay a price”. The tortoise chuckled.
“What do you mean by leaving in my shadow?”. Danny asked, ignoring the alleged price and not knowing if he should go ahead and try placing the cup on his actual shadow. The tortoise just gestured with its head, and without any other options, Danny touched the black chalice into his mattress.
Without a single second of delay, the object was sucked into his shadow on the mattress, leaving behind only a few ripples that spread limited by the boundaries of his projected image, just like it had submerged on a still pond.
“To retrieve it, just touch your shadow and will it out”. The tortoise added without missing a beat. Danny did as told, and the cup was spat out into his hands, leaving behind the same ripples as before.
“How strange. I wonder how many people in the world have seen something like this”. Danny thought in wonder. Although he never found out anyone with similar circumstances to his own, he knew there had to be other weird things out there, just as unusual as his haunt. If something can happen once, it can happen twice. Danny was not unique, just unfortunate.
“Okay then, what about the other things?”. Danny placed the chalice back on the night stand and urged the creature with its explanations.
“Before you take the deal there is not much I am willing to say little Danny. There is no free lunch in this world. But I will tell you this: it will definitely be beneficial to you”.
“About the cost you have to pay for each question, it will be determined by my very own reliable discerning eye”. The monster transformed into a 1-meter-tall gray eyeball with a black pupil and black spiked tentacles coming out from all around it while giggling at his own joke.
“You yourself is going to judge the value? Wouldn’t I suffer without anything to show for it if you say my blood is worthless in comparison?”. Danny frowned, ignoring the terrible joke from the horror in front of it.
“Your blood is far from being worthless my boy! I can testify!”. The eyeball squinted and rolled its single pupil in mock pleasure, invoking a feeling of disgust in Danny, which he concealed in his own heart.
“But the arbitering of value is non-negotiable I am afraid. I have to be the one to decide it of course! You are just like a toddler stumbling around in the dark, little Danny, you would not know what is valuable and what is not, even if you stumbled on it. How would you even know how to set a price? But you can rest easy, I will not shortchange you, tasty Danny, you can most surely trust me”.