My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 26 (Patreon)

Students gave Damien strange glances as he staggered through the streets with Sylph’s body over his back, but none of them paid him more than a few moments of attention. Evidently, this wasn’t the strangest thing they’d seen on campus.

The only thing that kept Damien going was the sight of the huge library in the distance. Each step he took felt impossibly small, and Sylph seemed to be growing heavier with every passing moment. After he’d been walking for around thirty minutes, he was practically trembling with effort.

“Not to be an asshole, but this is pathetic,” Henry said.

“Shut up,” Damien snapped, speaking aloud on accident. A passing student shot a dirty look in his direction, but he was too tired to care.

He was nearly upon the library, but there was still a long walk after he made it there. Damien set his jaw and continued to trudge onwards.

“You know, you could have just taken the portal in the arena,” Henry observed. “Although, this is good exercise. Maybe you should do it all the time.”

“It would have taken me to the courtyard,” Damien rasped. “I don’t remember which portal went to the mountain.”

“I do,” Henry said, cackling as Damien ground to a halt. “You’re nearly there, though. You’ve gone more than half of the way, so it’ll be faster to finish walking than to turn back.”

“You suck.”

Henry’s laughter faded as Damien mentally shoved him into the depths of his mind. He resumed his trek, ignoring his body’s desperate pleas to stop. If he did, Damien was pretty sure he’d end up dragging Sylph along the ground behind him for the rest of the trip.

When Damien finally reached the base of the mountain, he’d completely lost track of time. His legs burned with pain that he knew for a fact would be coming back with a vengeance tomorrow.

With a weary sigh, Damien staggered up the mountain paths. The sun had started to set behind the clouds, casting the sky in brilliant pink and orange hues. The view from the side of the mountain was magnificent, and Damien likely would have appreciated it if he’d had the energy to look away from the dirt in front of him.

It figured. Mortals were always so focused on their miniscule, insignificant problems that they missed the important things around them. They don’t deserve the world they’ve been blessed with.

Damien had never seen a dark cave opening look so inviting. He drew on the last of his energy, stumbling across the plateau and into their room. He tossed Sylph onto her bed like a sack of potatoes and groaned in relief.

He slipped his travel bag under his bed and pulled the covers down, climbing into it while removing his coat and scarf with aching arms. Damien removed his shirt and pants as well.  He tossed them to the foot of the bed and slipped under the sheets with a relieved sigh.

Damien didn’t have the energy to worry about the open entrance or brushing his teeth and taking a shower. His head hit the pillow and conscious thought blinked out as he fell into a deep sleep.

The following morning, Damien awoke to something warm bearing down on his face. He groaned and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow.

“Wake up, boy,” Henry said. “I want to look around the campus.”

“Then do it your–” Damien stopped mid-sentence. Then he let out a groan and rolled over, opening his eyes and staring up at the ceiling. “Don’t do that, actually. I’m getting up.”

He forced himself away from the pillow and into a seated position. His sore limbs voiced their protest. Damien grimaced. He realized that he was talking aloud again, which was a habit that would inevitably cause trouble if he didn’t get control over it.

Not one word, Henry.

“I didn’t say anything,” Henry said with false innocence.

Good. Keep it that way.

Damien glanced at Sylph’s bed. She was gone. He frowned and shimmied down the bed, grabbing his clothing and pulling it under the covers to get dressed.

Where’s Sylph?

“The girl woke up a few hours ago,” Henry replied. “You could take a few pages out of her book. You waste half the day sleeping.”

Damien grunted and shuffled over to their small bathroom. The runes he’d drawn on the wall were still emitting a faint light, but it had grown weaker since yesterday.

“Wrong way,” Henry said. “The exit is behind us.”

I’m not going anywhere until I’ve taken a shower and brushed my teeth.

Henry settled for a grumble. Damien’s thoughts told the companion that he wouldn’t be making any headway in that particular argument.

About thirty minutes later, after Damien had thoroughly washed himself in the tiny shower, he stepped out of the cave feeling mostly refreshed. The water had done wonders to soothe his aching muscles.

“I wonder where Sylph went,” Damien wondered to himself.

“Who cares?” Henry said. “You’ve got so many things to do, but all you can think about is finding your roommate?”

“What do you mean?” Damien asked. “I thought we were just going to look around the campus.”

“You can learn magic!” Henry exclaimed. “Have you forgotten that somehow?”

Damien stopped walking as Henry’s words sunk in. The last day had gone by so quickly that he’d barely had time to think about it. A grin crept across his face and he started to laugh.

“By the seven planes, you’re right!” Damien exclaimed, jumping into the air and pumping his arms. Luckily, there was nobody else on the mountain path with him to see his antics. “How did I forget? I don’t need to wait for a stuffy teacher. I can learn now, can’t I?”

“That’s more like it. I was almost worried something had happened to that foolish thirteen year old that summoned me,” Henry said. “There are some things we need to set up first. Also, you might want to stop speaking out loud – someone is going to see you.”

Damien continued down the mountain, a goofy grin plastered onto his face.

What do I need to do?