Little Boy Blue

EIGHT

ERUSIDAMUS

It was only after they had entered the hallway that He thought about warning the others of the phasmatia. Finally He decided not to. There was no reason for them to be afraid, not with Him here to send a constant stream of soothing thought at the spirits and keep them from attacking the interlopers.

"Stay close," He ordered. He knew that He could keep the phasmatia away, but anyone that started wandering would be in danger.

He could feel Ashley close behind Him, and the others trailing after. They didn't know why, but they were all disturbed about being in here, He could sense their unease radiated outward from them. It was an uncomfortable feeling, even second-hand as He was receiving it.

{Erusidamus, what are those things?} Ashley Asked nervously.

The Master looked over His shoulder to see that Ashley's eyes were wide and his face was pale. His lips quivered slightly, and his shoulders twitched as though he felt something brushing against him in the darkness. A curious phasmati was running ephemeral hands over his flesh, radiating a hunger and a loneliness that could have happily swallowed the hearts of worlds. Erusidamus hurriedly ordered it away.

{There is nothing to fear,} Erusidamus Said. {I would never let anything hurt you, least of all a bunch of overly protective phasmatia. They are the guardians of the Hidden Chamber and the secrets of the Master of Gold.}

Ashley twitched his shoulders, and his mouth twisted a little, his nose wrinkling. {They are kind of creepy. I can feel them moving around and watching me. They want to hurt us; I can feel it against my skin. They want to kill us all.}

Erusidamus stroked Ashley's mind. {They will not hurt you, I promise. As you know, all phasmatia are jealous of the living and that makes it seem as though they are angry. These ones though, would never be allowed to hurt you, not as long as I am here. They serve Me by protecting what is Mine and keeping the curious out.}

He was careful not to mention the few times He had come into the hallway and almost tripped over fresh bones, the flesh completely ripped away from them, leaving the victims of the phasmatia nameless. He had some suspicions about who the dead had been and who they had worked for, but there were no sureties and He wasn't certain if He had really wanted any.

Though He knew the phasmatia wouldn't hurt Him, He couldn't help the way they made even Him feel. There was just something about them, something so hungry that they made His skin crawl.

Phasmatia were not beings to be terrified of, they were to be pitied. They had never been given the chance to be everything they might have been. Each one of the spirits fluttering along this hallway and swirling among the ceiling beams in the Hidden Chamber might have been people He could have known. They could have become demons or angels or even humans, but instead they were bodiless shadows of might-have-been. It was a tragedy.

Every unborn child whose chance had never come, every missed opportunity, every unfulfilled hope and dream, all given a sort of form as phasmatia. Never having known any kind of life, they still somehow knew that they had been cheated out of everything that should have been theirs. It was just so sad.

Walking down the hallway, nearing the end, Erusidamus couldn't help wondering if maybe He had added to the phasmatia here and everywhere else. Whatever children He could have already had with Ashley and hadn't, all of the things they should have done and didn't, all given spiritual shape, the whisper of their minds filled with anger from never getting the chance. Perhaps they were all here, haunting this place, hating Him because to them He was the instigator of their bodiless, lifeless, hopeless misery.