Chapter Text
It was a dark and stormy night and Ruthven was pissed. "Why do I keep getting stopped by the same people?" He asked himself aloud and looked at Ma Smoke. "I have summoned you here to take care of something pretty important to our mission."
"Yes, Lord Ruthven," Ma Smoke replied, her voice oozing with unwavering loyalty.
Ruthven pulled a spear out of his golf bag and showed it to Ma Smoke. "Take this and go make the town of New Horrorfield unsafe, this spear has the ability to awaken the Psyche of whoever gets stabbed with it, so this will cause some chaos."
"Yes, Lord Ruthven," Ma Smoke nodded obediently, her eyes gleaming with anticipation as she prepared to embark on her journey to New Horrorfield.
Ruthven said to her before she left, "Stealth is of the utmost importance, remember to not be seen by anyone at all!"
Ma Smoke moved stealthily along the dirt paths to New Horrorfield at night, blending into the shadows and taking great care to avoid being seen or heard.
Viburnius looked at Kassandra who was cutely sleeping. "What are we gonna do now? She's pretty safe here and can't move now."
"Want to look for Lord Ruthven? Clifford can stay here and watch over Kassandra," Tyler suggested.
Viburnius shrugged. "Sure but we better take Clifford with us, after the stunt he pulled I don't think Ruthven would attack such a public and busy location like this anytime soon, do we have any clues?"
"Well, he wants to take everyone's Psyches, and he mentioned something about the spears," Tyler said with a hint of confusion.
Viburnius looked at Tyler with a look of shame. "What did he say? I couldn't hear him over the sound of the base falling on us"
"'I'll give a Psyche to everyone in the world, and with these spears I'll do that. Because that's who I am, The World!'" Tyler repeated, then asked Viburnius, "But what does that mean?" as they tried to make sense of the perplexing words spoken by Lord Ruthven.
Viburnius shrugged. "I say he lost it, he got a screw loose in his head, guess he is finally nuts after all that immortality caught up to him, what do you make of it, Tyler."
"I think it has something to do with the spears, but I don't know what," Tyler replied.
Viburnius shrugged again. "Oh well best to leave him alone and go on with our own stuff, his paranoia will turn against him without anything to provoke and we can profit from that."
"I think if we beat up his former disciples, he'll eventually make a move," Tyler suggested.
Viburnius nodded and looked at the calender that was hanging on the hospital room wall. "It's almost that special day soon."
"Halloween?" Tyler asked, his voice filled with curiosity as he tried to ascertain the significance of the approaching special day mentioned by Viburnius.
"Okay..." Tyler replied, nodding in response to Viburnius' explanation about the opening of the veil between the Otherworld and Earth.
Viburnius nodded. "You see the reason why people dress up at Halloween is so that the spirits think they are one of them, and don't get taken away when Halloween ends, as for the jack o'lanterns they are to scare away evil spirits, and trick or treating is to keep the spirits peaceful and satisfied with their visit."
"Yeah," Tyler replied, his voice filled with a hint of understanding as he acknowledged Viburnius' explanation about the traditions of dressing up, carving jack-o'-lanterns, and trick-or-treating.
Viburnius pouted. "The other traditions are also related to the spirits but I actually have never tried them myself, wanna do that soon?" He asked Tyler with puppy eyes and Tyler couldn't say no to those.
Inhaling sharply, Tyler replied, "Sure..." as he couldn't resist Viburnius' pleading expression.
Viburnius hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much!"
Tyler reciprocated Viburnius' tight hug, his arms wrapping around him warmly as he gently patted his back.
Viburnius suddenly looked worried. "Now there are a few rules you have to follow otherwise you might end up badly….."
"Rules?" Tyler questioned.
Viburnius said them aloud, "One: always wear a costume. Two: always hand out candy. Three: never blow out your jack o'lantern before midnight. Four: don't hurt children. Five: I forgot that one, got it, Tyler?" He asked Tyler with a look of importance on his face.
"Got it," Tyler replied, his tone suggesting a lack of genuine concern as he acknowledged Viburnius' list of rules, not fully grasping their significance.
Viburnius suddenly looked worried. "Rule number five: respect the dead.'' And looked around for any possible threats. "I forgot," he said with a plain look on his face while his eyes darted in panic.
"Forgot what?" Tyler asked.
Viburnius twiddled his index fingers together. "I ate some…."
A grimace crept across Tyler's face as memories of the desolate island and eerie cemetery flooded his mind.
Viburnius nervously smiled. "Oh well I think I'm fine as long as I keep the other rules intact, the worlds have begun to cross."
"It wasn't Halloween then," Tyler nodded in understanding, his voice carrying a hint of reassurance.
Viburnius nodded. "Time sure is acting weird lately."
Tyler glanced down at his silver Roarlex watch, its sleek design and ticking hands appearing perfectly normal in the waking world.
Viburnius looked at Tyler. "Hey I just remembered someone."
"Who?" Tyler inquired.
Viburnius put his hand to his chin. "Actually two, Augustus Darvell and Jonathan Jones, whatever happened to them, do you know?"
"Augustus Darvell is my teacher, and Jonathan Jones probably went home," Tyler replied.
Viburnius nodded. "Sounds logical, they have their own lives as well." And looked at Tyler. "So what we gonna do now?"
"Let's look for more of Lord Ruthven's disciples," Tyler suggested.
Viburnius smiles. "Sounds good!" And hugged Tyler again.
Tyler confidently led Viburnius out of the hospital, guiding him towards their next adventure with purposeful steps and a determined expression.