Soul Searching

Smokey's

Devon turned towards the battered wooden door attached to the building with a sign saying “Smokey’s”. He swung the door open with a creak and found a dimly lit bar with a smattering of dirty tables. The old timer he had run into earlier was perched at the bar so Devon approached, taking the seat next to him. He nodded at the old man and flagged down the barkeep with a polite flick of the hand. The bartender approached and pulled a small glass from under the table in anticipation of his order. “Just a beer.” Devon casually said, distractedly checking out the bar set up behind the server.

“A beer? Since when did you start liking beer?” the old man next to him jeered, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Damn, wrong drink choice, Isaac thought. Devon replied with a small shrug, “I just feel like shaking things up a bit tonight I suppose.”

"Uh-huh…" the man replied, watching him closely, eyes squinting in consideration. The bartender turned his attention to the man and he ordered a cheap scotch. "Catch anything?" he asked Devon, seeming to relax after taking a drink.

Isaac swallowed a gulp of beer, grimacing at how warm it was and replied "Oh nothin much, couple of crawdads." Isaac suddenly remembered those crustaceans were now most certainly rotting in his satchel bag.

An awkward silence fell. There was no music and only a few other patrons silently drinking at the tables. He sipped again and his swallow felt unreasonably loud. He had to get out of this scenario if only to calm himself, so he excused himself to the trough out back that passed for a urinal here. After he was finished, he pulled his shirt collar out slightly and peeked under it to check the amulet. It stared back at him red and disappointingly normal.

He let out a sigh. The alleged Magic Man he'd visited that fateful late night had told him so very little about this damned crystal. He had far more questions than answers.

He was very basically instructed on how to transfer to a new vessel. The man with the red velvet jacket told him that he only had to twist two metal circles on the necklace mount and they'd click into place. Once clockwise, then again counter clockwise. Two little clicks then he'd slip through the void and into whatever open vessel was ready to accept his soul.

So far, by trial and error, he had determined he could not move into new vessels (newborn babies) or very young children. In fact, the earliest vessel he'd ever been in was a 7 year old that had passed away in a fire. He chose not to stay in that particular vessel as the strain on the surviving family would have been immense after he transferred out.

That was another thing he had a theory about - what happened after he left a vessel? The soul of that person was already gone, it had moved on well before Isaac came to borrow the body. His best guess was that the body just crumpled to the floor, dead. It was… unfortunate but he couldn't afford to think about that.

He had one purpose. To find her. To keep the promise he made. Their souls would reunite, they must. No matter how long it took. Time didn't have much meaning now anyway, in his current reality.

He did have one unanswered question though. What would happen if the vessel died while he was using it? He had a feeling that might be the end of his searching. Maybe he'd be reincarnated into a baby to start a whole new journey from scratch, maybe he'd go to heaven (or hell), or maybe he'd just cease to exist. All he really knew was that he didn't intend to find out.

He turned back towards the door and took a step forward but didn't see that one of the men who had been sitting at a bar table was passing through at the same time. He bumped his shoulder and the man stumbled back, clearly very drunk. "What the f**k you think you're doing?" The man slurred, making his accent more pronounced.

"Sorry man, I didn't see you." Devon raised his hands up in a surrendering motion but the guy was already swinging. He punched Devon in the gut and Devon fell back flat on his ass. F*ck this, Isaac thought. He was going to make a break for it.

He rolled to the left, his head closer to the piss filled urinal than he'd prefer. The attacking man lunged again but Devon flipped a foot up and tripped him, sending him sprawling into the mud and pee. "You a*shole! I'll f*cking kill you, you bastard!" The man was furious, but luckily way more drunk than Devon thought. He attempted to get up but slipped in the mud.

Devon took this time to run as fast as he could, slowing to a walk when he approached his house and didn't hear footsteps behind him. He put a hand over his punched stomach, feeling suddenly annoyed that he'd have to skip town so quickly. He felt satisfied that Helena was not here, in this local vicinity. Since he came to town this afternoon, he had walked back and forth through the village twice with no action from the amulet.

He went in the house and promptly locked and barricaded his door. He rummaged through the kitchen and found some pears and stale bread. it would have to do as a fast dinner tonight. He wanted to get to bed as soon as he could.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day of travel.