BrightMoon: Path of a Witch King

“Mr.Brightmoon!” Nurse Joy called out to the lobby. Unfortunately this isn't the Pokémon world, this was a hospital where I had been getting treatment for my eyes for the past six months. My parents and I had been going to a rodeo in a town just an hour away when the axle of my dad's car snapped.  Our car had rolled several times, I was found on the side of the road with road rash and incredibly small shards of glass in my eyes. To me the world fluctuated between blurry and a white out with moving shadows, I sighed and stood up, as I got to my feet I felt someone gently take me by the arm. “Let's go Moon. This is the last appointment with that rude racist piece of crap.” My friend Jess complained to me. To be honest the doctor wasn't racist, just that he used all the non progressive terms he could, though it wasn't all that bad and was quite funny sometimes.  “Don't worry Jess. I will be absolutely fine.” I said back in her general direction. She pouted though I had to imagine the puffed out cheeks, if my eyes were open then all I would see is a blizzard of white. Jess walked me to the small room where I sat on the medical bed, she had to leave as she wasn't family, the nurse closed the door behind them and I sat waiting for my doctor to come in. “Boo!”  I flinched away from the sound and hit the wall on my right. “Finally got you after six months.” Dr. Ferris said. My heart was still racing from the jump scare. He had been attempting to get me to jump for as long as I was his patient, “Well that was worth the effort, now onto the business, open them peepers and let's take a look.”  I wasn't fully recovered from the scare but I followed his instructions and laid back and opened my eyes as much as I could. I barely had them open before I felt the doctor help widen them and the pull of medical tape holding them open. “There we go, don't blink bright eyes, aaaaand here we go.” I heard the doctor flip a switch before I heard a machine power on above me. I once believed that nothing could be worse than only seeing a world of white. That assumption was wrong, the irritation from the laser made my eyes feel like they were being bitten by dozens of ants all at once, every second for the next fifteen minutes. The machine was designed to examine the eyes of blind people, usually they wouldn't feel a thing, and most people wouldn't either. My eyes however were sensitive to an absurd degree, I grit my teeth through the irritation and by the end of the exam my brow was covered in sweat and my teeth ached. “Ok bright eyes give me a minute, alright and here we are,” the doctor spoke aloud. “The results are in and are not looking good, the damage to your eyes is just too severe. The only options we have are to let you remain with your current state of vision or to surgically remove those creepy peepers of yours.” Dr. Ferris helped me up but otherwise remained quiet, which was unusual for him.  “Just think it over. I know there are no easy options here but I will advise you to get the surgery to reduce the pain you are going through.” The doctor left and the nurse came in a minute later to discharge me for the day.  Jess and I caught an uber back to my parents house, she gave me a hug before leaving, though she was just next door. I dragged myself to my room and sat at my desk. Either I lose my vision completely or be in pain with the vision I had left. I screamed and slammed my hands down on the desk.  Life had taken my parents away and now it was going to take my eyes, I broke down and cried in my chair, my eyes stung which only caused me to scream some more. I don't know how long I sat there stuck in an endless loop of regret and self pity but when I finally pulled myself together the room had gotten dark. I wiped my eyes and noticed the mess I had made, most of my things I had on my desk were now on the floor, including my mouse and keyboard. I let out a sigh before picking up the blurry objects. After I cleaned up, I reconnected my keyboard and mouse, making my PC wake up. Surprisingly there were dozens of tabs open on the screen. I squinted my eyes as I read them and closed them. A few of the sites had some spicy content I could help but save for later but the one that was the most bizarre was a site for witches.  My mom was a wicca, but I hadn't ever delved into her spiritual practises, so I started to read through the page. There were remedies and services offered and as I read through the page I felt a bit closer to my mom.  I smiled and started clicking on links so I could read up more on my mom's beliefs when I came across something way out there. I wasn't sure which link I had clicked but I was brought to a page that told me how to summon a wish granting demon or deity, though it seemed that even the site didn't know whatever it was supposed to be. “Yeah alright. A wish granting demon.” I scoffed. Even if there was something to my mom's beliefs I could bring myself to believe in demons. The ritual was rather easy: dig a hole at a crossroads, and bury a parcel with a few common things, though I had no idea where I was going to get bone from a black cat. “Maybe mom has some of this stuff?” I thought aloud. I got up from my chair and made my way to the backyard, the majority of which was my mothers greenhouse. I knew she grew herbs and other other such things as a side business for other witches but I hadnt ventured into the greenhouse since I was eleven, so I was shocked when I found the green house overflowing with plantlife. Everywhere I looked were a multitude of colorful plants. I slowly moved through the various plant life towards the back where I found a few different storage units, there was even a freezer, what kind of herbs needed to be frozen instead of dried. I haven't a clue. My hands however went to the large storage cabinet, opening it I found jars and containers stacked to near full on every shelf. My eyes had started to sting and the blurry world of mine was going to become a static white soon, I squinted and pushed through the irritation and started grabbing containers. My eyes were itching like crazy by the time I found everything I needed. Including the skull of a black cat, which was labeled right on the small box. A little weird my mom had one but maybe it was just a witch thing.  Not diving down that rabbit hole I took the items inside and found an old hand towel, placed the herbs and cat skull in the middle before tying the little pouch with some fishing line from the garage. He inspected the little package before heading back into the garage and grabbing a small shovel, even as he left the house and started towards the closest intersection. As he walked down the street rubbing his eyes and blinking constantly to keep his vision as clear as possible he had no idea why he was about to practice some sketchy witchcraft demon ritual. He didn't try to understand it because if he thought about it he would probably break down again, pushing through his cluttered mind he made it to an intersection. He walked to the side where the grass had been mostly maintained, a few good scoops of the shovel was all he needed for a decent sized hole. He tossed in the little package before he covered it in the fresh soil. Still holding the shovel he turned and looked around, nothing had happened right away, “maybe it needed to be on a full moon or something?” he muttered. “Or maybe you should be more patient.”  a smooth southern voice said from his left.  BrightMoon whipped his head to look at the shadowy figure, and that was not because it was dark out, the man was literally made of shadows. The shovel dropped to the ground almost as fast as my jaw. “Close your mouth kid before a fly gets in there.” the shadow man said, “now what's a young witch like you needing a wish for?”  Grasping at the first thing that came to mind I answered the shadow, “I want to fix my eyes.” I muttered. The shadow man's head tilted to the side before he waved his hand in front of me, my vision cleared immediately, but that wasn't all. A cracking sound came from all over my body, like I had been at a chiropractor and they had several hands to get every inch of me in one go. My aches and pains were all gone. “Is that all you were hoping for, cause that was too easy, I'll just give that as a freebie. Come on son, lay it on me, world's your oyster.” The shadow man seemed quite eager, which was odd. With my vision clear I could clearly see the man made of shadow, he looked quite dapper in a three piece suit not to mention he had the look of a suave young man. “What's the catch?” I asked a little late. “Well it is about time you mentioned that, everything has a price, don't worry though this aint about your soul or anything. It's more like you owe a favor to the bank, all you have to do is pay it back when we come calling. How does that sound?” the shadow said and flashed me an award winning smile. “Now about your real wish, don't be shy, I can deal you anything you want. Super power, wealth, women, and even revenge on that bastard who killed your parents.” My brow furrowed, “What do you mean revenge? It was a car accident.” “Oh buddy, have you got that wrong. Here I'll ruin the surprise, that cousin of your father, Etenia. Well your father held a lot of shares in a casino, but if you and your father die..well lets just say that cousin gets all the shares, and walks away incredibly rich. He played around with your breaks just enough so they would wear out quicker than normal the last time he came to see yall.” The shadow man had stopped smiling when he started his tale. I looked at the ground, I could feel the hot tears in my eyes, my family had been taken from me? By our own blood? “Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news and run so I am going to need that wish now.” the shadow insisted. I wiped my eyes and looked up at him, I looked into the man's eyes, I didn't see compassion nor guile, he didn't care that my family had been murdered nor did he care what I did with my wish. He was here to fulfill his purpose and leave, “No, I'm fine with being healed.” I said to the shadow, I could get my own revenge, I didn't need to rely on someone else to get it for me. I turned away from the shadow and started walking away. The shadow stared at the young man walking away before looking up into the sky, two bright silver eyes the size of moons stared down at him. The shadow man gulped and bowed, “As you command, master.” the eyes seemed to close and vanished from the night sky.  The shadow man adjusting his tie before looking at the young man again, “Sorry to say this kid but it looks like your ticket is being called early.” The shadow man appeared in front of BrightMoon, “Ok so bad news, for whatever reason, your favor is due, right now.” Brightmoon stopped and looked at the shadow, “Wait why?” The shadow man shrugged, “Don't know. Dont care. I am just following orders, now here is the catch, the price you have to pay is kinda weird.”  “Weird how, like weird how all this is happening and I'm not losing my mind or that I am now in some kind of supernatural contract that is getting more and more vague.” BrightMoon said back to the shadow. “Ok yeah it's getting weird even for me, usually I just show up and grant a wish and wait for another person to summon me. I don't collect on debts, but the powers above said collect now, so here I am. Over the next seventy two hours every time you fall asleep you will journey to another realm, on your fourth journey to the other realm you will not be able to come back. That is the price you have to pay.” The shadow figure held up a hand before I could ask it any questions. “I don't know what will become of you, I am just the messenger, all I know is that you will have a guide on your first three trips to the other realm. Good luck BrightMoon, don't forget on your fourth trip, it will be permanent so do whatever you need to and fast.” The shadow gave his warning before his body broke apart and fled the light and disappeared into the night leaving BrightMoon alone in the middle of the street. BrightMoon looked about, vision still clear, even with his body restored it was still bittersweet. He had less than four days to get justice for his parents, he wasn't sure how to feel about traveling to another realm, or the fact that it would be permanent. Numbly I walked back to my house, occasionally gazing at the few stars above, a world under such a beautiful sky shouldn't feel this empty. I hardly realized I had made it home, I went through the motions of getting ready for sleep and before I knew it I was laying in my bed. I wondered if traveling to a new realm was going to hurt, and if I hadn't gone insane.