[$] Hallucinate (with Black Water Neko)

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"That huge hole in the ground is a part of nature. it will become a small puddle for animals to drink out of. I could even make a tree go there. OH THE CHOICES ARE ENDLESS WITH WHAT I CAN PUT INTO HOLES!" The god exclaimed happily.

He stood on the ground and stared at the human, "That's just odd... Why would it be a superstition then?" He sighed and floated around the human, "This obviously isn't working... Do you have relatives?"  

[BrokenScreamBox]

"I think I have a sister somewhere, but I've never seen her," Olan answered. Somehow, he felt he was endangering his life, and his sister's, by mentioning the fact that he probably did have relatives somewhere. It wasn't likely that Vitae would know who the sister was, and Olan didn't plan on telling him. After all, the superstition states that telling hallucinations names brings bad luck to whoever the names belong to.

Another strange thought made him quirk his eyebrow again. "You're a strange hallucination. You know Timiki's name, but you don't know mine and I doubt you'll find my sister's without my telling you. Why is that?"  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

The human struck the god where it hurt again. Vitae slumped over and heaved a heavy sigh, "I don't know... I told you that... Stop bringing it up." He sulked around a bit and stood outside of the hut. He started to think of what he could do to convince the other that he was in fact real.

He started to look up to the sky and thought that maybe one of the other gods could help him. Eros? Aphrodite? Dionysis? Anyone. Then he thought why they came to his mind fiirst. He quickly brushed it off as those being the first few to come to mind and then looked back at the human. "If you tell me your sister's name I'll leave you alone."  

[BrokenScreamBox]

"But you will go after her if I give it to you!" Olan protested. "Or at least the bad luck will. Look, I need to preserve those fish I caught for the winter. I don't have time for this." The hallucination was really starting to get on his nerves. Why won' he leave him alone? And why did it seem like he was more dangerous than a normal hallucination? "Please leave."  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"I won't hurt her." the god said. It was true. He had no intentiosn of harming the boy's sister. He was only going to ask her what his brother's name was. She'd probably recognize a god when she saw one.

"I'm not going to leave." He looked at all of the fish. "I guess I might as well help. They're already dead..."  

[BrokenScreamBox]

"I can't trust a hallucination with any name that it doesn't know," Olan said, and then he set to work cleaning up the fish. They had been on the floor long enough, and he wouldn't want to preserve dreadfully dirty fish. Ah, but it didn't bother him so much.

The recluse warily watched Vitae. Now that he thought of it, the so-called god seemed too real to be a mere illusion. He did make a hole in the ground, though that may disappear once Olan came to his senses.

He could not help but worry about his sister Somuka. If she could see the hallucination as well, she may give it names. She wasn't superstitious, the recluse was sure. He felt that she wasn't very good at keeping secrets either. But he never knew her as far as he remembered, so he could not tell.  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"So how do you preserve fish human?" The god asked curiously as he stared at the pile of death and ineffeciency. It was horrible how much fish was there. Perhaps helping the human preserve them would get rid of the pile and he wouldn't be so distracted.

"Maybe the smell of the fish is starting to get to you human." Vitae said as he fanned away some of the stench. "It truly is a foul odor and maybe it's messing up your brain."  

[BrokenScreamBox]

Olan gathered up a handful of thr fish. "I usually just dehydrate them. The sun is still up, so I'll use its heat until nightfall," he replied. Judging by the position of the sun, however, he only had a littke time to preserve the fish. Well, there was always his fire hut that he built somewhere nearby.

For once, he had to agree with Vitae's suggestion that it was the fish fumes that probably confused him. Maybe the hallucination would disappear once the smells were gone. After all, Vitae did appear when Olan first smelled the decaying stench of his current catch.  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"Very well..." Vitae hovered near the fish and made the earth move to bring all of them outside. He spread the land out so all of the fish were laid in a single layer. The god went back inside and grabbed the human to have him see what he had done. Then he waited for the sun to do its work. Or he could call in a favor.

"HELIOS!" He raised his hand into the air. "I need you!"

A man came down from the sky. He stood infront of the smaller god. He was very well built and didn't wear much more than a loincloth. "Vitae! Good to see you." He smiled at the other, "So whatcha need?"

"Would you be so kind as to dehydrate these fish?"

"Didn't peg you for a fisher, what gives?"

Vitae nudged his head backwards to the human and the other god seemed to understand.

"And what do I get if I help you out?" He placed a hand on the smaller god's shoulder. He started to slowly massage it.

"It's a favor for me in return for saving your horses..." He moved the other god's hand away.

Helios sighed, "Very well." All of the fish were dehydrated in an instant. Then the god left in a fireball back into the sky.

The fish were gathered and moved back into the human's hut. "Great, now they don't smell." Vitae said as he floated back inside. "Do you not know the sun god either?"  

[BrokenScreamBox]

Olan was quite amazed to see the fish preserved in a mere blink of an eye, but he thought nothing else of it. He was probably hallucinating again. It probably wasn't unusual for an illusion to actually seem to interact with the rest of his surroundings. Perhaps the entire lake area was starting to become a mere illusion as well.

He soon became worried. What if he was becoming more and more insane as time passed? It wasn't even a day yet and already he was thinking there were gods bothering to talk to him. Vitae may say otherwise, but Olan can't trust the hallucination.

When Vitae asked whether or not the recluse knew of the sun god, Olan shook his head. "Not before today," he replied. "Are there other gods and probably female gods that I probably should know about?" Obviously Vitae wasn't alone, and there would most likely be more gods besides him and Helios.  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"Well yes there are but I will not disclose their names. You seem to be nothing more than an animal that doesn't respect the gods. Vitae moved around and smelled the air. At least the smell of death was gone. Then he looked at the human again. "You know, showing respect for the gods is the only thing that separates the humans from animals." He circled the human, "Do you understand boy?" Vitae asked, "You're nothing more than a common animal."  

[BrokenScreamBox]

Olan was quite insulted, but he wasn't very sure how to respond. Was it his fault he knew nothing of gods? Well, from what he could see, gods weren't very reasonable. Then again, perhaps Vitae had no idea that the recluse didn't remember anything before a few years ago, and thus wouldn't be able to remember any gods he may have worshipped.

"Well, if I'm nothing more than an animal, and you don't seem to want to hurt any animals, why don't you leave me be?" Olan retorted, trying to keep calm. "Perhaps I'm glad I don't respect you so-called gods, or at least you, specifically. I don't know about the others, but you seem quite snobbish. If gods are supposed to be respected, you aren't setting a very good example as to why they should be."

That dread came back again, and this time it hit him with more force than he had ever felt. He was practically digging his own grave, but why? Vitae was only a mere hallucination. He couldn't possibly hurt him, right?  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

"Ouch... That hurt coming from an animal." Vitae looked away from the human, "Although you are a mere animal compared to most humans you are far worse. And animals at least know who I am and listen to me. You, however, are stubborn and you're killing a lake and eventually this entire forest!" He backed away from Olan.

"Perhaps I should show you how you're going to kill the lake? Would that help you animal?" He had ceased to see this thing as a human. Vitae could only see this thing as an animal. He had no respect for the gods. He had no idea who they were! It made him sick that he would be so arrogant as not to respect the people who could wipe him off the face of the earth.  

[BrokenScreamBox]

Olan was about to respond, and then mentally kicked his head. What was he doing arguing with a hallucination for? All that was doing was waste his time! Maybe the only reason Vitae was still there was because the recluse kept interacting with him, acknowledging him. His insanity was starting to get the best of him. For some time he was starting to think Vitae was real.

Without another word, Olan turned and walked toward the forest. Timiki soon appeared at his side with a large yarn of string. It wasn't really needed, but it was a precaution. He always found his way back to the lake, but never outside. It didn't bother him, though he wanted to know what the outside world is like.

He didn't travel too far into the forest before he found a peculiar thing. It looked like many thin sheets sandwiched together between something. He picked it up and looked through the sheets, noticing the same markings he would find when he found lone thin sheets. What frustrated him was that he couldn't read them. Out of all things to forget, why did it have to be reading and writing?  

[DoubleEdgeCat]

Vitae followed the human into the forest. He decided to gather the string as he went along the path. When he finally arrived to where Olan was he looked at the book he was holding. "What're you reading?" Vitae took the book from him and looked through the pages, "Who'd leave a book in the forest?" He examined it a little more, "Ugh... Leather bound..." He tossed it on the ground and looked through the forest.