Authors: Elysian#1942 and Arcane#0003
As if being in his mid twenties didn’t suck enough, Beverly, a hopeless romantic, was once again alone for Valentine’s day. Previous years he had gone out clubbing on such a depressing day, hoping to party enough to forget just how lonely he really was.
But this year, he decided to try something different. And that something, just so happened to be attempting to summon an ancient god by the name of Eskil. His reasoning? What did he really have to lose? Not dignity, that’s for sure. It’s not like he believed it would actually work. But against all odds, it somehow did. The god even agreed– albeit a bit hesitantly– to a date and the agreed upon location for this event was… the god’s home dimension. So romantic.
So here they were, wandering together through an eerie forest in what appeared to be twilight, though it was hard to say for sure since everything was so dark already. Beverly really should know better than to follow a stranger into an alternate dimension’s creepy forest, but what’s a guy to do when said stranger is a dazzling ancient god kind enough to agree to a date on such short notice?
The only actual issue Bev took note of was just how quiet Eskil was. Throughout the entire beginning of the date, the god spoke only a handful of words. When Eskil mentioned amidst the silence that it was rather odd to be summoned for a date than for their typical purpose, it elicited a nervous laugh from the mortal.
Beverly on the other hand could barely keep his excitement contained, only shutting up long enough to breathe and only ever looking away from his date to take in the lovely– albeit very spooky– scenery around him.
It looked enough like a forest to be considered one, but something about it didn’t seem quite right. The trees were arguably the most out of the place, which is funny considering it’s a forest, but something about them felt wrong. Like how the colour of their trunks was a worn shade of ivory, smooth yet somewhat coarse to the touch and so very cold it sent a shiver down Beverly’s spine upon contact. Their height reached so far into the sky that he could barely see the top even if he tilted his head all the way back, which he did, more than once to no success.
He found a slightly shorter one and tried once again, catching sight of a faint glow all the way up where the leaves were. “What is that–?” he muttered out, taking a step back to get a better look only to stumble, bumping right into Eskil who appeared suddenly behind him. Instinctively the god caught Bev in their hands, only letting go once they were certain he regained his footing.
Bev looked up at them, tucking a strand of his ginger hair behind his ear. “Looks like you just caught me, huh?” a grin formed on his face at his own cheesy remark but Eskil barely reacted, lips twitching ever so slightly into an amused smile. Apparently cringe doesn’t really translate the same to an eldritch horror beyond human comprehension, who knew? Beverly did, clearly.
Eskil simply hummed quietly, continuing along the vague path they were on, leaving Bev hurrying to catch up with them before the two were able to continue on their serene walk. Bev held his arms together close to his chest, his eyes settling once again on the trees around him and he remembered. “Why are the trees like that?” he asked, gesturing vaguely towards one of the trees as they passed by yet another.
“Like what, exactly?” Eskil tilted their head down to take in the curious look on Beverly’s face. “It feels remiss for me to not point out to you that filling your brain with knowledge of this dimension is not exactly to your benefit, Beverly.” When Bev didn’t react, save just gesturing for Eskil to say it anyways, the god released a tired exhale. “This forest is where mortal souls, like yours,” Eskil’s hand drifted to press gently against Bev’s chest with an exasperated smile, “come to rest. They reside in the trees, hundreds of thousands of fallen mortals gave life to this place.” The eldritch being paused momentarily to look around at the shimmering, almost glass-like leaves. “Some may think it cruel, to power my own world with the remnants of yours, but… I suppose it is simply a necessity.”
“Woah…… that’s like… so poetic and profound…” Bev stared wide eyed at the god as they spoke, taking in every word and every gesture as if it was the most magnificent thing he ever heard. “So, would you say I have a special place?” Beverly paused, an impish smile creeping onto his face before he continued “Like sayyyy, in your heart~?”
“Preferably? You wouldn’t have a place here in that capacity at all.”
Bev blinked once then again, confused by what they meant. “Wait, what? Do like, only good people go here? Damn, heaven sure looks different than I imagined… Though I have to say you look pretty close to a biblically accurate angel… and I mean that in the best possible way, of course.”
“I would ask if you’re okay, given that assessment of me, but you’re the one who decided this entire venture was a brilliant idea, so I feel I already know the answer.”
Bev couldn’t help but laugh at the god’s reply. “You’d understand if you were me,” he said casually, letting out a satisfied sigh. The more the two conversed, the more questions blossomed in Bev’s mind. How often would a chance like this arise? To talk one-on-one with a god? And on a date at that. It all seemed so surreal, which really it was. Still, Beverly tried to keep his composure, knowing better than to interrogate his dates now. Arguably his greatest flaw, his inability to shut up. But how could he when the silence was so unbearable and excitement consumed his every thought?
After allowing a substantial duration of silence, he finally spoke again. “It sure is pretty quiet around here huh. What is it you do?” he looked over to the god, tilting his head to the side in question.
“Not exactly an appropriate question for a first date, Beverly.” They replied calmly.
Bev’s lips curled into a shit-eating grin, the words escaping him instantly. “So there’ll be a second?”
The god turned to him, blinking once as if taken aback by the sheer audacity of the mortals’ reply but they didn’t say a word, simply returning their gaze forward with a quiet scoff.
Bev giggled, proud of himself for that reply, about to continue when a different question popped into his mind and he asked that instead. “Does it get lonely around here?”
The god shrugged. “It can, but the times of quiet are preferable to those of chaos.”
“Right…” Bev nodded, lowering his gaze onto the floor. “I really hate being alone– But I guess it beats being surrounded by people and still being lonely, right? At least no one bothers you here… Just you and creepy forests for miles–” he extended his arms forward, gesturing to the vast expanse that awaited them.
“That’s obviously not to say we don’t have creepy forests on earth! Trust me, when you’re stumbling out of a club in the middle of the night, anything is spooky but they can also be creepy during the day…” he laughed at himself, recalling the memory from far too long ago. “But you know… being out was better than being at home. Though I guess now that I think about it, being home wasn’t the problem per se– Used to sneak out all the time in uni too… I just never got along all that well with people; kids didn’t like me, parents didn’t either–” his voice faded when he caught himself rambling, letting the silence take over as he wrapped his arms around himself once again.
“I don’t believe I understand. Why didn’t you get along well with anyone?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Guess I just didn’t fit in most places, or any places, really. I liked weird things, did weird things, thought weird things… for a while I tried to change that and just be like everyone else but it didn’t really work nor did it get me far either. Kids are brutal, you know and when your mom ditches and your dad remarries some snob, the bullying gets much worse… and it just gets to you.” his eyes drifted into the distance, his face growing sombre the more he spoke. “Got in with the wrong crowd and all that fun stuff until I eventually decided that I was done so I just… left” he turned to look at Eskil, flashing them his usual smile which once again received no response from the god. Bev’s gaze fell from the god’s eyes to their nose, his smile turning mischievous as the idea popped into his head “Your nose looks very boop-able right now, you know that?”
“What?”
Bev reached his hand to the god’s face, ever so gently booping their nose, holding back the laughter wanting to escape his lips. Quickly he brought his hand back, not wanting it to be unfortunately cut off or anything and continued on with his rambling. “But yeah, long story short, dropped out of uni, managed on my own with what little money I could get until I had enough to get an apartment and well, here I am, about fifteen shit relationships later” he let out a bitter chuckle, an obvious attempt to ease the tension of all he revealed so suddenly. “But it is what it is, right? Sometimes you need to be stalked and humiliated a couple of times for character development, right?”
“They did what to you? And no one thought to stop them?”
Bev couldn’t help but laugh at the god’s response. “Probably not the best idea to talk about exes and childhood trauma on a first date, huh?” he stretched his arms out over his head as he took in a deep lungful of air though it didn’t do much to refresh his mind at all, if anything the fog that surrounded him seemed to seep into his very brain, clouding it further. “So, tell me about yourself?” he finally blurted out, turning to Eskil once again, meeting his hands together behind his back.
But before they could make it much further, Eskil suddenly appeared in front of him, their tall looming figure towering over Bev’s far shorter human frame. Beverly froze in his tracks, staring up at the god only for his eyes to drift back down to their chest where a whole collection of eyes lay, staring widely at him surrounded by black lines. He found himself captivated by them, unable to hear what the god said, something, something about subject changes, and names and stuff. It wasn’t until he heard a thunderous rumble that Bev looked back up, meeting with the narrowed glare from Eskil.
“You are staring at my chest,” they said.
“No, I’m not,” Beverly quickly denied, looking away as if he hadn’t just been caught red-handed. But before they could say anything else, he continued. “Can you like… see me with those?” he asked, gesturing with a finger in the direction of the eyes which blinked one by one at him.
“Yes, so can you please avert your eyes.”
Quickly he lifted his gaze back to the god’s face, that dumb smile returning. “So I’m totally making eye contact with your chest right now.”
The god sighed and Beverly couldn’t help but giggle in amusement at the exchange, taking the opportunity to force the subject along once again. He took a hold of the god’s arm, guiding them along with him down the path once again. “So, you were gonna tell me about yourself, yeah?”
“What is there to tell, really? This has been my existence for as long as I can recall, Beverly. A never-ending cycle of life and death, dishing out some idea of justice that those before me decided upon. Some strange form of justice to mortals who often have no idea I exist and likely never will.” Eskil looked towards the foggy sky as if weighing their options on what they could or could not reveal to Bev. “It is odd, though, to be called upon by someone who does not wish to use me for power but for happiness. Everyone who has come before you wanted me for what was in it for them, but it doesn’t seem that you’re here for that, are you?” The god didn’t allow Beverly to answer before barreling on as though they had never said a word prior. “I believe it is time I bring you home.” Eskil offered Beverly a rare smile before Bev’s world tilted.
The area around Beverly blurred, drawing closer to him before being pushed away, a scene which succeeded in making his head throb unlike any hangover he ever had. A groan escaped from his lips at the sudden pain forcing his eyes to shut as he grabbed a firm hold of his head. The cold touch of the god’s hands graced his arms, an anchor to ground him and the only actual indicator that he was still present and not drifting away into some distant dream.
“You’re okay, breathe.” Eskil’s voice floated through his mind, softer than he’d heard it the entire day. The thumping began to ease as the god reassured him to the best of their ability.
Beverly’s eyes darted open to the sight of his dingy little tea shop in front of him. He blinked a couple of times to compose himself and the headache slipped from him as quickly as it had come, leaving no other effect from the teleportation behind. The streets were still dark, the only indicator that far more time had passed since they had left were the earliest cracks of dawn, peeking in from above the tall buildings that surrounded them.
Bev turned to find Eskil standing behind him, their hands slipping from his body as they took a step back. “Looks like you caught me a second time,” Bev said with a smile. “You know, I’d invite you in but my place is kind of a mess right now and–”
“Beverly,” the god’s haunting voice stopped him, forcing their eyes to meet. The portal manifested behind them, the very forest the pair had walked through earlier swirling vaguely in the distance.
It was right then that Bev realised this was it. This was the end of their date and most likely the last time he’d ever see Eskil again…
As the god was about to step back into the portal, Beverly stopped them.
“Wait!” he called out, ignoring all sanity and reason as he ran up to the Eskil, standing on his tippy toes to each their face and pressing a brief kiss onto their cheek. Though the moment lasted only a few seconds before Bev stepped away, the two were left in stunned silence after it.
“What was that for?”
Bev smiled sheepishly, for all the audacity he usually had, being questioned on affection made him a flustered mess. “Because I enjoyed myself and I guess also for not obliterating me for disturbing your work…”
The god squinted at the mortal but didn’t seem all that bothered by it. In fact, they seemed almost amused once more at how nervous Beverly was.
“So… second date, right?” Bev asked.
A smug smile spread across the god’s face as they stepped back into the portal, their figure disappearing right before Beverly’s eyes. They waved at him, their hand shifting from its dark humanoid shape into one made entirely out of bones for only a moment before the emptiness of the street took their place.
And just like that, they were gone. The date had come to an end as the first rays of sunlight spread across the modest little neighborhood.
Beverly waited for several moments, hoping Eskil would return just to answer that final question, but as the sun rose higher and higher, he started to lose hope. Returning to the safety of his tea shop and taking a seat, he set to pouring some tea for himself after that adventure. Taking the cup in his hands, he tucked his legs up under him on the chair and sipped at it, still somehow hopeful Eskil may yet answer. As if on cue, Eskil’s deep voice pierced through the tiny tea shop with the words Beverly had been hoping for.
“You are correct, Beverly.” A dry chuckle followed the words that faded as quickly as he heard them. He was correct? There’d be another? Beverly squealed, throwing the hot tea in shock.
“Holy shit! Yes!” His hands flew into the air and the chair tumbled over backwards with him still on it, but Bev couldn’t be bothered to care. There’d be another!
weee first entry 🥳