Anon Finds A Ritual Book VI

Anon finds a ritual book in a thrift store and finds out that it is completely legit when it comes to summoning things. He is also however, a bastard that summoned a chaotic rat deity and proceeded to bust a nut in her within the first half hour of meeting. In the last episode you were teleported to work, albeit without the proper clothes. How are you going to talk yourself out of this one? Will you be fired? Find out below!

On break! Last Chapter: https://rentry.co/chbym (also known as Bad Baelz Fanfic in the directory) As you can likely tell from my work down below, I'm a pretty amateur writer. I hope that through my posting and your criticisms that over time, I shape up to be much better and produce more enjoyable stories.


The steps were getting closer!

Think, Anon, think!

You were opening today, so did you at least have your keys on you? Frantically patting your pockets, you confirm that you have them. That's one part of your excuse done. What was the weather like outside? A cursory look at a skylight yields that it's currently raining. Another part of your excuse! You were always a creative person, if not a little retarded.

Which is why you punch yourself in the mouth as hard as you can, cutting both your knuckles and your lip. Stifling a hiss of pain, you hastily smear blood around and make yourself look as beat up as possible, quickly laying down on a couch in the room and closing your eyes. Pretending to be asleep, you hear the door open and a:

"Holy fuck, Anon?"

"Anon, are you okay?!"

Feigning weakness, you slowly open your eyes and groan, sitting up and pressing a hand to your head. "Mmh? O-Oh hey, girls." You lay your eyes on two of your concerned-looking female coworkers (one being your supervisor), both of which immediately rush to your side.

"Why are you just in your jeans? Your face is bloody! What happened?" The blonde one asks, kneeling by your side and fiddling with her phone.

"Oh, I-I uh got mugged on the way to work and they," You let out a shaky laugh, wiping your mouth on your arm, "took pretty much all I had on me, but at least they left my keys. Locked the doors behind me, so sorry if we're a bit late for that." As you start to stand up, your supervisor puts a hand on your shoulder and gently pushes you back down.

"Take the day off." Your supervisor says firmly, locking eyes with you. "I'm not going to make a beat-up looking employee work, it looks bad and I'd feel bad if I had to buy something from you. Do you have your phone on you?"

You shake your head. "Nope." You should feel bad about lying, but the alternatives would be a lot worse. Showing up to work with just a pair of jeans and having an excuse not as convenient as this would probably get you fired. Hopefully, they didn't check any cameras.

"I'll call a taxi for you. File a police report when you can, okay?"

When you leave the store and hop into the cab, you can only marvel at your own quick thinking. You tell your driver the address and stare out one of the windows, grinning to yourself as the car pulls out of the parking lot. "Rain sure is coming down, huh? Bet you're glad that you don't gotta walk to the address without a shirt." Your driver remarks.

"Tell me about it. I got mugged earlier, would've probably gotten hypothermia or something." You reply absentmindedly, resting your hands on your lap and leaning your head against the glass. "So how's your day goin', pal?"

"It's alright, picked up a few early birds before you," the man says, glancing back at you for a moment, "truth be told, I was half tempted to drive away when I saw you standing shirtless outside that store. It's much too early to be dealing with drunk, weird people."

A chortle leaves you. "Honestly, wouldn't blame you." As the car moves into an intersection, a bright light appears. Did someone have their high beams on? You scowl slightly at the glare. What sort of jackass has them on this ear- the realization hits you too late that the light's coming from the other side of the car. Flicking your gaze out the other window, the last thing you register is the large metal grille of a semi-truck bearing down upon the taxi.


Hakos Baelz gazed longingly out the window of her home, elbows resting on the windowsill. Her tail swayed idly from side to side as she watched cars drive by, observing people carry on with their lives. How long ago had it been when people would just call it a day and just hole up in their abodes until the storm abated? But now they rode in cars, each speeding off to make money to support their families.

She frowned slightly, a small huff leaving her lips.

Gone were the days where you could just pitch a hut up somewhere and set up your own farm. Why would anyone want to settle in a place like this? Was this Civilization's doing? Having to work for so long, but have the money you rightfully earned go to someone else. He explained taxes and the importance of 'paying rent' once, but it was strange. She recalled a conversation where her lover had just grabbed her cheeks and said: 'Baelz if I don't pay rent, we can't have a house. If I don't go to work, I can't pay rent. Without work, we wouldn't have cheese either.'

The goddess scoffed lightly. "I still think we could've made it as thieves..." She murmured, breathing gently on the window and causing a spot of condensation to form, drawing a sad face.

But as luck would have it, she immediately doubled over, gasping. Something was terribly wrong, the link- it had been wounded. It was a rope connecting her and Anon, but now only a few strands still connected them. The only things that could do that were specific magical rituals or... or...

"Anon..." Baelz whispered in a dreadfully low tone, opening the window and hopping out. She could still sense his presence, but it was fainter than ever now. Dissipating into a cloud of red energy, she flew over the city towards Anon's source until she could gauge his whereabouts, tailing some sort of white vehicle that screamed. Was he being kidnapped?!

Fury filled her.

The car stopped under a covered area and it was there she managed to read the writing 'hospital' in bright white letters. Her heart sank. She would have preferred slaying some woefully unprepared ritualists than this. Materializing as a crew of paramedics wheeled Anon out on a stretcher, she ran up, yelling.

"A-ANON!"

"Ma'am, stay back!" A male in a uniform said, turning to look at her as his compatriots hurriedly pushed the grievously wounded body of her soulmate inside. "Are you immediate family?" He demanded forcefully, a frown on his face.

Baelz nodded frantically. "I-I'm his wife!" Ordinarily, she might have hesitated to say those words, but this was no time for half measures or indecision. "W-What happened to him?!"

"Car accident involving a heavy vehicle, severe trauma to the left side of his body. He's going straight into the operating room." The paramedic said, turning and jogging after the others. "Follow me and you can wait in the waiting area." Obeying his orders, Baelz tailed the man until she found the seated areas, pacing back and forth nervously.

Anon's life force was precariously weak, and she possessed no way of healing him whatsoever. All she could do was pray that he would live through the surgery, but how could she trust in the hands of some... some mortals! Could she locate Ceres and petition for her help? Maybe she could call for Time, beg for her to rewind whatever happened to him? Baelz bit her nails anxiously, weighing her options. It was unlikely that she could find the Keeper of Nature in time- she had warded her domiciles to be impervious to scrying. Could she blame her though? It would be tiring after having such a pleasant forest be accidentally torched a fourth time.

Time wouldn't care, she'd only lecture Baelz with something akin to: 'You would ask me to turn the clocks back for you, much less on a mortal's behalf?' She wouldn't do it, that much she was sure. If anything Ouro would be content to mock her for her shortcomings and be irritated that she would try and ask a favor of her.

Closing her eyes, she pictured the thread of Anon's life, so dangerously thin and... being pulled at by something. A frown. Something was approaching it, something shadowy something that wasn't her! Baelz's eyes flashed open and she thrust a hand out. She had come to take it prematurely! It wasn't his time just yet! Baring sharpened white teeth, the concept of Chaos' fingertips blazed with sanguine energies and she tore open a rift in reality imperceptible to all those magically uninclined, leaping forwards through it with her hand outstretched.

Invisible and phasing through the wall, she grabbed a solid shaft and threw it, eliciting a surprised 'GUH!' from her target.

Hakos Baelz landed on a floor made of obsidian, etched with veins of smoldering reality. The skies were a vermillion hue, overlooking a landscape of irregularly sized pillars of volcanic rock. Throughout the blasted lands were the echoes of all timelines, whispering as they were fed into the blender that was entropy. Behind her, the rift winked shut, leaving the two beings locked into a hellish arena set at the thin border between chaos and normalcy.

"Dude, what's the point of this?" Forty feet away from her rose a figure adorned in an ornate black robe and bearing a tiara forged from metals mined from the underworld. Pink locks were flicked out of her face as she hefted an ornate scythe, a furious look on her face. "You're delaying the inevitable here, girl. His soul's weak and his body's weaker, he's bound for the Underworld."

"I... don't care!" The red-haired girl declared, staring the taller female down with determination burning in her multicolored eyes. "Just because it looks like he'll die doesn't mean you can take him away without a fighting chance!"

"This is a mortal, Chaos. Why are you doing so much for someone that's just one in a pool of billions of insignificant others?" The Grim Reaper's Apprentice demanded, spinning her weapon around one hand lazily as she began striding towards her aggressor. "You can always get a new one."

"He is one in a pool of billions of insignificant others! The difference is, he's mine!" Baelz shouted back proudly, face twisting into a feral smile that showed off all her teeth. "Give me your word you'll leave him be or I'll dust you!" She slammed her fists together, creating a small explosion of scarlet energies that left them wreathed in crackling wraithlike fire.

"This is a waste of both our time. Open the rift again, you can find anoth-" Calliope started in an exasperated tone before Baelz slammed a hand into the ground, creating an energy construct shaped like a gigantic rat underneath her. "YOU MEDDLING LITTLE-" Wedging her scythe in between its jaws before it could clamp shut fully, she dissipated into a mass of shadows and reformed twenty feet away, hair disheveled. Blowing it out of her face, she grimaced. "Have it your way."

Surging forwards with her weapon, the reaper aimed a swift slash at Baelz's neck, aiming to end things quickly. The embodiment of Chaos raised a hand to stop it, letting out a squeak of exertion as the force pushed her dozens of feet backward, shoes digging into the ground. Where the scythe met the fire around her hands, it sparked violently, shooting off wisps of black and red in all directions. Within the scythe laid a portion of Death's power, empowered to deliver blows not only to the body but to the soul. For most, this would mean instantaneous death but for more powerful beings like the two, it would just mean a serious wound.

In a sense, their souls were larger so therefore it was more difficult for them to suffer a true death, but it was still very possible should Hakos let her guard down.

Baelz retaliated by throwing a quick cross with her free hand, hissing in frustration as her opponent managed to raise the shaft of her weapon and block it, sending her flying backward. "JUST LEAVE HIS SOUL ALONE YOU OLD HAG!" She screamed, making a knife hand and pointing it at Mori, sending a series of disruptive red energy at her. Her own powers destabilized her enemies, but whereas the reaper wielded a clean-cutting implement, Baelz could wither away at something's very essence. The two possessed a great amount of power, but Hakos knew she was restricted in her capabilities at the moment.

Taking a great amount of effort to effectively seal the two of them away in a pocket realm, Baelz was limited to much simpler attacks. Were they to be in an open isolated part of the world, she would have little issues simply crushing Mori with an overwhelming blow and forcing her to abandon her pursuit, but they weren't.

"Old... hag? You're older than me!" The pinkette sneered, rushing towards Baelz while spinning her scythe in front of her, dispelling the incoming attacks and sending them careening wildly to either side of her. With a cackle, Mori's form suddenly dissipated into shadow right before she swung for Hakos, reforming behind her and bringing it down.

"G-GAH!" The force of the blow sent Hakos to a knee, the blade just barely stopped a few inches short of her neck- sending parts of her long hair fluttering to the ground. A sweat broke out on her face as the scythe began to slowly carve through the shielding around her hands, forcing Baelz to dematerialize in a flash of red lightning and reform fifteen feet away, gasping for breath.

"Really? That got you? You're out of practice and soon enough, that fella's gonna be out of his misery." Mori jeered, raising a hand to her weapon and drawing from it a black orb. "I'll make this quick." Crushing the orb, she was enveloped in a tenebrous cloak of Stygian armor, rising to become a construct of Death that stood more than twenty feet tall. A deep booming laugh rolled across the arena, souls practically dripping off the murky robes of Mori's avatar as it raised a massive scythe and swept at her horizontally.

Slabs of obsidian went flying, shards of the rock filling the air as it came towards Hakos. "IT'S JUST ONE MORTAL! WHY DO YOU HAVE IT SO OUT FOR HIM?!" The rat demanded, teeth gritting as she pressed her hands against the ground, cracking the flooring as a colossal pillar of red energy rose from just under the scythe, disrupting its path and just barely missing her head by a couple of feet. Yet, she could still hear the wails of the condemned as it passed and felt deep within her immortal soul a tremor of fear.

"IF A DEITY LIKE YOU IS WILLING TO STEP INTO THE WAY, THEN THE REAPER MIGHT LIKE IT IN ITS COLLECTION!" Raising a hand, a wave of shadowy energies spilled from under her cloak- a wave of death. Hakos leaped into the air to avoid it, peppering the skull-faced construct with chaotic blasts and scoring visible scorch marks across the ivory white of the mask. "IT'S UNSIGHTLY OF YOU TO BE SO ATTACHED!"

Hakos had barely enough time to gasp before the construct lashed out with a backhand, slamming into her with enough force to propel her through more than four towers of obsidian and firmly embedding her in another. Baelz's breaths came in pained splurts, blood dripping out of her nose and mouth as she pulled her hands free of the rocks. Staring defiantly at the slowly approaching harbinger of Death, she clenched her fists. A terrible rage filled her, being backtalked by a lower being than her.

The manifestation of Chaos, brought into being by the world itself, is being demeaned by a mere apprentice to the reaper.

Chaos, representing complete disorder and entropy. Yet her hands were tied by the ribbon of love- she could not exercise her full might in exchange for isolating the reaper from the soul of the one she loved. "The only thing... that's unsightly... is YOU!" She spat venomously, raising her chin proudly. She had spent much of her time being a destructive force of nature, annihilating things for the pleasure of the twisted- but yet, she was satisfied with the knowledge that she had a smidgen of humanity present in her.

She had experienced love and belonging, truly, for the first time. Joyful tears decorated her eyes and she let out a hearty laugh, feeling the edges of her divine essence flare up- to be used as fuel. So unexpected was this sound that Calliope stopped in her tracks, uncertain. "What... what are you laughing for? Do you suffer from the same mania that mortals do when they accept their death?"

The redhead was warm, like Anon was holding her in his arms. She was comfortable. Over the eons, she had been worshiped as a herald of destruction and she had seen many plentiful gifts laid at her feet and at her temples. No longer, would she be used as a tool. She would live for herself and her happiness, even if it meant...

"So this is chaos...*

"You've gone mad. I'll put you to rest- and see you and that mortal in the Underworld." The reaper concluded, raising her titanic scythe and swinging it at her unmoving enemy with cold precision.

Who could have expected that the embodiment of Chaos could do this? But, was this not an ideal outcome? Something else could keep in charge of the Council, deal with everything. Her eyes closed, she could feel the weight of the world slide off her shoulders. A massive entropic explosion ripped outwards from Hakos Baelz, using her very immortality as its fuel and breaking everything within her realm down into separate concepts before separating those into nothingness. The reaper's apprentice would barely survive, but she would not be the same again after a conceptual attack of that magnitude. You could rebuild a sandcastle, but the exact grains wouldn't be in the same positions again.

As for the embodiment of Chaos...


You loaded a plate up with bacon and eggs, the house dead silent except for your quiet bustling about as you pluck some toast and lay it on the plate. It was six days since the accident, but you'd been discharged early enough, mysteriously. The events had all been a blur, but as far as you could remember...

You remember being intubated and under anesthesia, which would be strange because you shouldn't remember that. You remember a nurse with hair that was dark greyish with the purest blue eyes you've ever seen walking around outside of your room with clipboards while everyone else stood still, performing her duties. Her hair stood out the most... it was strange and almost done up in a way that looked like vents? You remember the dangling of her blue ribbon earrings as she leaned over your bed, lifting you up as though you weighed nothing.

And you remember her words.

"Take care of her."

... And then you were back at home, no worse for wear than when you first left work. Your side and face were still bandaged up in places and they were sore, but you were fine. You even did some reading up on it. You were hit by a truck of sorts, but...

The most concerning part was her.

Hakos Baelz had been sleeping in your bed since then, her hair cut shorter than you remember and missing her mouse ears.

And she hadn't woken up once, no matter what poking or prodding.

You had spent your time talking to her and sitting by her side, leaving food out in the event she woke up and was hungry. Making your way upstairs, you sat next to the girl, the plate going on the nightstand. Her face was so... serene and happy, it would almost be a shame to wake her up. Reaching over, you gently took her small hand and clasped it between both of yours.

"Baelz..." You began slowly, pursing your lips. "I figure I should mention that the food'll go cold soon. I won't be able to stay here with you today, I'm getting called back to work 'cuz I'm all out of vacation days this year." You gently rub the back of her hand with your thumb, hoping she says something- does anything, but she doesn't.

"I-I made you breakfast in case you're hungry, didn't have any cheese though so I'm really sorry about that. I saved that for your lunch, which is in the fridge downstairs." Her stillness is unsettling. It's like she's dead, but the steady rise and fall of her chest tells you everything you need to know. The link between you two is something you can still feel, so you proceed to go on with the next part of your usual routine with her.

Pressing her hand to your head, you close your eyes and channel your thoughts to her, hoping that in her slumber she'll receive them. Pleasant memories you've had of her, and ones you want to have. Dates to the beach, hanging out at clubs, walks at the park... Try as you might, you can't keep tears from slowly creeping down your cheeks. Your heart hurts at not being able to help the girl you care for so much, like it's being gripped tightly.

Eyes opening again, you press your lips to her forehead, slipping your hands away. "I love you, Baelz." You whisper, brushing the hair out of her face and rising to your feet, moving towards the door. Grabbing your jacket from your closet, you miss a soft rustling. Putting it on, you miss a slightly louder mumble.

And opening your bedroom door, you don't miss a:

"... Anon?"

Edit
Pub: 18 Oct 2021 08:35 UTC
Views: 847