Children of a Lesser God - Chapter 202: White Owl

Laz awoke the next morning and noticed that the fire was put out. Not only that, but it seemed like the old man had vanished as well, leaving Laz alone in the woods. As he sat up though, he noticed the furry little spider who was still in dream land on top of him.

‘Honestly, you’re a spider. Why do you curl up and sleep like a puppy or something…’ Laz shook Tyr a bit until it’s eyes opened. He then noticed it was still kind of dark out and rolled over, intent on going back to sleep.

‘Wait, I didn’t think spiders had eyelids…’ Laz just shrugged, too lazy to think about it.

Just as he was standing up while making Tyr get up with him. As soon as he started stretching, he noticed his entire body was weak. It wasn’t weak to the point where he had trouble moving, but it was more like he was suddenly back to where he started before he gained his abilities. Even worse, he could barely sense the energy inside of himself, which almost made Laz freak out. He never wanted this, but since it had come to him, he didn’t regret it. Compared to spending a life in mediocrity, which was originally his goal, he had come to rely on and even relish the power he had. And yet now it seemed like it was gone.

The bit of hope he had was he was still able to sense the power within himself, it was just smothered by the grey fog that had invaded his body. When he looked closer, his center foundation was still in place, but was surrounded on all sides to the point where the energy couldn’t get out. Despite that, the black flame within looked as though it was sitting on top of the rune covered base and was constantly burning away the fog. Once it burned, a bit of the energy from it would escape into his body and along his pathways, causing his skin to be the weird grey color that it was.

Wanting to test it out, Laz walked over to a tree and hit it as hard as he could. Although he left a fist size imprint on the tree, there was no other damage done. On the plus side, his fist was fine even after doing this.

‘So this is the normal power of my body without the energy added in? I thought it would be stronger.’ Laz thought it over and figured it made sense. He had thought his body was super strong before, but that was only because of the dense amount of energy he naturally circulated. Without it, he was still super strong, but it was super strong as measured by a normal person’s standard. As far as infected go, he figured that even Reggie would be able to be him up at this point if they relied on pure strength alone, much less Ruby or Leona.

‘I wonder how the girls are doing? Vivi, Kennedy, Marlene, Leona and Ruby… Damn. I really should learn to keep it in my pants.’ Thinking about them wouldn’t make a difference right now anyway and he had to find a way to contact them.

Just when he thought about following the only path in the area, the old man came back.

“You look better?”

“I mean, as good as can be I guess?”

“Hmm… That’s good. But still, if someone where to see you right now, they would probably think you are sick and that’s the last thing you want right now. Let’s go.”

“Where? and wait, what do you mean.” The old man didn’t stop but kept moving back down the path he came from. It was only now, seeing him in the semi light that Laz really took notice of the fact that he was of indigenous decent.

‘I’m on a reservation?’ Laz thought as he followed the old man.

As he came out from the small path, Laz noticed a rather nice truck parked on the side of the road. It looked brand new and nothing like what he thought the old man would be driving. Seeing Laz face, the old man laughed.

“What did you think, that I would have some horses or an old, busted up pick up?”

“Kind of…?”

“Kid, you watch way to many movies. Get in.”

“Where are we exactly?”

“In the middle of nowhere. Closest city is Beckley.”

“Beckley? That’s… in what state?”.

“West Virginia. You really don’t remember much do you?”

“It’s not that I don’t remember… it’s more like…”

“When you came into this state, you were shackled up in the middle of an armed escort?”

Despite Laz feeling that the old man knew about him, hearing him bring it out like this hit Laz with a few feels. One of those was a feeling of wariness. The old man laughed as Laz put on a face of distrust.

“Boy. Don’t worry so much. Our people don’t exactly have a good relationship with the federal government. And we don’t like them spending too much time around us either.”

“So you don’t live on a reservation?”

“No such thing in this state. Most of our people either hid their culture or relocated way back when. Even though there are a few villages left, we’re mostly just living together as a community as opposed to being a recognized tribe.” Laz could hear a bit of sadness in the old man’s voice. There was probably more of a story he didn’t know, but it wasn’t Laz place to ask.

As they drove into a town, the old man stopped and pulled into a gas station. As he parked the truck and looked over at Laz.

“My name is Onacona, which means white owl. Apparently, when I was born, there was a white owl outside the hospital window when my mother gave birth to me. I’m not sure how true that is, but it’s what was told to me. In truth, having a name like that has made my life a bit hard. After my generation, we rarely give our children ancestral names. Instead, they have normal English names and we give them a Cherokee namesake that they use when at home.”

Listening to this, that made sense to Laz. Even if he felt bad about what history had done to Onacona’s people, it wasn’t like he could change anything.

“Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure you don’t go around having people call you Lazarus, right?”

“No. Just Laz.”

“Lazarus is an interesting name. A man who died and was brought back to life. It seems rather fitting for you in many ways.” Onacona got out of the truck and went to gas up while Laz got out, set Tyr on the seat and went inside. He still had no idea where he was or anything that was happening, so he figured it was better to find out for himself as opposed to looking stupid to Onacona.

Walking inside, he noticed the young man of around twenty behind the counter reading a motorcycle magazine while relaxing. It looked like it wasn’t a very hard job he had. Laz grabbed some snacks, a map and a newspaper and went up to pay. He still had his pouch on him with all of his money and most of his valuables inside of it, something for which he was extremely grateful for. He looked around, but didn’t notice any sort of disposable cellphones and figured he would have to get one someplace else. He went up to pay and was sort of ignored. As opposed to arguing with the young man, Laz just set the money on the counter and walked away. He got the feeling he was being ignored for a reason, but didn’t say anything. His spiritual sense was still usable in the same way it was before his inner energy was sealed and he knew the man had seen him come in. Since that was the case, Laz wasn’t going to press the issue.

As he went back outside, he noticed the man had stood up and was looking at him through the window, watching at he hopped back into the truck with Onacona who had just finished gassing up. The man’s expression seemed to change having seen this and looked shocked. It seemed like he wanted to come outside and say something, but they had started driving away before he had the chance.

“You should wear a hoodie or something for the time being and try to hide as much skin as possible without making it look obvious. You can borrow some clothes when we get back to my place. The changes are probably a good thing for you, since you don’t look at all like the kid who was on the FBI’s most wanted list not too long ago.”

“I was… but I’m not?”

“Nope. Congratulations. You’re dead.”

“WHAT?”

The old man looked amused as he was laughing at Laz’s face. Laz’s forehead seemed to have a few black lines on it as he stared at this old man who seemed to be full of jokes.

“I’m not joking either. The place you disappeared? Up at the north side of the state? Lots of people have gone missing in there. If you don’t come out within the day, you never come out. At least, not within the past year. You’re not the only one who went missing, but I bet you’re the only one who came out.”

“How much do you know old man?”

“Old man eh? I guess I deserve that. Like I said, I know much, but not much of it will be helpful. Don’t worry so much. I was told to find you and take care of you and that’s what I’m doing.”

Although the old man seems to like to joke, the fact is that Laz realized that when he said he was sent to find him, he didn’t seem to be lying. But that was weird since even Laz didn’t know where he was. So who could have sent the old man?

“You wonder who sent me, right boy?”

“Laz. And yes.”

“The spirits did, of course. They said a boy wondered in and his annoying pet was hounding them to let him out. So they needed some help.”

“Annoying pet?” Laz looked down and noticed that Tyr was still relaxing while curled up like a kitten with his legs wrapped around him.

“The spirits are rather unusual things. They don’t dislike humans, but they don’t like them much either. They say that humans have forgotten their path, forgotten the old ways. But for those who still seek them out, they are still there to guide. It’s just much harder now. Anyway, having wondered into their home, you should be dead. Seems as though you’re pretty lucky.”

“This seems like a shitty plotline from a bad story.”

“Life is exactly like that at times boy. Try not to let it get to you.”

They didn’t talk much after that and soon arrived at the old man’s house. It looked like an old ranch style farm house that was well taken care of. As the old man pulled in, several young children who were playing in the yard came over and ran after the truck as it pulled in. When the old man got out, he was jumped by all four of the kids who looked like they ranged in age of four to ten years old.

“GRANDPA!” They yelled as the smallest ones jumped on him first and the two older ones stopped just before.

“I’m back. You’re all out here playing? Where is your mom and sister?”

“Mom’s inside. Sarah is off doing whatever,” the ten year old answered. He looked like a young boy who was covered in various layers of mud like the rest of the kids. It seemed like they had been having fun playing around the yard.

“Grandpa, who that?” The youngest girl asked. She was the one who looked about four years old. The next oldest was a boy around six and another girl around eight.

“Oh him? Just a stray I picked up on the way home,” the old man joked.

“He doesn’t look like a dog,” the younger boy commented while looking at Laz. The little girl on the other hand wandered over and looked up at Laz who was now wearing his hood. He had originally changed after Tyr had done up his wounds which was apparently a year ago. He had checked earlier and it seemed like all of the wounds he had have healed and even the webbing had disappeared. This was one of the only reasons he had believed the old man’s story.

“Where is your tail?”

“I tuck it inside my pants so it doesn’t get in the way,” Laz responded with a smile. The little girl giggled at the joke and kept circling Laz as though he was some sort of strange, new creature. Laz couldn’t help but laugh at the girl’s playfulness.

“I’d tell you to come in and get cleaned up, but these little ones are going to need to be cleaned up first or their mother will kill me. If you want, behind the barn, there is a shower stall for horses. You can go get cleaned up there,” Onacona said, pointing off to the big red barn in the distance.

“Sure thing,” Laz said and started walking. He felt dirty as it had been a year since he last showered. Top that off with the fact that he still felt dried blood on him and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“I’ll bring some clothes out to you in a few.”

“That’s ok. I’ve got some spare ones with me,” Laz said, not thinking about it. As he walked away, the old man looked back at him while herding the kids inside. Even though it was only mid day, they were much too dirty at the moment.

‘He’s got spare clothes with him? The spider carrying them or something?’ The old man shook his head and didn’t bother thinking on it. The boy really was too strange after all.

As Laz reached the area behind the barn, he noticed the horse cleaning area he had been directed to.

“Shower stall for horses, eh?” Laz said, looking at the area. It was basically just a large, cement square on the ground with wooden walls on three sides and a large opening on the forth. There as an over head shower along with a rolled up hose and various types of shampoos. Laz didn’t know what kind of shampoo he was expected to use, but found what looked like an oatmeal bath and figured that was good enough. He also made a mental note that he should get some personal cleaning products for the future and wondered why he had never thought of it before.

After setting the now awake Tyr down, Laz stripped naked without much thought and turned on the water which came gushing out. It was a stall designed for horses so having high pressure was a must. After getting the temperature right, Laz went under the water and began washing himself, cleaning off the various dried blood and other junk that had seemed to collect on his skin. It was almost like he had washed away an outer layer of junk which made his almost charcoal like grey skin a few shades lighter. It was still much darker than natural however.

Laz couldn’t help but look down at himself as well. The black, tribal tattoo like lines really did seem to be covering much of his upper body including his chest and stomach and all along his back. Luckily they didn’t extend much down his arms or go onto his neck as that would have made them much harder to hide. Either way, Laz felt like he looked kind of like a convict or an ink junkie considering what it looked like. The tree and red moon marking looked unchanged as well, just the the tree looked more defined while the moon was a brighter shade of red. Noticing this led him to start thinking about that mysterious A’ruya and wondering if she knew what was happening with him.

Maybe he was distracted due to his thoughts and the water pressure was pretty intense which caused him to not notice the surroundings, but before he could process things, he suddenly saw a pair of legs walking along the side of the washing area and a voice that seemed annoyed.

“Can’t believe they were playing with the shower again when I told them not to,” the voice said as a pair of lovely legs in cowboy boots walked around the corner and then froze in mid step after seeing Laz.

Laz was surprised as well and didn’t say anything while observing the attractive young lady whose dumbfounded gaze was fixed right on him. Well, to be more precise, it was actually staring at his manhood which was dangling freely in front of him while the water cascaded down his naked body.

After being stared at so long, Laz felt a little weird and decided to break the silence.

“Hello.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.” The girl’s scream echoed across the yard and made it’s way back to the house where Onacona was stirring the pot of stew that had been made for lunch, a job he had taken over from his daughter while she went to clean up her kids. He could help but start laughing so hard his stomach started hurting as he doubled over.