Back on track

I always felt an inexplicable fear of him, neither strong nor overwhelming, like a hair caught in close-fitting clothes, only giving me a faint prick now and then. Yet he showed me an unexpected degree of tolerance. I couldn't describe the feeling.

But afterward, I tentatively tried talking to him, mainly about whether we could sever the connection that let us hear each other's thoughts. He refused.

But I was testing his limits at the time, and I couldn't really accept this either, having nowhere to hide any of my thoughts, as though I'd been stripped naked. So I insisted, and after staring at me for a few seconds, he reluctantly agreed.

The only thing that made me happy was having two whole legs again. Of course I was happy, but I always felt a sense of loss. Back then, I would certainly have been ecstatic, but now it didn't seem as important as it had then. So even such a powerful obsession could slowly fade with time.

And my body had changed. It was better than before, when I hadn't been quite human. At least my temperature, heartbeat, and the like were normal, though I'd grown a little younger. I felt I was about the age I'd been when I first met Jason. My wounds also healed quickly. I suspected that time had stopped for me, too.

Was this a privilege of being favored by beings like them?

And I desperately wanted to know what had happened while I was dead. Where had the Necronomicon gone? Why had Jason changed like this? And why had I come back to life? All of this absolutely had something to do with what had happened then, but for now, Ash was probably the only one who knew anything. I called him, and he picked up after just a few rings.

When Ash heard my voice, he fell silent for a while before slowly describing what he had seen happen from his perspective. He hadn't left on his own. He had come back, and he did know more than I'd imagined. He finished with some guesses of his own.

He said that the fact I could call him as entirely myself proved he'd guessed right. Jason had obtained the Necronomicon's power through some method and killed the Necronomicon. Afterward, he'd not only taken Ash's copy but stolen my corpse as well. He paused, then added that Jason had probably also... He fell silent for a long while before settling on a word: eaten his book.

Then Ash said he'd spent the last two days keeping watch over his phone, terrified of missing a call. From our earlier conversations and Jason's attitude at the end, he'd vaguely guessed that our relationship might not be ordinary.

He'd also guessed that I might come back to life, but he wasn't sure what form I'd return in. There had been precedents, after all, and he'd been fooled more than once or twice.

"You aren't calling to trick me into coming over so you can chew on my head, are you?" he asked cautiously. "Or wanting to chew on someone else's head?"

"Not at all. You can rest easy," I said politely. "I have absolutely no interest in that wrinkly old head of yours."

"Hey!"

My thinking was still normal. Ash could tell that from our conversation, too. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and went on rambling to me about his own affairs.

He told me he'd come to terms with some things and planned to visit the hometown he'd been away from for so long. Then he'd return to the furniture store and bring a friend along, after which he'd probably head to the Florida he'd always dreamed of and begin his retirement there.

Then he changed the subject and asked what I was doing now.

I understood that he wasn't concerned only about me, but also about the great threat beside me, Jason. Jason wasn't like the Necronomicon, which at least required an incantation. The being beside me had a will of his own and was even more powerful than the Necronomicon. He was practically no different from Satan crawling out of hell.

I told him that Jason and I probably wouldn't leave Crystal Lake again. A normal, peaceful life was what both of us wanted.

"And... thank you for coming back to save me."

"Well... uh... you're welcome. Wait, speaking of that, now I'm angry. Were you out of your mind? You actually wanted to make a deal with that thing..." As his voice gradually rose, I made a prompt decision. I'd already gotten everything I wanted today, so that was enough catching up.

"Goodbye. Have a nice life." I briskly hung up. Old people really did ramble.

I had my own thoughts about everything that had happened. When I'd been negotiating with that book, I'd already had a vague feeling that the Necronomicon was afraid of Jason. Even if it wasn't afraid, it still considered Jason a threat.

First, if it really could control Jason, why hadn't it kept us both instead of choosing to trade me for Jason? Jason must have forced it to make a decision then: either both sides would suffer, or it would let me leave. Clearly, it had chosen the second option.

Second, why hadn't it controlled Jason directly, instead of using illusions to break him mentally? Just as it had said, Jason was a creation it had resurrected. It should have had some authority to control him, but it hadn't.

Third, this one was obvious. During my deal, an existence as conceited as the Necronomicon had actually proposed that we couldn't hurt each other. The Necronomicon had probably realized then that I'd noticed this, but at the time, it thought it already had me in the bag. It hadn't expected Jason to pull the rug out from under it.

But neither of us, me or the Necronomicon, nor even the third person present, Ash, had expected Jason to be so powerful. He could directly... absorb energy.

All right, the Necronomicon had mentioned that before. Jason did have that ability, but the Necronomicon itself probably hadn't expected to lose to him. Still, no one would mourn it. That thing had deserved to die anyway.

But this had also indirectly forced me to rebuild my worldview somewhat. It took me a while to adjust, because I had to look at Jason in a new way. He had changed, yet in some ways he was still the same as before.

I looked up at the massive figure before me, filled with mixed feelings. He wore that now somewhat ridiculous set of loungewear. He clearly had such abilities, yet still chose to wear it, as though shackling himself. But that, of all things, gave me a little peace of mind.

I'd worried before that Jason would either be destroyed by the illusions or corrupted by the Necronomicon's power, but neither had happened. At least, he was still the same toward me.

My life had been like a ride on a roller coaster with no brakes. One second I'd been standing at the pinnacle of life, basking in everyone's envious gazes; the next I'd plunged into a bottomless mire, barely able to struggle anymore. What happened afterward, you ask? What followed was as absurd as a dream I couldn't wake from. Twists I'd never even dared imagine came crashing down before my eyes, one after another.

I thought again of what that Eastern Taoist priest had said decades ago: let things take their course. But now I understood those words more deeply.

The sun had already sunk most of the way below the forest, and dusk shone over the trees. Strands of amber light passed through the treetops, weaving one last scattering of gold across Crystal Lake; the evening breeze swept through the reeds, shaking shimmering ripples across the lake. Then, slowly, the sunlight darkened like drying paint. Twilight spread over the canopy, ink-dark shadows swallowed the shoreline, stars hung low over the lake, and the forest sank into silent darkness.

Life went on.

In the morning, after my body clock woke me, I went to make breakfast. Jason had already stationed himself outside my door and silently trailed me into the kitchen. He'd gained a great deal of knowledge, but that didn't include a sense of boundaries between people.

Today's breakfast was buttered bread with bacon and smoked ham, pancakes fried in butter with maple syrup and blueberries, omelets stuffed with all kinds of fillings, baked hash browns with sour cream and chopped chives, cinnamon rolls drizzled with icing, and chilled, freshly squeezed lemonade.

As always, he set aside my portion before polishing off everything else.

Then I went to do the laundry, while he took care of the dishes and cleaned the rooms. He could clearly have put everything in order like a wizard, with a wave of a little magic wand in his hand.

But he didn't want to do that. He seemed quite fond of doing these things. An image involuntarily popped into my head of him wearing robes and a pointed, wide-brimmed hat, holding a magic wand between two fingers... uh... perhaps one day, he'd conjure a pumpkin carriage, a beautiful dress, and glass slippers for a girl who wanted to attend a prince's ball... I couldn't help chuckling.

Having finished the dishes and while waiting to hang up the laundry, Jason poked his head through the laundry room doorway at the sound of my laughter. Looking at his white mask and somewhat vacant blue eyes, I felt inexplicably guilty. Still, he didn't know anyway.

With nothing else to do, I started making calls to look further into matters outside the forest. I'd donated that nuclear bomb to China, though it wasn't particularly needed. My homeland was flourishing, after all.

But in my hands, that thing was a ticking time bomb. Donating it to the United States would have been far too much of a waste.

The others began receiving hush money and retirement payments according to their degree of involvement. I kept only the few most important people, so I could stay informed about the outside world.

According to them, Crystal Lake was now nothing short of a little hell. On the surface, everything looked peaceful, and it seemed even more full of life than an ordinary forest. The ecosystem was thriving, and you could spot wild animals even from its edge.

But it was decidedly unfriendly toward humans. Once anyone entered, some monster or other was certain to appear before they'd gone a hundred meters. I suspected that simply driving people away wasn't all those monsters did.

Supplies and such could only be left at the perimeter, then brought back by whatever things Jason sent out. But Jason didn't allow them to come too close to this place, so he still had to make a trip out himself.