Regaining what was lost (DD)

Kane had snuck out of the hospital to go to a mental ward. Now, there was nothing wrong with him, apart from the whole matter of his missing leg. That's what he was here for. But first he had to wait for his companion, a strange girl with an even stranger fashion sense named Kiara, who was apparently going to get his leg back. Right now he was using a prosthetic, which allowed him to walk. However, it just wasn't the same, he wanted his real leg back, and he didn't care what he had to sacrifice to get it back.

There were many rituals designed to explore the inner depravities of the Holder territories. Maybe more than was known. It wasn't as simple as checking out a library book. You had to rely on hearsay, word of mouth, cryptic and clandestine collectors of forbidden arts. And even then you had to stick with what you were given. Kiara believed there was a Holder for every yearning in the world. Yet she had only heard of a handful. She did not think the terrible secrets of the Holder of the End could help here. She was after something more specific. Something to help Kane with his handicap.

If she didn't know the ritual - she would write it.

It wasn't as far fetched as it sounded. The originators of all those other rituals assuredly hadn't compiled their knowledge through trial and error. There were ways of divining rituals. Through sixth senses and deep connection to the mysterious unknown. Kiara had such a connection. It was time use what shaman techniques her father had taught her.

Barricaded in her bedroom and illuminated only by candles, Kiara held a sheet of paper in front of her. There was only one thing on the paper right now, the title - 'the Holder of Handicap'. She meditated for a while until she was at peace. Then she reached into her sack of herbs and pulled out a flask of cactus juice. She had been saving it for such an occasion. The drink would send her into a trance where the theory was she would be more receptive to her spiritual impulses.

Come morning the sheet had been filled.

Kiara had agreed to meet Kane at the mental ward. She had relied on his knowledge of such places, since she did not know where one may be found. Her heart was beating fast and her eyes still glassy from the psychotropic substance she had taken. But this was hidden behind her mask. She flourished the sheet she had written for Kane to take. It had the ritual detailed.



Kiara searched for his reaction, "Do we continue?"

As Kane had to wait for Kiara, he started to impatiently shift from foot to foot. To be honest, he was scared. Kiara had talked about all this like it was super scary, so much so that she was just going to let Kane stay disabled until it was the only option left. That was a little intimidating. Still, he had to do this.

Soon, Kiara came and gave him a sheet of paper, detailing the ritual they needed to do it. He memorised the lines, being a bit concerned about the part about how to get his leg back he'd need to make someone else lose their leg Hang on... is there any way around this? I don't want to have to do that if I can't help it.

Kiara looked back quite forlornly. She couldn't explain it. She had faced terrors before, and few were so well mapped out ahead of time. This was a lot of information on what to do. Follow it and apparently you could not go wrong. But she just had this feeling deep in her gut that nothing good could come of what was to follow. The Holders knew not a happy ending.

"It is the ritual." She replied obscuringly, initially dodging the question. The lawn outside the 'psychiatric hospital' they were now stood upon was made of dying grass. Autumn had given it a deathlike pallor. She could see patients peering from the windows. Probably asking if the girl in the shaman outfit was the latest of inductees. A car was pulling up the driveway and onto a gravel path to park. Its occupant wore a white coat and seemed curious as to their presence here.

The Benighted One would hold out a hand if Kane tried to give the sheet back. He was to keep it, "Though what is written is iron, there are ways to interpret it differently. If you fear someone you love will suffer your leg, then you must trick yourself. You must convince yourself on the journey there that there is someone, someone you hate, who you admire more than all else. You are master of your own mind, after all. We can make ourselves believe any number of lies. At least for a time. It is a talent many would tell you is a flaw." Kiara explained, "It is a talent for ignorance."

The shaman would expect Kane to initialise the ritual. It was him who was the subject here. She was only to follow him and hopefully guide him through unscathed.

At first, she only replied by saying that the envy thing was part of the ritual. Kane was about to say something, but then Kiara added that he could trick his mind so that the curse affects someone he hates. It wasn't ideal, it meant that someone still lost a leg, but better someone who deserves it than someone innocent. Kane sighed and decided to get on with it.

Kane led Kiara through into the ward and walked over to the person at the desk Hello. I'm here to talk to the holder of handicap he felt a little stupid, secretly hoping that the guy behind the counter wouldn't just think he was weird.

The guy behind the counter was a vexed administrator called Callum. He'd been thinking about giving up on his career path. Mental care was an exhaustive field. Not physically but emotionally. He'd come on board with all the good intentions in the world. He wanted to help these sick people. Not treat them like invalids. Yet eighteen years later he was dull to their plight. The psychiatrists around here called it Exhaustive Empathy. He'd cared all he could care. He was used up. Couldn't get worked up about a case if he had to. It didn't make him a monster. It just made him need change.

Callum heard the purr of Dr Hiddleston's Audi pulled up outside. He'd just readied the man's headers for the day when he noticed a pair of new faces. There weren't any scheduled visitors for the day. He adjusted his glasses carefully as he took in the sight. The male was obviously missing a leg. It was the easiest and most instinctive way to define him. Perhaps not PC in this day and age, but oh well. The girl meanwhile was wearing some sort of colourful tribal costume. Oh dear. He hoped this wasn't a doorstep plea for sanctuary. When would people learn that this sort of thing took longer than a day? They weren't a boarding kennel after all.

"Yes?" It was a curt address. The phrases were already on his tongue to send them away. At the same moment that the visitors arrived did Dr Hiddlestone enter. Callum let his attention wander to the papers he had prepared. He held a finger up to stall the young man speaking as he handed the folder to the passing psychiatrist, "Donna was asking for you in the night. She's having the terrors again."

"Yeesh. Again? Poor dear. Thank you Callum." The doctor made a passing glance at the guests and then thought better of inquiring. You learned to disengage here. He walked further into the building. Callum turned back to his guests, "I'm sorry. You said you were here for... Yes. Yes of course. The Holder will see you now. You are pleasing to him." A glazed expression passed across Callum's eyes. His voice had gone several octave's deeper. He studied the second invoker, "You are not permitted. You are vile. You are whole. You know what is written. Off with you."

Kiara hooked her staff into the crook of her elbow. She had anticipated this. Kane may be handicapped but she was healthy. The ritual wouldn't allow her along. Not as she was, "Give me a moment." The shaman pulled out an earthenware vile that she had prepared earlier. It was stashed along with her herbal remedies and salves. Unstoppering the head, she looked at the bright green liquid and sloshed it around. She took a big whiff of the scent that wafted heavily about it. Within seconds her eyes were watering and her nose was twitching.

After a minute she put away her concoction. She turned to Kane thinking she best explain. Her voice was suddenly stuffy, "Gabe myselv a cold. I cubn't smell a fing if I wanted to. It was this or cut ov an ear." She sniffed noisily, rubbing her nostrils and then smiling.

The administrator of the mental health institution hadn't moved. His pathetic menial thoughts of a moment ago had been completely banished from his mind. All that he knew in that instant was the Holder. He nodded, "You are pleasing. Follow me."

He beckoned them to the door of the staff room. Pressing down the handle, the door opened quite paradoxically to a flight of stairs that couldn't be there given the layout of the building. Callum took the first few steps without looking back. In that time another presence approached them.

"What on earth? How did stairs get..." Dr Hiddleston gasped in awe. The dour glassy look of Callum was lost. What remained was savage fury. Kiara looked at their guide and then back at the doctor who had so haplessly intruded on their forbidden ritual.

"Ub oh."

At first the guy at the counter seemed to not really care about what was going on. But when Kane mentioned the holder he suddenly changed really quickly. His voice went really deep and he talked about how he was pleasing to the holder. He also said how Kiara wasn't allowed because she was whole. For a moment, Kane wondered what was going to happen, but then Kiara took some weird stuff that gave her a cold.

Kane's questions about if that would be enough were answered by the man allowing Kiara to come with them. They followed him into the staff room which opened into a flight of stairs. They started to go up, but then they were noticed by the doctor that had come in earlier. For whatever reason, this made the counter guy blow his top. Kane prepared himself to move between them, but he was hoping things wouldn't end with a fight.