Tales From The Myst Update: Touching Grass

Rowan Thomas hit the ground with a thud that jarred him to the bones. The slime and stink of cowplant breath made him violently gag as he struggled to his feet and faced Bossy with a disappointed glare. It was hard to tell, but she seemed to be grinning as she joined Bossy 2, happily swaying as the cowbells around their necks clanged.

Rowan groaned, and turning away, trudged back to the house to clean up. He wearily ran the water and sinking into the tub, began liberally applying soap to a sponge. As the scent of citrus began to clear the fog in his brain, he relaxed in the sudsy comfort of a nice, hot bath.

He should have known better. He'd been down this road before. When he first found the small cowplant growing in his backyard, he knew they were dangerous. But he nurtured the little sprout to maturity, named it Bossy, and made it his friend. So, he was hungry. There was cake.

And, he thought, after years of companionship, maybe things would be different this time. He was wrong.

Of course, he was wrong. He was cursed.

Rowan came from a mixed heritage. His family line included both human and spellcaster ancestors, but the spellcaster lineage had gotten pretty weak by the time Rowan came along. So, even though he loved magic, he just wasn't very good at it. And, when you're not good at it, you get cursed. And curses, especially during the Magic Purge, get you banished to Forgotten Hollow, with all of the other cursed beings. The occasional visit to magic neutral San Myshuno was now the only “normal” thing about Rowan's life.

So, here he was, in a world established by vampires and populated with other undead types, trying to live a life.

The water was beginning to cool, so Rowan turned the hot water spigot to warm things up. A spray of decidedly cold water hit him in the face as the handle fell off into the tub. Rowan fished it out, and fumbling against the force of the water, managed to replace it and turn the cold water off before his bath was completely sabotaged.

He sighed and sank back into the foam. It was all part of the cursing. Things were always breaking in this house. But, if only broken objects were the worst of it, he'd feel lucky. He also had to deal with nightly visits from the ghosts that inhabited the graveyard next door. And someone, somewhere, had a voodoo doll with his name on it. In spite of it all, he was usually able to make the best of things and not let it get to him.

Except for that one time...

Rowan shuddered at the memory. Sometimes, when magic backfires, the results can be devastating.

His name is Isaac, but most spellcasters know him as The Night Wraith. And that was one curse that Rowan thought would finally push him over the edge. He dreaded nightfall. Even in a world populated by vampires, Isaac was the worst thing about Rowan's evenings. He stalked, he screamed, he terrorized Rowan to the point of exhaustion.

And the irony was... he lived next door.

Being not-so-good at magic, Rowan wasn't able to remove the curse from himself. Luckily, he had a chance meeting with Morgyn Ember at the San Myshuno Spice Festival and was able to tell him his story.

A few days later, a curse cleansing potion arrived in the mail. Rowan didn't hesitate to use it to free both himself and Isaac from the curse. It worked, but neighborhood gatherings were still a bit awkward.

But then, everything in his life was a bit awkward. His friends included vampires, cowplants, and a zombie; and his crush was a lovely vampire whose dream in life is to have a big vampire family. If Bossy doesn't get him, Rowan thought, his girlfriend might.

Rowan clambered out of the tub and dried himself off. As he got dressed, he could hear the sound of Bossy's boombox sputtering back to life. Like everything else in the house, it had a habit of breaking. He had worked on it early that morning, but thought it was a lost cause.

Making his way to the backyard, he could see Bossy and Bossy 2 bopping to the beat of the pop music channel. As he approached, Bossy nodded in his direction, waiting for him to join them. He smiled at the clear invitation, and even though he was drained from his experience, he managed to break out a few moves.

After all, Rowan figured, he may be cursed, but it didn't have to matter in every moment of every day. He had come to a bit of a revelation recently. His life might not be “normal.” It might even be difficult. But, even when you've been banished to Forgotten Hollow and you're just not a very good spellcaster, there are still special moments. And when your best friend is a cowplant, you take your friendships any way you can find them.

And you dance, anyway.