Light In the Universe DX

Chapter 20: Aloysius Harrington I

July 16th, 1810,
Liverpool, Great Britain

From his workshop below the tired home, Aloysius could not know and could not care what time it was. The unrelenting storm outside crept its way down to his workshop though, the endless pinging of heavy rain being the backdrop to his rather morbid work. By candlelight, he was busy hammering shut jaws and filling in sunken eyes, using blends of chemicals, colorants, and a few more, special, ingredients to give his clients a more lively glow.

To many his work sounded boring and frightful, spending long nights fiddling with the corpses of the long-dead, freshening up bodies for future grave robbers to sell. But for Aloysius, nothing could be more interesting than his clients, having long chats as he got them ready for their big day, who knew corpses were excellent listeners?

As he was fighting with a particularly fickle patient he heard creaking from upstairs, stopping within the sitting area of his home/lobby. His home was far on the village outskirts, who would make such a trip during this hour, and under such conditions?

Coming up the stairs he was met with a woman with jet-black hair and dark brown eyes sitting in the front room. Her dress hung beautifully on her form, brushing the floor as came up to greet him. She looked lost, glancing around the waiting area with curiosity as she held her hands to her chest.

"Miss? Are you alright?" Aloysius walked towards her, trying not to show his fear. Socializing wasn't exactly his strong suit, the only real gatherings he's gone to were wakes and funerals, not exactly spots you make friends at.

"Um-I-um-."

"Do you need help?" Aloysius stepped closer, trying to study what she held.

"well, the people said you could bring one back from the dead." The woman opened her hands, revealing a withered rat with decomposition patterns Aloysius had never seen before, select spots being in far more advanced forms of decay than the rest of the body. "Can you save him?"

"W-what?" Aloysius laughed, surely this was some kind of joke from the village people.

"I just wanted to inspect him- I didn't mean to." The woman seemed genuinely in distress from this, surely she was completely mad.

"Uh- I'll see what I can do-." Aloysius took the small creature in his palms and studied him closely, while experienced in humans he was completely lost when it came to creatures.

Curiously the woman followed him down, Aloysius finding himself not minding the extra company. He offered the woman a chair as he began his work, her examining his methods closely, either out of wonder or morbid fascination . It was both stressful and exciting for Aloysius, his life's passion actually mattering to someone besides him.

The woman's face faltered as the creature failed to pop back up, sitting quietly with whatever salvaging Aloysius could complete.

"He- looks lovely." The woman smiled the same way a mother praises a child's work, or, how Aloysius imagined a mother might.

"You see, I'm not a necromancer. I'm an undertaker. I make the corpses of townspeople look presentable before going underneath." He explained. "Oftentimes, I try to deduce what happened to them. It seems the underground crime rings don't seem to appreciate a man who can tell a workplace injury from stab wounds."

"You- solve their deaths as well?" Her voice showed a hint of excitement, . "When they come to me there's almost never a story, just a hunk of clay to be remolded-."

"You're- some sort of artisan?" Aloysius cringed at the mental image, but wondered if he was simply misunderstanding. Her gown fit more an aristocrat than a tradeswoman, the fabric being spotless except for the mud-covered hem. though of course she could have stolen the garments - a graverobber trying to restart in a new town, but she was far too caring for the dead than some low-life who would pillage a sacred resting place.

"That is one way to say it." The woman replied. "'God' or 'Divine Creator' is another."

While fit of madness was still very likely, some kind of elaborate con was another possibility. Aloysius didn't wish to entertain it but wondered if his client would still be on her table by the time he got back down to the workshop.

"Madam... I don't wish to sound harsh, but... I don't find that very believable." The undertaker replied.

"Well... You may take their bodies to be buried, but I take their souls to the underworld." The woman replied. "I then take their old forms and use them to create bodies for new souls."

"That sounds- rather grim work for a lady." Aloysius commented. "...and more insane"

"Well, when you've been doing it for millenia, you get used to it."

"A millenia," Aloysius murmured to himself, she didn't look a day over thirty, This had to be some odd joke. "If this power of yours is so great, show me some." He said "For someone as ancient and powerful as you, it should be easy."

She nodded, and she took the rat, crushed it into a black clay-like substance and began molding it in her hands. Sculpting and molding expertly without any sculptor's tools to boot.

The woman then presented a small, white rabbit on the table for him, although it didn't have a soul. It was merely a mindless husk, frozen between life and death.

Aloysius stood in front of the rabbit for several minutes, half-expecting the frozen corpse to succumb to the laws of physics or spring to life, but neither scenario happened. He tentatively pet the creature, feeling the creatures fresh fur and newly-formed flesh.

He stood stupefied for a moment, then remembered the woman was his guest. Holy or not, it would be rude to keep such a fine woman waiting any longer.

"Well...would you like to stay here for tonight?" He asked, offering her the guest bedroom.

"You are much too kind." The woman replied.

Aloysius led her upstairs, unable to stop himself from bombarding the woman with questions about her powers and where she came from, what she liked about earth and what she hoped to see, if she planned to stay or if she was going to be whisked back home as quickly as she came.

She answered with enthusiasm, finding the human's curiosity adorable.

"Well Mrs.- Um-." Aloysius stalled, a whole night of questions and he was rude enough to forget to ask her name.

"Why don't you call me Lardna?" The woman replied, an air of playfulness about her.

"Lard- na." Aloysius allowed the name to roll around his mouth, a foreign, lovely sound. "As you wish, Mrs. Lardna."

She smiled, as she walked in and closed the door behind her, going to bed.

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