[May 2015] Darryl's Second Strange Adventure

Darryl really should have known better. As a teenager he'd had an experience with an alien / inter-dimensional being that had left more than a small mark on his psyche.

Now, as an early twenty-something, and still living with his Mother, he felt that perhaps he was ready to dip his toe back into the Astral Realms and explore what he hoped would be a fascinating and edifying landscape.

He was rather more practised now at Astral Projection and, on one memorable occasion, could have sworn that he saw the end of his foot from an angle other than where his head had been resting on the pillow. He'd regretted that experiment just a bit because the thing that was most noteworthy about his foot was his toe peeping through the large hole in his sock. Damn, he'd never have noticed that hole ordinarily.

Darryl decided that he'd better focus more on travelling about in the Astral Realms, he was far too focused and observant to go wandering around his untidy and rancid bedroom in Astral Form.

As she had done for years his Mother left him to it and had long ago given up on wondering what he did up there in his room. He'd told her he was studying, but had nothing to show for his endeavours that she knew about. She'd missed the big Manifestation and only noticed the deplorable state of his bedroom when she went rushing in to see what was happening. Noting the state of the room she'd decided that Darryl was best left to his own devices after all.

Her son had grown from an awkward and introverted teenager into an awkward and introverted young man who people generally avoided. He'd developed a dark aura around himself that was off-putting and his bolshie attitude enhanced the perception everyone had that they really would rather have nothing to do with him.

Darryl didn't care, he didn't like modern society and felt himself out of place and out of time. He'd nurtured those feelings carefully and was proud of the way they had grown. He fancied himself some sort of Maverick who saw the World as it really was and sneered at all those who could adapt to it because, clearly, they had something wrong with them.

Recently, he'd been poking his nose into Alchemy and had decided to embark on a Great Work. Well, if anyone needed Greatly Working on it was Darryl. It was a shame really that he'd missed the point of Alchemy and had wasted several months trying to turn base metal into gold, pounding away on cheap trinkets he'd got from the local charity shop. The effort did nothing to improve him and he consigned Alchemy to the heap of Stuff That Didn't Work that he'd been so assiduously accumulating.

He'd got a bit disillusioned with spell-casting, too. All the people he'd aimed his spells at were walking around perfectly happily and living lives rather more successful than Darryl's. He decided that they must be in league with some power that would be far beneath his notice – as if he'd go selling his soul just so he could have a nice house or a car.

No, Darryl was a Scholar and and an Adventurer who could not afford to be thwarted by the profane who could see nothing beyond their next pay cheque and an evening down the pub.

It was a shame that the only thing he really had to inspire him in his endeavours to enter the Astral Realms was the memory of the hole in his rather grubby sock.

Someone else noticed what a pity that was and thought that it might be a bit of a wheeze to help him out. This wasn't a being like the benevolent Princess Tok who had contacted Darryl before. This was a rather more playful entity who, in some ways, could identify with Darryl and his darker feelings.

The Entity set about attracting Darryl's attention. It had eschewed the hackneyed old Ouija Board route in favour of small hints, leading Darryl to suspect that he really was developing psychic powers.

It was just as well for the Entity that it hadn't tried to attract Darryl to a Ouija Board since he'd tried it once and got fed-up after half an hour of holding his finger against a planchette. Just as he'd started to get numb and decided to give up his Mother had called him for dinner. He'd jumped so badly that his hand had shot across the board on the tiny rollers and he'd hurt himself as he'd fallen against the edge of the coffee table he'd been squatting in front of. Yet more Stuff That Didn't Work...

Darryl started to experience strange dreams and, once or twice, thought he heard something calling him. Pleased with himself, he found his book on Lucid Dreaming. The Entity noted this and chuckled a bit, it would be interesting to see how far Darryl got with his efforts before giving it up as a bad job.

What the Entity didn't know was that if Darryl had an element to be in, this might be it. Darryl applied himself and practically turned himself inside out in his efforts to control his dreams. Against its will, the Entity started to admire his efforts. He might not be getting very far with it, but he really did try.

The Entity nudged things along a bit and decided to have another go at whispering to Darryl just before he woke up. Sadly, it failed to pitch its voice just so and Darryl awoke with a violent pain in his ear that felt just as if someone was ramming a blunt bolt into it. The Entity had to cope with the set back as Darryl cooled his efforts to access the Astral Realms, or indeed to control his dreams.

Rather belatedly Darryl started to think about protecting himself from unwanted attention and visitations. He started reading about Archangels and set about finding just the right one for the job. It didn't occur to him that perhaps Archangels might have something better to do than protect him from Things that went Bump in the Night. Perhaps he imagined they were sitting on a cloud somewhere, idly strumming a harp and waiting for the call from some deluded would-be occultist who had nothing better to do with himself than get into trouble.

The Entity had been mooching about in his room one night as he'd been deeply absorbed in his study of Archangels and had peeped over his shoulder to see what he was up to. Straight away the Entity saw what was up and hopped about in glee. 'Oh, Lawks'. This could be even better than it had imagined.

It went flying off to its Astral Abode to rope in one of its mates to assist with the Wheeze. It breathed a sigh of relief when it got there – it really didn't like Darryl's bedroom very much. The State of it...

Deeper than ever in his Blissful Ignorance Darryl lit some white candles and sat in front of a mirror. Before him he'd placed a newly-made sigil and he concentrated on that with all his might, summoning up the attention and the power of a mighty Archangel.

The Entity and its Mate popped into the room and, what with all the giggling and nudging each other, made a bit of a draught. The candles flickered to the amazement of Darryl who fancied that he had actually succeeded in making Contact.

Somewhere, from the back of his mind he attempted to summon up the manners that his Mother had tried so hard to impress upon him were important.

Suddenly he realised that he'd forgotten to tidy up before trying to make the summons and cursed a bit, just before the candles went out. He cursed some more and... Oh Bugger ... he'd just cursed in front of an Archangel, A Heavenly Being. Oh God.... oh no, not Oh God... oh, oh, oh ummmmmm

cont...

Darryl flew from the room and slammed his way into the bathroom where he swore like a trooper having been careful to set the tap running first, just in case the Archangel was still in the vicinity and had super Angelic hearing.

He was distraught – after all his careful study he'd gone and offended an Archangel, the very one he wanted too. He hugged himself and sighed. He'd better find another one who'd just have to do. He wondered if the first one would go back to Heaven and tell everyone and then the substitute Archangel would know that it was second choice and probably be offended. Oh Heck... Oh, Bloody, Bloody Heck. He'd have to be really careful at the next summoning and use extra best manners. Perhaps he'd better go to the library to research etiquette, he wasn't sure that his mother's idea of good manners would quite do now.

The Entity decided to leave him alone for a little while, to fester and calm down. It would just keep its eyes open for the next time Darryl decided to summon up an Archangel.

It had a little while to wait as Darryl went about purifying himself for the ritual, he didn't want to be hasty like the last time. He spent a couple of weeks drinking water and eating more fruit and vegetables. He started practising good manners on his Mother and refraining from swearing. Mystified, as always, his Mother tried to appreciate the change in him and encouraged him as much as she could. She wouldn't swear to it, but Darryl seemed somehow to be a little less dark than usual, she wondered how long it would last.

Finally, Darryl felt himself Purified and Prepared for the summoning of a great Archangel. Not his first choice, he bitterly reminded himself, but he'd try and be gracious to the one who would just have to do.

He made the sigil, set up the candles and concentrated with all his might. The Entity had been attracted by the candles and alerted its Mate 'You're on'.

The Mate manifested just enough to flicker the candles and Darryl asked, very politely, if he was indeed in the presence of an Archangel. He felt a feeling of reassurance. 'In that case' Darryl ploughed on 'I wonder if you might consider protecting me against any malevolent entities that I might incur during my Astral Travels or' he thought hard 'in my Lucid Dreams. Or, er, well, anywhere else' Yup. That should just about cover it.

The candles flickered and a small knock could be heard just across the room. The candles flared up and another, slightly louder knock drew his attention. The candles flared even more and Darryl listened for a third knock. None came, but a book fell of a shelf and landed open on the floor.
The candles flickered and snuffed out.

Darryl mustered himself and peered round to look in the direction of the knocks, all was silent. The candles were out and all he had to show for his experience was a book on the floor. Oh for goodness sake.. he supposed he'd better pick it up. After all, he was making an effort now to have more decorum and be more fastidious about his person. The fastidiousness had been hard put to make its presence felt in his room, but there were promising signs of it.
Darryl picked up the book and noted that it had fallen open at a story about the War in Heaven. Hmm. He really should read about that, see if his chosen Archangel had covered itself in any sort of glory during the battles.

Just as well for him that the idea took hold, as it had been intended to. Darryl started to put two and two together. Hadn't there just been a bit of a battle in his room? Didn't the knocks stop after the candle had exhibited its final triumphant flare?

Excitedly he took himself off to bed and tried to access the Astral Realms. He'd decided that since he'd made contact with his Archangel perhaps he could just go and meet him, say 'hello' and discover what the plan to protect him was going to be.

The Entity and its Mate had barely had time to recover from their little deception and Darryl nearly caught them on the hop. They arranged themselves around his bed 'He's tidied up, hasn't he?' asked the Mate. 'Yes' replied the Entity 'this place used to be so bad it almost put me off coming here'

'Glad you persevered...oooh look, he's not doing too badly tonight'

'Go on then, go and do your Archangel bit. I'll come along and be the bad guy when you've got his attention'

Poor Darryl had barely set foot in the Astral Realms when he heard a great swooshing of wings. Trying to orientate himself he wondered who had come to greet him. He was surprised to see a large golden figure, dressed in a white gown. That was quick, this must be one efficient Archangel to see him arrive straight away.

Darryl smiled and remembered his manners. He didn't know how to speak in the Astral so tried telepathy, nearly giving the Mate a headache.

The Mate told him to keep it down a bit and Darryl was so contrite that he didn't notice the hint of aggravation. He apologised profusely and very quietly.

Then he remembered that he had a deal to negotiate and asked the 'Archangel' if it intended to be his bodyguard for the foreseeable future 'because you were awesome back there in my room' he finished.

The Archangel, who had started to darken a bit around the edges hastily promised that it would protect Darryl for as long as he wished, meanwhile wishing for itself that the Entity would show up soon. It was hard to keep up this illusion what with it being a creature of Darkness.

The Entity decided that it had better show itself and lurked up behind its Mate, looking as fearsome as it could. Darryl saw this and tried shouting a warning. Deafened beyond endurance the two of them made themselves scarce, only just remembering to look as if they were grappling before they disappeared.

Darryl found himself standing alone there in the Astral with nothing much to do. It all looked a bit empty. No Akashic Records, no Wise Old Beings with whom to converse – just about as drab and unexciting as his imagination could make it. Well, with the threat taken care of and the assurance of protection gained from the 'Archangel' he might as well go home. He'd need some sleep after all the excitement.

The next few weeks saw Darryl making ever successful efforts to access the Astral Realms, he found Pathways there and various Guardians of the Pathways, most of whom would sneer at him and turn him back. Some asked riddles and refused to let him pass when he had no answers for them.

Darryl borrowed a book of riddles from the library and set abut making himself good at cracking them.

The Entity and its Mate lurked around in Darryl's room to the point that he started to suspect their presence. The Entity had the good sense to knock over another book before they got rumbled and Darryl, seeing the significance of the exposed page looked up and smiled gratefully. 'Thank you oh Archangel' he said. He was careful to never utter the Archangel's name in his everyday reality in case he summoned it by mistake. He did often the utter the name in the Astral Realms when something was bothering him and for the most part the Mate, noting the mis-pronunciation, answered.

In fact the Mate was getting a little fed-up of the Game and wanted to go and play something else. The Entity resorted to flattery, which generally worked on beings such as themselves, and convinced its Mate that it was so good at being an Archangel that it really should continue.

cont...

Together they harassed and saved Darryl during his more and more frequent visits to the Astral Realm and occasionally, and quite by accident, directed him to useful destinations.

In fact, it was their silliness that finally tipped him in the direction of the Hall of Akashic Records and Darryl disappeared in there for so long that they feared he would never come out. They started to worry and wonder what punishment they would incur as it was their fault he'd found the place.

When, eventually, he emerged Darryl looked rather different. He looked more thoughtful and less brooding. He seemed to have somehow matured and re-entered his body without the usual melodrama. Usually the procedure reminded the Entity of the time he'd been hanging around at an airport and watched a plane make several attempts to land.

Darryl spent the next few days immersed in his books, was polite to his Mother as a matter of course, not because he was practising how to speak to Higher Beings, cleaned himself up and started to sort his room out.

Hs Mother, who had suspected the increased efforts to be civilised were a ploy to get on her good side, felt vindicated when Darryl asked her to help him clean up his room. She was surprised when he said that all he required were some instructions on how to use the vacuum cleaner and would she mind telling him where she kept the cleaning materials. She showed him everything he requested and even explained what the various polishes and sprays were for.

Once he'd got everything in order in the Physical Realm Darryl went back to his attempts to visit the Astral. He was more frequently successful and finding it much easier to navigate his way around. Some entities noticed his new demeanour and stopped sneering so much. Now he was more likely to be greeted with a cordial nod even if he couldn't get onto most of the Paths. It was being appreciated that he'd made some efforts and soon, maybe, he'd gain access.

Of course, there were a few Beings who were malevolent and still tried to frighten him and, of course, he would call his 'Archangel' for help.

Because he was now a more civil person, Darryl started to notice a bit of a lack of grace and good humour from the 'Archangel'. He decided that perhaps he'd better ask if the 'Archangel' was displeased with him or if there was, perhaps, some small service that he could render for such an Exalted Being. The 'Archangel' harumphed a bit and put the thought into Darryl's mind that perhaps he'd better start learning to protect himself.

The seed planted itself and Darryl could envision himself being a Mighty Astral Warrior.

The Entity came along at just the last minute, too late to stop his Mate from making the suggestion.
'What's the matter with you? It'll take me ages to find another one as gullible as this'.

'Well, you be the sodding Archangel then, I'm really sick of it now. Go on – you have a turn, see how you like it'.

'But he hardly gets bothered around here' protested the Entity 'everyone knows he's ours and we'll knock their lights out if they trouble him too much'.

So they squabbled and Darryl went off to the Akashic Records and had another chat with the Keeper who had started to uncover a rare intelligence and had encouraged his diligence.

In fact, even the Entity was starting to suspect that his prize was growing away from him and wouldn't be a plaything for very much longer.

One day, as the Entity was skulking around the Lower Astral Realms wondering what to do next for amusement his Mate came charging over in a state of rare panic.

'We've been summoned'

'Eh? What for? What have we done? Who's summoned us'

'Ermm...' the Mate's voice tailed off ' ermm a Council of Archangels' it whispered

The Entity waved the Mate away, not in the mood for silly pranks. It was always the instigator of pranks itself, not the victim.

'I'm serious. They've set up a Council to interrogate us. They must have got wind of what we've been doing to Darryl. And they know I've been impersonating one of them'

'Well, I haven't' said the Entity 'You did that'

'But, you told me to'

'You wanted to or you wouldn't have done it'

The Mate looked forlorn and imagined how many centuries of the worst kind of Hell would have to be endured for impersonating an Archangel. It wondered if it could get time off for informing the Council that it was all the Entity's idea.

Squabbling they made their way to the Council Chambers and found themselves before a panel of five Archangels with the Keeper standing to their Left. It seemed that he was there to represent them. At that point, they didn't know that it was him who had reported them to the Lofty Beings on the Council.

One of the Archangels looked down at them as they shivered on the spot and it demanded to know what, exactly, they had been up to.

Miserably, they started to to tell the story of Darryl and how he'd attracted the Entity, probably because he was so dark and loathsome. How could the Entity have failed to be attracted to him?

They explained about Darryl wanting protection from an Archangel and how they had thought it would be funny to play a game to frighten him and then rescue him. They hadn't hurt him, they finished rather lamely.

'And, that's the point' said the Keeper. 'These two scoundrels have helped Darryl and, somehow, persuaded him to become the man he is today. A man who has the potential to do a great deal of good in the Worlds. Here and in the Physical. We owe them rather a lot'

The Entity and his Mate gasped, just a little bit. They looked at the Council and couldn't imagine it owing them anything.

The Archangels communed silently, frowning in their direction now and then. One of them spoke

'We heard your squabbling on the way over here and it was noted how quick you were to try and blame each other for what you did to Darryl. It's obvious that when you started to play your prank your intentions were not good and you had nothing more in your minds than to intimidate and frighten him'

'However...'

The Entity and its Mate looked up at the 'However'. How many years would that knock off their stay in one of the Hells?

The Archangels looked across at each other and the Keeper tried to conceal a smile.

'However' continued the Archangel 'whatever your motives you have,indeed, done a great deal of good. Not just for Darryl but for the many people in the future who he will be in a position to help. You have, in fact, contributed to the making of a great Hero. A Warrior'

The Entity felt its knees buckle and its Mate held it up, with some difficulty it should be said.

'You might well look discomfited' said the Archangel, pretending to misunderstand 'he'll be a scourge to you and your like'

The Mate spoke up 'I'll try and be good. Or at least, not so bad. I sort of learnt how to scare off some of the nastier sorts when I was pretending to be an Archangel...' its voice trailed off as it saw the stern looks of the real Archangels.

The Entity wanted to speak up for itself but could find nothing to say until 'Well, I found Darryl. I spotted his potential' it lied.

The Archangels let out an almighty sigh and looked even more sternly in its direction.

'Well, you did find him' said one of them.

The Entity felt it was finished and wondered if Archangels could be appealed to for leniency, after all Entities such as itself were, by their very nature, the Baddies of the Astral.
cont...

The Archangels nodded amongst themselves and stood up. They were ready to pronounce sentence.

The Middle One pointed a finger at the Mate who transformed just a little bit into a paler, brighter version of itself. 'Now you won't have those telltale dark edges' explained the Keeper.

The Mate looked puzzled 'They want you to carry on pretending to be an Angel, you can't pretend to be an Archangel any more but you can be a proper Guardian Angel with a little practice. Until you make the grade, you're allowed to pretend'

'Me?' it squeaked

'Yes' said the Keeper 'although you'll need to learn to be a little more patient'.

'I don't want to be a Guardian Angel'

'Well, you're going to be one. Unless you'd like to go to one of the Hells and be punished for impersonating an Archangel'

The Mate sulked a bit and kicked the ground. A more reluctant Guardian Angel would be hard to find.

'What about me' asked the Entity.

The Keeper laughed. 'You've been promoted to a Seeker, since you're so good at it' He said the last bit a little ironically. Rather too ironically to be tactful.

'A Seeker'

'Yes, on the Spotty Oick Seeking Brigade. You did so well in finding Darryl, you've set the bar rather high. So Good Luck'

The Entity and its Mate exchanged glances - what the heck had they let themselves in for?

They looked over to the Council of Archangels but they were all gone. Only the Keeper remained.

'Well, that concludes that. Enjoy your promotions, you're a winning team you two.'

'Team'?

'Oh yes. We expect great things from the pair of you. Your methods are unique and very effective. Toodles' and off went the Keeper.

The Entity and his Mate looked at each other

'This is your fault, you started this'

'It's not my fault you were so good at being an Archangel'

'Yes, I was rather, wasn't I?'

Generously the Entity agreed before going off to find another Darryl, since the original had advanced so far beyond them.

The Mate hoped it might take some time before the Entity found a suitable candidate, but the Physical Realm was full of kids dabbling about with Magick. The Mate looked sadly forward to a busy future as a Saviour of Mankind's callow youth.

*****


My first story about Darryl can be found here. Happily, it doesn't need to be read in order to make sense of this one:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: berenike

Hoo Hooo Beren I feel Honored to give your first flag and stars!!

Very cool Story! I Loved it!!

a reply to: SyxPak

Hi Syx, thank you very much. I love writing about Darryl

Interesting and humorous!

a reply to: Night Star

Hi Night Star - thank you. I'm glad the humour comes through, I'm not always sure about it

a reply to: berenike

S&F from me to you, very creative

a reply to: 727Sky

Thank you very much

Good thing I came back. I forgot to star and flag. Ok, we're good now.

a reply to: berenike

That was really funny, I liked it a lot! I loved your entities, and even Darryl the perfect anti-hero. Great story, it was unique and imaginative - thanks for taking the time to write it and share it

a reply to: beansidhe

Thank you - I appreciate you taking the time to comment

I developed a soft spot for the entities as I was writing them,they really took on a life of their own.. erm... I hope not

Humor is such a big part of life and it is always an important ingredient in stories. Nicely done.

a reply to: grayeagle

Thank you very much for stopping in to comment, it's much appreciated


Night Star - thank you.