Friend
12 Jul 2021Today’s prompt: “Create an imaginary friend (human or not)”
“How was your day?” you ask Kimball.
“Pretty good. My occult studies are going pretty well,” he says.
“What all are you studying?”
“They’re teaching us to make protection charms and amulets that ward off eldritch foes,” he says. “The ones at the beginning of the class weren’t so great. They had us make an ointment that repels some of the Outer Gods. Mostly the ones that have an actual body, so it doesn’t do anything against The Nameless Mist or Tru’nembra. It doesn’t do much against the amorphous blob types like Mother of Pus or Ycnàgnnisssz either. Also, it smelled really gross, so it repels most people, too.”
“Yuck,” you say.
“It gets better later in the semester,” he says. “Check this out. I made it for you.” He holds up a hand at eye level. Dangling from his thumb and forefinger is a friendship bracelet. Knotted in the strands is a blue-gray stone with a hole drilled through it. As his wrist turns, you can see golden flecks embedded in the stone flashing in the sunlight.
“What is it?” you ask.
“Saurumaline. It’s a magic stone,” he says. “I performed a few rites over it. And now, if you wear this, anything with tentacles that gets within 50 yards of you is automatically banished to another dimension.” He grins. “Don’t bring it to a restaurant if you want to order calamari.”
“Wow,” you say. “You made this for me?”
“I made us matching ones,” Kimball says, showing off his other wrist.
“So seriously, that could protect me from Cthulhu?”
As if in response to your mention of his name, the earth trembles, and a batlike wing and tentacled maw crest the top of a tall building nearby.
“Gimme gimme gimme,” you say, cupping your hands below Kimball’s.
And then this weird thing happens. Kimball starts looking a tiny bit transparent.
“I don’t understand,” Kimball says. “I’m trying to give you the bracelet.” He continues to fade from view.
“Dammit, Kimball!” you say. “This is a terrible time to become intangible!”