I always enjoyed Christmas when I was younger. “Mom” and “dad” would give me gifts on Christmas Day. The toys were much more interesting than the pointless offerings that they would give me before I was trapped in this body. If given the choice between dead small animals and a miniature replicas of everyday objects with rounded corners and bright colours, the later would win every time. The holiday rituals were entertaining in their own right. There was something fascinating with the humans wanting to celebrate the snow and cold, despite complaining about it throughout the rest of the year. And, dare I say it, the activities were... fun, in a simple and foolish sense. Ice skating, for example. Humans put on special boots with bladed weapons on them and then show off their sense of balance. It serves no practical purpose or use, but it's a uniquely strange way to pass an afternoon.
Something’s changed over the past few years, though. I think my parent’s have been drinking too deeply from the corporate kool-aid; their holiday calendar has been packed with business parties and events. They had a business party on Christmas eve at some fancy place downtown and didn’t invite me! Who does that to a kid?
I spent Christmas eve hanging around at a local church. Members of the Christian faith consider December 24th a holy day and spend part of the evening communing with their god. Some supernatural beings might be dismissive of such acts, but I have no reason to doubt Israel is an outlet for a being of amazing power. The standoff with Low Key proved that.
Whatever entity Israel serves has successfully bridged the mortal world and the world beyond. I wanted to reach out and ask Him “How?”. How does He cope with the differences between this plane of existence and true reality? How does He handle the countless mortals who want to remain willfully ignorant to His existence? How does a lie become so powerful when truth should command the universe? Why does He make mortals search for that truth instead of just stating it? How does He remain secure and comfortable with such tiny places of power when so many other entities are at each other's throats for more and more territory?
I copied the gestures and actions of the faithful around me. I prayed, lit candles, sung along with the chants. He didn’t reply back to me. I know He exists. I’ve seen His power first hand. I understand that we aren’t peers - despite the claims of dead cultists, I do not consider myself a god - but He is the closest to what I was before the ritual that trapped me in this form.
There was a Christmas card from Leanansidhe waiting in the mailbox when I returned home. It tried to playfully mock my attempts to protect the school and Leaside and their populations from outside forces. It also went directly into the fireplace after I finished reading it.
That an agent of Leanansidhe visited my home while I was in the church was not lost on me. I don’t want to think of what Leanansidhe would have done if she had found me alone and depressed on Christmas eve. Not that I think she could have killed me, but there are far worse fates in this plane of existence.
Could the timing of my church ritual and Leanansidhe’s visit be a way for Him to reach out to me? That seems far too romantic for a god, but part of me doesn’t want to dismiss the idea.
