Oliver James, washed in the rain. No longer.
This is the story of a boy who fell in love with a demon and their adventures in trying to find a life together. It’s its own animal, but plays in tandem with Shiloh’s story in a way they’d interweave a narrative web around each other.
PROBABLY SOME SLIGHT SPOILERS(?)
Orphaned and Relocated.
Oliver’s parent have gone missing and his big brother Ed has taken him in. This means he had to pick up and move to the middle of nowhere and drop his life in the city. Not exactly easy for a 14 year old, but this wasn’t the family’s first loss either. Oliver and Ed’s big sister, Amy, had gone missing years before as well.
He started a new school short after the year started and was a loaner. One day on the way home he came across a strange book. Full of symbols and formulas and wild images. His curiosity got the best of him when he found a page he could read. It was a simple ritual. He followed it and suddenly someone appeared. Someone or something. Someone Oliver found amazing.
Oliver had summoned a demon named Miloh and unknowingly formed a contract with him. After this moment, the two would be neigh inseparable- it would also be the first friend Oliver could say he had made since moving.
This ritual would lead Oliver to delving into the book. Trying to decipher its pages and learn new spells and rituals. He’d often be found scrounging for components.
Short after they met, Miloh began making nightly visits to Oliver’s third story window, to drag him out into the night for “adventures”.
These adventures usually consisted of visiting the local fauna, just not any that most people would be familiar with.
After a while, some of these creatures seemed to show up outside of the forests. As if drawn to Oliver. Seeking him out.
Cryptids weren’t the only thing looking for Oliver. He and Miloh would eventually encounter a new foe.
This little fella is Leopold. A local cryptid himself; his image is plastered on the walls of the town as a local legend that stalks the woods, known as “The Painted Bear”. He refers to himself as the “Big Brave Lion” however, despite the bear pelt and tiger stripes. He wants Oliver’s spell book, like so many others, and is willing to fight for it. He doesn’t take kindly to demons, so Oliver’s pet is a big obstacle. However, Leo is a strong kid. He’s smart and resourceful- which is the only reason he’s managed to live out in the woods on his own for so long. He’s even tamed an actual mythical beast of his own! Butterscotch, the jackalope.
Leo and Butterscotch live in a hollowed out tree in the forest, where he also tries to decipher old spells and magicks. But his library is shallow and full of cheap tricks people try to pass off as real magick. He does all he can to find the truth in the mounds of lies. However, Oliver’s book, he knows very well, and he’s been waiting to find it.
Leo and Oli eventually come to an agreement to work together, but Leo would keep his distance. The two would scout cryptids together and learn the secrets of their world- sharing their findings.
Ed comes home to an empty house often. He can’t keep up with a full time job and a kid who runs out to do whatever he wants. They don’t have cell phones, so all he can do is hope Oliver comes back okay. Despite many talks about how worried he gets, Oliver continues to go on his “adventures” leaving Ed powerless to do anything but worry. He’s met Miloh. He doesn’t like him.
And fair enough, you know? He is a demon after all. And he does… strange things.
But Oli couldn’t help himself. He finally had someone.
But what if one day something happened to Ed’s little brother. After all of the warnings and worry? What if Ed was right?
And what if he wasn’t?
What happened to little Oliver?