We arrived in a quiet village—quiet in the way abandoned places always are. There was no festival music here. No kneeling worshippers. No cotton candy.
Just silence. Heavy and unnatural.
Lumière clung to Aelira. Lucen walked slowly, fingers twitching.
"This place…" he muttered. "There's… something here."
I didn't like it either. The air was thick, wrong. Like it was watching.
And then we heard it.
A scream.
Not of pain.
But of laughter.
Unsettling. Too long. Too sharp.
Then a voice, uncomfortably close.
"YOU—YOU! YES—YES KING! Ahaha—HAHA! Can't—CAN'T USE IT, CAN YOU!?"
A man stepped out of the shadows. He wore tattered black robes, barefoot, face pale and sunken, with eyes that didn't blink—only stared.
And when he grinned, I saw too many teeth.
"Who the hell are you?" I said, already trying.
"Obey me."
Nothing.
He laughed again. Loud. High-pitched.
"IT—IT DOESN'T WORK—NO, NO, NO! I'M LIKE YOU! FROM—FROM EARTH! EARTH! EARTH!"
My heart sank. I told Lumière to hide in one of the houses.
Lucen flinched beside me.
The man tilted his head.
"I REMEMBER YOUR FEARS," he whispered.
Then shouted, "I REMEMBER—REMEMBER!"
Suddenly Lucen dropped to his knees.
The sky darkened—not literally. But around him. His breath hitched.
"I—I can't see. The dark—it's here—he's bringing it here—"
Lucen's "divine" voice cracked.
This man was doing something to us.
I felt it too.
Memories. Flashing.
My mom, yelling.
The time I messed up in class and everyone laughed.
The time I failed to save someone.
I heard Aelira gasp. She was shaking, hand to her chest.
"Mom… Dad…"
He was hitting us all where it hurt most.
The man grinned wide.
"I DON'T NEED OBEDIENCE. I JUST—JUST—JUST NEED YOUR HEADS TO SCREAM!"
His voice echoed like it was bouncing inside my skull.
I grit my teeth.
"Why… are you doing this?"
His grin faltered. Just for a second.
"WHY WOULDN'T- WOULDN'T I BE DOING THIS? IT'S A WORLD WITH - WITHOUT LIMITATIONS! I CAN FINALLY HAVE... FUN! And because I want.. I WANT YOUR OBEDIENCE."
Aelira's hand found mine. She was pale, but her eyes were steady.
"Stop him..." she whispered.
Lucen stood up slowly, still shaking.
"I—I am not… afraid…"
The man screamed laughter again.
"THEN COME—COME AND PROVE IT!"
And just like that—
The real fight had begun.
---
[To Be Continued...]