Hazel/Missy
Should I take the red pill? Should I? That…that man says that if I were to follow him, I’d see the truth. But Ben has told me the truth! There’s no other story…is there…? Hazel’s consciousness drifted off for some moments, drowning in her ocean of thought.
Ahhhh! I must not be swayed so easily! I must trust in Ben and in myself! Her elfin frame gave a little shiver, as if she had just snapped out of hypnosis. She stole a deep breath discreetly, willing herself to be calm and rational.
“Destiny? Pfft. Oh puh-lease, that whole “Destiny” is really quite overused. Try something new, would you?” Hazel rolled her eyes with vigour, feeling a new-found sense of courage creeping in.
“Ah?” blurted the man in black, his eyes wide in disbelief at Hazel’s speedy recovery from shock.
“Anyway, there’s no way I’m going to eat anything from a thing,” mocked Hazel.
The man became noticeably blue upon hearing that. He looked uncomfortable and agitated, as if he was suppressing some desire within him. His eyes were no longer cocky but shifty, and he started mumbling incoherently under his breath.
“What? Our Mr. Destiny is actually at a loss for words? Wow, why am I not surprised!” Hazel dismissed the man with obvious, intentional disdain.
That touched his raw spot and he burst with rage, purple in the face. “YOU… YOU LITTLE CRETIN! HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! I, VALIN OF THE COUNCIL OF FOUR, WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE SO IMPUDENT!” screeched the man in an inhumanely high-pitched voice.
“Oh my, Va-lin? What a horribly old-fashioned name! Probably very apt for an obsolete, old thing like you,” provoked Hazel even further. Valin…Valin…haven’t I heard this name somewhere before? She thought to herself.
Valin, now shaking uncontrollably with furor, raised his hand in mid-air, preparing to strike his provocateur. “I don’t care what he says anymore. I cannot allow such audacity in my presence. You shall die for your…” A very flustered Mary burst opened the door, interrupting Valin’s curse in time.
“Hazel? Oh Hazel, thank the heavens that you’re alright! I don’t know what Bea would have done to me if you…” She stopped short upon noticing Valin. “… Eh? Mister, what in the world are you doing here? Visiting hours are long over, and I’ve told you, the Missy girl that you asked for does not exist!” Mary ranted with a tinge of annoyance.
“You shall die together with Missy today, you ignoramus!” said Valin in a scream that was 2 octaves higher, rattling the window panes.
Out of his coat came the menacing tentacles at top speed, as if they had been hungering for human flesh and were waiting for this moment for too long a time. Then, there was a familiar bright flash that blinded all in the room for 5 seconds or so. The flash subsided, and there, Valin was lying motionless on the floor, eyes permanently wide in shock. The same knight in armour which Mary previously thought to be part of her imagination was standing beside the lifeless body. The star ball lay in the place where his heart was supposed to be. It was bright with a magnificent red glow, and the star was spinning in a frenzied manner within the ball.
“Hail fair Mary, Mistress of the Heart! Is there anything which your heart desires of me to do?” bellowed Fel, who looked awkwardly incongruous with his mediaeval suit of armour. He had taken the Heart of Venperlion from the body of Valin, and was now presenting it to Mary on bended knee.
“Can you see that?” Mary asked Hazel in a hasty whisper, unable to believe the sight in front of her. Hazel gave a cautious nod in reply.
“Okaaay…Erm…Get us out of here safely,” said Mary uncertainly, pushing up her spectacles with one hand.
“Don’t forget Ben. He’s still here, I know he is,” interrupted Hazel with vehemence.
“Well, yes, yes. Get all three of us from this place quickly!” urged Mary.
“Forgive me, my Mistress. For me to do that, I’m afraid you’ll have to say the magic word”, said Fel with his head bowed.
“The magic word? Erm… ‘Please’?” whimpered Mary.
“Dragoneptra,” said Hazel, taking the Heart from Fel, and holding it tightly in her hands. With that, it grew to be an even more brilliant shade of crimson, and the star spun faster and faster.
“I apologise for sounding so much like a genie, but your wish is my command, my Lady,” said Fel with deference, taking note of Hazel’s presence for the first time. “We will need the key on your neck to escape this place of peril though.”
Hazel’s hand instinctively went to her neck, and she felt the key which she had been acquainted with. So it was still there. Ben was a significant part of her life, and so was that key. She had yet to reconcile all her memories into one single quilt, but there was no doubt that the key had once opened a door to a place of enigma. Yes, it was there where she overheard a secret conversation, one which she was not supposed to hear. It was there where she first knew of someone called “Valin”. Yes, that key was real, and it was hers. She knew its grooves all too well, and she loved the fact that the ruby was soothingly cool to her skin.
“It’s a pleasure to render the services of my key. Now what’s next?”
*****
Ben/Locks
Every part of his body was hurting badly. His head was bleeding so profusely that he had become numb to the pain. Blood ran from his temples and made meandering rivers down his cheeks. The flesh of his palms had corroded from the acidity of the monster’s tongue, and the whites of his bones were exposed in some parts. Somehow, all that had happened had unfolded like a reel of film in his head.
How did I get such a flashback? Ben wondered.
Stricken with terror and injury, the only thing that was keeping him alive was Hazel. He had to make sure that she was safe. He had to see her. He had to be close to her. He would die without her. They had to be together forever, or else, he would be in pain forever. With all the willpower that he could gather, he struggled to keep his mind alert. It was all he could do to prevent himself from losing consciousness again.
Ben trudged painstakingly towards Hazel’s ward. A few more steps, and I’ll be able to see her again, He thought hopefully. His hand was finally on the door knob, and he was about to turn it. The sheer anticipation clouded whatever visual and sensory abilities that remained, and he did not notice more Dark Homunculus shuffling down the corridor toward him.
The door opened before Ben could turn the door knob. Out of the ward rushed a figure donning an antiquated suit of armour. Ben’s mind was no longer lucid enough to register the knight’s battle cry, and the lance and shield in the knight’s hands flashed past his eyes in a blur.
“All of you shall burn in hell this very day, O perpetrators of evil!” roared Fel with righteous anger. Again, he pierced his lance through the distorted bodies of the Dark Homunculus. Everything seemed to be in slow motion except for the movements of Fel. As his lance impaled them effortlessly one by one, each Homunculus gave a animalistic, hair-raising growl before expiring on to the ground. All of the monsters disintegrated into what seemed like a few strands of hair in foul-smelling animal manure.
Fel sheathed his lance again, and bowed his head in greeting toward Ben. Finally seeing his Hazel, Ben’s knees grew weak and gave way. Hazel instinctively supported Ben, placing his arm over her shoulder, and Mary placed his other arm over her own shoulder. Without a word, Fel marched into the darkness of the hospital, and all three followed him closely, fearing that more evil would befall them.
*****
Fel
I know that girl from somewhere. That girl… she knows me too. Fel’s thoughts raced inside of him. But Mary is my Mistress, so why does the other girl know the magic word? Could she be the one instead? And she has that powerful key on her neck…
They reached the entrance of the hospital, and unsurprisingly, it was locked.
“My Lady, please open the door with your key,” said Fel.
Hazel took the key from the necklace around her neck, and proceeded to open the door with an overpowering sense of curiosity. This key led me to a mysterious place the last time. Where will it lead me this time, I wonder?
She turned the key, and the door opened wide. Both Mary and Hazel gasped in astonishment, but Ben was still too weak to react. None of them realized that Fel had already disappeared into thin air, because what greeted them was a sight that was too inconceivable to behold. It was totally another world of its own, and they could not believe their eyes.
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Monday, 7 May 2007
The Infinidex - Part 8
"Hail? There ain't gonna be hail in a roofed hospital like this. Mistress? Last time I checked, Thomas Bart wasn't married, so how could I possibly be a mistress. Furthermore I only went out with that fella twice, that doesn't qualify me to be a mistress does it? Although I do agree that my silky fair skin makes me all that attractive that maybe Bart would have hired this fella to come grab me like some romantic love-smitten desperado, or I could be going insane..." thought Mary as she spaced out.
The cold and hard grip of a wet wrinkled hand on Mary's leg shocked Mary out of her extremely long and a total waste of time imagination. The hand however quickly went limp as a bright flash enveloped the room and all that was left in the room was a disintegrating body with a gaping hole in his chest region that belonged to Alex. In the hole laid the star-ball.
In the matter of seconds, the room was empty, devoid of Toby, Alex and that strange glowing armor. All that remained was the star-ball and cracked marble. "Erm, Ok..maybe I need some suppressants too..." Thought Mary confusedly as she picked up the star-ball and placed it back in her pocket and stumbled out wondering how she was going to explain herself to Bea.
********
"Darn! What is wrong with this hospital!" thought Ben angrily to himself as he ended his playing prematurely. The room was dark and windowless, and so was the corridor outside. "What kind of hospital will experience a blackout!" shouted Ben loudly as he slammed the covers of the piano back down. Of course Ben could play "Forever Love" in the total darkness. That was the result of constant practice over the same song that surpassed his counting ability. Of course all musicians had to know how to do the basic counting because music had the beautiful infusion of mathematics within but when the number of playthroughs have reached a number so high that the (x^) function had to be used, no one sane would keep count.
Ben felt his way out of the room and stumbled into the corridor expecting that the pathway be less dim then this void of light. To his dismay, it was strangely dark too despite the presence of windows that should have allowed the midday sunlight to pass through. "Geez, looks like there is going to be rain..." thought Ben to himself as he reasoned out an explaination for this phenomenal darkness. Memory flashes of him and Hazel cuddling in the cafe in the music of the raindrops as well as the tightening of Hazel grip whenever thunder shook the cafe walls sprang to his mind.
Ben took a deep breath and felt his way down the corridor to where he remembered the staircase was. It was sure strange that this hospital seemed to lack a blackout contigency plan thought Ben to himself. Slow paced footsteps besides Ben's could be heard but from the looks of it, the other patients would have rather stayed in their wards and await instructions, or they are unable to have left their beds anyways.
"Sorry!" exclaimed Ben as he bumped into a clammy body passing along his path. The figure merely grunted a reply and continued along his way. He kept his body leaned on the left wall which was where the staircase would be.
A bone chilling scream suddenly thundered through the corridor.
"HELP!" screamed the person and futher cries were muffled probably by the perpetrator.
The scream came at the wrong time for Ben however, as it came exactly when the left wall gave way to the stairway and it distracted Ben long enough as his hands lost his grip and his feet lost his footing as Ben tumbled down the stairs hitting his head violently against the wall, his weight acting against him, drawing blood and causing a deep blackness to cloud Ben's vision as he lost consciousness.
******
"Julie, how's dear Mr Patterson reacting to the new medication?"
"His appetite has improved a lot but recently he has been complaining of constipation."
"Oh that poor man. Please check with Dr Brown whether the dosage should be reduced"
Huh, what is happening, who is Julie and what am I doing here?
"Can anyone hear me outside? The door's stuck. Can you help us? Anyone out there?"
What am I seeing? I never seen this sight before...
"Ahhh! My arm!"
Huh?? The arm is gone... But I am not feeling any pain.. Is this me?
"I am losing blood...somebody help..."
Is this a different person? Thats the other person who lost the arm... What is that black figure over her... I cannot get a clear focus...
"Yah, my mama told me she was from outer space too, the other day I when I visited her."
"But you know what, you might be right, seems like there's a pair of invisible sunglass blocking out the light. Everything's a notch darker than usual. This isn't natural"
"Holy ..."
Huh...This is another room...Oh no! The guy has been sucked into the washing machine...The water is starting to turn red...
"There's no escaping the darkness"
"AHHH KAREN! What are you.... NO MY NECK!!"
What...another blackout... what happened to these people... are they in this hospital?
"Oh so sorry sir, I didn't see you there...would you please proceed back into your room while we get the electricity fixed sir? There is nothing to...Sir...you are gripping my neck...AHHHHHHHH!..nmmnmmnmm"
This was.... just now???
"Ben!"
HAZEL? Who is that figure before you??
"Come with me. The darkness have taken over this place. You are no longer safe."
No!! Don't follow him... who is he???
"No. I have to get to Ben, I have to warn him if there're more of these things around"
Yes!! I am coming for you!
"Listen, do you hear anything?"
"No, I can't hear anything"
"Precisely. It's too late for your friend Ben, but it's not too late for you, if you come with me."
"But if you come with me, I will show you the truth, and when you do, many will be saved. I am Destiny. Take the red pill and together we shall see how deep the rabbit hole goes."
No!! Hazel... NOOOO!!!
"The warm trickling of blood flowed down from my forehead. I could feel it flowing over my eyelids but it didn't matter, it was too dark to see anyway. But as I opened my eyes, I saw the staircase I fell down from, a figure passing across the staircase. My vision was all red, probably from the blood, but I could see. The figure stopped, turned her head towards me and her tongue sticked out of her mouth AND CONTINUED TO ELONGATE TOWARDS ME!" Ben's hand stuck out in reflex and grabbed the disgusting tongue/spear thing. The fluid around the tongue stung like acid but Ben wrapping the disgusting muscle around his palm and pulled, dislodging the tongue and sending out a spray of blood before the figure fell backwards and writhed in pain.
Ben looked at his burnt hands and his twisted feet. It was painful, but for Hazel's sake, Ben placed both hands on the acid coated floor, pulled back his legs and stood up painfully, and continued down the stairs seeing through his red tinted vision.
The cold and hard grip of a wet wrinkled hand on Mary's leg shocked Mary out of her extremely long and a total waste of time imagination. The hand however quickly went limp as a bright flash enveloped the room and all that was left in the room was a disintegrating body with a gaping hole in his chest region that belonged to Alex. In the hole laid the star-ball.
In the matter of seconds, the room was empty, devoid of Toby, Alex and that strange glowing armor. All that remained was the star-ball and cracked marble. "Erm, Ok..maybe I need some suppressants too..." Thought Mary confusedly as she picked up the star-ball and placed it back in her pocket and stumbled out wondering how she was going to explain herself to Bea.
********
"Darn! What is wrong with this hospital!" thought Ben angrily to himself as he ended his playing prematurely. The room was dark and windowless, and so was the corridor outside. "What kind of hospital will experience a blackout!" shouted Ben loudly as he slammed the covers of the piano back down. Of course Ben could play "Forever Love" in the total darkness. That was the result of constant practice over the same song that surpassed his counting ability. Of course all musicians had to know how to do the basic counting because music had the beautiful infusion of mathematics within but when the number of playthroughs have reached a number so high that the (x^) function had to be used, no one sane would keep count.
Ben felt his way out of the room and stumbled into the corridor expecting that the pathway be less dim then this void of light. To his dismay, it was strangely dark too despite the presence of windows that should have allowed the midday sunlight to pass through. "Geez, looks like there is going to be rain..." thought Ben to himself as he reasoned out an explaination for this phenomenal darkness. Memory flashes of him and Hazel cuddling in the cafe in the music of the raindrops as well as the tightening of Hazel grip whenever thunder shook the cafe walls sprang to his mind.
Ben took a deep breath and felt his way down the corridor to where he remembered the staircase was. It was sure strange that this hospital seemed to lack a blackout contigency plan thought Ben to himself. Slow paced footsteps besides Ben's could be heard but from the looks of it, the other patients would have rather stayed in their wards and await instructions, or they are unable to have left their beds anyways.
"Sorry!" exclaimed Ben as he bumped into a clammy body passing along his path. The figure merely grunted a reply and continued along his way. He kept his body leaned on the left wall which was where the staircase would be.
A bone chilling scream suddenly thundered through the corridor.
"HELP!" screamed the person and futher cries were muffled probably by the perpetrator.
The scream came at the wrong time for Ben however, as it came exactly when the left wall gave way to the stairway and it distracted Ben long enough as his hands lost his grip and his feet lost his footing as Ben tumbled down the stairs hitting his head violently against the wall, his weight acting against him, drawing blood and causing a deep blackness to cloud Ben's vision as he lost consciousness.
******
"Julie, how's dear Mr Patterson reacting to the new medication?"
"His appetite has improved a lot but recently he has been complaining of constipation."
"Oh that poor man. Please check with Dr Brown whether the dosage should be reduced"
Huh, what is happening, who is Julie and what am I doing here?
"Can anyone hear me outside? The door's stuck. Can you help us? Anyone out there?"
What am I seeing? I never seen this sight before...
"Ahhh! My arm!"
Huh?? The arm is gone... But I am not feeling any pain.. Is this me?
"I am losing blood...somebody help..."
Is this a different person? Thats the other person who lost the arm... What is that black figure over her... I cannot get a clear focus...
"Yah, my mama told me she was from outer space too, the other day I when I visited her."
"But you know what, you might be right, seems like there's a pair of invisible sunglass blocking out the light. Everything's a notch darker than usual. This isn't natural"
"Holy ..."
Huh...This is another room...Oh no! The guy has been sucked into the washing machine...The water is starting to turn red...
"There's no escaping the darkness"
"AHHH KAREN! What are you.... NO MY NECK!!"
What...another blackout... what happened to these people... are they in this hospital?
"Oh so sorry sir, I didn't see you there...would you please proceed back into your room while we get the electricity fixed sir? There is nothing to...Sir...you are gripping my neck...AHHHHHHHH!..nmmnmmnmm"
This was.... just now???
"Ben!"
HAZEL? Who is that figure before you??
"Come with me. The darkness have taken over this place. You are no longer safe."
No!! Don't follow him... who is he???
"No. I have to get to Ben, I have to warn him if there're more of these things around"
Yes!! I am coming for you!
"Listen, do you hear anything?"
"No, I can't hear anything"
"Precisely. It's too late for your friend Ben, but it's not too late for you, if you come with me."
"But if you come with me, I will show you the truth, and when you do, many will be saved. I am Destiny. Take the red pill and together we shall see how deep the rabbit hole goes."
No!! Hazel... NOOOO!!!
"The warm trickling of blood flowed down from my forehead. I could feel it flowing over my eyelids but it didn't matter, it was too dark to see anyway. But as I opened my eyes, I saw the staircase I fell down from, a figure passing across the staircase. My vision was all red, probably from the blood, but I could see. The figure stopped, turned her head towards me and her tongue sticked out of her mouth AND CONTINUED TO ELONGATE TOWARDS ME!" Ben's hand stuck out in reflex and grabbed the disgusting tongue/spear thing. The fluid around the tongue stung like acid but Ben wrapping the disgusting muscle around his palm and pulled, dislodging the tongue and sending out a spray of blood before the figure fell backwards and writhed in pain.
Ben looked at his burnt hands and his twisted feet. It was painful, but for Hazel's sake, Ben placed both hands on the acid coated floor, pulled back his legs and stood up painfully, and continued down the stairs seeing through his red tinted vision.
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