Ethereal Paradigm: Arcadia of Darkness 46 Countdown till Hades

-Clive Barker

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Cheshire Cat. A well-known fictional character, notable for its broad grin and the ability to appear and disappear. It's all clear now. So this is what this kid is talking with earlier, and as a hypothesis, deities have this innate ability to conceal their presence from anyone except their Herrscher and I guess this cat-deity did the same. That's why I was only able to sense one presence."

"We are sorry! Please let us go! It would be bad if he was to lose his leg now!" With a grotesque whimsical voice, It started talking all of the sudden.

"Why are you saying you're sorry to me? ...And why should I care?"

"Wait! We'll do anything!"

"You two were having fun together killing mercilessly, and now your begging? How inconsequential" I stated while the spoiled boy is still unable to speak as I concealed his one means of speech, with this 'Cheshire' deity a meter away unable to answer anything. Hmmm. sorry, but the kid needs his lesson. A leg is just a little collateral for the life he took.

"Let's just continue the fun. ok!?" With a fake smile, I suddenly plunge my scythe in his leg. It penetrated to the impeccable division of its bones like it was cake, and the youngster unable to scream the agony, as I have had control of his mouth became very ecstatic of the gruesome pain he is feeling as blood came oozing out of the deep wound. He wrestled more as the grip of the chains becomes stronger by the seconds, probably because of the unbearable pain that he can't even scream out.

"Struggle more and you're gonna have to say bye-bye to your head as well."

Not taking heed to my warning, with his deity unable to do anything, the boy started to move in the most intense ways. At this rate, he's gonna be killed. Hmmm, and I'm not stupid to kill someone of this caliber here.

"How spoiled" I then made the chain which was entangled in his neck suddenly exert brute strangling force, enough to make him unconscious for a while.

"You're tired from all of that fun, right? You should probably rest for a while."

As the boy begins to trance, I undid the binding which made him fall to the ground in his face. And then, his deity, Cheshire, retrieved his unconscious body while being extra careful with his soon-to-fall cut leg and started carrying it.

"You! you're gonna pay for this! I'm gonna report this to Alice, to Mad Hatter, to March Hare...You better be prepared, boy!"

Are they all deities? This is not a circus you know. To have such light characters in a dark-themed environment is a very grotesque 'another side of the same coin'. Unless, if their facades all resemble those horrible cannibals, then I'm not buying it.

"Hmmm? Is that supposed to be the Circle of Disney's friendship Pipsquicks? Then say this to them. If by far you are planning to harm me on the game, you would not lose only a leg...And you know this best than anyone. Now then, scram."

As the deity utilized his power and started disappearing with the unconscious boy in his provision, he began to left words of warning with an eerily dreadful grin enough to inflict me some goosebumps.

"I'll remember this boy. I'm gonna kill you and Lacrimosa. Mark my words."

And then, disappeared together with the black charisma that I felt prior. If he thinks that I felt threatened with that small words of his, he is one dunderheaded-cat. What can I say? Poor lad. Having to start the game with a leg about to fall off if not of a skin that I left uncut.

Hayst. I really wish that he would be the last referenced character. Sad to say all of Wonderland's casts seem here too. Whatever. They're not gonna survive for long in their adventurous nature...I presume.

I probably should get to the main business now. Dinner. But, first, as a form of respect for the deceased, I bowed my head and covered him with a white mantel.

"Have a peaceful rest now mister." That's the least I could do.

I should probably go back to Shiro now.

I made sure that my demeanor is cleansed form the cruel act of doing amputation without a medical license and then reopened the kitchen door with the fried chicken she requested and a little of mine, while Shiro was sitting there behaved in the seat she chose. But, she's somewhat distracted on looking up at something through the food chain's crystal glass walls.

"Shiro, what are you looking at? I have your fried chicken now. Let's eat and let's get some goodnight sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow, olay?"

"Oh, oni chama, what are they doing over there?"

"Huh?"

I then got into a seat and started looking the same direction. A flying pegasus perhaps?

"Where is it, Shiro?"

"Over there oni-chama" She then pointed her hand on the top of a very tall building lit by the endearing moonlight.

And in there, on the edge was a multitude of people. There were many watching them, and several others on the ground also have been anticipating the scene...But something is not just right... Something is wrong, I can feel it.

What are they doing there? And then suddenly, the people outside, as if it was premeditated all along started counting, 10...9.....8...

Did something happen while I was busy? Why? A farewell party perhaps? I looked at my clock, and the time still far from 3 AM. What are they celebrating?

7...

6,.. All I can do is watch as the countdown slowly reaches to the point of one.

5... But, something is just boggling me.

4...But, I don't know what that is.

3...

Wait, don't tell me they're gonna!

2...

I quickly got Shiro from where she is sitting while hastily covering her eyes.

1!... And then, unlike any of the luck I despised, came, a very decadent scene that I never expected. Screams and cries, again begun to be heard on the soon-to-be-abolished-city.

Everyone jumped from atop of the building, Shiro is curious about. And the people on the ground starts killing...not others, but themselves. Some are stabbing themselves to death as they brazenly walked the roads. Some are passing a gun to one another as they inflict bullets on their head. Some were intentionally crashing their vehicles. A few others were courageous enough to set themselves on fire, while some? Settled on a more scientific way of drug overdosage. It is a massive suicide outside the facility that we are in. And what I found ugly to feel, is the sense of overwhelming power that is surging towards me, as they succumb to their own vain deaths.

So this is why they were enjoying the hours like there's no tomorrow. Because they are gonna take tomorrow from themselves in their own vocation. It's a brutal scene. Everyone that can be seen outside is slowly dying on their own accord, while some who still have the gut to continue living is probably paralyzed by the horror they are witnessing.

Several things are still unclear to me. How did they persuade one another to do this? Where did the idea come from? And how did they arrange such an event? How did this come to be? They better not have thought that this was only a nightmare and by dying here even before we can step outside to the unknown land, means they can wake up back on Earth on their comfy bedrooms unscathed...

In the myriad of questions that I had in myself, there's one thing that is still translucent to me... Darwin's theory of evolution is void of truth and reality. Those primates which are believed to be men's first forms are far too logical even for this.

Then, as dead bodies came piling up on the vast streets, an announcement from the city's PA systems suddenly stated "Please calm down. Suicide is not the answer, let us find some solutions. I repeat..." Too late isn't it? Half of the masses are now dead...Less work for Hermes.

I have to take Shiro somewhere else, without her seeing anything putrid. Surely we can't eat with a visage like this in front of us.

Chapter end