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The Nightmare Game

Page 60

by Martin, S. Suzanne


  I ran in this manner until I was at the point of screaming. It was only then that the creatures began to vanish from the mirrors and Rochere, or rather Arrosha, appeared, laughing at me. Laughing or not, I followed her image until I reached yet another curtain, which I opened and, going through it, suddenly found myself outside the tent, high upon a strip of land bridge. When I looked behind me, there was another mountain. The carnival was gone.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  As I stood upon the land bridge, the world was quiet. The only sounds to be heard were the lonesome whistling of the wind and my own breathing. With a light breeze, the air was cool and pleasant, a welcome change from the stifling heat and humidity of the world of the carnival.

  At the other end of the natural bridge stood a tower, the only man-made object in sight. Long and thin, the tower seemed almost too thin to support the rather squat and flat structure that sat atop it like a pancake. As I walked closer to it, I saw this structure was comprised of pillars and a roof but no walls; it reminded me somewhat of a metallic gazebo.

  Before I could take further stock of my surroundings, I suddenly experienced another “jump”, one which set me inside the structure. From the inside, this tower room was open, airy and overwhelmingly large, much larger than it appeared from the outside, for I could now appreciate the great height to which its ceiling rose.

  Bathed in the light of a blazing red sunset which poured in from a cloudless sky, the empty room also seemed surprisingly warm. It was made up entirely of a bronze-like metal, the floor and ceiling so highly polished that they’d become the room’s prismatic, bronze-tinged reflectors.

  The round floor and ceiling seemed roughly equal in diameter. The columns encircling the room were not straight, but instead curved outward from floor to almost mid-height, at which point they turned to curve inward again into the ceiling, giving the room a more organic feeling than it otherwise would have had. Every fifth column bore a bronze statue of a semi-nude woman growing out of it, sculptures done in the same style as my necklace amulet, Arrosha’s crystal sculpture and the satyrs at the mansion. The sculpted women leaned out at an angle, as if they might escape from their columns, yet were anchored by butterfly-like wings. From the large ornate pitchers the statues held, they continually poured what appeared to be an iridescent light bronze liquid into a small pool beneath them, pools that never got emptier or fuller.

  Walking nearer to the edge of the room, I very cautiously peeked downward. What appeared at first to be a cloudless day proved to be an illusion, for I saw now that this room was actually above the clouds, leaving me to wonder why the atmosphere was not thinner this high up. Not one for heights, I became woozy and stepped back.

  No sooner, though, had I retreated, than the sky began to darken until it was as black as night. The liquid that the sculpted women poured from their sculpted pitchers grew luminous and began to shimmer and glow, casting the entire room in a soft, warm light that was reflected by both the highly polished bronze floor and ceiling.

  As the dark sky now began to reflect the light of the room, I realized that the sky itself had not gotten dark, but rather that which I’d perceived as open space was actually a clear barrier, now darkening or solidifying to black. Putting one hand on a column for balance, I leaned out very cautiously once again until I touched the barrier. It was solid.

  A circular spot of light suddenly appeared, bringing my attention back to the center of the empty room. This spotlight gained in intensity and grew upward, incrementally, organically, as if it were an incandescent plant made of light, its iridescent colors shimmering as if it were alive. It began to breathe and soon a the sound of a heartbeat was added to the breathing. The living light of many colors grew to a height of perhaps nine feet and then began to solidify, turning into what appeared to be a large, closed exotic flower bud of multicolored, multi-faceted crystal. I viewed it from my distance, not daring to venture closer, as I now knew that nothing good could come from this world. Even so, it was still the most beautiful object I had ever seen in my life. When it had finished solidifying, its petals began to open, revealing an amorphous female form comprised of light, hovering in mid-air over what came to be a round platform that arose from the floor out of seemingly nowhere. Gradually, the form began to solidify, revealing an exquisite black haired woman with white, translucent skin. She floated down slowly until she was standing upon the raised platform, clad in a majestic finery. Its details coming into focus, an extremely beautiful yet powerfully shrewd face revealed itself to me, its piercing eyes boring into through me. Before me, glaring at me in all her glory, stood a most regal Arrosha.

  The light continued to surrounded Arrosha, as if to display her as she stood in her queenly regalia upon the platform. The now opened petals of the crystal flower dissolved without a trace as the entire platform glided toward me without effort or resistance, stopping about fifteen feet away. I assumed that the necklace I wore would allow her no nearer. Arrosha looked down upon me with a cold, hard look of complete contempt upon her face as the platform hovered in one spot for a few moments. Slowly, noiselessly, the platform grew smaller as it descended, bringing the figure it bore to ground level before disappearing altogether, as if it had never existed at all. Arrosha continued to stare at me for a long time, assessing me, judging me, her eyes finally coming to rest upon my neck.

  “That necklace is mine” she said bluntly in a voice that was richer and throatier than I’d been expecting. Apparently the little old lady voice of her Rochere persona had been just another part of her act.

  “It’s not yours.” I told her, sounding much braver than I felt inside. “It belongs to someone else. It was given to me.”

  “It belongs to someone else? Do you mean Edmond?”

  “Yes,” I said. Her mood changed from arrogance to rage in the flash of an eye.

  “You think it belongs to Edmond?” her voice boomed so loudly in her fury that I felt the floor shake. “How dare you? How dare you speak of things about which you know nothing, you puny, insignificant little insect! And if you weren’t wearing my necklace, that’s exactly into what I would turn you this very instant!”

  I was terrified. I knew she could and would do it were I vulnerable to her machinations. The longer this game continued, the more I understood the full importance of the many warnings not to take off this necklace.

  “Belongs to Edmond,” she mocked me, contempt now mingled with her rage. “Edmond is a thief! It was never Edmond’s to give you. He’s nothing but a nasty, filthy, rotten little thief! That necklace is a product of the technology of my people and therefore it belongs to me. He stole that necklace from me and I want it back! Take it off! Now!” she commanded.

  “If it’s really yours, why can’t you just come over here and get it yourself?” The words squeaked quietly and mousily from my dry throat. Unfortunately, my voice had lost its power, making me now sound as brave as I felt. Words that were defiant in my mind evaporated into a frightened, broken whisper when exposed to the air.

  I noticed that while she had been circling around me like a big, caged cat, her circle had not shrunk. She wasn’t coming any closer. It was true, then. The necklace amulet did repel her.

  “But you can’t do that, can you?” I said, pointing out the obvious.

  “You stupid, trifling woman.” Her voice lost its fury and became dangerously low, making her even more menacing. “You really don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you?”

  “Not really, no.” I admitted, trying to keep the trembling in my voice to a minimum. “But I do know that if I were to take this necklace off now that you would kill me or worse. I saw what you did to the others.” I braced myself for another outburst, but it did not come.

  Instead, her mood softened and she smiled the most wicked smile that I had ever seen. She seemed to be relishing her memories of the atrocities which she’d inflicted upon her loyal followers. “Oh, yes,” she said with an oily slyness to her voice that had an al
most sexual undertone. “That. Quite interesting, weren’t they, my creations.”

  “Abominations, you mean,” I found the nerve to say.

  “Oh, my,” she replied, sounding slighted. “So you didn’t like my work. Well, aren’t you just the little critic. Feel free to criticize me any time that you have my powers. Oh wait, let’s see now. That’s not possible because you will never have my powers!”

  “Even if I could have your powers I would never do to any living creature what you did to those poor people. You’re evil.”

  I wished my voice could have conveyed more force. I was proud of my words, but they came out sounding too meek and timid. Even so, I braced myself for yet another outburst of rage from her. Again, it did not come.

  “Evil?” she said, almost analytically. “You think I’m evil?”

  Was this the calm before the storm?

  “Yes.” I said, my eyes lowered, not daring to look at her lest it set her off again.

  Unexpectedly, she began to laugh. It was a cold, hard, joyless laugh, but still it was not the reaction I was expecting.

  “So you think I’m evil,” she repeated.

  I said nothing. I just stood still, scared out of my wits.

  “Evil, you little wimp, does not apply to me. Good, evil, these are just terms that mortals use. What are they, after all, but selfish terms? Ultimately, good is merely only that which benefits you, evil is only that which harms you. Now, what is that saying from your culture that I like so much? Ah, yes, ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’. Interesting, isn’t it? Your own species feeds upon itself regularly, doesn’t it? So often what benefits one group requires it to feed off of another group. What destroys one sector makes the second sector wealthy. So what becomes good to faction A is evil to faction B. It’s all relative, Ashley. Good and evil. Where does one end and the other begin?”

  “No one benefits from you,” I said, finding my voice. “There is nothing in you but destruction.”

  “But I benefit and that’s all that matters. And I am more than destruction, Ashley. I am the Goddess of All Creation!”

  “You’re lying.”

  “You know nothing. My good is the only good that is important. You’re all so sad, so concerned about your, as imagine, immortal souls. There is no such thing. Your soul does not exist, you have only life force. When you die, it leaves you. And whither it goes, you know not. You comfort yourselves in your powerlessness because you’re all afraid to die. You make up little bedtime stories of a beautiful, perfect afterlife, where you fly about the clouds with newly sprouted wings, playing harps and singing all day.” Her hard laugh was now mocking. “You wish! Once your life force leaves you, you’re lucky if it winds up powering a light bulb! Its energy is squandered in some trivial use.” Her circling around me stopped and she began to pace before me back and forth. “What a waste! Those I feed off are actually lucky that I find their life forces so very tasty. At least then it has some purpose. And that purpose is to nourish me!”

  She looked at me now with eyes that betrayed a violent hunger. She didn’t just want to kill me, she wanted to feed off me. My self-preservation had been telling me to be as neutral as possible, but now I could not hide my shock. Again, I was grateful to be wearing the necklace.

  “You – you’re a succubus!” The words came tumbling out of my mouth without my permission. I couldn’t help myself.

  “A succubus! How dare you call me that! How dare you insult me so! I am a Goddess! I am the Goddess, the creatrix of all! I give all, therefore I can take all!” She lunged at me but was stopped cold. The invisible protection of the necklace would let her come no closer. Realizing she could not get to me, that she would not be allowed to do to me that which she so badly desired, she calmed down quickly. She eyed me intently with wicked mischief.

  “I created you. I created your life force. Yours and everyone else’s. It was exhausting work, by the way, so you will excuse me when I want a little of it back. And yes, I know what you’d like to know. Everyone does. What does it taste like? It is, my dear, extremely tasty.”

  “That’s not what I was thinking. I didn’t want to know.”

  “But of course not, dear. You didn’t need to ask. You know already what it tastes like, that it’s the most wonderful thing that you’ve ever consumed. At least, that’s what you thought at the time. Everyone does.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.

  “The essence.”

  “What about the essence?”

  “It was wonderful, wasn’t it? So exhilarating, so liberating, so intoxicating. It took you into new dimensions, new heights. It always does. But Geoffrey was right, that was a particularly good batch, if I must say so myself. I was particularly proud of it. A Hindu yogi and a Nobel laureate went into that particular mix. And the rest of them weren’t too shabby either, lots of artists and musicians and scientists. Ben really enjoyed them at the party we gave just before you arrived at the mansion. I’m so glad he got to enjoy them again a second time. You see, in partaking of the lovely, delectable dish of essence, you weren’t eating, my dear, you were feeding!”

  “No!” I screamed at her. The implications were too horrendous to consider.

  “That’s right, dear. The essence is made of the life force of many different people. The more, the merrier. Nobody really expects to find any of the missing, either, because this is such a dangerous world in which to live, don’t you agree? Just look at the news, there are so many natural disasters. Thousands of people go missing every year from earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, as well as the random violence that runs rampant these days.”

  “Are you responsible for those things?”

  “No, dear, I simply take full advantage of them. They’re such a wonderful excuse for my soirees, don’t you think? I harvest the more interesting of those most likely to die, bring them to my nice, secluded little island, wipe their memories, and leave them there until I need them. One more memory wipe before the party and as far as they’re concerned, life’s gone on as usual and they’ve just been invited to a fabulous soiree. I always dine my guests well before they become dinner. At least I give them one last bash before they die, which is more than they would have had otherwise. So you see, my dear, I’m not as horrible as you imagine.

  “But I have to make sure I make enough essence for everyone, so I usually figure ten life forces per person, more for banquets and special occasions, such as your arrival. The bouquet becomes so richly rounded when one includes the right mix of people.”

  “No!” I screamed again, as if my denying it would make it any less real. Now, no longer merely fearful, I was filled with a feeling of shame and remorse for the people that had died and I’d consumed, shame such as I had never felt before.

  “Poor Ashley. You poor, poor mortal. What’s the matter dear? Never ate anyone before? And now to find out that you’ve gobbled up so many life forces your very first time out of the gate. How tragic that losing your cherry when it comes to cannibalism is so traumatic! I’m sorry it’s given you indigestion.”

  And then she laughed again, more mockingly than before. “Did you honestly think you could tangle with a Goddess and not get scathed?” she continued.

  “I know you’re not what say you are. What are you exactly?” I asked, as more confusion heaped itself upon me. I felt so dizzy and nauseous that I probably would have been sick if there been anything in my stomach. Her goddess claims rang as false as a thrift store bell, for she neglected to realize that she had shown me her true face already. Oh, I had to admit, she was good. She was very, very good. I could see how she had fooled Ben and the others. On the surface, she seemed to be everything that one might expect a goddess to be. She was powerful, beautiful beyond measure, graceful and she did great tricks. But there was such pettiness, such evil in her that she was far more devil than goddess.

  “I told you already, you thick woman, I am the Goddess of all,” she replied with enormous haughtiness a
nd pride.

  “No you’re not. You never would have done the things you did if you were a goddess.”

  “Obviously you need more convincing of who I am and why I have the right to do the things I do.”

  “Yes?” squeaked out of me pitifully. I sincerely hoped I would not regret that answer.

  “Then I will show you. I’ll give you a great honor that few receive. You will be allowed to die knowing exactly who I am and why I have sole rights to possession of that necklace.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Arrosha then began to glow far brighter than before, radiating a light that came from within her. The room turned to complete darkness except for the illumination that was Arrosha. In the middle of the room, shining as a single beacon in the black void, she began to levitate, rising higher and higher until she was floating high in mid-air. Her light gradually began to dim until it extinguished altogether and we stood in complete darkness for a split second.

  In the twinkling of an eye, however, we were surrounded by a panorama of millions of stars, shining like so many magnificent, beautiful gems.

  We were standing now within our own solar system, in front of a planet that stood out like a perfect jewel in space, which I realized was our Earth. But it wasn’t the Earth that I knew, for instead of the familiar continents, there was only one.

 

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