Chapter 4: Signs of Darkness
"And that's it all for today. Make sure to do your job correctly!", instructed Xiahou Dun towards the Wei Generals. "Remember! We all have to work hard to maintain this kingdom after Cao Cao's passing. We have to work even harder than before! No mistakes!"
"Understood!"
"Okay! Now, this meeting is over.", said Xiahou Dun as he left. On his way back, he met Guo Jia.
"My lord."
"Ah, it's you. How's everything going?"
"It's going smoothly, sir."
"Ah, good, good,", said Xiahou Dun patting Guo Jia. "That's good to hear. Uhm….by the way, I haven't seen you anywhere until this afternoon. Why?"
Guo Jia was stunned for a while.
"….ummm…."
"What? Are you sick? If you're sick, you should take a re-"
"Yeah, yeah, I….was kinda sick. I overslept for a bit, so um….but, it's alright. I'm fine now."
"Hmmm…..", Xiahou Dun looked at Guo Jia for a while. "Is that so? You look tired."
"No, no, no, I'm fine, really….."
"Hmph…..really? Well, in that case, fine. Just remember to take a rest if you're really tired."
"Understood, my lord.", replied Guo Jia. He looked at Xiahou Dun's face, but he saw a sudden, brief flash of Cao Cao's shadow, which surprised him.
"Gasp! …"
"Huh? Guo Jia, what's wrong?"
"….uhhh….ummm….no, i-it's nothing."
"….you're starting to worry me. I know that you love to work hard and all, but…you mustn't neglect your own personal health as well."
"I understand, my lord. I appreciate you worrying for me, but it's alright."
"Hmph. Okay.", said Xiahou Dun as he walked off, with Guo Jia continuing to look at him with a sad look.
"….sigh….my lord…"
Guo Jia recalled the morning earlier. After he was nearly killed by the horrifying vision, his vision became blurry and he suddenly blacked out. When he woke up, he found himself inside a different, red-tinted hallway.
"….gasp! ….ngh….what…is this place? ….."
Guo Jia walked down in the hallway until he a spotlight came down on a person curling up into a ball on the floor, mumbling things.
"…it's….ov-over….it's finally….over….over….finally over….."
"…uhm….sir?"
The spotlight turned off, and it turned on again, this time lighting down on Xiahou Dun himself.
"Huh?! My lord!", he ran after his lord, but the more he ran, the farther he became from his own lord. It was until the point where Xiahou Dun was so far that Guo Jia could not see him anymore.
"Pant…pant…MY LORD! LORD XIAHOU DUN! Gah…ngh…."
And all of a sudden, the entire hallway was tilted to the side to make Guo Jia fall down a giant hole.
"Eh?! Whoa, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
"GASP! Pant…pant…pant…"
The next thing he knew, he was suddenly on his bed, inside his room.
"…..what? Pant…pant….it was a dream. It…it was all a dream…it's just a dream. Hah…..but, seriously…..that dream felt so real. What did it mean? Why did that happen? Is any of this even real anymore? What is actually happening?!"
Back to the present, Guo Jia was still deeply troubled by the dream he had.
"Sigh…..perhaps I really am just tired….but….maybe there's more to it than that? Maybe Xun Yu was right all along? Sigh…."
Suddenly, there was an earthquake that lasted for several seconds.
"Gasp! …..what was that? If it was an earthquake, it definitely was too short to be one…."
And suddenly, a blood-curdling scream was heard from the other side.
"What?! That scream…..LORD XIAHOU DUN?!"
Guo Jia ran as fast as he could, and saw Xiahou Dun being brutally and repeatedly stabbed.
"MY LORD!", he ran to stop the attacker, but was horrified beyond belief when he found that it was none other than himself.
"AAAAAAHHHH! Who….WHO ARE YOU?!", he said to the other Guo Jia. The other Guo Jia, turned his head to reveal his eyeless, bloody face, only to then start crying and laugh maniacally at the same time.
"What….in the-", before the real Guo Jia could finish his sentence, the other Guo Jia swung his knife at him, which he barely avoided.
"AH!"
"Huuuhuuuuhuuuuu….heheheheheeeee…AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
"Tch! Damn it!"
The real Guo Jia then avoided the other Guo Jia's subsequent attacks, and then finally managing to knock the knife out of the other Guo Jia's hand.
"Hyah! TAKE THIS!", said the real Guo Jia while finally stabbing the other Guo Jia with it. The other Guo Jia let out several screams of pain before mysteriously disappearing in a black mist.
"GASP! …pant…pant…AH! Lord Xiahou Dun!", then, Guo Jia went over to Xiahou Dun, only to find out that it was actually a faceless puppet.
"What?!"
And furthermore, he noticed a small writing on the puppet's head.
"What is this? ….Cao Cao….is dead."
And now suddenly, Guo Jia felt an unbearable pain in his head.
"AAAARRRKKHHH! Ngh….agh…..what…..the….."
All the while, he had visions of him approaching and stabbing someone, over and over, with someone whispering.
"Ngh…..aaahhh….AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!..."
.
.
.
Come….
Come closer…
.
.
.
"Hmph…what's this all about? I suppose I need to ask Guo Jia about this.", said Xiahou Dun as he was sorting through scrolls. He went out of his room, but was shocked upon seeing Guo Jia himself lying unconscious on the floor.
"What the?! Guo Jia!", he rushed to help Guo Jia. "Dear lord…oh, he's still breathing. Tch, it's fortunate I found him here. What if nobody notices him?"
However, when he lifted Guo Jia up, he also noticed a writing in blood on the corridor's wall: HE KNOWS.
"…'He knows'? What….who wrote this? And who is 'he', anyway? God, I'm losing my mind! Ngh…"
Xiahou Dun immediately brought Guo Jia to his room and put him on his bed.
"That should do it."
And then he waited hours upon hours for Guo Jia to wake up again.
"…ngh….."
"…gasp! Guo Jia! You're awake!"
"Ngh…..huh? Lord Xiahou Dun?!"
"Yeah. You were unconscious right outside of my room. If you had fallen unconscious somewhere else, no one would've probably saved you."
"Oh…..", said Guo Jia. "…right."
"Sigh….this is really worrying, you know. I think you should just take a rest and stop working for a while."
"What? But what about you?"
"Me? Well….I can mostly handle things on my own. You can still help me out if you want, but the thing is you should just take a rest most of the time, okay?"
"…"
"Good, then…..", Xiahou Dun stood up to take care of more scrolls. "In that case-"
When he turned back to Guo Jia, he noticed that Guo Jia has disappeared, leaving blood all over Xiahou Dun's bed.
"AAHHHH! What in the name of?! GUO JIA!"
He immediately ran off outside to look for Guo Jia, only to see more blood-writings on the corridors' walls.
"What? 'THERE'S NO ESCAPE', 'HE IS DEAD', 'THEY WILL COME'….tch! Guo Jia, GUO JIA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
And at the end of the hallway, he saw Guo Jia himself, trying to stab himself with a knife.
"Gasp! GUO JIA!", Xiahou Dun ran after him to knock Guo Jia out of his apparent suicide attempt.
"AHH!"
"Pant…pant…SERIOUSLY! Are you out of your mind?!"
"…ah…..pant…..ah? Lord….Xiahou Dun?"
"Yes! It is I! What were you thinking?!"
"…what? What did I do?"
"You were trying to kill yourself with that knife over there!"
"…..what…..what the…..I….I don't know…."
"What do you mean you don't know?!"
"I…..I don't know….earlier, after you talked to me…..I heard….I heard a voice…whispering to me, 'Come closer….come closer…..'…and…..and the next thing I know….you knocked me down, and….."
Xiahou Dun's eyes widened.
"….no…..you can't be…..you were just in my bed and literally a second ago, you disappeared!"
"I'm….I'm serious, my lord…"
"…"
Xiahou Dun immediately grabbed Guo Jia's arm and dragged him along.
"W-wha?! My lord, what are you-"
"We can't let this madness go longer. But first…."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Xiahou Dun opened his room and pushed Guo Jia towards it.
"AHHH!"
"I want you to stay here until we find a way to stop this."
"H-huh? But-"
"I'm sorry."
Xiahou Dun quickly closed the door and locked it from outside, ignoring Guo Jia's pleadings.
"WHAT?! No, NO! MY LORD! LET ME OUT OF HERE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"Sorry, Guo Jia…but it's for your own good.", said Xiahou Dun as he walked off.
"LORD XIAHOU DUN!"
Meanwhile, Xiahou Dun ran across the hallway, intending to go to a certain room. A certain someone.
"…..if anybody knows about this whole madness, it's got to be HIM."
And later, he finally reached Xun Yu's room, guarded by Zhang Liao and Yu Jin.
"Pant…pant…."
"Huh? My lord!", said Zhang Liao and Yu Jin at the same time.
"Now….you two….anything new with Xun Yu today?"
"Uhhh…..well, sir, he's mostly doing the same thing.", replied Zhang Liao.
"Only now, just recently, he tried to get out of this room.", said Yu Jin.
"Did he?", asked Xiahou Dun.
"Yes. All of a sudden, he suddenly lunged at the door, trying to get out.", continued Yu Jin.
"We tried to hold him down and tell him to not get out, and yet he began pushing with even more force that the door was beginning to break down, as well.", said Zhang Liao.
"It was only due to luck that we managed keep him stay in, and after a while, he stopped.", continued Yu Jin.
"…and now how's he?", asked Xiahou Dun.
"Mostly calm, though we still insist that you be careful.", replied Yu Jin.
"Exactly. The man's truly unpredictably dangerous.", continued Zhang Liao.
"Hmm…..fine. Let me in." and thus Xiahou Dun entered the room, finding Xun Yu walking in circles while still muttering things.
"Come….come…come…", he said.
"….ahem. Xun Yu!"
"AAAHHH! WHO ARE YOU?!"
"Hey, hey now, it's me, Xiahou Dun!", he said while approaching a trembling Xun Yu.
"No, NO, NOOO! STAY AWAY!"
"Hey, come on now! I intend no harm! Where was the one time I did?"
"Because, because, because…", after a while, Xun Yu calmed down.
"See? Come on now, let's have a nice, little conversation, shall we? Nothing to be afraid of….", said Xiahou Dun. Xun Yu then sat down.
"Now, ummm…..listen, I know all this time I might be just dismissing you as 'insane' with all your ramblings about 'death coming for us', and all of that, but…."
"But after Guo Jia tried to kill himself, you believe me now, right?", interrupted Xun Yu. Xiahou Dun was shocked.
"….how….how did you know?!"
"Of course I know,", said Xun Yu. "I heard 'them' calling out to me too, you know. Those voices….they were calling out to the helpless. The hopeless. The desperate. The ones whose lives have been reduced to empty shells of themselves…."
Xun Yu stopped for a while, before continuing, "When I hear them, I felt drawn to them. Their voices…..they were so alluring, enticing, promising to take me away from this twisted, wretched world. But thanks to this room, I was unable to. But now, I know that had I followed, I would've attempted to do what Guo Jia attempted, as well."
"Sigh….okay, so you do know what is going on. But the thing is, you're the only person around here who knows what is actually happening. So, please….is there any way we can stop this madness? To prevent something like that from happening ever again?"
"Madness?...haha, haha, ha…", Xun Yu giggled in a creepy demeanor. "….madness. What does that word even mean anymore? Does it mean something that it out of ordinary, or is something that is out of ordinary by OUR standards? Because….clearly….in that sense, we can't really tell what's madness and what is not. Makes sense, doesn't it?"
"What the- Enough, Xun Yu! You told me what is really happening around here, but I didn't listen at first. Now that I know what you're saying is true, why don't you try to help me out here?!"
"What is there to help you with?!", shouted Xun Yu, suddenly. "We….we can't do anything about this!"
"What do you mean we can't?! There must be SOMETHING we can do!"
"NO!...pant….pant…."
"…Xun Yu….you….."
"Pant….pant….besides….it's too late, anyway. Even if you had asked me sooner….it would've been STILL too late."
"What do you mean?! You mean we have to just let this madness go on without being able to do anything about it?!"
"You asked all this question, about 'fighting' this 'madness'….", said Xun Yu. "…..but would there even be a POINT in doing so, anyway? After all…..'they'…'they' know what we want, Lord Xiahou Dun….what we need…..the deepest desires, sealed and repressed in these lifeless husks….infact,", Xun Yu turned to Xiahou Dun. "….perhaps they would start calling out to you, as well, Lord Xiahou Dun, the same way they did towards Lord Guo Jia, and me….."
"What?! Does that mean I'll kill myself eventually?!"
"That, I don't know,", said Xun Yu. "But….who knows….they didn't call out to you earlier. So perhaps….they were merely buying time, to prepare a much different surprise to you…."
Xiahou Dun stared at Xun Yu, and after a long time, finally decided that it wasn't worth it.
"Sigh…..", and without saying a single word, Xiahou Dun left Xun Yu's room.
"Goodness….", he said. "I absolutely cannot believe this. Some supernatural forces, which I, for this whole time have believed to not exist, now actually appear and want to kill us, and we can't do anything about it?!"
And then, Xiahou Dun heard as if someone was calling him.
"What?! W-who's that?!"
The voices, the whispers kept on calling him.
"Come….closer…come closer…."
And suddenly, Xiahou Dun felt as if he was in a daze. He, without having any idea, moved towards the end of the hallway, which was glowing brightly as the voices kept on whispering.
Come closer…..come….come….
Closer…..come….closer….come closer…..
Come...closer…
To Be Continued….
Okay, that's all! Please leave a review and have a good day!