March 25, 2015
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Dust II: Elysian Kingdom
Chapter 8 — The Grand Illusion
Large spotlights began to come on one-by-one, lighting up the stage tremendously as they did. Revealed by the intensified light were four female creatures frozen in strange positions, appearing to be dancers from their decorative outfits. Two of them stood towards the left of the stage while the other two were to the right, leaving a gap in the middle. A thundering drum roll began, with the lights flickering on and off to the beat. The drums sped up as did the light flickering, eventually transitioning into an entrancing melody.
Shortly after, a fifth creature slowly rose up from below the center of the stage, shrouded in a thick mist. The lights stopped flickering but the beat continued, and the fog that surrounded the figure began to dissipate, exposing her full form. She appeared to be a tall, young adult fox, clearly older than the other girls. She had light blue fur and wore dark teal skin-tight leggings and a looser, high-cut top which exposed her shoulders and arms, as well as her midriff. Hanging down from her necklace was a transparent poncho that went down to her elbows and right above her navel. She also wore a matching transparent dress that had four distinct ribbons flowing down to her bare feet. Her stunning silver hair was styled with bangs parting in the middle, a side fringe with a hair clip, and two large strands hanging down the sides of her face. Decorating her upper arms and hips were bright, diamond-shaped body sparkles, ornate bangles were worn around her wrists, and a blue gem was emblazoned on her forehead. Fidget watched her with sparkles in her eyes; this girl was simply captivating.
As the blaring music went on, the women began to dance. Their movement was graceful but also imposed a strange, violent feeling when coupled with the engulfing sound of the drums. Suddenly, two large torrents of water sprouted up from the floor of the stage on both sides, creating scattering color shards as the spotlights shone through them. The audience gasped and applauded, before the water reversed and flowed up again in smaller pillars around the whole outside rim of the stage. The bursts of water alternated and the streams took new forms, all while the girls continued dancing fervently. The woman who appeared last in the intro made constant eye contact with Dust, leaving him confused. Fidget just kept staring as if she was hypnotized. Total opposites.
The girls' movements transitioned from rigorous to slow and gentle, perhaps signaling the finale of their show. They carefully moved their bodies into frozen positions, posing symmetrically with the older woman in the middle, who yet again focused her gaze on Dust. This was becoming quite troublesome to him. A split second after the girls completely stopped moving, the lights began to flash on and off repeatedly as a barrage of water torrents shot into the air and seemingly disappeared into the ceiling, contrasted by two gradually rising streams that began to intertwine into a shape like a DNA strand; the water looked like it was defying gravity. The whole audience was stunned by the display, commenting and questioning it repeatedly.
"How do they do that?!"
"Why doesn't the water fall..?"
"It's probably just a buncha mirrors."
Dust and Fidget were both baffled. There had to be some weird magic or something going on here.
When the two strands met at the zenith of the stage, the lights stopped flashing and shone brightly, and all the water dramatically crashed down back into the floor of the stage. The girls all bowed in unison and applause erupted throughout the room, including Fidget. Dust clapped as well, though with a hint of uncertainty. Something was amiss. The oldest girl then got up from her bowing position, while the other girls remained the way they were.
"Thank you to everyone here for coming to see us tonight," she spoke loudly, engaging more applause from the audience. "And more importantly, thank you to our very special guest.. the famous hero of Falana, Dust!" She announced as she gestured towards him while one of the spotlights hovered over him, and all of the guests clapped once more. Dust was instantly surprised and incredibly confused. Why was it that the villager didn't recognize him and neither did the teenager who took his and Fidget's names, but now this girl and everyone else in the room apparently did?
While Dust was in his pondering state, the curtains had closed and the dancers had gone backstage, while the other hotel guests were back to their usual conversations. By now, the girl had jumped down from the stage and was currently standing right in front of him and Fidget. She leaned over them from above the recess in the floor the were seated in, and spoke in a slightly flirtatious tone. "Hey cutie, how'd you like the show~?"
Dust was taken aback. "U-Um, it was quite nice.."
"I LOVED it!" Fidget loudly interjected.
"Aw, well thank you guys. If you were thinking of staying the night, your rooms will be totally free; it's on me!"
Fidget looked at her in awe. "You can do that? What are you, the manager or something?"
The girl giggled quietly then answered, "Yes actually, I am! My name is Mirage, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too!"
Dust joined in, somewhat reluctantly. "You too, Mirage.."
She smiled softly then began to turn around. "Alrighty, I gotta go take care of some things, see you guys later~!"
Fidget looked back at Dust, who was sitting there with a concentrated look on his face. "What's goin' on with you?"
"I just.. have an off feeling about that girl. She kept staring at me during the performance."
Fidget sighed. "That's 'cause she thinks you're cute, Mr. Clueless!"
"But Fidget," Dust began, somewhat ignoring her obvious, yet typical Fidget comment. "Don't you think it's weird that both the villager from before and the girl who greeted us when we got here didn't recognize me, but when Mirage said my name, the crowd cheered as if they did know me?"
She now just looked as confused as Dust did.
"..What about you, Ahrah?"
The sentient blade spoke for the first time in awhile. "It definitely was strange.. I can't think of any legitimate reason that people wouldn't remember you. I think we should be on our guard around that girl."
"Well good thing our room is free because we're staying here to keep an eye on her," Dust concluded. "And to find out what's really going on."
Backstage, in what seemed to be a dressing room, Mirage and the four other dancers were sitting in front of ornate vanities and talking amongst themselves.
"How great is it that THE Dust is a guest in our hotel? He's so dreamy!" One of the dancers gushed.
Another girl joined in. "Yeah, Mirage definitely has the hots for him."
"Aw stop it," Mirage responded playfully. "He's cute, but I couldn't handle going out with a famous guy like him.."
"Sure you could. He's well known, but he seems like he's probably really down-to-earth if you ask me," a third dancer commented. Mirage looked at her for a second, as if maybe she thought she really could have a chance with him.
The fourth girl added, "Buuut he's a traveler.. so you probably wouldn't see him like, at all!"
"Man, that would suck!" Mirage digressed. "I guess I'll just have to find some way to keep him here forever~!"
In one of the hotel rooms on the second floor, Dust and Fidget had fallen asleep in the two beds that were placed against the back wall across from the door. Ahrah laid in stasis against the backboard of Dust's bed, kept close just in case he needed him. The only dim light that entered the room was from the outside shining through the door crack.
Before long, Dust found himself in a dream. It was quite empty, with him simply floating in a dark abyss wearing only his pants, as he was when he went to sleep. He looked around but saw nothing but faint, swirling shadows below him. When he looked back up, he saw something small in the distance, getting larger as it came towards him. It flew past him, and he realized it was his old satgat hat. He turned back to see it disappear into the nothingness. Then as he faced forward again, Ahrah started coming towards him at a high speed. When Dust realized he was aimed at him, he quickly moved his body out of the way as Ahrah flew past him, creating a huge wind. Dust sighed, but then saw dozens more copies of Ahrah coming straight at him from the shadows. He dodged them as fast as he could, but not fast enough that some of them still grazed his exposed body. One of them left a scar on his upper arm, which opened up and started bleeding. The wound began to open up wider as more blood poured out, and suddenly the entire area was bathed in a dark red overlay, creating an ocean of terror. Dust thrust his hand against the open scar, which surged a consistent pain into his body.
Dust tried moving forward but didn't feel like he was going anywhere, because he most likely wasn't. Then, a large figure began rising from the void below him. It had no face, but it began showing an armor-covered body that looked oddly familiar. However, Dust couldn't recognize it, as if the part of his brain that stored that information was gone. As the figure towered higher above Dust's head, he realized how insignificant he was in comparison. The figure slowly outstretched his arms and then covered his head for a moment, before violently removing them, revealing none other than General Gaius' face. Dust's eyes widened as it became clear.
Why did you betray me, Cassius?
A telepathic voice pierced Dust's mind. "I-I'm not Cassius anymore.. and I tried to save you!"
Right when his response ended, several glowing red strands came up from the darkness and wrapped around one of Dust's wrists. He gasped and tried pulling against them, but they pulled him back down, and the voice spoke again.
How could you join those filthy Moonbloods..?
"I didn't chose to.. They needed my help and I wasn't just going to leave them.."
Again, more red strings came up to grab Dust's other wrist, pulling him down farther. He struggled against them but to no avail. "What do you want from me?!"
Bundles of red strands sprung from the ground one last time, wrapping around Dust's ankles and pulling them together, before dragging him down even more into the floor of nothingness, where the shadows began to consume his legs. The Gaius abomination receded into the ground so that his head was level with Dust's and their eyes met, leaving Dust intimidated beyond belief.
..I want you gone.
With that line, the monstrosity reached out his giant hands to point at Dust's chest with his index fingers together. Dust was frozen at the sight of him slowly extracting a glowing teal sphere from within him. It was his soul. Then, Gaius thrust his hands away from each other in an instant, separating the one sphere into two; one in each hand. He started to close his hands into fists, and then suddenly crushed the souls in his palms, causing the red vines to pull Dust's body into the consuming abyss in a split second.
Dust jolted awake, sweating and breathing heavily. Fidget and Ahrah were both undisturbed. Nervously, he put his hand over his chest and felt his heartbeat, which pulsed faster than ever. He took several deep breaths before he felt a bit more relaxed, but still couldn't shake his anxiety completely. After lifting the covers off, he slid out of bed, quietly grabbed Ahrah, and left the room. He needed a walk.
After closing the door, Ahrah spoke up. "Dust.. What's wrong?"
"I had a horrible nightmare.. and I can't just sleep knowing something is happening in this hotel. We're going to investigate."
"Alright," Ahrah responded. "I'm with you, Dust."
Dust nodded and looked around the upper floor outside his room. The open hallway was similarly ornately decorated like that of downstairs. In the middle of the room was a fancy diamond-shaped rug with a Way of the Flameless Light-lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling above it. After observing for a bit, Dust noticed that all of the doors leading to the rooms had number plates on the wall above the doorframes, except for one door in the middle of the wall across from the stairs. Dust carefully walked over to that door, and slowly opened it, entering in the same manner. The room was fairly empty, containing a few cleaning supplies, a tall bookshelf with a few old books on it, and a rolled-up extra rug.
"Hm.." Dust pondered as he scanned the small area, walking over to the bookshelf. He pushed it out of the way to see if there was a passageway behind it, but nothing. He moved the rug and the cleaning instruments around too, but he didn't find anything.
"Do you really think something is hidden in here?" Ahrah questioned.
"I'm not sure," Dust answered. "But I have to check everywhere or I might miss something important."
He meticulously started looking on the floor and in the corners of the room. When he began searching against the walls and moving up, he noticed a small square hatch on the ceiling, that seemed like it could come open. "That looks promising."
Moving the bookshelf even more so that it was against the other wall, Dust carefully used it like a ladder to reach the ceiling. He pushed on the hatch and climbed up through it, discovering another room, this one a bit larger and taller. It was filled with a light steam across the ground, and lined with box-like chambers against the back wall that almost reached the ceiling; each one had a closed door on the front, except for the last one all the way to the right.
Dust knocked on a few of the doors and tried opening them, but they were all locked and received no response. Cautiously, he walked over to the one stall that was open and peeked into the cramped container, but it was completely empty except for a plate mirror that completely covered the top of the space.
As he was inspecting, something suddenly caught Dust off-guard and shoved him forward into the chamber, with the door slamming shut and locking right after. "What..? Who's there?!" No one responded. Dust started banging against the closed door but it didn't budge.
"Hey hey, quit it or you'll wake our precious guests!"
The unseen voice was immediately recognizable. "Mirage! Explain yourself!"
"Why should I tell you anything?" The dancer's voice spoke from above the cell. Dust looked up and saw that the mirror had disappeared and Mirage's eyes were playfully gazing down upon him, her head tilted and rested on her fist.
Dust yelled at her from below. "I know something's going on here!"
"Okay fine," she said as she rolled her eyes. "Yes, something is going on in this lovely hotel," she continued, flicking her hand outward and causing the walls between Dust's cell and the others to turn completely transparent. Dust's look grew concerned as in each block he saw individuals that were sulking, laying down, and hunched over; clearly depressed.
"Wha.. What did you do to them?!"
Mirage giggled. "Oh I didn't do much.. See, it goes like this: sad losers come to Hotel Clarity to escape their pathetic, lonely lives; I bring them to this room to suck all the negative energy out; then they stay for as long as they want, while I release the concentrated bad feelings into Aura and beyond!"
"..But how.. and why? What's your goal?" Dust pried.
"Oh now that's a secret~! One that I can't let you know," she teased, flicking her hand again to reconceal the prisoners so Dust could no longer see them. "..Not that you'll be alive to find out anyways."
After that ominous line, the container started to fill with water coming in from the floor, slowly increasing in volume. Dust nervously looked down, realizing he would drown if he didn't find a way to break out. "You're insane..!"
"Aw, thank you~ What lovely last words," Mirage let out as the mirror reappeared over the cell and she disappeared.
"Mirage!" Dust yelled as the water rose.
Ahrah finally spoke. "That's no use, Dust. We must escape ourselves!"
Dust gritted his teeth and tried slamming against the door in a sideways ram, but it barely took a hit. He tried a few more times, then began slashing Ahrah against it as hard as he could with such little space. Not even a scratch. The water was up to his knees, gradually rising faster. "Damnit.."
"Try the wall behind us," Ahrah suggested, prompting Dust to turn around and use the same techniques as he did on the door, but with no success. Now the water had filled up to just below his stomach.
"..Wait, what about the mirror?" Dust looked up into his reflection, and thrust Ahrah at it with all his strength. A tiny crack appeared in the thick glass. Dust turned slightly hopeful, but he had to hurry or else he wouldn't make it out in time. He jabbed Ahrah straight upwards again and again, the mirror's glass shattering little by little each time.
As the water came up to Dust's chest, he hit the mirror with one last strike, completely shattering the mirror, its glass shards falling into the pool around him. He then pushed off the ground with his feet and simultaneously used Ahrah to grasp the edge of the chamber's opening, to pull himself up and out of the water. Exhausted, he breathed heavily, resting on his hands and knees for a moment on top of the cell unit. Regaining strength, he jumped down to the floor outside the stalls. He thought about trying to break into the others to free the prisoners, but he had to chase after Mirage and stop her from doing any more damage. He climbed back down the hatch in the floor to the room below, then ran through the door and into the open hallway. Staying alert, he quickly tiptoed across to the stairs, descending them in a similar manner.
The ground floor was eerily silent and dark, with only one lamp lit and small amounts of the moon's light filling the area through the windows; a huge contrast to the bustling activity that occupied the room when they arrived. Dust cautiously stepped off of the stairs and out into the room near the stage. All of a sudden, the spotlights lit up from above and shone down onto the stage. Dust turned quickly to where they were focused, seeing Mirage balancing on one foot in a concentrated pose right in the middle, with her eyes closed and hands behind her back.
"So.. you are the real Sen-Mithrarin. Haha, to be honest, I thought you were just an impostor."
Dust angrily took a fighting stance, holding Ahrah straight towards her from in front of the stage. "Alright Mirage, you better tell me just what you're doing, and why!"
Mirage snickered loudly, before returning to her conflicting, ominously tranquil state. "No no, how 'bout I just show you?"
Just then a large torrent of water sprouted up from the stage, blocking Dust's sight of her for the time it was flowing. When it ceased and fell back down, Mirage was standing in a new pose, stylishly wielding a strange looking dagger-like weapon that let off a dark aura in random intervals. Dust analyzed the weapon, immediately noticing that it possessed features oddly similar to Ahrah's.
"..Mirage. Where did you get that..?
"Why don't you find out~?"
[Phew, this one took longer than I thought, though it was a bit longer than the last few (maybe the longest), so yeah. I wanted to get this one done before March ended because it was the month I first got into Dust last year. I did also wanna get another chapter done by this fanfic's one year anniversary but idk if that's gonna happen in time lol. But yeah here it is, hope you guys enjoy these developments :3c]
