You have to open your eyes to see fortune's smile!
A soft breeze is passing his cheek, touching his skin and fur like soft silk. He lies on his back, gazing at the clouds, decorating the sky while they circle around the rays of sunlight which focusses its ray directly upon him. On top of a small plateau he lies, around it only more clouds covering the endless nonentity below it.
He looks to his right and sees a raccoon equal to his size. The fur of the stranger blazes with the brightest and purest white he has ever seen, even snow could be considered dirty towards the purity emanating from his fur. The stranger has his tail grabbed on his lab as he sits on the edge of the plateau, contemplating the endless clouds canopying the place they´re in.
Ian just lies motionless, almost melancholic, on the bottom, not even pondering where he is or why he´s even here. The only thing he wonders is the other raccoon sitting silently just a few meters away from him. "Who are you?" Ian asks cautiously, not knowing whether the stranger is hostile or not. To his surprise, the stranger turns his head towards him, greeting him with a genuine smile.
Ian gulps dumbfounded. The stranger looks almost just like him, the only difference is the color of the fur, and the eyes as even his pupils are white making it almost seem as if he has none. "I wondered when you´ll finally find the urge to talk. Got out of your gloomy mood?" Ian has problems to fathom this condition, all the questions he hold back are popping up suddenly.
"I don´t understand! Where are we? Who are you? What are we doing here and how did I get here? I…" But Ian got silenced by the stranger's finger covering his mouth gently. Ian only averted his gaze from him for maybe a second and the stranger managed to get to him in less than that without Ian noticing that. "I know this may obfuscate you Ian." The stranger locked his glaring towards him. "I… Am you."
This only got him even more puzzled, but before he could ask his doppelganger spoke on. "Or better yet… I am the "gift" keeping you alive." Ian looked around the place they´re in. The plateau they´re sitting on is covered with soft grass and plenty flowers in different colors, but only on a small space. Around the plateau awaits the great nothingness covered in clouds and illuminated by the sunlight.
"So… Regarding that I am here… And that you´re talking with me…" Ian lowered his gaze a little. "I died… didn´t I?" But his gift only kept its smile. "No, not yet." Ian returned his glare towards the white raccoon. "You´re on the border of life and death. That means… You can decide whether you would like to be alive again… Or if you want to perish forever."
Ian smiled in genuine joy. "You mean… I can finally die? After all these years of torture and pain?" The gift only nodded "But bear in mind that with your death, all your accomplished pleasures will fade away too." But Ian's expression only darkened. "There is no pleasure to gain in a body that only feels pain…"
But the gift didn´t let him go that easily. "Really now? You only feel pain? What was that feeling, the alleviation you felt as you confessed your past towards your brothers and your new friend Flippy?" Ian twitched a little at the word "friend". "What was that feeling, the genuine happiness you saw in Flippy's eyes as you offered him your help? What was that feeling, the happiness engulfing your heart after you met your brothers?"
Ian looked at the floor dolorously, not knowing how to argue with that. "I know that you´re scarred from the times in which you were left to scream in pain… But you´re about to see new times now. You even told Flippy that you are his friend. First you were going to help him and now you want to give up? After you may have achieved your goal? How will he be going to feel when you´re dead after he beat you up?"
He had a good point there. "But… The place we´re in is cursed… How am I going to stand that? How am I going to see my brothers eventually die? Over and over again? While I´m just resisting it? What if the place will mutilate me as well? With you keeping me alive the pain will find its continuation…" The gift tried to answer but was cut short by Ian.
"Answer me… What do I have to do to die for good?" That was the moment the white raccoon dropped his smile. "As you wish… If you really want to be dead permanently… You have to jump of from the plateau together with me." Ian's mood got more and more somber with every second passing. All he could do is gazing down at the bright, white abyss, offering him the redemption he desired for such a long time.
The monstrosity noticed the sneezing on an instant and dashed towards the wardrobe Flippy is hiding with an unconscious Ian on his back. "Shit!" He didn´t even try to block the doors as the monster would have just smashed them open with ease. He jumps out of the cabinet and jumps towards the bed, dropping Ian on it. He turns around rapidly and readies himself to defend himself and Ian if necessary with his life.
The giant snake turns around rapidly, easily keeping up with Flippy's movement and grabs the green furred bear with its tail. "FUCK!" He tries to free himself from the abomination's grab but gets overpowered quickly. He finds himself completely wrapped in the monster's which quickly begins to squeeze him. He groans in pain as the pressure is slowly beginning to hurt his bones and squirming muscles.
He almost starts to lose his conscious either as suddenly an ethereal green blade pierces the monstrosity's head, causing it to loosen his grasp almost instantly. Flippy falls down to his knees panting and shivering heavily. He tries to get a look at his savior and is struck with surprise. Before him floats a green specter in form of a female squirrel. Her entire body is blurred due to the vapor surrounding her.
"Are you?" The squirrel only giggles a bit before it answers smugly. "Surprised? Yes, I am the witch. You really aren´t the politest person hum? First you fail to introduce yourself and now instead of thanking me for saving you, you just stare at me like I am some sort of ghost…" She rolls her eyes jokingly after giggling again. Flippy, however, only manages to open his mouth repeatedly, emitting some senseless vocals as he´s definitely not able to cope the situation.
"Th… Thank you…" He replies meekly. "There you go! Hm…" She holds her chin as if she were pondering about something. "Ah, the ritual worked as I see? You black pupils are green, your teeth are normal, and you´re no berserk! Otherwise you wouldn´t have fallen for the snake so easily…" Flippy felt a small glimpse of anger rising inside his chest.
"Care to explain a bit please? First, after we finished the ritual I went upstairs with him, but the walls, yes, I´m serious here, the walls were ravenous to grab us! What is wrong with your house? Second, the ritual is finished! Why isn´t Ian healing up like he´s used to do?" The witch got a stern look on her face suddenly as she approached Flippy menacingly, grabbing him by his throat.
"Listen, soldier-boy, you´ll have to watch your tongue, otherwise I´ll have to teach you some manners! And you should believe me that you don´t want me to teach you manners… message received?" Flippy nodded ecstatically and is dropped to the ground, wheezing and coughing due to her firm grip. "I… I´m sorry for my insolence… I just want to know what is wrong with him…"
"Well, for your first question, I have died, that means that the house's master perished and so my minions got loose, about to slaughter every living being wandering in here." She said in an exuberantly happy tone, confusing the veteran even more. But she dropped her joyful attitude as she looked over to the unconscious raccoon. His breath is disturbingly consistent, as if he were at peace.
"But I don´t know about him. Like you assumed the ritual is over, and he isn´t dead. His gift should have healed him by now." She said while shrugging but was surprised to see something she definitely did not expect to happen. The tough war-carved soldier before her suddenly began to cry silently, covering his face behind his knees.
"This is my fault… I never should have agreed to this…" He spoke to himself, quietly sobbing. The witch witnessed this with utmost curiosity as she suddenly heard someone screaming manically. "How… Interesting…" Flippy raised his eyes as he heard that too. "Who was that?" The witch suddenly began to smile widely. "It seems that Ian's "friends" got loose too…"
"What do you mean with "his friends"?" But the witch only looked at him with the creepiest smile he ever saw in his life. "I have a little quest for you, would you be willing to volunteer?" Flippy didn´t really know what to think of the situation and remained silent for a little while. "Wh… What kind of quest?" He asked reluctantly. "I need you to kill of four children roaming inside this house."
He didn´t understand completely. "What? Why should I kill four children? I mean… Children?" The green spectral squirrel rolled its eyes in annoyance. "They are no actual children, they´re just undead remains of them. Killing them would be pure deliverance…" The witch added complacently "And I´m sure it would be rather to Ian's favor if you would do that…" Suddenly Flippy remembered the story of the children haunting Ian as he was told on the island.
He then nodded determined. "Alright, I´ll do it… But what about Ian? What if the "residents" of this house are overpowering me again?" But the witch only chuckled at that. "No worries, I don´t have anything better to do anyways… I´ll stay here with Ian and ward anything away that tries to enter this room. As for you, I´ll enchant you with a spell. Every time you die, you will be revived right in this room after you died, but…" The witch giggled before she finished the sentence. "You will be feeling the pain caused by the source of your demise… At least for five minutes…"
Flippy gulped at this. "I remember the time in which I needed a wand to perform that spell… Until someone… I believe an ant eater was it, together with some sort of deer… Stole it from me… Witty little rascals I tell you." But he ignored that "What am I about to face in your house? Will I be able to defend myself? Or is every minion you once controlled an instant death?"
She looks back to him, smiling friendly at him. "You may be able to defend yourself against the most of them. The majority of my minions are not that powerful, but I suggest a careful approach. Once you attracted one of them, their screech will attract them all. If they overpower you in number…" She began to emit her eerie grin once again. "then you´re screwed."
The inability to interpret her gestions is rousing his suspicion tremendously. "How can I truly trust you on this?" She pretends her pondering again. "Well, how can you trust a supernatural being with unclear motivations. You´re having a point there." The shimmering sorceress claps her hand in excitement. "You know, this is also going to my advantage. Backstabbing you won´t bring me any further."
Flippy raised an eyebrow. "How is any of this going to your advantage if I kill of some little brats for you?" He swallowed at this again, even though they´re considered demons, the imagination of killing children is still striking a nerve deep inside him. But she only sighs in slight annoyance. "Ok, the whole truth is that the minions are controlled by the children, the children who want Ian death. Well, except for one."
She keeps on her narration. "As I sacrificed my husk to save Ian's life my power and influence over this place shrank rapidly. The problem is that the combined influence of the children is slightly overpowering mine! So, if you actually manage to kill them I can take this place over again. That means that you would be helping me, tremendously."
But Flippy only crossed his arms. "If they want Ian dead, wouldn´t it be the smartest thing to grab him and make a run for it towards the exit door?" She shook her head at this. "The door won´t budge. Their volition is too strong. And they are aware of his presence. The only chance you have is defeating them. As soon I am in control again, I can make sure that you two can leave safely."
Flippy tried to say something but she already knew what was about to come. "You can trust me on this! I´ll always make sure to fulfill my oaths!" That got him puzzled a bit. "Your oath includes that we´re safely leaving your estate?" But the sorceress only chuckled at his confusion. "As Ian came to me with his plead, he definitely intended a happy ending for you two. My oath would be begrimed if I would use you two. But now I´ll need your help, otherwise I´m powerless to do anything."
Flippy thought the situation through, although he still doesn´t like the idea to trust her, he doesn´t have many choices. "Ok, count me in. But…" He looks down at himself, realizing that he is once again only in his underwear." I´ll need some clothes and some sort of weapon." Suddenly, the wardrobe he was hiding in before reveals some familiar sort of clothes. His cameo jacket and pants." What the…"
Now it was the witch who crossed her arms. "Here are some clothes, but I can´t give you any weapon. There must be a knife somewhere in this house. Sadly…" She began to smile again. "I fear you´ll have to snap my minion's neck…" With that said, she charges towards him and touches his bare chest, imprinting a sign on it. Although it seems that the symbol is burning itself into his fur, he doesn´t feel any pain.
"What have you done?" He asks puzzled and afraid. "Well, I connected myself to you. Whenever you die I will summon you back into this room, or every time you finish your task. Believe me, you don´t want to be outside when you manage to kill one of them." Flippy puts the clothes on and approaches the door leading to the hallway. "You won´t accompany me? Your powers could be tremendously helpful…"
But she only shakes her head. "That is all I can do for you. I could accompany you, but then Ian would be left alone here. That would mean his damnation for sure. As I said, my powers are limited. I can resurrect you and keep him save, that has to suffice." He nods at this, leaving the room. He founds himself in some sort of darkened cave, he suddenly hears the witches voice in his head. "It seems that the children's imagination is determining the shape of your surroundings. At this point, I cannot foretell what you will be about to face. Proceed with caution."
Proceed with caution, this obligatory phrase is echoing through his mind. This isn´t the first time he heard this. There were times in which he even told this one to others. He pokes his toe on a tiny rock as he begins to move. "Fuck! A flashlight would be great…" Suddenly the symbol on his chest began to glow in a greenish light. "What the hell?!"
The voice in his head began to appear again. "That symbol can glow, the light is a bit weak I know, but it is all you have right now. Could you finally stop your complaining? You´re worse than my pet-gargoyles when they have to take a bath!" He rolls his eyes grumpily, the cave is wet and single drops of water can be heard through the giant passageway.
He looks behind him but the door he just passed through is gone, revealing an endless way. He tries to peek through the darkness with his weak chest-light, but the only thing revealed is a great nothingness engulfed by wet cave-walls. Suddenly a quiet rumbling sound is coming from the end he keeps tunneling with his gaze. "You have to move, otherwise it will catch up to you."
He starts to walk. "Could you stop playing the pronoun game with me? What is "it" supposed to be?" But suddenly the witch's voice is accompanied with creaking and bumping noises. "I´m afraid I´ll have to leave you alone for a while! It doesn´t matter what it is! Just keep going and there should be nothing to worry about!" With that said the voice vanished, leaving Flippy all alone in this cave.
"Great! I have to kill a fucking child, have to kill some fucking minions of her and have a fucking unknown pursuer on the top of it all!" He grumbles with his hands in his pockets. It didn´t take him long until he encountered the first minion. He quickly covers behind a rock. "Damn it! How do I turn this light of?" But the light did as he wished just the moment he asked that.
He peeks behind the rock and sees the dark silhouette of the minion. Many parts of flesh are randomly patched together as some bones are holding it somehow together. A huge mass of flesh and cartilage are used to form a massive body. "How am I supposed to snap the neck of that damn thing? Its neck is wider than my both hands combined…" He gulps as the creature is groaningly shuffling towards his direction.
He keeps his cover and his mouth shut, cloaking his breath behind his hands. But the minion approaches the rock slowly. The thing glances past the rock and tilts its head towards Flippy who is just about to make a run for it. But it seems that the minion is blind as it has no eyes. It opens its mouth and emits a groaning sound, slowly grabbing towards the bear.
Flippy gets up immediately and avoids the grab barely. He slowly backs away and paces off into the direction he was heading in the first place, leaving the creature behind him. He comes to a sort of threshold, blocked by several planks of rotten wood. There are fortunately some lanterns, emitting enough light to see. "this place is just weird…" He grabs on of the plank and yanks it off with ease. The wood isn´t giving much resistance.
He crouches down and proceeds on all fours. "Why does it have to be that cliffy all of a sudden?" The wall isn´t making it easy for him as the wet stones are making it rather slippery. But he manages to get on the top. Before him is a large area in which he can spot four creatures, looking like the same creature he already encountered. "You know, you should close your jacket." The witch's voice abruptly reappeared, which almost caused him to yelp in surprise. "What the fuck?! Why?"
The sorceress replied in this cocky arrogant tone which slowly began to get on his nerves, but he has to bear with it. "Because my minions may be blind, but their sense of smell is outstandingly fantastic. As well as their hearing, so keep your voice down." Flippy raised a brow at this. "Are you implying something here?" but a chuckle was all he got in response. He gave a miffed fizzle and did as he was advised.
The area was also meekly illuminated by a few lanterns. "At least I won´t need this disturbing symbol on my chest to see something…" In the center of the area is a grate, leading out of the room. At the end of the great cave-hall he sees a screw thread, its chains linked to the grate. "I have to get there somehow without being noticed…" He slowly went ahead, passing two of the minions standing just a few feet away from him.
"Keep it cool… Just don´t sweat it! Literally…" He makes it past them, the other two are far away from him, fortunately. He grabs the thread and tries to turn it. "Fuck! It´s stubborn!" He pushes with all of his strength as it suddenly gives in with a loud bang. "Screw this thing!" He cussed as all four creatures are suddenly moving towards his direction. He accelerates his turning of the thread, the grate is almost open completely.
Suddenly, one creature spits some sort of green and red-yellow liquid towards him. He manages to dodge it and makes a run for the opened passage. One minion attempts to block him and gets tackled away. But the creature's body covering mucus stains his jacket, gluing him onto the thing. "Shit! SHIT NO!" He yells in panic, punching and kicking the creature as he slowly frees himself from it.
He manages to make it through the grate, but one minion achieved to hit his ankle with its sordid liquid. The moment he falls through the grate he finds himself sliding down a chute. The walls of the small passageway are covered in blood and intestines. Some sort of new creatures is hanging from the ceiling, reaching for the screaming bear. But he manages to slide out of their reach.
Suddenly one creature grabs him by the end of his jacket, but he frees himself by elbowing the creature on a spot he just assumed was its face. Finally, the chute reaches its end, leaving him to fall a few meters down on the hard ground, bruising his back badly. But the burning sensation on his ankle helps him to get up rapidly. "FUCK! UGH!" As soon as the liquid faded, it left his foot bare, revealing the muscles and tendons on it. His fur and skin got completely vitriolized.
"What´s wrong soldier-boy?" Tears well up in his eyes due to this immense pain. "One of your fucking creatures almost dissolved my entire foot! I can barely stand on it anymore…" The chuckle of her is now severely irritating him. "Could you finally stop to pleasure yourself over my pain?!" Suddenly his chest began to glow as well as his foot. He watches in awe as his skin and fur slowly begin to grow back, relieving the pain almost instantly.
"Don´t take my laughing too serious all the time. I told you that I´ll help you two and I will. But I´m all alone in this room with an unconscious raccoon, so I´ll have to take you to entertain myself here." He strains his once wounded foot, completely able to use it again. "Th… Thank you…" He said, still puzzled, accompanied with a giggle from her. "No problem just tell me when you´re wounded again."
The walls he´s surrounded by are surreally transitioning from a cave wall to the familiar wooden walls of the mansion. At the far end of the hallway is a door in perfect shape. Suddenly he hears a clicking sound behind him, as if someone would be clicking his joints. As he turns around he prides his eyes wide open in shock. Behind him stands a massive creature with too many arms too count. The nails on its hands grew long and askew, it slowly approaches him, wobbly on its stance, even the extremities which were supposed to be legs are arms with similar blemished nails on it.
Its body is covered in limbs, dried blood and rotten intestines. Only the canine, giant head of the creature is recognizable, glaring at the afraid bear with its empty eye sockets. It growls loudly, revealing its giant teeth as it begins to howl loudly. "I didn´t expect it to catch up so soon! Don´t stare at it, run you idiot!"
Flippy immediately does as he is told and makes a run for the door at the end of the hallway. The abomination behind him pursues him with immense speed. But the corridor begins to change its shape all of a sudden. "You won´t reach me so easily. I don´t want you here! Go! DIE!" A pillar abruptly emerges from the ceiling, hitting him on his head and sending him to the ground. He turns around in panic as the creature already grabbed his ankle.
"No! NO!" But his screams are futile as his legs and arms are pinned to the ground. The creature begins to dig through his chest with its long and horribly sharp nails, causing him to scream in pain. As soon as the creature managed to pierce the spot above the solar plexus, it tears his chest and opens it, revealing his lungs and his heart. His screams are cut off as the creature began to smash his skull, splattering his brain mass all around the floor while feeding on the remains of his carcass.
"Well, this could have gone better…" The witch talks to herself while carving the same symbol she imprinted on Flippy's chest on the ground, chanting the spell to resurrect him. His ethereal silhouette slowly emerges on the symbol, slowly after a skeleton matching his size appears on it. Suddenly the bones get filled with flesh, building the important organs as the skeleton slowly gets coated in skin and green fur.
A green terrified Flippy lies on the ground, clutching the wooden floor as if he needed standby during a tooth-doctor's visit. "You lied about the pain…" The witch only rolled her eyes. "Well, I needed a wand for it once and now I´m able to cast it without one. I just got better over time I guess. Stop complaining and be happy that you don´t feel what you were supposed to feel right now!"
The bear only nodded in silent agreement. As he looks around in the room he realizes that the room is filled with shredded body-parts. "What the hell happened here?" He asks, slowly getting up while trying to avoid all the mucus around the floor. "Well, the reason I had to cut you off was that we got visited in here. I had to take care of some… Minor problems here."
That made him look after Ian rapidly, but something seems strange. He looks peaceful in the bed, too peaceful for Flippy's taste. "Is… He alright?"
Author's note: At this point, I would like to thank some amazing people for volunteering in answering some questions pivotal to the following chapters. :)
great thanks to:
Scarecrow77 (Deviantart id: Scarecrow4774 )
FlippyIsKing18 (Deviantart id is the same)
Deviantart: Kleptomaniac-Twin
Deviantart: HTF-ADTI-MLP100606
You guys were tremendously helpful:)
