Disclaimer: the song used in this chapter is from the musical "Elisabeth"


You can achieve marvelous things with a focused mind


Sniffles arm trembled holding the gun. Shocked expressions fixated him, he just shot Cub's father before his own eyes. Deafening silence fills the room and the attention turned to Cub whose lips were shivering due to the recent happenings. Everyone holds their breath in hope that his very young age would bless him with infantile ignorance of this gruesome scene. But that hope should perish along with the reticence lingering in the atmosphere.

"Shit! Sniffles you were supposed to stay back with him! Why did you come over here?" The multi-talented scientist was unable to cope the situation as Shifty yelled at him. "I thought… I just wanted to… I… I don´t know what I was thinking…" Lowering his head in shame, Sniffles looked into Cub's eyes, just realizing the agony he just has caused. The little infant flails his arms around to get away from Sniffles. Luckily, Mime stands nearby to take him.

He rests his hand on Sniffles shoulders to sooth him, but he turns away. "I… need to go…" A slamming door was all they heard, Sniffles ran outside the house dropping the gun. "What is he up to? Running outside this house could be suicide nonetheless! Especially unarmed!" Shifty covered his face with his hands in consternation. Mime handed Cub over to Lifty, signaling him to keep him as he intends to go after him.

"Ok, we will wait here for you." Lifty assured. "What?! If these zombies are still lurking outside, then Sniffles could be as good as dead already! Mime, don´t be equally stupid! Just wait here till tomorrow! We don´t know why all of this happens but maybe everything will be fixed tomorrow at the general time!" But it was Lifty who shook his head. "Sniffles and Mime are befriended! You went through hell to save me, I don´t blame Mime for his willingness to save his friend!"

Shifty tried to argue with that but Mime already left the house. He let out a sigh in defeat "I guess I can understand that… Let´s just hope that everything turns out right. I´m beginning to get worried. This entire mess is a single freak show…" Lifty stroke Cub's cheek to calm him down while looking outside the smashed window. "We have to get him quiet somehow… I have a feeling that this won´t be over that soon. Could you keep him while I try to fix the window?" He handed Cub over to Shifty "Sure, maybe I can find something useful around here…"

Mime closed the door as quiet as possible. The argument the brothers had was a perfect opportunity to leave. He looks around to spot Sniffles somewhere in the distance, but the fog is too thick to recognize anything even a few inches directly before him. While quietly proceeding, he listens closely for any noises indicating danger. It didn´t take long until he heard a gargling sound. He is stuck in a predicament, it could be another of these things, but it could be also possible that Sniffles was in severe need of medical treatment right now. In this place, anything was possible.

Swallowing his dread, Mime proceeds toward the noise coming from afar. A small silhouette is forming in the mists. The person is facing him with his back. He tiptoes towards it to get as close as necessary. Big orange hair with a few ragged spots reveals directly before him, this isn´t Sniffles, it is Chase. "It seems that Chase got "resurrected" as well. I wonder what this is all about…" Mime thinks to himself. He sure has a creed to be soundless. But his mind isn´t prohibited to echo inside himself.

He turns around, tiptoeing away from him. "I hope he won´t perceive me. I have to be careful!" He concentrates on the ground to avoid any circumstance that could emit any source of noise. Sweat is running down his forehead as nervousness and fear is slowly crawling inside his chest. He turns his head slowly to look behind himself to check whether the undead version of Chase noticed him, but the zombie was gone already, nowhere to be seen.

"It seems he went away… After all these happenings I could use a bit of luck…" A dread filled scream rouses his attention. "Sniffles! He is in danger!" Mime puts his caution aside and runs toward the direction the scream came from. "I hope I won´t be too late!" He runs for several minutes, but it is as if the source was gaining in distance rather than him getting closer. "What is going on?" The fog is getting even thicker, engulfing him completely in white damnation. Even his bare hands aren´t visible anymore. He is trapped in the dense fog covering the town like a giant canvas. Slowly, a well-known silhouette emerges behind him.


The serenity filling the room refreshes their strength and volition to go on. Ian feels a joy unknown to him for so long together with Flippy. They both gained on strength and experience. Realizing their bonded destiny sure was helpful. "Halfway done, huh?" Ian said, sitting on the bed next to his new gained friend. "Are you ready to go on?" Flippy only nodded silently, giving a content smile. Getting up from the bed their positive feelings vanish almost instantly, exchanged by a gloomier sensation, a feeling of being watched.

The sound of breaking glass surrounds them and the room they rested in got torn to pieces. Twisted magic compels them to stay paralyzed, unable to move a limb, forced to stay silent. Perfect comfy chairs emerge underneath them, they sit down more or less volunteered, a click of one's fingers brings them to do so. A burst of light almost blinds them, revealing a large stage while subsiding. Amidst of it, a little girl stands there with a microphone. A little blue-furred hyena dressed in a deep-blue dress. Several gems with the same color decorate it. She does not wear any weapon.

"Welcome my dear gentlemen to the show we will play just for you tonight! You´ve taken a long journey to reach the fallen children. Two you searched, one has found you! May I introduce myself? The name´s Seldana! The bigger sister of Eleowen whose acquaintance you both already could make. Today I´ll present you the performing Ian and Flippy in todays musical! I sure hope you will enjoy the show!"

The lights in the just appeared theater dim and the curtain lifts itself. On the stage, Flippy in a pure black tuxedo, it seems that his stage version is wearing white make-up powder. Ian and Flippy witness in fear and confusion the happenings before them and the beginning of the playing music.

Flippy:

Now this is the right occasion

For a private conversation

You know me, yes, you know me

Since your childhood we´re befriended

And our friendship hasn´t ended

I promised not to leave you

The stage double of Ian clings onto Flippy's double, looking at him in need of consolation.

Ian:

I call you in desperation

Every time this nightmare haunts me

When it feels like suffocation

Flippy:

You need me, here I am!

Both:

The shades of night are growing

The future has been bought and sold

The doomsday horns are blowing

While they´re dancing round a cup of gold!

The shades of night are growing

It is fight to twelve, our time is getting old!

Flippy approaches Ian's face as if in an attempt to kiss him. Right before their lips meet, Ian turns his face away rapidly.

Ian:

Have the gods ran out of kindness?

Our ship has lost direction

Is the helmsman struck with blindness?

He does not even hear me…

Flippy:

On the black sky, a scarlet letter

You can read, it spells disaster

You know it won´t be for the better

Ian:

It´s driving me insane!

The lights in the theater begin to flicker, dead ghostly versions of familiar bodies appear on the stage. Hanging on a rope while singing along in a sort of cursed choir. In the front Lifty, Shifty, and Flippy's fallen comrades. Ian's and Flippy's eyes widen in despair.

Both:

The shades of night are growing

As man becomes a beast of prey

We don´t know where we´re going

But we´re going faster every day

The shades of night are growing

It is five to twelve, our chances melt away

The light´s focus on the stage version of Flippy who is menacingly approaching a desperate stage version of Ian, kneeling on the stage while cowering down on the ground.

Flippy:

It´s all up to you

So, do what you have to do

He grabs him by his sleeves and pulls him up to his knees.

Dare take heart, to be a rebel!

Ian looks at him as if he tried to look into his eyes while simultaneously avoiding his gaze, insecurity written all over his face.

Ian:

Rebel?

The choir joins in to the last chorus.

Both:

The shades of night are growing

One must try at last to turn the tide

When good and bad are going

Time is always on the devil's side

The shades of night are growing

Flippy grabs Ian by his arm, pulling him into the other end of the stage, into a darkness which got purged from any remaining brightness

So, stand up and fight, and reach out for the light!

As their stage versions disappear into the void, the curtain falls and Seldana makes an appearance again. "Truth has been told! Time is always on the devil's side! But I ask you, my dear audience, who is the devil? Isn´t a tiny devil resting inside every one of us?" She gazes toward Flippy smugly. "In some he seems to be… A bit bigger than in others…" She slowly approaches Flippy, grabbing the handle of the sword he acquired from Grace.

"Your mind, your body, her mind, her body. Filled with sanctimonious good intentions. She sure saved herself, but did she tell you in which kind of danger you two are in right now? My little sister was a powerful illusionist but… Compared to me, she was an amateur. I will crack your mind like you used to crack skulls when you lost control once again…" She tauntingly strokes Flippy's cheeks before she averts her gaze toward Ian, who's fear turned into anger.

"Yes, Ian? You want to tell me something?" With a click of her fingers, he is able to speak up. "Leave him alone ok? I know it is me you want to take revenge at!" Seldana laughs smugly. "Why don´t we play a game? I´ll grant you one blow, if you manage to hurt me I promise I will kill you first." Another clicking sound with her fingers sets Ian free completely. "How do I know that you´re not just an illusion?" She pierced him with a crazed gaze. "That is for you to find out!"

Ian growls and grabs her head, attempting to rock it back and forth, but it isn´t moving a single inch. Her chuckle turns into a scream as small seams of green light emerge from Ian's finger tips. She quickly pushes him away, holding the spots Ian has grabbed her on. Her skin peels off slowly. "You… Are a leech! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Another blow sends Ian down to the ground. The chair Flippy is magically bound to levitates from the ground.

"Stop! Come back here!" But she vanishes together with the theater. A set of mirrors is bursting through the bottom, encaging him in a reflecting labyrinth. One mirror gets single cracks forming a sentence.

Hiding behind lies

Ian approaches the mirror, it shows his reflection. But unlike him, his reflection is smiling devilishly. Much to his surprise it takes out a knife and slices its throat. The reflection sinks lifelessly to the bottom. "What the…" Looking at the other mirrors, each one is showing a different scene involving either him, or Flippy, or both. Scenes of Flippy and him fighting, scenes of Flippy and him arguing, scenes of Flippy and him hugging and kissing, and images of himself cowering alone in a corner, rocking back and forth with blood on his fur.

He remains unfazed. "I´ve seen way too much to be scared by this bullshit." The kind of shown event varies from strangely serene to disturbingly gruesome, but one mirror catches his attention. It shows a brown furred bear, not an adult, more as an adolescent. He is holding hands with Ian and Flippy in the reflection. "Who is that? And what does he have to do with us?" Behind him stands a phantasmal silhouette of another bear, wearing a red mantle and a red cap and a pipe in his mouth. It tries to reach out for the adolescent bear but doesn´t manage to do so.

The ground below him trembles, cracking the mirrors around him. "beautiful isn´t it? You can see many things in your own reflection… Your desires and dreams… Your fears and worries… Everything. It is shown so well, but way too hidden to be seen. Some of them even contain possible future events, all regarding to your capabilities. One door closes, a dozen other ones open simultaneously. With your escape a few days ago, you opened too many to count."

Seldana calmly walks toward him, a genuine smile decorating her face. "But you want to close these "doors" right? You want me dead like all the others…" Ian retorts, clenching his fists around his wooden staff. "No, as I implied, I can look into the future. You will defeat me…" Ian was dumbstruck at this, but didn´t let his caution slip as Seldana returned to her devious little grin. "But I will make sure to at least spill your blood for everything you´ve done to us! You let us be killed! You even got the nerves to kill my sister again!"

Her calm sermon turned into hysterical screaming. "It wasn´t my fault god damnit! I didn´t choose my fate! And I definitely didn´t intend to interfere in yours!" but Ian's arguments didn´t reach her. Without a warning Seldana dashed forward, grabbing him by his throat. "The suffering you faced was nothing compared to the ordeal you truly deserve!" She squeezes him. "How can a child like her be so supernaturally strong? If they´re that powerful, couldn´t they just save themselves back then?" Flippy thought to himself, witnessing the fight hidden and strapped onto his chair.

It kills him from the inside that he is forced to do nothing but watch Ian fight for his life. Out of despair, Ian grabs her face again, compelling her to scream in anguish. The light green seams flowing to his fingertips remind him of the ritual he performed together with the witch and Flippy. "May it be possible that…" Seldana lets go off him, holding her face in agony. "You… You´re one of THEM! YOU BELONG TO THE BROTHERHOOD!" That term struck Flippy in his mind. "She´s talking about it either, just like Grace! What is it with this so-called cult?"

Ian only shook his head in nescience. "What the hell are you talking about?" But she didn´t answer his question. Another shock wave sends him flying around the room. "You´re nothing more but scum! You, and everyone befriending you, shall PERISH!" Her attention switches from Ian to Flippy. He realizes her intention as Flippy is finally seeable for him. Although he cannot move, he sees the terror in the eyes of that green furred bear. "No! NO! Leave him alone!" He thinks of a plan. "Shit, what do I do, WHAT DO I DO NOW?"

A strange idea strikes his mind as he lifts his hand, pointing towards Seldana. To his surprise, his hand and Seldana's body begin to glow. "Please let this work…" Feelings of hope and exasperation mix together inside his chest. "Life… TRANSMISSION!" Rays of green light emit from her body, heading directly toward Ian's hand as if it was sucking the light out of her. She gargles and screams. Her skin gets wizened as if it decomposes.

Seldana lets Flippy be and turns to Ian immediately. A small orb of lilac, sparkling energy hits Ian, interrupting his new-found spell. Several electric impulses are sent through his body, forcing him to twitch uncontrollably. "It all makes so much sense now… This is the reason why you didn´t do ANYTHING back then! You´re with them! You´re one of THEM! You are a leech!" Ian got forced down to his knees almost passing out from the pain, but his hand begins to glow in the greenish light which soon engulfs his entire body. The pain goes away as fast as it came, and he stands up, refreshed and strengthened.

"None of this makes sense! I really don´t understand what you´re on about! Why should I have welcomed the deeds back then? You at least witnessed once or twice the torture I was put through! I´m no masochist! I don´t enjoy pain!" But Seldana only screams rancorously. The room they´re standing in shatters like breaking mirrors again, but Ian only sighs enervated. "I´m sick of this bullshit…" They soon find themselves surrounded by the void they faced in the fight with Eleowen.

Ian stands on a small circular platform with no walls preventing a possible fall into the nothingness, only several columns. Amidst of it stands Seldana with her hands clasped together before her chest, eyes closed. "I always wonder for the path. I only see the outcome of the happenings to occur, but never they way which leads to it. I swear, I will do anything to stop you." Ian gave up trying to talk at this point. He raises his hand to attempt the same spell again, but Seldana doesn´t give him the time.

"I control more than you think Ian. I don´t have any weapon with me, my weapons are your surroundings." A strong gust pushes him roughly, sending him flying once again. He uses his wooden staff and clings it onto the columns to remain on the platform, holding himself with all his remaining strength. "I control the air you´re breathing…" The gust ceased, causing him to fall down hardly. "I control the fire that purges…" Cones of consuming flames emit from her palm, flying directly at Ian who jumps away in panic.

"I am the water, surging through your body…" He stops as his limbs begin to twitch again. "It feels like… She´s squeezing my veins…" Pain and agony go through every section of his body, forcing to tremble as if he was in a seizure until he couldn´t bear it any longer and screams at the top of his lungs. Just before he thought he would pass out, Seldana stopped, leaving him wheezing and whining. The ground below him cracks. "I AM THE GROUND YOU STAND ON!" The platform gives in and he falls through the cracks into the red void.

The red shimmer filling it suddenly engulfs him as he gets greeted by the hard bottom. The impact deflates him of any air, right above him, Seldana floats gently toward him. She reaches out her palm, sending several flames at him once again. Ian tries to get up as soon as possible, but her magic paralyzes him again. Seldana forces him to stay still as she approaches him with her flames sadistically slow.

Flippy who witnesses this from afar feels her magic grip on him loosing, he is able to speak. Ian flinches and grunts in terror much to Flippy's confusion who only sees her approaching him with her hand reached out. Finally, one hand of him gets free. Seldana lost her concentration for Flippy and he got free in no time. "Ian!" He stood up but forgot that the chair was floating. He just met the same fate as Ian and got greeted by the hard ground face first.

Although still dizzy, Flippy got up fast and dashed toward Seldana in a curvy wobbly pattern. He raises the sword he earned from Grace and slices through her neck. A blood curdling scream fills the void. After a short moment of silence which felt like an eternity, Seldana slowly turned her face to Flippy without turning the rest of her body with her. She opens her mouth to the point her head splits in a half. Ian and Flippy witness the scene in shock as another body emerges from her gullet.

It appears as if her intestines took the shape of her, forming two further limbs to support her twisted body. The other part uses just the remaining extremities. "What the fucking…" Flippy didn´t get the time to finish that sentence as the abomination before them swings at him forcefully, catapulting him through the area. But Flippy manages to land on his feet and firms the grip on the sword's handle. As he charges at the monstrosity, it gives him its full attention.

Ian uses that opportunity and reaches his hand again. "Life transmission!" The creature shakes its body around violently, until it turned toward Ian, sending a big chunk of her limb down at him, successfully smashing him into the ground. "IAN!" As it slowly removed her limb away, Flippy could make out Ian's hands lying motionless on the ground. He lifelessly lies on the ground on his back, his arms and leg sprawled out. Eyes half closed, and the fur gets drenched with his crimson blood coming from his bruised face.


"Mime?" The deer felt his heart almost jumping out of his chest, but his shock got instantly replaced with relief. It was Sniffles. "What are you doing out here? Did you… Come after me?" Mime gave an assuring nod. "Why? It isn´t save out here…" But that only earned him a stern look as his favorite and only assistant crossed his arms raising a brow. "Yeah, I know… I´m one to talk…" But due to his forgiving nature, Mime only smiled and gave him a sign to come back. "Do you really think I should go back? I really didn´t act like a genius back there…"

But a look at Mime's stern look showed him the lack of options right now. That proved the eloquent ant eater once again how effective silence can become. "Ok alright. We have to settle things instead of running from them…" The fog surrounding them was still covering any kind of sight. "Don´t worry. I know the way back…" He followed Sniffles back to the house carefully. It didn´t take them long to arrive there. They knocked at the door. "Lifty? Shifty? Open the door please…"

For some reason they feared the worst, but Lifty opened the door shortly after. "Glad you both are back." Getting in, Sniffles lowered his head in lingering shame, he cursed himself for doing such an idiotic move although he claims to be a genius. "Hey… we all got overwhelmed by the situation… You just acted out of character under exceptional circumstances. Don´t be so hard on yourself." Lifty assured together with an euphoric nodding Mime.

"He is right… I´m sorry I yelled at you for that. But please, don´t run out of this house again… We really don´t need another zombie…" But just as the mood was about to brighten up, the door made a clicking sound, creaking open slowly. Everyone hold their breath, but as the door was open completely, there was nothing to be seen. Shifty closes it quickly and locked the door. A gnawing suspicion strikes Mime and he scrutinizes his surroundings clearly.

At the dark corner of the room appears someone, quickly dashing at Shifty, tackling him onto the ground. "Fuck!" Chase somehow managed to enter the house and threw himself on top of Shifty, pinning him down. His gargling and hollow stare just underline his ill-intentions. His face is still covered with the mutilations Flaky just did to him. Mime quickly took a dagger away from Lifty, kicked Chase off from Shifty and stabbed him in the eye-sockets multiple times.

As his limbs fall lifelessly onto the ground, Mime gets of him wiping the sweat from his forehead. Shifty, who still lied on the ground in shock looked over to the couch Cub lies on still sleeping. "I don´t believe this child…"