Chapter 27: The Cup Runneth Over

Slowly coming up to the prisoner Julia was unsure what to do next. Bound by chains a foot thick with vicious barbed wire cutting into his limbs the hooded man wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Dressed in mottled tatters and lacking shoes he was apparently suspended in the air as his feet dangled a few inches from the ground. The hood was sewn of black leather and slightly moist as she worked up the nerve to grip onto it. Whipping it off in one motion the man underneath blinked in the light and Julia blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things. The man chained to the back of the throne was none other than Nothing himself.

She stared at him in confusion and he stared at her like he'd never seen another person before. "What the..." she gaped.

"Who...who are you?" he said in obvious pain. This Dark Man did not have the presence or the seductive power of the one she was used to. In fact he sounded much more normal and human unlike the other one. His eyes were alert, lively and though dark brown completely ordinary. Dirty, unkempt hair fell in his face and long, scraggly hair obscured the bottom of his face. He looked considerably older than the other version though there was little evidence that he was an old man.

"Who are you?" he repeated. His voice too was average, not scratch or grating, and though somewhat deep not nearly as much as usual.

"Me? No one...important."

"How did you get in here without being killed?" he demanded.

"Never mind that, who the hell are you?"

"Don't recognize me?" he mocked.

"You look like him. But you're not. You seem...normal."

"Of course I do." he scoffed. "I'm the sane half. He's not even copy of me anymore...he's this idealized version of himself who thinks he's master of both worlds."

"I don't even know where to start. How is this possible?" she asked.

"It's a long story and he'll be back sooner than you think." the double warned. "He'll kill you for talking to me if he finds out. Look, I don't know who you are and I don't care. But you have to end this."

"End what?"

"This, his...my fever dream. It's gone on too long. The things I've done...you can't even imagine."

"We need him...you for now." she explained. "The Order's trying to do the ritual again."

"They're still around!?" the double gasped. "How did they escape the judgment...no, never mind, that isn't important. Look, you have to stop the Order no matter what. No cost is too great. But who knows what I would do in their absence? I can't be allowed to complete the Sacraments."

"So you did kill people to make all this happen."

"I did a lot more than that, in my hubris." he said ruefully. "I'll tell you how this all happened but you have to agree to put me down."

"All right, all right, I'm listening."

"We don't have nearly enough time. There's a house out at the edge of town on Lindsey in the very corner before the forest begins. Go southwest from it into the woods. You'll find a well there...but be careful. It is a dangerous area even for Silent Hill."

"Why?"

"It's where the story began. At the bottom of the well you'll find a journal, my journal. It'll tell you everything." he instructed.

"How can you be sure it's still there?" she questioned.

"Trust me, it's there. I can feel it." the double nodded.

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't. But you need that information and I need you to kill me."

"Why do you want to die….other than the whole chained up thing..." she muttered the last part.

"Oblivion is preferable to this existence." he did he best to shrug. "And the Sacraments must never be finished by me or anyone else."

"All right, I'll look, but no promises." she pointed at him.

"Don't worry. When you read it you'll want to kill me too. You'd better go pilgrim and whatever you do, don't tell him about this. He'll break your neck." the double cautioned.

"Nice guy, you are." she said as she retrieved the hood.

"You don't even know...you don't even know..." he repeated as she put it back on.

Bruised, bloody and possibly with a couple of broken bones Chuck was simply waiting around to die. He'd not given them an inch, not a word, not a plead for mercy. The mercenaries could rot here with the darkness slowly picking them off one by one. They were desperate and scared to expect him to help their situation somehow but he understood. He'd been there before when it almost became too much to take.

Suddenly the lights began to slowly dim and at first he thought they were losing power. It was soon accompanied by the creaking of the whole building and a long, harsh yowl that sounded from far away. There wasn't the familiar fog horn that always went with the change to the other world, the true version of the town, but a grinding, earth shaking vibration. No, this was something different.

The killer smiled under the gag when he realized what was going on. He'd been beaten unconscious, thrown around the room and brutalized by the mercenaries for days. Whether or not he escaped he knew now that they would be paying for it with their lives very soon. His faith in the Dark Man was absolute. The others may question his motives, his methods but Chuck knew he would never betray them, never abandon them. He was the one behind the lights and the rumbling and soon he would be killing by the dozen.

It was only a few minutes before the sounds of boots and gunfire intermingled with screams and thumps on the floor. He had no idea how many men were posted here but it would not be enough to stop the Fater, not by a long shot. The sounds of commotion and chaos continued until a guard burst into his cell with his rifle ready and pointed it at the bound captive. Six more poured into the room and slammed the door behind them.

"Fuck! He's here! He's back!"

"They said he was dead!"

"The kid's still gagged!? How did he find us!?"

"Shut up, all of you, grab the fucker, we'll take him hostage and-"

There was a thump on the door and all of the guns in the room turned towards the sound. An inhuman wail reminiscent of a bird being strangled to death came from just outside and the lone light on the ceiling burst into a thousand pieces. Plunged into sudden darkness the mercenaries fumbled for their lights while Chuck rocked himself over to the floor. Landing on his side he watched the soldiers get some of their lights on as a hand reached out from the darkness towards the pack. Gripping the back of a neck it twisted the head a few inches past where it was supposed to stop. The gurgle of the dying man and the audible crack! of the bones breaking proceeded all hell breaking loose in the cell.

Guns went off and muzzle flashes lit up the room like bullet strobe lights. Fascinated and terrified at the same time Chuck watched a whitish spike explode out of a chest as he saw little snap shots of the Dark Man mid-combat. Gripping onto the barrel of a rifle he swung the incoming fire at one of the mercenaries own ally whose chest was shredded by the bullets. Yanking the gunman forward he ran his elbow into a face mask hard enough to crack the skull and suddenly jumped up out of sight. One of the mercenaries was lifted bodily off and ground and screamed as the room became darker from the lack of gunfire.

The three left swept their guns upward to see a body impaled somehow on the ceiling and suddenly the one on the left simply fell down in a heap. The gun was ripped from another's hands and Chuck caught a glimpse of the Dark Man delivering a backwards kick so hard the wall behind his victim cracked from the force as well as the fragile body caught in between. The last survivor had his rifle slashed in half by a white blade before the Fater lifted him from the ground with both arms and spiked him head first onto the stone floor. The crunch of bone and tissue was sickening but the tempest ended and the motionless, staring lights on the floor matched the bodies strewn about the cell.

Chuck blinked in the low visibility and looked down to see if he'd been shot. He seemed to be in one piece and was thankful for it. He'd had a rough enough time here as it was. The door to the cell opened and light flooded into the room. Nothing stood in the middle of the carnage and the killer could see the extent of his fury. One man was missing his head and the one who'd been lifted up was pinned to the ceiling with one of the killing spikes in his torso holding him in place. Standing directly underneath it blood was smacking the Dark Man's forehead in a rhythmic pattern but he didn't seem to notice.

"Jugh-suh."Chuck mumbled into the gag.

"Blue sky to forever, green grass blows in the wind, dancing..." the shade hummed.

Leading into the room wavy sword first came Victor. The killer was sure he'd never see the man again but it seemed they were both lucky today. "Sure made a mess of things." the knight commented dryly and quickly went over to cut the captive loose.

"You okay?" Victor asked as he helped him to his feet and pulled the gag off.

"Been better." Chuck winced and steadied himself on his friend's arm. "Julia?"

"Safe." the other man said. "Can you find your way out?"

"Probably...where are you going?"

"There's more of them in the building." Victor said while looking over his shoulder. "We have to get them all."

"Tarry here no longer, Victor Rosencrantz." Nothing interjected. "Our judgment is not yet complete."

"See you back at home." the knight nodded to Chuck.

"Let us show them the depths of your wrath." the Fater beckoned.

"Coming." Victor hefted the wicked sword and exited the room in a hurry.

"He's coming along nicely, don't you think?" Nothing smiled and Chuck could only shrink away from him.

Returning the prisoner to the state she found him in Julia went to the portal that had been lit up for her. Walking near it she wondered if she would ever come back to this place. It was not that she enjoyed the multiple life threatening situations she'd been put through but there was a feeling, a sense of uniqueness about Nowhere that she was not likely to find anywhere else. There was so much to explore, learn about, discover down there in that dark city below and she had the best seat in the house. Maybe if everything worked out in the end she might come back to visit the garden below...and maybe to ride around on the back of a dragon just once.

Putting her gloved hand out into the swirling mist she felt nothing as she went in up to the wrist. Attempting to draw her hand back she found that she couldn't. Either she was then sucked into the portal or it simply swallowed her whole but the effect was the same. The mist shot forward and enveloped her and everything she could see. The feeling was of intense vertigo coupled with falling and rising at the same time. The sensations were painful beyond her ability to fully sense but her nerve endings still felt like they were being stabbed with pins and needles. Julia had the distinct impression that she should have been dead by now and the exit from Nowhere was certainly much worse than the entrance.

Gravity found her again off to the right and she was pulled, thankfully, in only one direction. She felt like she was falling again but only for a second before she ran into a brick wall that slammed the entire left side of her body. Crying out and hearing her own voice the impact sent her rolling over the side of the wall face first onto a carpeted floor.

Groaning to herself and rolling onto her back in pain Julia felt like she'd just been stuffed into a dryer and set to tumble for an hour. Opening her eyes the pilgrim saw that it was not a wall but a long dresser she had landed on. Soft, overcast and misty light was coming in through the room's lone window giving her visibility and letting her know that there was some day left.

Carved into the ceiling directly above the dresser was a large, swirling red rune of Nothing's. She thought about the dozens of portals she had seen in the throne room and had to wonder if each of them led to a different spot in Silent Hill for the Fater to come out of. It certainly would explain a lot about his seemingly random ability to show up anywhere.

Raising herself she saw that the room once belonged to a little girl long ago. A perfectly made pink bed and rows of dolls from decades ago decorated the bedroom. Smirking at the Dark Man's brand of humor she looked outside from the second story window framed with pink curtains. She was in the residential district and not far from her parent's home if she remembered correctly. From here she could see the tree line and by random luck she was somewhat near the southernmost end of the town she needed to be.

She wanted first and foremost to know if Victor was okay but having seen what Nothing was capable of when fully powered she knew that he would take care of her man. The pilgrim wanted to know about their murderous ally more than anything and the source of his powers. She had to know if he was something Victor could turn into if he truly meant to do the ritual. Leaving the bedroom she opened the door to a second floor balcony and steps leading downstairs to the front door.

Standing before her was a faceless mannequin creature with rusty scissor halves for hands. It wasn't moving yet and she calmly gripped its left forearm above the blade. Hoisting the wriggling creature onto her shoulders she squatting just slightly and powered upward with her knees to send the hapless creature straight over the railing. It landed head first and made a loud thump as it collided with the unforgiving floor.

Another herky-jerky walking creature was coming up the stairs and Julia strolled over to meet it. Moving down a few steps she kicked it squarely in the chest and it took a brutal fall backwards down the stair case. Unhurriedly moving down to join it and stepping past the blood it left Julia knelt down on the dazed monster's chest. Holding its slightly slimy neck in place she started raining fists down on its head. The normally hardy creature's skull seemed to have some give to it and she hit harder until it split open satisfactorily with brain mush squirting out onto the floor.

Walking to the large kitchen Julia wiped her bloody hands off on the first hand towel she came to. Spending a few minutes restoring the gloves to a mirror polish she left the house through the unlocked front door and swept out to the misty streets. Heading straight to the treeline she determined that she was at the easternmost part of town and thus only had to head south. Taking a right she sauntered down the pavement in a curiously good mood.

It took the better part of twenty minutes to make it to the corner of town she sought. The trees took over at the edge of the asphalt which crumbled into a dirt patch. As her lonely footsteps echoed closer to the woods she noticed the very last house on the street. Color faded and run down like every other one there was still something different about this home. Stopping to look at it she was unable to pinpoint what it was that drew her to it. Resolving to investigate the building on the way back Julia took a deep breath before trudging into the woods.

She knew inherently to stay out of a place like this even in the day time and in the somewhat normal version of Silent Hill. Such a place would be naturally creepy, difficult to find your way out of and if the darkness came it might as well have been a burial site. Despite the danger she had to at least make an attempt to find the journal. Threading her way through the trees the solitary pilgrim tried not to think about it too much as she headed deeper and deeper into the forest.

The mist was thinner here but the thick foliage made up for it. Her own steps thundering in the oppressively quiet woods where she noticed in dismay that no birds, no insects, nothing at all seemed to be living here. Not even wind dared to intrude on the mute wood she trekked through. Every now and then she would hear a rustle of leaves or a snapping of a twig just barely in her audible range and the pilgrim would crouch as she strained to hear more. Only the crushing silence kept her company and though she knew this was a bad idea she kept going each time. She had endured much worse, much more direct opposition from the town. Let whatever was out there come and try to take her.

After half an hour or so the air began to change and the mist grew lighter. The trees became fewer and farther between until she came to a clearing that had been partially man made judging from the tree stumps. Ahead of her was the was the double spoke of surrounded by quite a bit of random debris and a few broken down semi trucks. As she moved closer the silence resonated in her ears and Julia was struck by a sense of impending doom. Something horrendous, something unspeakably evil had taken place here. She had the eerie suspicion that she was trespassing and considered backing away to leave right then. A piece of gray fabric on the ground caught her eye and even with her misgivings she had to inspect it.

Kneeling down she tugged on the cloth and pulled up a tarp or tent buried underneath years of soil, dead leaves and moss. Whatever it was it was much larger than her and there was too much combined weight on it to free from the earth's grip. Looking around she noticed similar bits of fabric poking up from the ground all about the clearing. There were also several heavily corroded generators randomly scattered around. Something strange was going on here and her growing curiosity quickly quelled her fears. What would she tell Victor when she went back? That there was an old well out in the woods they should check out because she was too scared to do it herself?

No, for better or worse, she would find the book on her own.