7 Years Ago
They walked over the red carpet, up to the lavish entrance of a glamorous resort hotel.
China Sorrows was wearing an exquisite dress of dark-grey satin. It hugged her body in all the right places and decorated her neckline with an elegant curtain pattern. As her dark hair flowed in shining waves over her shoulders, no additional jewelry was necessary.
China felt right in her element, approaching the high-society event. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for tonight's company.
Wanda was a brilliant and promising young mage. Though to China's current dismay, she wasn't one to care about superficialities or displays of superiority. In fact, she had sounded outright nervous at the prospect of going to a party of such caliber.
As they approached the exclusive event, Wanda uncomfortably tugged at her lavender-coloured tube dress, in a pointless attempt of covering up her exposed knees. Once the fabric of her dress was taught to the limit, she went to fixing the perfectly straight bangs of her long light-brown hair. And once her bangs had been sorted out, she went back to tugging at her dress.
"Wanda, dear?" China sweetly reminded her, "the fidgeting?"
"Sorry," Wanda whispered and awkwardly clasped her hands together.
They arrived by the double doors of the luxury hotel. It was a large two-story building with clean white plaster and black window frames, lined by marble pillars and elegant stone planters.
Two strong intimidating bouncers were standing in the way to the main doors. China smiled at them and, immediately, the two men opened the heavy doors for her.
The women stepped inside and looked around. They had entered a generous ballroom, filled with happy and partly intoxicated people.
The guests were wearing various expensive suits and dresses and jewelry. They all seemed to be having a great time; sharing a laugh or a chat or a meal with their friends and family, or with strangers they had met here at the hotel. At a couple of designated round tables, more people were playing casino games. Here and there, they could spot the occasional Cuban cigar.
China estimated there to be about forty guests, inside the ballroom alone.
"Good evening," she said to a woman, who just so happened to be walking by.
The woman stopped and turned around. She was wearing a wonderful blue evening gown and several layers of fine golden necklaces.
"Me?" She asked and, once she had spotted China standing gloriously before her, immediately put on a beaming smile. "Oh, hello! Good evening to you!"
"My name is China, this is my friend Wanda," she introduced. "We've just arrived and were curious to know; how have you been enjoying your stay so far?"
"Oh it's been absolutely wonderful!" The woman convincedly proclaimed. "The people, the food, the drinks... And the spa?! Ugh, amazing! I mean, how could anyone complain? I'm Cinderella, by the way."
Wanda interestedly nodded, "Nice to meet you, Cinderella. When did you get here, yourself?"
"Just at the beginning of the weekend. Unfortunately I plan on heading out tomorrow, already. But I really enjoyed my stay, I'm sure you two will have a great time!"
"Thank you," China smiled.
"See you around!" Cinderella walked away to the bar.
The women took another good look at their setting. Mahagony tables and chairs lined the sides of the ballroom, where polished windows showed the view onto a mystical forest. In the center, there was space for dancing and philandering. A long bar and a window to the kitchen supplied the guests with classic alcoholic beverages and appetizing snacks.
Elegant golden and crystal chandeliers hung off a tall rounded ceiling, which was decorated by elaborate stucko. The floor was equally as stunning, for impressive mandala patterns had been created from a mixture of different-colored wood types.
At the other end of the room, two curved staircases led to an upper landing, which allowed for a view onto the people below.
"Do you feel that?" China asked.
Wanda didn't seem to know what she meant. "Feel what, the rush?"
China looked at her. She called upon her magic, in order to turn her charms up to the extreme.
Wanda's eyes widened, she blushed, and suddenly she looked to be deeply in love with her boss and mentor.
"Do you feel that?" China asked her.
"Umm... Y-yes? Ma'am?" Wanda stuttered and avoided her eyes.
"Look at me, dear."
Wanda visibly forced her gaze to reconnect with China's and fought her growing passion. She was clearly having a hard time with it.
A moment later, China reduced her charms to their absolute minimum level, which yet superceded most people's maximum level. Wanda relaxed and cleared her throat, as the spell ended and her intense feelings for China faded away almost entirely.
"Do you still feel it now?" China asked her.
Wanda frowned. Her eyes flickered away again, but this time, in order to pay attention to the party all around them.
"Umm... Yes Miss," Wanda replied, with more conviction this time. "I still feel something, but not... for you." She frowned again. "How are you doing that?"
"I'm not," China said, "I stopped using my magic. It isn't me, who is making you feel this way."
She continued looking around in confusion. "So, then... Where is it coming from?"
"Focus your mind, dear. What can you see? What are your senses drawn to?"
Wanda dutifully listed, as she made an effort to analyse their setting. "I see a large beautiful ballroom with lots of beautiful people in it. I can hear the sound of talking, and laughing, and eating, and clanking glasses... I can hear music of course. I can smell the food... The food smells absolutely amazing actually! I wouldn't mind trying some."
China approved by continuing to instruct her. "Remember to fortify your defenses. Draw up your inner walls as far as you can. Notice these things that your attention is drawn to; that your mind is made to be enamoured by."
"And then?" Wanda asked.
"And then, ignore them all."
Wanda pulled an uncertain grimace. "Ignore them completely? That's tricky... It's coming from all around us."
"Precisely," China agreed. "All of these things are designed to capture your attention, to distract you from reality, to make you fully fall for the illusion. None of it is real. Anything that feels as though it requires your attention, is exactly what you should not be paying attention to."
Wanda's face contorted further, but with obvious effort, as she did her best to ignore the tempting illusions of glamour, and tasty food, and good company.
"If you blank them out one-by-one, and focus only on the irrelevant, the bland, the boring... You will begin to notice something."
She bit her lip but kept looking around intently. "Notice what...?"
"Something that shouldn't be possible."
"Umm," Wanda said. Suddenly, her eyes widened in surprise. "You mean, for example... The faceless man, standing on the balcony?"
China smiled approvingly. "For example, the faceless man, standing on the balcony."
They stared up at him with obvious intrigue.
Mostly, the man seemed to be a regular person of slightly-above-average height and build. He was wearing a classic black button-up and white dress pants, as well as shiny black dress shoes.
Yet, where his face should have been, there was nothing. His head was virtually blank. He had no eyes, no mouth, no hair, and merely a hint of a nose and ears. A layer of pale smooth skin fully covered it all; created even surfaces in the place of the contours of his face.
His pale hands were propped onto the railing of the interior balcony. He seemed to be observing the party, taking it all in, as though everyone here was merely part of an entertaining show of his own design.
A couple of steps away from China and Wanda, another pair of women were currently having a shrill argument. One of the women angrily slapped her opponent. That woman retaliated by splashing a drink in her face.
China thought to see the faceless man chuckle with delight at the scene.
Soon after, he turned his blank bald head. And although his eyesockets were covered by that same layer of smooth skin, he seemed to look directly at them.
"Is he real?" Wanda asked. Her voice was shaken by awe and anxiety.
China could understand the notion. Although she was used to looking at a skeleton on a regular basis, there was a special sort of existential dread that set in, at the sight of this particular faceless man.
"Yes," China replied. "As a matter of fact, other than you and myself...? I believe, that man is indeed the realest thing inside this room."
Wanda looked even more fascinated now, "how do you mean?"
"Haven't you noticed the dirt? The boards on the windows? The termite damage?"
Wanda seemed confused as ever, as she tore her eyes off the faceless man. She looked around again, at the flawless walls of the glamourous ballroom.
"Look at the windows," China encouraged her. "Look closely. There are old wooden boards, covering them. The glass isn't real, but the boards and the nails are. Look for the boards. Can you see the boards?"
Wanda apparently focused as hard as she could, on the windows. After a while, her face lit up in recognition, "wait... I think I see it now!"
"Very good, my dear, keep going. Notice the dirty floor. Notice the dust, the spider webs, the broken furniture..."
Her student kept on following her instructions. As she did so, her look of confusion slowly faded away, and her eyes grew wider and wider with each and every glance.
China joined her in looking around. Even for her, it took a significant amount of focus to ignore the various sounds and smells and images, which continuously assaulted them from all directions.
Yet, the more the two women kept on looking and focusing, the more they could see their setting for what it truly was. They weren't standing inside an elegant ballroom of a fancy hotel. In fact, they weren't standing in any room inside any hotel.
This luxury estate was nothing but an old rotten cabin, in the middle of the woods.
The elaborate flooring was actually made of simple wood planks. And the tall white walls with polished windows? Those were actually short termite-ridden walls with boarded-up holes in them. The curved stucko ceiling? A ramshackle roof that gaped and dripped water from various storm damages. The marble pillars? Braces that kept the roof from caving in. The mezzanine balcony? The elevated bed bunk of the former owner of the shack.
Contrarily, the tables and chairs were quite real. However, they weren't made of shining mahagony, they were made of old oak wood, and looked as though they were about to fall apart. On the other hand, the doors that led to the rest of the hotel were entirely fake. China assumed, this 'ballroom' was where everyone spent every second of their time.
There was no yummy food, no intoxicating drinks, no shiny decoration or blooming flower bouquets, no crystal chandeliers, no spa...
It was all a lie.
"Miss Sorrows?" Wanda asked; a mixture of horror and sheer fascination written all over her face. "Are we... at the Hotel California?"
China found herself smiling. "Yes, dear. It certainly seems as though we are."
"That's mind-blowing! And also... kind of creepy?"
"Both are suitable descriptions."
"But what about all the people?" Wanda asked with continuous astonishment. "They seem so real!"
"That is because they are, indeed, real. These people are technically as real as you and I. However, they aren't what they appear to be. They haven't been spending a relaxing weekend at the luxury resort. They have been trapped inside a ramshackle cabin, living inside the fantasy-world of someone else. And some of them started doing this two years ago."
"Two years?!"
"Look closely. Don't let their demeanors lead you astray. They are happy, only because they believe themselves to be happy."
Just as they had previously done with the room, the women focused on seeing the people around them for what they really were. And as they did so, reality kept peeking through. It sneaked in, here and there, in the blink of an eye, or in the corner of an eye.
The people around them weren't wealthy and glamorous members of high-society. And even if they were, they certainly didn't appear that way. Behind the pricey clothes and the classy hairstyles, the healthy blush and the radiant smiles, a terrible truth was hiding.
To varying degrees, the people were dirty and emaciated. Some looked a bit rugged and like they hadn't slept for a couple of days. Some others looked as though they have been starving for months. Their clothes were soiled and torn from excessive use, and their bodies were skinny to the point of being nothing but skin-and-bones.
The smell also began to seep through to their rising senses of awareness. The amazing scent of food and expensive perfume was slowly replaced, by the gut-churning stench of sweat and feces and decay.
They glanced over at the woman called Cinderella. She was one of the people that almost looked like a skeleton.
"Oh dear..." Wanda somberly murmured, "that's a lot of patients..."
"I hope you had breakfast this morning," China teased, "as you should be ready to heal them all, within the hour."
She bitterly snorted at the impossible challenge. "I'm sorry Miss Sorrows, I don't see how I could do that."
"Don't you worry, I will help you. You can borrow as much of my magic as required."
That seemed to settle Wanda's concern for herself, yet not for the people around her. "How are they still going? All of the food is an illusion too, isn't it? How haven't they starved to death?"
"I suppose it's a combination of their magic and his magic, which has been helping them stay alive. And then, of course, there's the food..."
Wanda snorted in bewilderment, "I thought there was no food...?"
China raised a brow at her. Then she directed her pointed look at a couple, which was eating at a dinner table close-by. The husband was digging into a pile of chicken wings, and the wife was gnawing on some salad.
"Oh. Oh no," Wanda realised in horror. "That's a dead bird. I mean... I realise that chicken wings are really just parts of dead bird too? but that... That's a very, VERY dead bird!"
The husband was indeed tearing apart and eating a very dead songbird, which he had likely found, halfway decayed, in the woods somewhere. And instead of gnawing on a chewy piece of kale salad, the wife was instead trying to eat her own fingernails.
They spotted more people who were eating dirt, some more literally than others. A couple of guests were picking the termites off chunks of rotten wood, or went on a hunt for spiders. Some others eagerly chewed on tree cones, or on their own hair. All the while, they clearly believed themselves to be enjoying tasty hors d'oeuvres.
Opposed to Wanda's looks of growing disbelief and disgust, China's gaze didn't waver on any of them for too long. "I suppose, the bugs and the dirt here have been providing some level of sustenance," she dryly concluded.
Wanda looked to be faintly in awe again. "The human body never fails to amaze me."
"The mind is a powerful tool," China both agreed and clarified. "Most of what is keeping them alive is their ignorance to their own plight. Therefore, once the illusions stop, they will only have a short amount of time left to live. Unless of course, we save them first."
"Damn..." Wanda grumbled, "there's so many of them. Just think of how many families are grieving right now, believing their loved ones have gone forever. They must have no idea what happened to them..."
China nodded. Both women looked back up at the faceless man. He was still watching them; pale hands casually resting on the balcony railing.
As they seemed to be the only ones able to notice his presence, the faceless man reacted to their attention this time. He even seemed to somewhat emote, as he tilted his head at them. Thanks to the manner in which Skulduggery sometimes did the same, China could tell that the faceless man was... curious.
She tilted her head back at him; equally as curious.
"I believe I should introduce myself," China decided. "Remember to stay in the clear. These people cannot afford for you to get hurt. You know what to do."
"Yes Miss," Wanda obeyed. She stayed behind, as China set herself into motion.
China walked towards one of the two generous staircases, and prepared herself. The faceless man was observing her; his eyeless gaze followed along as she neared. She assumed, he would try to test her with his illusions.
Naturally, China's intuition did not deceive her. Just as she had made it halfway up the staircase, a woman tried to divert her attention.
They were walking in opposite directions and, as their eyes locked, China immediately knew that she recognized the woman from somewhere. She had seen her once or twice, at some insignificant social gatherings. By the expression on her face, she could tell that the woman recognized her as well.
"Miss Sorrows!" She excitedly exclaimed, "my word! How amazing to see you around these parts! How have you...?"
China ignored her, and kept on walking up the stairs.
The woman stopped and stared. She looked visibly stunned and insulted at her cold indifference. Little did she know, missing out on China's amazing charms was the least of her current worries.
When his previous attempt had clearly failed, the faceless man made another one. This one, it seemed, was intended to scare her. As China arrived at the top of the staircase, a sudden noise shook her eardrums. She felt her body react to the shock, but her mind remained calm.
The landing in front of her had collapsed. One of the marble pillars caved in and took part of the upper floor down with it. Debris thundered downwards, onto the ballroom and the people below her. Yet, those people looked unharmed and entirely unbothered by the chaos and the noise.
China walked straight on. She didn't even glance down, as her feet stepped onto the gaping hole in the floor. She easily cleared it and was happy to be correct in her assumption; the gap wasn't real, and she wouldn't be falling down several meters onto the lower floor.
The faceless man seemed to accept that his illusions were no use to him, when it came to this newcomer. And so, he casually leaned an elbow onto the railing of the balcony and waited for her to arrive in front of him.
As China got to take a closer look at his smooth, blank, white face, she quietly paused for a moment.
"Hello there," the faceless man bemusedly said.
The undefined features of his face didn't move, not even a little, as he spoke. His jaw seemed to be locked shut. Meanwhile, his voice was clear as day.
China felt an unexpected smile tug at the corners of her lips. "Hello," she said. "You must be Nobody."
He tilted his head with faint surprise. "Interesting."
China eyed him with a mixture of wonder, awe, and ever-growing fascination. She raised a hand and carefully reached out for him.
As Nobody didn't stop her, she inched her fingertips closer to his blank face and, ever-so-gently, ran them along the length of it. Over the forehead, over the layer that covered his eyes, along his flat nose bridge, down to the tiny dips that made up his permanently closed mouth.
It felt just as she had imagined; smooth and undefined, without even a single flaw or pore.
"Look at you..." China murmured, as her hand moved back down to her side, "you're magnificent..."
"Right back at you, beautiful," Nobody shot out. He didn't seem to be bothered by her touch. "I've encountered many people who can spot my illusions. But I've never met anyone who can see through them, quite like you. You must have centuries worth of experience."
"Ah yes, you might be familiar with my extensive history," she confirmed. "My name is China Sorrows."
Nobody laughed. His blank face didn't budge, but his chest and his shoulders moved along a little. "Oh, I see, a Faceless One's worshipper! Well I hate to disappoint you, Great Mistress of Ethereal Beauty, but I'm not that kind of a faceless one. As far as I know, I'm not even a descendant of one."
She faintly smiled. "I can see how you would come to that conclusion. However, my faith isn't what brought me here today. I didn't come to categorize your appearance; I came to witness your abilities first-hand. And so far, I've got to say..." She meaningfully gestured at the theatrics around them, "I'm quite impressed."
"Made to impress," Nobody said.
"I'm assuming, you began practicing the illusionist discipline when you were a teenager?" China continued, unwavering. "This is quite the accomplishment, for a decade worth of experience."
"Thank you," Nobody said. It was obvious that he had no intentions of confirming or divulging any information to her.
China felt, this was a good time for her to test a theory. She called upon her magic and gifted Nobody with an irresistible smile.
There seemed to be a bit of a reaction in him, but not much of one.
"Interesting," Nobody said again. This time, he followed it up with a cheeky comment. "You should know, I'm not the shy type. If you would like to seduce me, all you need is ask."
China could only agree. All of this was, indeed, highly interesting.
Nobody seemed to focus his magic around his body, as it was sapped from the illusions all around them. The sound of music faded slightly, and the light in the chandeliers flickered and dimmed. Then, Nobody forced a new illusion upon China's mind.
A moment later, the faceless man was gone and, in his stead, stood a pretty woman. She had long wavy beach-blond hair, a tall curvy body, and a beautiful smile. She was wearing a classy scarlet silk dress.
"I can be anyone you like," the pretty woman winked.
The blink of an eye later, she was replaced as well. Where the woman had been, a man now stood. He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome, and wore a cheeky smirk on kissable lips. For an outfit, he was wearing a classic black tux with an off-white shirt.
"Or how about something more... experimental?" The handsome man suggested.
In the next second, the man was replaced by a skeleton in a suit.
China raised a brow at him.
"No?" The suited skeleton disappointedly asked, "are you quite sure?"
When she clearly didn't approve, the skeleton was gone and the pretty blond girl from before had returned.
China saw something move in the corner of her eye. She made a quick change of plans. She put on a charming smile, and moved closer towards Nobody.
"I believe, you might just do," China flirtatiously said to the pretty blonde.
The pretty blonde's smile deepened, as the distance between them was erased. Their lips met, and their hands landed on each other's bodies. As they leaned ever closer and explored the shape of the other, their limbs intertwined, their lips made room for their tongues to meet.
China had to admit, this Nobody person knew what she was doing. Yet, pleasure had always been something that China sought out with intent. And her intentions tonight certainly didn't involve any romantic action.
Suddenly, Nobody gasped! But this wasn't a gasp of enjoyment, but one of surprise.
Their lips and their bodies parted, as both Nobody and China looked down at themselves.
Below them, right behind Nobody, Wanda was cowering on the ground. She was on one knee, almost sprawled out on the floor, as she tried her best to keep a safe distance.
Wanda's hands were wrapped around Nobody's right leg. And along with them, now securely locked to his ankle; was a magic-binding cuff.
The eyes of the pretty blonde widened, her mouth gaped open, as she stared in disbelief at the healer by her feet and the magical cuff on her ankle.
As their magic cut out, the pretty woman flickered and transformed back into the faceless man. Next, his non-existent face caved in.
The smooth skin sunk into the holes of his eyesockets, his mouth, his nostrils, his ears... It was brutally burrowing itself back into his head, in order to make room for a real face.
Meanwhile, his body shrunk a bit, back to its original height and shape. His clothes transformed from the black dress shirt and white dress pants, into a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
As the smooth skin layer was pulled deeper into the caverns of his head, it eventually reached its limit of being stretched. The bulging parts of the skin ripped apart and allowed for the layer to entirely disappear inside Nobody's head.
Just as his original face came to the surface, its owner also rediscovered his original voice. He used it to scream in agony and utter terror.
By now, Wanda had jumped to her feet. She helped China catch him as he collapsed, and they carefully laid him out on the ground.
Now that the second layer of skin was gone, the man suddenly had a normal face. In fact, his face was so normal, it was almost forgettable. Brown hair and brown eyes, and the most average bone structure China could imagine on a Caucasian man.
Yet, this young man was by no means forgettable. For one, he was missing the lower part of his left leg. It looked burnt and raw, the stump was made up of frazzled bits, and China could see pieces of his fractured shin bone inside the mess of skin and flesh.
Additionally, the left side of his body was almost entirely covered in bloody third-degree burns. He was missing most of his left shirt sleeve and pantleg, and entire patches of hair had been scorched off the left side of his head.
The boy looked like he had recently been set on fire. By the distribution and severity of the burns, China judged that the flames had started around his leg stump, working their way up to his face. Yet for some reason, they had only managed to reach most half of his body. His right side was largely unharmed, and this was likely the only reason he had been able to hide inside his illusions and cling on to life.
Overall, it seemed as though the injuries had just recently occured. However, China knew that his real name had disappeared from official records nearly a decade ago. Therefore, beneath that second layer of skin, the poor boy must have been in this awful state for at least seven years.
As his magic faded, so did the sounds and smells and images that it had created. Finally, China's vision was allowed to fully focus on their raggedy setting. The floor and walls turned to wooden boards, the food and the drinks disappeared, the lights went out, and the music stopped.
The young man beneath Nobody eventually stopped screaming. Yet, as his illusions were no longer in effect, his screams were replaced by the horrified cries of his forty victims.
Wanda nervously glanced back-and-forth between their critically injured target, and the various critically ill patients downstairs.
"Save them," China told her.
Wanda rushed downstairs. China stood. She looked down at the young man on the floor.
He stared up at her with wide, blurry, confused eyes. His breathing grew more frantic by the second. Finally, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and, with a final exhausted agonized moan, he lost consciousness.
China smiled at his sleeping, burnt, ordinary face. "Welcome back to reality," she said, "Alex Pluto."
