| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The group hurried into the woods, Rani at the lead. Oscar soon recognized that they were heading to the same clearing he and Alfie had found a cell phone in earlier. As they got close, the group slowed, listening for signs of the wolf-man but they were only greeted with birdsong and the sound of insects. Creeping closer, they saw what appeared to be an empty, perfectly ordinary clearing, though Rani was quickly able to confirm the portal was still there, currently invisible to the naked eye and looking much the same as it had when she left.
"This is where Alfie and I found Bryce Campbell's phone. I don't see a portal."
Oscar looks at Rani expectantly.
"It's invisible, or we'd have even more problems," Rani said as she picked up a stick and poked it through the opening. She really hoped that this wasn't the kind of portal that didn't accept non-living stuff, in part because it was going to make the clothing situation really awkward and partially because she was bout to look super dumb.
Oscar nods, accepting an invisible portal in the middle of the woods.
"Where does it lead?"
When Rani poked the portal, the stick started to get sucked in. It was slow enough to give her plenty of time to let go, but once it started, no amount of pulling would stop it.
"OK..." Rani murmured, as she yanked on the stick and then let go. She was glad she hadn't stuck a leg in now. "Apparently once you go in you're going through or you're losing an arm. As for where it goes..." She shrugged. "The girl's on that side and that's all I really know."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Taryn scowls, "Nothing's gonna bring her back for us."
After a pause a beat longer than she'd planned, Taryn steps into the portal.
The wolf bared its fangs in a predatory grin as it looked down at her, a low gravelly chuckle emitting from it. From all around, its voice seemed to rumble through her.
You wish you enter my domain, little pup? You'll be eaten alive. You may be the biggest fish in your little pond, but you're entering the ocean now. The chuckle came again, making the world tremble and shake. But I suppose I'm bored enough I could lend a hand. It *might* be interesting. Odin knows it's the only hope you have.
The might beast suddenly lunged forward, transforming into a hurricane gale. Taryn could feel it slamming against her, trying to find any way in.
The rest of the group saw Taryn step into the middle of the clearing. The air around her cracked much like she was stepping through a pane of glass. A moment later, she was gone along with the visual distortion, leaving a perfectly ordinary-looking clearing, though Rani could see that the portal remained as it was.
"Huh," Rani said, a little caught offguard that Taryn had simply entered. "I guess we're done waiting, then. See you boys on the other side." Taking a deep breath to cover the trembling Rani stepped through.
Oscar stares at the spot where Taryn and then Rani walked into nothingness. He swallows once, twice, and then looks over at Ahmad, but he looks away before he can meet the man's eyes.
Will going through this portal be anything like when he passed through the mirror when he was a boy? Will it be worse? Will his reflection follow him? What will happen to it if it doesn't?
Putting his hands in his coat pockets so that they don't shake, he lowers his head and runs through the portal.
Ahmad watches each one of the hunters enter the portal.
What the hell is he doing here? He's just a high school teacher. He can serve as a meat shield, he can throw a punch, and he can drive a van. Are there vans on the other side? Or just some weird sludge world?
He sends a message to Fatima: 'mom, a friend of a friend is having a major breakdown. It's in that town nearby, I'm driving now and will probably sleep there tonight. Love you so much, keep safe and don't go out at night, ok? xoxo'
He takes another step and a deep breath. Phone still in hand, he sends a message to a psychic hotline: 'Should I step through this portal?'
He laughs bitterly — "how long will I keep fooling myself?" — and steps through the portal before the reply arrives.
The woman spoke, her voice a cool caress across the blistering heat on Rani's skin. Though she spoke in no language Rani recognized, somehow the Hunter instinctually knew what was being said.
Little flame, you wish to enter my realm? You will be snuffed out like a candle. Though you have the spark of potential, it is still but a small ember. But perhaps I could stoke it into a blaze. At least while you are my guest. Without seeming to move a muscle, she rushed towards Rani, enveloping her in a furnace of flames.
The man spoke first in his deep, honeyed voice. "What's this then? A new comer to the party. Well how marvelous. You absolutely must let me show you around. Introduce you to all the big-wigs and such. It would be positively inhospitable to let you go in just to get egg on your face."
The woman's voice, in contract, was jagged and sharp, much like the cracking and splintering that seemed to accompany her exit from what was now more clearly a reflection-less mirror rather than a portrait. "Don't be ridiculous; the boy will something a bit sharper than your tongue if he is to survive the dangers of our world." She held up a large knife, blood still dripping along its razor-sharp edge to punctuate her point. "Only I will be able to protect you from what is to come."
Each figure grabbed one of Oscar's arms and began to try to force him to come to them. The man's grip was surprisingly firm despite the oily slick feeling of his hands. He feel the substance starting to flow up along his arm in an attempt to engulf him, much as the black ooze he had seen before. On his other side, the woman's hands felt like they were digging shards of glass into him, threatening to flay the skin from his body.
Your sight is too limited. You have already tasted but a fraction of the power those in my world possess. Alone, you will not be enough to halt the oncoming tide. I have seen as much in a thousand different possibilities. Your only chance is if you join with me.
With that, and inky blackness shot from the man and started to engulf Ahmad, attempting to turn all to darkness.
This was…actually pretty close to what Ahmad was expecting. The void, cryptic sludge-people, promises of power beyond imagination—he had watched enough fantasy movies to know the drill.
Most of all, he knew that it was always a bad idea to strike a deal with forces beyond his ken. And yet, the blind man just seemed so trustworthy. Ahmad wasn't ready for that. Perhaps it was the skin colour, perhaps it was the white robes, perhaps the funny accent. Or perhaps Ahmad was just in a really desperate mood.
However he later justified his decision, the fact remained that, this time, he didn't fight back. He would have definitely appreciated some foreplay, but Ahmad welcomed the man anyway.
1. Dorian Gray
2. Welcome it
Whether they liked it or not, each Hunter found the force they were faced with rush into them with a surge of power and a blinding flash of light. A moment later, as they blinked the after images from their eyes, they found themselves in a place very different from the clearing in the woods where they had first entered the portal.
They each found themselves sprawled in a grungy alleyway near each other. The racid smell of garbage from a nearby dumpster assaulted their noises along with the less concentrated scent of car exhaust. A few blocks away they could hear the honking of horns and cursing of annoyed drivers stuck in gridlock. The air was warm and thick with humidity as the dark sky above grumbled, threatening to unload its heavy burden at any moment.
Neon signs from either end of the dark alleyway hummed as the tall lights of skyscrapers stretched far above. Graffiti animals with large eyes and too wide smiles stared down from the walls at the group as an image of a tophat seemed to wink at them over the phrase "Take your heart". The artwork and the motionless fifth body lying a few dozen paces from where the Hunters new Rifts now found themselves seemed to be their only company for the moment.
Well, that wasn't the most fun experience she'd ever had, but it wasn't the worst. At least it hadn't resulted in her being taken over or something like last time. Still, Rani felt weird in ways that she couldn't place. Something just felt really off with her body, and glancing down she realised that she was in some kind of gown. A seafoam green dress flowed to the ground, golden silk patterns woven in, leaving her hair down and her back bare almost the waist as the material looped around her neck instead. For some reason she seemed to have misplaced the shoes that went with it, but if a dress like this had heels with it that was probably for the best.
Rani shook her head, and tried to call up her magic to find the kid they were here for. There was no point worrying about the whole 'getting home' thing until then, but with a little luck she could use the same spell to find there way back, to another portal if needs must.
Except the spell didn't work. No, it didn't not work - there was nothing there to work with. No magic came at her call, and Rani searched for the little golden book that gave her power. Nothing, and this ****ing dress didn't exactly have pockets galore. Why the hell was she even wearing something like this? It was a damned death trap.
Panicking a little, Rani bent to move some piece of detritus out of the way - and her hand phased through it. She tried again, and again.
It was at this point that it hit her, why her body felt weird. She wasn't breathing. Her heart wasn't beating. Her bare feet didn't feel cold on the ground, the wind didn't bite her exposed skin.
"Uh, guys," she said as she stood up slowly. "I, uh, I think I'm a ghost. Like, a dead ghost. I think I'm dead?" The last question was asked with more than little bit of panic.
Ahmad finally wakes up, shakes his head and opens his eyes. Then, he tries opening them again. That’s funny, this really isn’t working, is it?
“Where the hell are we? And why is it so dark in here?”
He stands up, surprised at how well he can keep his balance even in the dark. Oscar, Rani and Taryn see not the slightly chubby counsellor of Sioux High, but an older and wrinklier version of Ahmad wearing much more austere clothing: a black suit with a white shirt, both clearly very expensive. Perhaps the biggest change of all, however, is how his eyes seem covered by a milky white membrane.
Before he can say anything else, his brain is inundated with images, sounds and smells: the alley where they are standing right now, but also in a few moments and also in a month and in a year, all meshed together: the corpse, someone writing something on the wall, a small altar someone will put up where the body was found, a dog giving birth to five puppies (one stillborn) and who knows what more because Ahmad almost passes out right there and then.
Oh, wait, that’s important.
“Oscar, roll to the left or the rat will pee on you. You won’t get sick but it will take days to get the smell off your clothes.”
Oscar rolls to the left to avoid any incoming rat urine, and smoothly finishes the roll on his hands and knees. He finds himself staring at his face reflected in a puddle of (hopefully) water, his image lit up by a neon sign at the end of the alley. He right away notices his fancy and outlandish clothes (is that a top hat and cape? A domino mask, really?), but what really strikes him is his skin. It's... flawless. There are no scars or marks, and while he appears to be the same age, he somehow looks incredibly youthful.
"Thank yo--" he starts to say to Ahmad, but stops. When he repeats himself, it's to listen to how rich his voice has become.
"Thank you." It's the voice of someone used to talking, and used to being listened to. It's hard to voice his usual monotone with this practiced articulation.
"I'm as solid as I can be," he continues, proving as much by picking up a silver-handled cane as he gets to his feet. "I don't think we're ghosts. Or, at least, not all of us."
Rani held out her hand towards the vaguely more impressive Oscar. "Want to check my pulse?"
Oscar nods and steps over to Rani's outstretched arm. He tries to gently hold her wrist, using his thumb to search for a pulse.
Oscar didn't find a pulse, or anything else of substance. Just a sensation of cold that made any hair near it stand on end. Rani pulled her hand back sharply because the sensation for her was even stranger, as Oscar's hand passed through her flesh.
"Well, you're intangible, certainly, although more amicable than any ghost I've ever heard of.
"Ahmad, you're not a ghost, but you look much closer to being one than before the portal. What did that thing do to us?
"And who is that?" Oscar moves to inspect the motionless body that he doesn't recognize.
Oscar’s voice rescues Ahmad from a maelström of possibilities and futures. Part of him wants to say hallucinations, but he knows better know—oh, boy, he knows much better than he actually wanted to.
“I…wouldn’t know, to be honest. If I look like a ghost, I mean. I think I’m blind…?” Paradoxically, he takes his phone from his pocket and stares at it. “I think they're calling me.”
The first obvious thing about the body on the ground was that it was dead, clearly via a bullet wound in the middle of its forehead. The next thing Ahmad noticed was that he knew the man. Despite the heavy 5 o'clock shadow and bags under his eyes, it was clearly Bryce Campbell. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be his spirit on the other side of the phone call.
"Well, well, Mr. Elmohtar. Don't tell me you didn't see this coming." whoever was on the other line was clearly using some kind of voice modification software. "Emails setting up a meet, cameras showing you and your 'All Seeing Eyes' entering the alleyway, and now a dead body. I would get running; the police are already on their way and things certainly don't look good for you..." As if on cue, the group started to hear the sound of approaching police sirens. They had a minute, if that before they'd be here.
Ahmad frowns, confused. He needs to take care of the others—he knows that a part of him knows more than they do and that they depend on him, but he cannot access that part. Not right now, at least. So, with the full wit of a helpless high school teacher out of his depth, he stutters a reply before closing the call.
“Uh, sorry, wrong number, pal.”
Well, at least that closed down a few possible futures. There’s less to choose from and less to look at.
“So, hey, uh, folks? We, well, someone’s set us up. It’s going to look real bad if the police finds us here. Also, that’s Bryce. He’s dead. The police will put his body in a black bag that looks like just a regular trash bag but is much thicker. The woman who will put him in the bag will have a problem with alcohol; mezcal, of all things…” Ahmad continues giving more details about the woman until someone interrupts him.
As Ahmad continued to babble, the sound of the police sirens was getting closer and closer.
"Elmohtar, stop talking. If we've been set up, then we need to move. We need to find a place to hole-up and figure things out. If you discover anything new about yourselves as we flee -- such as being a ghost or being blind -- call it out.
"This way."
Oscar heads to the end of the alley opposite of where the sirens seem loudest. At the end of the alleyway, he scans the street for threats, observers, or a likely place to flee.
Oscar suddenly turns back, checks Bryce's pockets for any ID or anything else interesting, and then heads back to the alley entrance.
Oscar gave Bryce's body a quick pat-down, grabbing the man's wallet and a set of keys before heading down the alley. The end opened up into a somewhat grungy-looking street. There were some dozen people on the sidewalks as well as the occasional car. They mostly looked like they were hurrying to get somewhere before the sky decided to unleash its load of water, a few people opting to wait out the oncoming storm in one of the businesses lining the road. In the immediate vicinity seemed to be a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, a laundromat, a hair salon, a florist, and the dive bar the neon light the group had seen belonged to. One street over could be heard the honking of horns were, at the very least, there would likely be more vehicle traffic.
"Elmohtar. You can see things now, correct? Do the pizza place or the bar have a back door?"
Oscar turns to Rani. "Can you pass through walls?"
Rani pushed her hand into the wall and recoiled with a shudder. "I...guess? I don't think I want to. I can't feel much, whatever is going on, but I can feel that. It doesn't feel good."
Ahmad blinks.
“I cannot really see. Not with my eyes, at least. But…I…know things…before they happen?” He turns to the pizza joint, hears the pizzaiola spreading the dough. “She will be very tired in about two hours and will go out for a smoke and then…”
“Oh, the poor thing, she is going to get scared and burn herself. But she might also get a call and it’s girlfriend dumping her? But that depends, the girlfriend is still thinking about it…and I still cannot see the door.” His head hurts, his attention shifts to another strand of fate. “Wait. The hairdresser. He will lie to the cops, if we ask nicely. I see him going out a backdoor.”
Removing his top hat and domino mask, Oscar crosses the street and goes into the indicated door. He'll order a martini/slice of pizza and whatever Ahmad and Rani want. He'll remove the cash from Bryce's wallet where the cashier can't see and pay for the order with that. Then he'll grab a table where he can see the alleyway through a window.
"I don't want to stay here long. We are too close to the alley, I know. But I don't want us to be running around an unfamiliar city and get spotted by any police cars heading this way. If we see any police coming here, we can dash out the back.
"Now. Do either of you have any theories about what in the Hell is going on?"
Looking at the pizza, Rani tried hopefully to eat it. It didn't work any better than expected.
Sighing sadly and pushed the plate away, or rather through the plate more exactly. She tried to think what might have happened.
The first thing Rani noticed was that the magic here seemed...different. More potent perhaps? Definitely more omnipresent. While she had seen many types of magic in her travels, and even the odd ley line, this magic seemed quite different. Almost like a tune that had been transposed into a different key. At the very least, they probably weren't on the same plane of existence as before.
The second thing Rani noticed was the distinct tang of death that hung around not only herself, but her companions as well. Looking at both Oscar and Ahmad, she noticed both seemed to have a slightly glowing circle in the middle of their foreheads about the size of a bullet.
A third oddity apparent to all the group was that at one of the tables near the back corner seemed to be a human-sized white rabbit, impatiently thumping his foot while he waited for his food to come. As experienced monster hunters, the existence of such a creature wasn't odd so much as the fact that no one else seemed to be giving the fellow a second look.
Ahmad welcomes the chance to sit down: it was a very exhausting experience to be blind, but at the same time know exactly where each possible movement would lead him. He doesn’t order anything, ready to take Rani’s plate when she pushes it away.
“So. We went through that portal. I remember seeing…some dude. Or hallucinating? He was like me, but older and had that sort of creepy, milky white eyes you see in films, you know? And then, well, when I woke up I was blind? So I guess I am him? Did something like that happen to you too?”
Noticing the white bunny, Ahmad takes a bit off his pizza.
“Oscar, you’ll turn around in six seconds, see a giant bunny and wonder whether you should talk to him. I think you should. Don’t mention Alice, he’ll get offended.”
Rani looked at the white rabbit in confusion, but it wasn't hurting anyone. It just seemed to want dinner. Since it didn't seemed inclined to make the server dinner, she wasn't sure what she should be doing. Leaving it alone seemed like a good idea, but Ahmad was predicting the future now. Which seemed more concerning than the bunny, really.
"Something like that, yeah. I guess if that's true the me here...died." It explained a lot, like where her shoes went. "So, I guess that's why I can sense death. And, uh, not just around me. You boys feel like it too, and have a mark on your heads. I guess if I could see my head I'd have one too, but there are all sorts of problems checking that out."
Looking sadly at the pizza Ahmad had taken, she added, "All I'm really certain of is that we changed reality when we cross over. Magic itself feels different here, from what little I can still access. Pretty much all my old powers are gone. I don't think the me here ever got them, which is is probably part of how this," she waved a hand through the table, "Happened."
"Something similar happened to me, also. I chose the option that didn't have to do with my reflection, but it was a decision made out of fear. Maybe it wasn't the right option.
"I... I can see... I think I can see past lives. The first life I can remember had an extraordinary painting of my past self that protected him from the harm of a decadent life, but somehow it did not turn out well for him. A curse, maybe? He only lived to be 20 years old. And then every life since then has had the painting reappear somehow, and to the same affect. Protection, but an early death. Unless he gives up his worldly ways, which has adds years to his life. Lives.
"But I can't see this life. I have no idea who I've "replaced" right now. But I think I have a painting of myself somewhere out there, and I think the painting has to do with the option I took when we came through Rani's portal."
Something catches Oscar's attention out of the corner of his eye. He turns to look at someone sitting at a table in the far corner, but then:
“Oscar, you’ll turn around in six seconds, see a giant bunny and wonder whether you should talk to him. I think you should. Don’t mention Alice, he’ll get offended.”
Oscar pauses for a second to find the words that he wants to use.
"I absolutely hate that you can do that. I'll be right back."
Oscar walks over to the table where the rabbit sits.
"Hello. May I bother you for a moment? My friends and I are from out of town, and we'd like to talk to someone who knows what this town is really like."
Leg still thumping a mile a minute, the rabbit pulled out a pocket watch and checked it. When he spoke, it was a stream of words all tumbling to get out as quickly as possible. "What's to know? This place has the best pizza even if they take forever." The waitress gave an exaggerated eye-roll before topping up the man's almost empty mug of coffee. "Antionio's has the best subs. People swear by Doug's Deli but Katz is the real star. Never go to Simon's Fish Shop unless you need to empty your bowels quick. Moonlight Latttes is an overpriced scam. And if you believe anybody who says Mama Ling's Noodles are anything more than styrofoam drowning in sauce, I have a timeshare to sell you." He paused just long enough to gulp down his fresh cup of joe before starting to twist and turn in his seat, apparently looking for either his food or for the waitress to top him up again.
"That's not exactly what I meant." Oscar looks around to see who might be listening. When he thinks he can speak when only the rabbit can hear him, he leans forward and speaks in a quiet, intense voice.
"You are a rabbit the size of a man, and nobody thinks that's out of place. I have two companions back there with some unusual qualities that nobody seems to notice, and I think that your situation and our situation are related. But since we are not from around here, we don't know what's going on. Are you able to explain this to us?"
Two seconds before Oscar points at their table, Ahmad begins waving.
“I hope they come over. I can see them coming over, not coming over, and the bunny kicking Oscar in the groin.”
"That sounds...headache inducing," Rani said slowly. Although there was something to be said for a headache right now - she hadn't felt anything since she'd arrived. The silence, the nothing she felt from her body - or whatever this was housing her thoughts - was so disconcerting.
The rabbit have a half-shrug that looked more like a caffeine-induced twitch. "Oh that. I mean, not really? I don't think anyone really knows what causes someone to Awaken or what force it is that keeps the Sleepers from noticing. It just sort of...happens and life goes on. I'll tell you though, mine gave me a beast of an appitite. Sure, I can run like the wind, but man oh man, the calories I gotta consume. I thought for sure this'd make me top of the delivery game, but I seem to run through every dollar I earn as quickly as I make it."
As if to prove his point, two extra large pizzas arrive at the table. As he immediately begins stuffiing the contents of one down his throat he starts checking the other against a greasy receipt he pulled out of his jeans pocket. Through a half-full mouth, he mumbles, " 'm Shiro Nakamura 'v 'ite Rabbit 'elivery." From another pocket he tossesd a business card in Oscar's general direction. The card was fairly barebones, simply showing an icon of a running hare with a phone number printed below it in a slightly crooked font. Swallowing his mouthful he added, "Fastest delivery in the city. We can get you just about anything if you're willing to pay for it."
Shiro started to rise and get his gear in order. He still had 3/4ths of the pizza he had been working on left, but it was clear once he had finished that, he planned get to delivering the second one.
"'Sleepers' and the 'Awakened,' eh? Thanks for that." Oscar pockets Shiro's card, and then looks over his shoulder to check the alley's entrance through the window and to see if Rani or Ahmad have any questions before Shiro disappears.
Through the window Oscar could see figures moving in the alleyway, vaguely lit by an odd combination of the neon lights from the bar and the flashing blue of police lights. A couple of uniformed officers were stationed at the near-end of the alleyway to keep away any curious bystanders. It seems a little as if this might have been an unnecessary precaution; if anything the few passerbys seemed to hurry a little faster on their way, avoiding making eye contact or doing anything to draw attention to themselves.
As the first few drops of rain started to fall from the sky, the beat up old tv in the corner of the pizza joint playing the news switched to a scene press conference with a woman dressed in a sharp business suit. The scrolling text at the bottom of the screen read 'CEO Sarah Queen announces breakthrough in clean energy technology. Queen Consolidated stock skyrockets.' Even though she seemed to be using her maiden name, Rani and Ahmad easily recognized the woman as Sarah Campbell, Alice's mother. Though the professional confidently addressing the crowd of reporters seemed a far cry from the distraught housewife the two had been talking to earlier.
Just then, there was a whoop from the entrance of the joint as three figures took refuge from the now pouring rain.
"Damnnnn, those pigs're lucky this jacket's new or I'd teach 'em ta show proper respect, coming in ta Hatter territory." The speaker pulled off his leather jacket and dramatically shook rain water off of it and all over the patrons at the table next to him.
"You think that stiff's one of ours?" Another, a woman, asked, casually picking up a slice of pizza from a different table and munching thoughtfully on it.
"Well, if it ain't, I'm sure we'll be hearing soon who we have ta teach some manners to." The third made a 'scoot' gesture to an occupied table, which quickly cleared out for the trio.
A few of the customers near the back of the place hurriedly threw a few bills on the table before exiting through the back door as the sole waitress of the place put on a fake smile and moved to take the newcomer's orders. She waited as two of them started to argue about pineapple on pizzas while the third casually strolled to some of the back tables and began pocketing the bills that had been thrown down.
Oscar's eyes narrow as he studies the newcomers. Do they have any unifying symbol or colors? And if so, does Oscar remember seeing these colors on Bryce's corpse?
Oscar finishes sitting down at the table with Rani and Ahmad. He takes a deep, steadying breath before speaking.
"I know that we're trying to lay low, but..."
Listening to the TV, Ahmad raises an eyebrow.
“So…I guess we are in some sort of alternate reality? This world’s Sara is doing well, I’m happy for her.”
He then tries to focus on Oscar and trying to find a future in which the man actually finishes his sentence, but apparently there isn’t one.
“You think we should come over to the Hatters and make friends? That’s a wonderful idea.
“Actually…isn’t that woman over there lieutenant Provost, the one that was taking care of the murder site back in Sioux Falls? Should I go over? Rani, do they have the marks on their heads like us?”