-Michael-
Michael and Charlie stepped through the mysterious door, finding themselves in an entirely new locale. Rather than being stuck in a never-ending, looping hallway, the two ascenders of Tartarus were inside a library. Before them, a crimson carpet highlighted their path between colossal bookshelves that looked as if they spanned infinitely toward the western and eastern halves of the book room. The two followed the scarlet pathway until they found themselves in a more open area in comparison to the confined, claustrophobic path between bookshelves.
The carpet which they walked led to a wide staircase, then split into two paths going in opposing directions. Before the divergence, there was a wall with four paintings on it; three men and a woman. Beneath the paintings stood two human individuals, staring at the paintings as they were seemingly bickering with one another; however, the words exchanged between the two of them were inaudible for Michael and his mage companion.
When the door shut behind Michael and Charlie before disappearing, the two people at the top of the staircase turned around to face them. “Oh, thank god!” A woman, wearing a business jacket and skirt, stepped down the stairs to quickly greet their new guests. Her partner, a man wearing a black suit and tie, followed behind her reluctantly, sighing as he stepped forward.
“I was hoping to get another set of eyes to help us figure this puzzle out. My name is Susan and this is my husband, John.” The woman pointed toward herself and then her husband as she spoke. The two of them looked like the average white-collar workers, middle-aged with neat hairdos and expensive-looking clothing. They both shared the same brown hair color, looking more like siblings than a married couple.
John rolled his eyes and soughed loudly. "We don't need any more help, Susan! If you'd just let ME do all the work, then we would've already been done with this stupid puzzle!"
Susan placed her finger on her husband's chest, pressing it onto his tie with each word spoke. "I have been letting you do all the work for the last hour! You couldn't even figure out that hallway puzzle!"
John did the same, pressing his finger up against his wife's chest as he spoke. "I would've figured it out if I didn't have you complaining in my ear all day!" The man's voice then changed in pitch, one that was more closely in tune with his wife's. "Oh... My feet hurt... John, I can't go anymore... I wanna go home."
It was then that Michael and Mike came to a realization about not just the couple, but themselves as well.
This... this is how we sound, huh, kid?
"Yeah... Probably." Michael uttered. The married couple continued to go back and forth, forgetting that Michael and Charlie even existed. The mage and the half-demon looked at each other for a moment before directing their gazes back at the happy couple.
"Uh, excuse me. My name is Michael." Michael waved slightly before gesturing toward the mage. "This is Charlie. We met in the hallway puzzle... We could probably help with whatever puzzle has you guys stumped in here."
John crossed his arms and scoffed. "Tch. I unfortunately met this one twenty years ago." said John, pointing at his wife.
Susan's arms were crossed as well as she stood in a standoffish pose, offsetting her weight to her right side. "You know I can hear you, right?"
They're like the same person. They're perfect for each other. Mike whispered from inside their shared mind.
"How about we save the marital disputes for after we get past this puzzle? Thanks." Charlie interrupted.
"See, someone with sense!" said the wife, gesturing toward the mage.
"OKAY!" Michael clapped his hands together as he spoke. "So, does the puzzle have anything to do with those paintings over there or what?"
"I believe so." John said with a nod as the four of them began walking toward the aforementioned paintings.
Susan shrugged as they reached the steps. "We just don't know what it means."
John then stopped at the top of the steps, holding up his finger and wagging it above his head like a know-it-all. "I know exactly what it means! There are four paintings, right? There's also four of us."
"There's the handsome king." he proclaimed, pointing to himself with an ear-to-ear smile. "Then, of course, the lovely, alluring Queen..." As he spoke, he was looking at Charlie with a warped smile on his face. Charlie's entire face creased as they looked back at the man who had to have been double their age. 'Gross...' they thought.
"The Prince." John then pointed at Michael, leaving his wife with the only role that was left. "And the The Jester." He pointed to his wife, who clearly didn't find the humor in her husband's words as he held back his own laughter.
Michael and Charlie looked at each other once again, both clearly disgusted by the older man, before looking back at the paintings. "I don't think that's right. I think it has something to do with the bookshelves. Look." Michael pointed to the small bookshelves beneath the paintings, each having one noticeable detail.
"They’re all missing one book. That can’t be a coincidence, right?” Charlie asked.
John scratched his head. In his strange mind, this made less sense than his role assignment theory. “So they want us to find the missing books? How are we supposed to know what books go where? This place is way too big.”
“The King, the Queen, the Prince, the Jester. The books have to be related to that in some way. I’m sure the books have to stand out, right? We just have to look. I say we break off into pairs to cover more ground.” As Michael stared at the portraits, he noticed something strange about them. The Jester's mouth was faded, as were the Prince's ears, the Queen's eyes, and the top of the King's head. 'Weird.' he thought. 'Maybe it's just discoloration over time.'
"You're right. I'll go with the sexy magic lady over here..." John wrapped his hand around Charlie and pulled them in close. Without missing a beat, Charlie lifted their staff and placed it on John'sneck. "I have enough Mana for one more spell. Touch me again with your old, filthy hands and I'll send you to wherever the hell people go when they die in this place. Got it!?"
"Y- yes..." He mumbled as he looked down at his own two hands. "Old?"
Charlie scoffed before leading the way into the labyrinth of towering bookshelves. "Let's go, Michael."
'Charlie's so cool!' Michael thought, following behind them as they led the way.
Kid's got a fire in 'em. I wish I shared my body with him instead of your cowardly ass.
"Kill yourself." Michael whispered, low enough to where only Mike could hear.
How about you show me how it's done first, then maybe I'll give it a go.
Charlie and Michael meticulously searched the unending sea of bookshelves for any sort of book that stood out. However, all they found were books with blank covers and empty pages. After losing track of time once again, Charlie decided to pass the time with some small talk.
“So, where in California are you from?” Charlie asked. “You mentioned it before. I’m from the LA area.”
Michael was surprised to hear that they lived within a few hundred miles of one another. “For real? I’m from San Diego. We were pretty close, relatively speaking.”
“Yeah…" Charlie whispered, still looking up and down the bookshelves before asking yet another question. "You ever wonder why you ended up in Hell?”
Well, that was sudden.
“I uh…” Michael wasn’t sure if he should tell them about Mike and Petra. It all sounded so crazy, even when compared to everything that'd happened already, it would’ve sounded like a lie. “I have no clue. I used to go to church and stuff when I was younger, but when I became an adult I stopped.”
Charlie nodded, kicking their staff as they walked. “Mm. Same. After my dad died when I was little, I stopped believing in God. I thought since all of that praying Mom and I did to cure his cancer resulted in nothing, he must not be real. Or at least, I thought maybe God didn’t care about anyone. Maybe we were like a project God left on a shelf and forgot about. That’s why Earth became so lawless.”
Michael was taken aback for a moment. He hadn’t realized it until then, but he too had thoughts similar to this at some point in life. “I used to feel that way a lot too when I lost my brother. He was killed at school by some bullies… It was an accident, but I always wondered why God would allow it to ever happen in the first place. He was ten years old… A ten-year-old doesn’t deserve to die like that under any circumstances.”
Michael exhaled from his nostrils with a slight smile while shaking his head. “My parents used to say ‘God works in mysterious ways.’ or ‘That’s all part of God’s plan.’ or ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ but that never helped me cope. It just made me angrier. What was the reason my brother was murdered so young? What was the reason your father was taken from you? What was the reason for all the bad things happening all around the world? What was the reason for you and I being sent here…”
Michael then started chuckling to himself. “The crazy part is, I still believed in God this entire time. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I wanted to see my brother again one day, so I forced myself to believe in my religion… Look where that got me.” Despite knowing he was placed in Hell by mistake, it was still jarring to see just how inaccurate his idea of Heaven and Hell once was.
Charlie still searched the bookshelves and kicked their staff as they walked. “You know… Religion was first invented as a coping mechanism. You see it throughout all of history. Kings used religion for power, telling those beneath him that if they lived an honest life as a poor person, they’d be reincarnated into a better life. They did this to prevent any sort of revolution from happening. They were sold this idea that living a life as a peasant would only lead to a second, newer life as a rich man. Even in more modern times, we've seen it happen. American slaves used to believe that Jesus would save them after their death, that's why many turned to Christianity to cope with dire circumstances. When you believed that you could see your brother again, you were just experiencing the results of human nature.”
Michael stared blankly in front of him, hiding his lips in his mouth. “You’re right. Maybe we’re just coping right now thinking getting to the top will result in anything… Would you believe me if I said I spoke to an angel?”
Charlie thought he was joking, but when they saw Michael's face, they knew he was serious. Even so, Charlie was hesitant to assume he spoke factually. “I can’t say that I would.”
“Well, I was told by an angel that if we reach the top of Tartarus, we can sign an appeal that will then be sent to the higher-ups. whatever that means. There’s a chance it’ll get accepted and we can go to Heaven afterward.” Michael laughed again, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. “The thing is, the way she described Heaven and all of that just sounded like Earth 2.0. They all had jobs; I assume they worked for money because she was stressed about potentially getting fired. It made me wonder, what’s the point of all of this? But at the same time, I guess working an office job in Heaven beats eternal damnation.”
As Michael found himself lost in thought, he found himself stopped by Charlie's arm blocking his path. At the end of the aisle, a statue, which was painted to resemble a real human, was staring at them. Its eyes were cold, yet at the same time, they felt as if they were looking directly at them. At any moment, they felt as if those eyes would blink. However, that wasn't the only thing about it that was of note. It was holding a book, and upon that realization, the two of them understood what this statue represented. "The Prince!" Michael said as he grabbed the book from the statue's hands. "The Prince and the Sound of His Blade." Michael read aloud. "This has to be it, right?"
Charlie nodded. "I think so. Let's go see if it does anything beneath those paintings."
The two of them turned their backs to the statue and started toward the entrance. However, the sound of something grinding together caused the two of them to suddenly halt in their tracks. Slowly, the two Michael and Charlie turned around to see that the Prince had somehow changed positions.
“He wasn't like that before... was he?" Michael asked with his finger raised, looking at the Prince who then had his sword drawn. The sword was the only aspect of him that wasn't made of stone. His eyes, much like before, looked as if they were staring deep into Michael's soul. Unlike before, they weren't cold or lifeless, they were calculated and poised, staring at the two of them as if they were his enemies.
“Yeah, I think I would’ve noticed if it was.” Charlie added, holding their staff in a ready position.
The two of them backed away from it, only to then hear a rhythmic thumping sound behind them. They both turned around, only to find themselves blocked in by another statue, this one somehow looking even more livelier than the last.
Again, they could hear the statue behind them move.
DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF IT! Mike screamed from within their shared mind, halting Michael in his tracks as Charlie locked their eyes on the Prince.
“Shit, you’re right. It’s like that episode from that one show… what’s the name…” Michael whispered to Mike.
I think they called them Weeping Angels or somethin'.
"Yeah, that."
Hearing Michael talking to himself, Charlie asked, "What are you mumbling about?" As they spoke, they did not avert their eyes from the Prince.
"Nothing, keep your eyes on the Prince. I'll watch the Jester. Follow my lead."
Wow, look at you. Finally, some backbone now that you're in front of your crush. Mike was teasing his bodymate for finally letting go of his cowardly nature. However, Michael was still very much scared shitless, he simply pushed those feelings aside for the time being.
Michael and Charlie walked with their backs touching each other, their eyes locked onto both statues. "We're going to walk up to the Jester then turn right at the intersection, got it?" Michael instructed.
"Your right or my right?"
"My right."
"Alright." Charlie nodded, and at the same time, they blinked. Within those fractions of a second, the Prince moved forward with such speed, that it seemed as if it'd teleported ten feet forward. "EEEP! IT MOVED! I BLINKED AND IT MOVED!"
"It's okay. Just hold off blinking for as long as you can..." Michael's eyes became more poised as he focused on the Jester. From the outside, he seemed calm and collected. However, on the inside...
'I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.'
He continued leading the way with Charlie attached to his back. With every step, the urge to blink was growing more potent. In fact, after hearing Charlie's exclamation about the Prince's movements, the act of not blinking became ten times more difficult. Michael was in his own head.
You got this, Michael. Just a few more steps. Don't you dare fucking blink.
As Michael got closer to the Jester, the desire became all the more overwhelming. They were within fifteen feet of each other, and Michael could see the disgusting smile on his face. In his peripheral vision, he could see the intersection coming up. "Ten more steps, Charlie."
The two of them found themselves counting the steps in their head as they approached the intersection.
'Ten.'
'Nine.'
'Eight.'
'Seven.'
'Six.'
'Five.'
'Four.'
'Three.'
'Two.'
'One!'
Just before they could turn the corner, Michael blinked.
When his eyes opened, the Jester was mere inches from his face, compelling Michael to jolt in place before standing frozen with trembling eyes; he was so horrified, that he couldn't even make a sound. With that war hammer he held tightly in his hands, Michael struck the statue, only for his weapon to seemingly do nothing more than scratch it.
For a moment, he was stunned, staring back at the Jester's calculating eyes. However, what was most off-putting about the statue, was the smile. Its teeth; no, its entire mouth looked...human. Not just in shape or scale, it had the texture of a human's mouth. The skin on its lips looked as if they were taken right off of a man's face and its teeth appeared as if they'd been plucked straight from a corpse. They were slightly yellowing, Michael could even see remnants of food stuck in between some of the teeth. This was too realistic to be a statue, but what the hell was it?
Michael. You have to start moving. Despite not being the one in control of the body, Mike was truly scared stiff. After his years of serving the country, nothing came close to filling him with as much fear as this Jester just mere inches before him.
As Michael inched his way past it with Charlie still on his back, he turned the corner, still locking eyes with the Jester. As he passed by it, he could feel the hot air coming from its mouth as it breathed rhythmically, almost as if it were laughing silently. Once Michael and Charlie turned the corner, the Jester remained still as Charlie was the one staring at it as Michael led their path. However, they could hear the Prince's footsteps barreling toward them, only to stop when he was partially visible, peeking around the corner with those same poised eyes.
"Michael... I'm so fucking scared right now." Charlie whispered. Michael could feel Charlie's entire body vibrating on his back as they spoke.
"Me too. Just keep your eyes on them and don't blink unless they're already out of sight. We're gonna make it out of this. I won't let anything happen to us, I promise." Michael's words, though unbeknownst to Charlie, were empty promises. He had no idea how to defend himself from these creatures, let alone defend Charlie from them. Even so, if it came down to it, he would try to fight, despite only having five Health Points remaining.
Seeing Michael's sudden valiant attitude only led Mike to a single conclusion. 'So that's what keeps him going. He needs something to protect. Interesting.'
Michael and Charlie continued walking with their backs connected until they reached the main hall of the library, the area with the stairs and the paintings. "We made it." Michael whispered, still leading their way. He could see John standing in front of one of the bookshelves. Upon closer inspection, Michael could see that the gap beneath the Jester's painting had been filled. "Good shit, John!" Michael yelled out. "John found another book, Charlie!"
Charlie didn't respond. Their eyes were locked onto the bookshelves where the statues came from. They could see the Jester and the Prince, leering at them from between the gaps in the bookshelves. They knew that if they were to blink, the statues would close the gap in an instant. With everything Charlie had, they refused to close their eyes. However, over time, they couldn't take it anymore. "Michael. I need to blink. Please, look over my shoulder for just a few seconds."
"Okay..." Michael turned his head, watching the Prince and the Jester stare back at him. "I'm looking."
Immediately, Charlie blinked a dozen times, resting their eyes. The statues did not move, compelling Charlie to take a deep breath. "Alright. I'm good now."
Michael turned his neck and started for the bookshelf. John was standing still, in fact, he hadn't moved a muscle since Michael first saw him. "Yo! John! You good?" Michael asked as he placed the Prince's book where it belonged beneath his portrait.
Still, John did not move.
Michael grabbed John by the shoulder, "Hey, John?" he asked as he pulled John's body. As if Michael's touch somehow knocked him out of a trance, John's body went limp and fell to the ground like a lifeless corpse.
"John?" Michael knelt over John's unconscious body and all the while Charlie stared at their stalkers. Michael then flipped over John's body and instantly reeled himself back in fear, letting out a gut-wrenching scream as he bumped into Charlie, nearly knocking them over.
Christ...
For just a second, Charlie glanced over at John's body, feeling a jolt pass through their body, before looking back at the stalkers with wide, trembling eyes, covering their own mouth as tears began to pool over their hand. Charlie's whimpers were muffled as they locked gazes with the statues that moved ever so closer in the one second they looked away from them. However, Charlie's tears weren't rushing down their face due to the impending doom in front of them. It was because of what they saw during the split-second they looked at John's body.
With his entire body still quivering, Michael was frozen in fear, still looking down at John's body.
John's face was mutilated, both his upper and lower jaw appeared as if they were torn from his face. It was then that Michael realized why the Jester's smile was so disturbing. Slowly, his eyes found the Jester, who was still smiling sinisterly at him and Charlie.
That smile that adorned its face, whose teeth and lips were unnaturally life-like wasn't his own.
It was John's.
