I stood upon a stage of varnished wooden planks. Tall curtains of vibrant purple sat on the wings, while a large row of bright lights arched above me on metal scaffolding. A darkened amphitheatre stretched out before me, rows of plush red seats barely lit by the glow radiating across from the true star of the show - me.
A good sixty to seventy of the seats were filled with an enraptured audience. Faceless and dull—but then again—from this perspective, they usually were. I could see the icons on the closest… Dazzle, but different. Red instead of the usual gray icon.
While the soft tunes of some harmony filled me with comfort, I started by giving them a bow. It was only natural. From my head, I removed my hat and made the show of proving that it was currently empty. Hand inside and I withdrew a ceramic vase, much larger than could fit inside the headwear. The counter on their icons rose by one and they squirmed in appreciation.
Then, I flourished my cape to reveal a chair placed upon the stage. I placed the vase down on it with utmost care. From my sleeve, I withdrew a sheet of canvas - although it appeared as a deep purple velvet. The show must go on. With a flourish, I unraveled it and obscured the set pieces from the audience. Gave them a wide grin and raised eyebrow.
It was hard to tell how much they were enjoying it, given that they had no facial features to gauge. A couple had passed out already, clearly the fanfare and performance a little too much for their sensibilities.
I flashed the held curtain away to reveal no chair - just the vase hanging in midair. Another distracting flash to obscure and then the vase had gone, but the chair returned. A few more audience members collapsed from their seating.
And now I had drawn the attention of a late-comer. From the gloom of the back of this faux auditorium, two bright blue orbs revealed themselves. I shot a glance to the side to see Roger standing with his arms crossed. No longer inhabiting a corpse, I saw his true form for the first time.
For all intents and purposes, he was a large, bipedal white rabbit. Eyes still pits of purple energy, but the rest of him was soft fur - although the scowl across his face dispelled any notion of calling him cute. With a potential heckler making themselves present, I might need security to step in a crack a few skulls.
But my show-smile didn’t waver, and I returned to my captive audience… as that’s what they were - captive. Unable to do anything more than sit and observe, or pass out, it seemed. Oh, now I understood it. Even as my active mind considered the next part of my act, at the back I started to piece together the underlying workings of whatever fresh hell I had wrought upon my existence.
Dazzle now did damage every time a new stack was added. Somehow, I had activated my own Domain, and this was the result.
I turned to face my back toward the audience, my cape briefly obscuring the view of the chair as I picked it up - only to turn around to find that it was gone and instead I held the vase again. Some fucking applause would be nice, but I’d make do.
As more figures dropped from their seating, the Siren came more into view. She was large, almost as wide as the building we were in… her face twenty feet across if I had the wits to guess. The bright blue eyes sat in sunken pits of pale flesh, and she resembled a waterlogged corpse more than the false beauty I had been expecting. Sharp teeth as long as my arm extended from blackened gums. Giant hands clawed at the wall, dragging herself forward.
I’d need to wrap this up.
Vase placed on the ground. I reached in and drew out a long spear. Took a few strides away and stabbed the sharp end into the stage, splintering wood but keeping it steady. Maintenance crew would kill me. I clicked my fingers and a hell-dove flew out of the vase and came to perch at the top of the spear shaft. Confident strides took me around the stage, plucking up the vase along the way.
Tipped it and a dozen tomatoes fell out. Click of my fingers and the bird flew back inside. With one last smile towards the waning crowd, I tossed the vase high into the air.
It tumbled back to an empty stage and shattered - to reveal a figure that stretched out. The figure was me, of course. Invisible until the point of impact, where I switched places with the dove as the vase split apart. I stood tall and stretched my arms out wide, welcoming applause.
A dozen faceless figures fell down dead, barely a handful of skeptics left seated still. The Siren moved closer, a horrifying tongue stretching from her mouth like a thick tentacle, weaving through the rows of seating. Way too long for a tongue. Desire in her eyes to consume me and be rid of this odd place.
But this was my house.
Even without the bask of adoration, I felt content in this pose in front of my audience wowed to death. It had never really been about my mother, but I felt this was the show I needed to put on for her. One last send-off. A love that no longer pained me, knowing that I had grown into this. Still, I had one last trick to pull off to truly close that chapter.
From inside my jacket, I withdrew my magic deck of cards. The etched design shimmered in this lighting, and the white rabbit on it practically pulsed with power.
Chairs buckled and shifted away from the weight of the large monster and probing tongue. I noted that she had no red Dazzle icons - able to resist the power of my Domain. Very rude.
“This was one of her favorites,” I said with a smile. Quiet enough, but it carried through the building. From the pack, I withdrew the whole deck. Each card just as pristine and vibrant as the day I received them.
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I held the whole deck in my right hand, only now realizing I had been wearing white gloves for this performance. Thumb at the bottom of the deck, index and middle on the top.
“Fifty-two card pickup isn’t much of a trick…” Purple lightning arced around my body, the glow of my power flickering across the reflective stage. “But I can think of no more perfect
The words came from my mouth as if I was reciting from a script. All natural despite how abnormal this whole situation was. The cards flexed as I tightened my grip, before bursting and spraying forth.
However, instead of fluttering to the floor in a mess, they flashed purple and zipped out into the air. Each card repeating the same action. Control was… difficult. They pelted the seating arrangements, taking out the remaining fingers of the Siren, shredding fabric, and splitting wood. I curved them around, circling and spinning them like a tornado of sharp demonic energy.
The Siren was perhaps even more surprised than I was. Eyes wide at my attack, they flinched away as dozens of cards started to cut and slice into her.
“Cursed shitling!” She growled, attempting to push through the torrent of energy, but only receiving more cuts in the process.
Left hand gripped at my right wrist as my hand twitched and cramped. Crimson soaked through the white fabric of the glove as I maintained composure. It wasn’t enough. My suit fabric frayed and peeled back from my hand, charring at the edges before the ashes dropped to the floor.
She was starting to panic now, no escape from my whirlwind of destruction. I felt cool despite the pain radiating through my arm. It was bare now and I could see crimson lines running down it, my own flesh starting to strip away from the bone at the amount of power I could barely wield.
Still… this is what I was made for. As I watched the monster slowly die, her tongue severing, eye bursting, blood streaming down her pale face, I had become the peak Max. Showman, Demon Hunter, and Demon itself all together as one whole piece. Fully concentrated efforts. All to erase this living demi-god.
The cards now went beyond piercing flesh as the Siren grew too exhausted to fight back. With one last push of energy, I drew all fifty-two cards back and then pushed forward with all I had. Bone split and cracked. Brain destroyed.
My vision flickered on and off. Cards vanished away. I collapsed on the stage into a pool of my own blood. Lights went off.
----------------------------------------
There were no dreams in this darkness, but after some time, light pricked at my aching eyes. Between the stage and wherever I was now, nothing occurred. It would almost disappoint me if I wasn’t in so much pain. My face was pressed against rough sand. Not even warm and comforting. My body soaked through and cold. As I tried to right myself, I could not—but I coughed up a lungful of water instead.
I groaned and tried to blink away the blur in my eyes. Any notion that I had washed ashore somewhere with amnesia and would have to punch trees for survival was soon snapped away as my brain realized I was in the familiar dungeon setting again. Not the crab room - not large enough. Couldn’t really move my hands or head to see much other than the rocky wall ahead of me.
Soft footsteps pattered down a hallway and a familiar figure in a soft blue suit slid across the light sand and into the doorway.
“Max!”
A pulse of healing washed through me, and I smiled. She rushed over me, dropping to her knees to lift me to rest against her. She gave my head a quick kiss before cradling me. I had gone through hell to grasp at this brief heaven. A mood quickly muted as her warm tears struck my face.
“I’m okay,” I said, even my mouth feeling sore.
“The fuck you are.” She squeezed me a little harder, although not all of me could feel the action.
My brow furrowed, and I looked down at my right arm. White and red ribbons covered it, obscuring it from… oh, no. That was my flesh and blood. Another wave of her healing flooded my being and some of the wounds started to close. The damage I had done to myself was… extensive. I wasn’t sure I wanted to move it, even if I could.
More noises as the rest of them caught up.
“Sorry if I worried you,” I managed, unable to see her face from this angle.
“You did, you asshole. Why do you keep doing this?”
A wide smile across my face, but my eyes started running with tears of my own. “I will always suffer twice as much if it means you are okay.” The world didn't work that way, but I could pretend that it did. Pluck any malady intended for the elf and take it on myself.
“Dickbag,” she whispered, giving me a squeeze again.
My eyes went up to the chat messages she had sent when I was busy being fucking ridiculous.
[Ren: Don’t you fucking do this]
[Ren: Where are you?]
[Ren: I love you too]
[Ren: don’t leave me]
[Ren: that’s selfish but]
[Ren: I need you]
I shut it down and closed my eyes. Exhausted, but about as far from wanting a sleep as possible. Feeling started to come back to my arm, and with it the flare of constant pain.
“Fuck me,” Tanya said, her shadowed figure blocking the light. “You look like you stuck your arm in an industrial grinder.” Although her words were making light of the situation, her tone was dead serious.
“Is it recoverable?” Ren asked.
Tanya sucked at her teeth, something I’d usually hear when I was about to be over-quoted for some repairs. “I’m no doctor, but we’ll do everything we can. Can only do this once per day…”
I’d worked out how her idol Class ability worked. Five gray ones normally. She’d combined hers with mine to create a silver one. Extrapolating from that, three would make gold? Against my chest she pressed one that was made from radiant diamond. She moved my limp left hand over to keep the idol in place.
Ren’s fingers ran through my hair. My hat must be somewhere else.
From behind her, the worried amber eyes of Wolf and the panicked expression of Quinn. That I had so many who cared for me was humbling.
“You’re not afflicted with anything,” Tanya said. She moved my aching legs around so I was in a more comfortable position, almost sitting up against the elf now. There was no hesitation in manhandling me as needed, but then I assumed that would be quite common for someone with her experience. “Other than the deep lacerations to your right arm, possibly nerve and tendon damage, you’re mostly unharmed. System allowing, you should make a full recovery.”
“Not in the next five minutes, I assume?” I gave her a glum smile.
“Healing will repair what it can. You’ll be able to move soon enough, but as to making use of the arm…”
I nodded, or at least twitched my head the best I could with my injuries and being restrained by Ren.
She rested her chin against my head. “Want to tell us what bullshit you got up to?”
“And then apologize for having us so worried, Max?” Quinn added.
My ruined arm was proof enough that what I had experienced was real. Part of my brain was still trying to catch up and fully process what I had been through. Maybe explaining it out loud would help me understand it—or at least share the burden of disbelief with the others.
“For starters,” I said with a soft smile across my face, “you will be delighted to hear this injury is all self inflicted.”
A patch of my hair warmed, as Ren exhaled deeply through her nose.