Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?
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'ello!
Its been a while.
Damn.
Its been too long, I'll say~.
Anyways, here comes the next chapter of Euphoria! I sincerely hope that you enjoy, let us begin!
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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Right afterwards... - Zatara Family Mansion (Audrey's Room) - Audrey's Point Of View...
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"Wow... nice room you've got here, Audrey." An unfamiliar voice echoed from my own body, from my own mouth.
Yet compelled outward by a will not of my mind. I felt violated.
Terrified.
And somehow insulted at the same time."Yeah, I know the feeling."
The body replied, seemingly able to hear my thoughts. She sighed and walked over to my bed, turning the lights on with a clap of her hands. Then... she stopped and looked at those same hands."Huh.. My possession of it was perfect, yet your body still managed to push through an action from muscle memory alone. How very interesting, indeed."
The sheer amount of sarcasm that laced the words flowing freely out of my mouth was astonishing."Ah, there we go." Whomever was in my body right now seemed to ignore my statement and laid onto the bed, closing my eyes for the briefest moment.
And just like that, I could feel my consciousness reattaching to my own nerves once more. This.. feeling, isn't something a person should ever get familiar with. It was pain.
And torment.
And then instantaneous relief.
Some masochist would probably do it repeatedly."You have no idea, Audrey."
A new voice thundered across my mind, the volume of it making me slam my newly regained hands onto my ears, even if the area around me was deathly silent, which was rather unusual all of itself. A massive sigh followed soon after."Look, for now just... open your eyes."
Excessive pride told me to keep my eyes closed, even if only for a little while longer yet... contrary to everything I normally stood for, I decided to obey this voice and opened my eyes to find myself sitting on my own bed, the familiar sheets still feeling as they should. My right hand was clutching something.
Something heavy.
And hard."W-wood?"
"Unfortunately, not the pleasurable kind~." My senses must still require some time to properly settle back into my own body, because otherwise a fucking axe just talked to me."Hello~!"
It-.. She, greeted me again, voice drenched in an abysmal amount of restrained laughter. A troll.
A troll in an axe?"I hope you mean that in a good way, young lady."
"URGH!?" Immense pain shook through my body as tendrils of dark magic poured into me, leaking straight out of the axe and into my right arm. Blackened veins popped, visible on my pale skin and with each of their pulses my body was brought closer and closer to death. Pain, so much pain that I could not even scream.
It was not all that different from Gods tendrils, in a way..."Wait what? God-oh fuck this shit." All the sarcasm in the tone suddenly died out and what was left caused me to shiver uncomfortably with every syllable, even if the words themselves hadn't been made with horror as their intention."Hmm... I've been inside of Leo for so long that I've forgotten what my presence does to people. Though, I must admit that I expected more of you, Audrey-chan."
"I-I-Ins-side o-of L-l-leo?!" I managed to quiver out as my own powers activated, seemingly reacting all on their own. Yet, all that darkness, all this power that I've gathered in the short time that my eyes had been truly open to the world...
All this power...
And it was nothing.
Nothing at all.
Not even the merest speck of dust in comparison to the seemingly endless void of power, the creature whose soul my darkness revealed to me.
A soul so huge that... if she wanted to, she could devour my whole existence like a void-speckled cookie.
Death, an end so quick that it would be faster than an instant.
Yet..
The horror and terror seems to be receding the longer my own soul stays connected to this soul. Its wast abyss, its seemingly endless font of power.. it too, is but a speck of cosmic dust, as easily scattered across the wind as everyone else."Hmmm?"
The voice turned inquisitive. She wanted to know what I meant by that.
Well, the answers rather simple. I had witnessed something far, far more terrifying.
On the day that my brother towered over me, the merest touch of his hand cracking perfectly cut stone, his mouth twisted in a savage grin, golden eyes gleaming with every wrong hunger that a man could ever look at his own sister with.. and behind him, a crimson sky of gore and blood and a thousand, thousand eyes of a thousand, thousand iris's.
Chaos.
In comparison to its presence. You... whatever and whomever you are...
... I.. Don't actually have the words to belittle you any further.
The axe shivered in my hand for a brief moment."Ah... so that's how that event went on through your eyes, eh? Wanna see the same scene through my point of view?"
"Y-your.. point of view?" Without warning, darkness coalescent around my vision and I was taken, thrown back through time and memory.
I was... inside of my brothers body.
Pain..
Torment.
There is... SO. MUCH. PAIN?!
Yet, I am able to scream.
Able.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Yet... I .. don't?
I ... wont?
Cannot?
I don't really know how to describe this. I can scream, but something is preventing me from acting.
No. This feeling... Its like... that time when God tore me apart.
.. Like the very right to create any form of sound had been taken away from me.
I..
I'm burning.
So much heat.
Like the sun is in front of my face.
I.. It..
IT BURNS!
IT BURNS!
I BURN!
... huh?...
No...
Not me.
I'm not... burning.
The one burning is..."Leo." The voice spoke again and I felt myself turning around, coming face to face with a woman who could only be described as an exotic beauty."Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself, little honey." Her long, alabaster hands reached for my head and caressed me. Somehow, she managed to give off a motherly feeling, calming and soothing me.
I managed to shake my head out of whatever possessed me at that moment, causing the pale beauty to recoil in seeming despair. Then, she pointed behind me.
I turned wordlessly, intense dread creeping up and down my spine as I saw myself, strewn across the broken stair, urine flowing down my legs, eyes terrified and about to break...
And on top of me is... Leo.
Leo is... On fire.
A rich, orange and crimson flame, thicker and more deeply colored than any normal flame should ever be, coated him head to toe. It didn't burn his flesh or his clothes though..."His soul." The woman behind me suddenly said as she walked next to me, the both of us having our eyes locked onto my brothers salivating form.
"His soul is on fire. Constantly, eternally, he burns and burns and burns. I don't know how he manages to even walk while burning like that." I blinked in confusion yet did not manage to speak."Hellfire. Leonardo is ... cursed, to burn forever in hellfire. What you felt just now was but a few moments of what is his daily life."
"So you.. also felt this constantly while.. inside of him?" Finally I managed to form a question. To my surprise, the woman shook her head."I don't know if it was some kind of interference from Chaos or just a loss of control on my part but... in the moment that, .. that eye, tore reality apart to enter our world..." She pointed towards the Infinite Iris in the sky. Even now, in this world of memory, it seemed to turn to gaze upon us both, laughing and screaming incoherently at the same time, without a single mouth upon its infinite flesh.
"Our souls.. were forcefully connected, for only the briefest moment." She laughed, darkly. It was a dreadful, tormented sound."I thought I knew pain, y'know, before this. But boy oh boy was I wrong." She laughed again, much more cheerily this time.
An uncharacteristic nod was my reply."So ummm... who are you, anyway?"
The woman gave out a deep, deep sigh and I found myself back in reality once more, the axe still within my hand. The infinite power reeling off of it seemed so small now.
And mine?
Even more so."Go to the balcony... we are both going to need some air for whats coming."
She commanded, her tone allowing no ground for arguments or defiance... yet somehow managing to sound like a plea rather than anything else. I did as I was told and walked out into the burning skies of Rome. War had come to this city. Its ancient structure and glory consumed in an inferno that would put Nero's work to shame.
A modern masterpiece of horror and shadow."Hmph, finally someone who can appreciate this kind of atmosphere like I do~." The woman suddenly exclaimed, her tone seeming completely honest for the very first time. I nodded towards seemingly nothing and no one before taking a seat on one of our quite expensive teak and black leather patio chairs. The way my body sank into the exquisite leathers seemed to make the axe twist in envy before I placed it in a chair of its own."Mnyaaah~, now these... are worth living for!"
I nodded once again. Whomever this woman is, at least she has fine tastes."Right. So uh.. how the hell do I even begin this conversation?.." Oh my, the tone is back.
Well that didn't take long at all~.
"You know what they say: at the beginning." My companion seemed to twist uncomfortably again."That's the thing, I don't exactly know when this... *beginning*, actually happened. Might as well be at the moment of my birth with how well everything's been connected so far."
"That sounds a lot like what my brother used to say... what was it again? Coincidence does not exist? Fate is the will of Chaos?... something like that, I'm sure." A mental nod was my reply as the axe seemed to sink deeper into her chair."Anyways, first of, my name is Yomi."
"Just... Yomi?" She seemed to sigh."I had a clan once which I could claim as a surname but.. I've killed far too many wrong people for them to still think of me as family."
"Killed far too many people? Is ... is such a thing even possible?" The axe appeared to shrug."Dunno. That said, I may just get a new surname sometime soon if things go well."
I blinked.
Actually, make that two blinks."... let me guess: you're gonna marry my brother."
Now, it was the axe'-ah, sorry, Yomi's turn to blink."How the flying fuck did you make that connection from me saying that I'd get a ne-... You know what, never mind! Thats the only logical assumption."
"You avoided my question like a pro, Yomi." She sighed out, quite loudly I might add. Hmm, how to describe a sighing axe? Well, think of the sound of air rushing through rusted metal."Haaa... Well, yes. You're correct. Your brother proposed and I said yes~, despite every inch and fiber in my body telling me no."
"Oh?" I urged her to tell me more, momentarily standing up from my comfortable position to go grab some freshly prepared tea. My new, inhuman servants seem to be much more capable than their... disgustingly human predecessors."Tell me Audrey, do you think I'm strong?"
Much to my own surprise, I answered with an instant nod."Well, even with all that strength of mine.. even with all the god-like power at your brothers disposal I... I'm still scared, terrified at the notion of standing at his side and yet he makes it all look so..."
"... so?"...
A silence followed."I.. I don't know. So.. something. Easy, is really not a good word. Manageable? Pfft, no... He just... makes it, I guess."
"Makes it, eh?.. getting himself into all sorts of implausible, impossible situations and somehow always coming out on top?" Yomi appeared to blink in surprise."Thats it! That's exactly what I was looking for!" She replied with more than a little excitement before a massive silence took over us both once more.
Then, after a full minute of the aforementioned silnce, I took the first sip of my tea."So, how long have you two been in a relationship?"
Yomi seemed to turn away from me, the atmosphere suddenly becoming very awkward."Its been... around three.. maybe four months now? We basically hit it off quite nicely as soon as he took me into his hands~."
"So.. you were there when me and Leo..." She nodded without pause."Yep. There and watching it all happen. Halfway betrayed, halfway excessively aroused but mostly pissed off since we haven't done it in a while."
I quirked an eyebrow at her."... feeling betrayed I can understand. After all, I think the way you felt then must be quite similar to this... emptiness in my chest that's settled in right about now but.. excessively, aroused?"
Maybe I added too much effect on those last two words, but Yomi seemed to shiver for a moment there and not exactly in an uncomfortable way."What can I say? Unlike Yuko-chan, you have such an adorable little voice~."
Swallowing down in shock, I asked with a staggered voice."Y-y-Yuko.. -chan?"
Yomi went silent for a few minutes again."Uhhm... Another of Leo's ..."
"Who is she." Yomi let out a sigh at my insistence."Really, he should be the one telling you this shit but basically, she is his Japanese half sister who he wasn't even aware of before visiting his mother in Japan. And.. to be fair, shes the one who... y'know, initiated it."
Yomi then let out another massive sigh."Good lord, I'm blushing and biting my lips like some overdosed schoolgirl. I hope Leo wakes up soon~."
"On that note, you've lived for a long time, right Yomi?" She seemed to quirk an imaginative eyebrow at me."I'm... not sure that I like the way you phrased that but I'll humor you for now."
"Look, all I'm saying is that you should know quite a few dominatrix techniques, right? Please, do make a plan that involves us both." She blinked and then smiled."Oh.. Oh, my.."
Oh my, indeed. Leo will get whats coming to him."That all said and done though... I must say that you are taking this far, far better than I ever though you would, Audrey."
Now it was my turn to let out a massive sigh."Yomi, let me ask you something: Just what do you think would've happened in the event that we decided not to get along and caused trouble for Leonardo?"
"Eehh, either of two things really. He'd manage to make us get along or... well..." She began.
"... butcher us both and probably go drown himself in this.. Yuko, girl." And I finished for her.
A grim silence took over us once more.
After what seemed like an eternity, Yomi managed to break this stranglehold of sound."So, what exactly happens now?"
"Now, we do as all women do. We talk. A lot." She seemed to become utterly speechless for a moment because of my statement and, to be fair, I was pretty speechless myself, if that even makes any sense."I... see... anything you want to talk about in particular?"
Her question managed to bring me back to reality for the moment."You mentioned how all the lack of sex in your life was making you, ahem; blushing and biting your lips like an overdosed schoolgirl. That sounds like you had a particular event in mind. Care to share?"
Yomi burst out in cheery laughter as soon as I finished my sentence. Then, after she finally managed to calm down, she began."Well, you see, there was this one time when my host was a high school girl-"
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Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
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Thats it for this chapter.
Good bye for now~.
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Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!