by Zoey Rivera
“This used to be the highlight of our city for years, the Pale Pixel Pub,” Lorcan spoke the name with such heart, you would think he was speaking the name of a dearly beloved. “People would come from all around just to have an ale here. A scene of serenity in the hellscape of old Eden.”
Memories seemed to come to life behind Lorcan’s eyes, Aidan stared at the the building, seeing a much needed refuge for his friend. He looked over at Johnny gazing up at Lorcan in awe. It was easy enough to understand why. To have such a simplistic desire, not just to survive but to once again have a ray of hope, to bring back a bar. It was so pure.
Johnny hesitated a moment, not wanting to break the guard from his nostalgic trance, before reaching out and gently tapping him on the arm.
“May I?” he offered his hand out for the key. They entered the tavern and took in the cobwebbed scenery. Immediately, the first thing that they saw was two enormous copper hearths against the back wall.
Tables laid out along the walls with chairs folded up on top of them. The beer taps, despite their age, still looked fully functioning. Lorcan smiled and looked around one last time before stepping back toward the door.
“Right, I’ll give you guys a moment to get settled and look around,” Lorcan smiled and exited. Aidan and Johnny gave him a slight nod before conversing between themselves.
Aidan grinned, “This looks promising, I’ll bet you can get a deal on it too since they want you to run it as a pub for them. Johnny stared at Aidan with his jaw dropped and a look of annoyance and confusion on his face.
“Are you kidding me? This place is beautiful but I’m not staying here. Richard is coming. I am getting out of here. I’ll rest for the night but we’re leaving. Aidan, we’re leaving,” Johnny grabbed at his friend’s arms to try and shake reason into him. Aidan gently pushed his hands off of his arms. He looked comfortingly into Johnny’s eyes.
“I’m not running. There is no use prolonging the inevitable, Richard would chase us to the edge of Eden and push us over. This town can handle the assault, we just need to alert their army and they’ll help us. Look, you get settled. It’ll be okay,” Aidan rushed out of the tavern and followed after the guardsmen. Johnny sighed and looked around the shop. He could envision many a night filled with ale and laughter lighting up the lounge area.
“It would’ve been fun,” a voice came from the shadows. Johnny smiled at the familiar sound. He turned around to see Cheyenne smiling back at him. He hugged her. She pulled back from the hug then opened her inventory.
“This should be enough gold to get you to Sorin, “ she said as she handed over the money to him. He frowned at the income increase knowing that it couldn’t be good. “The only way that Aidan and you can be safe, is if I embrace what I am. I’m not risking people anymore. This is my battle and there needn’t be a slaughter of an innocent town in order to handle it.”
“What are you going to do?” Johnny grimaced at Cheyenne knowing that she was going to try to be a hero despite what logic dictated.
“Look, I’ve gotten back in contact with one of our old colleagues from school. He’s agreed to take you back up to Sorin, even house you for a while until you get yourself settled,” Cheyenne looked away from Johnny as she spoke. She knew his eyes were shooting darts at her for avoiding his question.
“If you and Aidan aren’t leaving then neither am I,” said Johnny. “I’ll stay and help where I can. I’ve still got half a shop’s worth of supplies to hand out to the troops and I could maybe barter a deal with them for free stay here for a while on account for the aid. Of course, we are the ones that brought the war to their town but that is a side factor they don’t need to one hundred percent know about,” he stumbled over to his satchels to try and see what supplies he could offer.
Cheyenne came over and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. They held each other’s gaze for a long moment. “But... Shy.” She shook her head silently, knowing he meant well with his attempts of protest. He knew just as well as she did that there was nothing left that he could do.
This was a war of vampire kin and, no matter how much Aidan would like to believe that this was his fight, this was between Cheyenne and Richard. This would be a bloodbath for control over the guild and to seal their fates.
“I’m going to give into the beast. I have no place in society. I can’t step out in sunlight without perma-damage on my statuses. I’m shunned by Gwintin, the one place I considered home, for what I am and there is nothing I can do about that. We’ve done all that we could over these past years to make this work, but this really is the end, Johnny. No mystic could change who I am. I have no life outside of the kin, but what I can do is take what little control I have over my life and steal the guild away from Richard. He has tormented our lives for long enough. It’s time to end this,” Cheyenne declared her decision with a heavy sigh. Johnny accepted that there was nothing he could say or do to change her mind. There was no other way.
He nodded, “I’m sure you’re done hiding in the shadows. I’ll be gone before nightfall then.” Johnny opened up his inventory and transferred what health recovery and magic resistance items he could to Cheyenne. “Shy, I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do to help you. I will go and give more supplies to Aidan before I make my leave.” She embraced her friend and squeezed him tightly.
“Aidan will see you up in Sorin and I’ll try to visit, if I can.”
“When you can,” Johnny corrected, his voice both stern and sad.
Cheyenne smiled, “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me.” Johnny shushed her and clung tighter.
“Don’t thank me yet, Shy. Thank me when we are in Sorin. I’ll make you a cup of tea. Just how you like it. Tea would be nice,” Johnny felt Cheyenne nodding in agreement into his shoulder.
“Tea would be lovely,” she whispered.
Johnny released her from his arms and left to chase after Aidan. He looked back briefly, just barely catching Cheyenne leaving the bar and vanishing into the shadows once more.
He finally found Aidan rallying up troops in the town’s square. If nothing else, Aidan was a good public speaker. He had the charisma of a thousand men, you’d think he would be able to talk his way out of any issue.
Generally though, he left the speaking to the swords, or more to his preference, to his mystic staffs. Aidan noticed Johnny standing off in the distance and strode over to him. He was smiling at first but his face dropped as he saw the serious expression on Johnny’s face.
“So, you’re leaving then?” Aidan didn’t bother giving Johnny a chance to say it, he already knew. Johnny quietly nodded, avoiding eye contact. “It’s good. I want you to be safe and get situated before I meet up with you.” Johnny’s head shot up. Aidan was beaming at him, blue eyes filled with confidence and hope.
“I’m meeting up with an old friend, he’s escorting me the rest of the way to Sorin,” Johnny explained and Aidan nodded with approval. “He’s very trustworthy. I know he’ll get me there safe. He’s not you, but it’ll be okay.”
“I know it will be,” Aidan hugged Johnny.
“Be safe,” Johnny whispered.
“I will,” Aidan whispered back.
Richard spotted Cheyenne in the bushes about ten meters back but continued to allow her to believe she had the upper hand. If nothing else, she provided a good “What not to do in Eden,” for the Elite viewers. He scanned the air, checking on the amount of oculi around. He was growing tired of having Cheyenne chase him around doing nothing but watching him and biding out her time, and he knew that the Elite must be growing bored of it as well. There were a hefty fifty eight oculi hovering around still, each lingering around the vampire kin member it had assigned itself.
“Richard,” Cheyenne came out from the shadows. The kin all jumped to high alert mode, only just now noticing the unseen lurker. They swiftly assumed attack positions against her. Richard smiled to himself before turning around with false shock on his face. She growled, �
��Don’t toy with me, Richard.”
Richard tsked, “I am genuinely surprised this time, I promise. I wasn’t expecting you to come out of hiding until I had Aidan near death. Ready to surrender to me before this becomes a bloodbath?”
“I’m not so sure about before, but I will settle this in a bloodbath,” Cheyenne threatened through gritted teeth. Richard shook his head and let out a sigh.
“You and Aidan were always very hard-headed. But I do find it ironic that the two most passionately pacifist people I’ve ever met in my life, have slaughtered so many in their stubborn arrogance,” Richard wagged his finger condescendingly at Cheyenne. Her blood boiled with rage and she pounced at him. He laughed and waved off his anxiously awaiting herd.
Her claws slashed into his skin, barely causing him to flinch. He played her game and fought along, clearly holding back. His deflection spells were so low-tier they dispersed right after impact. He laughed merrily as the two brawled. His arrogance infuriated Cheyenne further. She became even more savage with her attacks. Baring her fangs and snapping at him.
“Ah, ah, ah. My love, that’s not very becoming of a lady now. Chin up when you snarl!” Richard scolded.
Cheyenne screamed as she lunged at him. Richard casted expellere. Colliding with the wall of mana, Cheyenne was propelled backwards. She barely managed to catch herself mid-air and rebounded off a tree toward him once again.
Richard’s laughter still filling the silence as Cheyenne’s attacks grew more and more desperate. Her arms flailing wildly as he elegantly side stepped each swing. She growled at him through clenched teeth. She ran toward him. As she approached, he dropped to the ground and swept-kicked her off her feet. She tripped forward stumbling to regain her footing. He grabbed her arm as she was about to fall and pulled her into him.
“I’m getting tired of our little game as well, darling. So, I think I am done with our little chase. It was fun while it lasted, but it is time. Sweetheart, let’s go home,” Richard's words confused her as a slender woman's figure crept up behind her.
"Yes, let's," Sarah whispered in her ear as she knocked Cheyenne unconscious.
She awoke to Richard's laugh resounding against the concrete walls. Cheyenne’s arms and back ached relentlessly as she struggled in her confinement. She was being held to the walls by iron chains coated with a liquid-charm to ensure she couldn’t escape by brute force. Not that she had much strength to move, let alone muscle her way out of her chains. His eyes welled up with tears from amusement and his blood stained lips stretched into the most intimidating smile Cheyenne had ever seen. The reason it was so terrifying, she reasoned, must be because it was so pure of joy. She had never seen him beam that wholley the entire time of their relationship but this, this gruesome death-trap of a world, it gave him that.
“Do your worst,” Cheyenne challenged numbly. She had already gone through the worst Eden had to offer her, there was nothing left for her to lose but her life anyway and she had already partially lost that three years ago, as far as she was concerned. “I’m dead already anyway.” At this sentence, Richard struck her face violently with the back of his hand.
“Don’t you get it, you worthless wench? This world. This life. It isn’t about survival. It is a game. You play the odds; you get to live. That is how our society functions. We’ve known that. We’ve always known that. They taught it in school. Our parents, our grandparents raised us this way and that is how things are. There is no overhaul of the system because that is not entertaining for the Elite. We are alive and living by their will. They want us around and they keep us around because we are what they want to watch. They want to see a life where you suffer for your survival and have no choice but to slaughter the ones you cared about most. Haven’t you ever thought about why I even bothered being with you, you putrid pathetic swine? Because you got me sponsors, sympathy votes. You started polls and debates on whether or not we should keep you human or change you. And the Elite public voted, can you guess the results?”
Cheyenne hung, unable to move from her confinement or motion for her weapons. She was paralyzed in place and had no control. She never had control. Richard left Cheyenne alone in the chamber's darkness.
For the first twenty-four hours, the only thing keeping Cheyenne sane was the dashboard in front of her. She couldn’t reach out to logout of Eden but at least she could see the time. She slowed her breathing and tried to collect herself. She couldn’t let Richard get the better of her. If she gave in, he would win. So she had to remain calm.
She allowed herself to hang motionlessly in her isolation chamber. If she didn’t give him a show, he would get bored and move on, just like the Elite. He really was one of them. Nothing about this world was real to him, and yet this was his world. His to control. His to conquer. Maybe she would have been better off joining him in the end, but she didn’t regret giving it a shot to stop him.
She felt her stomach begin to eat itself. Acid gnawing into her innards as she swallowed saliva in attempt to quench the blood-hunger. She had managed to take a nap, as uncomfortable as she was. It seemed to be the only sane way to pass the time. She took deep calming breaths. Her neck was sore. She tried rotating her head around to alleviate the tension but it really wasn’t much use.
She looked at the dashboard again, trying to entertain herself by memorizing every pixel of the screen. She just noticed for the first time that one of the wings of the bat was slightly uneven with the other. She smiled. She took comfort in knowing at one point, there had been a craftsman or an artist that had sat down and personally made this icon. She allowed herself a quiet laugh at the irony of this moment. This icon that had taken everything away from her, was now her only comfort from insanity. She sighed and began counting the pixels once again.
She looked at the clock again. Light had come and gone from the window several times since the last time she bothered checking. She couldn’t exactly tell if all of the lights were the sun or not but she assumed that most of the time it was.
An oculi wandered into her coffin of a room. She stared up at the metallic-reinforced sphere and studied its form. This was the first time she had actually noticed the hovering gem placed at the bottom of the orb. She had always figured it had used some form of magic to fly around but she had never obsessed over the actual mechanics of it.
Her eyes watched carefully analyzing the pulses of magic coming from the gem. She was happy she was getting some form of entertainment to focus her mind on after all this time. She tried to call out the the Elite orb with a raspy dry throat.
“Hello? Please, come closer,” she called to it. It hovered for a moment above her, considering the worth of approaching her, then decided to hear her out. The ball whisked down in front of her and the shutter of the lense met her eye to eye. “Would you help me? Send aid from a city nearby? Incite a war if you have to, just find someone to release me from this captivity.”
The oculi hovered silently in front of her. She could only imagine the Elite passing around some sort of polling method to deem whether or not her quest was worthy of their time. The oculi seemed to have voted against the aid, hovering up once again to the ceiling.
However, it stuck around a moment to see how Cheyenne would react to their refusal. She didn’t move. She didn’t speak. She just stared straight at the oculi, completely numb. Bored, the oculi flew off. Cheyenne sighed. She allowed her head to droop down to her chest as she fell asleep once more.
She couldn’t sleep. She kept waking up. She had slept so much. Why couldn’t she sleep? That’s all she had been doing for the past however long. Why? Why couldn’t she sleep? It should be easy.
Close your eyes.
Sleep.
Relax.
Rest.
There shouldn’t be anything more to it. She shouldn’t be awake right now. She can’t be awake right now. If she was awake she would be thinking. If she was thinking she would be over-thinking. If she were over-thinking she might drive herself mad. She would rememb
er her mistakes. Go over every detail. Every move. Every breath. Every choice.
Whether that choice was conscious or subconscious. But you could reprogram your brain to make better subconscious choices, so why couldn’t she? She could feel her mind sinking and spiraling. She could feel herself losing her grip. She started giggling to herself.
She didn’t understand why. She only knew that she was laughing now. Something was funny. Something was extremely hilarious. She could feel it in her lungs.
Her throat was raspy as she gasped for air. Her eyes teared up as her giggle twisted into a guffaw. Her dissonant laughter morphed into a horrific scream. That of a soul that had died a thousand deaths.
She wailed and wailed until her eyes were washed over with tears. Her fits of screaming and laughing and sobbing would cycle again and again to the point of exhaustion, and once more because she still couldn’t sleep.
So much time passed. At this point, she hadn’t spoken in so long, she couldn’t remember if she ever even had a voice. The nights and days seemed to stretch into an eternal loop, it was impossible for her to know if the dashboard was even telling the truth anymore.
Her body was in a perpetual state of pain, it was almost completely numb to it. Her thoughts began to flood with the memory of that copper-flavored fluid. Her mind became ravenous, wild, and bloodthirsty.
One hundred hours. One hundred hours had passed. Her body was twitching from the lack of fluids. She needed blood. Her limbs looked frail and weak from starvation and yet her magenta aura fought on as wildly as ever. Trying to escape. Its presence whipping against the cellar walls. It fought to find him. Only snarls echoed through the room.
"I need to find him," her raspy voice whispered. "I have to find him."
Crimson light filtered in from the moon. The chains unbound themselves and she hit the floor. Her bruised body ached and screamed. Her mind swirled her thoughts together in its broken state.
