by J. J. Pavlov
To make absolutely sure I'm not affected, I plug my ears from the inside without showing anything on the outside. Only muffled sounds reach me, but luckily this isn't a modern city with cars I would have to look out for.
With this danger out of the way, I leave the plaza behind and begin my search.
It doesn't take long before I find the trail. Hestia's scent lingers in the air, meaning she passed through here not long ago. Although my target had been to visit the castle, her safety takes priority. At least I don't pick up the smell of blood, so she's not hurt.
The trail takes me into some side streets, which are equally busy with people decorating and celebrating. It seems that the city's entire population is on its feet and participating in this without caring about maintaining a functioning infrastructure. Even the guards are joining the mindless revelry, not paying attention to a stranger like me passing through.
Finally, I come upon a wide road where another parade is moving toward the castle. It resembles the Shinto street festivals in Japan, where several people shoulder a large wooden palanquin with a shrine on top. But this one is quite different in that instead of shrines, colorful dancers are riding on the platforms.
And atop the tallest of them, I spot Hestia's black wings, as they spread and beat to the rhythm of the music. She's wearing a belly dancer outfit, performing the same moves as the natives. The hypnosis of this town is affecting her as well.
Now that I found her, I don't need to keep a low profile anymore. Pushing my way through the crowd forcefully, I run toward the giant palanquin and quickly climb onto it.
"Chloe!" When Hestia turns around and notices me, her already joyful expression becomes even more beaming. "You have come as well! Join us in this Carnival of Chaos!"
"We're getting out of here." I take a step forward to grab her, but she avoids my hand playfully.
"Why? It is so much fun!" Continuing to smile and dance, she asks innocently. It seems that Al-Majnun has her completely under his sway, and my words don't reach her.
"You're being controlled." Even though I know it's most likely futile to try reasoning with her in her current state, it's best to keep her mind occupied than to let it sink deeper into hypnosis. Proper brainwashing isn't undone by a few simple words; it requires more drastic measures.
"What is so bad about that? I am having the time of my life." Her response is as I expected it to go. This Great Deceiver sure knows how to keep his victims in line; fun and distractions are much better tools for inhibiting free thought than fear and oppression.
I'm done talking and take another step toward Hestia while spreading my arms, ready to grab her. The music around us stops, and she suddenly pulls out a knife from somewhere, which she holds to her own eye without hesitation. I freeze and stare at her in shock.
"No, do not ruin the atmosphere, Chloe." She pouts like a child whose toy was about to be taken away. The knife is swaying dangerously close to her red iris because our footing is being carried by living and breathing people. "Join us!"
"Join us!" In a choir, all the people around us repeat her words. When I look around, I see that they're doing the same as Hestia, each having produced some sharp implement to threaten suicide with. Among them are small children, but I couldn't care any less for the lives of these humans even if I had known them for longer than just a passing glance. I don't know what this Al-Majnun is thinking, but he seems to have misjudged me for some kind of hero with morals.
For a second, I calculate my chances of reaching Hestia before she can drive that knife into her skull. They don't look too high, so I straighten my back and lift my hands in surrender. As long as she's alive, and I'm not under the influence of the hypnosis, an opportunity will present itself to free her from it.
"That is the correct choice." Smiling from the bottom of her heart, she extends a hand to me and gestures for me to take it. Meanwhile, her other is still holding the knife in place. I'm sure Al-Majnun will continue to keep her as a hostage until he takes over my mind as well.
"So, what now?" Without taking the invitation, I ask her, but direct it at the will behind her actions.
"Dance!" Without a care in the world for the knife pointed at her eye, she begins swaying, just as the music starts again. My heart beats faster at the thought that she might accidentally kill herself, and I stay rooted in place as the palanquin continues to move down the street.
From the corner of my eyes, I see that we're heading toward the castle. The plaza in front of its gates seems to be the main city square, where several parades converge to form a mass of dancing people. That's most likely where the climax of this festival happens, and I doubt I'll like the form that may take.
Before then, I need to secure Hestia. Thus, I start dancing as well, acting as if I've come under the influence of the city so that I can slowly get closer to her. She cheers and laughs at my newfound willingness to participate, unsuspecting of my true intentions. But she's keeping the knife in place, so the will behind her knows that I haven't succumbed to it yet. We're just seconds away from reaching the plaza, but I have to do this carefully.
Then, without warning, I spring forward and extend my left hand into its tentacle form to grab the knife, letting the blade sink into my body. Judging by the surprise in her eyes, whoever took over her mind didn't know I was capable of that. That also means they couldn't have manipulated her memories, so I breathe a sigh of relief.
But Hestia suddenly begins to chant something that defies my hearing. She seems to be casting the light magic unique to Fatas that she used a few times before now, but I don't want to wait around to find out whether it's an offensive or defensive spell.
"Sorry about that." With this quick apology, I use my other hand to plug her mouth. Her eyes widen in surprise, and she tries to struggle free from my tentacles wrapped around her one hand while flailing her other at me. My form dissolves and latches onto her the same way it did in Almadinad; turning into a bodysuit, I stop all of her movements on the spot.
Now what? I can't forcefully move her body against her will, or I could risk ripping her muscles and bend her joints the wrong way. Stuck like this, we reach the center of the plaza as the other palanquins form a circle around us.
The humans no longer hold themselves hostage and begin to undulate, a sea of bodies making waves like the surface of the ocean. With the music rising and singing voices growing louder, I suspect that the climax is near.
Suddenly, everything stops, and the entire city goes silent. All around us, faces are turned up to look into the sky, above the center of the plaza. That means right above the largest palanquin atop which I turned Hestia and myself into an unmoving statue - sitting ducks for whatever is descending on us.
As before, I can see in every direction even without eyes, so I look up to notice a flying man in a flamboyant outfit that hides every inch of his skin even in this heat. He wears a jester's cap and a richly ornamented mask with a grin that reaches from ear to ear. Arms spread in a grand gesture, he slowly floats down and sets foot on the platform just a few steps away from me.
Not even wasting any time to let him talk, two spikes extend from my body wrapped around Hestia, one aimed at his head and the other at his chest.
But the man bends his body in impossible ways, avoiding both by a few millimeters each. A cackling laugh emerges from behind his mask as he steps in place and strikes a ridiculous pose.
"Why so serious?" He asks in a fittingly high-pitched voice while pointing at me with one hand at hip-height and the other raised over his head. Then he spins around his own axis on the tip of his foot, hops up and spreads his arms and legs to form an X. "It's the Carnival of Chaos!"
I don't humor him and extend a whole array of spikes at this back. Without even looking, he jumps into the air to avoid them all, then lands at my side as I pull them back.
"Don't be so hasty, Chloe." He speaks in Hestia's voice, then continues in Jalil's. "Master misunderstand."
"What is there to mi
sunderstand? You brainwashed her." I cover the angel girl's face with a mask that's mostly my true face and growl at him in my soul-grating tone. Of course, I made sure to plug her ears first.
"Not at all." Returning to his regular voice, he shrugs exaggeratedly and tilts his head, wholly unaffected by my voice. Then he straightens his neck and continues. "This is just a festival, nothing more."
If I had eyes, they would have widened in surprise. That last line was just spoken in Asoko's voice - or my own. He could have heard it when I talked to Hestia and Jalil, but something tells me he met my other half.
"Did you kill her?" I ask without beating around the bush. Even after seeing my face and hearing my voice, he doesn't waver, so he can't be human. But at the same time, I realize that not a single person in the plaza has screamed even though I'm on full display. Something strange is going on here.
"Why would I do something so barbaric? She's having her every desire satisfied as we speak." Bowing and gesturing at the castle behind him, he replies while acting offended. The horns of his jester cap droop in dejection as if they were extensions of his body. It only lasts for a moment, and they perk up again while he spins around and balances on one leg while addressing the gathered masses in an almost contorted pose. "What say we get the revelry started?"
Tempestuous applause rises from all around us, and the music starts again. The vast majority starts to dance, but some get undressed and begin to partake in carnal pleasures with no regard for the time and place. Children and the elderly are present as well, but to my horror, I see that some of them also pull off their clothes to join the orgy.
But among all the chaos, there's no violence, no screaming in pain or anger. Only joyful debauchery unfettered by societal standards or morals. In its own twisted way, this festival is providing the citizens with release and happiness.
"Now, let's go see your sister." Turning to me, the jester suggests without leaving me any other choices. The palanquin begins to move toward the gates, though there's no way it could fit. It seems that this was planned from the beginning though, as the platform connects to the top of the battlements, where a group of dancers, both male, and female, welcome us with open arms.
I'll have to play his game if I want to leave this city without any ill effects remaining on Hestia's mind. And Asoko is also a concern, even though I know she can handle herself. Lastly, Jalil should be fine as long as he only continues to party like a madman.
"But first, can you let the poor angel go?" Leading the way, the masked man asks of me. "I'm not one to judge kinks and fetishes, but she may be at her limit."
I instantly separate from Hestia and pull the hand, which I turned into a smooth tentacle to not harm her insides, out of her throat. She hacks and coughs, drawing breath again after being denied it for so long. Her crimson eyes focus on me, and to my surprise, her lips curl up into a smile. Combined with those flushed cheeks that are entirely uncharacteristic of oxygen deprivation, I'm led to believe that she may have awakened to something.
"It's always lovely to see somebody discover a new form of pleasure." The jester comments with a tilt of his head, driving the figurative final nail into my coffin of suspicion.
"Damn! Don't make this a habit, Hestia!" I grab her face and look into her eyes with an intent gaze.
"You were the one who gave me a glimpse into this world, Chloe." She breathes hotly, and I freeze over. It's already too late, and she has embraced the deviant pleasure of asphyxiation in her currently elevated state of mind because of the brainwashing.
That means I just have to undo that for her to bury that fetish into the dark recesses of her already corruption-addled mind. When I think about it this way, I'm to blame no matter what.
Sighing, I wordlessly follow the jester as he and the dancers lead us deeper into the castle.
"Hey, you're finally here!" Asoko calls out to me cheerfully when our flamboyant guide pushes open the door to a large banquet hall. It seems that she had already started partying way before it officially commenced. The evidence of that is lying around everywhere, in the form of dirty empty plates and sleeping, naked girls.
In fact, the entire room is filled with feasting individuals and undulating duos - or more. Several people play a sensual tune while being fed and caressed by others. I even spot some of them multitasking with their mouths and lower bodies, playing instruments at the same time as they're directing a mismatched choir of pleasurable moans.
I don't see anybody who may be the leader, so at this point, either the jester is that person, or he's just a mouthpiece, and the real perpetrator has yet to take to the stage. Whichever the case, now that I found everybody again, things should look up.
"Someone seems to have been enjoying herself." I assert, looking at my other half currently engaging in both forms of eating with a dark-skinned girl.
"Aren't we lucky that this town was holding a festival like this right when we came here?" She says with a smirk and turns to her partner again. Judging by her eyes, she isn't under Al-Majnun's control and actually thinks this is normal.
"I will join you!" Hestia declares in an upbeat tone and walks forward with a buoyant step. I grab her wrist and pull her back, eliciting a cute noise of surprise from her. "Oh, of course. Why would I do it with the other you, when you are here?"
"This party is over!" I announce in a firm voice, and everybody stops what they're doing for a moment to stare at me. Then laughter fills the hall in response to what they may think was a joke, and they continue the feast and orgy. "Hey, I'm seri-owaaah?!"
I jump and squeal in surprise.
"Hmmm, where is that stick?" Hestia just stuck a hand between my thighs and tried to find the hole that shall not be named.
"W-w-what are you doing?" Covering my buttocks with both my hands, I stare at her with my eyes almost popping out of their sockets. I was lucky that whenever I'm naked, I make a habit of not recreating certain human facilities. When I wrapped myself around the angel girl earlier, the red cloak went inside me after all, and I didn't put it back on again in case the need to spontaneously transform arises.
"I remarked that you're acting like there's a stick up your butt, but she seems to have taken that literally." The jester explains Hestia's behavior, and I can't decide whether to punch in that leery mask of his with a bone-enhanced fist or hug the fallen angel for being so naive.
I guess I can do both.
Grabbing Hestia by the waist with one hand, I pull her in. At the same time, my other hand turns into a club made from the hardest bone found in the vularen body. The arm it's attached to explosively extends toward the masked man's face. Just as my lips lock with the angel girl's, I feel my fist impacting something and hear a cracking sound.
"Have you gotten in the mood, Chloe?" When we separate, Hestia asks with a bemused expression. Seeing the orgy all around us does remind me of the fact that I haven't done it in a while. However, this is hardly the time or place for it, even if it kind of is; we need to get out of this enchanted city as quickly as possible.
When I turn around, I find that the jester is still standing, but his head is bent away from me at an odd angle with shards of his mask lying on the ground. There are plenty of people who saw what I did, but not a single one of them seems to care. That means he's still in control.
"My, you are a fierce one." The previously high-pitched voice has become lower and darker, with an unnatural reverb that a body as slender as his couldn't usually produce. He's showing his true self after all now.
His neck cracks and rights itself, and I get a peek at what lies under the mask. It just happens to be another mask, but that of a grimacing jester.
"Why would you bring violence to this peaceful city?" Tilting his head with one last unhealthy-sounding crack, he asks in an offended tone, falling back into his previous voice for a moment. Then he bends forward and looms over me in anger, even if his face is hidden. "Why?!"
"You brainwashed everybody. That's not real peace!" I stand m
y ground and hold myself back from punching him again for violating my private space like this.
"Oh? Is that what you think? I did no such thing." He pulls back and pulls off the remaining pieces of the broken mask still sticking to the new one underneath them. "I merely showed them what it's like to no longer be bound by the shackles of societal standards."
"Do you really believe humans can live in peace when not shackled?" The derisive tone in my question surprises me, but it's an undeniable truth I've been a witness to before. "Whatever they're doing, they aren't free."
"Why so cynical? Learn from your better half." Pointing at Asoko, who didn't even notice what I did, the jester suggests.
"She didn't experience the same things as I did." I narrow my eyes at his wording. Was that a deliberate pun or pure coincidence?
"And that's your answer!" Raising his arms in a celebratory gesture, he announces grandly. "The world out there is a desert; pain and suffering is the coarse, rough, and irritating sand that gets everywhere. This city is an oasis; hedonism its life-giving water, freeing people from the foul nature of humans."
"Are you saying that the people here have never experienced hardships?" He sounds like a cult leader, so I'm more than skeptical about any of his words.
"They no longer recall any of those things." Shrugging, the jester replies with what I consider an incriminating statement. So he did mess with their heads. "The same will be true for you once you accept my blessing."
"Who are you?" At this point, I feel compelled to ask. Everything points to him being the ringleader behind all of this, which would mean he's the Great Deceiver Al-Majnun.
"You already know, don't you?" Taking off his mask only to reveal another one, laughing like the first he wore before I broke it, he responds mysteriously. "After all, you said you were a shard of me."
The instant I have confirmation, my front bursts open and countless spikes impale him. Or at least they were meant to, but only shredded clothes remain where he was a split second ago.
