Run, run, run, run. Run, run, run, run.
In the sky of our eyes, in the sky of our eyes, the bells ring with sparkling echoes. From the holes, from the holes, from the holes of our windows,,, ..,. ,,
Memories arise that you never had, me mo ri es ari se th at y ou n ever had, y o u n e v e r h a d......…
"Ugh ..."
Upon awakening Dulkha found darkness. The room was isolated by the dark curtains and the lowered shutter. He had lowered them to find refreshment in the dark. It was not a total success.
His eyes were constantly being worn out by something he couldn't understand but was orbiting him heavily.
He heard voices without words, he didn't need them.
Dulkha rubbed his eyes. In the gesture he felt the last remnants of humanity that he still had on him. A voice still orbited around him, this time it came in front of him with a word. A name. He opened the curtains before he could see it. Or because he saw it. The wave of light blinded him anyway, and after that he couldn't remember anything.
Sitting on the bed he looked at his hands. He looked at them for a long time, his left hand covered in bandages, his right hand free. A spontaneous question arose ... "Are you alive ...?" ... "I Am ... Am I alive?"
The bandages covered 60% of his body, from half face down. He felt the joints in his body but wasn't sure they were there.
Oskah picked him up a little later.
"Did you sleep well?"
They headed for the scout's base, which it was in an old cinema that had been in disuse for centuries.
"There is more hustle and bustle than usual."
Inside, several members came and went, some spoke discreetly among themselves, still others sat on the sidelines gazing at the ceiling with their eyes marked by something. If there had been dark times for the scout congregation, this was surely one of them.
Even they, who had seen almost everything and were accustomed to the unpredictability of the outside world, were dumbfounded in front of Dulkha. Their gazes, like those of the citizens, were painted with distrust and hatred. "Now let's get anyone in ..." One of them said. "Doesn't the mayor realize that something is happening here?"
Hidden behind the white curtains of the infirmary, stood the silhouette of the Division Chief. She looked thoughtful. Oskah burst into the air hidden by the curtain.
"Division chief?"
She did not answer immediately, absorbed in a whirlwind of unknown thoughts.
"Mrs.?" The woman turned, showing a face marked by lack of sleep.
"Tell me Oskah ..."
"Did something happen?"
Before the woman could answer, Oskah noticed a veil lying on the ground, with blood oozing from underneath, forming the shape of a man.
"We found him a little while ago. He has been talking nonsense since he arrived. We had tied him up but afterwards he seemed to have calmed down ..."
Oskah felt a sense of nausea rise up his throat.
"He cut his veins. We couldn't do much ... We weren't careful."
The woman took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. She then turned her eyes to Oskah and Dulkha, with a determined look.
"I told you that if anything happened, people would change their minds about the newcomer."
"I was aware of that."
Oskah tried to say something but was stopped by a gesture from the Woman.
"Anyway, there is still time to fix it ... As I told you yesterday, there is something strange out there, and according to my predictions it could be related to the power plant. Since most of the disappearances have occurred. in that zone.
The woman turned discreetly to her lifeless body under her veil.
"He was a strong man. He would never have acted this way, not even in shock ... he was the only missing man we could find."
The woman said in a furious tone. Then, taking a last deep breath, she headed outward. The two followed her.
"Go there and find out what's happening. Do what you can not to die or end up like him ..."
Dulkha raised his hand, as if to mock Oskah's formality.
"Why us two?" "Pray?" "Why just the two of us? You have a team to direct such an operation."
The woman winked a sarcastic smile and walked over to Dulkha.
"Because it is the price to pay for something you haven't done, but which still fills you with guilt by the eyes of the people ... And because just two of you is a more discreet approach." The woman then hinted at a laugh.
"Besides, I'd be a real idiot if I didn't take advantage of the monster I have at my disposal."
Dulkha didn't answer, and he didn't care anyway.
The sky outside the walls turned dark, the path through the park was silent as usual. The streetlamps marked the territory with their wavering light.
However, after what had happened, no one was able to be so calm passing through that area.
"I'm sorry ... for what she said."
"You don't have to apologize for anything. She must have said it for a reason, and I accept it."
Oskah looked at the ground, from time to time the luminous mushrooms emerged from the ground which facilitated the path.
"Yes, but in any case, she always does this. She's not a bad person, she's just ..."
"Just...?"
"She's just full of something ... that only she knows."
It had been a while since Oskah had gone to the power plant, but he still remembered the road. After passing the park they had to cross the enchanted lake, follow the railway to the graffiti tunnel and turn left. The power plant would already have been visible, with its very high towers dominating the trees.
"Why is it called the enchanted lake?" Dulkha asked.
"Because the people who fall into it are so happy that they don't want to go out anymore. So sooner or later they end up drowning ... With a smile on their face."
For the entire journey they did not see creatures or travelers. The whole world seemed to be asleep in truce. The rubble of the old world rested together with those of the new, lulled by the light wind and the soft light that crossed the clouds of that area.
"But that's ..."
Oskah noticed something, walked over to check. It was a faded pink scarf, belonged to one of the scouts, a young girl who had decided to enlist for a month. And she is Oskah's childhood friend.
"Was she gone ...?" Oskah whispered, staring intently at the scarf.
"Damn ... She left without telling me anything, I ... I didn't know."
"What happens?"
Oskah tightened his scarf, rolled it up and put it in his pocket. "Nothing. A person I know might be here."
Dulkha nodded disinterestedly. "One more reason to go in here." "Yes."
Oskah advanced at a brisk pace. On his face, the half-worn mask gave a glimpse of darkness in his eyes. They stood still and thought only of one thing, all the time, to the point of madness.
We need to go check it out.
The main facade of the plant was eerily huge. It was a tangle of steel and pipes. It was an old power station that connected with the adjacent lake. Above, the arabesques and the damaged rose window gave it a bizarrely sacred aspect.
The entrance was at the top and could be reached via a cable car.
"What kind of place is it?"
"It's the powerhouse."
"Really? It looked like a temple."
The cable car was in decent condition, despite its age, nevertheless there were moments, during the ascent, in which it gave malfunctions.
"Someone should be on guard, in my opinion."
"They did, but later people started disappearing, so they left it alone."
"..."
The damaged sensor above the front door allowed access to anyone, human or otherwise. They managed to enter without problems. Once inside, the eyes of the two explorers were dazzled by the blinding lights of the plant, which were automatically activated by other sensors.
The two noticed strange drawings and writings on the walls, with a childlike attitude.
How nice not to hear! How nice to be happy! I will be happy forever!
The drawings depicted rainbows, stars, trees, and other similar things. Amid the true signs, a smiling face was always present.
As they continued down the corridors, the signs increased in intensity. The insistence of certain concepts became almost hysterical.
Don't hear! I don't want to hear anymore!
The purpose of life is to get here! Without Them, it only makes sense to die!
Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.
Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.
Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.
Please. Please. Please. Please.
Please, please, please.
Please, please.
Please.
"This is starting to get disturbing."
Oskah ignored the blindfolded boy's words. He continued with the same tenacity as before. Without realizing it every now and then he began to whisper phrases that escaped from his mind.
"If anything happened to her ... I was going to tell you that thing ... That thing was ..."
"Oy!" Thundered Dulkha, trying to shake him.
"Yes, sorry, I was focused."
"It seemed to me that you were freaking out."
The two arrived at the elevator that led directly to the command core of the plant. A humming noise permeated the walls of that building, passed through the heaps of rubble, the rooms without doors from which scattered, worn and illegible documents emerged. Some lights were defective, so certain areas remained dark, and if you got too close you could hear thin voices, asphyxiated by the heaviness of the darkness, a darkness impenetrable to both sight and soul.
To access the floor of the central core, a key was needed to insert. This key was found a long time ago, no one knows where, perhaps in one of those dark rooms.
The elevator creaked, slowly descended. Petals of rust occasionally fell like snowflakes in August on the heads of the two scouts. The other floors could be seen from the safety net. Writings abounded all over the walls, and strange sounds could be heard approaching as they approached the depth. Dulkha and Oskah remained silent. Their voices were tightened by the heavy atmosphere of this situation and the place. Every now and then Oskah touched his weapon, the club sticking to the side of his trousers. He had stopped muttering in a low voice, much to Dulkha's delight.
P-P-P-Plane Reac-c-c-ch-e-ed....
"Here we are." Oskah said, grabbing his club.
A long corridor illuminated by small lights placed on the floor
....
"Listen ..."
"Yup?"
"You know how to use those things, right?"
Dulkha thought for a few moments.
"Those things?"
"Yes, the bandages you have on your body."
"Ah, I think so. I will have used them before, before I get here."
"You used them against that beast."
Dulkha scratched his cheek. "True, but I wasn't fully awake."
Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden sound.
"I didn't just hear it, did I?"
Dulkha nodded.
The sound came from a room with the door ajar. Oskah immediately grabbed his weapon, Dulkha wasn't sure how he would react if he found himself in a dangerous situation.
"Who's there?!" Oskah shouted. In his mind, for some reason, the memory of the night he lost his partner surfaced. The night he met Dulkha. This memory gave him determination.
M-Mommy… Why… Mommy…
Without warning, a small figure stepped out of the dark room, running for the door that marked the end of the corridor. She was small and fast. She had a human form; she could have been a child.
The two followed her through the great door.
"What the hell ..."
In front of them was an unfamiliar space, something that resembled a city.
"We're on the right floor, aren't we?"
WELCOME TO FENEJA!
THE CITY OF HAPPINESS.!
"What's a place like that doing here ...?"
"If you do not know..."
In front of the two scouts there was a square, with a beautiful fountain in the center.
Around the fountain, some human-looking figures moved in a bizarre dance. There was no doubt, they were people. Among these Oskah recognized some of the missing scouts. Tied to their bodies were shapeless, white masses with smiles drawn with a felt-tip pen.
There was a hypnotic music made of invisible instruments and numb voices that linked the movements of the fountain dance.
A man approached them, hidden behind his legs was a small figure. It had to be the one they had glimpsed earlier. The man wore a smile that seemed indelible, the little girl behind him had a white mask, smashed on one side, and the shapeless masses covered most of her body.
"Then it's true, we have visitors. Welcome!"
The two scouts didn't know what to answer.
"Lately, a lot of people are coming to our pretty town. I've been appointed mayor, but don't be afraid, nobody here puts authority over the other. We're all free!"
Free and happy!
Oskah found something frighteningly familiar about this man. His face was legible, but frayed, as if something were sucking him from within.
"I've already seen you ..."
Suddenly Oskah understood where he had seen that man.
"Long ago, you were the mayor of-"
"I'm the mayor of this beautiful city, that's right! But I don't recognize you!"
Oskah was cut off abruptly. The smile on the man's face became almost forced to the limit. The man Oskah faced was the old mayor of Anatolia, who fled the city a month earlier, as his children and wife were mysteriously seized by the Grudge and expelled from the city.
He followed them but never came back.
"Come! You are welcome! I will be your personal tour guide, using this beautiful microphone!"
WELCOME TO THE FOUNTAIN SQUARE.
The figures danced all around the fountain, humming the melody that swirled throughout the city.
"Where does this melody come from?" Oskah asked.
"From the sounding board into our hearts!" The mayor replied euphoric.
This is the fountain square. Here, our fellow citizens gather when they want to express the joy of having arrived here! How nice to be here!
The mayor's cheerful voice echoed from the invisible loudspeakers.
Above their heads, from the windows drawn on the walls the citizens emerged, with their arms raised to the sky, which they made swing in unison. Their voices joined tightly to the infinite melody.
Detach your minds,
detach your hearts,
from the window holes
memories you never had will emerge!
"What the hell does that mean ...?"
"..."
The bizarre road continued through a small bridge, the bright colors ranging from blue to bright purple repeated all the way.
Oskah recognized one of his missing comrades. He walked slowly in the opposite direction. He passed him but he didn't recognize him, so the boy decided to stop him.
"Edhin! Edhin, is that you?" The explorer, enveloped by the white masses, stared at him for a few seconds. His gaze was dead in a lifeless smile. "Oy! Edhin?"
"Have we met before?" He replied with a smile. "Edhin, I'm Oskah, everyone's looking for you! What the hell are you doing here?!"
The explorer widened the smile already on his face.
"Looking for ...me? I was born here! There's nothing out there for me."
"What are you saying?"
"I feel a great sadness for you ..."
Dulkha put his hand on Oskah's shoulder.
"It's better if we go."
"But ..." Dulkha shook his head. The black-haired boy gave up and continued the tour of the city.
They crossed a small "stone" bridge. It looked fake; it sure was. Below them passed a completely banked river that moved strangely.
The houses followed one another monotonously. The people they met, they didn't even look at him, all lost in that state of unknown happiness. The children walked alone; their parents did not recognize them.
WELCOME TO THE SOUL ROOM
They took an elevator that took them to a large and empty room, but full of people painting phrases and pictures on the walls.
This is the room of the soul! Where our fellow citizens can-
The mayor's voice was interrupted by a malfunction.
"What's wrong with him?"
"The equipment surely is poor."
The phrases and pictures were like those seen in the structure. There, however, they possessed a brighter but equally disturbing aura.
WE LEAVE OUR HEARTS!
LET'S FREE THE HOLES IN THE WINDOW!
EVERYTHING AND NOTHING HAPPENS HERE! OUTSIDE, THERE IS ONLY EVERYTHING.
NOTHING WILL MAKE US HAPPY AND FREE.
Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup! Yup!
...
"What the hell is going on here?"
Dulkha shook his head.
"I thought you were the expert."
"The last time I was here, there was none of that."
Dulkha thought for a few moments. "Do you think the…"
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
A deafening noise broke from the invisible speakers. The rest of the people kept acting as if nothing had happened.
"Let's go on..."
At the end of the room, they found a large balcony, extending left and right with stairs leading down.
WELCOME TO THE PARADE FOREVER
From the balcony on, the city walls had turned white as snow. Everything seemed more fragile and fake. An endless parade flowed from the street below them. Undefined things, like objects, flowed like a river into the unknown. The citizens clapped their hands urged by the music that increased its power.
Welcome to the parade forever! Useless things flow in a liberating song, the essence of danger, of material evil, flow straight into the void, erased forever! Crumbs on your hair.
There wasn't much to say, other than that. It was a short road that carried an endless parade. The End.
WELCOME IN THE NEST OF BIRTH.
The most important place in the city of smiles! Here, our souls are reborn, they reach us through the water of the sacred lake. We bind them to ourselves, and through the flesh the material impurities are dissolved into a useless pile of ash!
It was a huge room, full of pipes and cables that led to a single source, a huge basin full of those white masses. These were transported, once mature, by the purification workers, and later stylized by the pen clerk.
Oskah noticed someone in the crowd. It was her.
"It's her ..." Her childhood friend of hers occupied the bathhouse duties like the others. One of those masses, very large, had stuck to his head, with the drawing of a sad face. Oskah walked over to him. He touched her arm and pulled her to him. "Seryah! Seryah! What happened to you?!"
The girl didn't answer, she was staring at Oskah. Her face told her something, but she couldn't connect those traits to an identity of hers in her memories of her. Seeing as she was slowly throwing them away.
"Seryah ... I ... I was stupid, they shouldn't have sent you to the landing without my authorization, without ..."
The black-haired boy began to sob.
"I ... Seryah ... There is something I have to tell you ... Something ... You see ... I am ..."
"Seryah ...?" Oskah was silent.
"Was this my ... name?" A faint smile rose from the girl's face.
"What's the point of having a name when you're happy?"
"What are you saying?"
"You ... You remind me of me ... Get away ... GO AWAY! HAHAHAHA!"
Oskah was petrified. He felt so helpless that his hands started shaking, and he had a desire to kill everyone in that room. To shred, reduce to ashes, annihilate sounds, kill, kill oneself.
"Oy!" Dulkha cursed, tugging at him.
"Recover yourself ... If you play an idiot and don't come home, I'll be the one to get in trouble."
Oskah regained a modicum of clarity. He focused on what he had in front of him, and it was Dulkha trying to wake him up.
"Yes ... It would be a shame. Ha-ha ..."
"First we understand what's going on here, and then we think about the girl."
Oskah nodded.
The two friends looked around. All those things were sent by a probe that sent them to a specific room. The feeling that everything in there was controlled by one mind was inevitable.
"Let's go in there."
A room with a red door, surrounded by curtains of the same color. The door opened. On the other side was a long, apparently empty room. A red carpet stretched to an undefined point. A blinding light came on, showed the actors of that stage.
RECREATION ROOM
Dear friends, this is the recreation room ...
The stage showed the image of a little girl tied to a red chair. She was the little girl who hid behind the mayor.
It's a bad day for us. Our dear fellow citizen has committed a major crime, one of the very few punishable crimes within our city. The attachment to the matter of the little girl ... It led her to madness and human sadness, infinite sadness.
A chorus of euphoric voices rose from the glories.
For this reason, her flesh will now be donated to the great spirit of the lake who granted us all this. May he destroy the toxins of matter with her flesh and create the spores of the eternal smile.
A voice echoed from the even darker depth, made the bones tremble, but in the audience, it only caused more excitement.
"God! God! God! God! God! God! God! God! God! God! God!" They repeated from the stands.
"I don't want to!!! Please God, let me un-live forever, FOREVER!"
"If I have to stop non-living ... Then kill me instead !!!"
"Please!!!" "Please!!!"
The creature came out. It was, trivially, a white mass, but huge. Obviously.
"Do you want to eat it ...?"
The two approached the huge white mass.
"Ugly bastard! She IS your daughter !!!"
I have no children ... Having children, it only leads to suffering. I don't need anything else besides ...
"Shut that shit out of your mouth and give me Seryah back!"
Ha-ha ... Do you think you can frighten me, pity me, sadden me? I took a long, long hot bath, and in the meantime the toxins you call feelings have slipped out of my pores ...
I felt nothing, the emptiness, I was looking at the ceiling, or whatever was in front of my eyes, and I realized that I was no longer staring at things with interest. I was staring at the beauty of the universe, of emptiness, the selfless beauty that is beauty in itself.
And to prove this to you ...
The shapeless mass began to boil and shrink until it became a man. The mayor emerged from the cloud of smoke.
"He was the only one without one of those things. I should have known." Dulkha said.
"It doesn't matter, we have to annihilate it."
Oskah and Dulkha ran towards the mayor. There was nothing and no one to protect him. Dulkha took a powerful step, which hurled him ahead of Oskah.
"I'll kill my own d-"
Silence.
Only the sound of the sacred bandages piercing the mayor's flesh was the only thing audible.
"Mommy ... Mommy ... Why did you hurt Mommy ...?"
Said the little girl, tied to the chair, looking the dying mayor in the eyes.
"I ... I don't ..." The man spat pitch-colored blood from his mouth, agonized on the ground, sinking into a black pool.
I CAN'T LEAVE!
The man entered a kind of regenerative phase, wrapped in a dark cloud, he tried to increase his mass.
"Die!" Oskah grabbed his mace and hit the mayor with all his strength. The electric discharge from the club partially interrupted that state of regeneration.
"I won't let you!" Shouted the boy.
Throbbing screams rose from the bleachers, overcoming the barrier of despair, without fully understanding it. Because they had dissolved their emotions, they no longer knew what sadness, despair was, and how to deal with it.
People, affected by those black masses, began to rush towards them at great speed.
"We have to defend ourselves." Dulkha said coldly.
"I wanted to avoid getting to this but ..."
Oskah had an illumination.
"Maybe, if we try to kill the white masses, people might lose their subjugation."
"Let's try." Dulkha answered.
People were coming. The expression on their faces was angry, mouths full of foam, eyes looking only at their murderous desire. Oskah took aim and pulled down the first white mass. It fell and made a sound like a dying little animal.
The woman he had freed fell to the ground in severe convulsions.
She felt it all at once, all the emotions, happiness, anger, sadness, despair, melancholy, all in one blow, and it was devastating to her mind.
The other inhabitants seeing the scene increased their aggression even more. One of them, taking advantage of the confusion, grabbed the girl, breaking her neck and trampling her to the ground, completely smashing her mask.
Other people were being freed from the masses, but nothing was achieved other than falling to the ground and dying. Those things were like inseparable vital organs for the body, and especially the mind.
"Maybe if we kill him ..." Oskah aimed at the mayor, still basking in that black soup that was boiling all the time.
Oskah started hitting him repeatedly, but the black mass continued to regenerate.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! FUCK DIE!"
No matter how hard he hit him, that thing seemed immortal, and he laughed at his determination.
I had forgotten what it felt like to boil with anger ...
Human beings are and always will be prone to destruction and self-destruction, so ...
"Wait a moment." Dulkha whispered.
He saw something in the center of the creature. Something that resembled a heart, bright, white, beating. Something only, he could see.
Without thinking too much, Dulkha threw his bandages straight into that spot, and the glowing heart was broken, making the sound of glass breaking into a thousand pieces.
No ... I ... I just wanted ... to be happy ... I ...
Suddenly everything stopped. People infected with white masses stopped, entering an almost catatonic state. They looked into the void, with their eyes now annihilated.
"It worked?" Oskah asked.
Dulkha said nothing. He still wasn't sure it was all over.
A dry sound, and then another, and another, and another, another ...
Around them, the white masses died, fell from the bodies, and dissolved to the ground, in a cloud of white vapor.
"We did it ..." Oskah said relieved.
Seryah! He thought instantly. The boy ran into the room before, dodging the motionless bodies that investigated the void. There he saw Seryah, also now free from subjugation.
"Seryah!" The girl turned to him. She seemed the only one who had acquired her wits. She gave him a warm, heartbreaking smile at the same time. A tear fell from one eye.
"Seryah! ..."
Crack. A single sharp blow. The girl fell to the ground, still with a smile on her face, still with her eyes on Oskah. Her neck was broken, she broke it herself in a single gesture.
Oskah couldn't hear anything anymore, he had gone deaf for a moment. A glass bubble had surrounded him. He did not even notice the Chaos that had once again created itself around him. This time, people weren't trying to attack him or Dulkha.
At the height of despair, they began to slaughter each other. Some took their own lives, breaking their necks or repeatedly hitting themselves with something. Others began to eat each other.
The pupils were no longer looking anywhere, they were just trying to wake up from that nightmare. The pain of existence and beauty, desire and flesh, dream and nightmare, love, and contempt...
A mind absorbs them in small steps, throughout its life.
Dulkha, who was in the other room, witnessed the massacre. He felt almost nothing or tried not to. Those who tried to attack him he dodged away, piercing them with the sacred bandages.
"There's nothing left for them."
The place fell apart, crumpled like a piece of burning paper. Dulkha joined Oskah, still inside his glass dome. He could not hear the voice of his companion calling him, he could see him, but he understood who he was or what he wanted. Now it didn't matter anymore.