It was the voice of someone who was turned away by those she thought loved her. When someone betrayed her or treated her like dirt under their foot. A girl so scarred and scared. Who wanted so badly to scream out for help. To beg for mercy.
It was the voice of a demon who would burn you with a touch, freeze you with a stare. It was the voice of death, who brought on your life. When someone came across her in the night, she could make you suffer like no other, she could cut you open and you wouldn't even know.
Zabulus' face softened, "Do you have any questions?" He asked calmly, but there was an urgency in his voice that caused the girl to hesitate. He needed a distraction from the situation.
"What did you say?" She inquired curiously. She had never heard him speak in such a manner before. There was still a hint of uncertainty in her voice, but it was enough to prompt him.
"Alice..." His breath hitched. "I... I don't know. I don't know what I said, alright?" He had his hands all over his head. A tired expression appearing upon his face. His eyebrows furrowed tightly as if there was an issue weighing heavy on him, "I-it wasn't even-"
"Enough." Her expression went back to a grim look. "That's fine." She crossed her arms together and her head hanging low.
"Listen, Zabulus, when Laz's in danger... that's no excuse," her tone, low, was sharp.
The corners of his mouth twitched upwards as his grin returned again. He could feel the anger boiling up inside him as he tried desperately to hide it, but it was beginning to get harder with every moment that passed. "It seems that even now you won't give in." He gave a humorless chuckle, "You are a stubborn woman. One of the qualities I admire, yet despise at the same time," In his own right, a part of him couldn't believe his own words. Perhaps the little bits of sympathy in his heart, or something deeper still. His mind drifted back to his conversation with Laz not long before. He let out a frustrated sigh. "But... you know, I'm sorry about what I did and all." Though his words did not sound genuine, his tone told differently. "Just tell me, why did I have to go through with this? Why can't you see reason?"
As if hearing his thoughts, she replied, "It doesn't work that way Zabulus, no-one should do those... things."
"Things? What things?"
"Like whatever the fuck you did!" her temper rose again, "Because clearly that's a 'Bad Thing', it's fucking bad." Her voice cracked at the last part, "and... I just... listen, I don't want you to turn into a horrible person like everyone before you. It's not what's fair. None of this is!" Alice's eyes started to burn with the tears that were falling. She couldn't stop them now, she just wanted to break and cry. Her throat had constricted to the point that even breathing was difficult as she tried to compose herself.
'What a crybaby she is, huh?' Those thoughts of his made him want to smile a little bit.
"What happened here isn't what I wanted Alice. We... both needed to understand that. It's not all lost though, I think." A voice in his head was yelling at him to just drop all the shit, get out, and go home already. Yet here was his stubborn side, that always believed in him to take his stand no matter what. But a third voice, far smaller than the other, screamed in agony. The sheer amount of shame and regret in him was beyond belief and almost unbelievable.
There was no justification, nor reasoning. Yet even then, there wasn't a need to apologize or justify his actions. Simply, on the inside, he was confused. Was this all truly worth it? For whatever cause that he believed so strongly and surely in; yet in the end, did all he just accomplish was create a bigger mess and solve nothing? Did he even truly feel right about the idea of leaving all behind for some ideal of his?
Maybe so, but it feels better to just push all of those questions aside. "Laz had been protecting you for so long, and look at how much harm and pain that has done to him... he needed to break this cycle before someone else was hurt." Zabulus broke his own thoughts off and let the silence fill him once more.
"What do you know about what Laz had done for me? What do you know what I would do!? You-" she choked off, not wanting to continue anymore. She really didn't want to let him end up hurt. Her thoughts drifted towards Laz and the events in her life for several minutes after Zabulus went silent as they both sat there awkwardly.
The room around was awfully dingy. The walls were damp, the floor felt like cold steel. Every little sound reverberating back and forth. If one really were to think about it, it would feel quite depressing, but oddly calming. It was storming on the outside, so perhaps it wasn't too terrible that a heavy atmosphere engulfed her, even though that meant it felt more stuffy.
Then Alice wondered whether there was an attic or not, but immediately shook that thought away because of course, there is, she thought, don't be silly Alice.
One noise, however, was seeping into the back of their minds. It was a calming tone, a soothing melody. Zabulus sat down opposite to her, fidgeting uncomfortably as he glanced around. At times, his eyes locked onto his fingers as he picked at his nails. His breathing was labored.
Soon as the melody sat in his mind, he looked directly to Alice and mouthed:
"Are you the only one?"
His eyes seemed to soften while looking at her. Perhaps he was trying to gauge whether or not she heard it.
Alice raised her eyebrow slightly at him as she noticed the sudden shift in his posture and behavior, almost like he wasn't present before and now that he is, he felt better. Her gaze hardened as her pupils widened slightly. They stared at one another for a few minutes more, their lips thinning, their skin tightening over their jaws. Her expression became that much more uncomfortable; her knuckles grew paler and whiter.
There are no means for their senses to be heightened with their emotions right now. Their surroundings darkened to near pitch, with the faint light reflecting through the window. The thunder rumbles and the rain keeps pouring. Alice's hand trembled as she grabbed hold of the wooden stool next to her.
Sweat covered them both, their mouths moving in a strange fashion as they continued their staring contest. After another moment, Alice relaxed as much as she could and allowed her breath to pass from her lungs. It was deep, slow breaths and soon, with an exhale, she found her hand slowly creeping up along her neck towards her chin.
"...Huh?" she whispered. She blinked.
A smile creeped across Zabulus' face and in an instant his demeanor changed. The way he carried himself, the way he breathed, his posture... It was once again, like how it used to be.
He spoke once more: "It's you." He motioned towards the violin.
Alice's breath hitched as she looked in the direction where it was being played. "Why is it... playing?"
"Who knows." Zabulus said in a mocking manner. "...Was there always a violin in the room?"
"No."
"How come."
"No idea," Alice's brow furrowed. The song started off very sweet and light. And slowly... gradually... progressively... grew... increasingly louder... Neither of them dared to stop its music... as if enchanted with magic to hear it... As its music played, Alice felt something else too...
Fear. An absolute fear. Something... isn't right. Alice was sure, but this feeling... could there have been anything worse? Anything even worse than a Banshee crying?
Their ears didn't stop picking up, nor their nerves dying. Instead, they grew worse. Everything was so eerie, even if no one else were here but Alice and Zabulus, it somehow felt full of life. She wondered, what made her so happy that the heavens cried? What did she gain or what did she lose that made her feel these emotions?
The melody would then transform into a faster pace, growing darker by the minute. A classical tone, that reminiscent of an old orchestra; and yet, somehow, still reminding her of an instrument with a soul of its own. His fears started taking him to a place of great darkness, and that is when his mind starts replaying those old memories over and over again.
The orchestra, being led by the Violin, changed into a darker tone as the darkness threatened him, and the clouds swallowed him, bringing him to a deep place. Alice stared wide eyed as the instrument sounded like a million voices whispering all at once.
Chords of a minor key followed, as well as chills crawling over the skin. Alice's own voice became hoarse as she listened. She could not utter a single word.
Chords of a major key followed, the room lighting up a little brighter, giving way to some hope for both, although neither could hold onto much.
Chords of a dark theme followed, changing the room. It became very cold and very empty. Chords of a light theme. Alice's smile returned.
She took a deep breath. And exhaled.
Her lungs began to burn.
The music, again, transformed. Now the violin was leading a fantasizing melody, taking on a lively tone, as if a song had been given birth to a child who loved life itself. This could be called happiness, maybe even euphoria. But then, there came despair as well.
They both were in a trance at this point, where listening to and feeling the music was as natural as breathing was to them. Alice's fingers touched the wall before her, making a strange noise as they dragged across the wooden surface. She touched her hands. Touched the ground. Touched her nose, and she noticed that her body lacked senses.
How can one not feel the body? She wondered as she watched herself touch a nail.
Zabulus placed both hands on the table. He stopped breathing as he kept staring blankly at her. There wasn't a shred of any emotion in his face, just emptiness. Complete and utter emptiness. The overload of emotion from the melody destroying his mind entirely, rendering him as little more than a husk. He couldn't think properly. The room wasn't even bright or dark, but had no shadows or substance to be seen.
But then, it stopped.
There was no Violin. There was no music.
Yet both sat completely still, neither having moved since the music ended, staring straight ahead.
Severe pain and disbelief followed... and so did everything that's happening within their heads, causing a mental shock wave to spread around. Both minds have shattered. It hurt to listen.
It burned like fire. It feels fantastic. Yet, no physical sensations registered to the minds of either. Their ears felt warm and light headed, causing each other to moan, but nothing physical caused them any pain or discomfort. They could barely talk or even move properly.
"Unable to react to things... are we?" A man's voice was heard. "Don't fret! All of you will be gone soon..."
The first time they heard it.
'Wow...' was the only thing that Alice could comprehend, before blackness engulfed everything she could have ever possibly had known of. "But first, allow me to tell you the rest of the story..."
After waking up in the darkness, both Alice and Zabulus were in a state of panic. They struggled to remember themselves or to realize where they actually were, nor had any concept of anything else.
Memories poured back to them, allowing them to understand exactly where and what kind of situation that they have ended in, though.
The mans voice reverberated like an angel's call, however it felt tainted. "I won't hurt you. At least, not yet." His words sounded reassuring, yet none the less he continued his speech. "That little boy, you know his name as Zabulus. I cannot see into his soul, because it's very dark. The darkness in it, it's inexplicable, it's hard to see through."
"Is it what made him..." her voice trailed off into silence.
"No. What you're seeing now, all this darkness," His gentle yet cruel voice. "It's the mark. The mark of his soul, this is what he is." Words that didn't need to be spoken. "Just wait a little longer."
Both heard his voice as he spoke. A familiar, yet unfamiliar voice. It held a certain melody to it, almost like an orchestra that made people fall under a spell, or it might have even been from somewhere faraway, an unknown country maybe... or perhaps from a different universe, yet the exact details are unknown.
Slowly and surely the music lulls the victims into a deep, yet hypnotizing, sleep. A complete hypnosis. Nothing could stop them from falling, not even their own free will. A feeling like falling into an endless hole with the promise of waking up after falling forever...
Or not.
Zabulus' conscious returns first, forcing him up, causing his body to collapse with a loud thud onto the floor.
"Ahh fuck..." His cursing is a mixture of a curse and a plea to whatever is happening.
Alice, on the other hand, was struggling to catch her breath. Her body refused to wake itself. Her muscles ached, her heartbeat irregular. Her whole body shivered, despite the warmth of this room. Her limbs are useless.
"That's too bad, dear." His voice broke. He sounded sad, but not angry. Then he laughed lightly. "Look, if you think you have what it takes, then stand up. That devil himself, whom I have seen, he wasn't as weak."
Zabulus pulled himself together as he struggled onto his hands and knees, only to crawl over to Alice in desperation, as he saw the man extend his hand to her neck, his long sharp fingernails gleaming in the light of nothing, reaching out and brushing it over her soft skin, before sharply pulling away with the pain from her flinch. He had never seen someone flinch in such a way, it had to have been excruciating. He pulled her over and lifted her head, her eyes struggling to open, her hair a mess and tears flowing, bloodied and bruised. It was clear from the start that she was damaged somehow.
His body wasn't doing anything, the pain being much more significant then any wounds would have.
Crawl...Crawl...
"Awake! Now that's more like it! Don't be like a devil-boy." Alice opened her eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Zabulus immediately felt something like guilt forming in his heart, like never before. Her face turned a paler shade of white. She couldn't move. Her voice is lost and she can't scream.
His hat falling over his left eye, he shifted closer to her. His breath felt hot and heavy against her cheeks.
"Aren't you even afraid?" The man started chuckling and was about to speak once again when her body tensed, stiffening in pain. "Or are you simply too foolish?"
Crawl...Crawl...
Alice forced a cough, spitting her mouth up with blood.
"Well? Cat got your tongue?" The man crouched down onto the floor, gazing over the body in front of him, inspecting her.
"You motherfucker." A big, long smile crept over Zabulus' face.
Crawl.
His hubris shining like the sun itself, his inner drive and urge for perfection burning with a white light and purity, as if someone had struck him with lightning. His 'eyes' burned with passion and hatred as he stared straight at the man, hatred burning in the gaze of a phantom. The man perhaps did not notice Zabulus' presence, or he did not care at all. His gaze turned back at him; his face appeared aged and lined with creases, his teeth broken, and his lips stretched tightly against his face, leaving only hollows beneath them. His clothing was a simple trench coat and gloves, with black boots on, making his overall attire blend in well to the environment around him, especially with a fog.
The smell of rot and decay surrounding them both, their eyes the only sign they could see each other, with the sole exception that Alice had locked eyes on him first.
"Oh, so the devil-boy indeed ca-"
Crash. The sound was unmistakable. The man crashed onto the floor with a sickening thud. He rushed to the man and kneed him on the face. Now with a broken nose, his face was drenched with blood.
"Look...at what you've become... a weak, human failure... all for a little human bitch." His voice was raspy and low, barely a whisper, yet still somehow loud and commanding.
Blood streamed down the side of his mouth, leaking into the crevices of the wood beneath him.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Zabulus growled, getting right up to his face, as close as he could, breathing down his neck.
"Hmm? Shouldn't have expected any better. I have yet to introduce myself, I will start with my name..." Although his face was battered and bruised, he grinned up at the two, his eyes practically shining with excitement. "My name is Vetro."
And he coughed a large chunk of blood into Alice's face. A devilish grin filled the corners of his mouth as a familiar smell fills his lungs, that same coppery odor which makes his nose feel numb.
"Not very creative are you?" Zabulus questioned, raising his eyebrow in a sort of nonchalant manner, his tone dripping sarcasm.
"How rude, my parents wouldn't agree." The words came out bitterly, without remorse. "Name was given by the demons. Been keeping this for long. Never wanted to die alone, but well..." his face contorted with disgust, he glanced back to her, her face a mask of confusion and anger, eyes turning away from the mans face before her hunger would play up again. "Well... Well, perhaps my name should've been said when my children died, since you're all not getting to be forgiven by god."
Vetro laughed coldly. It sent chills running up the spine of Alice, whose whole body trembled as she plugged her ears tightly. She shut her eyes tightly. She wanted the nightmares that played through her head every day to disappear, and it did the trick.
"What are you saying? What the fuck do you want?"
"I'm going to be fucking dead before you start to live, so why not finish off what I have started. All three of us, dying as one, it's my idea of the ideal death." It would be fitting for him to die with his ideals, rather than to die with his regrets.
" I don't give a damn about what you want, and I certainly don't need an excuse for this. All I need is a reason why you attacked us. Is it the violence? Or the fact we have done something that displeased you." He snarls, eyes rolling back, and 'fangs' grow larger and longer.
"Don't you remember that you were cursed by your mother, Nameless Demon? Do you seriously forget about that?" A devilish grin graced Vetros lips and with that, he laughed, louder than ever. He was proud to say he would never remember such a thing, nor would he ever have the courage to go against his mother.
"What do you know about me?!" He kicked Vetro's chin.
A groan and a shout of pain. That's all it was. He wasn't the kind to listen to an enemy who has already been defeated. So he continues with his taunts. "I can see... into your soul... you suffer just as much... and have suffered... even more." Vetro kept laughing and it grew into a loud cry. "AND ALL YOU HAVE...IS LOSS."
Silence.
And suddenly.
It clicked.
All those voices came at once, filling his head, it was difficult to concentrate. He hears that voice again, like a million others. "Remember that moment, when you first see your mothers and the children together, and see her looking at their son with an expression of complete and utter contentment?"
A sudden memory entered his head: the way that his mother held her hands to his face. What did she feel? Disgust? Horror? Surprise? Sadness? Fear? Did it make his mother fear the world so much that it drove her crazy and she decided to punish him by cursing him? How does he know all of this?
Why did her mother decide to sacrifice her only child's life?
"Remember how that boy turned into a demon?...how he got his 10,000 eyes...his 7,000 teeth, his 4000 tongues...? Yet... you, you were the usurper. A usurper of life! A usurper of soul!" His eyes rolled and his face became distorted.
What could be seen behind the face were not mere eyes of terror, but the pupils and irises, glowing green with a ghastly shimmer... and underneath his entire face, skin stretched and white as a sheet.
"...you're still the only demon."
For a single brief second, his eyes lock with Vetro's. For another brief second, Vetro seemed to hesitate.
"You know what you did to me? You took away my child. She died. My baby died because of you." And in this exact moment, something has snapped within him. The thought alone was unbearable to think about, it's so awful, it made him nearly lose control. But he knew what he was talking about.
The memory of a child, the memory of a child once blessed by Zabulus' mother, but the child was lost. It was scared, screaming, and crying with its arms outstretched for her. The vision came quickly, almost frightening him with its clarity. It didn't scare him in the least, rather he laughed at the horror that had entered his head and ran rampant.
"What... are you laughing at?! Agh..." Vetro coughed blood, a laugh bubbling to the surface.
"The truth... it seems, it was my destiny. The child, you and my mother... your relationship..." He grabbed the Vetro's throat again, though, unlike before, this time it is tight and controlled. "Yes..." His voice was overlaid with a hint of malice. "I am the Usurper...YES! The little prince must get his revenge... Bite down his enemies. As his teeth, his jaws. His maw..." Zabulus mocked Vetro, as his fangs were shown.
With a crackle, he snaps the neck of his opponent, yet for some reason the voice inside his head did not shut up, it only screamed louder, as Vetro continued laughing hysterically. "It's true... you cannot kill. Not as your are." His face was almost ripped in two. It looked gruesome to say the least. "Be a victim once more!" He pushed him backwards and began to scream into his ear.
Alice, during all this chaos, had barely moved a muscle. Everything felt weird, all this shouting, yelling, and everything in between.
And for some reason, all these voices and screams are echoing off the walls. Laz was still limp, lifeless.
Zabulus' face dropped with a disappointment. "Can't...kill?" And then a wave of power slammed into him. A powerful, vicious, unstoppable wave.
Suddenly a thick liquid poured out from his eyes and out from his throat. "I, cannot kill?" And this thick liquid flowed out of Vetro. His body melted right down to the ground. It was completely disfigured. His blood boiled into the soil and evaporated to smoke.
But Vetro looked back up at Zabulus, still alive. "Not yet..."
That was the last straw. Alice's mind had gone completely blank, blank like a white canvas with nothing except black ink spilling, like a tear of sadness dripping off the canvas, staining and blackening it further with all her bottled emotions.
"Please...let's just... go back..." the words are mumbled quietly through her trembling voice, but somehow, and somewhat, he was able to hear it, but he was too distracted with his rage.
With one of his other hands, Zabulus placed it onto Vetro's face, siphoning his memory out of him. "Hmm... yes, memories... wonderful... let's have a look shall we."
Rock, all around. Wind, a vast field of sand and desert, endless. A creature made from flesh and blood, made from the core of the earth, crawling out, teeth in rows like needles, big and small fangs, four hundred tongues coming from each side of the jaw.