You cant know for sure if it will happen. Many times you don't know how it will happen. But you always know when it does happen. That moment when time itself seems to change the order of things. That moment when the hunter becomes the prey. The trusted friend becomes the foe. Or perhaps most interestingly when the watcher becomes the watched. This was a place that waited for just such a thing. A place where even the wind blew impatiently carrying secrets that no one cared about anymore.
The air was charged with anticipation like a powerful rocket ready for take off. And so the nightmare didn't float in softly out of the mist. It was forced in from the desperation of those that have waited an eternity.
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An entire world waited for them and would not be disappointed.
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The self proclaimed misfit family was battle tested by this point. They had seen amazing and unexpected things. But there was no way they could have seen this coming. Besides it was their moment to finally enjoy the beauty only full immersion virtual reality could provide. They were dropped in and immediately embraced the beauty that greeted them. There was charge in the air that breathed excitement.
Ever since they found the backdoor to the game their lives had sped up faster and faster. Until they could no longer keep up. They were ready for a break from whatever dark secrets the game was hiding. But mostly they were tired of being hunted.
As they looked over the paradise they were in their faces lit up like only those on vacation can do. Amy couldn't contain herself and actually half skipped half trotted down to the giant oversized flower garden. Jared saw a barn and was on his way to doing important Jared stuff … whatever that was. David was about to pick something to fixate on and explore when He noticed Amy disappearing into the entrance of a maze in the garden. Dear God didn't anyone watch horror movies anymore. You don't go wandering off in a magical world and enter a literal maze.
“Amy slow your roll. Wait for us.” Damn and just like that she was out of site and hearing range. Time to rally the troops.
“J A R R E D its Amy red alert time!” David yelled. Jarred came out holding a wooden clamp and a couple of surface smoothing planes.
“We've barely been here long enough to piss off the wind. What kind of trouble could she possibly be in?”
“She disappeared into the garden maze.” David said. They began to hurry their pace as they made into the entrance of the maze.
“This is a record for her in time till oh shit. Why would she go into a maze arrrrggg?” Jarred said in a good natured way shaking his head.
“She didn't get the memo … from literally every writer that has ever lived.” David said as they entered the the maze.
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Amy wandered through the maze, her senses saturated by the beauty and strangeness of it. The air was alive with the hum of unseen energies, and every leaf rustled with whispers that seemed to beckon her deeper into the land.
As Amy navigated the maze she could see trees shimmered with hues of silver and gold. Butterflies sparkling in purples, deep blues like a Van Gogh painting she thought. And then Amy heard a voice—an echo that resonated within her mind like a familiar melody. It called out to her amidst the chorus of life. It grabbed her attention with a sense of urgency and recognition.
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Strange creatures inhabited this strange place. Their colors changing with the sway of the trees. Amy encountered a rabbit-like entity with wings that fluttered like some kind of hybrid insect/animal mix. It whispered riddles that teased the edges of her understanding.
"Who are you?" Amy asked, her voice echoing into the approaching dusk..
"We are echoes," the creature replied cryptically.
“Echoes of what?” She asked confused.
"Echoes of stories untold.” It replied not really helping understanding any more than before. And then this gem of insight: “Echoes of your reflection to come.”
Amy didn't want to get anymore confused than she was already becoming. She tried with admirable focus to hold on to her fragmented memories. But they flickered, sputtered then left her like ghosts searching for a new home.
Each encounter deepened Amy's sense of disorientation, until she could no longer remember who was with her earlier. The voices talking over each other to her didn't help anything either. She began to wonder why she was even in the maze as night approached. And more importantly she wondered who was talking to her and why..
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"Who's there?" Amy whispered, her voice barely audible amidst the ambient sounds. "What do you want?" She followed the voice from the through the maze. As she followed shadows danced in rhythm to the whispers around her. She sensed an undercurrent of danger following. A presence that seemed to observe her every move with a malevolent intent.
Unsure of whom or what she was following, Amy pressed onward, driven by a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. The voices whispered something that seemed important. She tried to understand them but it was impossible.
David and Jared began to switch between running and walking. Maybe it was their brotherly love felt towards her. Maybe it was a strong need keep their makeshift family together. Most likely it was the realization they were total disasters without her. And so they raced through the maze till it rewarded them with a glimpse of Amy ahead. Her silhouette glowed as if she just stepped in from another dimension.
"Amy, wait!" David called out, trying to get her attention. Jared wasn't concerned until that moment.
Amy seemed oblivious to their voices, her attention captured by the voices that surrounded her like a veil of mist. They spoke to her in tones both alluring and foreboding, weaving a tapestry of reward and danger.
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Jared and David stopped in their tracks and watched her disappear again into the maze.
Jared looked at David with a hopeful look. He asked what they were both thinking as they watched her disappear.
“You think you can figure this one out when you get under the hood?” Jared asked getting straight to the point. They both knew this time was a bit serious.
“Not sure brother but we will get her out of here whether we figure this nonsense out or not.” The need was too real. This time even David believed his own words. And so each popped a sleeping pill and woke up into reality.
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David threw off the headset, got up off the couch and lunged towards the computer in one fluid motion. Jared went to get essential tools ... a couple of beers and a bottle opener.
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Jared handed a cold beer to David. Neither one of them even payed attention while making the pass off. A silent gesture of camaraderie earned through years of friendship.
Jared peered over David's shoulder at the screen, squinting at the lines of code sprawled across it. "You understand all that?" Jared asked, impressed by David's wide range of skills.
“Yeah this parts talks about how their going implant their alien bodies inside us and that one … “ David let his words trail off then looked up surprised Jared fell that one.
"Some of it.” David said enjoying the moment and sipping on his beer. “It's kind've like website code. Like this line tells us where our drop spot and drop conditions are that would be like lining up a box on a web page."
"I'm impressed", Jared said wasting no time as he downed most of the beer in one meaningful chug. Then he pointed at part of the code. “Hey isn't that number my headset ID number?”
David leaned forward and focused on the area of code Jarred pointed out. "What in hell. Look at this ... these are our headset id's .. this is our transmitting ultrasound frequency .. and right here is an instruction not to receive her backdoor frequency." David said. He was really beginning to not like where this was going.
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"Damn, buddy, the company's onto us," Jared concluded, letting out a long burp and heading to the fridge for reinforcements.
"No, if it were them, they'd have shut us all down and taken over directly. This feels different," David reasoned, his mind racing through possibilities.
Jared nodded thoughtfully handing over another cold one, conceding to the logic. "Okay, I give up... who the hell is after our Amy?" he asked, ready for battle.
"I'm not sure," David began slowly, choosing his words carefully. "But consider this—what if it's the game itself?"
"You're freaking me out now," Jared muttered, “Lets just end this and wake her up”.
But as hard as they tried Amy might as well have been on another planet. It was like Amy herself were offline. They tried reintroducing the signal, blocking the original, modified instructions, taking the headset off but to no effect. They just couldn't get Amy to regain consciousness. There was nothing left but to re enter and figure it out on the inside.
They put their headsets on in silence. This time it didn't feel like a game. This time something or someone was after them and already had one them.
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As Amy ventured deeper into the darkness, David and Jared called out to her trying desperately to reach her. They were sped along by the whispers they now heard for themselves.
At times Amy could feel that something wasn't right. That there seemed to be a trap spreading out in front of her. But every time she tried to pull back from the voices she would feel herself desperately pushing forward in a an attempt to understand them.
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The voices grew frustrated with their lack of effect on the guys however. Their whispers turned from murmurs to a tense anger and then to a loud rage. "She belongs with us," they hissed, their tone shifting from persuasion to threat.
"To turn back now
or we will make you pay and you wont know how.”
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The voice never showed Amy that kind've anger. It almost seemed to be like a child in need of something. Amy felt a strange pull, as if the voice knew her. Like they were connected.
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Amy followed the voices as they emanated from the flowers, from hidden places and from the air itself. And then they fell silent as she emerged from the maze. Her heart skipped a beat as she knew she had only exchanged one darkness for another. And so she did the only thing she seemed capable of doing. She walked into the enormous dark castle feeling more alone then she had ever felt.
It was the secluded castle of the Duke Roux, it had an air of decadence and defiance. As the Red Death ravaged the country side the aristocracy sought refuge from the plague that swept across the land like a specter of doom. Roux, adorned in crimson and black, hosted the grand masquerade ball within his imposing castle, where each room was themed in defiance of mortality.
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As the night unfurled its tapestry of decadence the revelers danced on, ensnared by the allure of enveloping darkness. Amy knew this was wrong but couldn't seem to help but join the dance of death.She watched through paralyzed eyes the damned surrender to the macabre waltz. She listened petrified as laughter echoed in the night.
Amidst the swirls of silk and the flickering candlelight, Roux and his guests danced with abandon. They became spectators to their own fall. Amy felt a panic she had never felt before. The panic that a small animal feels when it realizes there is a larger animal that has taken an interest in it. When it realizes the larger animal wont rest until its teeth deep into the neck of the smaller animal. And so she did the only thing she could think to do. She touched her mask with an air of playfulness while she danced.
Roux, his mask adorned with devilish looking symbols mirrored the Red Death itself. He locked eyes with death. Their smiles fake and sterile, signaled a mutual understanding—a shared acknowledgment of the impending darkness that awaited them all.
For a fleeting moment the truth shimmered like a phantom between them. They danced not only with each other but with the shadows that whispered approvingly. Their laughter, rang out across the ballroom—a symphony of madness and malice. Amy felt her life flowing out of and hourglass.
The hanging lights casted long shadows across the mosaic-tiled floor, as the revelry reached its zenith. Roux and the masked stranger locked hands, their steps becoming more erratic, more desperate, as if trying to outrun the inevitable.
And in their eyes, reflected in the flickering candlelight, lay the terror of a soul captured and forced to witness its own descent into the abyss. They were trapped, not by chains or walls, but by the very essence of their existence—the fleeting illusion of control in a world governed by chaos and decay. Amy was passed from one man to another a lone raft on the sea of madness.
Red Death stepped Outside the ballroom, peering into the night hoping for another soul or two like hungry beast, its crimson cloak staining the sky with omens of doom. And like a miracle snack falling from the sky walked up two late guests. Two men that seemed a bit out of place. The stillness of the night grew louder as a cold shiver crossed the sky. Yet within the grand ballroom, amidst the echoes of laughter and the dance of death, Roux and his guests danced on, haunted by the knowledge that their fate had already been sealed—a revelation too terrible to comprehend, and yet too irresistible to deny.
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And then something odd happened that wasn't foreseen, expected or to be tolerated. The two new guests spoke out loudly, with indifference seemingly enjoying themselves.
“There she is Jared.” David said, but Jared was looking the wrong way. “She's dancing with that an awkward skinny dude near the fireplace.” David said nodding in the direction of the fireplace. Jared spotted her.
“I got a visual on her. I got your six.” Jared said. “ I'll have some fun with this half zombie bunch and you go get our Alice before a demonic rabbit comes along.”
“Sounds like a plan. Operation rescue our damsel shall commence.” David proclaimed as Jared marched off boldly to the Duke and the Damsel.
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""Duke Roux," Jared exclaimed in a theatrical tone, his voice carrying through the hushed murmurs of the ballroom. "Might I request the honor of this dance?"
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The Duke looked annoyed but bound by custom reluctantly accepted. He shrugged taking a step back in his tights and dancing shoes and made a gesture towards Amy "But Your Holiness, Sir Dukeness, I meant a dance with your eminence,” Jared said pointing sincerely at the Duke."
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The Duke paused as he tried to figure out what to make of this shorter, brazen, borderline ballroom crasher wanting to dance with a man a good head taller then him. It was an unseemly request and so the Duke agreed to the delight of the crowd.
“As you wish," the Duke replied with a faint air of arrogance, extending his hand to Jared.
Jared took the Duke's hand with a flourish, pulling the Duke close in an intimate embrace while burying his face into the chest of the taller man. The awkward spectacle drew a mix of bewildered stares and suppressed laughter from the onlookers.
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"Your royalness, have you ever examined closely the anus of a starfish?" Jared's audacious question hung in the air, like an awkward clothing malfunction. The Duke paused speechless. Around them, guests erupted into surprised gasps and murmurs. Time temporarily suspended itself waiting for the outcome.
Amy, watching from the sidelines, stifled a smirk at Jared's antics. David swiftly closed in, grabbing Amy's hand and cutting through the commotion with a simple question.
“Do you really want to be here?”
"No, I don't," Amy replied, clearly taken aback and not recognizing David. Her inability to recognize David stung, a painful reminder of their predicament. David shot Jared a look that signaled time for their finale.
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