Death March of The Circus

Chapter 2: The Show begins Part II

Suddenly the atmosphere became heavy and dark. It’s as if my body is being pulled down by immense gravity. Their eyes started glowing, I think I pissed them off. Nonetheless, I have every reason to wring out my anger towards them.

“Your existence is more than what you think and we’ve said it earlier, you can’t go back...” Both of them replied to me on a tone that echoed all over the place. After establishing the idea that I’m stuck here, the weight on my body began to fade until I was able to stand straight from where I am. They went back to their cocky selves in just a nick of time.

“We believe that we forgot to introduce ourselves beforehand. It’s been a while since we had a guest after so many years.”

“My name is Life.” Said the man with the white mask.

“… and my name is death” Said the man with the black mask.

“We are the directors of this circus and you Atroquine, are the chosen one to be its ring leader. Tis the main reason why we zapped you in the first place."

“How can I be something if I don’t know who I am?!” I just blurted it all out.

This is too much for me to handle. I expected myself to be dead but I’m not dead. I wanted to see my parents at least in the afterlife but that’s not the case. Just who the heck am I?! Why can’t they say anything useful!?

Life looked at me, “This circus was created by god to overseer the actions of the world that you were originally from. Obviously speaking, that place is a world where magic and different species exist. The human world that you so call earth is just another side of the coin in which the laws that govern it are self-sustaining. The reason why you, on the other hand are special, is because we had to pull you out to do this world's bidding. We are in a bit of a dilemma regarding the series of events going on there.”

Death added, “Psychics or your ancestors, in reality, is a race of people blessed by god to be ring leaders or ringmasters of the circus. Such people have the power to utilize everything inside this world to their liking and we fear not the destruction nor unbalance of the worlds because we trust that lineage compared to the others. There are rules that are not applied to psychics compared to other creatures. It is what distinguishes psychics in terms of ability and purpose, quite the contrary to what you will see once we send you there.”

Life continued Death's words, “another thing worth mentioning, any person is forbidden to cross over from another world especially if their memories are still with them. To give you a bit of a hint as to why you were brought here, someone tried to break those rules just so your parents can cross over and save you from what was coming. However we made an exception to this, the bargain was that both of them will be cursed to die, not to be remembered by anyone, not even you. By doing so, you will get the freedom to live like a normal person. But based on the consequences it’s crystal clear that things didn't go the way as planned. It was a sad one way deal for both parties.”

“Why did we have to run away?! Why am I knowing these things just now?! Don’t you idiots understand that you ruined my life!? I don’t know what kind of f*****g sick joke this is but it's definitely going out of hand!” My heard feels heavy already due to what I’m hearing from them. 

“We’ve explained it before. It’s part of the deal… Also, what we’re explaining isn’t a joke. Sarcasm isn’t something that we are actually capable to do as of now…” Life replied as his eyes began to glow. I can see the bluish shade of his pupils that is as clear as the sea. However, at the very center, I can see clock gears rotating. The size and similarities make it easier to distinguish at this distance. It was only at this moment that I've proven the fact that these two definitely ain’t human...

 “I don’t have time for this s**t!” I said to them as I walked towards the circle where I came. As soon as I reached it, I was suddenly surprised to see myself standing in front of these freaks like nothing happened. I tried doing the same routine over and over just to get away from their sight. However, it appears that my efforts were in vain. It’s a never-ending loop and my position is fixed no matter what I do. This one is definitely messed up...

“Done already?” Life asked. They are just sitting there, looking at me like I’m some sort of specimen at their disposal.

“What the f**k is happening right now?!” I shouted in rage.

“Exactly what’s happening of course! Why are you even surprised? You know what, I’ll spare the sentiments and explain to you why you were brought to earth in the first place.” Death said as he went towards my direction. He grabbed my shoulder tightly using his right hand. It was so tight that I can’t bulge away. 

His eyes glowed ethereally as he touched my forehead using his left index finger. I felt a sharp, sudden burst of pain as I began to see weird images. My consciousness was drifting like I was being dragged inside a bottomless pit, and the sensation is slowly killing me beyond mortal comprehension. Death helped me control the surge of insanity swirling inside my head as he showcased some part of his memories.

“A war broke out within the clans of the other world. Psychics impose a great deal of power to the other clans. Even though psychics are impossible to detect, it just so happens that some people are knowledgeably greedy and want to ensure that your kind is trampled on. They wanted a revolution, to eradicate all psychics and to establish a new order.” Trying to understand his words, everything that I’ve thought about my parents were all lies. I thought they abandoned me for no reason, I thought we were slaves that nobody knew. 

All this pain that I’ve experienced was all because of the tragedy that we had to endure just for me to survive. Those visions shared to me by death… It was pretty much the context of everything that happened during the war. However even on flashbacks, I can’t see the face of my parents just like what was established on the deal.

Something bothers me… I looked at them directly, expecting a decent answer at least. “This doesn’t make sense. If the timeline of that magic world is pretty much the same as earth, how come there’s a large gap between the two worlds when my parents sent me to the other side? And why did you guys decide to summon me now of all times?”

Death took over and answered “First of all, this place isn’t bound by anything like time and space. Unless we are tasked to monitor a ringmaster such as yourself, we have to adjust to the timeline in which you are currently at. In regards to what we can do, we can basically send anything or anyone to whatever place and time that was set. On your parent's request, however, the only thing that bothered us was the fact that we lost a lot of our abilities just to send you to earth, a couple of centuries forward into the future."

He paused for a bit, and fixed his hat before continuing “Second, the reason why we called you to this world is because of our contract with your lineage.” His tone seems to be more assuring than life. 

Things are beginning to piece together. I can’t fully grasp everything as it is due to the suddenness of what’s happening. I don’t even think that this is a dream.

“You mean me being a psychic? So my parents were also ringmasters?” I asked with a bit of information finally settling in my head.

“I’m afraid not, even though they were psychics, only one person per generation can become the ringmaster. To create balance, we had to ensure that the level of what we can show is based on the chosen one of the current generation of the magical world. The ringmasters act as our eyes in any aspect of it. It is the Circus that decides which one to pick. It has been a golden rule to only have one ringmaster, or else the world would have been destroyed as we know it. Having too many ringmasters will result in conflict especially if the two of us will pick in accordance with what we know.”

“So what you are basically saying is that ringmasters are psychics chosen as a means of a bridge? And you only need one bridge to establish that?”

“Exactly my boy. Again ringmasters are the only contact that we have with the world. It is the only way for us to exercise our powers as overseer by granting them the necessary means to do what is right. It’s been more than a few centuries in that world ever since your departure and we’ve been scratching our heads for quite some time now.”

“If you put me in that world, would they know who I am?”

Life and Death went back to their posts. Death continued talking “Normally I don’t think so. Many years have passed since the war and I am certain that it is just some sort of legend now. You are safe as far as we are concerned. However, you should still be careful, it’s been a while since we had contact with any information regarding that world. We did try to erase memories of most of the people about psychics, but our powers were somehow messed up by someone. We do not fully know the extent of what we did all throughout...”

“In short my boy, you still need to exercise caution in dealing with the people there. You may be on rough waters if you gather enough attention.”

“Wait a minute, you two are seriously bringing me there?! If that’s how dangerous living there is then shouldn’t I stay here in the very least!?”

“Like we've said many times now and I'll repeat it again, countless years have passed... it’s probably been more than several centuries there, so I'm sure a lot has changed. We did our best to conceal your existence from that world's history. It was the final act that we had to do in order to fulfill the wishes of your parents.”

“My parents? What did they tell you exactly? What do they look like? Come on guys tell me?!” Not even a single hint or memento left...

“There isn’t much to say about.” Life replied

“… nor is there anything to add.” Death added

“So I’ll be thrown off like some trash once again huh.”

“Quite, but you get to pick something from your previous world.

“Pick something?”

“You heard us, something, as in an object or whatever as long as it is within our capabilities.”

If you would think about it, there’s nothing special with how I lived my life so far. The only past time that I ever had was drawing, that’s why I spend a good amount of money for materials and such. My books are also good, but I don’t think they will allow me to have it due to their previous statements, at least to the extent that they kept on breaking my logical reasoning about certain stuff.

“What’s it gonna be?”

“I would like to take my drawings with me?” without second thinking, I just want to have my drawings with me.

“Drawings?! Seriously?!” Death seems surprised.

“What else can I bring? I don’t have much to begin with. If I can’t bring them, at least I would like to keep them in my memories. I don’t think my books would also be available for me since you guys prohibit any information from earth.”

“Hmm…” Life seems to be thinking about it. Death, on the other hand, is rather disturbingly optimistic about my choice. These two are exact opposites but I think death is more cheerful that life. I don’t know why there is too much sarcasm in this world and it is creeping me out that my soul rests in the hands of these punks.

“I agree with your decision. We allow you to keep your memories too if that’s the case.” Both of them replied in unison.

“You really do?” for some reason I felt happy with what they said.

“Do you remember what we said about this place?”

“It is the void or a place where circus of fear is to be precise and everything that has no meaning nor value is considered nothing.” I just repeated their definition of the word.

“Precisely, so if we are to consider that meaning, those drawings can be allowed because if you look at it, it literally has no meaning from a normal perspective.” Life is definitely trying to roast me with this statement…

Life continued “We also told you that memories are a big no since we don’t understand the circumstances in which you could do something stupid. However, since you are the only one we have, we can settle to have both your books and your drawings together as a bonus. As to how that works, it’s up to you to establish. You only need to consider one thing of course.” Life is setting the conditions of what I should bring. It’s a good deal, since I can’t bring much across that new world.

“What’s the catch?” I asked.

“You can only take the books that you’ve read and it doesn’t matter if you remembered it or not. The contents are also dependent on this factor which is why we expect you to do well on the other side.” That isn’t a bad trade. Considering that I was able to read a lot during my free hours. From a ton of Manga up to several famous digitalized books that I got for free, my brain is basically stacked with ideas, although I did skip a lot on politics, economics, sociology, and History. Another thing worth mentioning, philosophy has been pretty much my strong side since it is much easier to memorize.

“I’m fine with the terms.” I accepted everything they laid on my plate.

“It seems that our boy is ready for it.”

“I agree. We should commence in sending you to the other side then.”

This is all first time. Aren’t they supposed to brief me first with the do’s and don’ts of this world? I mean they just told me the hazards and haven’t even explained to me how to survive there. This is far worse than simulation nor college entrance exams on my level. The most disturbing and scary thing is that it feels like they are happy in sending me there. I still need to ask them more questions about me. 

“Wait can’t you at least give me a handbook or something?! I mean it’s going to be dangerous there right?”

“There’s no need for the shenanigans. We will do something for you as a head start so that you can easily deal with the locals there since it’s a world similar to RPG games with a dash of sword & magic. Cheer up and use your imagination similar to those manga thingies on earth," Death replied to me as he redirected his focus on the grandfather clock beside him. He is tweaking the gears of the clock, twisting and changing some stuff by moving the cranks.

“Once the device is fixed you will be instantly brought to the world.” Death added. I guess they are also aware of the earth’s circumstances. They even know manga existed there which is extremely odd considering that they are confined here.

“What’s the name of this world anyway?” I asked them.

“It is finished!” Death said to Life in glee.

“You’ll know for sure once you get there.” So basically I’m left to figure out things all on my own? These bastards are the worst type of people I’ve encountered but I have no choice!

“Wait a minute, I still have a few more questions for both of you!”

“Let’s just zap him there.” Death suggested to life.

“I agree if that’s the case.” Seriously they are both going to kill me again and besides his name is life, he should be on my side trying to save me darn it!

“You guys are plotting something against me I can feel it!” As soon as I was about to raise my middle finger, I felt the same sensation of being numb and the same light blinded me.

After all of this, it seems quite difficult to grasp how twisted my life has been along with the weird and disturbing revelation given to me by those two punks. You probably have the idea that sometimes, it much safer to trust yourself than a bunch of strangers especially if both of them are wearing masks and their names are life and death correspondingly.

“You know, we could’ve used the gateway from this clock instead of that.” Death said to Life.

“I should’ve been the one to do the clock then, not you…”

“You have a good point there though. At least he got hit twice with the same thing, I’m sure he is already used to it.”

“I guess we should explain to him what we do here bit by bit until he fully understands his purpose.”

“I agree, let’s just keep it for now.”

(End of Chapter)