The Colors And The Deal With Death - Chapter X: Between Reality and Fantasy

As the train to this Decain place sets off, everything around us goes dark, until the dim lights of the train itself turn themselves on. It is definitely just as creepy in here as it was out there. Probably not from first glance, since the place is actually quite clean with its white chairs and walls, but I don’t know, I can’t shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong, especially since no one apparently survives long enough to return home. We are all sitting on different chairs around the train, all deep in our own thoughts, keeping a watchful eye on the place for the first sign of danger.

“Alright, I have to ask, why is it that no one has survived this trip yet?” White asks, trying to keep a straight face behind a sweaty brow.

“I don’t know. Maybe they were just trying to scare you.” I say, as I ignore my own advice as I remain on the edge of my seat, guns at the ready.

“I’m scared. Are we- are we going to die here?” Yellow asks, working herself into a panicked frenzy.

“Oh, would you guys give it a rest? This train is definitely an enigma, but even in this broken world we live in, any paranormal activity has an obvious explanation. We’re going to be fine.” Blue says, trying to set our minds at ease, as she takes it easy in the lounge position on her chair.

Suddenly, the train bumps on the rails, and the lights all turn themselves off.

“What? What happened?” Red asks, frantically looking for a light.

“Ahhh, we’re all going to die!” White shouts, making everyone else panic.

“Don’t panic. The power supply must have cut off for the lights. Everyone use the torch function on your phones.” Blue says, as we all scramble for our phones.

In the few seconds of pure darkness, time seems to be going a lot slower than normal, and my head suddenly starts to pound. As everyone pulls out their phones, we all hold it out in front of us.

“Alright, on 3, we all turn the lights on. 3... 2... 1.” Blue says, as our fingers remain on the button.

We press the buttons and we can see this part of the train again... wait, what the actual hell is that?

Turns out we aren’t alone on the train. Sitting in pretty much every chair other than ours, we are each sitting amongst gruesome mangled bodies, likely animated as they surround us and stare with their gaping eyeless voids. Not one of us dare move a muscle, in case it makes them move and kill us. Although, thanks to some strange interfering energy, even the flash on our phones that act as the torch starts to flicker, threatening to die out right as we watch the remaining power in our phones drain away in mere seconds.

All I can do is wait for the normal light to come back on and make them disappear again, but it is getting harder and harder as the ghoul sitting next to me is rubbing my face with its cold dead fingers, still with some skin and flesh attached to it. I try to gently grab the hand, but my fingers go through it.

“Nik ym, lla ti ekat. Doolb eht ni swolf htmraw. Ehs ton si neeuq eht.” The ghoul next to me says to the others in some different language, in a stretched and warped tone, like its voice has been slowed down to a low pitched crawl.

As our phones hit 0%, the phones all get to the closing animation before the phone cuts off. In the last second before the light dies out again, leaving us in darkness, the ghouls all start to scream at us in a high pitched squeal as they all run up and grab for us.

In a literally blind panic, we all swing and shoot for any noises that approach us, but it doesn’t seem to hitting any of them. With no way of winning, we try to run away to the next cabin, but more screams are coming for us from down the next corridor. We are trapped.

“Guys, do as I do if you want to live.” Blue says, before she throws herself out of the nearest window, smashing the glass, making the room a lot colder as a result.

“Blue!” We all shout to her, hoping that she knows what she is doing.

Following her example, the others each jump out of the window one by one, like some suicide pact. With no other option, I close my eyes and jump myself. The wind grows unbearable as I start to fall backwards, until I feel someone grab my hand and pull me in. When I open my eyes again, I can see Blue, holding me so I don’t lose the train. She seems to be hanging from some sort of hi-tech grappling device from the back of the train.

“Quick, press those new buttons on your suit.” Blue shouts, as the strong winds pull me back like invisible hands tugging at my legs.

Pressing two buttons in the questionable compartments in the front of my new coat, two long wires fire out of my chest, wrapping itself around one of the chimneys of the train. I close my eyes and let go of Blue’s hand, as I swing towards the carriage, hanging horizontally from it as I start climbing up the side and onto the roof to see everyone else. Blue joins us a few seconds after, as we all breathe a sigh of brief relief.

“What the hell were those?” White asks, in a sobbing whisper, her once amazing make-up reduced to patches of tears of pure fear.

“I don’t know. In all my years of research, I never thought I’d see the day I see actual ghosts. It’s incredible.” Blue says, almost like she’s enjoying this.

“You’re a weird lady, Blue.” Red says, pretending that he is not freaked out either.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. You’re welcome for the grappling hook attachments by the way.” Blue says, noticing that no one really brought up how we got up here in the first place.

As the train starts to shake, we all look down and see that the ghosts are now climbing onto the carriage, no doubt in pursuit of us.

“Can we talk later? We got to get out of here.” I say, already running towards the next carriage.

As we all run and jump from carriage to carriage, we can hear them closing in, chanting something like “Su Evas” ...whatever the hell that means.

As we reach the front carriage, we find ourselves with nowhere left to run. As a hellish landscape looms over us like a trippy backdrop in a haunted fairground attraction, time seems to be going even slower as we watch the ghosts clawing their way towards us.

“Well, miss strategist, any good ideas?” Green asks, nudging Blue in a panic, as she looks around in search for clues.

“Alright, I got it. Andy, you’re the strong one. There’s a chain here. Cut it!” Blue says, turning to Red, patting him on the back and pointing to the metal chain that connects this carriage to the rest.

Red readies and swings his sword at the chain, breaking it in half, as clean as a cutting knife through bread. We all watch in celebration as the other carriages break off, leaving the ghosts behind us, as they slowly brake to a halt.

“Woohoo! Take that, you gross creatures. Dinner is cancelled.” White shouts, waving to them.

“I heard them say Su Evas. Does that mean what I think it means?” I ask Blue, finally clicking on to what they trying to say.

“Yep. It was backwards for save us. They were victims, stuck here for eternity, most likely.” Blue says, as deadpan as she could, making us feel like monsters for not realising sooner, though I’m sure she didn’t either.

“Oh. Right.” White says, withdrawing herself, rubbing her arm and looking away awkwardly.

“Is- is it over? We’re safe.” Yellow says, celebrating to herself.

“Sorry Popstar, if we have survived this, I’m afraid this is only the beginning. We still have to find Mandy, remember?” Green asks, sounding a little excited, as Yellow”s face drops.

“Do you even know what you’re going to do, Lizzie? About Mandy, I mean.” Blue asks me, putting her hand on my shoulder like a child.

“I don’t know yet. If that crown really is that powerful, and we still haven’t got any of those rings, we don’t stand a chance. But I’ll think of something.” I say, honestly not sure what I’m going to do about her, knowing that I am going to be outmatched no matter what.

“We’d better hurry. We can’t fail Arc on the first mission.” Blue says, reminding me that we are doing these jobs in the first place because of the reason my life got so messed up to begin with.

“Screw Arc. I’m doing this for the people who are dying, for myself. Saving his sorry ass barely scrapes the to-do list as far as I’m concerned.” I say, speaking the honest truth, but everyone looks at each other, as if I said something wrong.

Saved by the bell, we start to see a light at the other end of the tunnel, though everyone is still looking at me with different expressions on their faces.

“Hey look, we’re here.” I say, trying to take the attention of myself, and it works, as the others all look around just in time before we are enveloped in its glow.

On the other side, we seem to come out right where we started. Did we... make a full circle trip? Everything looks exactly the same, right down to the vegetated state of the station. We all climb out of the train, feeling lightheaded and short of breath from the panic we all succumbed to on the trip.

“Don’t tell me, we did this all for nothing, didn’t we? For goodness sake.” Blue says, scouting on ahead, with the look on her face that tells me she wants nothing more to go home, and trust me, I know the feeling.

“You really hate Arc, don’t you?” Red asks me, walking towards me with a worried look on his face.

“We’re still on that? It’s not that I hate him. He is mostly the reason I had lived in hell for as long as I can remember, and now he expects me to fight his battles like it’s completely forgiven?” I ask them, hoping that they can see my point.

“Then can I ask? We may all have our different goals as well as the one we all share, both of which brought us here today. If you didn’t want to do this, why did you agree?” White asks me, sounding more curious than angry, as if she can finally see that I’m not a bad person at heart.

“It’s-it’s embarrassing. I don’t want to talk about it.” I say, fully intent on not answering the question... at least until I am safe to burden them with the knowledge.

“Erm guys, you might want to take a look at this.” Blue says, staying completely still as she stands by the half opened door.

We all walk over to the door and see that we have indeed arrived in a new place, one that defies description, yet I will try to. This place looks like a tiny kingdom, with a dark forest as far as the eye can see, surrounding a huge castle like the most gothic looking island ever. There doesn’t seem to be any life at all here, except for the ominous black clouds that block out a strange crimson sun, which honestly isn’t that bright anyway. The trees look tall, but the castle is even taller, piercing the clouds as they pass. This place is so different from the others, that it doesn’t even feel real anymore.

We all just stare at the scenery, and though it all looks awesome, I’m not looking forward to setting foot in it.

“Well, ladies first.” Green says, sneaking to the back of the group.

Blue slowly pulls the doors open, as we all walk out carrying our weapons like the trailer to some cheesy action movie. We all walk down the path amongst the dead grass, journeying towards the castle that forever looms in the horizon, as Watcher Central once did... how I miss that.

“Well, our time together was short, but sweet. Been nice knowing you.” White says, trying to pull herself together, despite falling apart at the seams.

“Stop being a drama queen. We can do this. Even though we still haven’t found any of those damn rings.” Andy says, and though I can get that he is trying to boost our spirits, it just fills me with dread that we got this far and still haven’t evolved at all since we started.

My stomach starts to get worse, as the pain starts to become unbearable. I throw up a little in my mouth, but trying not to worry anyone, I just swallow it back down, probably the second or third most disgusting thing I have ever done. I just can’t wait to either win or die, either way I don’t even care anymore, I just want the pain to end. As we start to enter the trees, we silently anticipate and prepare for anything that Mandy deems good enough for her last line of defence. Hope she’s here after we came all this way.

After about a straight hour of pure battle with the only worthy opponent I’ve had in years, we take a breather to realise that the room and the guards didn’t survive to see the aftermath. Everything is burnt to a crisp, leaving just the soot-covered floor unscathed, and that’s only because there used to be a carpet there.

“Well, I can’t say I’ve known you for that long, but I can say for certain that fighting you has been a blast.” I say to Freya, feeling so alive in an ironic way.

“Well, you definitely talk more than Deus, but you wear his crown just as annoyingly well. Alright, I will keep my pawns at ease for now, but I swear to you. I will find your weakness one day, and when I do, I’ll be the most-“ Freya says to herself, as I am already far away from her, walking out of the door before I close it on her.

As I walk down the many flights of stairs, I find the exit completely unguarded, except for two bodies that occupy the floor. I walk over and see that it is my two best friends, completely unconscious.

“Oh, I completely forgot about you two. Did you hear? You’ve been relieved of a job. Poor things. Well, might as well put you out of your misery before she can. The beasts were just about expecting dinner anyway.” I say, lifting the two of them onto my shoulders and carrying them out of the door like two sacks of potatoes.

At the front of this gaudy fortress of an incredible amount of vanity, my dear sweet Aera is still there, waiting for me. I climb on her back, as we once again set off to the skies, heading home. That just leaves these two. I don’t want to be in their situation at all, but hey, at least they won’t be awake to feel it. I guess I really have won this time. If only I could find that awful king, I can finally begin my new life, a happier life.

As we walk further through the woods, we stray further and further from any source of light, as the sky seems to have gone a shade darker than black... an exaggeration, yes, but that’s what it feels like. The lack of any real air is making me feel a little claustrophobic in this suit, but wear it I must, in case of any more fights. Even our phones don’t seem to be doing anything either, not even turning on anymore.

“So guys, what’s the plan? You have one, right Blue?” I ask, turning around to see everyone... only I don’t hear anyone’s footsteps but mine.

I stop in my tracks and turn my head back, trying not to lose my way forward. However, the others don’t seem to be here.

“Guys? Where the hell are you? You can’t just leave me here?” I say, as loud as I can without shouting and alerting Mandy to my location.

Suddenly, I hear a big crash and rustle in the trees ahead. Something seems to have fallen from above, landing in the grass below.

“Dinner time, boys. It’s first come, first serve, so come get it.” Mandy shouts from above us... I really hope she’s not referring to me.

As I hear the sound of wings fading away with distance, I can hear multiple beasts growling just ahead. Since they are in the way between me and the castle, I try to sneak around where the sound is coming from trying not to crinkle too many leaves beneath my feet, however, my curiosity gets the better of me, so I decide to take a quick peek at the scene. From what I can tell from the darkness, hellish dogs are bearing down on two figures, they appear to be human. Wait, that glow on their arms. Verse Gauntlets? Oh, it’s them, isn’t it?

“Let’s see, 2 guns, like 30 bullets left each. Sounds doable. Alright, I’ll do it.” I whisper to myself, making one last stock check before I go in there, though I should definitely save a lot for Mandy too.

With no second guesses, I leap from the trees and gun down the first one, killing it in just two well-aimed shots to the temple. There are three more there, as they come towards me. As they dash towards me, I am able to take out two before they can reach me, however, that last one manages to pounce me, knocking the gun out of my hand. As it goes to use it’s long sharp teeth to bite into my arm, I keep its mouth open using both my hands, its drool streaming down my arms like a little river. In our little wrestling match, I muster up my full strength and pull it apart as far as it can go, eventually snapping it entirely with a horrifyingly loud crack and crunch. The beast is still alive, but it just runs away, unable to close its mouth... I just hope it chokes on bugs on the way back to its mummy.

“Brooklyn? Bonnie?” I say to myself as I wipe myself off from the drool and dirt and tend to the two. “Come on, wake up. You can’t be dead, I can feel you breathing.”

I continue shaking them until they start to stir and open their eyes. They both look surprised to see me.

“Alright, you little worm. You got what you wanted, now you can leave us alo-... wait, Lizzie? That you? Why are you on top of me? You didn’t take advantage of me while I was out, did you?” Brooklyn asks, with a silly smirk on her face.

“What? Of course not. What do you take me for?” I ask, jumping to my feet faster than I thought I could.

“Aww, look, she’s blushing. I was only kidding you, you know. Still, it’s good to see you alive and well.” Brooklyn says, as Bonnie helps her to her feet.

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you two again as well.” I say, as I feel Bonnie put her arms around me.

“She missed you, it seems. So, we’re in Decain. I kinda understand why I’m here, but what about you?” Brooklyn asks, taking a quick look around the area.

“We should get out of here first. I’ll explain on the way.” I say, wanting, no, needing her on my side here.

“Alright. Follow me, we need to go visit an old friend while we’re here.” Brooklyn says, as she leads us to the left of where we were heading.

Though we seem to be heading away from our destination, I suppose I should start trusting people a little more.

I can’t deny that I’m terrified right now, but for the sake of the others, I just have to put on a big smile as always and continue on my merry way. I can’t see a thing in this pesky darkness, but the footsteps around me tell me that people are around me, and as long as it’s the other five, I’ll be fine. I hope it’s them anyway.

“Hey, we’ve been pretty quiet since we got here. Is everyone here?” I ask, just to settle my own mind.

“Yeah, I’m here. Kind of wish I wasn’t though.” White says, whispering like she doesn’t want to be caught by anybody.

“Yeah, same.” Green says, sounding equally as shaken up.

“Come on guys, just a little bit further.” Red says, putting on his tough guy voice... I just hope he doesn’t try anything too rash, I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.

“Green, doesn’t this sort of remind you of that night when we-“ Blue asks, her tone of voice making me assume that she is deep in thought.

“Oh yeah!” Green shouts, finally remembering it... in exchange for our lives.

We all shush him, as the trees start to shake and rattle, as if something big is heading our way.

“Now look what you’ve done.” Blue says, as she thumps Green in the chest, using her elbow.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we? Just thinking of all those mourners is enough to drive me to tears.” White says, shaking in her boots.

“Oh, I’m sure those three people will be alright.” Red says, not even breaking stride... what is he planning?

“Hey, how can you be so calm?” White asks, whispering as loud as she can.

“Because that thing sounds like a giant, and I don’t think giants exist.” Red says, feeling for his sword that rests on his back... likely doubting himself after what happened to us on the train.

“I would normally agree, but something about this place tells me that all reality is out of the window.” Blue says, sorting out her goggles.

Suddenly, a huge rumble shakes the floor, as a faint light fades in, growing brighter and brighter as the stomps grow louder.

“Do we run?” Green asks, already backing to behind the group... some gentleman.

I look back at the group, but something is definitely different... Oh!

“Oh no!” Where’s-“ I ask, before a giant hand comes from out of the trees and wraps itself around my entire body.

I feel the whiplash as I feel myself getting lifted up to dizzying heights. I close my eyes as tight as I can, until I come to a stop. I decide to open my eyes again and come face to face with a real giant man. He looks like a regular old man, just 100 times bigger, with a huge white bushy beard and more bags under his eyes than a supermarket could ever provide. Nothing Blanche’s special cream wouldn’t fix. What am I saying? I’m about to be eaten by a giant that is just looking at me in a funny yet angry way. I start to shout for help, as I look and see my friends, looking like ants from up here, taking potshots at his feet.

“Foolish beasts. You have trespassed on my grounds. State your business here.” The giant says to me, probably thinking I am our leader or something.

Though his demeanour is calm and collected, his face tells me that he is writhing in anger right now. Looking at it, he does look malnourished and weak... poor thing.

“Please-please call me Yellow. We are here to find our way to the castle.” I explain to him, trying not to say anything that can anger him further, since I would rather not be food today.

“The castle? Perhaps it is for the best you got lost then. No one goes to the castle anymore. The girl. You were walking to your death.” The giant says, using his other hand to bat the others away, knocking them over like little dominoes.

“I’m sorry. We were going to the castle to find someone named Mandy. We’ll be out of your hair now.” I say, hoping that he’ll put me down eventually, as I actually already miss having my feet on the firm ground.

“Mandy, you say? So the girl still sits upon my throne after all. This truly troubles us.” The giant says, rubbing his head with his other hand, monologuing to himself.

“Sits the throne? Mandy? She’s-“ I start to ask, fishing for more information about her, before something catches his attention.

“Hey tiny, you’re quite far from your grotto, aren’t you?” A strange voice from behind the giant asks.

The giant starts to turn around, noticing two women standing there with strange contraptions on their arms. Behind them, I can see... Black! So there she is. Thank heavens. The giant locks his sights on them, his eyes gravitating towards Black, as he starts to tense his fist, thankfully the other one.

“You! I recognise the one behind the mask anywhere. You two have some nerve bringing her here.” The giant shouts to the two, finally putting me back down to the sweet sweet ground.

“Relax, big guy, this isn’t the queen. Trust me, I’ve been there.” The woman next to Black says, putting her arm in front of her.

The giant lowers his guard, and sits on the floor, creating a tremor as his thunder thighs touch the ground. Not sure of what to do next, I run to go join Black.

As the other five join Brooklyn, Bonnie and I, our team has grown to 8, if only for a limited time only. Yellow runs up to hug my arm, before punching me gently in it, like getting beaten up by a cloud.

“Don’t scare us like that. Getting lost in the woods like that.” Yellow says, still breathing a sigh of relief even now.

“Yeah, “we” were the lost ones.” I say to her, ruffling her hair.

“Anyway, these guys are looking to get into the castle too. Without a proper army, it might still be hard to pull off, but it’s damn sure not impossible anymore. What do you say... your majesty?” Brooklyn asks, pulling a small curtsy to the giant.

“Your majesty? That behemoth?” Red asks, with a surprising lack of tact, like it was Green talking.

“Better believe it and bow your hearts out, kiddos. You’re standing in the presence of King Garcia III, the last monarch of this tired realm.” Brooklyn says, walking over towards him.

“Save your formalities, lassie. That witch stole everything from me. My family, my guardsmen, my crown and country. If I go there, she will likely kill me too. I am no longer king, as this is no longer a kingdom. I can’t go back now.” Garcia says, putting his hands to his face in defeat, all of the hope he once held onto, now pouring from his tired eyes.

“Surely you can just squash her, you are a giant after all.” Green says, making a mashing gesture with his fist in his hand.

“Green!” Blue says, covering his mouth, feeling embarrassment for him.

“I would if I could, little green man. However, it will take more than just crushing to finish her. Many have tried to stop her, many have failed. All the others have long since fled. I’m all there is left here.” Garcia says, calming himself a little, through little giggles.

“There must be something we can do. She must have a weakness somewhere. The only other bother is getting to her in that castle.” I say, trying to think of something, but without even saying anything, I know that Blue, the know it all is going to come in and show off her smartness one more time.

“Give me about an hour, there was something I was working on in secret that can help us, but I haven’t had time to test it yet.” Blue says, right on cue, as I predicted.

“Wait, you mean-“ Green asks, insinuating that this isn’t the first time this idea came up.

“Yes. Don’t spoil it for the others, I want to see their faces when it works.” Blue says, snickering under her breath.

“Come. I shall show you to my home. It is not much, but you can make final preparations there. Climb aboard.” Garcia says, putting his hands out for all of us to climb on.

“Sorry to ask, but do you have any food? I’m actually starving right now.” White asks, though everyone is already either buried inside their own minds to answer, or just plain not listening.

As Garcia walks away with us, I can’t help but feel nervous about what is going to happen next. Are we really going to pull off a miracle? Do we even stand a chance of winning? Tonight is the night we find out.