Fort Geranium

First Chapter: Meeting ‘him’

[Mariana von Ulysses’s Point of View]

It was as though a dam had been burst wide open. By the time I had realized what had gone on the situation was already beyond salvation. A heavy and metallic sensation ran along the palm of my right hand. As I grasped tightly onto this quaint weapon the walls around me trembled. ‘What the…?’ was everything my mind mustered up before a large seismic activity interrupted me.

Dust and rubble scathe from the ceilings and fell. Armored knights, archers, swordsmen… and wizards? ‘Quaint’ was the word of the day here as a medieval-esque sequence played before me. I was surrounded by people who were dressed appropriately for the next comic convention but that only confused me even more. ‘What kind of low budget fantasy did I stumble into?’ I asked myself, scratching the top of my head.

“Lieutenant Ulysses! The enemy soldiers have broken through the third sector! We’re being closed in! What are our orders?!” A man decked out head to toe in a tin can ran up and reported. There was a clear sense of fear and desperation in his voice. His oceanic blue eyes pleaded, hoping my next words would spew miracles to somehow turn whatever desperate circumstances we were trapped in. As I stared back at him it was obvious that he thought something was wrong.

Indeed, something was wrong- everything! First of all, my name wasn’t something as cool as ‘Ulysses’, and secondly where the hell was I even? I understood from the disturbing amount of quakes and distant sounds of explosions that this was an ‘emergency’ of some sort but I needed time to recollect my thoughts. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, perhaps the excess oxygen to my brain was what I required to stimulate my memories… or, more likely, it would be a huge waste of precious time.

Let’s see… where was I?

It was my day off, and I was supposed to have been on a date with my boyfriend. Shifting through our busy schedules, we had planned for weeks to get some time to watch a movie and hang out. I remember getting myself ready for the date… eh, I think I got dressed, and we probably watched the movie… but it’s like my memory cuts off after that. I couldn’t recall anything else, almost as if half way through the movie I was transported from the theatre to this esoteric predicament.

The all-important questions could not be answered. ‘How did I get here?’ ‘Why was I in the midst of a fortress siege?’ ‘Who were these people that looked up for salvation?’ Yet my thoughts were once again cut off by a violent tremor. With a few blinks my focus was refreshed back to this smoke and blood scented reality. I had noticed even more people dressed in medieval fashion gathered around me with equally desperate expressions on their faces. They looked like medieval foot soldiers, clad in ragged leather armor and dull swords. Perhaps they came here for the same reason the first soldier did; for my guidance?

Was this actually happening right now? I wasn’t stuck in some medieval reenactment fair, right? These sets were real and not just extremely well made set pieces, right? I shook my head and pinched myself on the cheek, ‘of course, this is as real as it gets’.

I turned back to meet the expecting gaze of these gathered warriors. As much as I wanted to give hope and orders to this group I couldn’t do that. What kind of military advice would I, a naïve twenty-something florist, give to these veteran soldiers? These men and women, whose muscles illustrated the grueling history of their strict training regiment, were cowering in fear and on verge of tears. I wanted to cry! They probably had more life or death situations than I have ever had paper cuts, so how could they expect me not to break down right before them?

“Um…” I tried to speak out, perhaps even make up a bunch of bullshit to raise their morale, but nothing escaped my throat. The words clung to the back of my tongue, just as scared as I was. Though all I wanted to do was calm these soldiers enough so they were able to make their own decisions- even that were far beyond my capabilities now.

I was scared…

I wanted to cry…

What was I supposed to do here?

I wanted to go back home…

I felt it with every inch of my body as the tremors beneath my feet became even fiercer. It was as though my own mortality was closing in on me like a certain ‘alien’ from that one movie. The large, soulless walls of concrete behind me burst open as a platoon of enemy soldiers rushed in waving foreign flags.

It was instant. Some of the debris from the explosion blasted past me with high velocity, splattering half of ‘my’ subordinate soldiers across the floor like some kind of violent, grotesque hand painting exercise. My mind froze; staring at the large boulder with viscous red skid marks across the floor leading from it, the stretched flesh, broken bones, and the organs… the organs…

I couldn’t.

I thought I would throw, but I somehow kept it in. ‘It’s all over!’ I shouted internally. I thought it was real before this shit got ‘REAL’ fast. It was hard to distinguish if this crawling sensation under my skin was due to the coldness of the winter air that breezed in from the large hole behind me or if it was from my fear. All I that came to mind was of how I would die here without knowing ‘how’ or ‘why’ I was brought to this place.

I summed up the remainder of my measly courage and turned to face the invading army. A blinding light shun from behind them as though they were some sort of heaven-sent angels. However on closer inspect it was just the daunting brightness of the white snow and blizzard raging outside. As my adjusted I noticed some of their features. They were better equipped than any of us; their weapons were so shiny it reflected light, their armor was an exquisite set of full-plate heavy armor compared to our shoddy and ragged leather/cloth armor- they were a fortress in their own right.

Through such blinding light I saw a very vivid emblem of the bloodied flag that they amassed under. A ghastly red background, a black circle with a distinct and simplistic ‘X’ marked through it. I don’t know why this word came to my mind as I bore witness to their flag but all I could think of was…

‘The Scarletheim Empire’.

It was impossible to make out what kind of expressions they had under their helmets but it was evident that they exuded a cruel level of confidence. Unmistakable, but some of the silvery armor of the enemy were painted with what I could only assume was the blood of my allied soldiers.

A great roaring and series of explosions were heard from outside. ‘I want to go home!’ I wanted to shout but even those words driven by my very fear couldn’t escape me. I dropped the iron sword that I held onto for so long. I raised my arms- the international act of submission and surrender. I only hoped that these people understood what this gesture meant, ‘hey, I want to surrender so let’s all get along now,’ was what I wanted to convey to them.

I stayed silent and eased my tension a little.

Biggest mistake of my life. Apparently raising your arms in this place meant that you were preparing some kind of attack or magic spell since the enemy soldiers immediately retaliated. ‘Chaos,’ that word was not enough to contain the amount of anarchy that ensued my innocent actions. This medieval reenactment suddenly shifted into a full on underground rave as all I saw was an intense light show. Fire, ice and lightning jumped across my eyes but I couldn’t follow anything that was going on.

Hey, wasn’t time supposed to slow down when you were about to die? Who was the idiot that came up with that trope? My life wasn’t even flashing before me, liars!

After that… well, I can’t realy say as I don’t know what happened afterwards. Though if I had to hazard I guess, in all likelihood, I died. Along with all the rest of my subordinates, but the most important thing was that I was probably not alive.

***

It was as though a dam had been burst… oh wait, I’ve already done this, haven’t I? Anyhow, I’m not entirely sure on what happened but I think I died? Taking a quick glance around my surroundings I noticed that I wasn’t amidst an enemy siege anymore- yay? Instead, I was now in the middle of a cemetery, ‘that’s not creepy at all,’ I sarcastically thought to myself. The scent of stagnant and murky soil solidified this new reality in my mind.

Some serious questions started to haunt me. It would’ve been scary enough to just walk through this place but combined with the implication that I died, this entire situation was getting under my skin. The only up side to all of this was that I wasn’t actually in a coffin and buried underground.

It was more than likely that this situation was a ‘life-after-death’ scenario so I’m going to go ahead and also assume that this was some kind of purgatory. If that’s the case then which lucky religion got it correct?

“Heh~ you’re making a ‘which religion got it correct?’ face, rather than the standard ‘what the hell is going on?!’ face. You’re quite the strange one aren’t you?” a hushed, slithering voice hissed from beyond the veil of fog surrounding this place. I stood up in surprise, my spine tingled as cold sweat dripped past my forehead. Visibility was so poor that seeing past a few meters was exceedingly difficult but on top of that there was now a mysterious voice that called out to me. The ambiance of this place alone was enough but my mind intensified that by conjuring up horrible images to accompany that voice.

I shifted around searching for the voice but I couldn’t locate it. Perhaps it took pity on me as it appeared before me of its own volition. I wasn’t able to get a full view, just a shadow silhouette. “I’m here,” a snake-like voice hissed. Mind you that was the sensation which was invoked by the tone of voice and not the actual voice of a snake.

I’m not sure which it was but either my vision was rapidly improving or the thick fog was dissipating. Behind me, seated atop of a comically large tomb stone as if it were a morbid throne, was a translucent figure smiling down on me. Maliciously; did I look like a piece of meat to him?

He glowed with a deep, hypnotizing blue aura that blended extremely well against the darkened backdrop of this environment. I couldn’t make out any other characteristics other than his evil grin. Actually it almost made it seem as if he was a…

“Y- you’re not a ghost… right?” Curiosity getting the better of me, I asked. My voice was hesitant and filled with stutter but he only bemusedly chuckled at me. He shook his head to deny that accusation, a fact that somewhat eased my tension. “Then mind if I ask you to explain the situation a little? I mean you’re probably a lot more knowledgeable about this situation than I am, so…”

I trailed off, but he complied relatively easily. I was worried there for a second that he might send me off to do some tedious fetch quest in exchange for getting exposition. He gave me a nod as he started to explain, still with that malicious grin. “I’m known as ‘Aegis’, the protector of souls. Well, that’s what I’m supposed to be but no one around here actually does their jobs.”

“That’s… not your online handle right?” Considering what I had just been through it may have been better to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I had to make sure. I needed to ask these questions, even sarcastically, if I wanted to maintain what little illusion of control I had over this nonsensical situation.

“Pfft, hahaha~ you’re a funny one; I like you!” ‘Aegis’ replied with a laugh, genuine enough that I found some semblance of trust in this incomprehensible entity. It wasn’t like I was a psychiatrist or anything but to me that laugh and confession seemed honest. I sighed, finally being able to calm the rapid pace of my heartbeat.

“Ah, sorry, I already have a boyfriend, but perhaps we can start off as friends?” I wanted to shift the tone of this conversation to a much lighter one. Mostly it was for my own mental wellbeing. For god’s sake I was talking to a translucent, ghost figure; if I didn’t do this I’d go insane. He continued to chuckle at me before whispering to himself ‘ouch’.

“Yeah… well, you’re kind of dead now so that’s a moot point,” he stated blatantly and without concern. He shrugged at me with that same arrogant smirk, as if to say that I should ‘move on’, both mentally and literally. “Besides, I don’t think you’d want to stay with that guy when you find out how you died.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” It almost sounded like he was suggesting that the reason for my death was due to my boyfriend.

“Well… you know~” he replied in a dodgy manner.

“No, I don’t. This is why I’m asking you to explain yourself.”

“Honey, I don’t know how to put this in more… ‘delicate’ terms so I’ll just say it straight. Your ‘boyfriend’,” he started by putting the word ‘boyfriend’ in air quotes, “is a serial killer. You were just his latest in a long line of victims.”

Cognitive dissonance is a bitch. I wanted to shout, ‘incomprehensible!’ like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but I didn’t. There was no way I was just going to take what this mysterious entity told me at face value- I couldn’t! However, at the same time there was also no way to deny my own physical surroundings and experiences. Little angels and devils fought tirelessly on my shoulders trying to reason out the most logical explanation for all of this.

“No, no that’s not…” the words refused to leave my throat, ‘that’s not true’, I merely had to speak out those words and deny him. So then, how come I couldn’t do that simple task? Why was it that the words of some stranger held a greater resonance in my heart than the feelings I should’ve felt for my other half? “That… it can’t… right?”

Amidst my confusion, I was visited by a strange and warm sensation that ran down my face. “Eh?” I touched it only to find out they were tears. “Eh, that’s strange…” I fell back down to my knees and covered my face with my hands. ‘As though a dam had burst open…’ I’d never be able to explain my feelings; the distilling taste of betrayal. Yet it was the fact that I was so easily be swayed like this that tortured me the most.

A cold hand pressed against my back, turning up I saw Aegis also trying to soothe me. “Ah, I didn’t mean to make you cry. Sorry.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t like it was his fault or anything. “…” I couldn’t reply and neither could I tell you how long I sat there silently holding myself back from breaking down. At the same time however, quietly reflecting to myself… it was a strangely liberating sensation. I hadn’t completely recovered but even I didn’t want to continue on like this forever. I took a few deep breaths to start calming myself down.

“I don’t know if you’re ready for this but do you want to see for yourself?” Aegis asked me.

“Huh?” still with my face hidden behind my hands I looked back at him with a single eye.

“I know it may be a lot to take in but I think it’s for the best that you witnessed everything for yourself. What do you say?”

I quietly nodded my head.

“Alright, then see for yourself.”

Aegis moved his bright blue hands before my face and gently closed my eyes for me. I felt the cold embrace of this otherworldly figure lure me into a deep darkness. It didn’t repulse me; I accepted his aid to help me see the truth.

My consciousness weighing on me, I sank deeply into the abyss.