Chapter 6 – The question asked in order,
To save her life or take it
After a short stay at the hospital, Roger gets used to his new arm and goes back to the circus. He has a custom-made arm that contains a blade in it in case he ever gets attacked. It doesn’t take him long to get back into the practice of being the circus master despite people telling him to rest. After almost falling asleep during one of his own special stunts, he takes their advice and decides to rest for a while, which finally signals the start of the circus’ vacation. They start packing their things and move into the hotels in the nearby town for the time being with all of their circus tents and equipment in the hands of a trusty business partner who keeps it in a safe location.
The circus all stay in the same hotel to stay by Roger’s side especially because of some of them, like Zackary and Zoey, abandoned him during the first-time things got tough so they’re set on staying by his side until their deaths. During this time, fans of the circus come to get autographs and show their support for the healing circus master. Minor performances are made outside the hotel to ensure to their fans that they’re still in business. The circus rarely takes vacations because the circus feels like a constant vacation to them. They travel, have fun, and experience all kinds of action and horrors as they bring joy and happiness to people. If anything, this is their first legitimate break and they can’t wait to get back to work.
On one foggy day, Ebony looks out the window. She hears a weird noise outside and goes to investigate it. While searching around the empty city streets, she catches a glimpse of the shadow of a person being dragged into the alleyway. Sensing danger, she heads to the alleyway thinking that someone needs help. In the alleyway, she enters a dark space where everything has turned black and white. She’s entered some kind of warped reality, but she doesn’t know it. Several people made of white lines appear and surround her. A cage is drawn around her and a stage rises from the ground.
The white face of an announcer appears in the sky above her. He says, “Today’s unfortunate guest is the legendary ebony elephant, Ebony!”
The people around Ebony clap as she stays on her guard.
“Oh, don’t be worried, Ebony! In fact, you should be excited because you are going to save the lives of dozens of people, but it will cost you of course.”
There are legends that not many people know about. A legend that not many people survive. A legend that hasn’t even been made into a story. This is one of those. These people will test Ebony’s goodwill and pure spirit. Her surviving their challenge is very unlikely.
The area around her expands so that it appears that she’s in a large arena. Several real people are let out from the sides of the arenas in chains.
“So Ebony, you must be wondering why you never heard of us. It’s because the only people that escaped our trap were angels and saints. You’re neither as far as we can tell. There is a total of forty people trapped within us. Can you save them all?”
The people around Ebony pull out their guns while others stay by at switches. They point their guns at certain people. Seeing what they’re about to do, Ebony quickly rushes to the person aid and takes a couple gunshots as a result. This person is freed and is transported back to where they belong. Ebony’s thick skin absorbs the impact of the bullets and barely harms her. A lever is pulled and a set of saw blades comes out of the ground and make their way towards the next victim. Ebony, again, has to endure pain in order to save the victim and again, this victim disappears back to where they belong.
“That was impressive Ebony, but can you do it another thirty-eight times?”
The poor selfless ebony elephant has to endure being shot, cut, and burned constantly while running to save the lives of innocent people who are too tired to thank her. This happens again and again and again. Her skin can only endure so many hits before the wounds start cutting deep. She starts to bleed after a while and start to slow down. What she doesn’t know is that there is no rush to save these people, there is only the illusion. Everything goes at the speed Ebony can keep up with, however, she’s too tired to notice this. Despite her pain, she pushes through it to save everyone she is presented. Her drive to save people and make them happy is her prime motivator in life. It’s something she’s dedicated her life to and is set on dedicating all of her life to this goal, however, her body is not as strong as her will. She saves twenty people before her body gives way to her wounds.
Another person still needs saving and she crawls to save them.
“Oh, give up already you, stupid elephant. You’re never going to save everyone. You’re always going to miss someone who needs help. You’re not going to make everyone happy. Your life goal is impossible and foolish to pursue. Give up and perish.”
Her body and everyone around her tells her to give up. They mock her. Throw trash at the wounded elephant and spit at it. Everything about this situation tells her to give up. That’s she’s a fool for even trying, but a dim light inside her is still alive. This light ignites and gives her the strength to save the next person. Her wounds are temporarily healed. The dark light shining from her is brightened and she shines like a large bonfire. Everyone around her is frightened but they keep sending out victims regardless. Ebony is faster now than before and the light coming from her starts to affect her surroundings as the guns wielded by people start to blow up on the people that wield them. The traps don’t work anymore and the dimension around Ebony starts to fall apart.
The people in the crowds start to jump into the arena and beg for forgiveness.
They say, “We only to test people’s capacity for goodness. We meant no harm! No one was ever killed. We swear it!”
Ebony stands over them and says, “You don’t test good people by causing them pain. Scum like you don’t get mercy.”
The darkness of their own dimension consumes them and transports Ebony to a foggy forest outside the city she was in. Her body goes back to normal, but so does the pain, which causes her to faint from exhaustion. A mysterious creature grabs the large elephant with one hand and drags her deeper into the forest.
Meanwhile, Roger is talking to one of the performers about his daughter.
He says, “She wanted to become like me, you know. The only thing that kid ever wanted was to see the smiling faces of the audience. If we ever pasted someone poor on the street, we had to bring them into our circus to make them happy. If we ever past someone said, we gave them free tickets to our show. There was even this one time she gave one of her special elephants to a child younger than her to see the kid smile. My daughter deserved the world and what did she get? A short life.”
“How did she die, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t mind. This may even help me. It was one spring morning. My family and I were going on a vacation, but then my baby girl noticed someone being harassed for their money. I saw her confront the man and before I knew it, the man shot her then ran off. They caught the man later and hung him, but still. Did you know that Riley and he were best friends?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“My son died in a similar way because he thought his sister was brave. He tried saving someone and was beaten to death as a result. I’m glad those criminals who killed him were beaten to death by the public.”
“Roger…”
“My wife was no different. She thought that her children would be disappointed if their mother wasn’t a role model too. When she saw the opportunity to save someone’s life at the expense of her own, she took it. I thought I was going to die the same way but that didn’t happen. I caused this all by going to a witch doctor and saving Riley’s life.”
“Roger!”
“I know, I know. I should calm down.”
“You were an inspiration to your family and everyone around you. You gave up your curse, and when you fell back to rock bottom, you came back better than ever.”
“Right, right. Thanks for reminding me.”
A circus worker comes into the room looks around a bit then asks Roger, “Have you seen Ebony?”
“No, why?”
“She’s disappeared.”
“What do you mean she’s disappeared? That elephant is a member of our family, you don’t just lose her.”
A member of the hotel comes up to Roger’s room and hands him a letter. The member says, “We were given this letter addressed to you.”
Roger holds the dirty letter in his hand then asks, “Who gave it to you?”
“I don’t know. It just appeared on our desk.”
“This can’t be good.”
Roger quickly opens the note that grows a mouth and says, “I have your darling elephant. Come out to the forest on the north end of the city to retrieve her if you dare!”
The mouth then retreats back into the paper, which makes the paper dissipate into ash.
Shocked, but not discouraged, Roger states, “We’re going after her.”
Chapter 7 – The Tyranny of the Author
Another less well-known legend is the legend of the shadow writer.
I’ve been watching Roger ever since the beginning. Even though the contract has been lifted from his soul, there are souls that still want him to pay in blood. If I can get rid of him and his crew of misfits, then I can receive a boost in power and status in the underworld. I creep up the side of the hotel and look through the windows to find Roger and his circus. Right now, he’s still talking to his friends about whether he should be allowed to accompany the rest of the circus in their rescue attempt.
He’s saying, “That elephant saved me so now it’s my turn to save her!”
“But you’re still supposed to be resting.”
“I have a hidden blade in my left arm! I’m ready for anything.”
“Do you trust us?”
“Of course I do, but I’m your leader. If I wasn’t with you through it all, I wouldn’t be your leader. You’re asking me if I trust you on this and I, but I have to be there.”
“Fine, but you’re not going ahead of us. We’re going to have people to guard you to help keep you safe.”
“Alright. Let’s go get our special little elephant.”
The circus moves out from the city and enters the forest I told them too. If I can take out Roger, then the rest of the circus will be demoralized and easy to crush. Whatever I write in my book will appear and attack them. I can’t write anything too outlandish or something that will attack them directly, so I’ve set up several traps ahead of them. They can’t see me, but I’m watching them from the shadow. A skinny figure the blends in with the trees that is unable to be seen by even the keenest of eyes.
They don’t know it right now, but they’ve tripped a wire that has let out an invisible gas. It takes a few moments to kick in since it’s a subtle gas. The circus starts to hallucinate the worst monster they can possibly imagine. Each person sees something different which means each person is affected differently. These fools attack their hallucinations and even manage to harm each other. What’s strange is that Roger and Riley don’t appear to be affected.
Roger appears to have figured out what’s happening and says, “Stand down! What are you all doing? There’s nothing out here that’s attacking you!”
“What are you talking about don’t you see them?! Don’t you feel them?!”
“No, I don’t. Trust me and put away your weapons.”
His subordinates are hesitant, but they eventually put down their weapons. Unfortunately, no one was seriously hurt or even killed during this trap. The effects of the gas wear off after a while and their hallucinations disappear. No matter. I still have a couple more tricks. This next one is deadlier than the last.
Before they know it, they enter a sinkhole. The ground keeps getting lower and lower. They may have even noticed that the ground feels a bit softer the further they get into the forest. Once they get to the center of the sinkhole, they fall into the underworld. This is a place where all the legends and folklore that people make up come from. Everything in here wants them dead. I’ve done my job. There’s no way they’re making it out of this trap.
I’ll be living the easy life soon enough. I might as well check on Ebony to see if she’s fallen into despair. That elephant is chained right now in a special room close to Hell. The chains should be sapping the energy from her soul as the fire cooks her to a crisp. I’ve never eaten an elephant before, but it never hurts to try. Wait, what happened here? There are bodies of other creatures and monsters here. The chains are broken, and the place is a mess. Where did that elephant go? How could it break out? How could it possibly break out unless there’s someone else that’s special about it that I’m not seeing?
She’s probably looking for her circus now. Sure enough, I find her fighting alongside them. Several monsters are retreating now that they see that Ebony is here. She looks different too. When I found her, she was nearly dead, but now she’s glowing. Ebony’s radiating a divine light that’s almost blinding to look at. I can still salvage this situation if I get rid of Roger, so I write in a trap that’s sure to kill him. Because Ebony is moving around so fast, she won’t even know she’ll trigger it. It’s a trap that will launch a small sharp metal piece into the head of Roger. This small piece will launch into the air at high speeds and kill the man in an instant. Once I write the trap in and Ebony triggers the trap, everything falls into place-what?! That mouse Riley heard the trap go off and somehow knew to protect Roger.
“Riley!” Roger yells out as he gets the metal piece out of the mouse’s torso.
Ebony sees what happened and rushes to Roger. She puts her trunk over Riley’s and the mouse is filled with light. It comes back to life and radiates with a similar light to Ebony’s.
“Are you ready brother?” Ebony asks.
“I’m ready sis,” Riley answers.
“Good because I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Hey, my prayers helped, didn’t they?”
“They did.”
The mouse then runs around and helps to drive off the rest of the legends and monsters. I might as well take my leave as well. I know who those two are now. They are Roger’s children. The higher power must’ve granted their wish to help their father once he turned from his false blessing. I doubt I can get through to them now or ever. Maybe I should turn from my ways too…if I can.
Roger and his circus make it out of the sinkhole without any serious injuries or death. They return back to the city and throw a party for themselves and for Ebony and Riley. The sister and brother reinstate their vow to help their father fulfill his redemption. They promise to protect their family, the circus, from the scariest monsters and legends because they love everyone and want to make people happy.
The End
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