Tales and Scares that Breathe Down Your Neck: Tale 2 – Nothing but Smiles

Tale 2 – Nothing but Smiles

Life is miserable for me. College is stressful and useless because there’s no job that I want to get with my degree, but since my parents are adamant about me going to it, I have to go. It’s not like any of my job applications have been accepted or an alternative that they would approve of. I’m not like my outgoing friends who managed to land a decent job who have connections that let them get a job without going through college. My parents won’t let me forget it either because of how many times they talk about how other people are doing better than I am. It feels like I’m being disowned when they say it over and over again.

I’m at a loss in what to do with my life and I want it all to end. Sure, you could say that I have it better than most people who have no home, no job, and no family, but that doesn’t make it any better. Not when you feel like you’re a disappointment of a child and that it would be better if anyone else is in your place. This thinking is tearing me apart from the inside, so I go to my quiet place, a river down by the woods. It’s the place that I go to where I know no one will judge me or think less of me. I mean God is less judgmental than most people, myself included-I have to stop thinking about what other people think and just clear my head.

The sound of echoing distant laughing catches my ear and startles me a little. Since I have little concern for my own wellbeing, I follow the sound of the noise to a small cave that I didn’t know was over here. The river flows from the cave, and it looks like I can go into it if I head into the water. Of course, I’m not going to do that since I do have some concern for my wellbeing and not none.

“Whatcha see down there?” I hear someone say behind me that makes me fall into the river.

Once I get out of it, I see a creepy clown looking at me. He’s all black and white as if he walked out of an old cartoon and has hundreds of smiles on his clothes. Even the scars around his eyes and mouth look like they’re separate mouths that smile.

“Who are you?” I ask him.

“Me? My name is not important because I’m not but smiles. What’s your name?”

“That’s not important. I’m glad you’re always happy, but I have to go. Bye!”

I try to walk away from Smiles but he just appears from behind a tree in front of me as if he teleported.

“I’m glad to hear that you’re happy about my happiness. Most people today only care about their own happiness like your family and friends.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Since you’re not going to tell me your name, I’m not going to tell you how. All I’ll tell you is that it has something to do with all my smiles.”

“Okay, but I really have to go.”

Again, I try to get away from Smiles, and again, he teleports in front of me behind a tree.

“Go back to what? A life that you don’t enjoy living? I know what you’re going through. I lived through it myself before I got my smiles.”

“What do you want with me?”

“I want to make your life and the lives of many more happy through you. You want to impress people and make them happy, right?”

“Right…”

“Then embrace the smiles.”

“Why me though?”

“Because you remind me of myself and fate would have it that we met. So, what do you say? You don’t have many if any options in your life that will make you happy.”

“…fine. As long as it doesn’t hurt.”

“Oh, it doesn’t.”

I begin to feel my face uncontrollably smile and every part of my body starts growing mouths that smile and start to laugh. This can’t be real! This has to be a dream, and thankfully I wake up in my bed, though I still feel my face and skill twitch as if it’s still trying to smile. When I wake up and go downstairs to eat breakfast, I see some good news for once on the news channel, but my family doesn’t seem to be happy about it.

“Haven’t you been waiting for this to happen? I’m surprised that you’re not talking to the TV about how you were right this whole time,” I ask them.

“It’s great that we finally get a victory, but the media will play it down and plan to regain power somehow. Just you wait.”

“I know it’s disappointing but that’s just how politics is.”

Always so disappointed with everything. Why can’t you see the bright side of things? Why can’t you smile for once? Oh, I know what might get them to smile.

“I got my final grades this morning,” I mention.

“Did you make the Dean’s List?”

“N-no, but I got all As and four point GPA.”

“What about a job? Did you hear anything back from them?”

“No, not yet even though I keep emailing and calling them.”

“Eh, keep trying.”

You’re not happy even for that? But school is what you keep talking about and me getting good grades is a step forward for me to get into honors classes and the job that I’m aiming for. Now I see that making any effort to get this job will not make them happy. Instead making them smile and happy will make them happy. It’s so obvious that I’m surprised that I was so blind to it. The only question is how I’m supposed to do this.

There is getting them what they want, but what they want doesn’t always seem to make them happy and even if they do seem happy, they don’t stay happy for long. I need to make them feel happy for a long time possibly forever. Oh, I know what I can do. I still feel happy from that dream with Smiles. I smiled and felt happy for the first time in a while. I go to the bathroom so I can look at my smile in the mirror.

Yes! That smile on my face is new, genuine, and most of all, a face that will inspire happiness in others. The more that I smile the more smiles appear on my hands, face, eyes, and all over my body. What a blessing it was to meet Smiles! I touch every member of my family with my smiling hands to make them feel happy as I do. Though one or two try to run away, the power of my smiles and happiness gets my family to help me get them to see the goodness of the happiness that I offer. I’m actually glad that they ran away because it’s made me remember how I felt when I first saw Smiles.

I have to be careful with how I spread my smiles so I start small with comedy clubs. While talking and joking around, I touch one person and then another until the whole club is affected. Just like Smiles, I can teleport in front of people and keep them in the space around me. My audience grows until I get the opportunity to appear on a late night show where I’m interviewed by a big name and watched by a big audience.

“My, my! That smile is something else. It’s no wonder why you got so famous after a month of being in the business,” the show host says.

“What can I say? People like being happy and that what’s I aim to do,” I say.

My smile is already infecting people with lots of people in the audience smiling thanks to my followers that spread the joy.

“I’ve seen videos of you, and I do laugh, but I’m not sure what I find so funny. Can you explain your flavor of comedy to us?”

“It’s quite simple. If a person strives with every fiber of their being to achieve their goal, they’ll do it especially when they do it with a cheerful heart.”

“Haha, I like the idea, however, that’s not exactly true for everyone.”

“It’s true for me and I aim to inspire people to achieve the same.”

“I hope you do for their sake. Oh, and where's my manners. I forgot to ask your name since you don’t have a stage name and you didn’t give the show announcers your name either.”

“My name is not important because, heh, I’m nothing but Smiles.”

Check out this latest cover by An_dres_art and the short story that it's based on!

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Sargrantina is an opportunistic woman who is looking to get rich quick, so she allies herself with the Red King, one of the most dangerous bounty hunters, on his quest for one of the most dangerous bounties of all, Black Jack. Both of these people seem to have a history between them as the Red King doesn't want the sixty-million dollar reward for killing Black Jack.
What will happen on this life-changing, gunslinging experience for the money-hungry Sargrantina? Will the dangerous Red King change her ways?

Tales and Scares that Breathe Down Your Neck: Tale 1 – I’m Closer Now

Tale 1 – I’m Closer Now

Going through the mail is not as annoying as going through email, in my opinion. I don’t get spam and not as many advertisements that try to get me to buy stuff. What’s strange to me about today is that I got a letter in the mail that doesn’t say any address but mine and contains a letter that just says, “I’m closer now”. It’s probably prank mail though I don’t know who would give it to me. Maybe a group of misbehaving teenagers put it in my mailbox thinking that it would scare me. It’s a weird joke, so I throw away the letter.

After taking a bath, I find the letter from before unopened in my bathroom and on top of my change of clothes. Did I bring it in here by accident and why is it unopened? It still says, “I’m closer now”. Whatever. It’s best not to think too much of it so I throw away the letter for real this time and put it out of my mind. I’ve had a good day at work, I got paid, and the weekend is one sleep away. To celebrate it all, I order pizza and wings and start shopping online to reward myself and take note of some gifts to buy for my family and friends.

Wait, what’s this? Under my keyboard is the same letter from before, but now it says, “I’m even closer now”. What is going on? Who is sending these letters and how are they appearing here? “I’m even closer now”, what does that mean? How did these last two letters get here? Have I gotten these letters before and keep forgetting to trash them? I can’t let this drive me crazy, so I trash the letter and lay down to take a quick nap.

Ah! Now I feel better-wait, what?! I have the letter again! It was on top of me for whatever reason. “I’m even closer now” is still written on it, but on the back, it says, “I can see you”.

“If you can see me, then why don’t you just come out!” I say while getting a gun that I have in my bedroom.

No answer. Looking at the letter again, I see that it’s changed from “I can see you” to “I can smell you”.

“Do I smell good? Where are you?!”

Now, the letter has changed to “yes”. Oh, well thanks for letting me know I smell good, but why is the letter changing and responding to my questions? Ah! Something touched me! Huh? Whoever touched me put another letter in my pocket. It reads, “You feel nice”. Ah!

“Stop touching me!”

It keeps putting letters in my clothes, but I don’t read them because every time that I’ve read the letter, it’s gotten closer.

“I’m not reading your letters! I know your tricks so stop wasting your time and leave me alone!”

I keep getting touched and shooting wherever I hear a noise and in the direction that I feel the person who touches runs. This is so aggravating! Who or what is touching me and why can’t I see them?!

“Where are you?! Show yourself!”

“I’m closer now,” I hear whispered in my ear.

The voice freezes me in place as I feel a heavy presence behind me and arms begin to wrap around me. It’s hard for me to breathe and I don’t know what to do now. I can hardly even think.

“And now, we’ll be always close until the day you die.”

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The Flame of Cognizance allows man to be aware of good and evil and to know the truth, so when it fades because those who tend it forsake their duties, an unlikely man steps forward to gather the keys to the flame and to keep it alight. This man is Tenebris who was once called more devil than man and still has the scars of his horns on his forehead and an arm burning with black flame. Can this seemingly changed man keep man's sense of good and evil alive or will everything become meaningless in mankind's eyes?

Curse of Cognizance: Chapter 4 – The Flame of Penance

Chapter 4 – The Flame of Penance

The way to the last key was relatively uneventful compared to last time because of how many people have become Purposeless. Because of the increasing sins, the Flame has faded faster and the Divinus and their evangelists preaching their own truths have only added to this. This phase of the Flame is known as Embers since this is when the Flame is at its lowest point with the sun shining like the black flame in the sky. Though Tenebris fights Divinus, Purposeless, and others possessed by the black flame across the ruins of the world, they are all animal-like and hardly pose a threat to him. Even as he approaches the city called Genus, he sees that most of the defenses are down with many of its attackers and defenders dead around the gates and littering the city. Genus itself is wrapped around a large mountain and it appears to have been a very connected city with various pathways and roadmaps so that no one can get easily lost.

Certain burns across the buildings and on the floor are familiar and the flame within Tenebris allows him to recognize it as the Flame of Cognizance that the burning captain had, however, his body nor the bodies of his soldiers are here. Instead, the burns on the ground and on the buildings lead Tenebris to where he’s supposed to go. Along the way, Tenebris sees that the still living inhabitants of the city close their doors to him and bicker about him in whispers. He wonders to himself when they’re going to attack him as he walks around Genus while being on his guard. The designs of the buildings become more beautiful as Tenebris continues up the mountain. These buildings could even be considered even more beautiful than the ones in the two previous cities with the destruction of the battle that took place in the city being the only blemishes that take away from the original beauty that they once had.

To his surprise, Tenebris reaches the top of the mountain without encountering any resistance. At the top of the mountain is a cathedral-like castle that has its gates blown open, however, no burns can be found inside of the castle. It’s as if the burning captain left the retrieval of the last key to Tenebris. The inside of the castle is filled with children and guards who all have weapons on them as they ready themselves to fight Tenebris.

“No. Leave us be,” a woman’s voice echoes.

The children and guards leave the castle. With them gone, Tenebris can see the crystal decorations around the castle and a woman who is looking up at the black flame sun in the sky while sitting at a dinner table. In this dining room are various paintings of families and friends having fun and being happy with one another. Tenebris sees the last key that he needs on the table near the woman. A woman who is dressed simply in a blue cloak, which makes her appear to be like a common woman rather than one of the Pillars that she is. Because of what the woman said, he assumes he can take the key but is surprised when she grabs his hand when he tries to get it.

“A moment, if you would,” she says before gently letting go of his hand, “Have you looked at the sky recently? The sun, the morning star, burns with black flames. The Flame of Cognizance is nothing more than embers and ash and man’s sense of good and evil is gone with it, and very few people are still cursed with the sense. I don’t know why you still have the sense or why I do, but most of the people in this city are Purposeless. Soon, the rest of humanity will follow.”

Again, Tenebris reaches for the key and is stopped by the woman who doesn’t let go of his hand this time.

“I said a moment. I’m not done talking to you. The knowledge of good and evil, truth and lies is a curse. Because of it, a person can be sent to Hell, and I don’t want any of my family, friends, and everyone in between to go there. Is that such an evil request? If so, I’ll go to Hell for them just so they never experience it.”

Tenebris tries to grab the key, but the woman takes it from him.

“What don’t you understand?! Knowing good and evil has caused mankind nothing but suffering! Nothing good has come from it! Nothing!”

“Shut up!” Tenebris says to the shock of the woman, “Knowing good and evil allowed me to know God, to know beauty, and to know love. It allowed me to know why what I did was wrong and that I could redeem myself from it. Taking away people’s sense of good and evil devalues everything in our minds until it all seems to be meaningless. Do you really want that to happen to your family?”

The woman is at loss for words until she says, “You don’t understand anything! You-”

Tenebris cuts the woman’s head off before she says another word because he could tell that she wasn’t going to see reason. He takes the last key that he needs for the flame and is about to exit the castle until the woman’s body begins to burn with black flame.

A new head forms on her body as she says, “If I have to go to Hell so that no one else has to, I’m taking you with me.”

She then explodes with black flames erupting from her body like a volcano. Tenebris escapes from the top of the mountain as the black flames consume the city. The people within the buildings burn and Tenebris ends up being the only one who escapes as the entire mountain burns in an unquenchable black flame. Seeing this sight moves his heart with pity as Tenebris crosses himself for those who didn’t make it out. Now that he has all three keys, he heads back to where the Flame of Cognizance is.

Back in the city where the Flame is located, mostly everyone has turned Purposeless while the rest try to do penance to keep the embers of the Flame fluttering as much as possible. With all three keys, Tenebris enters the cathedral of the Flame to see that it has truly died out with ashes and few embers remaining of it. The cathedral itself is filled with rotting bodies from the previous civil war and burned people laying near as if they were kindling for it. Tenebris touches the Flame of Cognizance and relights it with his black flame, and despite it being touched by the black flame, the Flame of Cognizance explodes in a world covering explosion as the Flame regains its original glory. This is because the relationship between the black flame and the Flame of Cognizance is much like humanity’s relationship with God as in it is made in God’s image and only shines with its original beauty when it reflects God perfectly. The remnants of humanity regain their sense of good and evil as the sun also goes from black to its original color. As Tenebris burns the Flame, he sees his wife and children in Heaven.

“Thank you, my love,” his wife says, “Your soul has been redeemed. We wait for the day that you join us, but for now, continue to tend to the Flame.”

Tenebris nods with tears in his eyes. Everyone who cares for the Flame goes to celebrate Tenebris’ victory and throws him a party, but even as his party goes on, he continues to tend to the Flame as penance for the sins of the world since mankind can hardly stay away from sinning for long.

 

The End

Curse of Cognizance: Chapter 3 – Puppet Masters and Their Masters

Chapter 3 – Puppet Masters and Their Masters

Gloria is the next city that Tenebris finds himself in. It’s in a state of constant war and fighting with no one appearing to be Purposeless because of all the Divinus as people preach falsehood laced with some truth that they want to be completely true.

“Even as our sense of good and evil fade, the powers that be want to take away our right and sneak through laws that benefit themselves,” one Divinus says on one street corner.

“Let the heroes and villains toil and spill each other’s blood over the Flame. We have the God-given responsibility to keep our kingdoms and ways of life safe,” another says.

“The Pillars of faith and family have fallen, and the fact that our kingdom still stands is a testament that it is the most important one and blessed above all! The church doesn’t supply you with your daily needs nor does your family. What you have is thanks to the God-appointed kings, governors, and city leaders,” yet another says.

This crowd of useless debates where both sides argue and bicker with each other makes Tenebris wish for a fight that he doesn’t yet get. People try to get him to join their side and yell at him when he refuses with silence. Spies of the Divinus keep an eye on him and talk to their evangelist and Divinus to make the crowds of the city force Tenebris take a certain path through the city. He notices that he’s being led into a trap but doesn’t care since he’d rather have some direction and an enemy that he should be focusing on since he has no idea which side has the key to the Flame. Walking headfirst into their trap, Tenebris finds himself in a town hall that’s housing a debate between three kingdoms, a place where he wanted to be the least, and even worse, there’s no exit since the crowds are surrounding him.

“Do you show us no respect when you enter our presence?” one of the leaders says.

Tenebris recognizes the man speaking to him as the king of his kingdom. Next to him are other worldly leaders, so he gives them a little bow.

“You should be giving us more respect than that because you and your black doves and cult would’ve been put to jail sooner if it weren’t for us taking a liking to your plan, but that isn’t important right now. What is important is whose side you think is right. Do this and we’ll give you the key to the Flame. Simple, is it not?” another leader says.

Tenebris shrugs and rolls his eyes as he sits down to listen to what they have to say.

“Let us begin. Since borders and the rule of law no longer matters, I think that we should all merge into a singular kingdom. The people can keep their culture, but the laws must be changed so that one part of the kingdom cannot get away with what is illegal in another part. One of these laws concerns a higher tax rate. As you know, there are few innovators and leaders in the world and they need all the funding they need to improve the country for everyone else, so it stands to reason that the rest of the country should raise up the talented so the whole country can prosper.”

“I, on the other hand, oppose this because the workers and businesses below the rich will suffer and never grow past a certain point. I want lower taxes and greater freedom so that businesses and people can grow as much as they want. Sure, there might not be as many laws, but people with common sense don’t need many laws especially if they are devoted to God, family, work, and country.”

“If you’re looking for a middle ground between these two, I’m your guy. I’ll equally tax people depending on how much they earn while also making the laws flexible so they can be changed to fit the times and new discoveries in knowledge and truth. We should also let people live their own truth since everyone sees God’s truth in different ways.”

“So, what’s your decision?”

To Tenebris, all three kingdoms sound the same. Their voices and opinions are slightly different and he agrees with none of them even though he finds somewhat agreeable parts in all of them. Not only do the leaders’ opinions sound similar, but they also look similar, and looking closer at them, Tenebris sees the black flame within them all with flames on top of their heads as if they are human-sized puppets.

“We’ll ask again. What’s your decision?”

Following the lines of flame, Tenebris sees the point where they connect and fires out a ball of flame from his hand and explodes a place where a towering man falls out of. He has horns of black flames that are coming out of his eyes and has a puppet-like face with a long nose. The followers of this Divinus and Pillar are split when they see him with some losing their faith and becoming Purposeless while others argue about what they should do now. The evangelists of the Pillar try to convince them all to continue to support him despite being lied to.

“That was very perceptive of you to notice my black flame strings, Tenebris, though I still must ask you which side would you choose?” the puppet master says.

Tenebris shakes his head and points to the key that’s hanging on the black pants of the puppet master’s waist.

“If you aren’t going to cooperate, then I’ll have to use a little coercion. Feast your eyes on these.”

The evangelists bring gifts of all kinds to Tenebris like gold, swords, armor, holy artifacts, and even men, women, and children.

“I can set you up for life. I can even give you a family to replace your old one. Just say yes to me once. You can always change your mind later, but give me this one yes so I can use it when the Flame burns brightly again. You won’t have to feel guilty about it if you change your mind. Most politicians do it all the time. It’s part of why I was able to make these three puppets of mine. The black flame has allowed me to use my multi-faced nature to make puppets powered by the flame. It’s a way to safely lie without having to own it myself as long as you don’t see the man behind the curtain.”

Done with the man’s lies, Tenebris shakes his head, pushes aside the evangelists, and approaches the puppet master with his sword pointed at the key again.

“Bold of you to approach me even though I have a group of followers around me. Let’s see if you’re willing to do evil to achieve good like a real politician.”

The puppet master’s strings of black flame go into everyone in the town hall and light them in a black flame. He then uses these people to attack Tenebris who destroys them all by smashing the ground and making black flames sprout out from them to burn everything but him. With the puppet master injured, Tenebris walks up to him and is about to finish him off. To his surprise, the puppet master hands over his key.

“Take it. I never cared for the Flame anyway. Man’s sense of good and evil always made it difficult for me to pass laws and take actions that would benefit our kingdom. Our home. People may say that we politicians are always two-faced liars, and I agree with them, but they’re no different than us when they make excuses for their sins and try to play ignorant when they should’ve known better. We all lie to make ourselves as innocent as possible so we can live with ourselves. A real man can take responsibility for his actions and still be able to live with himself, so tell me, what excuse do you have for killing all those people? Self-defense? Because they were already going to die even if you tried to spare them? Do you have any regrets?”

Tenebris shakes his head before leaving the puppet master to burn in the town hall. People all over Gloria start becoming like the people from Ecclesia with more people becoming Divinus and Purposeless since the evangelists of the puppet master have no clue what to do without their leader as people struggle and fight to fill the gap that was left by him. Meanwhile, the white and black doves spread the word of Tenebris’ victory, however, with only one key remaining it doesn’t do much to spur the world’s population on especially since the Flame is quickly dying.

 A friend of mine is being interviewed for her art and perspective on being a Catholic artist so check that out to hear her insights and what she has to say!

https://crusadechannel.com/news/christopher-laurence-examines-an-artist-spotlight-ori-lai-orikami/