The Crimson Carnival: Chapter X, Carnival Crisis

  --- Gregory Fischer ---

  For a moment they all just stood there in awe, staring at the pillar of light while listening to the song that accompanied it. A song of hope, rebellion, and life, all things he could understand from the sheer emotion in the magic carrying the tune. And while musical magic wasn’t the rarest thing in the world it was something he was content to simply bask in… At least until he realized why the sky would shatter like that, and why that was a very, very bad thing.

  “Roisin…” He swallowed, eyes on the cracks in the sky, his heart slowly pounding in his chest as he saw the rainbow of colors somehow darker than black wherever it crumbled.

  “Yes, Fischer…?” The Theater Rose answered, something in her stance clearly unwinding in face of the pillar of light.

  “The Crimson Carnival is its own pocket dimension, right?” Combined with the cracking sky, it would explain all the spatial anomalies that had been bugging him as well as Maeve’s explanation on the Carnival being a trap.

  “It is its own domain propagated by magic.” Maeve explained with a confused look towards this aside.

  “So, pocket dimension.” He nodded, swallowing once more as he pointed at the cracks in the sky and the space that hurt his brain to look at. “Where exactly is this dimension anchored?”

  “Anchored?” Maeve frowned.

  “If the dimension pops, where does the carnival end up?” He tried to elaborate, without letting his panic get the best of him.

  “The… Court’s Lands?” The Theater Rose answered so unsurely that it did the opposite of reassuring him. “Why?”

  “Because if a pocket dimension isn’t anchored, it pops into the void between.” Something he was pretty sure he was seeing through those cracks.

  “The void between…” Maeve repeated before her eyes snapped to the sky as they went wide. “Oh no…”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He cursed, pawing at his eyes before turning towards the kids and yelling, “Okay, we need to leave the carnival now!”

  “W-what why?” Melanie jumped, as both he and Maeve practically ran up the theater steps towards the kids and Mr. Peabody on guard in front of them.

  “Because if we don’t get out of here before that pillar of light stops. That crack in the sky is going to become a black hole.” That wasn’t one hundred percent accurate, but it was close enough to explain to a couple of kids from a backwater town that didn’t know anything about magic.

  “Oh, fuck…” Louis groaned, wide eyes on the cracks in the sky telling him that their town at least knew what a black hole was.

  “A-are you sure?” Melanie frowned, no small amount of concern as she held Ferris close to her chest.

  “I’ve dealt with a ton of small-scale dimensional magic back in the war.” He started to explain, unable to help but nervously glance at the cracks in the sky. “Pop a small expansion field like what the Carnival is under and everything implodes into the initial space crushing all of it under a proportional amount of pressure. People threw them around the battlefield all the time and they were a lethal pain for everyone involved, but could be survived if you knew what to do.”

  He pointed at the pillar of light. “You can prevent an immediate implosion by countering the pressure leak with a steady flow of magic to keep the bubble from popping like that pillar. If you bleed it at just the right pace you can simply deflate the bubble and step out of it without killing everyone inside of it. If you’re anchored somewhere stable enough to step out into, which given how we’re apparently anchored into a sub-dimensional space…”

  “Would turn the exit into a black hole…” Louis finished, seeing where he was going.

  “Essentially.” He nodded as he moved past the teens and shoved the doors open. “Which is why we need to get the fuck out of here.”

  “With the monster?” Louis frowned with a nervous glance towards Maeve. “The one you were just fighting.”

  He held back a groan, instead gritting his teeth as he realized, (Oh, we’re doing this…)

  The Theater Rose rolled her crimson eyes. “Don’t worry, huma-” Maeve sighed, reeling in her reflexive response. “Child. I’ve no interest in harming any of you. Not when we’ve all the same goal of escaping this disaster.”

  Fischer nodded at the perfectly reasonable response. (She gets it, we don’t have time for this shit.)

  “What about Ferris?” Melanie frowned. “I may not have heard everything you talked about, but the whole reason you fought Fischer was to keep Ferris from escaping!”

  He tapped his foot impatiently as he kept eyeing the shattering sky no matter how much it hurt his head to do so. (Come on wartime rules clearly say there are no enemies during a dimensional collapse!)

  Rolling her eyes once more, Maeve turned towards the lost child and looked him in the eye. “Who am I?”

  Ferris blinked slowly before giving the Theater Rose a dazed smile. “Big sis!”

  “What?” Melanie asked, voicing his own question.

  “The Lost Children have three women that they amalgamate into their ‘big sister’. They are incapable of telling the three of us apart.” Maeve explained, petting Ferris’s head. “Whether this one simply broke away from the pack or was left to wander is not something I know, but trust me when I say I was only protecting you and everyone else.”

  “What?” Melanie repeated not quite understanding.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  He narrowed his eyes at the Theater Rose and the Lost Child because he did understand. (Even if I don’t like what I’m understanding…)

  Maeve gave him a grimace, clearly seeing this. “I’ve no issue answering your questions, but preferably while we’re on the ferris wheel making our exit.”

  (Priorities.) He told himself, before reminding everyone that, “I’m the one who’s been holding the door open.”

  “So you have.” Maeve nodded as she stepped past, quickly followed by Mr. Peabody.

  The kids on the other hand had even more questions apparently, as Louis whispered, “Is this a good idea?”

  “She’s got the key to the portal, and in case you didn’t notice she kind of kicked my ass five minutes ago.” Admittedly he’d like a rematch when his magic wasn’t fucked by a book, but he wasn’t prideful enough to deny that he did in fact get his ass kicked. “If we want out of here then you two need to play nice.”

  “And what she said about Ferris?” Melanie pressed, not setting the Lost Child down.

  “She already said she’d explain.” He reminded the pair, before grimacing when he looked up and saw more of that rainbow black in the sky. “Something we won’t have time for if you two don’t get moving.”

  “Right…” The teenagers agreed, clearly not happy about it though.

  “We’re going to have to be careful.” Maeve warned as they rejoined her in the theater lobby. “While I doubt many of those corrupted by the court will stop us, the fact remains that the smarter of the lot will try to flee upon the wheel themselves. The last thing we need is to run into the King of the Court, lest dying to the void be a mercy.”

  He went ahead and pulled out the map, because while he trusted Maeve to know the fastest way to the wheel, knowing where the crown was would only help them.

  “The Flame is gone and the Crown seems to be heading towards the Haunted House rather than the wheel.” He noted.

  “Of course her madness would cause this…” Maeve scoffed before shaking her head. “No, that’s not right. Barbra could not make anything as light-hearted as that song. Maybe before the corruption set in, before the Carnival’s fall but not the monster she’s become.”

  “Barbra?” He prodded as they made their way out onto the streets.

  “Once upon a time she was a mage who came to the Court in naivety, now she’s a monster who enjoys burning her victims alive to fuel her dark magicks. Truthfully, your flames were far gentler than the nightmares I have seen her wrought upon this world.” The Theater Rose assured him.

  Which he was kind of offended by in all honesty. (Not the time.)

  “This way will be cutting closer to the main tent than I like but it is the fastest way to the wheel from here.” Maeve told them as she started jogging towards the right of the theater. A pace he knew was more to allow the kids to keep up than not.

  “Right, well, the jester is moving towards the ferris wheel but it looks like the hat is going to meet up with the crown. Any idea what that means?” He asked, throwing out the last things of note he could see on the map.

  “It means the sellout whore and the self-righteous bastard hope to salvage the Carnival while their guest leaves them to rot.” The Theater Rose growled, her voice regaining its dark power with her barely suppressed rage.

  Maeve took a deep breath before exhaling, visibly forcing herself to calm down in this crisis.

  “Is… is that something they can do? Save this place I mean?” Louis asked, before noticing the way everyone was glancing at him. “Not that I want them to! It’s just… aren’t we at less of a risk of dying if they do?”

  “Stitching a popped dimensional space is… theoretically possible?” He guessed, his own theory being kind of shit on the topic outside of how not to implode himself with a spatial landmine. “But for a space this big it would require a lot of power, and a genius at that school.”

  “Barbra had a power source in her basement, something she referred to as an ‘infernal engine’?” Maeve offered with a frown that turned into a smirk. “Though she always complained about being unable to stabilize it.”

  “No idea what that is.” He admitted, before thinking about it. “But if it’s got infernal in the name and someone flipped it to be as positive as the music and light implies then it could cause a reaction similar to the difference between nuclear fission and fusion.”

  “I have no idea what either of those are.” Maeve confessed. “How worried should we be?”

  “It’d be really impressive and probably morally good, if it wasn’t happening in a pocket dimension that was probably powered by the spell engine they broke to pull it off.” Honestly, if the crazy fucker survived he’d have drinks for life in any Practitioner’s bar if he pulled off what Greg thought he did.

  As they rounded a corner towards the ferris wheel, they found what could almost be mistaken for a festival parade of carnival clowns standing outside of a massive crimson tent. At least if not for the fact that they were all covered in blood, and mutilated corpses littered the ground around them.

  Several of the clowns began to turn towards them, their arrival less than subtle in their rush to escape.

  “Would you look at this boys? It really is a party if even the theater rose is bringing out treats!” One of the clowns laughed, drawing the attention of even more of them their way bloody grins on one and all.

  “Fuck!” He cursed, clenching his fists as he slowly shifted into a stance. (Guess these assholes never learned wartime rules either…)

  “Play along.” Maeve hissed at their little group before turning back to the clowns. “Back you curs. These humans are an offering for our lord, not a petty party favor for your gluttonous feast!”

  “Ah, come on! Don’t be like that!” The clown whined. “The king has already feasted on half of the people we drew in this time!”

  “And unfortunately for you, I’ve deemed them worthy of trying for our lord’s favor!” The theater rose growled back, crimson beginning to twist around her like the vines of a rose. “If you do not step aside then I’ll put you down like the blood drunk beasts you all are!”

  “You won’t be doing that! Everyone knows you’re on thin ice after the last time you refused the king’s call to the court!” Another clown scoffed before turning to the rest of his cannibalistic brethren. “Why do you think she always holds up in her theater? Unlike the other nobles if she so much as touches us-” The clown’s speech was cut off as a crimson thorn pierced it through the skull.

  “Does anyone else doubt my ability or desire to kill you lot?” Maeve taunted. “Or need I remind you all, that the reason I do not associate with any of you is because I hAtE EvERy lAsT OnE oF yoU!”

  He was forced to take a step back at the sheer amount of bloodlust pouring off of The Theater Rose, as if she was one wrong word from slaughtering each and every last person she could see in a feral frenzy that would not end until she did. (Shit, she was taking it easy on me.)

  More than used to the feeling that he might die sometimes even welcoming it he glanced towards the kids noticing how both Louis and Melanie were pale and frozen in place, all of Mr. Peabody’s fur was standing on end, and the only one not affected was Ferris curiously watching all of this.

  The stare down between the two groups dragged on, more and more of the clowns turning towards them, and a few… “They’re circling us.” He whispered.

  “I’m aware…” Maeve growled.

  “We need to either strike or cut around, now.” He told her.

  “I’m aware…”

  “Yeah, well your little show has frozen the kids.” He added, beginning to circulate his magic once more. Somewhat surprised at how easily it was flowing again after how badly Maeve had kicked his ass earlier. (Guess quick recovery is another Library perk.)

  “...” Mave was quite for a moment before sighing, sounding every bit as tired as he felt. “I’m aware…”

  “Well, it’s your show Roisin.” He admitted as he pulled out a smoke and lit it. “How you want to handle this?”

  Patreon Thanks

  RPG Stuff

  A/N: Each route had it's own obstacles, and boss at the end all of which would have to be resolved within a time limit. You guys chose the Ferris Wheel giving you the Carnival Dredge's -a horde of relatively weak enemies- as your obstacle. Not the most dangerous one... if you weren't also protecting the kids. (It's easier to occupy fewer enemies, even if they're stronger.)

  Now then, how do you want to handle the Carnival Dredges?

  []-Between everyone we can cut our way through.

  []-Mr. Peabody is barking while moving towards the side.

  []-Maeve keeps glancing at Ferris for some reason.