Arthur Barnaby

The next few seconds felt like hours, an eternity passed between the moment the cultist fell down, and the moment I started sprinting as hard as I could towards the exit. I knew that once I got out, they wouldn’t be able to go after me because they clearly couldn’t risk exposing themselves, judging by how discreet they were acting.

“Don’t just stand there, run after him, you idiots!” Louise snapped out of it, but it was probably half a second too late. I was already halfway up the stairs with the nearest cultist nowhere even close, I knew I’d made it.

I looked back down to where the rest of them were, only to see Louise smiling smugly. I didn’t even have the time to wonder what made her smile like that before my head suddenly came into contact with something that sent me tumbling back down the stairs, as two cultists then grabbed me with one arm each.

Not even realizing what had hit me, my head throbbed with excruciating pain, dizziness flooded my vision as the cultists dragged me back to the center of the huge room, right in front of Louise.

She placed her hand under my chin and forced me to look up at her as the cultists once again surrounded me, but this time they kept their distance.

“You really thought it would be that easy, you fool?” She spat. “As if we’d let you, the precious vessel, slip through our hands like amateurs.”

The vessel? What is she talking about…my head hurts…like really hurts…

I couldn’t focus on the words she spoke, still reeling from the hit to my head. Louise slapped my cheeks twice, then grabbed my hair.

“Hey, focus. We need you to be awake for this, alright?”

The cultists started backing away slowly for some reason, the two holding me allowed me to drop straight into the circle at the center of the symbol. I tried to get up, but Louise planted her foot on my head, forcing me down on the concrete floor that rubbed against my forehead as I struggled to breath.

“Just stay right there, it’ll all be over soon.”

The circle then started glowing brightly, Louise walked out while I could do nothing but stare at her from the back. My body then suddenly felt extremely lethargic, I could feel the energy drain out of me.

“What the hell…?” I looked down at the glowing circle, light shooting up and surrounding me.

Louise and all the other cultists were sitting patiently outside the circle, waiting. I turned back to the stairs to see a figure slowly descend, I couldn’t make out their face until they went down the last step and started walking forward. Christopher had a cruel smile on his face while holding a baseball bat in his right arm, blood stuck on the top of it.

I held my forehead and felt blood dripping down slightly, so it had been him that had struck me after all, huh?

I noticed he wasn’t wearing a robe like anyone else, but simply the plain black suit he’d been wearing this morning. I figured he’d been guarding outside, so a robe would most likely draw unwanted attention to him should anyone accidentally stumble into the alley.

Wait, hold on, this wasn’t the time to focus on Christopher! I ran as fast as I could, but as soon as I reached the edge of the circle, I bumped straight into an invisible wall and fell backwards with a grunt.

“It’s no use,” Louise explained. “Once the ritual starts, there’s no going back.”

I Ignored her and leapt back to my feet, immediately ramming into the invisible wall with full power, but that did nothing except hurt more as I was hurled backwards once again.

“I already told you, there’s no point-”

“Leave him be, Louise.” Christopher interrupted while he walked around the circle, making his way to Louise as the other cultists calmly observed the light glowing from the circle and trapping me inside. “Well then, shall we begin?”

Christopher stood beside Louise, then made a strange motion with his hand, possibly a signal of sorts, and all the cultists stood up and started chanting in a language I couldn’t decipher.

The echoes of their voices filled the room as I charged over and over again, trying to break free, but my attempts only ended with me on the floor, groaning in pain.

I lost count of how many times I’d rushed only to get flung back. I’d been alternating arms I charged with to try and reduce the pain, but now both felt like they were about to get ripped out of my body, I could barely lift them anymore.

“You son of a bitch!” I yelled at Chirstopher. “You better make sure I don’t get out of this stupid ritual alive…because if I do, you’ll be the first one I kill!”

I had tried to sound as threatening as possible, but anyone could tell that was a desperate plea, a last gasp attempt that would ultimately prove to be useless, unable to alter anything.

The cultists then stopped singing, approached the circle, and held their torches up, the black flame flowed into the wall, and then into the light, leaving the torches as empty husks in the hands of the cultists.

The light all around me and below me turned pitch black, and I gulped. For some reason, I could just feel that the ritual was coming to an end, so I had to try and do something fast.

But it was too late, the darkness wrapped itself around me, I felt like I was sinking inside of it, but the opposite was happening: The darkness was sinking into me.

“Oh, Frawa, Lady of Darkness!” A voice cried out from outside the barrier, barely audible. It seemed female, so that must have been Louise. “Grant our prayers, and rip this invader’s consciousness to pieces, so that this body’s original inhabitant may return!”

As soon as she finished that prayer of hers, an unimaginable, inexpressible, unthinkable pain flowed through my head.

I don’t think I ever have nor will I ever let out a shriek as loud as I did in that instant. Not a single thought appeared in my head, nothing but a scream of terror as I grabbed my head with both hands, sinking my fingers into it, trying to alleviate the pain through any means necessary. I wouldn’t have been surprised if at that instant, my head suddenly shattered into a million pieces.

The screams continued, the tears flowed. I didn’t know who I was at that moment, nor what I had been doing, I couldn’t. As if the embodiment of suffering itself had grabbed me by the throat and caused me to suffer in the worst way possible.

At some point, my tears turned completely red. My entire body burnt like it was being fried in the depths of hell. I couldn’t take this anymore.

Just die, already!

What was that?

Just die, you piece of shit! Die and let me take over already, stop being this damn stubborn!

Who the fuck are you?

Was I going insane? Was the pain so bad that I now resorted to talking to myself in my own head?

I’m Arthur Barnaby, fool! It’s you who must introduce yourself!

What are you talking about?

You, You little-

Suddenly, sparks flew, and I suddenly felt like I was in so many places at once. Arthur’s parents yelling at him for breaking a vase, then introducing him to Emmett, Emmett breaking down after learning of his parents deaths….All of these events and more were happening simultaneously in my mind…as If I was living them. Every interaction Arthur had with Emmett, felt like it was now mine. Everytime Arthur had a conversation with his parents, it now felt like these were my parents having a conversation with me. I…my name is…Arthur Barnaby. I’m Arthur Barnaby,right?

Two sets of memories overwhelmed me. One one hand, I was Arthur, living in this “peaceful” world. On the other hand…I was…Jack? Who…who’s Jack? Is that really me? Which one am I?

Am I Jack, or am I Arthur…or am I both?

How…how haven’t you been shattered yet! This is impossible!

No, I know…I know who I am…

You again? Who are you?

I already told you, I’m Arthur Barnaby!

I know exactly who I am. I can’t be Jack. I’m not Jack, I’ll never be Jack.

Nah, you’re not him….

Because…because if I’m really Jack…then that means…that really happened…and I can’t accept that…so…I’m…

I’m Arthur Barnaby.

You fool!

My eyes fluttered open, Louise stood over me with a concerned expression.

“Master, are you alright?” She asked. “Are, are you…”

“Don’t worry.” I said. “I am Arthur Barnaby, the one and only.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and hugged me tightly. I looked up to see Christopher and the rest of the cultists standing by, waiting to see my reaction.

“That’s right, I remember now…I remember everything.”

I remembered the very first meeting of these cultists…no, not cultists, they had a name. I remembered the very first meeting of The Marked Order… How I’d assembled them all, brought them all together, how I’d sold them on this mission to save the world. And then, how I came up with this masterplan.

I remembered every spell that Arthur-that I learned, and everything that I taught the others.

I slowly got up and extended a hand to Christopher.

He extended his to shake mine.

I remembered what I’d suggested to him. Hide your revolver carefully, in a manner you can easily reach but not one that can be spotted by an enemy. Maybe make a hidden pocket inside your suit?

My hand brushed past his and kept going. Before he could even react, I reached into his suit and pulled out the gun he had hidden inside.

“I remember everything…But it seems like you’ve already forgotten what I said just mere moments ago, you freak.”

Christopher didn’t have time to even let out a scream.

He had no chance of survival, either.

I shot him straight in the head.