Gaze in the distance

‘I anticipated a question like this… now the question is as to what I should do in response…’ Lumière, relaxed in his seat, tried to finalise a decision. ‘If I hadn’t brought Nicole here, lying might have been a solution to his question. However, anything I say now might be called out as a bluff, or lead to Nicole’s faith in my identity as a Demon failing… even more than that, giving out false information could be dangerous for the members of this operation, directly leading to its failure. Operating on a false basis is equivalent to suicide when it comes to such large matters…’

‘Do I manipulate the situation with illusion? No, there’s no guarantee I can create such a large situation… I can only really paint small images, much less the painting of an entirely different reality. Can I fake an urgent situation with illusory murmurs outside the room? No, this wouldn’t specifically apply to the people in this room. It would definitely alert the attendants of the House of Cards outside. It’s not necessarily good to create an actual situation to distract from this question. Then…’

Lumière crossed his hands casually and spoke. “Of course, I’ve said in the past that some matters will come, like most things, at a cost.”

‘It’s not like a Demon would be anything but greedy given the opportunity. This adheres to the persona I’ve created from the start. This is how I obtained the Three of Spades card after Juno abandoned its use. I was worried that this route of speech would confuse the other members, wondering why I’m not sharing pertinent information in regards to the operation. ’

Juno lowered his head, ashamed. Of course, even the merchant of War could feel distraught.

‘For larger matters, a deal must be enacted? Right, he said this previously… does this mean that simple information about this secret organisation who employs Phantoms is equivalent to deals we’ve made previously, such as the exchange for the Three of Hearts? Considering that the Three of Hearts card was in exchange for hold over his life- the knowledge of his name, this means that the information regarding this Phantom Syndicate crosses the threshold separating ‘mildly useless’ and ‘pertinent’ information…’

“However, this doesn’t prohibit you from seeking other avenues of information.” Lumière continued, a calm and casual look on his face. Another aspect of being a magician was the misdirection of the onlooker’s attention. Immediately, as led by the hand of the illusionist, everyone’s gaze fell towards Nicole. Sensing their eyes on him, he began to sweat and tremble slightly. Because Nicole had previously revealed his own connections to the Phantoms in his conversation with the Demon of the Garden, he was immediately recognised by the others as someone who had knowledge of the secretive organisation.

‘This child might be easier to deal with than Mr. Ophelia… well, perhaps the price will be smaller in comparison. Although, will Mr. Ophelia take offense to this? I still don’t know his relationship with the Demon… he calls him ‘Mr. Demon’… was he not previously familiar with Mr. Ophelia’s true name? This could imply that he doesn’t know him very well, or Mr. Ophelia could have been concealing his name up to this point to preserve his own safety. But why tell us and not Nicole? Was it because Nicole did not pay a suitable price as we did? Once again, how could I so easily conclude a Demon’s motivations?’ Juno sighed quietly.

“Nico- ah, Capulet… you’re someone who knows about this ‘Phantom Syndicate’, aren’t you?” As Juno spoke, he saw visible shivers settle on the skin of the boy sitting across the table. “Would you be privy to enlightening us as to who they are? The compensation I can provide would be well worth it, I assure you.”

Nicole shook his head, his face a little distraught. “No, Shylock. It’s not about compensation… it’s just a lot of bad memories, I assure you.” Before he continued, he had to clasp his hands together underneath the table, gazing downwards. In his mind, he repeated the same line over and over, a prayer to the Goddess of Thorns. ‘Fine embrace of nature, we seek your light. Fine embrace of nature, we seek your light. Fine embrace of nature, we seek your light… please, keep me away from this fear. I hate living alongside nightmares...’

As Zelia and Cartwell began to look at Nicole with worried, sympathetic eyes, he spoke once more, his voice weary and hushed. “The price you have to pay for knowing of the Phantoms is intertwining your fate with the evil Deity they worship… it’s not a matter of avoiding him. There is no avoiding him. It could be today, or it could be tomorrow. Maybe in a week from now, or even a year, he will learn of you, and he will find you. The more this being knows, the more powerful he becomes. In entangling yourself with him, you further empower him. Knowing this, do you still wish to know more?” With each sentence he spoke, as if recalling the most horrifying moments of his past, Nicole visibly shook. There was no hiding it.

As Lumière listened in, countless thoughts raced through his mind, not minding Nicole’s constantly-anxious state. After all, this was the first time he was learning more about the Phantom Syndicate since he had last talked with Constantine Adler.

‘An evil God? So these Phantoms are like me- servants of a truly despicable being. To their God, knowledge equates to power… but in what way does it empower him? Is it the actions he can execute knowing many things, or is it that he can influence what he knows? What a contradictory situation- to know more of the Phantoms is to be able to easier destroy them, but to know means to be known, which is to easier destroy ourselves…’ Lumière lamented humorously in his head.

Lumière spoke with a calm cadence. “If you wish to remain oblivious to the details of our enemies, you should leave now. I will not lie and say that it will be easy for you to keep up. However, lacking knowledge of the enemy will remain the safest option.”

Juno shook his head. “No, if we’re to keep our side of the crossroads deal, it’s imperative that we use every opportunity at our disposal.”

Zelia and Cartwell both nodded their heads in agreement, but his thoughts were different. ‘Damn this merchant. By saying that, we can’t directly refuse Nicole’s offer… it would make us look like we aren’t really committed to the agreement. Even when he stands to benefit, he can’t help but be sly and underhanded… our only option is to put ourselves at risk now.’

After looking over towards the other members and confirming their permission, Nicole began to speak.

“Then… I’ll tell you my story.” Nicole still spoke in a quiet, nearly incomprehensible tone of voice. “It’s the only way I can bear to think about it… to think of the things that happened, and to hate them in the meanwhile…”

His voice trailed off, and he slouched backwards in his seat. He still wore his pajamas from the cathedral’s hospital ward, so he had sloppily buttoned up a white shirt and pulled a dark-grey longcoat over his shoulders before stepping out with Mr. Demon. Since he had been pulled away so suddenly, this was all he could do.

“I can’t remember what face my mother had. Beautiful, perhaps. Maybe my father was an ugly man, and still a kind heart. How could I know? The sounds of their voices would be foreign to me if I were to hear them now. Did my mother speak sternly, my father calmly? If I saw them in the street they would be strangers. Would they remember me after all this time, were they to remain alive?” Nicole slowly reached his hand towards his head, fidgeting with a strand of his hair as he recalled his past. “I know it’s a common- a common enough story. Parents don’t usually live long enough to tell you they’re proud of you. At least in most instances, the memory of them is your inheritance, but they died will-less. I get nothing in return for longing for their presence.”

Lumière smiled pitifully, hearing his words. It wasn’t an incorrect statement. Rarely did parents get to see their children grow up in the lower borough. A parents would die before their child matured, or their child would die of some strange cause. That was just the way of things.

Nicole shrugged his shoulders. “It was a life, as far as I can remember. It wasn’t a good one, but it was a life. The ground was always wet, and so the skin on my feet would rot. My stomach would always feel the pain of hunger, and the mildew on the remains of food in the streets became less and less of a deterrent with each passing day…” His voice trailed off slightly. “…I wish I had remained in that life, some days. It seems like a blessing in comparison.”

His hand covered one eye, his other shaking with despair. “Meeting those two- it wasn’t a blessing, it was fate’s curse…”

“Who are you speaking of?” Juno inquired further, leaning forward in his seat. With every word Nicole spoke, he became further interested. However, even he knew there were things that no person in the magical world should know. He hoped that at that point, he would know when to stop himself from lusting after further knowledge.

“All of us who are trained to become Phantoms… we call him ‘Teacher’… I can’t forget those eyes of his that look at you with such disdain. They haunt me in my dreams…” Nicole let out a sharp exhale. “The others… the ones who’ve passed the trials set before us… they call him ‘The Wicker Man’…”

‘Wicker man? Like a scarecrow? That’s hardly terrifying… I don’t quite get it.’ Lumière pondered the thought.

“Teacher isn’t the scariest being you might learn to fear in that horrible place…”

“Who else is there to be scared of?”

"At times, if we were out of line, another would visit... the Phantoms would call him 'Judgement'- the 'Guillotine Prince'..." Nicole tried to force a smile on his face, but even laughter couldn't save him from tears welling up in his eyes. "Do you too live in fear each day, that your head is only a privilege allowed to you- that at any time, it might be taken away with the stroke of a blade...?"

Silence filled the room. Juno looked at Nicole with horror, and Zelia and Cartwell's gazes fell towards the floor.

“Have you ever felt like you’re being watched, Shylock?” Nicole asked suddenly.

“Yes, always. Why?” Juno was shocked out of his atonishment.

“Have you ever considered that that feeling might be a warning of someone’s presence?”

“Who’s presence?” Juno asked in return.

“’His’ presence.”

Everyone listening, even the one posing as a Demon, felt their shoulders tense up.

“The deity they serve is a ‘he’. As ‘he’ learns, ‘he’ becomes. All he knows is his.” Of course, a deity would be referred to with much more significance than a regular person in conversation. For the deities worshipped in small convents scattered throughout the Empire, such as the Horned God and the Mother of Roots and Soil, they would be referred to as ‘he’ and ‘she’ respectively. It was a small matter of respect, of reverence for their might. You could not trust in the benevolence of a deity, but you could trust in their power, and so it was best, even if the deity was one you opposed, to refer to them in such ways. Nicole continued, his eyes growing hazy and his lips quivering. “The product of this- of this is the Phantoms obsession with directly or indirectly creating strange and unusual scenarios, often resulting in the loss of lives.”

As Nicole began to speak, each person in the private room began to feel an odd feeling. It was the feeling of ice on their back. Whether it was placebo from listening in, or an actuality, each person in the room became acutely aware of their surroundings.

“For this purpose, children are kidnapped from their families or from the streets and taken to… to that place…”

“That place?” Cartwell posed a question. His eyes looked to the side, aware of the presence behind him, but too frozen in place to look any further.

“I’m not really sure exactly where it is. Somewhere far away, I’m sure… there’s a tower that stretches high into the endlessly stormy sky. Pitch black, like obsidian, with an interior that seems to fall endlessly towards the abyss down below…” Nicole bit his lip, letting out an anxious breath. “You can hear the screams of the trialgoers- the children kidnapped and forced to become Heretics or Black Mages for the purpose of spreading purposeful chaos…”

He covered both of his eyes and muttered.

“In the Black Tower, no light remains.”