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The ghoul rested against a wall, and slid down. She couldn't believe it had gotten this far. Someone in Halloween must had realized what was happening, so why didn't anyone fight? "How did this...what happened here?"

"What does it look like?" The prisoner's tone is flat, sarcastic. "We got ambushed while trying to escape this place. There are no Humans left, not that we know of or care to know, they died off moons ago. There's just us, and now they hunt us to get the remainder of their Fear. It wont be long before there aren't any of us either."

"Oh my Jack..." They had begun essentially cannibalizing each other. What the living hell...Whisper couldn't fathom it. Having to kill others for their fear, just to survive? This was a hellish world she did not want to be a part of. Was this really their future? How could anyone let this happen? This was insane. There was really no way to resist, everyone was too weak. All that could be done was wait, and see.

All paths lead to the same result.

What Medea had said ... was there really no way to avert this slow awful death? Would they starve or be eaten, all of them? When had it begun, or when would it begin?

When the horsewoman had turned away and the prisoner's coughing had died down, Siddie swallowed hard and turned back to the faded figure. "What year is it?" she asked softly.

"Didn't you hear me the first time?" they asked, and stared at her. "It doesn't jacking matter any more. Too late. Too late, that's all you need to know, ghoulie. So sorry." They seemed on the verge of mad laughter again.

Siddie nodded a little and left the slouched figure alone. Perhaps they thought that she was the one who was mad.

There was an ache in the pit of Siddie's stomach. She leaned against the bars of the cage and set a hand on her belly, worried. Was she sick? Had she somehow been hurt without realizing it? It took her a long time to recognize the sensation as hunger. True hunger, not the light impulse to eat that she felt once or twice a day. There wasn't enough Fear here, and for the first time in her life, she was hungry.

Something changed – some flickering light in the air, an awkward pain when trying to breathe, and then again Medea was standing in front of them, beckoning to the third door with a mind-teasing expression: ‘All paths lead to the same result’.

Wylfenne grinned inwardly. If all paths lead to the same result, then the only end of the path would be death. They were dead in the first door, in the second door they saw the death of the humans, now…. Are the Clans going to humour their guests and save them the inconvenience of alienation and just die themselves? How horrifyingly romantic. Not that the fae noticed any sense of humour in the horsemen – well, actually, they seemed rather lacking it… at all – but who knows, maybe that’s their way of playing games (well, their last trial at the Isle of Conquest, dealt directly with playing games, some crazy incense-induced mind-harassing type of games). They shrugged and entered the door. Not that they had much choice, there was nowhere else to go –

… but to be honest, Wylfenne was getting tired and annoyed at having no choice in their life!

What happened next was even worse than... No, it was actually awful. It looked more like a joke Wylfenne or her kin could play, or else a too-drugged imagination could stage it up, but it looked too real… even to be real. And that was frightening. The fae could feel that they smelled of fear – not too much, they would admit that, but everyone in the room smelled the same: anxiety. Fear, controlled but getting out of control. Helplessness . That was the the same way they felt dying, this tantalizing feeling of failure, of not having done something important.

‘Now, we got stuck in pretty bad’, they half-mockingly addressed their other half. ‘Here were, in the center of a dying world – and I personally feel there’s no faking it, it is dying, not faking it’.

Paper was flying around, and to try their luck Wylfenne caught an ashen piece, but what they read didn’t make them feel happier: ‘We have lost. Noone to bury our dead. We are the last ones’.

Not quite optimistic. And even worse, it rang true. Wylfenne wondered who was that civilization whose funeral they unwillingly – and unwittingly –attended. But there was no one to ask.

Suddenly several members of the Clans appeared. They were humming something, and the sound was threatening. Wylfenne couldn’t get who they were – they didn’t resemble neither the reserved and polite and polished Conquest horsemen, nor aloof and cold and layered Death Clan members. And they were far less friendly, anyway. They drove all the students together – like cattle, the fae though, they treat us like cattle, and that is curious – why? – and escorted them down a set of stairs into a large crevice deep into the ground, and then into a large cavern.

Was it the usual way the other Clans treated their kinsmen and their guests? WYlfenne wondered. Not that all the monsters were friendly to each other, but they were at least trying not to show their aggressive traits, sedated, that’s what the fae always thought, contemptuously: if you can’t control your anger, you get sedated – but here it was not about diplomacy and etiquette – as in the Conquest lectures. It felt like they were prisoners – and again, Wylfenne remembered bitterly, a couple of hours ago they were fighting side by side – not that they ever felt it was their war to fight.


Now they were passing a number of empty rooms with empty cages and empty pits – everything seemed to be dead – dying out, at best, and even the fear was weak and sickly – Wylfenne would have said it smelled of fear sweat; but if there wasn’t something unnatural in it.

By that moment they had finally reached their destination – a cavern covered with strange instruptions glowing menacingly, and a regal warrior-looking female dressed in feathers and what looked like parts of dead bodies – is she mad, Wylfenne thought, but the odours is nauseating really! – addressed them irritably: ‘Speak’.

There was a voice coming from one of them, and from the ensuing discussion Wylfenne got the idea that Halloweeners were actually fighting the Clans and saving Humans from them.. after the Clans have killed all the humans and found out there was no fear left.

It didn’t make any sense. It sounded like one of those fae songs the Bards sang before the Hunt – but despite having on numerous occasions enjoyed their singing Wylfenne found it not much to their liking to actually participate in it. The Female ordered to chain them, and they were shoved in one large caged area. A guard watched them for a bit before walking away.
Now, they were looking both shattered and battered, and somewhat shrunk, the smell of fear was getting more and more pronounced. Wylfenne addressed one of their companions:

‘What happened here?’

- "What does it look like?" The prisoner's tone is flat, sarcastic. "We got ambushed while trying to escape this place. There are no Humans left, not that we know of or care to know, they died off moons ago. There's just us, and now they hunt us to get the remainder of their Fear. It wont be long before there aren't any of us either."

Paranoia was always the best thing to have if you happened to be Chuppi, for as soon as the tunnel faded from around her and the cries of the dead and dying ceased, she was in a place that was neither safe nor sound. She was being ushered forward with her companions like cattle into a slaughter house, all the while everyone speaking in hushed whispers.

The little monster was doing her best to stay positive, doing her best not to think on things that would leave her weeping. It was only when a student spoke about no more humans, only to have themselves be slaughtered, did she allow herself a choked and muffled weep. Her hands flew to her lips in a swift attempt to block further noise, not wanting to endure the same fate.

Others were silent too, standing around, and next thing she knew she was herded into a cage with a weary looking individual who seemed more than eager to either tell a story or just eat her for FEAR. Just how desperate had this situation become, was what she had heard true?

[ 34 ]

"Excuse me." Timidly she approached the tired and hungry figure, her feet stopping a good two feet away from them. Her voice sounded hollow and horrible to her own ears, laden with sorrow and unreleased tears, but she did her best to speak. This person was not one of her kind, not a Chupacabra, but they were also not a student nor were they a hunter. It was in her best interests to speak with them, or so she felt, and Chuppi cleared her throat again. "May I ask of you some questions?"

The person looked at Chuppi, weary and perhaps annoyed. Still they merely shrugged and the monster took this as a sign she could continue. "Who are you?" There was a sigh, a heavy sigh, and Chuppi thought about backing down before the voice started speaking to her.

"It's going to be a long wait till my final dissipation isn't it? Fine I'll humour you, I was called Eis, from a place once known as Halloween Town. It's gone now, like most of pretty much every other Jackforsaken thing the Four Clans took. There's nothing now, they took everything. First the Humans, then us, and now well, the rest you can see for yourself."

Her face paled as she listened to the words the stranger spoke, of being from Halloween Teen and how it was gone. While she herself was not from there it was a place she knew of, a beacon of all Halloween kind, so to think that it was gone was unbelievable. She was going to leave then and there, press herself in a corner of the cage, but something in her mind forced her to stay and ask on. Maybe it was the look in the stranger's eyes, or maybe it was her faint hope that this person might tell her more. Either way her mistrust of the Horsemen was growing stronger and stronger.

Accusations of helping the humans? the humans being wiped out entirely? What was this place, a future? Was this another trick of their clan, an effort to make others feel small? "I have another question, sir."

[ 47 ]

"So, who are you exactly? Other than just a resident, if I may ask?" Chuppi had heard the stranger's name and their words, taking it all to heart, but apparently her question was confusing as the stranger repeated to her the same word as before. That was not what she meant, she didn't want the same explanation with a saucier tone, but it would be something she had to accept for the time being.

Her thoughts turned towards the words, sorting them out in her skull. No more humans, which meant the hunters were gone as well. No more Halloween Town - had that been destroyed by the hunters? It didn't seem right, this person had said the Horsemen took over everything, and the bitter seed on her tongue spread.

They were feasting on others not of their clan? Was that what this all meant? She didn't want to think on it. "I have one more question, sir."

'All paths lead to the same result? Does she mean the future?' Kemnebi asked herself, following her fellow students through the door. The scene that met her eyes made her gasp in horror. Was this the future? Why? What could have possibly done this?

Everything was sickly and dried up as if their food, their water, and every bit of nutrition to be had was no longer around. A piece of paper hit Nebi's leg and stuck there, rattling in the wind and the ghoul kicked it off, not wanting to touch it. She didn't want to touch anything in this fouled world.

They were brought in before one of the War clan...possibly even the future ruler of the clan. She demanded to know where the humans were. What humans? Does she really think we're hiding them? And what that student said before.... Was this really what would happen if they kept fighting wars with the humans?

No one gave the woman the answers she sought. Not that this was a surprise to Kemnebi; the cat girl certainly didn't know where any humans were. She was promptly thrown into a cage. Nebi didn't like cages, but she wisely kept from demanding to be let out. She needed information.

"Where are we?" She asked, sitting next to one of her cell mates. The prisoner she had picked seem emaciated and Kemnebi began to get the shivers.

The prisoner gives you a strange look. "Aren't you a rebel, like one of us? Pro-Human World, saving what remains of Halloween against the Four Clans and all that. I recommend you keep your voice down though, there's no use attracting unnecessary attention."

"Sorry." Kemnebi whispered back, frowning. The Clans did this? Nebi peeked between the bars of their cage and shuddered.

ignore, I apparently can't roll dice correctly ~.~