Blemished Soul

Chapter 1 Unleash the Beast

Henry nearly puked all over the ink-stained floorboards. What he had initially mistaken as a prop or costume was a real, genuine, bonafide corpse. And it wasn't just any corpse, it was Boris the Wolf. A freaking cartoon corpse. Someone who never should have been real in the first place.

Henry leaned against the wall as the room swayed. He couldn't look away.

The poor, lifeless character was strapped to an operating table. The chest cavity was grotesquely torn open and paper-white ribs twisted outwards. Where piecut eyes should have been were instead two big X's.

Henry finally tore his gaze away and stumbled for the exit. The retired animator came back to his old studio to reunite and catch up with an old friend. He didn't want any part of whatever that was about.

"Henry?"

He froze. Standing at the end of the hallway was the very man he came to meet. But the sight only confused and worried Henry more.

"Joey?"

Lips spread in a wide smile, Joey strode forward, "Henry! Good to see you, old pal! I'm thrilled you could make it."

Joey made to hug him but Henry firmly pushed him away. It didn't seem to bother Joey, if anything, he just looked amused while respecting the clear boundary.

Both men were well into their fifties but Joey didn't look a day over twenty-five. Unlike Henry, Joey's face lacked any wrinkles or age lines. And while Henry still had a head full of hair, the brown locks had already started to gray, but Joey's was still completely black, as was his pencil mustache. But there was also something else... off about Joey's appearance. Something he couldn't put his finger on.

"You look so... young."

"Indeed! Remarkable, isn't it?" Joey beamed, either not realizing or choosing to ignore that it wasn't a compliment.

"Joey, what - I mean," Henry fumbled for words as he gawked at the man in front of him. He hadn't seen his friend in over 30 years and this wasn't how he planned this reunion to go. "How did you- what did you-"

Joey interrupted, his smile never faltering as he managed to wrap an arm around Henry's shoulders like he used to do so many times.

"Of course, of course! I'll explain everything, Henry." He began leading them down the hallway, "There's so much to tell you. I've accomplished so much!"

Snapping out of his shock, Henry wriggled away. He didn't want to get any further into the studio, he didn't want to get any further from the exit and he certainly didn't want to get any closer to the room with a dead cartoon character. Remembering what he just saw not five minutes ago cleared his head enough to form proper sentences.

"Why is Boris dead on a table?!" Joey didn't so much as flinch as Henry yelled at him. He merely frowned, as if this was all a minor inconvenience. "He's a cartoon character! He shouldn't be alive in the first place! What the hell did you do?!"

"Now, now, calm down, Henry," he raised his hands in a placating gesture, speaking as if Henry was merely overreacting, "I can see how this looks but there's nothing to get upset over. Just calm down and I'll explain everything."

Henry had half a mind to turn around and march right through the front doors. The only reason he didn't was that no matter how crazy and disturbing the situation was, Joey was his oldest and dearest friend. Heck, they were even business partners once upon a time. They haven't seen each other since Henry left the studio 30 years ago and truthfully, he missed his old friend. He hadn't left on the best of terms but from what he read in the letter Joey sent, he wanted to make up as much as he did. That was the only reason he came all this way. Henry could hear him out.

Henry took a deep breath as Joey waited patiently, "You have five minutes."

"Excellent!"

Reluctantly, Henry allowed Joey to lead him down the hallway. Thankfully, they did not go into the room with the dead cartoon. Instead, Joey brought him onto a catwalk overlooking the biggest machine Henry had ever seen. Ink covered the walls and floors. He glanced at Joey who was drinking in the sight of the contraption. There was something unsettling about the gleam that entered his eyes. Henry didn't much care for it. Not one bit.

"Behold!" Joey exclaimed with a dramatic flourish, "The Ink Machine!"

Joey paused, waiting for a reaction.

He could feel the beginnings of a headache, "Great. That's really great, Joey. What does this have to do with anything?"

"This machine is everything, Henry." Completely ignoring the sarcasm, Joey continued with a grin, "This machine can make cartoons real, it can bring any drawing to life! Why it can even grant us immortality!"

With every word, Joey grew more and more excited. The gleam in his eyes only grew and something cold was curling in the pit of Henry's stomach.

"It took me years to make it this far. So many failed experiments and rituals. But I finally figured it all out! All it takes is a bit of paper, a little ink, and human blood and I can create anything I want!"

Henry felt cold. He finally took notice of the faded red stains on the floor. It was easy to miss amongst all the ink. Joey failed to notice the horror that was growing on his friend's face.

This wasn't the Joey he remembered.

"I can't do this without you, Henry. Everything that I create is imperfect. It all comes out flawed in some way or the other. But I finally figured it all out! At first, I thought there was something wrong with the human sacrifices-"

At "human sacrifices", Henry had enough. He didn't understand what was going on and at this point, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Part of him wanted to believe this was all an elaborate joke between friends but he couldn't. The panic building in his chest wouldn't allow it.

Henry slowly backed away and was nearly at the door when Joey noticed. Joey's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Henry felt his blood turn to ice. He didn't like the way Joey stared at him. It was at that moment he identified the gleam in his eyes. Insanity. Complete and utter insanity.

"I'm leaving."

"Don't be a fool, Henry," Joey spoke much too calmly to be genuine, "We can accomplish so much together! We can create anything we want! Together we can cheat death itself!"

"Listen to yourself. You're talking about human sacrifices."