Journey of the Heart ~ Clownzy

Denouement? (19)

~ Clown ~

Nightmares. When your own mind manages to choke you with your own fears and anxieties. That was exactly what Clown Pierce wished this whole situation was, a mere nightmare, something that he could simply wake up from. If he closed his eyes for long enough, he could pretend that everything around him was fiction. He would be sitting in the circus, legs lazily sprawled over a comfortable sofa with 20 hearts to his name; he'd be safe within the warmth of his home, talking to Branzy. Or, maybe he'd have just finished a job and would be getting paid right now.

'This isn't real, this is a nightmare.' The voice in his head repeated this mantra hoping it would manifest into the truth. But that thought was a delusion, in reality, they were trapped in a foreign dimension with Kevin and there was no way out. This wasn't a nightmare, this was real.

"Kevin!" Clown snarled, " What do you want?"

Like a heavy suffocating blanket of black gloom, the void clung to every angle of their presence. The darkness was too claustrophobic, too confined, too oppressive, too tight for them to breathe; the abyss suffocated any remaining ounce of hope they had out of them. It squeezed and it squeezed until they were left dry and bare. Underneath, the void found nothing but fearful, pittiful and feeble creatures.

"Is it not obvious by now my dear Clown Pierce?" Kevin stood on top of one of the obsidian pillars, the dark hood of his cloak that concealed his identity hung low over his face. "I crave your demise." He snatched a strength potion from his inventory and popped off the lid. "You should hope that you die to the void, it would be the less painful death to being stabbed in the heart," with that he swallowed the contents of the bottle.

Without any warning the head of an axe came swinging down at Clown. Kevin had pearled off of the tower and had started attacking him. Fortunately, Clown had thrown himself to the ground before the blade ever met his skull.

"Why here? Out of all the places?" Branzy demanded as he lunged at the hooded figure.

"Simple," Kevin diverted his attention to Branzy, "The only way out of this dimensions for you is through death."

Clown smashed a strength pot into the floor, beneath him and Branzy, before they both continued their relentless attack on their perpetrator.

"Wait guys-" a female voice spoke from somewhere in the distance.

Clown thrust his blade fowards.

Branzy slashed violently at Kevin.

The hooded man deflected their attacks.

"I'm sure you can hit me if you try hard enough," he taunted, "I believe in you."

Clown clenched his jaw as his sword surged forward to meet the head of a netherite axe. They parried blows for a while before Clown managed to slice part of Kevin's sleeve off.

"Maybe we should just talk this out-" Lefu whispered from somewhere far away.

No hope, no escape, no freedom, only despair: the End was devoid of all sound except the scraping of metal on metal and the laboured breaths of pain and discomfort. They couldn't let Kevin get away this time.

Clown jabbed his sword towards Kevin's chest, "Is there really a reason that you keep attacking us?"

Branzy threw a lava bucket down at Kevin's feet. "Or do you just find some sadistic pleasure in it?"

Kevin dodged the molten magma flowing towards him. "This is taking far too long," Kevin smirked, " Maybe I should just speed up the process."

~ Branzy ~