Marionette & Manipulator

A Game of Life Much Doubted

 Capitulum 1

  ~

A Game of Life Much Doubted

 { "Today is another day

  Determined by a throw of the dice

  Everyday is a repeat of the same thing

  This Game of Life binds us

  Controlling us with invisible threads

  God rolls the dice

  As He watches us"

-Game of Life [Jinsei Game] [VOCALOID- Hatsune Miku] }

_________________________

  Alicia Ludum. Alice Game.  It was all just a game. The game that controlled her life. The Wind-up God was the manipulator, all seven of them were in its clutches, the marionettes. The Wind-up God crafted them, in a timeless place. Their Father was their God, timeless one, living through the ages. They were timeless as well, fighting in the games, living through the ages. 

  The dolls. The contestants in this game, where they lived to simply kill. Kill each other. 

  For what purpose? God knows. 

  The perfectly lifelike faces of the dolls. No more than four feet tall. The porcelain-like faces. The pretty, and yet different dresses that adorned them. Long, lush hair tumbled down their backs, short, curled hair that framed their faces. Each doll was different. The few common things that they shared were their eyes, the coloured, cold and glassy orbs that seemed to stare into the deepest corners of your soul. The secrets of their existence, as living, walking dolls. Their maker. Their purpose of existence. 

  Stella Cadens didn't know. It was just another day to her. She had been asleep for the past fifty years. Just waking up from the long sleep of dreams, ambitions, of longing. The deadline was looming. The clock continued its ticking. The hands continued their revolution around the clock face. She could not tamper with time. She had to continue on. Two hundred years had passed, another hundred coming to pass before the Game was over, maybe? 

  She could never question the cruel existence of them. Light Maidens. 

  Father had very clear instructions that He wanted the Maidens to follow. Despite the cruelty of it all, they loved him so.  He breathed life into them. The magic hands that shaped them, the brilliant alchemist, their Father. Their Master. They had to fight to the end, for the Game to end. 

  Why would a man put his beloved dolls into that maze, an alchemist's game spanning over centuries, a maze that ends with killing? The need to kill, to draw an end to the game? One would find it most peculiar, but the dolls do not question. 

  Who wins the Alicia Ludum, would be the Light. 

  The greatest honour. 

  To walk alongside Father. 

  To be the perfect doll, loved by him even more than any other. 

  One cannot question, because the dolls have wandered for two centuries already. What sustains them in this game is the reward. The greatest reward, that they would value greatly. They would give their lives to the cause, to be the one that Father seeks, to be the one who would be the most loved. 

  Seven dolls. 

  Which will be Light? Which will be Alice- yes, the doll that Father seeks?