prelude

[singmod]

January 1st 2015

Do you remember yesterday? What is tomorrow?
How will you face this quiet apocalypse?
— Raphael van Lierop.

As the old year falls and the new year begins, the skies fill with light. An Aurora comes on the last day of December, and with it the usual signs of it: the ethereal noise, the cracks and pops in the air, the stuttering of electrics as they struggle to power on and then blare and flicker. It is, as Interlopers have come to know, business as usual — in terms of the Auroras within this world. However, something a little different happens this time.

Interlopers will fall asleep all over the town of Milton. Even the ones who fight sleep and try to stay up into the small hours of the night will find themselves drifting off for a short while — as if their eyes just feel too heavy to keep open, and their minds slip into a deep kind of quiet darkness without their realising. And at first, there is nothing — nothing but the quiet dark. Something peaceful, almost.

A dream comes.

The first thing you notice is blood in your mouth, the cold in your bones, the deafening din in your ears — as if you are caught in static and the sound of howling winds through pine trees. You are afraid. At first, you do not know why. You find yourself on your knees in the snow. The skies are filled with green light, the air is thick with smoke. And then the realisation comes:

This is the ending of all things.

You look up, to the sight before you: a huge, shapeless shadow. Towering above you, over you. A head peers down at you: a cluster of three wolf skulls, eye-sockets glowing green and terrible, and their three open maws, dripping with more green. The sound it makes is unnatural, you cannot put it into words. The darkness draws in, you are so cold, so tired.

This is the ending of all things.

It is so hungry. You are so tired. The world falls away, you cannot see the stars, the dark hiding them from view. Were they even there to begin with? Or did they go out? You have forgotten. And you know, you know—

This is the ending of all things.

The skies glimmer, licks of strange, colourful wisps curl above — a voice screams out your name, from the static and winds. Through the noise. A woman’s voice. You have heard this voice before, in the lights and noise. Do you see? What could be? What you could become?

Can you hold on? Please. A hand grips your shoulder, but as you turn — the dream ends.

For some, they snap into waking with a shout or cry. Some will shudder awake to find tears in their eyes. All over Milton, the Interlopers wake: shaken, unsure, afraid. They will awaken to the dark: the Aurora is gone — slowly fading from the night skies into an otherwise calm and clear night.

It is a new year.

Comments

[satanicpanics]

“Okay, sure, that’s one theory,” Eddie admits, inclining his head slightly. At this point, any theory is valid, including the one Eddie mulled over briefly about this being another alternate dimension. “But I was half dead when I came here. Like…still bleeding out levels of half dead.”

It wasn’t his imagination either, considering he was stitched up and he has physical evidence of the fact, and he hasn’t healed quite right and the cold seeps into those wounds and makes it difficult for him to do anything without pain. And sure, maybe that’s a hell in and of itself, however…

“Besides—isn’t it the fires of Hell? I mean—“ He gestures to the icy wasteland they’ve all been living in for months. If it really is Canada, he can’t believe there are people who willingly live in Canada. “When something’s pretty obviously not going to happen they say ‘when Hell freezes over’, yeah?”

[moralabsolutism]

Huh. Another one who had talked about being close to dead. Rorschach took sharp note of that fact. Eddie wasn't the first one he'd heard talking about either being a short bit away from dying or actually already dead in their own world. It certainly had him thinking of what it all meant.

Rorschach gave Eddie a withering glance when he tried to point out Hell should have been warmer. Good Lord, just what were they teaching the youth in school these days? Or maybe all of this kid's braincells had been sucked out by his hair. Either way, Rorschach had a ready answer for why they were in an icy Hell instead of the usual fires that were always talked about. "Read Dante's Inferno. Ninth circle of Hell, the final one, completely frozen over as the Devil continuously beats his wings to create cold air."

Well, wasn't that just a cheery image for both of them to focus on?

[satanicpanics]

To be totally fair to Eddie, he did fail his senior year twice. He’s more intelligent than that fact gives him credit for, but they’re certainly not teaching Dante’s Inferno in small town Indiana where the mere mention of the Devil is apparently enough to send people into a spiral.

“Yeeeah,” Eddie begins slowly, shooting Rorschach a questioning look. His last week back home had been so bizarre, he doesn’t have it in him to question much these days, but he’s not sure how he feels about that one. It's definitely a theory, but not one he cares to adhere to. “I mean, find me a copy and I'll read it, but you know, I really don’t think that’s where we are.”

[moralabsolutism]

"Maybe. Ninth circle reserved for treachery and betrayers." He paused to see if those words would get a reaction out of Eddie. Perhaps it was a theme he could use to start correlating the pattern of why some of the certain Interlopers had been chosen to end up there. "Circles to it, more cold and frozen as one goes in. Could be in an outer circle."

"Come to library tomorrow. I'll have it." He'd found a great deal of classic literature in the town. If he was the one who had to educate the ignorant masses, so be it. Eddie was going to end up at least reading

[satanicpanics]

That does seem to get a reaction out of him. His eyebrows knit together and a touch of worry washes over his face, like he’s actually contemplating what part of “treachery and betrayers” applies to him. He can see himself as a traitor, sure. Back home, he was trying to help, but twist that just enough and you end up with broken promises and betrayal of trust. Still, that leaves some of the other Interlopers. Max is just a kid—she hasn’t had time to betray anyone. While Eddie never knew Steve very well, the guy wasn’t an asshole. Too cool for a lower layer of Hell, for sure.

“Yeah, alright,” he replies, not speaking his concerns or worries. He will read it; he’s not an unread young man, but he clearly has his favorites because he tacks on: “So, uh...found any Tolkien?”

[moralabsolutism]

Watching Eddie closely, the vigilante noted that his words had definitely gotten a reaction out of the young man. Clearly what he'd said had hit him where it hurt. He wondered if it would be the same way if he experimented with telling the same sort of thing to the other Interlopers. He had to see.

Rorschach gave a nod at the question of being in possession of the fantasy author. "Have the four books." He had yet to find a copy of The Silmarillion somewhere in the town but at least he had the main books available.