Chapter 11: The Door

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That is, for Jack to completely lose it. Perhaps it was the influence of the tower. Jonah had been angry, which was oddd for the demon who was normally calm. Passive. Like a statue at the best of times. Was it some sort of. Rage? Places sometimes held shadows of their former masters, things done in buildings and memories of those left behind. What if this tower. With years of rage demons passing through it had developed its own kind of....rage? An intfectious rage. One that entered the mind of any invader. At first it had began as sort of a mild agitation. But as he got further and further into the tower. He began to feel. Almost sick. A strange dizzy sensation that would not pass. Something that he could not simply shake off. Footsteps got slower. Each second seemed to take longer to pass. There was something rising within him. A twitch in his hand. His heart racing. Fire in his blood rushing around as he got closer and closer to the leader of rage. And then. He heard a voice. Its. Almost impossible to describe the process of, losing your mind. One moment Jack was there. The next. He simply wasn't. He was there again, the library that is. The place of madness itself. The strange feeling seemed to have for the moment. Subsided. However replacing it was a creeping worry about, if he was here. Just what was his body doing in the waking world? He keen that, time ran differently here. But what the difference would be was entirely dependent on the point upon which he had arrived. Sometimes slower. Sometimes faster. But always different. He could not count upon that for his safety. And so, had to find a way out of this place before it was too late for him. No. Not just him. For everyone that fell under his banner. Suddenly he wished that Jonah hadn't left. Suddenly he felt all too vulnerable. The corridors of the library were vast and unending. Despite this. Jack knew that he was never called here. Taken here. Without a reason. And as much as he believed that he was no doubt in mortal danger whilst in the tower. He tried to remain calm. And keep an open mind. He ran his hand along the side of the book shelf. His fingers trailing along the spines of the books, each tiny vertebrae told another story, all different ages. All wordless. All unreadable. They were not his books. They were not for him to know. A step from himself.Echoed throughout the halls, as it did not do before. A gust of wind behind him, and the feeling of. Not being alone. Jack turned. Not slowly but not overly quick either. It was a careful turn. A cautious one. " Ceila?" He spoke. Uncertainty dripping from the words of the pride demon.

His response. Only silence. An odd emptiness within the library that had never occurred before. An odd emptiness. Which sent Goosebumps up his spine. Which made him feel an all too human chill. However. There was something carried within the wind. Within the silence. A scent of flowers. Mild. Faint. Almost. Not there. Jack's senses were, remarkable. However scent was by far the weakest of his own. Perhaps that's why it laid in there. Something to taunt him as he sought answers to his quest. Drawing closer to the smell of flowers was not easy, the only real way of telling so was the sting upon his nostrils. As much as he preferred the climate of terra over that of hell. There was one downside and that was the sheer abundance of flora upon that world. The flowers had an effect on him that he didn't like. The scent. If mild enough was pleasant. However as it got stronger it began to sting his nostrils as he breathed. At times causing his eyes to sting like peeled onion, to cause his nostrils to flare. And make his head feel heavy. As he drew closer. The silence of the library, now broken more than simply his steps. The sounds of sobbing. It however was not the sobbing of a child. But of a woman. Between the two the main difference being pitch. The sobbing was an easier thing to follow. But Jack kept up his guard none the less. Things in this world were not always as they seemed. Dangers lurked within this place. After all. It was of madness not of normality.

It was here, an open space beyond the corridors of books and musty book shelves, what looked like a central open study. Pages, scattered abound on the floor. Wordless. Lifeless. He bent down, his fingers touching around the paper, and then, before he could take grasp and lift it to him. The page crumbled to sand. He looked at the sand in his hands, rubbing it between gloved fingers. Curiosity. Confusion. " Memories lost, of people gone". Jack looked upon upon hearing the voice, mixed in with it the tone of sadness, a mumbled form of words that indicated emotion. Indicated overwhelming sorrow. Only as he stepped in, to view the study as a whole. Did he see the true horrors of things within. The voice had come from a woman at the far end, sitting to a desk. Chair moved away, a woman sat. Her face obscured by raven black hair. A blue dress around her shoulders. Pale. A light shivering. Yet she was not alone, nor was it the only desk. Scattered around some on their sides some aloft were others. Wooden, strong. The type one would expect in such a place. But the occupants of the desks. They were around, scattered. Stone. Each was a statue, some faces twisted. Contorted in horror. Others. Calm. Serene. Each held a different stance. But shared the same fate. Eyes returned to the girl. Sat there slumped over. Long hair obscuring her body, but the figure female yes. As were the sobs between labouredly breaths. " Fragile they scatter, wind upon a stone. Touched and gone. Broken to dust". The way she spoke was, strange. Broken essences. Words without meaning. A poet without inspiration. A playwright without a topic. Jack stepped forward, each step upon pages, crumbling to sand. A strange thought a strange feeling. " I thought memories were stored within the library? Within books?". She looked up at him. Between those bangs of hair he saw the indicator he required. Yellow eyes. " Books can be burned". Was her only response. Jack pondered that. As he got closer. He was stopped in his tracks as he noticed something. The girl. Her feet. Made of stone. The light pink of her flesh, met by the pale grey of lifeless stone. He tilted his head outstretched a hand, she tried to flinch away but the clench of stone that was encasing her body stopped her. Another sob. Another shiver. And the grey seemed to spread, not much, but a few centimeters. " What is happening to you...". He looked around, gestured at the others. " What is happening here?". She looked up, and giggled but mixed with a sob, fear in her voice now. Trembling. " Secrets lie beyond the door. Those who were lost. Were scorned. No more. We sought those answers there, we did. But found pain inside. So here...we Hid...". . So it appeared the leader of pride had stumbled across a group of statues. Statues that were once people. Or well. oni. Oni of madness. Typical in this place, if what Ceila said was true then this place was bound to the madness demons and they to it. But for what reason was still a mystery. In her words though Jack picked up something that he recognized. The door. That place beyond it. He'd heard those words from somewhere before. About secrets lying within that darkness. About secrets from the past.

It had been that man. The one with the yellow eyes. The dark forgotten silhouette of madness that seeped through from behind that clouded glass and charred wood. If these words were to be held then these demons did what Ceila had always warned against. They had went near the door and had tried to open it. Jack remembered. He too had tried to open the door in search of knowledge. But he had been stopped. Stopped by the eyllow eyed one. But had the man cared so much to do the same for those of his ilk? And if not, why had he chosen to do so for him. A demon of pride? Then again with demons of madness one was as well asking why the sky was blue. Or why blood ran red. Of course, there was always the optinont hat what had lay beyond the door was no what had given these demons pain. Had given them this curse of stone. It could always have been the man himself. That touch. Cold as ice. To turn the flesh to nonliving silence. " Was it the man?...did He do this to you?". She looked up, frantic. Stuttering. Words spilling out in a constant stream. " His eyes, unending ceaseless glow. A hit, a strike, a punch, a blow. Future told in black and gold. In his hands. Our fate he doth hold". By the sounds of her rambling , she had indeed been attacked by the man with the yellow eyes. But what had been his reasons what had he been doing? " A sacrifice of flesh and soul. To pay the ferry man his toll". Once again, laughter. Then. Without warning. The earth below his feet began to shake. Books began to dance on their shelves as the vibrations began to get more violent. The demon of madness shrieked Clearly. She wished to run. Wished to hide. But she was stuck here to the floor. Bound by the stone sickness creeping up her flesh. Then there was the sound of a bell. It rung out once within the halls. Like a great church bell echoing throughout. The air itself seemed to change with the sound of the bell. Beyond that sound of the ringing he thought he almost heard the sounds of waves upon the surf. Another bell ringing out, a second toll. The floors below cracked. And the pages stopped falling. Within the last moment of that second toll. There was an almighty crack. And then. Silence. To Jack. He could see nothing. But beyond, The floors. The bookshelves. If one was to see the place from the eye of a hawk.

The library. Was rent in two. A fissure cutting the grand place asunder. Its origin.Followed back to the door. The cracks spread outwards from the corridor like a twisted corrupted tree. The door itself remained as always. Shut, cracked. Scarred by flame. The cracks spread out. Widening as hey went further till they formed as one and cleft the halls in two. The demon of madness near Jack shivered a final time. And fell silent. The stone sleep. Finally taking her as well.



He was looking now, down into the cracks which had emerged from the corridor. He was to get no more answers or ryhmes from the madness demon. Now fully consumed by the stone which had taken her body. She slpt now in that place much like her breathern. Whether they were alive or not under that slate he could not tell. They didn't show up on his senses. Yet. Things in this world rarely made sense. Sometimes his demonic blood would pick up another. Soemtimes it would fail entirely. As if this place had left him in the body of a human. The holes, he could not see the bttom of them. The light from the library however. Oddly seemed to cut off the moment at which it decended below floor level. It was as if the darkness within the crack wasn't actually just a lack of light. But rather that darkness he had seen from behind the door when Iskra had almost killed him. He knelt down on the stone floor. Lowering his hand into one of the cracks, into that darkness. And wasn't surprised when his hand from what he could see. Disappeared. The vision seemed to cut off the moment it hit the darkness. His hand felt cold. He withdrew the hand a smokey residue remaining, blowing off as the light touched it. Jack shook his head and grumbled. " Sheol". It was, just a word, just a myth. It meant nothing. Very little. But it was Jacks belief. Jacks word for the darkness beyond the door. Sheol. The pit of souls. The place that spirits went when they died. A place of darkness. Of screams. A cagge with no escape. Jacks eyes were drawn up, looking ahead at fallen book cases spread across the cracks in the floor. Some had no doubt fell into the cracks. it was then that demons words came back to him. " Books can be burned". If books. If memories could be burned in this place. Then what happened to those memories that fell into this darkness? " They cease to exist". A voice from the darkness, well. Not really. Jack turned to face the form of Ceila. The former leader of Madness. She hadn't changed one bit. And whilst he was glad that he was not completely alone in this place. The very idea that he'd not seen her in so long put him on edge. Was she waiting for this? Why hadn't she been around? More importantly where had she been? " I see". Said Jack cautiously. " Try to stay out of my head if you will, I like to keep mythoughts to myself". She grinned as she always did. Oh how he hated that grin. " Of course you do, but then when you leave it lying open like that one can't help but take a peak". He didn't quite know what she meant by leaving it open. But nor did he particularly want to know. The woman was strange always had been and likely always would be but then it made sense that the madest of the madness demonsw as going to be their leader.Even if she was errirley intellegent. Sill she knew far mroe about this library than he did and was probably at this stage the only madness demon that wasn't currently having issues with stiffness in their joints. " I met a few of your peopel earlier on". Ceila raised an eyebrow. For some reason Jack thought that this was actually genuine surprise from her. Something that was admittedly. Rare. She may have been a demon of madness but her michivilina pllotting skills were enxt to none in equal. And yet, she hadn't seen him meeting other madness demons. Why was that? Then it occured to him. Ceila had said to him some time ago that her enire clan had been wiped out by Pirde. Lwaving her as the soul survivor. Then again, madness demons just like other pysche demons popped up all the time. you wern't always born into it. Sometimes it just took a specific event to trigger its rising. But the madness demons in the study. Well it was rare that so many would develop in such a short space of time. And judging by how fargone the woman had been when he had gotten to her. In the sense of madness. Not stone.

She wasn't any new born. So what did this mean for Ceila. That there were still madness demons alive out there? Or that she had been lying about the entire fiasco. " I fear that this explains only a bit of what is going on...". She bent down and placed her hand inside the darkness as well. The same action, same result. " I told you before Jack, I'm the last living member of my lan, for the moment. Anyone else is dead". Jack shrugged. " I saw her Ceila. Yellow eyes and all. And she was most definatly mad". Ceila looked up at him and then closed her eyes. " Theres a reason I said that I'm the only living member of my clan Jack.Just because you saw them here doesn#'t meant hat they're alive.....when we come here we seperate from our bodies, and if our bodies die". Jack suddenly realised just what the hell she meant by this. This place was a world of dreams. And if you died whilst here. you conciousness would be trapped in here forever. " you mean to say that these madness demons were killed whilst here. And they were trapped inside?".. Ceila shookher head. Perhpas it wasn't as simple as that. " No, normally even if we're here. Moment you die. Thats it. Sheol is coming your way, but...someone discovered a loophole. Theres a way to stay out of Shoel and remain here". Jack crossed his arms. " Do tell".

Arm outstretched. Ceila pointed towards the door. " Its that corridor, I've told you before. Its not supposed to be there. Its not really part of the library, like an extension added on after creation...and you've been in that corridor. Not precisely the best extension job. I'd aliken it more to stitching an extra arm onto a rat. No nerves nothing. Just hanging there. That corridor leads into the darkness. Sheol. Nore sure who built it or when. But it got damaged in the dawn. Awhile ago one of our people was trying to figure out just what or who made the connection, they were looking around in the corridor and then....in real life they were eaten. We mourned the loss of her. Before returning to the library and finding her walking around just fine". Jack tapped his shoe. So, they could avoid death by hanging in that 'in between' zone created by the corridor? Well. Not avoid death. But avoid Sheol.. " Our kind spend a lot of time here, its why we tend to be reclusive. Awhile ago there was a group of us that determined that the living world wasn't that interesting, and the risk of Sheol was too great. So. They made a suicide pact. One would go into the library. Enter the corridor. And the others would kill them. Stranding them in the library for the rest of eternity". Jack nodded. Yes there was enough sense in that oen after all what he had heard in mytghs and rumours about sheol itself it wasn't an all too pleasant place. And as much as this library would no doubt get old. It was still far better than etenal darkness and screaming. " So". Said Jack scratching his chin. " Just where did it go wrong?". Ceila whistled. " Curiousity". Ceila shook her head. " As you an imagine you can only really read your own books for so long, people got curious again about the corridor and the door and-". Jack then connected it together. " They tried to open it, and the unfriendly door man kicked their asses". Ceila nodded. " Something happened to them, put them so deep into hiding that not even we could find them, not sure how you managed, just where are th- oh... I see...turned to stone eh?". Jack frowned. And tapped at his head. Again that smirk. Cheeky bitch. " Regardless, its my thought that when they opened that door they let soemthing of Sheol in here...". once again her hand dipped into the darkness and emerged. Rubbing her fingers together. " The darkness is spreading. Moving through the library like an angry infection...this realm is fragile enough as it is...if something isn't done to reverse the process. This whole realm could fall into Sheol". Jack wondered at that point just what would happen to all the emmories and knowledge stored within this place should such a thing happened. He could only imagine. Memories. Thoughts. Feelings. Everything lost. "Perhaps we should speak to the man behind the door, he seems to know more th-". She grapsed his hand. " No. We can't talk to him. You. Can't talk to him. He's more a danger than you know Jack". Jack's eyes thinned. Suspicious. There was that serious air about her again, soemthing rare from her that only ever seemed to occur when that man behind the door was brought up. Jack had all rights to be suspicious. But for now he decided not to tell her about that little case with the soul chain. " What arn't you telling me Ceila? He has yellow eyes. He's a madness demon I know that much, your his leader". She tightened her grip on his hand. " Yes Jack. He's a madness demon. But thats my point. I don't know him. Every single demon of madness I know or knew, but him."I- don't - know- him"

" What do you mean you don't know him?". Ceila frowned. " Precisely what I said, he's been theres since the dawn maybe even before it...thats why I can't let you talk to him, because for all we know, the reason that corridor is there in the first place, is to keep him caged". That thought had never occured to Jack before. But then looking back he remembered the creature had mentioned being locked away for finding something, perhaps this was why. But then the idea that he was dangerous enough to tie in with this place, meant that there was something that had deemed him dangerous enough to craft that kind of prison. " I don't know, you don't know, nobody knows. With the dawn I doubt even HE knows, but still. I'd rather not risk it". Jack folded his arms. " Then what do we do about the library falling into Sheol?". Ceila shrugged. "i'll stay here, see if I can think of something in the meantime, I'd better send you back to your body. God knows whats going on in the real world". And thats when Jack remembered, with everything that had beenn going on he'd almost forgotten that he was still in mortal danger from the rage demons back in the tower. " Yes, I think that would probably be best, then again. I could be getting my genitals removed at this very moment". Ceila shook her head. " Nah, your still good. Although give it another ten seconds then it might change". Eyes widened. Ceila grinned. And poked him in the stomach. He felt a mild pain, but then. Well it was like opening his eyes. Which he supposed that he did, with his face buried into the muck. Standing about two feet away from him was a rage demon ready to tear out his insides. Luickily enough Jack got in there quick enough to clench his hand and cause the veins and arteries in the demons body to explode. He slowly crawled back onto his feet, the mountain of gore from the rage demon decorating the rust coloured walls rather well. The time in the library was still on his mind. Dangerous or not it seemed foolish to risk everything by not asking the one creature who might know enough to ehlp them stop it. Even if he was rage abounding mad. Diodn't much matter though, at least for now. His main concern was survivign the tower of rage. making it to the top central chamber and killing the leader of rage. hopefully in enough time to stop the assault upon the defenders by the advanced guard. And have enough of the rage demons left alive for the war against the glutton. On that note he looked at the demon he had just killed. " Whoops".

The central chamber was large, when he first entered the inital marker was two bodies. Judging by their purpole and white eyes these were the enoyus that were sent by fear and sloth respectively. By the looks of it sloth had died before fear. He noted that simply due to the rate of advanced decay that was prevelant in the sloth demon but not in the fear demon. That said the fear had inflicted upon him far more torture injuries than the sloth one. Which said to him it was likely the fear demon who had lasted longer in any form of tortrue than sloth. Who was likely the traitor in giving away positions. There were no beds or chairs in this chamber. Only a large pool filled with what seemed to be blood. Demonic blood. At first the room seemed empty. And then a few bubbles began to buldge up from the blood. Jack's own blood flow began to stirr. The heat indicating that a demon was coming clotser. It was the leader of rage. Amsuing in that his arrival made a pool of blood boil.Firs thing to emerge from withinthe pool of blood was curled horns similar to a ram. It raised itself up, a humanoid head, but distorted due to the horns. It reminded him of that red hooded girl what was her name? Ah yes. Zaiaku. He had to wonder if the two were related in some way. Possible. But then most demons had horns. But not all had the appearance of humanoids. The demon at least for one seemed to be wearing some clothing, that much he was at least semi thankful for. After all. It was a male. Female. He would have cared less about the whole clothing thing. but then that was just his personal preference. " So". Said the leader of rage. jack was personally surprsied that the creature was even talking instead of just rushing in and trying to tear him apart. It was what he had gotten used to with the other rage demons. Then again. Not all of the leaders of the clans were the same as the base members. Ceuila for one, whilst mad. Hadn't been mad and empty headed. She had been a thinker. A planner. a schemer. Gerret was not like her omembers of sloth. She didn't act lazy, she didn't act sleepy. In fact she was rather eneretic by comparison.

Jonah was certainly never afrraid. In fact he appeared the oppposite. As for this demon. What appeared to be the odd thing was. That he was completely passive faced. Calm. There wasn't a trace of anger or rage in his body language. And yet. He could feel the power of rage flowing around him. This was the leader of rage. And yet. He had none of his own. " you have come, I expected you all to come here. I even wanted it. Your emissaries explained the situation, and I have decided to agree to lending you my fources to qwuell the ambomination". Now this. Was surprising. Jack was honestly for once. At a loss for words. They had fought all this way. All this time. Killed so many. Lost some of their own. And for what? For their enemy to tell them that they could have the troops? " I see surprise in your face. I had to find out if you were worth joining. I am no fool. A glutton is powerful. Far more powerful than us. I had to know whether or not you had the strength. And thedetermination to get here. Climb the tower. And face me". A clawed finger ran down its own face. " Your rage, its worth fighting with". At thsi point Jack didn't know whether to be even mroe angry. Or touched that this demon at least found him worthy of fighting with. Well touched not the word. honoured is more like it. But it was a bit of a mix of the two. However hew asn't ready to put up with what had happened. ANd he wasn't ready to let this demon live, it could endanger things with fear and sloth. Besides. No doubt he would want his land back. With a flick of the wrist the pool of blood behind the demon rose up. And dragged him in.

" What can I say? I'm touched. I'll accept your forces".

He turned and slowly began to walk out of the room. " And your lands". The task was completed. Witht that Jack moved down the tower and then slowly headed back in towards where the forces had been left. for now. This was the end of the little war with rage. With rage demons boosting their numbers. A battle against the glutton would soon come to pass. And would

exp: 5417
PWC: 5288