Epica!

Tick, tick, tick, tick. The sound of the hands of the clock as they continued to move forward awoke Ariel from his slumber. He was slumped over his makeshift desk, his head resting on the cool wood of the counter. Tick, tick, tick, tick. The clock continued as if reminding him of that he had returned from his somma trip where time still ran smoothly. His head was buzzing, and his stomach lurched, very common side effects from when he returned from his trips.

Ariel stumbled in his small apartment to reach the bathroom, a short distance from where he had started. He washed his face in the sink, futilely trying to wash away the trip's effects. The cool water hardly helped the effects but it sudden splash of water seemed to ease his mind. Putting his hands on the sides of the ceramic white sink, Ariel stared at his worn reflection in the mirror.

His hair was dirty, he couldn't remember the last time he had a proper shower. His trips sometimes seemed to drag on for days, though only a few actual moments had passed. Dark holes had appeared under his eyes from lack of sleep, and his eyes themselves seemed to sink deep into his head from malnutrition. Salvo had worn him down, much like it did to anyone who dared live in such a place.

Salvo, a lawless town where prostitution was common and murder a daily occurrence. Ariel had accidentally stumbled on the town - penniless and hungry - when misfortune had caused him to stray from his intended path. During the first few hours of his stay in Salvo, Ariel had been mugged and somehow convinced into delivering a rather questionable package across the street. Ariel was shocked, at first, by the lack of morals of the town, but within the few short weeks he had grown somewhat accustomed to it. However horrible Salvo was, there was a single appeal to it that prevented Ariel from leaving.

Somma was very easy to find and purchase in Salvo. Nearly all of the Salvo population relied heavily on somma, and it nearly served as currency in Salvo. Ariel survived on making and selling somma in Salvo - a very illegal act - though the authorities hardly cared in the area where he lived. Some of the policemen had even stopped by his apartment for their own rations of somma.

As Ariel stared at his reflection, the light in the bathroom grew to bright for him as his head suddenly began to ache. His eyes involuntarily blinked in rapid succession as if he could blink away his headache. Ariel raised a hand to his head to ease the throb. He hadn't realized, however, how much support he had put on that hand and he stumbled forward; his forehead cracking the mirror. He fell back on the bathroom floor, more irritated than hurt. Obviously the effects of the somma he had taken earlier had yet to completely wear off.

Ariel lay on his bathroom floor, waiting for the somma's effects to finally fade. The light bulb above him shone brightly like a dying star. He remembered, back in his hometown, how he taken a great part in developing the invention for common use and not just as a luxury. How long had it been since he had first arrived in Salvo? It couldn't have been such a long time since when he arrived the trees had began to shed their leaves. Now the trees stood bare, with their lone limbs reaching up towards the sky.

The light outside had turned dark when Ariel finally stood from the bathroom floor. The somma's effects faded slightly, and he could walk straight without staggering though his head still buzzed. He sat down on the edge of his bed. Leaning over to his nightstand, he reached for the white tablets laying so inconspicuously on the dark wood. He quickly slipped more than the recommended dosage of tablets into his mouth where they quickly dissolved into a bitter tasting liquid.

Tick, tick, tick, tick. Ariel could hear the clock on his desk while he waited, on the edge of his bed staring directly ahead of him. Tick, tick, tick, tick. The clock continued, growing in volume until it became unbearable. Ariel lay back on his bed and covered his head with his pillow in a futile attempt to drown out the sound that made his head suffer so much. Tick, tick, ti-. The clock stopped.

A delightful shiver ran down Ariel's body and all the pain from before vanished. Apparently renewed, Ariel sat back up on his bed, carefully placing his pillow aside. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and another, stronger tremble rocked his body. This time it was followed by the sensation of flotation. The walls around him disintegrated into nothingness and he entered a void where no man had ever been.

Warm and gentle was the mist that coated everything and prevented any sight into the beyond. The sensation, and the sights in this place were overwhelming. Such a place could only be reached through the use of somma. Ariel wandered through this place, enjoying the revelry of it all until he came across it.

A creature beyond human comprehension. So beautiful and pleasant. It's form was ambiguous, but Ariel could see it there, standing before him. Then it spoke, and a symphony of church bells resounded in his ears like a thousand voices all speaking at once. Through the music, Ariel could hear, very faintly, the sound of his name being softly called. "Ariel. . . " it called to him, luring him to it. "Ariel. . . " it called again.

Bang! The sound broke through the barrier and Ariel found himself slowly being pulled back. "Ariel. . ." it still called, and Ariel attempted to reach out to the beautiful otherworldly being before him. Bang! Bang! Again he heard, louder this time, and Ariel was whizzing back through that inviting mist. The being slowly disappearing before him.

Tick, tick, tick, tick. Ariel was once again awoken by the sound. Outside, the sun was burning bright once again. Suddenly, an overbearing knock was heard from his door; the very same that had returned him from his trip. His head burned once again, but his awaiting visitor urged him to ignore it. Again, his coordination faltered as he stumbled a few steps before reaching the door. He paused a few moments and breathed before opening it.

Ariel had only just opened the door a crack before it burst open and a young woman burst into his apartment. Ariel had hoped for a moment that it wasn't one of the few straight cops in Salvo. He was utterly relieved when the girl came to him and dropped herself on her knees and hugged his legs.

"Ariel please!" she said holding tighter to his legs. This girl, Hanna, was new to somma. She was led to Ariel through one of the few who purchased it from him. "I'm out of my somma rations. I need more!" Just one dose of somma, and Hanna had come to Ariel in an almost weekly basis. "Please!" Hanna begged on the verge of tears, her high pitched voice breaking any train of thought in Ariel's mind.

Coldly, Ariel kicked Hanna off him and retreated into the depths of his apartment. Hanna crawled pitifully after him. He checked his nightstand first where he regularly kept his somma rations. Finding nothing there he tried the portable somma lab he had created. It was there that he found a few milliliters of somma in it's liquid form.

"Here." he said giving her the vial filled almost to the brim. Hanna only stared as if the holy spirit himself were standing before her. Ariel was never known to be generous with his rations.

Hanna hastily pulled some change from her coin purse and handed it to Ariel who took it without bothering to look at her. With trembling hands, Hanna began to reach for the vial of somma in Ariel's hands but just as her shaky fingers were only millimeters away, Ariel pulled back the vial. Her fingers only just grazed the the cool glass of the vial, and she cried out and jumped back landing on her bottom.

Ariel descended on her like a komodo dragon descended on it's already poisoned and dying water buffalo before it began to feed while the buffalo was still alive to feel everything. But Ariel, he wouldn't eat Hanna. No, only his cold and passive rage seemed to control him. "Next time Hanna." he seethed remembering how close he was to that being in that misty place. "When you need more somma and you come looking for me." Ariel bounced the vial in his hands to which Hanna's eyes followed hungrily. "Don't come looking for me here." Ariel ordered and Hanna - still staring at the vial - shook her head vigorously in acknowledgment.

Seeing Hanna agree to his terms, Ariel tossed the vial outside through the open door where it bounced off the wall before rolling down the hallway. Ariel watched in amusement as Hanna chased after it like a dog chasing a stick. Like a good dog, Hanna should have known not to bother Ariel in the confines of his apartment. All his other clients knew this, but Hanna excluded herself from everyone else. Had it not been for the headache that now trumpeted in Ariel's head, he would have been forced to take much more drastic measures to teach Hanna a lesson.

Maybe next time. Ariel thought rubbing his temples. Hanna had come so abruptly and snapped him out of his trip too quickly caused a more severe side effect. To ease the effect, Ariel first thought of more somma knowing that a small dose will remove the edge. He went back to his bed and opened the drawer to his nightstand - where he usually kept his private stash - only to realize in horror that Hanna had walked off with the last of his somma rations.

His head throbbed and he needed an escape. So he chose to - rather reluctantly - see Mistress Nine, the woman who had introduced him to somma what seemed like so long ago. Having limited time before the headache changed into something horrible and tormenting Ariel put his long coat on and headed off to see her.

Mistress Nine. A woman who loved control and power. During his first days in Salvo, Ariel had somehow stumbled into one of Mistress Nine's brothels. She owned the largest and most successful chain of whorehouses in Salvo - not that they were legal - yet everyone turned a blind eye due to Mistress Nine's contacts with powerful somma distributors. This was the only place that Ariel knew of that never ran out of somma, and it was to Mistress Nine that Ariel decided to go to.

The sun stung painfully at his eyes when Ariel stepped outside, but he pressed on to Mistress Nine. The streets of Salvo were hardly ever lonely at this hour - or any hour for that matter. Salvo was teeming with people; people who had given up on everything who had given up on everything but the temptations that Salvo offered. They all stayed to the shade of the Salvo buildings avoiding the painful sun that was caused by the effects of the somma trips. But even this terrible effect wouldn't stop them from taking the thing nonstop.

Like the rest of the people in the streets of Salvo, Ariel tried his best to avoid the punishing sun, but the shaded areas were crowded with somma rejects. The buildings of Salvo themselves were run down with lack of care and stuffed with people who avoided the UV rays. The locals took advantage of these somma addicted people by bolstering prices on common supplies that any human being should have the right to.

Though the sun was up, Salvo was cold. It was always cold, but these days the wind nipped harsher at any uncovered extremities than any other time of the year. It seemed that winter would be coming soon. Ariel rubbed his hands together close to his face then blowing his warm breath into them to keep them from the evil Salvo winter. He mentally scolded himself for forgetting to retrieve his gloves in his hurry to reach his intended destination.

He was relieved to see the young girls dancing topless in the building's display window enticing curious passerby's further into the depths of the building. Ariel paid them no mind and went right in. The rich scent of burning somma and other concoctions stung beautifully at his nose. Just being in the presence of the second hand somma seemed to soothe his already troubled head.

Ariel trudged along the narrow passageways of the building hearing moans of pleasure from the rooms that aligned the hallway. He ignored them and pressed onwards. The deeper he went into the building, the soft moans slowly shifted from almost soft whispers to screams of pain and pleasure. Deeper still he traveled into the brothel where he knew he would find who he searched for.

Finally he came to the black painted door in the deepest parts of the building. It was the most luxurious rooms in the building. Ariel had only been there a few times before when he first arrived in Salvo. Coming back after such a long time and the circumstances in which he had parted, he wondered how he would be received by the notorious Mistress Nine. Swallowing whatever pride he had left, Ariel knocked on the door softly, not wanting to interrupt one of her sessions.

"Come in," a husky voice was heard from beyond the black door. Ariel took a deep breath and turned the knob on the door. Inside he was greeted by a lavish room adorned in leather. A single black sofa adorned the center of the room and a great mirror covered the ceiling. It was on this sofa that she sat; Mistress Nine.

A dominatrix by choice and owner of the brothel, she had the most power in Salvo in terms of somma. Like the rest of the building, Mistress Nine was dressed completely in tight black leather. The only sign of color she displayed was her red hair and her ruby painted lips. She sat with a confidence unheard of in most woman. In her hands she clutched a whip, simply adding to her menacing demeanor.

"Ariel!" she exclaimed when she saw him enter the door and dropped the intimidating leather device . "I've been waiting for you to return. Come sit!" she said standing up and coming to him. She took his hand in hers and lead him to the sofa. Ariel awkwardly obeyed. "Now tell me." she said coming up to him and sitting on his lap. "What can I do for you?" she whispered close to his ear making him tremble at the proximity.

"I've just come for rations." he swallowed hard. During their last encounter he had denounced her somma rations as inferior to his own. Her retaliation had been to banish him from her brothels until he returned on his knees and announced how wrong he had been. He knew however that Mistress Nine had a habit of forgiving those who had come back to her.

"Here take these!" she answered almost too quickly and pushed a few tablets close to his face. Ariel recoiled slightly at her sudden movement but relaxed when he saw her stop centimeters from his face. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Ariel faltered. Something seemed to bother him this time. Something nagged in the back of his mind. "Open wide. . ." Mistress Nine cooed when he made no move to take one of the white somma tablets. She placed a single table on a single long nailed finger and closed the final inches to him mouth; her intended victim seemingly quelled of all resistance.

At the very last moment - just as Mistress Nine was about to drop the tablet into his mouth - Ariel stared at his reflection in the giant mirror Mistress Nine had placed as her ceiling. There he was, with a questionable woman on his lap feeding him somma directly into his mouth. Suddenly the nagging feeling he had felt earlier had a name. Her name was Helena and at the very moment Ariel wondered what she would say if she saw that very image that he was seeing.

"I, I must go." Ariel muttered lowly, pushing her hand away. Mistress Nine scowled slightly but smiled shortly after.

"Just come back soon, my dear." she said after getting off him and clearing a path to the door. Ariel gulped as he wondered for the sudden surge of kindness she was displaying him, but shut the door regardless of the consequences unsure of what to do next.

In the red painted room, Mistress Nine was angry. She had told his return, but had not anticipated his sudden change of mind. She released a small scream of frustration as she whipped her hand in the air scratched deep gashes in the black leather bound sofa. Angrily she snatched up the whip which she had previously abandoned and whipped the sofa multiple times over.

"Troy!" she screamed to one of her expendable servants who came rushing in seconds later. Once he came into view she rushed towards him.

"You needed me Mistr-" but he didn't get to finish. Mistress Nine had pulled out a cleverly hidden knife from her boot and slashed his throat from left to right. This knife - made completely of human bone - had been a gift from a very special person as a way to contact him in time of need.

Troy's blood pooled beneath him, but it didn't expand like that of regular blood. It flowed as though an invisible crease existed on the floor. Once a certain amount and gathered it began to swirl. Mistress Nine waited patiently until she finally heard him.

"I did not fail! He came did he not?!" she defended herself and was responded with silent voices only she could hear. "Well if you wish to come. . . " she paused. A small shiver reverberated through her body at the thought of seeing him displeased. "I will prepare my best chambers for you. I assure you this will be the greatest light festival." But she didn't hear anything anymore and the swirling blood stopped it's motion. "Marcus!" she called again and yet another man came in. He saw the body on the floor and knew that Mistress Nine had not got her way. "Clean this up!" she raged before storming off.

Just outside the brothel, Ariel looked up at the crystal blue sky and saw a storm brewing in the horizon. One thing was certain in his head; Salvo and somma could never give him what he for long sought for.