He opened his eyes in Darkness, unyielding darkness and silence, his body was sore, his entire mind was aflame with pain although he bore no visible wounds. He couldn't help but sigh in relief however as such pain at least meant that he was alive.
While he relaxed himself the darkness stirred, something massive was moving, it made a loud dragging sound that echoed in the endless expanse of darkness, it drew closer to him until the sound was just beside his ears, laughter came next, reverberating, loud and chilling laughter.
Through the darkness a large face was outlined like it was pressing against something, stretching the space around it as it pushed against the darkness until it tore apart like paper. A clown's face had emerged the bells on its head jiggling.
It tilted its head from side to side and observed him in silence before pressing more of its body through the darkness, it contorted and squeezed until all of its body fit through the gap its face had created, the clown stretched and unfolded to a towering height, lanky and disproportionate with long rope like limbs.
The creature blinked before crossing its ankles and giving a half bow, reaching its hand back into the gap it had emerged from, standing back up it paused mid-way before giving his shoulder a light jerk and began to pull something from the void.
A long black pole seemed to be emerging from the void, Inch after inch stretched out the hole as it pulled, tilting until its face touched the ground. The end of the pole was a curved blade that shimmered with pale ghost like light and spewed fog.
He heard sounds that could be mistaken as laughter coming out of the blade, but when the fog brushed against his skin they all converted into weeping, wails and screams of pain and terror, he raised his aching hands to his ears but that didn't save him, the screams echoed directly inside his skull.
The clown drew closer and tilted its comically large head, its eyes nothing but reflective pools of darkness, in that darkness the boy beheld his reflection, he was nothing more than a speck of light, with no hands, eyes, mouth nor body, he felt like he heard the sound of glass shattering.
The abominable clown lifted its blade and prepared to strike down, zed prepared himself for pain but after the seconds passed and he felt nothing he 'looked' up, there he found the grand jester straining to bring down its hand which was held in place by much larger pale emancipated hand bound by rusted and rotting shackles.
The grand jester strained and struggled but the emancipated hands grip was like an iron vice holding the massive creature in place with no effort, the clown opened its mouth revealing razor sharp gyrating rows of serrated teeth, letting out a shriek.
Zed's mind was melting, he could barely comprehend what it was he was seeing, he felt like there were worms crawling around inside his body and there was a clump of cloth in his throat, tearing the jesters arms from its shoulder and tossing its massive blade aside the massive hand turned over, slowly moving its fingers its snapped.
Zed got up with a start, placing his hands all over his body, his heart ramming against his chest. The boys small body was drenched in cold sweat as he attempted to swallow, but could feel his mouth was dry, his attempt to swallow his saliva proving futile.
The boys gaze fell on a marionette looking thing in the corner of the room, it was dressed in a gothic Lolita fashion, with skin that looked to be made of porcelain, perhaps if this was a normal day he would have not paid such a creepy thing any mind however, after such a strange experience he wasn't taking any chances.
"What?" His voice was cracked as he spoke and he could feel his throat burn, rubbing his throat he grunted, The marionette blinked and moved it's head to the right of his bed and the he followed it's gaze.
To his right was a cup of water and a bowl of something grey, he looked back at the doll, his fear having yet to fully subside, his body however continued to scream at him, begging for sustenance, he looked back at the doll which continued to nod as he took the cup in his hands. 'You can only die once'.
The doll continued to watch him carefully until he finished the water and then it rose from it's seat, and then left, Zed shivered, he wasn't sure what had just happened but he couldn't help but be disturbed by it 'the doll just used a door right?'
The door slid open and hurried footsteps approached him, he flinched slightly trying to roll out of his bed at the sound of the approaching footsteps "Hey don't run it's me, it's us" A familiar voice reached his ears, he looked at the person before him quizzically.
He has a feeling he should be able to recognise this person, invisible gears started to turn in his head, the guys mind getting to work as fast as possible.
The person had olive tanned skin with wavy black hair, when they talked their unusually pointed canines were quite easy to notice, he had normal hands, but his nails seemed to almost end in claws and his eyes were yellow slits like those of a serpent.
"Demiurge?". The person smiled and spread his arms wide and said with a laugh, he seemed to be enjoying the attention he was receiving.
"Oh, what it is to be remembered".
"You're better looking than I expected, it's a bit disappointing". He said with a sigh another voice coming from behind.
"You so fucking owe me, I told you I wasn't the only one".
Zed raised an eyebrow as the elf like girls stepped out from behind the much taller demiurge.
The girl had smooth dark skin, much darker than demiurge and she had long pointed ears, other than that she seemed mostly human.
"Sona?"
"In my own flesh" Zed touched his face and glanced at both his palms with a sigh, the clothes on his body far too big for him.
"That was in poor taste, I apologise" The boy had calmed down after seeing some familiar faces approach him, seeing how they weren't any different from usual brought him some comfort, however his peace was rather short lived when he caught sight of a figure stepping through the door.
Cold beads of sweat formed on his body, his breathing became haggard and his body trembled upon noting the mans trench coat and mixed black and gold hair, the clicking sound of his lighter causing the boy to have goose bumps, his vison blurred and his body swayed, falling to the floor
"I told you it was too early, look at what you did" The little doll from before had addressed the man with the lighter while he silently observed that chaos inside the room.
"Hmm, I agree" He said, finally lighting the cigarette his figure melting into the wall and disappearing, leaving behind the single card with a jester on it. 'I suppose there was no need to retrieve grand jester'