(Written while listening to: "Come Little Children" by Erutan on YouTube)
<<<>>>
The moonlit main square of Incandescent City was completely empty just an hour before dawn. Until a hunched hood-covered silhouette with a branch as its walking stick could be seen unhurriedly walking up towards its centre.
Once it reached the middle it stopped with the loudest
It stood there for a few seconds and then it reached for its pocket. It took out a fruit from said pocket. It was unlike any fruit existing in the natural world. Shaped like an apple but the size of an infant's head. Magenta-pink in colors and soft like a water filled balloon.
The silhouette leisurely turned in the direction of the Incandescent Cathedral looming in the background and raised the fruit high, so that it "eclipsed" the artificial sun "night mode" soft shine, from her view.
From below the hood raspy, creepy voice of a hag spoke:
"May. The. Carnival…-"
—
—
"BEGIN!" She screeched like a harpy with glee and forced the "fruit" into her sunken toothless mouth.
"
"
Then she ceased any movement, just staying in that unnatural position and staring in the direction of the moon with just the whites of her eyeballs visible.
Slowly, these eyeballs started to turn red as if they were covered in blood.
And so did the moon she "stared at".
The entirety of it was turning crimson red.
When it finished, its rays focused and turned into a soft "ray" of moonlight that connected the new blood moon and the artificial sun that was just about to start getting brighter to signal the coming of a new day.
It did not.
Instead it got obscured by a veil of some sorts, consecutively plunging the entire area into deep darkness interrupted only by eerie crimson moonlight.
What is also worthy to note:
Nobody of the people in the Incandescent City seemed to notice anything.
Not the hag's screaming, not the fact that their SECOND sun was obscured.
Somebody should be up already on these hours, preparing for work. Not speaking even about guards who were supposed to responsibly patrol both inside and outside of the city's walls.
Yet nothing.
No shouting, confusion, sounding alarm.
Just "peace".
In that peace hag's "frozen" figure moved at last.
She threw up right where she stood.
But the bile she let out was not reminiscent of the fleshy fruit she just consumed.
It was a mixture of thick and black tar-like sludge and yellowish rotten pus within which crawling fat maggots could be seen.
She kept vomiting until it pooled around creating a puddle: ankle-deep with a few meters in diameter.
She stopped, firmly grabbed her branch with both spider-like hands and stabbed it directly in the middle of the vile puddle.
She let go of the "branch" and it remained right there.
Slowly taking roots.
But it had to stop as it couldn't grow anymore for now.
It lacked nutrients.
The hag then shrugged off her tattered robe from herself getting completely naked.
At that moment a tiny strain of red moonlight split from the ray that bridged it to the fake sun and turned to be cast at the hag's disfigured form.
Under its luminescence her body started to shift. The wrinkled skin smoothened, bones popped back at their right places, stature straightened.
In the matter of seconds the old hag was rejuvenated into the form of a cold yet beautiful matron with a voluptuous figure.
Her still blood-filled eyes turned once again in the direction of the Incandescent Cathedral.
She started to sing.
Her voice, no more raspy and screeching, but smooth and enchanting.
Her voice carried gently through empty streets, creeping itself into the houses of the people still sleeping within.
Whether they wanted to or not.
At that moment the smooth process of her "Carnival" was somehow interrupted at last.
Her song was a sign of the activation of the enthralling charm that was being prepared for a long time.
Until the charm remained dormant it managed to slip through tiny gaps in the city's defenses.
But this was a direct attack.
And as such all the runic arrays responsible for magical protection of the entire outpost were at last triggered.
In an instant the entire premise was covered with humming of sorcery, Soul Essence powering the protective runes shining with gold light, that were carved into the stone bricks from which the city was constructed.
Every. Single. Brick.
Had at least one rune carved into it. Combined: they formed a well planned whole that almost completely rejected the enemies assault.
Almost.
The protective wards did a good job. Reinforcing minds and protecting the citizens from foreign influence.
But the enemy knew about them already well in advance.
That was one of the reasons why they were preparing for so long.
To search for gaps in layers of protection and then to exploit it.
And they found it. Just like Gandeon informed Laito a few months prior.
The most vulnerable.
The children with their unguarded minds.
While all the adults battled in their minds with the enchantment, being essentially immobilized.
All the children within the city stirred from their sleep. Their eyes, empty and glossy. The amount of the enchanted song that managed to slip through the wards was enough to sweep them in one fell swoop.
They started walking, stiffly like puppets steered by a puppetmaster that barely knew how to do his job.
They exited their homes and started to fill the streets slowly gathering in the direction of the main square where the evil being was casting her spell.
Like they were following the rat-catcher's music they kept walking.
—
—
And Laito was among them.
<<<>>>
[4 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
---
Author notes:
Idk bout this one chumps. I think I should've made it scarier or just better.
Apparently introducing the "main villain" is not as easy as I thought! I also perfectly know that I am not exactly "original" with any of this ideas…- but it IS a fan-fic after all. The worlds are there and I am just telling a story while picking up the pieces.
If you are weirded out by the sus sexual innuendos from this chapter: don't tell I haven't warned ya! It's right there in the synopsis!
Anyways: the beginning of carnival marks (more or less) that we are in the halfway point of this First Nightmare.
I kinda feel an urge to ramp up the pace as I am really excited for Laito's appraisal, which I have been cooking for a long time already…- but I have to control myself! The First Nightmare must be properly done!
So.
Here we are.
And also I have noticed that this fic somehow managed to garner a certain amount of attention, which makes me quite happy of course! (I hope I haven't ruined it with this chapter but we shall see)
For everyone here! Thank you for reading!
See you soon.