Following the Scent

I know this scent! It's Lucy's! Where is she? She could be around here! Lucy! All I could do is scream her name in my mind. Considering that she has been missing for a while now, her body must be already suffering. "She" must be suffering. I have to save her, but how? I'm far weaker and know nothing about this world. If she can't get rid of her parasite, then how could I possibly get rid of mine? There has to be a way!

As my hands are doing things at the audio mixer, I concentrate on stalling it even just for a slight. Ugh! I can't seem to do anything at all! But I will not give up! For years I have been suffering from not being able to control my legs! I will not suffer the same in this world!

The chorus of the music comes in and one single note is obviously out of place. I succeeded in making this stupid parasite fail! How about that, you little sh—

I get pulled from behind and dragged closer into the hole. Although I can't see their face, the person says to me, "You're an interesting one but you will not ruin my Rave. I'll see you later."

He kicks me. In the hole, I fall. The opening closes instantly so I didn't see his face. A second later, I hit the bottom, sideways.

Argh!!! My left shoulder got dislocated! I wish to scream the pain out and beg for help. Again, this stupid parasite is stopping me. And what is this horrible smell? Where am I? I can't see anything. All I could feel is that I'm lying on something soft, icky, and wet. Is this. . . Are these. . .dead bodies?

This is more than I can bear! The stench is suffocating me! My skin itches as the rot and flies slowly eat it away. The maggots are wriggling on the top of my lip, making their way to my nostrils. They're gonna eat me from the inside out!

Let me go! I don't wanna be here! Please!

Light spreads across the place that I think is from a door behind me. It cannot reach the end of this horrifying place. This place must be so massive. The millions of missing people must've ended up here. My soul can hear their cries. This is another reason why I think this isn't a game anymore. No living being can dedicate all of what they have to create this hell!

I hear slushing footsteps getting nearer. The flies buzz away in the air. The light becomes dimmer because of how many they are. Some of them come flying to my wide-open eyes. One fly is stuck on my retina. It flitters so much that I think my eyes will burst like a grape.

The person who entered this catacomb grabbed my wrist and drags me back to where he entered. I cannot look at this person directly. All I can see are his boots covered in green sludge. Ugh! My face is a mess from all that dragging! I tasted some of the rot because I can't keep my mouth shut.

"What are you?" the guy asks as he carries on dragging me on the clean white floor in the hall. I leave a trail of filth and blood. Judging from his voice, he's the one that pushed me into the hole earlier. "I pretty much can tell that you're not from this world like the others that the Rave Queen sent after me."

After him? Does that mean. . . he's. . . the Phantom?!!!

"Not that you can answer," he continues. "The little DJ is still inside you, after all." He laughs hysterically. "Though, I want to find out how you flinched earlier. Keeping the Rave running for a thousand years is a very taxing job, you know. The way you ruined the music doesn't help. That is why I will find out how you did it so I can prevent it from happening again."

He puts me on a chair in the middle of an empty room. I'm slouching, facing downward. There are slapping sounds of gloves as he puts them on.

"Gotta be sanitary when doing this kind of thing," he chuckles.

What kind of thing?

"Alright, thank you for your patience. Shall we start?"

He holds my face by the chin, making me face him. The mask he's wearing is odd. It's white but his skin is like an old bark of a tree but made out of dark red glass. His horns are shaped like branches. His eyes through the hole of his mask are round with no eyelids. He is wearing a suit and his black hair is slicked back.

"Say ahhh. . ." He never needed to say that because my mouth is already open by itself. Then he inserts his hand into my throat!

UGH!!! It hurts! I want to vomit! Stop!!! I can't breathe! I'M GONNA DIE!!!

"You don't bite, right?" he jests while I'm suffering!

YOU SON OF A—

He abruptly pulls his hand from my throat and looks at his glove drenched in my saliva. "I see nothing's wrong with the DJ," he remarks. "The connection is intact, yet you managed to overthrow its control. Fascinating." He bends over, looking at my face closely. "There must be a reason why the Queen chose you to get rid of me. She stopped sending stronger and high-level dudes. Instead, sent you—a pathetic beginner. But I gotta say, you've come so far, yet almost." Shaking his head, I can hear him chuckling under his breath. "She will never get rid of me! Thanks to me, this Rave has been going on for thousands of years even before she became queen. She needs me!"

He pulls out a scalpel and aims to cut somewhere around my face! What is he going to do to me?!

"Now, for the next test!"