XI: Bohemian Rhapsody III

I wiped my tears as soon as I felt a presence of a man slowly approaching me. I slowly stood and on my left I took a rusty knife from a dead soldiers body, hopefully It can protect me from any possible signs of danger and worse death. I no longer want to die, it fears me, seeing the corpse of the lifeless Black Queen, and it shivers my spine, to think about her sufferings in hell now. I slowly stepped away as the man continues to approach me, my visions can't see him, for it is to dark here.

I heard him running and jumping in the deep dead jungle, it feared me and I quickly run for my own life, until the sky started striking thunderbolts everywhere, one was literally a meter away from me and it gave me a different sense of fear, it frighten me and I fell to the ground. I turned around and saw a silhouette of a very familiar man, he was turning his head and I quickly stood to run towards his direction.

I'm going crazy with so many thoughts entering my mind while I'm trying to survive the apocalypse.

"Joseph!" Scaramouche opened his hands the moment he saw me, until a another thunderbolt hit near him and my feet stopped and I fell to the ground hitting my chin in a small rock bleeding and fire started to spread for it hit a pile of dead leaves. "Joseph, careful thunderbolts rain is coming, it's the prophecy!" he added as he runs towards my direction and gave me his hand. He helped me stood and quickly run towards the direction of the city with me. "The thunderbolt rain will be the moment will get a chance to meet the little man by his silhouettes he will guide us to the secrets." I stopped for a moment and he quickly noticed my lack of energy to continue as I fall into my knees heavily breathing.

I'm really hungry I'm really tired, and I'm really burned out.

"Scaramouche, may I asked a question?" I took a deep breath before he gave me a nod giving me a hand to stood up again, I accepted it and he put my hand on his shoulder helping me to continue walking. "Where does this thunderbolt rain you're talking about come from? I haven't heard about it when the prophet gave me the instructions, I also haven't seen it…it's also not in the prophecy book, where is your source." We reached the city and from the distance I saw the three members of the White Queens, however the other one is missing as if he was lost, based on the face of the three members alone.

"Well there was a code in the original book that isn't included in our secondary sources, for it doesn't mean anything to others, yet they are unaware that it is connected to the silhouette of the little man… a dance to avoid the strikes of the thunderbolts, would cause light, the light will produce silhouette that would reveal his true identity, we will follow him as we continue to dance." He explained and stopped when we reached the White Queen's small groupings.

They all looked into us one by one and I've notice a cat carried by Larry Melina. The cat was cute yet I can sense its own danger, I feel like it's the cat named Delilah, but I think now, she's just an average cat, the Black Queen is dead and an innocent cat can just live with her loving owner.

"Look, let's all open up alright." T.E. Conway started. Tawal Alshamas just nodded while Larry Melina sighs. "We can't keep this a secret to them… look Galileo Cross is missing and we need your help in searching for him, I don't want to panic but we tried to look everywhere in a span of a few minutes, I have reported it to the third Island, and I'm waiting for their response." There was a tone of concern within his voice; I looked into him while Scaramouche slowly helps me sat down.

I sat on a rock and quickly he went to one of Galileo's cart, used by the remaining members to travel from here to the third island, I stared at the White Queens' and their faces can't be painted for their agony is unmatchable, they were all sad, so sad. Scaramouche returned to me and another stuck of thunderbolt almost hit him again, his face we're full of shocked, yet he just smiled his fear off his face as he handed me some cooked meat and a bottle of red wine. He also gave some meal to the White Queens' but they didn't have any apatite to eat. I thank him and ate my dinner.

While chewing, I looked into the sky and Scaramouche sat beside me while pouring the red wine on a small glass. A strong breeze of wind blew, and Delilah woke up from her deep sleep within her owners arms, she stood and smelled the floor, before looking around and started walking away. Another thunderbolt struck nearby and I felt a tap on my shoulder, Scaramouche stood up and made me follow him while he sips his wine. We followed the walking cat and stopped every time she turns her head from left to right.

"Oh this is fun." Larry commented. "Go on little darling, go to the road where you want to go." He added.

"Joseph." Scaramouche called and I turned my head to see him running to catch up on me. "I forgot to explain the prophecy, and I think this is it… I can visualize it." He caught the attention of Tawal Alshamas and stopped walking so we can catch up to him. "The original book from the far land, says 'Thunderbolts and lightning, dancing within the light. A little man's shadows, will guide the way to your questions.' It was removed in the reprints of the prophetic book due to beliefs that its nonsense or a random scribe from a stupid kid." He added.

Tawal seems to be interested in the fact. He opened his hands around his mouth and took a deep breath.

"Galileo Cross!" He screamed and echoes around the dead city.

Another tremendous thunderbolt strikes In front of Larry Melina and T.E. Conway, but something caught our interest, within a blink of an eye, the lighting has a silhouette of a small man. Scaramouche looked directly into me and I gave him a nod, he quickly formed a smile and we started laughing and jumping.

"You guys saw that do you?" T.E. Conway asked and we nodded.

"Scaramouche… do your favourite dance, fandango!" I said and he didn't hesitant to do so, Delilah, then started glowing and thunderbolts nearly stuck us again. It always frightens me even if I'm used to it. The glowing beam of light started walking towards the direction of Scaramouche and the light was shaped like a woman, becoming Scaramouche's partner as they both danced the fandango.

Using his small magic, Scaramouche had a small flame with his right hand while he took a hat with a small hole lying on the ground and started to dance. Delilah, a humanoid cat then raised her dress up dancing along with Scaramouche, as they slowly move to their imaginary beat while also walking towards the direction of where the little man pointed. They started dancing their arms like the ocean waves and another lighting strike, the little man pointed at the same direction when we pass a turning road, signalling no turns shall be made.

Scaramouche's smiling along while T.E. Conway took out his small flute and started to play a small little melody, for them to be festive and more energetic, somehow the dance made the White Queen's smile while in deep worry. We passed by another road and on the royal road another lighting strike, and the silhouette of the little man pointed to the north. We started to clap along the beat of the fandango and Scaramouche became more and more advanced with his own steps.

"Galileo!" I called out his name while we're slowly marching to the north.

"Galileo, darling where are you! Come out darling!" Larry joined in.

"Galileo Cross!"

"Galileo!"

"Galileo Cross, where are you?!"

"Figaro!" Another cat approached Larry and it jumped into his arms. He started head patting the cat and we continued to march around.

Another thunderbolt strikes and it pointed to the west, we slowly turned as they continued to dance the fandango, from a glimpse of my eye, I saw Grave, but when I checked he was gone. He sometimes freaks me out especially his cold mood. I don't want to die, and force my soul to live within his jar.

We continue to follow the directions of the lighting silhouette, until we reached the stairs of the kingdom, the head of the dead Black Queen was rotting, her eyes were wide open, and its crying blood, her facial expressions we're still slightly greedy, her ear fell off on the floor, some animals are eating it raw, her cheeks were full of wounds, and the small was so strong and bad. Another lightning struck, it the little man pointed to the rotting chest of the Black Queen, as if it's pointing at her dead heart.

"I think that's enough, I think we're here, you know where to go Joseph." Scaramouche pointed while catching his breath. The partner, Delilah started glowing a brighter light and it formed the shape of a cat again, and slowly as her light disappear she returned to her usual form. Figaro jumped out if Larry's arm and the two seems to recognize each other as if they we're the best of fur friends.

"Me? Do inside the rotting heart? W-why me?" I asked. The smell is so bad standing slightly far from the rotting corpse. I can never imagine the smell of the corpse when I'm beside it. "At least one of you comes with me, so I'll never be alone." I looked into their eyes one by one, but no one seems to be interested.

"Coz' you're the Prophet's warrior." Larry reminds me.  Was that the only reason why I'm stuck in a stinky situation?

"I'm only a poor boy; from a poor family… can I be spared from the monstrous smell of this hell?" I joked around but they didn't seem to be getting my point for they all shook their heads. "Easy come… easy go." I added while forcing my sarcastic tone. "You all owe me a favor, I'll use it someday." I added before gazing into the corpse of the Black Queen.

"Go on don't waste out time, we will look for Galileo, and we will be waiting within the castle's gate." T.E. Conway said as he keeps his flute in his small bag, he took out a knife from his bag and threw it in my direction, but I failed to catch it, I grabbed it near my foot and noticed my team slowly turning back and stepping down the stair, making the rest follow. "Will be cheering you Joseph, you can rock it!" He laughed and continued walking together with Scaramouche.

I took a sigh, and nearly vomit due to the toxins almost entering my system.

I still can't believe how the Black Queen survive, this world without someone loving her. I can finally see how empty her heart is.

I ripped open her cleavage, where the ashes of the poor innocent slaves lie. I entered into her internal, and her blood was already dry, but her muscles are still holding everything in place. My eyes roamed around and quickly saw her giant heart. Another thunderbolt strikes outside and the heart started smoking, I slowly felt it beating, feeling nervous I might wake up her eternal rest, I run towards it to kill her heart again, but I stopped when I heart a yawning lady near me, I look around and saw no one. I raised my hand again ready to stab the heart of the Black Queen.

"Will you let me go? Will you free me in the Black Queen's heart?" I stood frozen, as I've heard her voice, it's very familiar. I've hear it from somewhere before, I can't remember where, but from a blurry memory that voice… it give me an unsettling comfort. It's strange but it's true. I looked around again, even wiping my own eye to check if there's someone here.

"Who are you?" I asked nervously. I don't like the sense of discomfort that this place is giving me, I can feel there's someone here, and I'm not alone in here. "What are you doing inside here; it's dangerous you should leave now." I look around and from a distance I saw Grave, leaning on a wall and waiting for my next move. Well at lease now, I know I'm not alone. However, he's not the one. I sense at lease another three people in here, not including Grave. "Show yourself."

"Joseph Castlevine is it?" She asked. I simply nodded and pointed my knife up into the sky; another heart beat was felt in her dead heart. "Will you let me go?" She asked again.

"Joseph." The cold man spoke. "You are ready to face the truth." He coldly said before I rushed to the Black Queen's dead heart and I stabbed it open, it started beating fast and from a small injured hole, the heart beat was restore as it started pumping blood, but the blood was darker than the Queen's dress, the heart itself twisted, and I saw the back of side of her heart. Through the small hole she came out, and I saw something I've never seen before, a side from a feature that stood out the most

"The reason why I didn't take part in in." I heard his tone being cold per usual yet there was something else, as if we was worried of something.  "The brutal attack committed to the Black Queen." Grave Continue as my body shakes and slowly walking away. "Why is she's trapped in a cage in the top of Mouth Nevermore? Well… behold."

"JOSEPH CASTLEVINE! WILL YOU LET ME GO?" Her eyes we're like burning flames, her whole body was beautiful yet sinister, she was a spirit yet, I am amazed by her. She then holds the mask and put it on to hide her beautiful face, it was the same mask that the Black Queen wore just a few days ago. "My Sweet little Castlevine, you've finally seen my real form, go on hand me the key from your heart so I can free half of my soul!"

I was being controlled again, I didn't want to step close to her, but her power is too strong for me to handle, I took a step even if I didn't want to. I tried to prevent it but I just keep failing and failing.

"Bismillah!" from the corner of my eye I looked to the left to find Galileo Cross holding two swords at once. "We will never let you go, Beelzebub, be gone! You are the true reason for her acts, you are the reason why everything is pure chaos, and you've envy the royals, and tried to take over the innocent Black Queen since her own birth… Bismillah I command you to leave her dead heart and face me alone." Galileo's voice maybe full of falsetto, but he is something I would avoid if I were a lost spirit. He has a powerful voice similar to Larry, and his bravery is louder than a lions roar.

I gaze into the spirit of 'Beelzebub' and everything was made clear now.

"Joseph!" I heard a woman's voice from a far, it was also familiar but it caught my attention. "She put herself inside me; give me the freedom that I and my mama deserved." She said.

That voice… I've heard it somewhere in the Bohemian Rhapsody.

Who is she? Is she the voice in my head?

Was that the true Black Queen?

"Galileo Cross, you've figured it out huh!" She took a step and before I knew it, she was at his back, he tried to slash her of but due to her being a spirit it was no use.

Grave!

"What you mean Beelzebub? I always knew about it, I have been secretly watching you since… I knew that you are within the Black Queen's heart, hiding your true identity to an innocent girl, what a fool." Galileo Gazed into Grave and in a blink of an eye there was a fight between the two; however I couldn't see what's happening for their movements we're too fast, as if it was the speed of light.

Galileo Cross fought alongside Grave. Beelzebub, a demonic spirit of envy, is believed to have wandered the planet for millions of years, concealed in her own chamber. I'm Joseph Castlevine, a prophet's warrior and a poor boy, that no one loves. Witnessing something beyond what a genuine hero might have envisioned. I have no clue on what to do

I run towards the battlefield and I felt like bumping into something, I rolled over and saw her masked head, she then started laughing and in a blink of an eye she disappeared.

"Only the mother of the prophet, Mama Mia, can free me! But she's already dead!" I heard her, it feel like it was inside my head but I noticed Galileo Cross and Grave Looking up as if they also heard that voice.

"Well that's still a progress; take care of Joseph for me Cross." Grave coldly spoke about me as Galileo Cross nodded and puts his hands over my shoulder and gave me a smile. Grave vanished like thin air and he helped me walk outside the rotting body of the Black Queen.

"You've must be so confused huh." Galileo started. Does he know how to read minds? "'I'll tell you the story, hold on it might hurt a bit." He started to cast a small magic within his finger and it lit up, he then pokes it to my forehead and I quickly avoided it, but I felt his pressure countering my motion, and before I knew it, my mind was opened with something that I wasn't fully aware before. The prophet didn't told me about it.

Before the humans even became humans, spirits as been roaming around this island, one of the spirits was Beelzebub, she isn't a demon before, she had no knowledge about the good deeds and the bad deeds, she was just a spirit who enjoyed roaming around this land.  Alone and happy, until the clan of the Redstars entered the island, they were humans and did some rituals that eventually killed the spirit of Beelzebub. But particles of the spirit continued to live until she discovered life as an human after a billion years of being a small roaming particle.

She became a small kid, a small little girl who got the knowledge more about the world, but one day she died due to an accident, and since now she had two spirits form in one, the ancient and the kid, she became envying the life of the royals, she was afraid of the rituals before she became a human, and when she had the spirit of a human she found out that she's now immune to those ritual for her spirit is forged to an immune spirit.

She wanted to became an royal herself, and what she did made her happy, she murdered the royal family by trapping the spirit of the innocent baby from the womb of the mother into the free world, she then took the dead body of the innocent child and became the child herself. And when she was released in the womb, she had the knowledge of the world. The Black Queen, killed everyone… but really it wasn't the Black Queen, it was Beelzebub all along, Galileo knows the truth for he was walking on the alley ways of the house when they got murdered. He was an witness, but didn't know how exactly it happened. Now he is aware of everything.

When she got crowned as the Black Queen, her dreams finally become true, the main source of her power is still unknown, however she used me to manipulate the people but due to my own variants helping me to create and follow the true timeline, it failed and confused Beelzebub. She wanted to dig deeper into me, but feared the Prophet's punishments. The White Queens' isn't aware about Galileo's secrets for it would be boring for them to know the truth, he rather told me about it than his own group. He fears it might lose the team's creative mind-set, and so he can also experiment within our own group. Beelzebub is a demon that isn't a joke, the weakness is yet to find, but with the help of the prophet, my faith is already determined.

Beelzebub doesn't feel love, she doesn't need too, it was her fear. It isn't her weakness either. We haven't come to this far in the alternate universes of you Joseph we are still looking forward to what tomorrow may come with your presence. Grave is looking for the possible answer, we been secretly talking about it, Grave maybe cold but he understands the people's situation, and even him wanted this to end as soon as possible so he can rest in his island from the far lands. We also feel like without Beelzebub's own powers, we couldn't return the land in its original phase.

We don't have enough time left really, in about a month if the land remained the same, due to the pressure of the planet's core building heat pressure and lands drying up, everything would be exploded in a million pieces and not a single life would survive. Beelzebub must be stopped, yet we have to also manipulate her to restore the land. I have no idea how but I feel like Scaramouche would know.

I opened my eyes and saw the sky, it struck lighting and before I knew it I was with the White Queen's again, and they are carrying me as we enter the third island. The land where Valkyarie was born.

In a glimpse of my eye I saw her mask, traveling to the same direction as the wind.

***

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Operatic Section