A Starstruck

The clouds in the sky had been eclipsing the sun for quite some time since the prince arrived in this town. No one remembered what had happened here since morning because the rumbling was louder than a lion's roar. But what they had recalled for today is that Great Stone had heard enough from the prince.

But the motion was set. As the news of the calamity spread across the town, everyone was nowhere from happy. Great Stone was the first to empty itself, but everyone will soon follow this inevitable message. The librarian and the cleric were not fazed by this news yet—not without an answer.

So they trailed over the stones and searched for the prince. It would soon be their part to share the news with others, informing them of the terrible disaster. Nobody shall be left with obliviousness towards their demise, even for the least deserved one.

"You two better prepare for the party." Eve mumbled at a group of girls, only to be ignored.

"Oh..."

"Hey, are you guys coming to that performance Dion is setting on?" Cyrus checked on the boys, who immediately looked surprised to see Cyrus.

"Cyrus? Oh, right! The show! Anything for free food, I guess!"

"Actually, I want to see the puppets. I heard it'll be human-looking, isn't it?"

"All I can hear is a red carpet on my foot!"

Their doubts wept the town in a greater darkness, far beyond the clouded sky and cold eve. With their quest done, they could hear fear chasing the innocents across the street. So the people, with the harsh acceptance, decided to walk along the librarian searching for the prince.

"Is this apocalypse?" asked Eve.

"Of course not. The apocalypse will not gather people in a place like this," Cyrus replies. 

"The apocalypse distances people from knowledge and spirituality. We are in an ideological experiment."

Marching together in a crowd of panic but calm, the librarian watched from a distance as one light stood indifferent to the storm. The others followed the light and realised the prince was waiting for them in the old theatre of this town, sheltering himself as well from the storm.

"I wonder what do these people thought when they bring a torch into the town." Cyrus holds onto Eve's hand, and so does Eve.

"It was cold here. I can't blame them..."

"Yeah, but why not just wear a lot? We looked like a witch-hunting march here."

He was no king to any mansion here. But he made it a home comforting enough to shelter thousands from the storm. He waited for many at this place so that he could discuss his plan for them. The others, including the librarian, wasted no time and rushed as fast as they could.

The people perched her eyes upward, watching the first story told by the sky with a grey tone. The sun was eclipsed behind the clouds, and darkness spread swiftly, plunging the world into a coldness.

"Yep. They are good as dead, I'm afraid." Eve mumbled.

"That man is full of himself," said Cyrus, "Can you even trust a voice like him?"

"Why not? Better than none right now." Ask the librarian with a tease.

There was a long debate between the librarian and the cleric about this event. None of them could agree to this idea, let alone one could believe a message from one man. But what's happened has happened, and it was inevitable to accept it. All they could do was move forward.

"That would be anyone who stood on this land but him. I mean, have you ever seen a man so disgraceful and ill-intent just by seeing their faces?"

"I've never heard such words come out of your tongue. What gives?"

"Nothing! Only an instinct! You seem more talkative than yesterday...what gives? Hm?" Cyrus swings his head away with embarrassment.

As each path unravels new thoughts, they stumble upon a new sight every second. A new people they have never seen travelling up to the hill to gather information with the others. They were panicked and terrified with the screams aloud, hoping to not be a part of this catastrophe. But when they tried seeking counsel with the prince, they were stopped at the door by the figure of a man with wood-like skin.

"What the? Who are these people?" Eve perched her eyes on the two men standing at the front. The crowd stops on the street for something.

"Hey! Where's the Carven guy?? Can't you see we need to go in!?" Cyrus yelled, but the only ones who responded were the citizens staring at him.

"Huh? W-what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"That's a doll, sir."

"A doll??" The two were shocked.

The man with wood-like skin stood in their way, keeping everyone from pushing forward with his angry face. He was guarding something precious inside. Something that would make everyone scream at the top of their lungs as they watched him naughtily holding them. His eyes were sharp as an eagle's sight, never to have lost their sights elsewhere. All except within his own shadow.

"Halt! You shall not pass!" Said the wood tauntingly, holding his right arm to the people. There was a man-like voice, but not coming from him.

"What? Why?"

"Because you are not going anywhere near this place! The wood commands—!"

*Speaker buzzing* "Ehem. Commands."

He was stoic and persistent, like a wall that could hold up a castle straight. But he had a sore jaw that he couldn't shut, and it was so big that it could cover a human under. The first storm had grown him a pain—one which he was enraged to have. So, instead of helping others, he wanted them to suffer alongside him.

"We also wanted to go in!"

"Let us in!"

"Why can't we go in??"

"Please, we've bought this ticket fair and square! My sons hadn't eaten for days!"

"Uhm..."

"We'll go in one way or another. And there was a way over there..." Eve pointed.

"Are you sure about this? Not that I'm complaining, but..."

But the woodman was not clever and keen under his swollen jaw, so the librarian took the opportunity to travel under, where the man couldn't catch even a strand of her hair. Slippery as a feather, not even a sound was made between his wooden hips that sat still like an arch.

"You better keep it quiet. I can't walk past in with you going onto their heads. The woodman's head." Eve crawls through the wooden puppet with ease, but not Cyrus.

"Quiet? We can't just put our foot inside without their permission. Not that I was afraid of that man's authority or anything." Cyrus denies it, putting his foot hesitantly to the theatre but struggling to enter without making attention to himself.

"Hey, Cyrus! What are you doing over there?"

"Cyrus! Get over here!"

"Uh oh..." Cyrus panicked.

*Creak* *Creak* *Creak* The woodman hits him on the head.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

"Come on! Get over here..." Eve pulled him off to the other side before the others could catch him.

The librarian reached the prince before anyone else, welcomed by a very different tone of wood. Somehow, the theatre was nothing then she had remembered, but she could feel the stage shining around the red-painted walls. That's how she knew the prince was here, laying his foot on a place so old yet sumptuous of red and woods.

"What is this place?" She asked.

"I don't know. It looks awful." Cyrus mumbled.

"Let's just put our ticket first, shall we?"

"You got me." The two puts their ticket on an empty counter.

*Creak*

The two entered the theatre by the main door, where a source of creaking sound came faintly from the door before them. They find an empty stage—much as expected.

"Uh oh...looks like we're on a perfect timing for a teaser." Eve whispers.

Dion was seen setting the stage with a few puppets on a string. The background, the players, and the atmosphere were set on a medieval castle theme.

"I suppose we didn't have anything else to do but waiting?"

The librarian was lost in the darkness of a stage, only to find a light guiding her towards three men on the grass plain. Each of these men dresses, expresses and glances at her differently from left to right. But they were all the same—same in clothing and stance. The only thing that keeps them different is what lies on their head—either mind or hair. The librarian thought it was him.

"Uhm, I think we need to go. They just caught up to us, Cyrus..." Eve stands awkwardly, ready to leave.

"A puppet." Cyrus peeked twice at them.

"Ooh..."

She approaches the puppets, waving her hands to see if they are one.

She taps the middle puppet with her finger, which releases a deep creaking made from an empty shell.

"This one is terribly fragile with all that space inside."

She taps the left puppet with her finger, which hurts her finger because of the thick skull.

"This one definitely needs to cool his head off."

She taps the right puppet with her finger, which makes the faintest, least noticeable sound to her ears.

"This one's no good for a show."

"I'm afraid these puppets might have needed more makeup than my mom would ever have."

But then, in that very same stage she was in, she could feel a presence lurking behind the red curtains. The air felt more tense, as if an eye was watching her. Then, the one and only prince shows up on the stage, coming to her with a least surprised face. He knew she was coming, and yet he was waiting.

*Faint* "Then you would better know that these aren't decorations for your meaningless criticism, young lady."

Dion stood tall behind Eve, covering nearly her head with his. Surprisingly, he had seemed to find her first before Cyrus.

The prince sat on his golden-plated chair while sipping a glass of wine, waiting for the librarian to join him on this feast, knowing what guided her into his domain. But he was surprised to see only she who came here alone, knowing nobody would notice his freshly picked attire but her.

"Let me guess, young lads. Were you looking after the party, too?" Dion cleans the dust off of his body.

"No!" Cyrus yelled.

"Obviously! Why else would we buy that ticket for you? But, I hope I didn't get you in temper for tampering your little friend out here..."

"No need. You'll make a fine friend with them. Right, guys?"

Dion offered the two a chair on his feast table. The two sat alongside in compliance.

"Please. Have a seat. Don't make me drink with my guests standing. It's rude..."

The librarian took a few treats for herself, from bread to drink—watching the storm building upon her head. But she was almost a fool who gazed into the treat until the determination was loose in her head like a snake whispering to the apple. But she resisted. And so she tried with the prince whose face was low.

"Sorry that I have to intervene. But it appears that you two were coming way too early to be my audience here..."

"I suppose you've come for another reason. Otherwise, you wouldn't pass my fortification so easily."

"Oh, don't mind us. We're just that tough for a party we didn't know." Eve sips on his wine. But Cyrus chooses not to.

"You didn't? Poor you...I've been inviting everyone here since two days ago before I arrived on this town. I was hoping you were one of the nobles around here..."

"But, I'll give you a chance to speak with someone high and majestic like me because you deserve it. If it means I could get to know this town better, then I'm free until the party is started."

"Then you wouldn't mind if Eve and I could ask something of an importance with you, right?" Cyrus intervenes.

"What was it? Spill the question, folks."

"Who are you? And why are you here?" Cyrus threatens.

Dion stops his drink and leans to the right to see Cyrus clearly.

The prince freezes, looking at the ceiling as he watches the clouds grow numb from the sun. Wines after wines, it took him a few minutes to sober from the effect. He was as afraid as the librarian, trying to quench it with a wine. But after hearing the librarian's plea, he became aware of her quest.

"Oh, you really didn't know me? At all?" Dion stares confused and vexed.

"Not even a second. Now spill it out." Cyrus slams the table.

"Why is your face looking that frowned? Are you not happy to see your saviour here?"

"Our savior?" The two pauses.

Dion opens a long scroll on the table, which has 'Carven' in the first sentence of the paragraph.

"You never heard of me before? Carven is a big name around Europe. And I am rightfully here to turn the world into a better place starting from this one."

"Why?"

"Well, what else? Poor infrastructure, governance, politics, and economy? Don't you see that? I came here for a reason, too."

"I am a family of a well-known and wealthy one. I can turn a land into a paradise in just a touch if I wanted to. I am Carven, the long-lasting European blood that has lasted for like—centuries." Dion introduces himself calmly.

"It is my right to shape this land the way I wanted to. And I promise to your people that I'll gave them paradise. And so I did..."

"All alone." Dion stares tauntingly at the two.

The man showed her his plan through a scroll he had written before his arrival. His plan was a mad reach, trying to tame the storm into his bidding. The prince believes this raging disaster can only be stopped by confrontation, not escapade. But how can he say that clearly towards the librarian with such a face?

Cyrus laughs at Dion with a taunting face, turning his smile into a slight rage.

"You mean you're planning to turn this whole place into your domain? You alone? That's a lot of self-pampering or what we called now as glazing, bozo."

"Yeah, I think I've heard enough. Maybe I should have returned to my library anyone done my jobs as a librarian and not listening to a madman's plan." Eve commented with a smirk.

"Great Stone library? I'm afraid that rusty place would have to end its time today."

"Whatever. Not that I—wait, what?" Eve sat frozen.

"The Great Stone library is not a perfect place for this district. Besides, who goes there anymore? That library holds nothing but cheap side of this town's history."

"But none of you even need anything valuable from that, right? It had to be renewed when I'm done with this theatre by Wednesday. Someone needs to make a new storage for their wooden friends after that."

The man had been waiting inside this warm, cosy theatre with every resource he could make to capture the storm. He believes that upon its very submission, the storm will irrigate and save the town, but only if they manage to pull it out.

"What??" Eve yelled angrily. Cyrus was terrified, and Dion was confused.

A man barges in with a baton and a bruised face.

"Mr. Carven! The people are waiting on the theatre! We need to be hurry!" "Oh, they did? My, my...and here I thought there would be more people like you on the table—listening on my story instead of lavishing around like a pig."

"Uhm, aren't you just eat a ham and a wine on a table with only you?" Cyrus snaps him with some reality check. It is ineffective.

"Nope. And what about you, girl? How do you feel about that idea right now?"

Dion stared at her with a malicious smile, but she was still looking down at her unfinished bread with disgust.

"I don't know. I think I'm about to puke..."

From the other side of this room, the people had arrived at the theatre earlier than Dion had expected. They were chanting his name and waiting for him to open the door, but a few of Dion's men held them back.

"My, my, my..." Dion mumbled.

"It appears everyone had come to the party. Say, why don't you hide there and pretend this never happened? So that people didn't suspect anything about you two?"

"*Sigh* I knew this would have happened. Come on, Eve!"

Eve was silenced. She still ponders with those words from Dion.

When the curtains were lifted, the librarian sat speechless at the revelation. The prince's plan for the calamity was utterly a spout of madness. Rather than saving the lives of innocents, the lives were planned to be sacrificed to usher the clouds off.

But she did not want to be a part of this. She wished to save herself in her own way, far from this island, before the calamity occurred without wasting time. So she left with a long face, leaving the stage and the people at their mumbling before they could corrupt her too.

"Oh...I see..." Eve muttered. Her tone is unheard, even the cleric.

"Good for them, I guess..."

"Good. Good...good..."

"I really had to be haste by now. Really, really be haste..."

"I wouldn't have anything in this town to continue anymore. Nothing..."

She held tightly to her pen and saw a pile of cans sitting before her, left to be cornered in darkness just like her. But all the cans were empty with drops of red paint, leaving the trash to be nothing but scraps on the theatre.

"What is this?" She thought as she saw a rust between the paint cans.

"Who had left these trashes all over the place?"

*Crank* *Crank* *Crank*

"Huh...?"

Then, there's a light coming from the back. A sun opens a door for her, leading to a distant sight from the west side of the Great Stone. But something caught her eye with a twist. Something that isn't a human or wood.

Streets are littered with cans, and someone was seemingly too reckless to care about keeping the environment clean. Yet despite everything he could take on his way out, he chooses the can. His greed for an alloy can be seen in how far the trail lasted for the librarian to tail on.

"I knew we shouldn't trust this guy. Glad we're getting that out of our head. Right, Eve?" Cyrus smiles for her.

"Eve? Eve?"

Eve left Cyrus in the theatre, following the trail of tins on the ground.

"Sorry, Cyrus. This had to be done."

"A Tin Man is waiting for me."

The librarian followed the trail from the back of the theatre, passing through empty houses where the tins lured her into the far west, where she had never been this far throughout her life. The air grew warmer as if the ground was descending, and as she reached the gate bordering the town and the unknown, she bravely traversed through the arch named the Great Stone.

"I've never been here before. I didn't even know there's an arch here..." Eve looked forward upon her leave from the town.

"Maybe I should've learn to start traveling more."

"But what is this place? Why is it all—stony?"

She hears a whisper coming from the distance where the cans are hiding. Throughout the houses of the people, until it was a barren land with nothing but minerals, the trail guided her into a cave dark and lost, followed by a salty smell of rust and ocean. But from that darkness, there was a sound of water.

"A beach? Around this town?" She asks herself.

"Why would there be a beach here and not on the north?"

Bracing herself through the hollow cave, she let the ocean whisper to her ears as her trail, from which they were echoing on the other side. But she could never forget the scattering alloys across her path guiding her in the same lane as the coastly voice.

The cave was an enormous structure for her, which was hard to navigate without a light. But she can feel the stalactite sharpening on the ground like a pillar, and each drawing her away from the light. Luckily, she could recall the shapes and heights with only a touch.

"Woah, I think I shouldn't be here."

"But that's the excitement I wanted to hear! Now, what couldn't I do here myself?"

"I hope I don't get a cave fever..."

The taller the stalactite, the further down she went from where she started. It was as if she were heading downhill to the coast herself, and much to her shock, the trails were also waiting for her by the end of the cave.

*Sniffing* "What is that smell? Salt?"

"Wait, am I heading to a coast right now?"

"The tin cans trail was heading there, too. Maybe there's a party around here..."

"Better than anything inside. I guess..."

On the other side lies a warm and sandy coast with a view that hadn't yet been struck by the calamity. An ocean so free and lively that it feels like coming from another world. And on that same coast lies an abandoned house made of metals and tin cans she had been trailed.

She reached into the abandoned-looking house, unaware of what awaited on the other side of the door. The house looks old, rusty, and perfect for someone like her to live happily, if it wasn't for the calamity to strike. But when the librarian had the knob on her grip, she felt an ominous energy flowing through her, as if something of a beast waiting aside.

"Oh, I can feel it. I feel something malicious waiting...I just knew it..." Eve whispers to herself.

"You want to scare me, beast? Go ahead and try out."

She was frightened but kept her eyes on the door as she braced inside. Humans or not, the librarian is willing to seek the truth if it is an answer closer to anything but madness. Her grip on the knob loosened as she opened the door slowly without making a sound.

"Don't speak. Don't speak. That is not what we wanted here..." She thought. Her legs trembled with each step closer.

"Every explorer biggest mistake is to call the beast."

"How many cans does this person have? And what was he doing with it?"

Everything inside the house is made of tin, from the floor to the ceiling and walls to windows. Just as the trail ended here, the librarian found the missing cans being used to paint over an unfinished wall. But it wasn't as surprising as she found out that the house wasn't truly left out.

"Eh?" Eve glances forward.

Someone is inside this house, leaving too much smoke from the kitchen. The smell of just-cooked bread and fresh milk meant someone was busy satiating themselves. The librarian was just in time to discover the man in his house, tip-toeing into his kitchen with something sharp to fend herself off.

"That sure smells like a bread. But how can someone make a loaf of bread in this stupid bucket?"

"But it smells good too."

But when she reached the kitchen, following the aroma of that bread, she wasn't expecting the man himself to be there preparing for the storm as well. Yet, unlike any others, there was something off about him that she couldn't take from her eyes, something that was made out of a tin.

A man made out of tin. A Tin Man.

"Now who is this—Tin Man?" Eve froze.

"Dududududu—du?" The Tin Man froze.