Scepter of Thorns

The Masquerade of the Red Death.

He recalled the story. Somania had long since disappeared, and a gloved hand held a goblet filled with red liquid and handed it to him. The corner of its owner's mouth slightly curled: "No A glass?"

"I... Kyle." Edward took the wine glass, shook it, but did not drink it.

Kyle approached him, carefully tracing his facial features with his eyes: "You need a mask, El."

Without waiting for Edward to answer, he used light to condense a mask that was the same as his own and put it on his face.Edward felt the touch of silk slide over his cheeks, followed by a hard friction, and half of the white mask was stuck between his ears.

The light dimmed in an instant, and that hand wrapped around Edward's waist again, making him half lean against Kyle's arms, and Kyle whispered in his ears: "Follow me."

Edward pursed his lips, the dark blue under his eyes was as rough as the night sea.As a light mage, he could clearly sense that Kyle controlled all the lights in the ballroom. They are now in the blue ballroom at the easternmost end. Obviously, only the fire is outside the ballroom, and there is no lighting in the ballroom. But Kyle still gave birth to light out of thin air to gather on a high platform in the center.

How on earth did he do it?Without light, it means losing all controllable tools, and the mage's own power will be cut in half—"You are distracted, El."

The hot air was blowing in Edward's ears, he instinctively sensed the danger, so he quickly threw away those messy thoughts and focused on the high platform.

A man with a golden winged mask stepped onto the high platform, his hair was combed neatly, he wore a silver crown with large jewels on it, and a red cloak on his back, and he held up a scepter. Shut up.

"My dear, healthy, and merry thousand friends," he said in a strong voice, "welcome to the Masquerade. Do not worry, brave knights and fair ladies, the Red Death is borne by us. Close the door and let the outside world fend for itself!"

Cheers sounded from the crowd, Edward turned slightly and noticed Kyle's side face, his white mask looked like cold and hard porcelain in the dim light, only endless indifference and mockery.Kyle noticed Edward's gaze, lowered his head and explained: "'In a country where the Red Death was spreading, King Prospero led a thousand healthy and happy noble friends to hide in a monastery with abundant supplies, and welded the door latches dead. Keep the Red Death out.'”

Edward knew that he was reading the preface, so he nodded his head lightly to show that he understood.

"Throw away those damn things, let's party! No one will sleep tonight, let's put all our passion into the ball!" After the "King" announced the last sentence, the light projected on him disappeared, and he seemed to melt into the sea A drop of water melted into the atmosphere of the moment, and people could no longer see his shadow.

There are dancing crowds everywhere, and red wine and champagne are served in silver trays carried by angels.Edward was led around half-forced by Kyle.He vaguely guessed Kyle's destination, but when they actually came to the black ballroom, the empty dance hall still made Edward feel extraordinarily distorted.There seemed to be music and screams echoing in his ears, and the strange silence was as strange as coming from another world.

The ebony clock moved clumsily and slowly, making a friction sound of "cha, cha, cha".

The sonata of the cello gradually flowed, and the originally vague and low-pitched sound lines gradually became clear.There are also footprints of music all over here, from cautious at the beginning to more wanton, until it occupies Edward's hearing.

The cotton thread of the silver candlestick was suddenly ignited by the flame.

In the dim light, Kyle gracefully stretched out his right hand to him. The long black dress seemed to be restrained wings. The face under the mask was blurred by the light. Only the pair of blue pupils were like beasts, leaping forward The prey is inevitable.

"Why don't you play a song?" He said.

Edward lowered his eyes, and his slightly long eyelashes cast a small shadow.He drank all the liquid in the wine glass suddenly, his eyes were slightly drunk, and his pale lips were inevitably stained with a little scarlet, like a night clan sipping blood.

He took Kyle's palm and turned away his face: "Yes."

The deep cello sound was like weeping, breaking the stalemate between each other.The dim light is a kind of oppressive ambiguity, lingering on the delicate mask, making the white hypocrisy cover all the truth.In the empty ballroom, there are only two people tacitly sharing time and time together, seemingly intimate but inadvertently stretching the distance between souls further.

The fire burning outside the black ballroom reflected two intertwined figures. The scarlet glass cast a layer of gloomy coquettishness on them, like a feast for the devil in a nightmare, with gorgeous flowers blooming in flesh and blood.

Beauty is only a momentary illusion.

After putting on the mask, the very similar faces seem to be just the shadow of the other party. It seems that there is only one person dancing solo on the tip of the knife from the beginning to the end, and finally makes a sad curtain call.

Edward grabbed Kyle's hand tightly.He has long forgotten the flow of time, as if they have been repeating the same action meaninglessly, as if dancing just to confirm each other's existence.

The pointer points to "12".The ebony clock struck, all music stopped, people writhed and their dreams froze, and Edward woke with a start.

After zero o'clock, all the luxury of Cinderella will fade, and she takes her only remaining beauty and flees, while the high heels, which symbolize luxury and beauty, are left in the prince's lingering dream.

Beauty is only a momentary illusion.

Edward pushed Kyle away, his rigid body giving away his nervousness.The light was fragmented on the ground, and the darkness ruled the Seventh Ballroom with sovereign authority.

The ebony clock struck No. 12, and the drama took the stage.Edward stared at the door of the ballroom, trying to calm down.King Prospero's roar in the blue ballroom echoed clearly in the seven ballrooms, followed by the sound of footsteps. According to the script, the masked man dressed as the man with the red death ignored the king's anger and Solemn and deliberate steps pass through each ballroom.

King Prospero, "mad with rage," followed him hurriedly through the six ballrooms, to where Edward could see, and drew his dagger to kill him.But the masked man turned around suddenly, the king "screamed horribly", the dagger sank deep into the soft black velvet carpet in a flash, and fell to the ground "dead".

At this time, a few people in the merry-go-round "plucked up their courage" suddenly rushed into the black ballroom and grabbed the man—the masked man was still standing in the shadow of the ebony clock, with a faint light shining, It shines on the tall, upright, motionless figure.People "gailed with indescribable horror" and "discovered" that the shroud and the mortal mask which they had seized with such sudden force were empty and contained nothing.

Now people really feel the Red Death coming, sneaking in like a thief in the night.Pleasure-seekers fell one by one in their blood-seeking dance-hall, "die with the same despair as they fell."After the last pleasure-seeker "dies," the ebony clock disappears with it, and the flame on the tripod goes out.Dark, corrupt, "the Red Death reigns with irresistible power".

Edward watched all this indifferently and numbly, followed the crowd obediently and fell down, and then he saw the light brighten up, and the person who played the role of the Red Death was a blue-eyed woman with blond curly hair.He recognized it as Serones, the god of truth mentioned in the manual.Serones fell into Kyle's arms accurately, and Kyle smiled and hugged her, and disappeared in the ballroom. The yells of troublesome people were mixed with people talking about the end of the drama after getting up, Edward picked up the goblet that once held the red wine, turned around and left as a bystander.

It's like a ugly drama ending in absurdity.

The goblet, which symbolizes luxury and beauty, shattered in his hands, and was then crushed into powder to dance with the dust.The luxury has long faded, and the beauty is only an instant illusion.

----Chapter12. Illusion & End----

The author has something to say:

Note 1: The excerpts are enclosed in double quotation marks. Again, "The Masquerade of the Red Death" is used here as a script. The author only refers to Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masquerade of the Red Death", not the original author.