The Partisan Chronicles [Dystopia | Supernatural | Mystery]

Riz

It wasn't what I was expecting. One second It was a heavy presence, and the next, It reminded me of the first time I met Sebastian Vonsinfonie, back when he was still Vincent. Like his appearance did at the time, It kept changing before my eyes. One moment I stared at a ghostly reflection of my mother with her exact same smile—the same as mine. And then Drei, and then Ever. I wasn't fooled, but I didn't like it. Around us, time was still standing. There wasn't even a breeze.

"Hey," I said. "I'm Riz. Or Matteus. Matt, if you like. And who, or what, are you?"

Dead? Not dead? I still wasn't sure. What if when you die you just dream? What if I was dead-dreaming? Maybe there was an afterlife and I was in it? Though I was hoping for something with a better atmosphere.

It looked unimpressed with my introduction.

It looked like me now.

"We're not dead," It said. Its mouth—my mouth—didn't move. Whenever It spoke, I didn't even hear It—I just felt It.

"Great," I replied. What to say, what to say. "Thank you for answering my call."

I watched as It burst into blue flames and dissolved into a puddle, expanding until a layer of thin ice cracked beneath my feet. It formed again behind me. You really can't help but feel It. When I turned around, It looked like Ever again.

"Looking for me, TSB?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Don't bother," It replied. "You can't come. You don't belong."

It sounded just like her, you know, with that sexy, sleepy Strachan accent.

"Then I'll get you out," I answered, but what was I saying? It wasn't Ever.

It dissolved again, a reflection forming in the surface of the ice in front of me. It showed Ever, wearing her hat, and sitting with—wait, was that Zacharias Vonsinfonie? She was looking at him, and this time, the reflection's mouth moved when It said, "I like it here."

"No, you don't," I replied. "You look miserable."

The ice cracked and dissolved, and It formed into an eccentric gentleman with a top hat. "She is Evergloom, after all. No more, no less, and forevermore."

"No, that's not all she is. I've seen her happy. She's not happy there. I can tell. And what's this all about? Did I upset you somehow? I just want to find my girlfriend."

It looked like me again. "Look at us, Fizzy Rizzy, awakening forces beyond our wildest comprehension to… find our girlfriend," It said, and then It was Drei. "You can't go to where she is, Riz. It was never meant to take her until she played the song."

"Who was it meant to take?"

"The Brothers."

"Why?"

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It shattered into a thousand pieces, flying in my direction. I covered my eyes with my arm, and reflected the shards of ice backwards with a gust of wind.

It became that heavy presence again. It was everything and It was nothing—I know, it sounds crazy, but it's the only way I can honestly explain It. What it might have looked like to anyone else walking up on the scene: I was standing in a ruined clearing talking to myself. But time was still stopped, and whatever It was, It was inside me now.

What will he sacrifice to travel the space between the living and the dead?

"I don't know—first, tell me what you are," I said.

The last of my kind.

"And why do you want the Brothers?"

Because they are the reason I am the last of my kind.

"So, you want revenge?"

I want them to fix it.

"What does that mean, fix it?"

To reunite them with a time before they destroyed the world. To do it all over again.

"I don't understand."

You will.

And then I really, really did. It was the strangest thing, like an injection of knowledge that felt like it had always been there. So it didn't come as a shock, but it was just… inevitable, as Drei would say. I knew all about the Vonsinfonies and what happened to their troupe. The sickness. Sebastian. It all made sense now.

"So you helped them make the elixir," I said.

Yes.

"I understand why you're upset if you think they're the reason your secret got out, but you can't do that. If you take it back, then none of us will exist."

For all of you to exist only one of us can exist, whom should it be?

"Okay, that's a valid position—sort of—but you're all already not existing, we're all already existing. I don't think you win this one. Besides, my friends and I will just make sure the brothers never come out here, and then I guess your plan is bust."

And then I guess you will never see her again.

"Actually, why can't you go get them yourself?"

I am bound.

"That must be boring."

Yes.

"And you're all alone."

Yes.

"What about the ghosts?"

I am the ghosts.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm sorry—uh, you. That's a long time to just be wandering around out here by yourself. I don't mind so much, being alone, but then occasionally I do, so…"

It was quiet. Was it working? Or maybe I needed a new angle.

"It's not her fault," I said. "That she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, knew the song, and happened to have her violin with her. Can you please just send Ever back out here and we'll figure out the rest together?"

What will you sacrifice to be with her again?

"Anything. It sounds dumb, maybe, but yeah—I'll be dumb. I don't care. I'd do anything to be with her again. I need to know she's safe."

Why?

"Because her life's only just starting. She's been stuck, and she was getting unstuck, and now she's going to be stuck again. I can't let that happen to her."

Very well.

"So, you'll get her?"

It was quiet. And didn't It say something about—

If the pain I'd felt earlier was bad, back when I consumed that flame-tornado, what was happening to me in that moment was—I don't know, there really aren't any words. I even asked Drei, and he shrugged and said I should focus on retelling the story and not get too caught up in things like that. Anyway, yeah. I thought I was dying before…

Whatever It did to me was a thousand times worse.

And then, just when I thought I'd reached the fatal limit of pain and physical impossibility, it did, actually, kill me.

Yeah, I died. It all happened pretty fast.