Chapter 14: Machine of Cosmic Design
In the catacomb cavern, headquarters of the Thieves Guild, Melrod sat at a table with some of his colleagues. The episode of confrontation between him and Dante was still a fresh wound in his mind, though the physical one had long healed over. The grief and pain was still thickly present in the atmosphere.
"Look at what Seven has done to those you love. He abandoned all of you, to pursue something else. He used you as a stepping stone." The shadowed voice continued to harass Melrod at every turn.
"You don't know Seven like I do. He was taken." Melrod dismissed the voice, even though he spoke aloud, no one paid him any mind.
"If he was taken against his will, he'd have returned by now. So why is he still gone?" The voice giggled, the fact was that this was something Melrod had already considered, but refused to acknowledge.
"I– I don't know, but it's gotta be important… right?" Melrod hesitated, he had no answer for the question given. Melrod's face was full of despair and hopelessness, the older sub-leaders noticed this, they got up from their table and approached Melrod.
"Hey bud, how are you holding?" Fred asked as the two sat down. Fred was a greying red haired gentleman with a full beard trimmed and angled elegantly. He was a conman who brought in a third of the guilds revenue.
"This must be destroying you more than any of us will ever know, but we're here to listen." Sam stated, his well cut, low faded blonde hair had white streaked through it, his role was an informant within the militia.
"He's– yeah. It is." Melrod stopped himself from saying he wasn't dead, but knowing they would give him that detestable look of sympathy made him simply agree.
"Hey, you know what would help everyone including you. Singing one of those songs of yours." Sam slapped the table with a huge smile.
"Yeah! Why don't you sing for us, Mel. It's been awhile, get the rust off those cords for us. Get those emotions out." Fred seconded the motion.
"Not today guys. Let me be for a bit." Melrod shook his head, declining the idea.
"Fools, using you to drown their fake sorrow. Just like Seven used you for his own gains." The voice interjected.
"Mel, why be so alone? You have everyone here, just let us help. Sing it out bud." Sam gave the look, that disgusting look of sympathy that had no real understanding behind it.
"See? Even now they only think of themselves. Did Seven think of you when he took off to that detestable elven village?" The voice was slowly breaking through to Melrod.
"Guys, please– just, stop." Melrod held his head, trying to silence the voice.
"We can't, Mel. It'd be wrong to let you wallow in despair by yourself. If you just sing like you used to, I'm sure you'll feel tons better, and so would everyone else." Fred continued to push the subject, as if it were inevitable and Melrod was simply delaying fate.
"Yes, Mel. Sing for these self centered hypocrites. Show them what it really means to despair. Seven isn't coming back, they only care for themselves, so sing your truth." Even the voice began to agree with the idea proposed.
"Please, just let me be! I w– I can't sing right now." Melrod covered his ears, his hands trembled, his thoughts darkened. Did Seven even care to come back? This would all be solved if Seven would just walk into the cavern and tell everyone he was alright. The only light that was dimly lit in Melrod's void.
"Mel, I understand kiddo. You're breaking in ways you don't want to, but if you face them alone, it only gets darker." Fred intended to comfort Melrod, but instead it only made him angrier.
"How would they know? You know Seven lives, yet he remains away. He knows that this misunderstanding is in motion, yet he feigns ignorance. He could have even sent a letter, but the proof remains unwritten. Sing Melrod. Sing with your soul." The voice dug its sharp talons deep within Melrod's thoughts. It was right. Seven never wrote, didn't bother coming back just to say he's okay. He could have come back, then gone on his journey. At least everyone would know and understand.
Melrod's hands stopped shaking, and he looked up with broken yet resolved eyes. He stood up, Fred and Sam grinned widely.
"Okay, I'll sing an original song for you then." Melrod's voice sounded hollow, distant, as if spoken in a rusting sewer tunnel, but no one noticed it, no recoil, no confusion, just empty smiles of victory.
"Awesome! Hey, Everyone! Mel's gonna sing for us!" Sam exclaimed excitedly then announced it to the guild members. Cheers and applause erupted as Melrod made his way to the stage. Some members jumped up and grabbed instruments. Two guitarists, a drummer, a bassist, two female backups for harmonizing choir vocals, and an electric keyboard player. Melrod grabbed the mic, looked at the band and nodded.
The key board player played a slow intro, a guitarist strummed to match the tempo.
"Machine of Cosmic Design
The choice was never mine
Told myself I was fine--
Ignoring that I was still at the starting line." Melrod began the song, emotion was thickly layered, his pace matching tempo. Drums entered mid way, as did the bass and other guitar. The sound was mellow yet dramatic.
"I carry the static of your echo.
You rise through the clouds while I'm left below
I reach ahead, wishing I could follow—
I call out your name, but the sound comes hollow." Shadows began creeping on stage, unnoticed by the crowd,.whose focus was intensely on Melrod's words.
"The silence breaks open—I can't resist.
My shadow grows long, wrapped tight in its twist.
I search through the wreckage of all I've missed—
A fate I inherited, not one I wished." The shadows swirled under the band, wrapping around them. The emotion was thicker, tangible enough to choke the breath of all present.
"Voice in the black
Pulls me back Pulls me back
It whispers low, it whispers slow
It calls my name (and oh I must know)." Melrod's eyes became smokey with a dull ember glow, the band picked up tempo, their eyes matching Melrod's. His voice was grittier, fueled by apparent despair and spiraling anger. Melrod's mom stood up, something was off.
"He is the ashes in the flame
He is the one you cannot name
No light left in his hollow shell
He is the whisper
He is my hell." The chorus erupted, the backup singers harmonized eerily with a dramatic flair, the guitars seemed to glitch in the amplifiers. The shadows began to drip off stage like oily sludge. The lights dimmed everywhere except above the stage. Everyone was instantly entranced, their eyes slowly dulled and gained the same ember glow.
"Someone needs to get him off stage! Something is terribly wrong!" Melrod's mom grabbed Fred's arm, but he looked at her with those ember eyes, sending terrifying chills through her body. He shoved her off, and walked forward with the rest of the crowd.
"Screaming my pain, lost to the winds of my infernal typhoons,
Abandoned beneath these sadistic moons.
A ghost of home behind my screams—
Your static rips apart my seams
Darkness calls me like a hymn;
Cracked reflection in the mirror grins—
I will fall within." The song became glitchy in a catchy way, adding to the atmosphere. A zero tore itself on Melrod's left forearm, his ember eyes burned brightly within his smokey irises. His voice bled pain and abandonment. The floor felt sticky and thick as the shadows climbed up and into the ears of the crowd.
"Why did you leave me
Answer this now
Why did you leave me
Teach me how
Why did you leave me
Why am I still here
Why did you leave me
I will feed on your fear." Melrod's voice slowly started to drip with rage. The drums became louder, heavier. The tempo increased, the vocals became a haunting backdrop. Melrod's mom watched in horror, but the shadows too consumed even her. She stood, mesmerized, feelings of anger, abandonment and rage overtook her thoughts.
"Shadowed voice, the truth in a sea of lies
Fuck you all, I'm cutting these ties
Used me for a means to an end
My new will is one that won't bend
I've chosen my fate
Don't try and save me now, It's too late
Shadows power my desire, this new thrill
In my mind, it will be you who I shall kill." This came as a confession, a statement of inevitability. The glitching was now harmonic, perfectly musical in its own right. Fights, crying, screaming erupted in chaotic disorganization amongst the crowd. Emotion and dread filled the air with a hot humid stillness.
"I am the ashes in the flame
I am the one you shall not name
No light left in this hollow shell
I am the whisper
I am your hell." The end of the song, but the beginning of something beyond understanding. The band faded the song out before breaking the instruments and fighting each other. Melrod left the stage and left the chaos of the cavern behind him. None of them meant anything to him anymore. He was alone, and vengeful.