Harker snapped back to his reality, the one where he was trying to expel all the black worms in his body. He retched and vomited them out.
"What the... How is that possible.... Blank is still alive, and so was his village, but...."
But the memory he saw was clear. The village had succumbed to the wendigos a long time ago already.
So how was it possible that he had met the two brothers? That was also a very clear memory, and he wasn't the only one who saw them. There was Professor Seward and the bodyguards, unless….
Unless, of course, they weren't real as well.
Harker gripped his head, shaking wildly. No, that's not possible! They were real, they had existed before getting into the mountains.
So that means the memories he had that could not have been real started upon reaching the mountain. Yes, that's it. After all, how could it snow in the middle of summer? Even if they did say it was the wendigos fault…..
But that wouldn't explain how he gained the wendigo skill either.
Yan. Yan could be his anchor. Yan was always by his side, and that eyeball always knew what was true or not.
"Yan!" He called out.
He did hear a response, but it was vague. He can't tell where it was, it seemed to be someone shouting his name in all directions.
Could it be that he was still dreaming, and Yan was trying to wake him up? Yes, that would explain it better. The hallucinations began after going to sleep. Everything else before that….
No, no, no! It circles to the start again, because if everything before going to sleep was real, then what about Blank and Ahanu?
His head was pounding, and all sorts of sounds were buzzing through his ear. It was the same as when he tried to gain information on who had the Shards and where to find them. But instead of just random information, this was much worse because they were voices with emotions bleeding into them. Bleeding into Harker's own.
Emotions of other people's pain, anguish, anger, remorse, loneliness, guilt, ecstasy, hunger.... They fight for dominance on his own brain, an eternal tug of war.
The harder Harker tried to fight them back, the more insane he felt. The screaming just got louder, and he can't tell the truth from lies anymore, his own thoughts and others, and even past from present.
One moment, he was born into this world, then the next he was baptized even though he was clearly not part of any religion. Then, he was an army soldier fighting on the battlefield with one eye shot. The next he was an old seamstress from the Cree tribe who wove a cloth with a star pattern. And then…..
He was nothing but a wild animal, completely famished and only living to have something to eat.
He sniffed about on all fours, trying to find some flesh to sink his teeth into. He then found someone hiding behind the trees. He rushed to pounce on this prey.
It was Ahanu, just laughing as he grabbed him with his clawed fingers.
"Everyone has been waiting for you, Sir." He spoke English perfectly, with a rather posh British accent. "The tea party is starting. The tea and crumpets would get cold if we don't move fast."
Harker's eyes cleared a little, blinking. He doesn't even remember why he was holding Ahanu in the first place. Not because his memory had been wiped clean, but because it was so crowded. He just followed the boy in a daze, who offered his small delicate hand to him.
He was brought into a clearing by a creek. This clearing looked familiar.
There was a table set there, with numerous tiny little pastries in silver platters and porcelain tea cups. The table cloth was white as snow, and the only design in the middle was a round circle of webs.
Like a dreamcatcher.
As for the guests of this tea party...
"Welcome." Blank was sitting there, with navy captain clothes and a black hat. It had a fancy little red belt with a buckle on it. "We have been expecting you, good lad."
Joan was also there, dressed in nothing but a dress made of sheepskin and some fur. They were tribal clothes and she had marks around her body. One of them, around her shoulder, reminded Harker of the phases of the moon, but there were 13 of them in a circle.
But he can't actually remember their names, or who they were. Not at this moment. He was simply there, a walking empty shell that observes things.
He felt so small, sitting on a chair and joining them on that table. Not because he physically was, since he could reach everything just fine. But he still felt like a child among adults, or a hare among a group of wolves, tigers, and hyenas.
Blank poured him so hot black tea, steam rising out to tickle his chin with warm air.
"Matthew Chapter 8 verse 28 to Chapter 9 verse 1. Mark Chapter 5 verse 1 to 21. Luke Chapter 8 verse 26 to 40." He smiled while serving Harker. "I assume you do not know what those names mean, or those numbers? You are a non-believer after all."
Harker only picked up the tea, and took a sip. It burned his tongue. Yet he kept drinking anyway, desperate to taste anything on his lips.
He looked at his plate, as a cherry pie appeared. The crimson filling was oozing like blood in a newly-opened wound. They stained the plates, and those crushed cherries looked so delicious that despite looking impolite, Harker just wanted to eat them with only his mouth. Wolf them up.
"What is your name? Jesus asked the man." Blank spoke as he sat back on his chair in such a graceful manner that it could almost be described as pretentious. "And the man replied. 'Our name is Legion, for we are many.'"
He turned to Joan, who was picking on her cherry pie with her own fingers, not a fork.
Blank continued. "I would often share this Gospel while acknowledging that there are differences in the accounts of the three. God is in the details, they said. Two mentioned Legion's name, but Matthew did not. Matthew said that there were two possessed men, but the others only said one. Does that mean Matthew was the liar?"
"No, of course not. It was simply a different account of what he knows. His was limited compared to the other two, being the shorter one after all. You could say that Matthew did not lie, he was just….."
He clicked his finger over Harker's face, who jolted. His saliva was dripping onto the food, and yet he still did not touch it.
"Confused." Blank picked up Harker's plate….
And handed it to Joan.
Joan tried to grab the slice of cherry pie with her bare hands, and the filling now dripped over her fingers and her clothes.
"When you are hungry, my son, you must eat. When you are confused, you must ask questions." He tilted his head. "And when you want something, you must take it."
He whispered softly to Harker's ear. "Unless, of course, you were told not to do so. As children, we were scolded for breaking the rules. As we grow older, we fear authority, no matter what they may be."
He placed his hat over Harker's head, and his voice seemed to grow distant.
"But what if there was no one to watch you, all alone with your desires…."
The tea party vanished, and there was only darkness. In the darkness, Harker could still see clearly….
And laying in front of him was Joan. She was naked, and her limbs were spread wide apart like the Vitruvian man. And she lay there still, all for Harker's taking.
He lowered himself, crawling slowly while still drooling. There was no one to stop him. He can do whatever he wants, eat whatever he wants, believe whatever he wants.
No more questioning what was right or wrong, true or false. There was no use for his mind. Only his body gets to decide.
He opened his mouth wide.
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