S&M Post Apocalypse

To the disappointment of the anxious audiences, there is no fear in Meph’s eyes. The heart trembling knocks and the voice filled with evilness only managed to pull his attention to the door. Nothing else.Meph was born with alexithymia. A rare disease even before the Magic Age. To simply put, he can’t feel any emotions. And fear, among other emotions, is a important part of human mechanism of self-protection. As much as his mom tried to teach him, Meph gets into all kinds of trouble because he doesn’t know when to back off.Run when the hair on your arm stand up. That’s one of the many survival lessons she taught Meph. But she is no longer in the picture. She left him alone in this merciless, post apocalypse world.At least he won’t suffer the trembling fear when death knocks.Standing calmly in front of the door, Meph waits, an arm’s length away from the malicious voice.Rule number one of the Soul Trial: Everything can be a trial.A question. A conversation. Anything. And just like

Gritting his teeth, Meph finished the job anyway.With the last gear falling into the correct location, the lock flings open with a slight click. At that one tiny sound, everything falls into absolute silence. The shaking of the door. The rabbit’s frantic shouting. The icy wind twirling in the room. Meph would believe the storm that almost took down the door was all but a dream, if it wasn’t for the very real pain that’s still burning his wrist.Never has he been so grateful for having alexithymia, if he could feel what grateful is—Sudden pain. That’s the real test. Not the question. A harmless shadow suddenly starts to burn would panic anyone. Anyone but Meph. He could feel pain, but his brain won’t shut down at it. He won’t lose focus or train of thoughts to fear, pain, or any old trick the trail knows.He WILL complete the trail. He was born for it, he knew.The rabbit is waiting right outside the door. He must be. Just like the first time. And now with the little golden lock drop

“How would you know if I’m Alice or not?” Figured out the puzzle real answer, Meph retorts calmly.The game is never about finding Alice. It’s about finding out that she died. But the Queen wanted Alice alive, so the hero needs to take her place. No matter what happens when they meet the Queen, this is the only way out of the current situation.Somehow, the rabbit’s skeleton face manages to deliver “frustration” without a shred of flesh left, at Meph childishly twisting facts.“You don’t look like her!” The dead rabbit is now showing human emotions, cornered by Meph’s ridiculous logic, pointing one of his skeleton finger at the posters.Human emotions is Meph’s specialty.Born an emotionless monster, Meph has spent his whole life learning what “normal human experience” is. You laugh when you are happy, and cry when you are sad. Such common knowledge that come natural to all kids, is hard for Meph to grasp more than any subjects in the school. He understands what insult is, but he can

“Wait, wait, wait! I think the snake is gone!” Meph shouts, “flying” in the air like a flag the rabbit is dragging behind him.The rabbit ignores him.“I can’t keep up! I need to rest!” Watching the castle’s flag approaching him at a scary speed, Meph starts shouting, “I need to pee! I will pee like this if you don’t let go of me!”The rabbit finally stopped. Meph grabs onto the tree with his hand, feeling like throwing up from the bumpy ride.The rabbit is not letting Meph go, “Once we get into the castle, you will be granted with an attendance of a bathroom.”How nice of you. Meph rolls his eyes in his mind. He surely will get that, that and an executioner for his head!“I need to pee now!” Meph hops with haste in his voice, “There is a house! Just give me five minutes and we will—”“Hat is not in his house now,” The rabbit glances at the two-floor little wooden house in gothic style, “We can’t just go in.”Hat? The Mad Hat? Meph was only finding excuses before, but now he really wa

“Nooo! You don’t speak the name of the devil!” The little dark snake shook his snake head, “Messiah really IS my name!”Meph had no wish to talk to him anymore, but it was not his style to be a tricked customer: “Our contract was, you double ALL the rewards you missed. You failed to deliver, so the contract should be void.”The game panel paused a second, and Meph noticed —Being an emotionless sociopath, he understands when he gets tricked, but it doesn’t mean anger would cloud his judgment. He argued with the system because he wanted to see to what level the system could bend rules.He had no wish to let the system trick him again into a death trap like the Hollow Log. If the system tries to pull some “glitch” at every of his missions, then his game would be times harder, when it already had a sky-high death rate.But the game panel paused.Meaning the snake didn’t lie about the contract. He WAS bounded by SOME rules. Meph just had to figure those rules out.“Okay, I thought it was