Testing: A little Sci-fi Adventure (Chapter 6)

Chapter Six
Paradise Lost

TWELFTH ORION, somewhere deep within Jupiter,

They were sitting on what seemed to be a mushroom, a very large puffy one at that. The entire landscape was dotted with these toadstools, fungi and other such mushrooms. What it came down to was that this was nowhere near reality. The sky was clear and the air was sweet. The grass rolled on and on over the hills, as green as the paint. The flowers sprouted all over the place and happiness filled the air. This wasn’t real.
A few mushrooms erupted pillions of spores, coloring the crystal clear backdrop. Some miraculously tall and perfectly straight trees formed perfect circles all over the place. There was music in the air, literally, a kind of old school orchestral music. The ones you would hear in melodramatic compilations like “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, “Beethoven’s Twilight Sonata” and “Barney, The Purple Dinosaur”.
“ARGHHHHH!!!!! I can’t take any more of this! Get me out of here!” Hiryu screamed for the fifth time. This was abruptly followed by a swift punch from the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.
“Then do something for that to happen idiot!” Naomi shouted out while dusting off her brass knuckles.
“How am I going to do that? We’ve been stuck here for three days and all we’ve ever seen was this! It’s a sickening form of torture! Even the music! What’s with the music?”
“Why didn’t you try to fix the damn ship instead of leading us out into this… this… ‘Paradise’…”
“Paradise? You call this Paradise? This is Hell! This is the road to mental instability! This is insanity!”
“Oh, stop it you two. It’s bad enough that I have to be here.” Isaac uttered. He looked behind him. There were no footsteps, and the smoke from their ship had lessened. They were lost in the middle of nowhere, no food, no water, no form of entertainment, and worst of all, forced to walk through miles of so-called heaven. He had enough.
“Isaac. Where are we?” Layenne whispered out from his shoulder. It was amazing that he could even hear her over the raging battle behind him. He was probably numb to those two already. After all, there was not a single day where those two couldn’t fling fists, feet, stones, swords, food, frying pans, radishes, et cetera at each other.
“I have no idea… and with the way things are going, I don’t think we’ll know anytime soon.” He forced a smile to reassure his companion.
There they were, four people, two enemies, two friends, there was no escape. They trudged on, Hiryu and Naomi sulking and refusing to speak to each other, Isaac and Layenne trying their best to piece together the situation. The wind disturbed the grass, taking away their footsteps and their way back. Isaac only hoped that their death would not be brought upon by this Eden.

***
“I have now witnessed seventh heaven… and I am never going to forgive myself for it.” Naomi muttered.
“I thought the fields were bad but this… this is… horror at its finest hour.” said Hiryu, still ignoring Naomi.
Isaac rubbed his eyes just to make sure. Layenne herself was staring unbelievably. They were standing on a cliff and below them lay a city, no, a metropolis of all things cute and fluffy. The houses were made of trees, fruits and vegetables. The streets were laden with flowers, greenery and pollen. Various creatures with cute puppy dog eyes inhabited the buildings. In the middle of it all was a great castle. It was made of white marble and resembled the fairy tale castles. Even from where they were standing, they could see the courtyard filled with beautiful things and round puffy things.
The company descended the steep cliff. They began to feel the aura of ‘niceness’. The rocks which they placed themselves on were bouncy and blunt. To make things worse, these buoyant objects paved steps and railings for the troupe. A few mole-like creatures popped their head out of the wall just to make happy noises and laugh happy laughs. Isaac equipped his gun, the platina-cast steel comforted him.
They reached the main street. Tranquility was the order of the day. Not a bit of fear or stress in the area. Isaac wondered where all the creatures went. He smelt sugar, the wafting aroma coming from a nearby toadstool-shaped bakery. Moving with their stomachs, the gang floated over to the stall. It had been three days since they ate any real food.
The store owner was a fluffy teddy bear with buttons for eyes and a cross-stitch for a mouth. It wore an apron with hearts riddled all over it.
“Eat! Eat! Fill your hearts! I baked these specially for you!” the stuffed bear spoke in a soothing and receptive tone. It brought out a batch of freshly baked almond cookies.
Spontaneously, Hiryu gobbled down the cookies, not bother to check for additives like he usually did. Not wanting to be left hungry, Isaac joined the fray and greedily munched down the glorious food. The chef brought out batch after batch of food, so varied that it would make kings envious.
“I know what you want.” The teddy bear spoke to Naomi.
It took out a big frosted cake frosted to the rim and topped with a big red cherry in the middle. Naomi bit her lip, she had to resist. She knew the after effects of these sweet-goods, ten kilos. The temptation was too strong, she faltered, this was made worse when Hiryu began to reach for her cake.
“Maybe just one slice.” She thought to herself and took out her shivas and flung them at the cake. The mound of sugar split into ten evenly sizes slices. She took one and slapped Hiryu’s hand. The taste was delicious, it was like eating heaven. The frosting melted in her mouth and the glorious taste of strawberries filled her tastebuds. It felt like silk going down. Soon she was reaching for another, and another, and another.
Soon, the entire group was sitting on the grassy floor and relaxing. It was warm and strange aromas began to dull their senses. Hiryu lit a cigarette to keep himself awake and inhaled deeply. Before long, Isaac and Layenne were sound asleep, breathing lightly and slowly. Naomi was also dozing off but trying to remain alert.
“Get some rest, I’ll call you if anything comes up.” Said Hiryu. He puffed out a wisp of smoke.
“Thanks. Don’t forget to rest yourself.” Naomi responded and laid onto the soft gentle grass. Pretty soon, she too was dreaming.
“Aren’t you going to sleep as well?” A cold, slow voice came from inside the counter.
“No, I think I’ll just relax and enjoy my cigarette before you guys attack.”
“I hope you do… we won’t want to interrupt you while you enjoy your last smoke now, do we?”
Giggling laughter and purring sounds of content came from all over the place. The sound of happy things and blissful objects let Hiryu know what he was going to be up against. The sky was cloudy and there were rain clouds forming beyond the horizon. Hiryu climbed to the top of the hut with a few leaps and plopped himself on the grass roof. He looked into the sky and enjoyed the remainder of his cigarette.
“How are we going to get out of this one?” He thought aloud.

***
“Hiryu? Hiryu! Where are you?”
“I’m right here… what is it?”
“Could you come down for a second?”
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
Hiryu jumped off the roof and landed softly on the ground where the others were napping. He looked around, he saw the army that stood before them. A perfect three meter circle separated the enemy from them. Isaac was already charging his gun and Naomi was in position with her shivas in between her fingers. Their enemy; stuffed animals, cute monsters, bright flowers, big teddy bears, and all things nice and happy. A couple of jack in the boxes in the front row sprung out of their red cases and showed their painted faces, beaming with delight.
From behind, a yellow, mouse-like creature with red spots on its cheeks jumped forward and landed before Hiryu and co. It emanated jolts of electricity and charged up the floor around them. Before it could unleash its weird attack, it exploded into a ball of blood, organs flying everywhere and splattering on all the buildings before sliding off and piling into blobs of goo. Isaac smiled and blew at the smoke coming from his barrel.
“I wanted to do that since we saw the first one.”
The creatures charged and flung themselves at the company. Hiryu sliced through most of them with his sword, ripping them into pieces, literally. Naomi had opted for her explosive shivas on this occasion whereas Isaac was happy enough with his favorite weapon. Stuffing and cotton flew into the sky before falling back down like fresh snow. When they landed, they were painted with blood and soil. Hundreds of the creatures had fallen and still there was and endless stream pouring in.
After his seven hundredth and sixteenth kill, Hiryu just got bored. The scene of exploding animals and tearing wool just wasn’t interesting anymore. He stood straight and aimed the tip of his blade at an oncoming barrage of all things furry. Blue fire formed and coiled around the sword and in an instant, a great beam of pure flame torched the monsters into dust. Easily, five hundred things were destroyed in that inferno. What remained were a few stubby legs and other limbs, ears or tufts of hair. Hiryu swung the beam from left to right and incinerated the rest of the creatures.
Renegade sparks landed onto one of the grass roofs and quickly set the hut ablaze. The fire populated and spread itself to the other huts and soon the entire township was burning to the ground. The flames highlighted Hiryu’s beaming face, filled with satisfaction. He looked behind and saw Naomi frowning at him and Isaac tapping his gun.
“What?” He exclaimed.
“You could have at least gave us half of them.” Naomi answered, vexed.
“Hey! It was getting boring. At least we have a change of scenery… one that I am more used to anyway.”
“When are you going to grow up?”
Hiryu didn’t answer but merely laughed heartily.
“Why did you burn down my town?” A new voice came from the now blazing castle, except now, it was a fortress. The windows, doors and practically the whole building had been sealed, all except for a window at the topmost tower. The flames could only lick the fringes of the seal before dying out. A somewhat overweight man stood clutching his hips on the balcony of that window. He was sweating heavily and the shirt which he wore was wet. He fore upon his face, the most dorkiest glasses ever made and his hairstyle was called “a mess”.
“What’s a nerd doing here?” Isaac quizzed.
“Because you guys burned down my town, I am forced to kill you all! You want to know why? Because I hate you! You destroyed almost all my work in a few minutes! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! Grahhhhh!!!!”
He flipped out a small control panel from one of his bulging pockets and pressed a big red button. From deep within the holes, embedded into the cliff from which they descended from, came hordes of more things cute and fluffy. They still had that smile on their face as they wobbled down into the battlefield. The sun was setting and made a nice backdrop for the fight.
“Give me some room!” Naomi shouted out. Isaac and Hiryu moved in to defend her. She took out one of her normal shivas and aimed at the tower. Pieces of stuffed animals flew around and disturbed her view. She threw the blade with all her strength and prayed for the best.
Her aim was true and smashed right through the remote control that the geek was holding. The machine blew into pieces, sprockets and springs flying about.
“NOOOOOO!!! What have you done! You have just brought hell upon yourselves!” simultaneously, the cute things fell to the floor.
“The game’s over. Give yourself up.”
“There is no point now. None of us are going to get out of here alive , thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you know where we are?”
“Somewhere in Jupiter?”
“Were in the eye of the great storm! What usually lived in great storms?”
“That’s easy! Only…oh-no…”
“Those things are-“
A spine went through the heart of the supernerd. It was black and throbbed with veins. The pair of glasses fell onto the now stained marble. Black lodes tore apart the poor man’s skin and flesh. More veins came out from his eyes and skin. He was still screaming away as he was being devoured alive. Behind him was a rotting slab of meat, covered in blood. Soon, more of these things came out and feasted upon the man’s contaminated flesh.
Isaac fired his bullets into all the now rising undead. These creatures came out from the cute things that they destroyed. Ghouls, banshees, skeletons alike, they now rose out of the ground, hungry for flesh. Naomi screamed and tried in vain to kill the droves of hellish beings. The things kept coming even though they were reduced to just organs.
“We’re getting out of here! Naomi! Isaac! Let’s move!”
“Couldn’t agree with you more! Come on Naomi!”
“Yes… sure…” She was faint and had bloodshot eyes. She was huddling and shivering on the now melting ground.
“***! She’s under the effect of fear! Damn those necromancers! Isaac! Clear the way! I’ll get her!”
“No problem!”
Isaac fended off millions of these beings while Hiryu jumped straight into the group of monsters that were encroaching onto the frightened Naomi. Decomposing bodies and fallen flesh flew into the night sky as Hiryu made his way through the mass. Maggots and rotting skin were thick on his clothes. Some of the zombies manages to claw at Hiryu, drawing blood which fell onto the floor. A burst of flame sent the group flying and gave Hiryu enough time to hack at the flailing corpse feeding on Naomi’s right leg.
Naomi was now unable to walk, both physically and mentally. Her leg was torn apart but luckily, her blood veins were still intact. Hiryu carried her on his back and ran out of there to join up with the retreating Isaac. Together again, Isaac nodded at Layenne. She shone her majestic colors again and encased the party within a shining bubble. They sped up the melting stairs and avoided the wyrms that thrusted out of their burrows. They broke through the barricade of bodies, created by the more intelligent manifestations, and blasted across the dead prairie.
All across, the trees were breaking apart and releasing the manticlaws imprisoned in them. The toadstools and mushrooms tore apart and several carrion feeders emerged from them. Hands were digging their way out from within the surface and already, the ground was turning into liquid. Isaac was already overjoyed when they managed to reach their ship. The land around it had not converted yet but it was going to soon enough.
The party boarded the vessel and got in position. Hiryu lay Naomi at the back of the cockpit. She was still shivering and shaking her head. The bay doors closed and Isaac sent those that managed to climb on board back to where they belonged. Layenne did her stuff and the ship radiated it’s brilliance before blasting off into space. Just after that, the land crumbled and flames erupted from within. The creatures now roamed the location, sending those still within the lands, to a very painful and horrible death.

ANTARES, Welsh Metropolis,

“Help me… don’t leave me behind…” Naomi cried out in her troubled sleep. She was crying and was terribly afraid. She reached out a hand as she tried to catch something. Another hand held hers and sent out a comforting message. She woke up for a moment and glimpsed the people she cared about just before falling back to sleep.
“How long does fear last?” asked Isaac. He was watching the effects in motion right before his eyes.
“It depends on the person. In Naomi’s case, I’m guessing a few days. She is very strong.” Hiryu let go of Naomi’s hand and set it back down on her bed.
“What’s the republic going to do about the new afterlife transfer that we graciously opened?”
“Jupiter will most likely be set into an anomaly after this. That’s the only way. If only we kept the nerd alive so that we could learn how he managed to contain the demons and souls. But then…”
“…sometimes, men just aren’t ready for such knowledge. Who knows what the officials would have done with the information.” Isaac continued.
“True… too bad we had to destroy paradise just to learn the meaning of this. Maybe hell is paradise, and that’s why we never get to achieve it.”
“Well, I would very much prefer to be tortured for eternity than spend that time in a perfect environment.” Isaac shivered at the thought. He rose and exited the room, mentioning something about getting breakfast. Layenne flew out after him as he kindly left the door open for her.
“Get better soon.” Hiryu whispered to Naomi. He smiled and covered her with the linen blanket. He rose to his feet and left as well. He was not about to let Isaac finish their supplies without him.
Strange how those to could eat peacefully when the rest of the universe was too scared about the news of the afterlife portal. The people feared that a repetition of history would occur and Humankind would be put at its knees. Later, the republic sent in its best forces to attempt to eradicate the newfound threat. Not one soldier survived and all hopes to save Jupiter were lost. Jupiter was put under an anomaly and was watched constantly. Though the rest of the universe was saved, all the residents of Jupiter were forced to endure the fate of hell. Not one ship dared to go into the planet to rescue the remnants of mankind, fearing the wrath of the dead. After the incident, a memorial was constructed to remember all the people that were lost to the undead. However, that anomaly was not expected to last long and the real horror was yet to begin, but that, is another story.