Bab 62: Visitors From Different Dimensions
The room was quiet in Dr. Leblanc's office. Ru noticed that the picture on the card that came out of the envelope changed. The character was transforming into Claude. The Claude on the card was described as a priest named Killian with long hair and a jeweled cap, silk neckerchief, ruffled shirt, and dressing frock coat decorated with sakura flowers.
"Do you see what I see, Doctor?" Ru asked, his voice filled with excitement.
"Oh yes, it's a nice design. Maybe I should think about letting my hair grow longer," Claude said with a sincere smile.
"Something similar happened to us. The rider on Vaelan's card became Vaelan. And the jester in mine became me," Ru said, looking at Claude's face.
"It's an invitation to a game, Lirui. Maybe there's a chip in the cards or something," Claude said, turning the envelope over.
One of the other two cards fell to the floor and the other one to the coffee table. "Should we tear the cards?" Ru asked and picked them up.
"You could go to the police and file a complaint against Ms. Amunet instead," Claude said. Continuing to examine the card in his hand, he carefully studied its details.
"Complain about what? It's a juggling act for people like you. Wouldn't they say, you're making fun of us? The envelope generates the card of whoever is with me, and so on," Ru said, carefully placing the cards in the envelope.
"That's right, I've been receiving treatment support since the day Vaelan changed his eye color to red and spoke with his little daughter's voice," Claude replied with a sad.
Ru emerged onto the dream stage as an entertainer, his confidence radiating through the room. "Oh, come on! You're not sick or anything. I'm right there with you. We're on the verge of a small cosmic event. It's a small event for space, but a very big one for our planet. Doomsday!"
"I don't even know Ms. Amunet and the card seems harmless," Claude said, handing the Marionette of Fortune card. "Here, keep it."
"If you ask me, you should have the card, Mr. Determinist. Maybe you can be transported from the eighteenth century to our post-truth age," Ru said and put the other cards in the envelope.
Claude took off his glasses and gave the lenses a quick wipe. He seemed worried. "Okay, the cards are real and it seems like I've been chosen as Killian's player, but there's still the matter of..."
"I think we've wrapped up our therapy session for today, and that's the whole point," Ru said, changing the subject, and smiling, "Would you like to buy me a beer?"
"Not, Lirui. Remember, I'm your doctor," Claude replied, his tone firm.
"But you kidnapped me from the hospital before and bought me a drink. Besides, I was underage at that time," Ru retorted, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"It was a mistake," Claude said, his voice filled with regret.
"Let's not dwell on the mistakes right now. If we go out together, we can give this envelope to someone, and ask them to look inside. That way, we can get a reality check," Ru suggested by snapping his fingers.
"Why don't we have my secretary do it?" Claude said, getting up and walking to the door.
"Good idea," Ru said, following Claude out of the therapy room.
In the waiting room, a man with a red hood sat on a sofa next to an aquarium with purple lighting and six jellyfish. He was busy with a drawing tablet. The secretary was away from her desk. Judging by the shoes sticking out from under the desk, she was on the floor.
"Oh, my secretary," Claude said, sounding panicked, and rushed to the desk.
Ru looked suspiciously at the man in the red hood. He was wearing a pink cat mask that covered his entire face. And he was sketching a picture—a woman was lying on the ground!
"You!" Ru said, his voice filled with anger. "You're that psycho painter!"
The man didn't seem to care as he continued drawing, his focus unwavering.
Claude checked his secretary's pulse. He knew she was alive, or even sleeping. But he pretended she wasn't. Claude intended to call the police without alerting the suspect. He was doing just that when someone snatched the phone from his hand.
The brunette woman in black leather said in a deep voice, "Tsk, tsk, there is no need for the police while I'm here."
"Who are you to invade my clinic?" Dr. Claude asked with restrained anger.
"I am Amunet. Let's talk," she said, offering the doctor her hand.
"Well, talking is good," Claude said as he hesitantly took her hand and stood up.
The man in the pink cat mask stood up suddenly. He came to the table with superhuman speed. Then he bowed almost to the floor and greeted the doctor.
"I am Jasper. At your service."
"For what?" Claude asked, taking a step back.
"Amunet? Jasper?" Ru said suspiciously, his eyes searching for any object he could use as a weapon. At the same time, he was looking for a way to escape.
"For whatever you want," Jasper said, straightening up.
"Why?" Claude asked.
"I've always admired skeptical perfection," Jasper said.
"That's an odd way to compliment me," Dr. Claude said with a forced smile.
Meanwhile, Ru moved towards the door with stealthy steps. Amunet raised her hand to him and whispered her spell: "Xarkhun halka!"
The shadows in the room, large and small, shifted and formed a barrier in front of Ru. The shadowy presence looked like the monsters that might live under the beds. It was a lump with many mouths, many teeth, and eyes that moved independently.
Ru was so scared that his body became stiff. His legs could not move forward or backward. He turned his head with great difficulty. With a trembling voice, he asked Claude: "Did you see that?"
Dr. Claude crossed his arms over his chest and nodded calmly. "This must be a completely different kind of reality."
Ru turned to Claude and asked, "Are you kidding? How could you not be surprised?"
"It could be a drug we've been taking, maybe there's a hallucinogen in our water," Dr. Claude explained, looking more like he was autosuggestive. "Hmmm hmmm, that's for sure."
"What if I'm not?" Jasper asked. "What if I am real, what are you doing, Doctor?"
"Probably nothing," Claude began, using his hands to emphasize his point. "Any action I take against you, I can take against Santa Claus. I could demonize you, for example, but that would be a rather useless action."
"Are you equating me with Santa Claus because of my red clothes? Please let this be a mere association," Jasper said, his voice a bit sour.
"I'm a successful director," Ru said as he looked around the room, suddenly alienated. "I made a sitcom out of my delusions, wow!" And he began to applaud himself.
"That's enough of the show," Amunet said, her voice cold. "We need to talk now."
"Sure," Dr. Claude said, pointing to the seating group, "Let's go over here. Let me get you something to drink. Tea, coffee, what do you want?"
"I just drank blood, thanks mozzarella," Jasper said and sat on the couch.
"How?" Ru was about to ask when Dr. Claude's attention was drawn to his secretary lying on the floor.
"I hope you didn't do anything to her," Claude said worriedly.
"Just a little drop," Jasper said, gesturing to the seat next to him. "Let's sit down and talk or the demons will come."
"Yep, this is my dream, sorry, nightmare," Ru said, sitting near Jasper.
Amunet sat where she could see them, and said, "Stop acting crazy, Ru. We know you want to join the show. By the way, I can't see the rider. Where is he?"
"He's at home. Wait, let me concentrate and teleport him here," Ru said, looking confident.
"We don't have a god role for you, jester, don't get cocky," Amunet retorted, looking pleased as she looked down at him with narrowed eyes.
"Remember, I am the Marionette of Dream. How do you know I can't take away your dreams or your shadow toys," Ru said, seemingly into the role.
"Look at the little fella, he threatens us," Jasper said, looking at Dr. Claude again and seeming to speak only to him. "We came to tell Ru we will protect him from demons if he wants."
"Did you just take away his freedom to protect him? Or am I misunderstanding you?" Dr. Claude asked, choosing where he could see all three of them and putting his chair there.
Ru smiled, "Thank you, Claude."
"You know you're invited to the Phantasmagoria Live Show, Ru," Amunet said.
"I know, this live big event and the game, blah! What soothing words," Ru grumbled.
Jasper seized the chance to cross his legs and make a point while Amunet remained silent. "This is a great event that occurs once every seven million years, septillion years in the time of your planet. We travel between dimensions to put on this show. We came to Earth just for you, Ru. One of our guests would like to meet you."
"Ahem!" Amunet coughed, interrupting Jasper.
"Who wants me?" Ru asked.
"Should I deceive the boy now?" Jasper asked and continued by changing his sitting position: "Look, this boy is already crazy, he came to the doctor, isn't it a pity?"
"Let's not call him crazy, please," Claude said.
"Whatever you say," Jasper said, closing his open legs.
Ru was ready for his detective role: "Question one: Where are you from? Question two: Are you aliens? Question three: Who is the guest who wants me? Question four: Are demons also aliens? Question five: Could it be a girl with purple hair who wants me to join the show?"
"Turn off the camera first," Jasper said.
"Hey dude, which camera are you talking about?" Ru asked laxly.
Suddenly, one of the shadows transformed into a hand and grabbed Ru's phone.
"I don't want to deal with this bratty teenager," Amunet said, looking at Jasper. Then she stood up and took out a booklet and two phones—one belonging to Ru—from the inside pocket of her leather coat. "Take these and then you can find us or not, it's up to you," she said.
Ru's eyes lit up at the sight of the newest phone. "Is this mine now?"
Amunet nodded and said, "Let's go, Jasper."
"Let's go, ice woman," Jasper said. He then positioned himself directly in front of Claude, his voice overflowing with affection as he loved, "Goodbye, I'll miss you."
"Me? Why?" Claude asked.
"Because I've always missed you," Jasper said, bowed to Claude.
With a snap of his fingers, Jasper teleported next to Amunet, who dispersed the shadows.
As the two approached, the doorway glowed with a purple light for a moment. The light engulfed them both and then faded. Ru ran after them. But he found a boring normality when he got there.
"I might be awake, maybe," Ru said as he looked around and suddenly noticed the secretary. "Nah," Ru said, then went to the secretary and looked at her neck. There were two fang marks. "They are really vampires," he said in a low voice.
"Amunet is a sorceress," Claude said, who hadn't lost his composure for a moment. And he put his hand on Ru's shoulder. "Believe me. I don't know how I know this, but I know her."
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