by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
Finally the time has come, and now we are on the plane that is bringing all of us, me, my friends and all the circus personnel and performers in Mandelovia. All went all right through the check-in, and nobody in charge of the security suspected that our passports are false. But maybe they knew and were happy we were leaving. Who knows?
Nowhereman seems the most excited. He keeps saying that maybe TOMB will help us find our lost memories. How visiting a tomb in the cemetery of Mandelovia would open our eyes on his personal reality is anyone's guess, but maybe we should simply stop to listen to him, and bless the fact that at least he's maybe the best hand-to-hand combatant of our group.
Anyhow, all went straight. No demons showed up in the parking, no MCCA agents came out of the toilets, no marine serpents, armed lizards or zombies arrived to spoil our departure. We took our places on the plane, we took flight, and now the Atlantic is under us, and all is perfect.
M'xy, Danny, Lance and Tobias are exchanging ideas about living in the past or the future, in three- or five-dimensional places, and that seems perfectly normal. Nowhereman and Marv Velo keep talking secretively. I think Velo is trying to make sense of the reality the Englishman is experiencing. There seems to be a strong bond between the two. Naecken sits behind them and listens closely to their talk. After the change, he has become a totally different being. Where before he (or they) seemed to know everything that was happening, to have the right answer to all my questions, now he is like a child in a world he doesn't understand. For me, it's like I have lost a friend, the only true friend I had in this mad world.
But there is another person for whom I care a lot. Lorelei, the contortionist who had given me a place to rest in her van, after ours was destroyed. She sits near me. We talked a lot, and I enjoyed every word we exchanged. There is a strong bond that is forming between us, and a sexual tension is mounting fast. I don't want to have things go too quickly. I don't want a stable relation, not with a son waiting to be rescued somewhere in America. But this woman is special, and is now asleep, her head lowered on my left shoulder.
I am about to fall asleep myself, when my eyes catch a title on the newspaper the man at my right is reading: "Thunder City Central Bank robbed on Christmas night." Right when we leveled TriVext. What a strange coincidence.
Then, all turns black. There is no plane, no passengers, no friends or Lorelei. Only the sky above me, and the ocean below. And in front of me floats my costume, empty, but shaped like someone is wearing it. And it talks: "Beware, Edulcore. You are near the last station. Be prepared. Follow your heart. A second chance will be granted to you. Only then you will feed the serpents."
I open my eyes. The plane is still here, with all the passengers, and Lorelei's hair still strokes my cheek. I was only dreaming.