When you’ve lived long enough, you learn to be unsurprised by Humans’ cruelty. Fish sincerely thought that she had seen it all. It had coated her heart with strange anger, distant yet burning. She had witnessed the best and the worst, she had lived through wars and liberations. Wasn’t it odd? This strange balance of horror and hope in the Universe. She did feel like she had nothing left to be horrified about. She felt like she had run out of tears to cry.
Unfortunately, she was wrong.
She learned that on a very normal morning, as she was pouring herself a cup of tea. It had been an uneventful day thus far, and it all seemed like it was leading to more uneventfulness. It didn’t. The Door opened violently, and The Sister of Monsters rushed in the shop, visibly distressed.
The Sister had a real name once, but no one used it anymore. It had been washed away by times. As her title indicated, she protected and cared for all supernatural creatures. She understood them too, as they understood her. A strong bond tied them together, no matter the distance, no matter the dimensions. She could hear their cries of despair in her heart as if she was tuned to all their souls at once.
There were some customers you expected to see a lot. Once you knew of the Shop, the temptation to come back was strong and powerful. Very few resisted, no matter how much it cost them. But she was not such a client. She came rarely, and never for unimportant reasons. Therefore, as soon as she arrived, Fish knew something bad was happening.
About this, she was right.
Now that she had arrived in front of the Circus, she felt The Sister’s misery in her flesh. It was exactly like she had described. A sad and grotesque replica of a regular Circus, an awful façade of despicable actions. They could put colorful tents everywhere, even call this a show, an entertainment, but the truth was too vile to be ignored. This was abuse, this was captivity and subjugation. She had the horror of staying for the show, for she had obtained tickets quite easily, and it seemed like the fastest way to get there.
As she was slowly walking down the corridors below the stage, she could not erase from her mind the things she had just witnessed. The anger she had contained after years of disenchantment came back rushing. It was like a storm, crushing her bones. It was a fracas of rage. The mission The Sister had given her was simple, to rescue the creatures. However, she had just decided to add a twist to it.
Whoever was responsible for this was going to die.