The Trickster’s Hat

Bitter tears of unknown concern streamed down Trick's eyes as he desperately pushed aside the sea of blood whose levels were now rising rapidly around them.

"Please—please don't die!" Trick voiced aloud, gasping shakily on noticing the red spots of blood that drenched the woman's clothes.

The red spots were first as little as a dot, but grew larger and larger before squirting streams of blood from the woman's belly.

In a panic, Trick turned his attention to her bleeding wounds, applying pressure to the bleeding by using both his arms.

He was left confused, heaving large breaths that grew louder and louder with every passing moment.

Trick desperately tried to cover up the continuous bleeding, but the more he applied pressure over her injuries, the more large volumes of blood came flowing out of her wounds.

"Stop—stop, stop." Trembling at the sight of the inhumane levels of blood that escaped from the ominous woman's body, Trick frantically grabbed onto the ends of his shirt, pushing it firmly against one of her bleeding spots.

"STOP BLEEDING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" Trick yelled aloud, his face completely stained by blood, his eyes weary and his mind racing. But his franctically thoughts were interrupted, disturbed by the horrific sounds of the rivers of blood that hurriedly came his way.

'Wait a minute—what about the floo…' He paused, desperately trying to stay afloat, as in an instant the sea of blood had reached his shoulders, almost swallowing the woman who floated motionlessly beside him.

Scared but forcefully emitting a ray of bravery, Trick managed to reach out for the woman, grabbing her closely within the raging floods.

The rivers of blood overturned, swayed and shook violently as if trying to sink everything within the world beneath its horrendous depths.

The grim skies brimmed with an even greater scarlet glow and the woeful crescent moon cried out more blood from within it. 

The entire realm seemed to be flooded, plagued by an ever rising sea of blood that consumed everything in its path.

Trick desperately tried to hold onto the woman all the while staying afloat, but he could just let her go to improve his buoyancy.

The blood was quickly rising and the currents hastily overturning. So letting that woman go was the wisest thing to do right now. 

Trick knew this, he knew it was the best decision right now, he knew holding onto a lifelessly bleeding carcass was foolhardy, however…

For some strange reason, Trick was overwhelmed with an irking feeling of—

INTIMACY FOR THE WOMAN HE DIDN'T KNOW.

A voice that cried not to let go, not to lose her, the faint voice within his mind that whispered…

'Don't let go!'

The flood raged on, elevating higher and higher until it reached past Trick's shoulders, overflowing till it covered his neck and surging to reach past even his chin.

Feeling the warm vile blood make its way into his mouth and cause a sharp sting in his tongue, Trick's face couldn't help but contort in denial of the futility that grew from wishing upon his survival.

Finally, the melancholic ocean of blood had reached his cheek, then rose even more, slowly covering his eyes—

But right before it did, something shocking sparked a crimson gleam within Trick's red eyes.

'Why, why did I feel so attached to her?' Trick questioned as the flood slowly started covering his eyes.

A strange feeling then gripped onto his heart, forcing him to stare back in a certain direction right before the blood completely swallowed him.

Everything within the world was supposed to be consumed, submerged in the dreadful blood that now claimed desolate, the realm it flooded. 

Yet as if denying what ought to be, a portion of dry land stood idly in the distance, untouched by a speck of blood and unbothered by the raging floods.

However on closer inspection, someone could be seen standing leisurely upon it, the person being even more bewildering than the land itself.

It was someone Trick knew very much, the person he was closest to in the entirety of the world, the very sight of this person placed a puzzle so irkingly unsolvable in Trick's mind, that person was—

HIMSELF.

Suddenly, the flood completely submerged Trick, sinking him into the pitch black ends of the bloody sea, and forcing him to embrace the darkness within it.

Like an anchor, exiled into the cold dark depths of the unforgiving seas, Trick felt himself slowly plummet under the waves of blood, heading deeper and deeper into its abyssal zones.

Within the dark ocean of blood, Trick drifted almost lifelessly beneath it, his sight was replaced with a thick cloud of darkness, his hearing interrupted by the bubbles that seized whatever little oxygen he had left—

And his faith in survival was stripped, only a chilling silence being made to replace the before unswerving voice that echoed in the mind of his heart. 

At this point, feeling the last bits of oxygen eject from the closing of his lips in the form of amoeboid bubbles, Trick embraced the lonesome darkness.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ohh little golden star, little golden star." The warm voice of a strange woman echoed through a desolate realm, making its way to Trick's hearing.

Trick's eyes opened from an ominous darkness into an otherworldly world, confused by the berceuse songs he now heard for the very first time.

His eyes widened in shock as he eyed everything in sight, the scarlet skies, a bleeding moon and the desiccated bodies of beasts that layed beneath his feet. They all looked new to him, he had never seen such things before.

Trick's eyes widened in bemusement as his crimson eyes gleamed in question for the eerie lullaby the strange woman sang to her child.

Encompassed with fright and confusion for the ominous world he now stood, all Trick could think right now was one simple question—

"WHERE THE HECK AM I?!"

Trick walked through the new but strangely familiar world, passing through the headless carcasses of monsters and beasts alike.

Suddenly as if plunged into an earthquake, the world began a violent rumble, splitting across the realm and leaving large craters that led to a bottomless abyss.

Slowly, red fluids began to emerge from the cracks that lined the realm's ground, causing volumes of blood to gradually build up and spread across the grim world.

Trick swerved around, almost falling over before firmly regaining his balance. But the worst had yet to come.

The cries of a crow warning danger made its way to Trick's ears, as it hurriedly flew away, its beckons transforming into soft whispers behind it.

As if hearing the pleas of the minatory bird, the scarlet skies suddenly began to radiate a baleful red glow, forcing the crescent moon that hung above it to shed dreadful tears of blood.

Trick stepped back in terror as several puzzled thoughts raced hastily across his mind.

He needed to think of something, right here, and right now, if he didn't, he would be swept by the unforgiving floods after all.

But as he frantically pondered a means of surviving the catastrophe which was rapidly encroaching him, he noticed a stinging sensation within his arm.

Raising his arm to examine the burning streams of pain that spread through it Trick jolted at a torturing sight—

The sight of his flesh morphing rapidly.

He held onto his arm in excruciating pain, tears of agony welling up in his eyes as his entire body continued the tormenting contortion.

Trick's face creased in a scowl of pain as his very flesh and bones morphed rapidly, bending and bubbling in unnatural fashions. 

The sickening sounds of his bones crunching and breaking apart, mixed with the torturing pops of his flesh bubbling madly assaulted Trick's hearing, heightening the excruciating pain that plagued his being to unbearable levels.

All Trick could do was just shut his eyes as he wallowed in the agonizing experience that befell him when—

Suddenly, a soothing calm graced over Trick's mind as he drifted through the darkness of his mind.

"What?" Trick muttered in question as his eyes still remained firmly shut.

"Why is it suddenly so peaceful?" The pain had seized, the agonizing sensation of his body morphing following suit. 

"Yes, rest within the embrace of your mother—"

"TRICK MY DEARLY BELOVED."

Trick opened up his eyes to find himself strangely laying in the conciliate embrace of the ominous woman.