Chapter Eight: Trapped in Desperation

I had only one thought: to take Dalia and flee at once, escape beyond the village. But would it be safe outside the village? I could not be sure. That statue, that… creature, was already bathed in sunlight—it clearly was not afraid of daylight.

They were singing:

"Great is life, great is the sun,
Warm is the blood, warm is the golden glow,
Making kings of the many, and the many into kings,
Such a state, how perfect,
Such power, how glorious.
We have broken through the boundaries of heaven, reached the frontier of bliss.
If you listen to our song and gain enlightenment, why do you still hesitate?
Why not come join our joy, sing with us,
Making kings of the many, and the many into kings.”

The song, mingled with the screams of the people, drilled straight into my mind, slippery as a fish in water, impossible to catch or drive away. Perhaps this was the very voice that had driven Pam insane.

Dalia covered her ears and cried out, “The voices won’t stop… Damn it, damn it…”

I rushed into the residential quarter. The survivors, drawn by the singing, had ventured out to look, and the floodwaters surged toward them. I shouted, “Run, everyone!” But their reactions were too slow; they melted into the flood. Dalia witnessed the horror, her body limp, on the verge of collapse.

I cursed aloud, when suddenly I remembered something: in the underground passage, Orchid had perhaps intended to devour me, but gave up halfway. He had asked me, “Did you drink the viper’s blood?”

Viper’s blood! If I drank it, the flood could not harm me.

I swallowed the potion, lifted Dalia, and kept running at full speed. In an instant, the floodwaters engulfed my ankles. Dalia cried out in anguish, “Longinus! Don’t!” But I was unharmed—the flood circled around me.

The waters surged up, aiming straight for Dalia. I swung my blade, stained with viper’s venom, and struck them. The sensation was as if I had hit flesh and blood. Their singing ceased abruptly; they screamed in pain and fell back. But I saw them already at the elevator—Orchid, Newt, and Maize, merged into one, blocking the exit.

The village was small, with only a few sections. What could we do? Where could we go? Once the viper’s blood wore off, we would die… No, we would not even be allowed to die.

Dalia, in tears, said, “Longinus, let me drink the viper’s blood.” She knew only I could survive it; anyone else would die. Yet perhaps then, they would spare her corpse, let her pass in peace?

But even that hope was bleak—Orchid could bring back Aunt Sarah, dead for years.

I said, “It’s all gone!”

Suddenly, I noticed an open space outside my room; the flood dared not approach it. I quickly opened the door, rushed inside, and locked it behind us. Outside, I heard only their frustrated cries.

The two remaining fish in the tank stared at us, their eyes wide, lifeless.

Dalia began to weep, clinging tightly to me. I wiped the sweat from her brow. We were safe, for the moment, but there was no joy of surviving certain death in our hearts.

They gathered outside the house, shouting, “Fusion! Fusion! Fusion!” Their cheerful voices were terrifying, enough to chill the soul.

Dalia and I dared not huddle too close—we parted a little.

I said, “This… this house must have been a chemistry lab once. There’s a stench here they hate.”

Dalia asked, “Can you make more viper’s blood?”

I replied, “I can’t get any black berries. There’s nothing I can do.”

Suddenly, the room went dark. The black fish disappeared, leaving only the blue fish faintly glowing.

Dalia cried out, “They… they’ve cut the power!”

I knew that if they managed to cut off the ventilation, we’d be finished; there would be no way but out. Yet the exhaust system in the Waterless Village was as convoluted as the mushroom fields’ recycling network—no one could understand it. Hopefully, these creatures wouldn’t either.

I hadn’t eaten for an entire day. I took out my stored rations, picked a can, and handed it to Dalia. She hesitated before accepting it and thanked me.

Earlier, I’d considered sending Dalia to Mirce, but abandoned the idea out of petty humiliation. If I had done it, perhaps we wouldn’t be in this state now. If a green hat could buy my life, perhaps it would have been worth it.

Dalia asked, “What are you thinking?”

I told her honestly.

To my surprise, Dalia laughed. “Guess what I was really thinking when I said I’d marry you?”

I said, “Marry me first, then find a way to elope with Mirce?”

She laughed. “So clever—so you always knew?”

I said, “I’m not so easily fooled by your little schemes.”

Holding the can, she said, “Of course you’re smarter than me. You even remembered I love honey beef. I haven’t had it in so, so long.”

I felt a little embarrassed. “It was just a coincidence, really.”

She leaned against me. “No, no, I know it in my heart. You’ve always treated me so well, but I kept thinking of betraying you. See, because I had such wicked thoughts, I’ve been punished, I’ve learned my lesson. Now, I’m willing to die with you. I swear to every god that has ever existed, you are my one true love, from this moment until my last breath, I will never think of another man.”

I tried to muster my remaining courage. “You won’t die. I’ll find a way for us to escape.”

Dalia asked, “How much longer does the viper’s blood last?”

“Why do you want to know?”

She pressed, “If you went now, would you have enough time to fight your way out of the village?”

I hesitated, only wanting to comfort her. Reluctantly I replied, “If… if I could get past Orchid, yes.” I could turn invisible, but not while carrying her.

They were still outside, still singing:

“If you listen to our song and gain enlightenment, why do you still hesitate?
Why not come join our joy, sing with us,
Making kings of the many, and the many into kings.”

Orchid said, “My children, what are you thinking? I said I’d let you marry, I said I’d make you happy. Come out, and all this will come true. Not just the Waterless Village—I’ll save the world. I’ll make all humanity a part of me. I am the Sun King, the Light of Life, the most perfect being this world has ever seen, the dream of every ruler and scientist since time began.”

Sarah called, “Dalia, Dalia? Are you in there? My good daughter, my little darling, why are you even afraid of me? All these years I was gone, didn’t you always kneel by my corpse, begging me to come back to life, to hold you once more? Now your wish is granted—why do you hide? Your rejection is foolish. You think I am an outsider? No, with me, there are no outsiders.”

Unable to get in, they kept talking, uttering those terrifying, maddening words. I saw Dalia trembling more violently, her hands pressed over her ears. I held her close, and she gradually calmed, saying nothing more, just nestling beside me. I watched as she drifted into sleep.

I dared not sleep, forcing myself to remain alert. After an hour, suddenly, the sound of the ventilation stopped.

They had found a way to shut off the valve—most likely, the switch was in the hidden passage. With that, our last hope was gone.

Soon, the room grew hot and stifling. Dalia opened her eyes and gazed at me, a look of calm on her face. I told her we would find a way out, there would be a way—she just smiled.

She said, “I can still hear their voices. They’re not coming from outside—they’re inside my head. What about you? Can you hear them too?”

I replied, “Don’t think about it. The more you do, the harder it is to get rid of.”

Dalia smiled sadly. “Then you’re lucky. Their voices can’t invade your mind, your soul. You can’t imagine what it feels like. I think they not only want my body—they’ve already begun to occupy my mind. Sometimes… sometimes I think becoming one of them might not be so bad.”

I shouted, “You mustn’t believe a word they say—none of it—”

Dalia stood up. Suddenly, I saw she held my last bottle of viper’s blood. She poured it into her mouth. I grabbed her jaw, but she had already swallowed some. Every nerve in my body twisted in pain. I squeezed her throat, trying to force her to spit it out, but it was too late—the poison acted instantly, enough to paralyze even demons, dragging them to death.

Dalia embraced me, kissed me. “Go,” she said, “leave me, I wish… I wish you a long life, and hope you… find a girl who can make you happy…”

My face was wet with tears, my heart shredded to pieces, but I acted at once, striking her abdomen. Dalia vomited some of the potion, but her face had already turned blue, her breath nearly gone.

I could see clearly—even in darkness, I saw her begin to convulse in agony. The venom was too much for any human to endure. She would die in torment, as if a lifetime of chronic pain was compressed into these few short minutes.

I had… I had only a few minutes left.

But Dalia was dying—I could not save her…

Outside, Orchid and the others kept singing, kept shouting, as terrifying as those legendary square-dancing women from a century ago. They did not know Dalia was dying, still trying to brainwash her with their song.

For a fleeting moment, I even thought of surrendering Dalia to them, letting them revive her. Perhaps they were right—perhaps anything was better than death.

Suddenly, my gaze was drawn to the fish tank.

If there was anything in the Waterless Village as ancient as that statue, it was this tank.

The fish loved to eat black berries—black berries, the raw ingredient for viper’s blood—and Dalia was dying from the blood’s poison.

The black fish swam out, then vanished. The blue fish was motionless, watching us as if at a spectacle.

The darkness in the room was not because they had cut the power, but because the fish tank… the tank was emitting darkness.

They were not kept at bay by the chemical fumes in the house, but by the tank itself.

Only darkness can oppose the light. Only death can oppose life. This is the simplest truth.

Why had I not thought of it before?

But who, in their right mind, would ever have thought of it?