The Secret Stories of the Masquerade

It was thirty minutes 'til midnight on a cold and wet street, lined by screening trees on either side. In the road were parked cars of many shapes and sizes, but most ranging high in price. William S. LeVayne walked this long road, hood pulled up to hide his hair from the slight mist that persisted after the rainfall. He knew that end of this road, there should be some sort of mansion or something, where the greatest of all parties was underway.

While trudging along, he reminisced on the events that brought him up here. This guy in some fancy getup had given him this message on new parchment paper. The message had detailed the location of a 'Masquerade Ball', and told him to be on time.

Will laughed to himself as he remembered that the guy had rung his doorbell. Nobody ever did that, they just banged on the door or barged right in. The guy had even called him "Sir." Still, this had to be one tripping party, or they wouldn't have invited him, the king, the Don of all DJ's . . . or so he liked to think. In the world of mixing music and parties that required such music, Will was known as 'Shakespeare'. How the name had stuck he had no idea, but it was catchy for him and people definitely remembered it through a drunken or drugged out haze.

The house, if you could call it a house, was just up ahead. It deserved the title estate more than a house or mansion. It was huge, with sprawling greens, high arch windows, and fancy white paint on the shutters and doors. A large, circular driveway spanned in front of the monstrosity, where more cars were being taken by valets and parked elsewhere. Will reached under his hood and ran a hand through his hair. It'd been a while since he'd had a car, or any vehicle for that matter. The DJ'ing business wasn't going so well. It seemed the party scene was looking for something a little more different than what he had to offer, and of course everybody wanted to be a DJ.

Adjusting the strap of his shoulder bag with his prize possession in it, Will crossed the driveway and pulled down his hood. The doorman eyed him suspiciously, obviously wondering what someone who looked like WIll was doing there. "Please, no press."

Will smirked. "Do I look like a paparazzi, dude? I'm here for the party, got an invitation if ya need to see it." He got it from his pocket and let the doorman scan it. When he was satisfied, he opened the big, oak door and let Will inside. The entrance hall was lavishly decorated. A nice, floral carpet runner covered the hardwood floor, a couple tables with presumably fake flower displays were on either side, and the walls were spruced up with some sparse, oil paintings. 'All nice and fancy-shmancy. Must be some new kids with a radical idea of a party.' Will thought, assuming that this was all set up as a 'party' party. When he reached the next room, however, he realized he was sorely mistaken.

It was literally a ballroom dancefloor, and all the dancers were wearing costumes and masks that looked they belonged in an 18th century period museum. Lots of sparkles, feathers, and sequins, everywhere as the dancers danced a waltz to some classical music playing in the background. Definitely not what Will was expecting. Spotting a table that seemed to be the refreshments stand off to the side, he moved toward it and a few of the masked dancers who were drinking some punch, making smalltalk as per usual of a drinks table. He tapped one guy in dark blue and a bird mask on the shoulder.

"Hey, where's the sound table? Y'know, where the music's coming from?"

As far as he could tell through the mask, the man looked confused. He pointed near the back of the ballroom. "The band is over there. It's a string quartet." He smiled serenely. "It's the best I've heard throughout all my years of coming here, I think the Masque has really outdone himself this year."

Will waved him off, a little irked that he really was here for nothing. "Yeah, yeah. I'll just go stand in a corner somewhere." On either side of the dancefloor were two flights of stairs. They looked like they headed up to a balcony that overlooked the dancefloor, so Will headed up the closest one and chose a spot to lean on the railings, and to muse on what the hell he was going to do for the rest of the night.

Kit coached his moped up the road towards the mansion. The scooter was not quite new, but it was electric so it helped the environment (though did have a small gasoline engine he preferred it to his car) and it was reliable, and he had spent time and money modifying it, and it still ran smoot. He smiled as he thought of the image he was giving to those he passed on the road (almost all of them stared.) Not that a silver haired young man with a rather flamboyant tunic, car ears matching his hair, a collar with a small bell around his neck riding a moped with a silver tiger tail trailing behind him was an everyday thing.

But he was proud of his outfit. When the fancy butler knocked at his door bearing a parchment, he knew he had to give it his best effort. Hey the parchment even had his real name on it (Christopher Torashi Ranford Kane Edwin, the third. Not only was it long, he really didn’t like it, so he adopted the petname his late mother gave him; Kit.) He spent days debating what to go as. Classics like a vampire or an invisible man, more radical ones like druid or a minor roman god, but he eventually settled on his family’s guardian spirit from his great-great-great... grandmother’s side; a Byakko or white tiger.

Even after that, it took him a few days to finalize his custom. The tunic was based on a hanging scroll from his Japanese ancestors, the claws were hand crafted by his mother years before (she had a thing for cats, which he inherited,) a collar form his father’s side of the family (he claimed they were beast-taming demon hunters back in the dark ages,) but the tail, ears and mask (also tiger based) he made himself. He parked his moped in the spot indicated and switched a few wires in the motor before heading in. He had no problem getting inside (in his get-up, no question what he was there for) and was soon mingling among the guests, even taking a few women for a spin on the dance floor.

He was currently dancing with his most recent catch; a rather shapely one in a black satin dress with a split up one thigh and a velvet trim, a pair of leathery black wings with silver sparkles, small horns on her hair band, and a black mask over her eyes so densely sprinkled with silver that it was like looking at the night sky, her eyes two black holes that he longed to lose himself in. And with the way the party was moving, he just might be able to.

It was horrible. How could he fall to such coercion? Rico di Silvio leaned back against a pillar inside the ballroom watching the dancers elegantly glissade across the floor. They were really quite good, but Rico was in no mood to admire them. He readjusted his beautiful cloak of midnight blue with sparkles upon it to make it resemble the late night sky. A white crescent moon mask obscured half of his face while the other half reflected the anger festering in his soul.

Rico was an anti-social person in general who despised venturing away from home. The poor kid was born with no complications, however, Rico's parents soon discovered that he bore a horrid illness that caused his skin to blister and mutate into something grotesque whenever sunlight touched it. No matter where they lived, the sun would always be there to cause him trouble. There would be no way for him to live a normal life; it would be an existence steeped in apathy and isolation. It saddened his parents immensely to see him living in such a melancholy manner, but there was nothing that they could do. Rico would just have to suffer.

The whole reason he was even at the supposed "party of all parties" was that his parents had forced him out of the house for once in his miserable life. Though he refused with formidable defiance, his parents would not take no for an answer, and thus they picked him up, threw him in the car, and dropped him off at the party, but only after holding him down to put the costume they had chosen on him. Strangely enough, he couldn't overpower his parents; they must have been working out or something. Regardless of the events that transpired beforehand, he was at the party now, and he was sulking heavily. Hopefully, he could just remain in the shadows and be as inconspicuous as normal. Nobody takes a second glance at a shadow anyway...

Heaven was certainly not ready for that. She wondered what kind of party was that, the guests using fancy masks that covered their anonymous faces and an ominous music continuously playing in the background. Closing the wooden door behind her, the girl made her way at the edges of the ballroom for not being spotted by any anyone, as well as not interrupting the dancers that cycled rhythmically through it.

Heaven stopped near the stairs leading to a elegant balcony that overlooked the whole ballroom, holding her sparkling blue note mask she had made with her own hands for the matter of the supposed party, but not for the endless arrange of melodies that all the guests were supposed to follow. She wasn't adept at dancing, after all, even though the music amazed her. When young, Heaven showed a preference for music other than playing with dolls and other stuff that other children of her age would normally prefer. Her parents bought an elegant piano where she, everyday with no exception, sat down to press down the black-and-white keyboard. Heaven, in fact, was a musical prodigy.

Although the girl so much wanted to finish the composition she had been working for weeks without rest, she was now in Masquerade Ball. Heaven wondered when the party was going to end...

Kazi never liked parties, and this time was no exception.

Kazi stood with his back against a wall away from the crowd. He disliked places with too many people. Although he couldn't figure out why he was invited to a place like this and chose to come, he still didn't bother to come up with a costume. But then again, his usual clothing is like a costume. A black coat with the japanese kanji for "zero" written in white ink by a brush, badages that he wore as a headband, and a sakabato. Most people thought that he was dressed as a wandering swordsman or something of that sort, but in truth he was one.

Kazi looked around and saw that a few others were also by themselves, but that was to be expected. There are always a few people that don't get along with others very well, he was a prime example of that. Seeing nothing else to do, Kazi unsheathed his sakabato and took off the bandages on his head, using that to polish his trusted blade.

Surveying the dance from the balcony, Will saw that he wasn't the only one being antisocial. At least he wasn't alone in that, but he was alone as ever just leaning up on the railing. There were so many things he could be doing right now, so many more interesting things. Will glanced at his shoulder pack that held his precious laptop. The damn thing held everything that was most dear to him; his music, his notes, even a journal that he wrote in at times, all of this its hard drive held.

With a sigh, he paced to the edge of the stairs and sat down on a carpeted step, taking out his silver laptop. As he opened it, he passed his hand over the built-in keyboard that was missing a few keys like he was greeting an old friend. When the screen glowed with life, he noticed the missing pixels in the top right corner, with the usual thoughts of a new laptop. He opened the media player and tried to drown out the boring classical crap with the steady, heavy beats of his own. If he cared enough, he would've worn headphones, but since he didn't it played out and sort of mixed with the violins and cellos.

"Now Rosa honey, this is your first real party, I expect you to be on your BEST behavior tonight."

"Yes Rosa dear, we have a reputation to hold up, we can NOT have you tarnishing the Rydle family name."

Lectures. Oh how she hated them. To her very core she didn't now, nor ever want to have something to do with lectures. The young girl, tuning out to no avail, was used to them. But it didn't mean once that she liked listening to them. So what if she, Rosalinda Calista Rydle(Rosa for short), belonged to "The Great Rydle Family"? In her mind, she was not a jewel or gold to which held perfection and nothing less. And to think anything as such would result in a long drawn out arguement. Sighing, knowing it would continue this way and end just like other nights, Rosa saw no reason for arguement as of yet.

The "Party" was in sight. She didn't believe it to be a party, as it clearly stated Ball, but her parents kept it so. Reaching for her invintation, her hand was swatted away.

"No dear, you shall always let the Man present the invite."

Rosa replied with a huff, it was her invite, not theirs. The only reason they were here was because she was only thirteen. Looking down at the ground angrily, she grumbled about the unfairness of it all. But her mood changed as the man answering the door said his first words.

"Miss Rosalinda is allowed, no one else without invintation."

As she entered, she could hear her parent's screaming, to who she waved at cutely before continuing to the Ball. Looking down at her beautiful rose bathed silk dress was draped elegantly over her body. As she entered the ball, she realised, unlike a few persons, she was dressed appropriately. Ignoring the screaming and shouting still coming from the door, she ventured over to one young man in the corner.

He was out of place compared to most others, not that she cared. She liked different, not that she ever got to be. Her life was run by her parents, but oh well, what could she do. Watching the screen of his laptop flicker to life her head cocked to the side for a second. Listening to his music, she waited for him to finish. But when it never came she tapped him.

"Interesting party choice no?"

As Rico continued to observe his surroundings, he suddenly became quite thirsty. Fortunately, the refreshment table was virtually vacant; most people were dancing or chatting elsewhere at the moment. He shrugged his shoulders and straightened up, ready to travel around the room inconspicuously, not like anyone noticed him anyway. Not many people were hanging around the pillars surrounding the ballroom, so he took the path behind them while traveling around the room with less than purposeful steps.

A pleasant surprise awaited for him at the refreshment table: some really delicious-looking punch. One of the waiters delivered a tray of clean glasses to the table and he took one nonchalantly. He grabbed the ladle in the punch bowl and filled the glass. The aroma of the punch was quite...enchanting. He placed the glass to his lips and allowed the cool liquid to seep into his mouth and down his throat. A smile instantly crept upon his visage. He couldn't help it; the drink was so decadent and he could feel the overwhelming sensation of the taste of a diverse mix of fruits upon his tongue. Before he knew it, he had drained his entire glass of the stuff. Whoever made it had won him over for sure. However, his customary grimace of disdain replaced the smile soon after. He didn't want to encourage anyone.

Will glanced up as someone tapped his shoulder. "Wha? What d'you want?" He paused for a moment, then remembered where he was again. This girl looked a bit young for a party of this fanciness, but he wasn't one to question people with money. She'd asked him, basically, why he was there. He looked back down at the screen as he answered, moving a few synth notes down a couple bars.

"I came here thinkin' I was gonna be the soundman. The quartet down there seems to've taken my place." He shrugged and mumbled to himself unintelligibly.

Just when she was sitting down in the first of the steps leading to the balcony, Heaven heard the unusual beats that accompanied the initial melody, obviously not coming from the quartet. Just when she was about to turn around, a conversation seemed to start.
"Oh, great..." Heaven sighed, regretting for coming to the Masquerade Ball. Why did she do it, anyway?
...When the girl suddenly remembered that she had brought a MP3 Player with her, as she ever did. Searching for it in one of the partially-hidden pockets her casual, impeccable white dress with blue borders had, her hand rose again with the electronic devise in it. Smiling with anticipated pleasure, she cherished the model that she had bought long time ago with her own allowance. Heaven immediately connected and wore the earphones and, after selecting one track of her myriad gallery, she started to closely listen at it, even though she wasn't concentrated enough to capture the real essence of the melody.

"Your Music is a lot better than the band..."

A sudden crash followed by huge screaming from the entrance. Rosa swore, if her parents were so worried about upkeeping the family title, why were they making a scene. Doing her best to annoy her parent's rant over how she was only thirteen and had to be escorted to a party, she looked at the DJ.

"Oh I'm sorry. I'm Rosa."

Kit has drawn his partner close during a particularly stimulating piece from the band. He was steadily pulling her closer as the music slowed. Everything was falling into place until she was distracted by the commotion from the front. That brief moment let her break out of his grip to find out what it was. Before he could reclaim her, one of the sharks that were circling them snatched her away, and she followed not too unwillingly.

Cursing all the unlucky stars and swearing to haunt the couple causing the ruckus at the door her wandered off the dance floor and found himself close to man with a beat-up computer and a a little girl behind him. With nothing better to do, at least for a while, he unobtrusively eavesdropped on them.

Will smiled benignly after the girl complimented the sounds that practically bellowed out from his laptop's speakers. Some sort of crash hindered the notes from reaching his ears for a couple moments, and he glanced down at the doorway that led to the posh hallway. A couple butlers, if that's what they were, were standing in front of it with their backs turned to it. It seemed they were ignoring whatever was going on outside the door.

A man in an extravagantly bejeweled mask stopped by the door and handed a brass key to one of the butler guys. He promptly turned around and locked the door, then handed the key back to the masked man. Will watched inconspicuously as he as slipped it in a breast pocket. "Hm."

The girl spoke again, distracting him from the masked man. "Hm? Rosa?" Will smiled again and looked back down at the glowing screen. "Nice name I guess. Name's Will, but a lotta people call me Shakespeare. Now, if-"

"Attention everyone! Attention! Please, direct your gazes to the stage." Will looked up again as he was interrupted. Looking down, there was indeed a stage. 'Strange,' he thought. 'Why didn't I notice that before?' He wasn't left to muse on it long as the masked man stepped out onto the stage, spreading his arms wide and bowing. His mask sparkled in the myriad light of the glass chandeliers. The quartet had stopped playing so that everyone could listen, making it seem unearthly silent. Except of course Will's laptop. He turned it down a bit so it wouldn't as noticeable.

"Now, Ladies and Gentleman. I bid you all welcome to our Masquerade Ball. Welcome to the place where the most innocent soul can play the devil, the impish personality can be an angel this night." He smiled almost devilishly. "The time when all is naught and all is here. Welcome to the night of eternity in an hour, the night when frivolity becomes passion, the only night when dreams are a reality."

The masked man paused, grinning at the crowd. "Welcome . . . to the Masquerade!”

A chorus of cheers and applause went up as he bowed again, eating up the limelight. When the crowd quietened again, he spoke. "On the twelfth hour of this night, the Masquerade will begin!" The crowd was all hushed in anticipation. The masked man tapped a watch on his wrist, and stared at it like he was counting the seconds.

"Now!"

CRACK! A loud, cacophonous sound reverberated through the whole room, and lots of people were thrown to the floor like there was an earthquake. Will hung on to the railing, hugging his laptop close as it still beat out the music. Suddenly, there was a sound of breaking glass and chimes like a grandfather clock sounded, sounding out the hour. All was still except for that noise and Will's music.

Will closed the laptop and slowly descended the steps, looking all about him. He stopped as he saw a giant crack in the farmost wall. What he saw was completely impossible. A beautiful, starry night sky, thousands of stars like diamonds glowing. The biggest moon Will had ever seen hung in the sky, dominating the whole scape of the night sky. In the distance, a gigantic forest pincered the horizon like black spikes, the treeline almost lit up with a strange glow. There were a lot of people standing outside, at least they looked like people. They were smiling too.

Otherworldly music started up and quartet began to play along with it, creating an almost eery yet vibrant atmosphere. The people began to frolic and dance, laughing all the while. The Masqueraders joined in, dancing a combination of the waltz and whatever the people outside were doing. A voice beside Will startled him when it spoke.

"See? I said the Masque had outdone himself, but I think he's just made a legend of himself." It was the guy Will had spoken to earlier. Will grabbed him by the collar. "What the bloody hell is this? Huh? What just happened?"

The man looked confused and shook his head. "The Masquerade. It's just started."

Will let go of him and backed away. "Alright Will, keep it together. Just figure out what's going on first."

"If you really want to know, I'm the man to ask." Will turned to see the masked man who'd been on stage. He smiled, showing white teeth in the moonlight. "The Masquerade happened. Out there is what the residents call the Nightworld. Every year, exactly on time, a 'shift' happens and Earth is connected to the Nightworld."

Will stared, mouth parted in bewilderment. "A shift?"

The masked man. "Yes. Oh! introductions! I am the Masque, Christopher Tamesden. I assume you are new? What are you called?"

"Uh." Will swallowed, gathering his mind back inside his head. "William S. LeVayne. Or depending on what parties you go to, Shakespeare."

The Masque nodded. "Ironic name." he said, and walked away.

As Rico set his glass down on the table, he had to almost do a double take as a man now stood upon a stage that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Or had it been there all along? Had Rico really been that unobservant? He could have sworn that he had made an accurate analysis of the area. After shrugging his shoulders, he figured that it wasn't important at the moment. The man now standing upon the stage in his ostentacious mask was going on about something having to do with the Masquerade starting.

That's when things went awry, at least in his opinion. The sound of shattering glass and chiming clocks filled the room and he was thrown to the floor as the earth began to fall prey to a rather nasty tremor. As he scrambled to his feet, his jaw must have dropped at least a couple of feet. He was staring at an enormous moon through a crack in the far wall. "T-this is insane," he merely uttered as he gazed at the magnificent astrological body. The light of the ethereal moon shined down upon the masqueraders who now took up to dancing wildly as if nothing had happened. Not too mention that beings outside were dancing as well. It creeped Rico out and he shuddered. He had no idea what was going on, but by now he was cursing his parents for ever making him come to this deplorable and horrifyingly enigmatic party.

Rosa had been thrown from her position, nearly sent flying over the railing. Her arms gripping around it so tightly if she moved the rail would follow, no matter what it had to do. Still clutching the railing for dear life, she looked up at the masked man nearby.

"M... May I ask... why certain individuals were invited?"

She hated how it came out, the quake had caught her off guard, and now she was scared. Tightening her hands around the railing, she heard a creak in it. She didn't want to break it, but she didn't want to let go just yet.

This is either some pretty elaborate special effects, or a very bizarre party. Either way, this Masque guy is a really extravagant, Kit thought to himself as the floor pitched. Leaning against the wall seemed to be the best course of action until he regained his equilibrium. When the floor stooped heaving, he sighed and looked around. The earthquake had caused a large crack in one of the walls, but no one seemed to care. In fact, they were all running out to dance in the moonlight. Definitely strange. He brushed a few pieces of plaster and some dust from his costume and moved to get a better look outside.

"Oh?" The Masque turned to look up at the little girl. "No reason in particular. If your name is known to us for some reason or another, we'll invite you to join the Masquerade. Simply to keep the tradition going of course, miss." He continued to saunter about the dancefloor, in between dancing couples.

Up on the balcony, a couple of the people from outside seemed to be putting a show on, pulling off acrobatic feats on the railing. They were catching some laughter and applause.

Will was still looking about in a bewildered fashion, not quite seeming to have found his grip on reality just yet. He steadied himself on the edge if the stage. "Will, like I said, get a grip. Now, what happened?" He went through the sequence of events in his head. Will arrived, Will went to punch bowl, nearly punched someone, Will went to stairs and listened to music. Little girl talked to Will, loud crash distracts Will, masked man locks door. Masked man gets on stage from nowhere, makes short speech, earthquake happens, large crack appears in wall. Craziness outside.

"What else?" The sound of glass breaking, clocks chiming in unison the twelfth hour. Clocks chiming after they were broken. The grandfather clocks. Well, there was a start. Will visually searched the room. Indeed, there were several clocks, big ones with heavy metronomes. A bunch under the balcony and a few up on the balcony. "Start there."

Everything happened so fast, Heaven had no idea what was exactly going on. First, a sudden booming voice came from a stage that mysteriously materialized without anyone noticing. Next, a rattling quake that made the poor girl literally snatch both earphones from her with both hands and grab the railing to maintain her posture echoed down the room as a cacophonous cracking sound. Then, the unnatural normality.

Heaven blinked. Why did absolutely everyone, except five others she noticed in the corner of her mystical blue eyes, stay in the utmost calmness and continued dancing to the neverending quartet like if nothing happened? To her disconcert, the guests were actually celebrating the paranormal phenomena that had just occurred in the Masquerade Ball. Heaven looked through all the room, but her eyes rested in a peculiar crack. Descending the stairs carefully without moving her glance, she got close enough to distinguish a giant moon, an everlasting green horizon illuminated by it, and the myriad stars that hung down the night sky. It just... broke down the laws of physics, and Heaven nearly gasped because of it.

Kazi starts at cell H-3

Kazi watched the recent events without a word, all he could think of was "what the hell just hppened?" After actually looking at the room he was in, Kazi noticed that there were a lot of grandfather clocks, much moe than a room would need. Something may be found if he messed with these clocks.

Kit starts at H4

As fun as dancing under the moonlight looked, Kit decide against wandering outside just yet. A thought flashed into his head. Did my moped survive alright? he wondered. Aw well, he could check later. For now, the huge clocks seemed interesting. They did go off right before the earthquake. Maybe there was a connection...

Heaven starts at H6.

The interdimendional anomaly was getting enough attention from the guests, the supposed Nightworld they entered seemed so surreal... But that wasn't definitely a dream. Seeing as the ballroom steadily emptied, Heaven decided to inspect a bit. For starters, those grandfather clocks were so abundant that they were ridiculous. Maybe something hidden...?

Rosa starts at H8!

Rosa was unsure of what she should do, investigate, or get the heck out of here. Noticing the stairs, she decided she would venture up there, and see what was up there. Kneeling and ripping the bottom part of her long flowing dress so as to move. But then walls sprung up around her, trapping her like a prisioner. She shrieked, and pounded on the walls, only to be risen high into the air. A window before her, the only way to see outside. What was going on?