A Burning Passion for Servitude

"Ready the mechanism!" The Ringmaster shouted as if ordering a backstage crew to abide by his every word.

Without blinking and without taking my gaze off of the Ringmaster's face, I heard the same noise I had heard earlier. From behind us, I could hear yet another series of grinding sound, which is something similar to the sound of bowstrings being pulled up. However, the noise itself was too loud for it to come from a simple bow. It sounded like the sound of colossal machinery operating somewhere in the looming darkness below us.

The Ringmaster took a few steps forward, and I knew that he wanted me to do the same; I complied submissively, still with my eyes rooted on the outline of his face. We both took a few steps forward, and then he made a sharp turn and another few more steps ahead once again. Though my eyes are still glued on his face, I could tell that we're now standing a few inches away in front of the platform where the fresh corpse of George is.

The Ringmaster then bowed; I did the same. He raised his body; I did the same. He bowed once again to the left; I did the same. He raised his body again, looking longingly at the applauding people above us before bowing once again to the direction of the people on the right; I did the same. I did everything he did, but my eyes never left his face alone.

"Release the stake!"

When the Ringmaster said so, I heard the sound of something shooting towards our direction. It sounded so quick that I mistook it for the sound of a gust rushing towards us. My curiosity about what is happening behind us heightened even further when I heard a loud banging noise of some gigantic thing hitting the platform behind us. The way the people on the audience above at the balcony cheered and went mad at what they saw happening behind us. The Ringmaster raised his other hand while he used his bare hand to grab mine tighter, which made my heart skip a beat.

I won't deny that I had the urge to look behind me to see what is happening or what that sound is, but my duty right now is never to take my eyes off the Ringmaster. Though I do not understand why all I know is that I wanted to obey no matter what.

I will follow him forever if that is what he needs.

"Don't look back. Just look at me." The Ringmaster whispered as he turned his body behind him. When he did so, he finally let go of my hand, which felt like heaven detaching itself from the realm of the mortal men.

"Yes, Ringmaster," I said as I still glued my gaze at him while I slowly dropped my hands.

"I had this idea when I saw what that George guy had earlier when he first got her." The Ringmaster continued with a soft grin. "He must have thought he's some kind of genius for having that thing. Should've just owned a gun, to be honest. Then again, it gave me this wonderful idea, so I guess having it is not at all useless."

I looked at him in awe, speechless as to what he's saying or what he's about to do, which made me want to know badly as to what he has in store for me.

"Don't look back now." He said as he rose his hands into the air as if he was trying to reach for the sun. "Or else it wouldn't be a surprise anymore."

When he said so, I heard the sound of something rattling, almost like the sound of an enormous door creaking open. The sound of wood grinding on the surface of a cobblestone accompanied it though I am unsure if that really is how it sounded, for it's all too ambiguous to me. Not to mention, the sound of everyone cheering made my hearing a bit impaired as well. This series of sounds is followed by three banging and smashing noises that almost sounded like a huge object being nailed down into the ground using a huge mallet.

"It's good that this guy is covered in grease." He mumbled as he took George's flamethrower inside of his jacket. "Makes this entire thing easier."

 If this is the first time I saw this, I would have thought I was dreaming. After all, I am seeing a man taking a massive flamethrower from out of his suit, but seeing him pull huge things out of his pockets is not new to me anymore. I know that there is a limit as to how much he could carry, though. Thus, he still had to use his Caravan to store all of his products.

 He then activated the flamethrower and pointed the flames that were spewing out of it towards the object behind me. In a moment, I could smell different things burning, I could see a thick cloud of dark smoke rising above the endless ceiling of the court, I could hear the crackling of burning things behind me along with the cackling of everyone above us, and I could feel the burning sensation searing behind me.

When the Ringmaster realized that there's no more fire spewing out of the flamethrower in his hands, he threw it on the side, almost hitting Veronica if she did not dodge fast enough with a yelp. As she complained at what the Ringmaster did, he wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeves of his coat.

He turned his head towards me while taking his mask off. "You can look behind you now."

Although he said that, I still had my eyes glued on the Ringmaster's face. It's fresh, almost as if it's utterly devoid of any imperfections. Though he's sweating a bit right now, he still doesn't look haggard or sticky; in fact, he still looked just as fresh as when I first saw him years ago. The outline of his jawline was perfectly shown better now that he had his black mask off. His short hair fell onto his forehead, almost like snow dropping from the edge of a ridged roof. His green eyes, which I had only seen a few times, had revealed itself to me for the first time in a long time. His long eyelashes flowed like the waves of a calm river in a summer afternoon while his thick eyebrows looked just as imposing and dominant as his every move.

"You seriously looked like your sister."

He scoffed. "Just look behind you."

I finally complied with his demand and turned my body to see what he had done. I was curious for sure. Everyone quieted down in awe of what he had done, but I am even more concerned as to what he just set on fire.

I did not expect it at all. My eyes opened wide in amazement, and my jaws dropped in shock of what I had just seen. The Ringmaster looked at my expression as if he was longing for this reaction from me. I covered my mouth with my hand while I laid my other hand on my chest, feeling my heart beating faster due to the absolute joy rushing through my mind.

"Did you position him that way so that you can shoot a stake up his ass?" I mumbled as I saw the absolute artistic masterpiece in front of me.

The Ringmaster walked behind me with a smile. Once he had stood closest to my back, he proceeded to wrap his hands all over my body.

"Yes."

"That's amazing," I said as I feel my tears welling up in my eyes.

"Do you like it?" He asked directly beside my ear, which sent a ticklish feeling on my side.

I chuckled. "I love it, Lucas."

"Good."

He then buried his lips on my neck as I looked in shock at a huge stake standing on top of the platform. I saw just how beautiful the stake in question had pierced the body of George from his ass up to the hole where his neck once stood. However, the stake is too thick for George's body; thus, it inflated his body in such an unusual way. For some reason, though, his body was hanging upside down similar to the image of the Hanged-Man tarot card, which made his legs open wider than what is humanly possible, dangling on his body like the legs of dead frogs within small glass jars that I often see in med school. The image of him that I see in like the burning figure of a human kebab, cooked to perfection. 

The way the fire scattered everything else made it look like I am looking at a gigantic image of a red spider lily.