Chapter 25: Vertigo-A-Go-Go

Riba opened the door to the leftmost house of Evangeline. In the first district. He had come to Evangeline to find out what was going on with Abor's Cave. But when he and his friends had gotten there, Riba felt something nearby. A force of some kind. It was coming from right inside this house. He didn't know if it was a Memory Fragment or a spirit.

He remembered coming into this exact house with Mario, when they were stuck in Evangeline. It was cold last time, but for some reason, it was very warm this time. Riba had told his friends to stay outside. He didn't know if it was a good spirit or not, or whether or not it would hurt them. But when he walked in, he saw what appeared to be a Memory Fragment on the floor, just a few feet away from that same noose that had always been there.

Riba reached out, having it be a sort of second nature now. And touched it. Everything went white.

"Little Meadows Woods?" Riba asked, glancing at a sign. "That means we're almost there." Riba was actually excited for this. He'd never had a real job before. He could feel his greed boiling up inside of him. It was definitely worth leaving behind his childhood town for this. He would have all the money in the world. He imagined a hoard of coins with a gold statue of him in the middle. The sky would turn orange from the reflection of the abundance of shimmering gold.

Ah--- but those were thoughts for another day. He just had to keep going. Or rather--- his horses had to. Eventually, he'd reach his goal of being a millionaire. No... a billionaire!

Soon enough, they were nearing town. There was another directional sign. One direction it pointed in said "dead end" with the other being "Evangeline". Riba's eyes lit up with the sparkle of a million jewels, as they approached Evangeline, his new life about to start.

Riba decided the horse drawn carriage would have been too big for the busy roads of Evangeline. The last thing he'd want to do is trample someone and be burned at the stake, or placed into the guillotine. Imagine that!

Instead, he undid the harnesses to the horses pulling his carriage. They roamed around near him for a while, asked for farewell pets, and then when those were delivered, they galloped into the wilderness.

Riba walked into town. He didn't think many people in this town would steal anything, as from what he'd heard about this culture, stealing from another was a grave sin here. So he felt confident leaving his carriage in a secluded spot behind the treeline, just for extra measure.

His trial for getting the job was tomorrow--- which... the term "trial" in this instance sounded archaic in every sense of the word. Why couldn't it just be an interview? Anyways... he needed a place to stay above anything else. He was poor, so he couldn't afford a house of his own just yet. So he needed to resort to mooching off someone else, being a freeloader for a day. How humiliating!

Nonetheless, he walked up to the first house he saw coming in from West of the town. The leftmost house. He then knocked on the door. "Ah, my apologies! Give me just a moment!" A man's voice exclaimed. Riba then heard footsteps coming towards the door.

The door opened, to reveal a blonde haired man with a long neck, and hair similar to Riba's if not a little more straightened out. Riba never really bothered with his hair. He guessed that would have to change once he got the job to maintain a professional appearance.

"Well, hi!" The man said. "My name is Lucas Hoover. Not the Lucas from the fairytale about the boy and his mother. Completely different Lucases. Luci? I don't have a twin brother like the one in the story either, so don't ask."

"I wasn't assuming anything," Riba replied, trying to appear approachable to this man. "Lucas is a pretty common name where I come from. And what does it matter if you have a twin or not?"

"Let's change the subject," Lucas coughed. "Um, I've never seen you around here."

"I actually just moved here. My name is Riba," Riba stated. "Problem is, I don't have a house to move into. Clumsy ol' me!" Riba laughed.

"Aw, sorry about that, Riba," Lucas apologized. "You can stay here if you want."

"Really?" Riba asked, despite fishing for this type of response. "Why, thank you, kind sir!"

"Anytime! Come in, I have a guest room, so don't worry about me," Lucas replied, smiling.

"Ah, would you mind if I collect my belongings from my carriage real quick?" Riba asked. "I have some important stuff in there."

"Of course!" Lucas accepted. "Take as much time as you need."

Riba returned to the spot where he left the carriage. But when he looked in, he saw nothing there! Spotty the dinosaur, his food, his water jug... his spare clothes. It was all gone! "Damn it!" Riba shouted loud enough to scare the birds from the trees.

That night, Riba went to bed in the same stiff clothes he used for warmth that day. He was still upset over all the stuff he lost. Even the most important object to him, his toy dinosaur, Spotty. He tossed and turned until finally, he was able to sleep.

He then dreamed a horrible dream. He was at a banquet table in a refectory of some kind. It appeared like the painting The Last Supper. Except it was dark out, with not a star in the sky. Riba was with many people he did and didn't recognize. Notable people there were Koi, a blonde woman in a blue dress, a red-haired woman, a girl with the same red hair, and two men with very large noses. There was even a dinosaur that resembled Spotty.

He tried to open his mouth, but he couldn't speak. He then realized he was stuck in place. Everybody else was eating and speaking an unknown language between bites. But Riba didn't even have a plate. He looked down and saw himself in a tan jacket that smelled like fish. He had never worn anything of the sort.

A woman with cat ears walked up to him, and placed down... a golden platter. He reached forward his hand, and opened it. There, was the head of the round-nosed man in red. Looking up at him with a smile, and lifeless green eyes. Riba instinctively looked back to the man sitting at the table. His head was gone. In fact, everything, including the area they were in, was starting to disappear little by little.

This continued until there was nothing but Riba and the man's head left on the platter. The platter disappeared, and life returned to the head's eyes. Soon, the blonde woman's body extended out of the head, and towered over Riba.

"I will kill you," the man said in a mixture of the woman's voice and the red-wearing man's voice. "You will die at my hands, you disgrace. Disgrace. Horrible person. Cold-blooded killer.

Riba felt himself be thrown back, and he fell into a kaleidoscope-like tunnel where the walls were the red-wearing man's face. The man's insane laugh was all he could hear. He then fell back onto the bed, and woke up. Screaming.

"Riba!" Lucas exclaimed, having been woken up by Riba's scream. "Is everything okay?"

"Agh..." Riba groaned. "I had a really bad dream. There was a man with brown hair and blue eyes, with a moustache and round nose, whose eyes turned green... then he grew the body of a woman, making all sorts of threats and insults. I then fell down to my dream's version of here, then I woke up."

Lucas looked at Riba with a confused expression. "That doesn't make any sense," Lucas said.

"I know, dreams don't typically make sense," Riba sighed.

"Not just that," Lucas said, walking around the room, thinking. He then turned to Riba. "That's exactly what Mr. Evangelisti looks like. Riba, have you ever seen Mr. Evangelisti's face?"

"No, I haven't," Riba replied.

"I don't think you should go in today," Lucas suggested. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Some witches can invade dreams. Do you think, perhaps Mr. Evangelisti is a---?"

"What?" Riba asked.

"Ah... nothing..." Lucas replied. Lucas was really trying to cover something up. "I didn't say anything. You should go. I'll see you later."

"Okay, I guess," Riba replied. He walked out of the house.