Into The Aether

Chapter Twelve: Demons In Human Flesh

I was shocked with how well Richtofen had taken my analysis - he seemed to just skip away. But the crux of the matter lay in my parting words and he knew it too. His face said it all when I uttered that sentence. The thinly veiled look of hopelessness proved to me that he felt consigned to what he had become - despite his constant reassurances that he 'enjoyed' being this way.

I shook my head as I recounted what had just happened and quickly returned to the guys. We made the necessary preparations before the sun set and were getting ready to assume our positions for the night. Dempsey and I were on night watch though he always just let me sleep. But this time, I could not stop thinking about my conversation with Richtofen.

I did not doubt my abilities; I knew I was on the mark with my analysis. But I had expected to leave the encounter with some kind of injury for being so candid. I had resigned myself to being maimed for my audacity but these were words he needed to be told. He allowed me to push the boundaries as he kept goading me on - like he wanted me to prove I could understand him.

I shuddered as I remembered the lunatic glaring intently into my face whilst having to throw together an impromptu case study. I had been around many psychpaths but, admittedly, I had not been around ones that murdered... yet. I had always tried to prepare myself for the day it would happen but I had hoped it would be in the safety of a prison interview with guards on hand to come to my aid.

I thought back to my first case study; a Japanese cannibal. A simple documentary had steered me onto this path and fueled my self-appointed crusade against these demons in human flesh. He never saw any jail time despite being found guilty - his wealthy father's influence played a role - but the insanity plea allows many of his kind to evade justice.

He roams the streets of Tokyo a free man and sits amongst the scrum of commuters on the metro. Most are blissfully unaware they are sharing a carriage with a cannibal as many have long forgotten who he even is anymore. Which is likely due to waning media coverage - despite his own attempts to keep it alive. And he, of course, enjoys talking about it because it allows him to relive the crime. Everything that was felt in that moment comes flooding back with each recollection - any monetary incentive is merely a bonus.

He was, by his own admission, deformed, under 5ft in height and ugly. To most, he looked weak and unthreatening but as I scoured the internet for every interview he did; it was clear the film crews were absolutely terrified of him. They would be visibly uncomfortable as they huddled into his tiny council flat in Tokyo - given to him through his father's doing.

And this reaction likely fueled his already grandiose sense of self. Despite his awareness of his shortcomings; he, like many of these demons, suffer illusions of grandeur. His house was rather ordinary except for the bedroom. The walls were plastered with Japanese women despite his crime having been motivated by the fetishisation of white women - which he saw as an 'improvement'.

The photos were merely pictures of Japanese pop idols taken from magazines and photoshoots - nothing remotely sexual. It was terrifying to wonder what these girls would do if they realised their photos were being worshipped by a cannibal.

But in the end, his motives also boiled down to an extreme desire for intimacy - much like Richtofen. Whether trying to literally consume intimacy or create it through torture like Richtofen; they all seemed to crave it. An initial innocent, untainted, intimacy that over time becomes increasingly more sexual and subsequently perverted. The deeper the desire becomes; the more distortion and invertion that takes place in their mind.

And it quickly becomes something monstrous.

I snapped back to the present as Dempsey held out his pack of cigarettes. I thanked him before taking one.

"How ya holdin' up?" Dempsey asked softly.

I looked up at him and gave him a brief smile before lighting my cigarette.

"Well, I was going to ask you the same thing. You looked so overloaded with information today... I'm sorry" , I replied after taking my first puff.

Dempsey hung his head before lighting his own and took a sharp draw. He held in the smoke before breathing a big sigh.

"Oh man, I don't know if I'll ever fully register it. But you don't need to apologise. I'd rather that than you living some kinda lie just to protect us", he said before smiling a little.

"I bet Richtofen's too egotistical to even believe it. Considering the guy has his head so far up his own ass!" Dempsey laughed as he added in the jibe.

I laughed because even I was not sure whether he had even acknowledged it yet. It must have been pretty tragic to realise that his big quest to become god of a universe - which I am now telling him is fictional - would be for nothing.

I wondered what he would do if he ended up in my universe. Or maybe now that was his plan so he could expand his godliness to cover mine. What a Richtofen kind of thing to do, I thought. Truthfully, though, he was likely still in denial about it all and continuing to try to carry out his Grand Scheme from the game. And I did not want to give him the inspiration to 'up his god game' outside his own universe. I banished the thought before looking back at Dempsey who was sitting quietly as he enjoyed his smoke.

He looked up and flashed me a smile but I could see he was still troubled. I did not want to pry so I told him to get some sleep whilst I kept watch. His eyes lit up at the thought of a proper night's sleep. He gladly took me up on my offer and quickly stubbed out his cigarette - despite not even being half way through it.

I sat finishing mine as I listened to the silence around me. It was stifling and heavy on my ears but Dempsey's notoriously loud snoring began which brought some life back into the place. And, for once, it did not bother me to have someone snoring away next to me. I just sat back and looked out at the ruins. But I felt my curiosity nag me to look up at Richtofen's window which I tried to do out of my peripheral vision.

I could see a faint glow from his office, though, it looked too weak to facilitate work. Maybe he had finally fallen sleep for once, I thought. But to be on the safe side, I did not dare stray too far from the sleeping Dempsey.

I really did not want to see Richtofen for a while.

End of part twelve...