Pandemonium: Chapter 4

## Chapter 4

Zipher reflecting on his first day in the Wizard Village.

*"As a test, try to kill me. Then you'll understand."*

— Molte, provoking Zipher.
Chapter 4 is the fourth chapter of the first volume of the Pandemonium: Wizard Village manga and the fourth chapter of the series overall, as written and illustrated by Shibamoto Sho. It was released on April 12th 2013.

## Overview

Chapter 4 expands on the interactions between Zipher and the villages. Zipher finds himself in conflict between what he believes the village should be capable of and what it really seems to be.

The chapter starts with Zipher helping Domika in exchange for staying in the village for a bit longer. The two start bonding as Zipher learns of Domika's past. Meanwhile Molte warns him to leave the village as soon as possible. She is revealed to be an outsider who found shelter from the world in the village.

Zipher has a second encounter with the Village Chief Ainu. Once again he's denied the resurrection of his lover. To prove that the villagers can't resurrect their own, let alone anyone else, Molte taunts Zipher to kill her and see if the villagers bring her back. Zipher refuses.

The chapter ends with a mysterious mercenary force finding out the location of the village by looking at Zipher's fireworks display.

## Summary

Zipher wonders whether he's lost his mind, utterly convinced that some of his firework equipment is missing. However, he drops the thought, instead worrying about his earlier emotional break down before Domika. Thirsty, he tries drinking the water out of a village well, but is warned by Brow about its toxicity. Brow sought out Zipher to assure him that the last night's fireworks were beautiful. Zipher promises to Brow that he'll do another fireworks show that very night at seven o'clock.

    Still thirsty, after wandering the village some more, Zipher tries drinking water from a rain collector. However, Molte approaches Zipher and warns him that this water is toxic, too. Molte reveals that she's also an „Outside Worlder“ and asks him how long he intends to stay. Not satisfied with a lack of an answer, Molte calls him out on trying to butter up everyone in the village. During the talk, Molte reveals that she wants to try dying once in her lifetime. She warns Zipher that he won't be able to stay in the village much longer and should hurry up whatever his schemes are.

Later on, Zipher and Domika discuss the proper way of caring for flowers. The two enjoy each other's company. It is revealed that, besides the bad soil, the weather in the Land of the Variants is extremely dry. The two stumble upon an old photograph of Domika when she was eight years old. She explains that the village chief painted it. Prodding about her relationship with Ainu, Zipher gets Domika to admit Ainu was like a father to her. He asks her to pull some strings and get him an audience with the village chief.

    After some coaxing, Domika relents and takes Zipher on a trek to the village chief's house. His house is located in the outskirts of the village, across a graveyard. Immediately after seeing Zipher, Ainu preemptively cuts to the heart of the matter. He immediately reassures Zipher that he can't bring dead people to life. Not taking a no for an answer, Zipher prostrates himself before the village chief, prepared to trade his life away for his dead lover's. Zipher insists that all the magic in the village proves the legends about its power are true. However, Ainu points out that whatever the truth of the village is, another truth is that on the way to his house, Zipher had passed through a graveyard. This shocks Zipher.

Zipher's inner debate about the nature of the village is cut short when Molte hands him a knife and challenges him to kill her so he can find out the truth for himself. This visibly shocks Ainu and Domika, but Zipher breaks the tension with a joke, denying Molte's request. The uneasy meeting is ended with Ainu asking Kayoh to escort the three guests outside.

Later that night, Zipher holds another fireworks display to the wonderment of mostly young villagers and the annoyance of others. As the flashy fireworks are exploding, Zipher has doubts about the success of his mission for the first time. Meanwhile, the mercenary gang in the wilderness of the Land of the Variant watches the distant fireworks.

## Characters in order of appearance

### Main characters

Zipher

Brow

Molte

Domika

Cosith

Kayoh

Ainu

Crain

### Villagers

In order of appearance:

* Aimu, Andras, Basil, Brepa, Cornu, Kutar, Eva, Neil, Purso, Shushu, Varak
* Grif, Gulon, Irv, Memeko, Rono, Solato

## Trivia

* Chapter 4 marks the first time Zipher is seen alone outside of Domika's house. He wanders around the village, crossing paths with Brow and Molte.

* Brow asks Zipher to launch two fireworks that night, but Zipher responds by offering to launch four. It is revealed that Zipher's fireworks display is happening at 7 PM.
* After her opening scene in Chapter 1, Chapter 4 is the second time Molte's amulet is heavily featured, with a "CLINK" sound effect as it bounces off of her chest.
* Domika and Zipher chat about flowers for the second day in a row. It is revealed that besides the bad soil, the extreme dryness of the Land of the Variants also makes growing flowers difficult.
* This is the first chapter to reference Domika's past in any way. It is revealed that the village Chief Ainu was like a father to her.
* The drawing of young Domika (page 12) depicts her wearing a dress which Memeko can also be seen wearing (page 31), implying it became a hand-me-down.
* The village graveyard features multiple tombstones with text on them. Some inscriptions are legible and in English. These are "*(Go)dzilla*", "*Nuada Nuala*", and "*Sparky*" (page 16), "*Oogie Boogie*" and "*Peluda Y La Velue*" (page 23) and "*Sméagol*", "*Goll(um)*" and "*Gravoid el Blanco*" (*Graboid the White*) (page 24).
	+ *Godzilla* is a reference to a character, the 1954 movie named after him and the subsequent franchise.
	+ *Nuada* and *Nuala* are important characters in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
	+ *Sparky* is probably a reference to the dog from the Tim Burton film, Frankenweenie.
	+ *Oogie Boogie* is the main antagonist of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
	+ *Peluda Y La Velue* is a reference to a dragon or mythical beast that supposedly terrorized La Ferté-Bernard commune in France during the medieval times.
	+ *Sméagol* and *Gollum* are characters from The Lord of the Rings.
	+ *El Blanco* is a graboid and a recurring antagonist in multiple Tremor movies.

## Gallery

Zipher brooding over his mission and the last night in the village.Talking about fireworks with Brow.*CLINK*Just flower talk.A picture of Domika as a child.Ainu's house on the outskirts of the village. Cosith can be seen in the guard station to the right.Zipher prostrating himself before Ainu.First signs of insecurity regarding Zipher's mission.Who watches the fireworks?

## References

1. ↑ http://hiyokonikki.blog.shinobi.jp/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%97%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B/pandemonium%20-%E9%AD%94%E8%A1%93%E5%B8%AB%E3%81%AE%E6%9D%91-%E3%80%80%E7%AC%AC%E5%9B%9B%E8%A9%B1%E6%9B%B4%E6%96%B0%E3%81%AE