Exception

*Prologue*

We
were finally surrounded. The kingdom’s heart beat rapidly, and its shallow
breaths marked its very sudden death. I never imagined myself feeling somber
for a living kingdom, but here I was, drowned in despair as our last card
squeezes out whatever small bit of life it has left. It’s kind of ironic,
really. The most powerful species was hunted to almost extinction, and the few
who gained sanctuary from their very own capital would not live to see the
morning suns. The most ironic part of all was that the “strongest race” would
be taken down by a single member of one of the weakest race. People within the
castle screamed and ran desperately from something towards the left of the
large, wide open, steel doors of the throne room, but their efforts were in
vein as their screams vanished simultaneously and they collapsed into a pile of
dust on the ground. I myself felt a wave of power strike me and felt my muscles
tense up and shake, as if I was protecting myself from the same fate. The
castle was suddenly silent, Eerily so. The only sounds were the occasional
crumbling of the stone around me, and the only conversation was in the very
throne room I was currently in, with my personal guard, Burn, ordering soldiers
to set up barricades and blockades so **she**
could not get in the room and kill me. Then he did the unexpected and forced me
into the safest room in the palace, the Suspending Chambers. He sealed me into
the chamber and booted up the system. Despite my brute force, which was mostly
unparalleled in the entire kingdom, he still managed to put the oxygen mask and
the wires on me. Then the glass cylinder slid down slowly from the ceiling and
sealed with a slight creak. I desperately tried to break open the glass and
save my kingdom, but to no avail, leaving me pounding on the glass, slowly
getting weaker as I progressed. Eventually I quit, seeing how futile it was, I slumped
down to the floor and wept to nobody but myself as my body slowed down from the
cold and the eerie green water slowly filled the tank. I wished I could protect
my kingdom, my friends, my servants, but I simply had no energy left to fight. I
let the liquid wash over my body, let my pity and sorrow go, and used the rest
of my energy to try to empower Burn a slight bit more so he stands a chance, as
I saw him marching up out of the hidden chamber and closing it, putting on a
brave front as he always did. The last expression he gave me was an emotion I
could not place, and I finally entered a long 90-million-year slumber.

*Chapter*
one:

*Wunder*
Dich Vor Angst

Beginning
of Vengeance Major Arc

Massive
explosions burst through the air as the cannonballs tore the village down house
by house. I grabbed all the materials I needed to keep my shop, the *Adventurer’s Toy-box,* operational on the
move, desperately trying to escape the onslaught. Scrolls, books, weapons,
money, food, anything needed for a long survival trip. There were some Elixir’s
on the top shelf that I just couldn’t reach, so I had no choice but to leave
them. I ran outside pushing a cart as fast as I can in front of me, with a
massive pile of things on top of it, as well as stuff hanging over it and stuff
falling off of it when I remembered going down by the docks yesterday and
putting down my dagger, but I do not remember picking it up. I would just leave
it, but it was a magically engraved dagger my grandfather apparently wanted to
be given to me when I turned 15.

I tied the cart to a flowerpot outside the
shop door and pushed through the crowd towards the docks, which was easier
thanks to the docks being downhill. The city was slanted, going from the forest
to the docks along a large hill. And there were a lot of side streets including
3 main streets, the middle one which my shop, run by my mother, Dira, was on. I
passed several shops, such as the candy shop, the toy store, the general store,
and other stores that were very popular in the town. The further I got, the
less people were there to block my way, making it easier to go downhill. Then I
heard a voice very similar to Dira’s yelling towards me. “Where in Ferjül’s
name are you going!” she yelled, and when I looked up she had a very worried
look on her face. I hesitated, maybe it was better to leave the dagger after
all. But I was told by her a while ago that it was very important to our
family, and I have already come this far, so I didn’t just want to leave it
behind. I hastily said “I need my dagger! It’s by the docks!” and kept working
towards getting to the docks.

Once I arrived at the docks, I saw the full
weight of the threat coming towards us, and it left me shaking in my boots. The
pirate ship was one of the most terrifying on all the seas, with its
magnificent height, the hull curving out from the water, but instead of
stopping somewhere along the line, it curved inwards towards the top, and the
white zig zag stripes lining the top of it. The rest of the hull was painted
red, and there were circus tents of every color with white stripes on platforms
lining the sides of the hull, in a seemingly random amount. Towards the back of
the ship, there was a giant red and white striped circus tent taking up a large
part of the deck in the back of the ship, though I didn’t get a good view from
the frontwards angle it was showing.

On
the deck, there seemed to be all sorts of attractions, from a black and grey
carousel to a rainbow-colored Ferris wheel to a massive grey bouncy castle with
small details worked in as well. The ship appeared to be powered by a furnace,
however it also seemed to be sail powered as well, which seemed strange but
considering the sheer size of the massive ship I wasn’t the most surprised that
it needed multiple energy sources to remain efficient. There was black smoke funneling
heavily from the top of the large masts. The legends of the famous *Die Wunderwelt* were not tales to laugh
at, being made from titan wood, the ship would not go down if crashed into by six
others, and no cannon could penetrate the hull. The ship of wonder and fear,
and the captain not being any better, considering he was supposedly mad. The
ship was reportedly as entertaining as it was terrifying, and the captain
having more fame than the ship and all its rumors and horrors combined. One of
the pirate lords 6 chosen generals, the pirate who does not kill, but kidnaps
entire villages, Deza “Clown King” Black.

There
was what looked like a figurehead of a crying clown head, with a sinister look,
sharpened teeth, a party hat, lipstick, and even blush. There were miniature
circus tents branching off the ship, the deck containing a roller-coaster, a
Ferris wheel, a bouncy castle, a ginormous cake, a merry-go-round, and a giant
circus tent on the back of the ship. An eerie tune was coming from the people
on board, and If I remembered it correctly, it went like this:

*Swing,*
swing, swing, swing with me baby, baby, swing, swing, swing, swing with me
child, on the night of the blood ball.

I
made it to the docks, which were completely empty with sparse amounts of
supplies left. A few barrels dotted around, rope and a few boats were here and
there, and I finally saw my dagger, glowing bright among a barrel. As I ran to
grab it, a cannonball hit the docks a few feet in front of me, breaking the
platform, so I had to go the long way around, weaving between other wooden
platforms and dodging cannon fire. I grabbed the dagger and bolted my way back
through the docks and up the cobblestone street. The streets were empty, and
even though I knew it was impossible for them to escape that fast, I hoped that
they all escaped into the forest behind the town. Though my thoughts were in
vain because when I got to the rendezvous planned in the forest for this kind
of invasion, not a soul was in the clearing. The pirates must have caught and killed,
and I must have been the only survivor to escape. But then where were the
bodies? If the bodies were missing and there was nobody alive here, that must
mean only one possibility. The legends about the great pirate ship *Die Wunderwelt* said that the captain
liked to travel to random villages and take the citizens. At that point the
rumors range anywhere from keeping them as slaves to adding them to the crew
with mind control, but one thing was certain, the citizens never came off the
ship, not even the corpses... I wanted to go save them, but what could one 15-year-old
girl do to an entire pirate ship as big as the *Wunderwelt*. When I was thinking about what to do, I realized that I
wasn’t alone.

I
whipped my head around to find a small child on the verge of crying walking
slowly from the forest, but his eyes showed no emotion whatsoever. I wondered
who he was, considering he came from the opposite direction of the village.
This was a classic scenario, the child wants me to help him find his mother and
I tell him his mother has gone far away, then I consult the boy. But it wasn’t
what I thought, and the boy said instead “my dad said that I have to go and
take somebody to see him, but I’m not sure I want to”. This seemed sort of
strange and ironic, but I asked him who that person is, and he pointed directly
to me. I gasped, seeing through the plot and started to turn around and run,
but there were two men to meet me and darkness crowded my vision as the bag
came over my head and something knocked me unconscious.

*Chapter*
two:

*A Strange*
Voice

Slowly
as my vision cleared, I first realized that I wasn’t in the forest anymore. I
appeared to be inside of a dark room which seemed to resemble a bedroom. I was
sitting on a bed with red colored sheets, and a white stripe lining the top in
an elegant fashion. The sheets were most likely made of silk, considering how I
was sneezing an awful lot. I quickly got out of bed, just for my feet to feel a
soft green and yellow striped carpet. There was a nightstand on either side of
the bed, one with a golden lamp and various types of traveler equipment,
including a map and a compass. I snatched both and had a look at them. The map
appeared to be a map of Fros, a northern continent of ice and snow, and the
compass appeared to be a sky compass, the compass that can point in all
directions, including up and down. If a sky compass was on board this ship,
that could only mean one thing. Contrary to the legends, apparently the *Die Wunderwelt* was indeed a flying ship,
because there were no more uses for this specific compass, and it costs too
much to just buy it off a whim. The room was made of a wood unlike any I’ve
seen before, with bone pale coloring, it felt strong and durable, yet soft and
smooth. Wherever I was, I wasn’t home, that’s for sure. There were three
dressers lining the wall with various clothes and types of jewelry hanging out
of extended drawers. Naturally, I wouldn’t be one to turn down an expensive
necklace or two, so I took three and hastily shoved them in my pocket.

I
made my way out the door in the right-hand corner of the room, and walked down
a hallway, where I heard a voice. I jumped and fell hard. The voice didn’t seem
like it was coming from the hallway, outside, or in my room, it seemed like it
was in my head. *What the hell?! Where am*
I! Why am I not dead?! I swear I died! *I started freaking out too. Why was*
there a scared girl’s voice in my head, who, or what, is she, HOW did it get in
my head, is it even in my head, or is it somewhere else, how do I make it stop!
She stopped screaming and she just sounded confused. *What on earth?* *What’s that*
supposed to mean? *I wanted to ask her what happened, but I felt too scared*
to ask. Then she started screaming again, *What?!*

I was NOT
going to start scream fest again, so I stopped her there. “Who are you, where
are you, Show yourself!”. She said *Calm*
down, calm down, I’m just as confused as you are. *This annoyed me a little,*
“Calm down? Says the person who was screaming for a full minute!”. *Yeah yeah, well that’s over now, so let me*
tell you what’s going on. A few seconds ago, a message appeared in front of me.

The
first thing was that she was stuck there unless the vessel holding her was
killed. The second thing was that I did not have to speak out loud to talk to
her, I just needed to speak in my head, and the third thing was that we could
alternate between who was operating the body, and who was locked in the mind
using a technique called soul swap. We were still uncomfortable with each
other, but at least we knew that neither of us wanted to kill the other. We
walked down the hallway and up the stairs onto the deck while trying to
resurrect Ingrid’s lost memories and what we saw was a unique sight. On the
deck of the ship was a carnival, complete with game stands, rides, and a giant
circus tent. The view was amazing, and the crew was having genuine fun. Or at
least I thought they were having genuine fun, until Ingrid told me to look
closer.

I
did, and these people were neither having fun nor part of the crew. Thousands
of citizens of all races and species were here, and on the outside, they were
happy but, on the inside, they were miserable. A mix of depression, fear, and
anger crashed onto me like a giant wave as I stumbled back. Ingrid said she
assumed this was thanks to an ability called See-Through, which allowed the
user to view the true feelings bore by the spirit inhabiting the body, even if
their exterior showed otherwise. I wondered how I had more than one ability,
considering my current ability was Money Gazer, the ability to see through money
of all kinds to see if it was true money or fake. A pretty useless ability I
say since it rarely comes of any use, but that doesn’t mean I can just get
another one. Abilities are supposed to be one per person, with a few exceptions
for some species with a common ability. For instance, zombies all had 2
abilities, their special ability, an ability that only they have, and the
ability Rampage which changes their appearance and strength by their amount of
anger and hatred and is carried by all zombies. I could sense that neither of
us trusted the other a lot, but we both had a common goal. To figure out why we
were stuck in this body, and to figure out how to release ourselves without
death, which we assumed was the only way till now.

Ingrid
had an idea to get me to trust her. She led me to the front of the ship at the
roller coaster that we saw once we surfaced at the deck. The roller coaster had
an extremely long line and I didn’t want to be on this ship longer than I had
to be. Ingrid told me not to ride it anyways, so there was no point in doing
so. I went to the front just to view the cars, and what I saw scarred me for
life. A group of mothers, children, fathers, and travelers of many races got on
board and as the people sat down and were locked in their seats, their faces
went from gleeful to downright horrified in a matter of seconds, like they had
been lifted from a curse. Fear filled their eyes and they screamed “Let me off”
in many different messages, languages, and ways, but it was no use. Their
screams were silenced as they went down the coaster into the bowels of the
ship.

I
nearly puked as their mauled corpses came back up and were “escorted” off the
ship. Ingrid was the thing that kept me from doing so. She reassured me, saying
that they were off to a better place, and that she assumed that was one of the
only rides that actually kills people on this ship, since they need a “willing”
crew to operate it and all. I still mourned their deaths, and I felt bad for
them, even if I did not know them. A thought occurred to Ingrid and she finally
asked for my name. *Akira Eval*, I
said, and with that, we were off to figure out how to get out of this
nightmare.

*Chapter three:*

*The Game of Life*

We walked back
to the game booths and we found a game that Ingrid wanted to play, and Ingrid
begun walking me through the process of our first Soul Swap. She told me to
relax my mind and concentrate on nothing other than our two souls orbiting each
other. I did as she said and saw a small glowing yellow flame, and a small green
flame which was not glowing, orbiting each other. Then, she told me to try
grabbing them and gently switching the order of them. Reluctantly, I grabbed
the flames by the “tail” as she said, and I switched the rotation to make it
rotate backwards. The darkness around the flames flashed, causing the flames to
disappear and the next thing I saw was a blurry mix of yellow and green and a
large, clear oval showing my previous location in the Die Wunderwelt in the
center of it all.

*Switching to Ingrid’s perception* As I played the game, I finally realized
how creepy and annoying it is to have a voice in my head, and I made a silent
vow to speak less when inside. Then when I finally won, a shadow crossed over
me. A voice with a slight Mulvarian (equivalent to British) accent, but also a
normal pitched Zhuurgonian accent (Best example is Dr. Hamsterveil from Lilo
and Stitch) said “We have a winner!” His voice boomed, as he begun a slow clap.

Everyone
around me gasped and the booth owner said “L-L-L-Lord Deza!” as he fell back in
fear “I’m s-s-sorry sir I did not s-see you there!”. All Deza said in return
was “Well nobody ever does, that’s kind of the point”, Then he turned to me.
“And who might you be little girl? I do not remember you being on my crew.” He
put his hand on my shoulder and we were suddenly in a nicely furnished wooden room
which was almost homely. Almost. “Were you one of the people from the village
that we just visited?” I did not know anything about a village, but Akira uncomfortably
told me she was, so I managed to stutter out a yes. He said, “Well if you are,
then we have much to talk about!” His voice turned dangerously sinister in the
last part, “Like what to do with you.” I said in response “Well you COULD
possibly bring me back to my village, so I could live out my happy days.” Deza
just cracked at that and said, “We could not do such a thing without playing a
game first! And
I know the perfect game we could play. Besides, all the members of that poor,
poor village have been saved anyways, and are on this ship now.”

“The game is
simple. On my ship, as you have seen there are many rides, booths, and other
things for your enjoyment. You will ride and play everything on my ship except
the roller coaster and the merry go round, and you have 24 hours to do so. If
you don’t laugh even once on this ship during the 24-hour period you win, and you
and your entire village are free to come and go off my ship as many times as
you want.” He seemed to be missing the important part, so I filled in the blank
question for him, and what happens if I lose?” he smiled grimly, and said “My special
ability, Soul Spirit, allows me to control the will of a living soul of a power
rank lesser than me. If you are to lose, your soul shall be bound to this ship
and tricked to love this ship with all its heart. It shall continue to laugh
and laugh and laugh at the same old gags and pranks until your head screws off
and your lungs pop! Isn’t that a fun way to die?” I didn’t like my chances at
this game, and it seemed neither did Akira, so I asked, “Can I
refuse the game?” “If you want to be hung on the cherry tree, sure”. It’s
ironic how unfair a game can be if you haven’t even started it, but there was only
one possible choice to the situation. After clearing my choice with Akira, I looked
Deza straight in the eyes, ducked in a deep breath, and said, “I agree.” To not
regret it later. Deza “Clown King” Black was not one to be trifled with, and if
I had any chance at living this was it. Deza giggled maniacally and said “Then
let the game begin! Be sure not to lose your will, and with it your head!"

*Chapter 4: Game, Start*

Well after
THAT happened, we took a moment to process as Deza seems to be going off on a different
topic, barking commands to the crew behind him. We had just signed up for an
impossible game and had no way out of it. We had to stay awake for an entire
day, without laughing even once by accident, and if we failed to not laugh we
would become a slave. If didn’t go to all the games, we would be hung. If we
quit, we would be hung. Our only chance at winning is to quickly go through
each and every stand in the grand carnival of a ship, and not laugh at ANY of
them. *Do you think we have a chance to*
win? *Akira said, and to that, I had no answer. We would have to form a*
strategy of some kind to try and maximize our chances. *I think we should take shifts so one of us can rest and the other play*
the games, since there is no way we could win this with only one person *I*
said. *I should take the bulk of the games*
because I am less likely to laugh at anything than you. *I was making sound*
logic enough, but she wouldn’t agree. *I*
think we should have the same amount of work, both of us will eventually laugh,
and I’m less laugh prone than you think I am. I also think that you don’t
deserve to carry the whole thing, let me help too. *I thought for a moment. Yes,*
it certainly would be rather hard to do this whole thing split 2:1, but
at the same time I didn’t want to risk it. But...

*Fine* I said *if you think*
you can handle it without laughing, we'll split it 50/50, but if there's even a
thought about laughing at anything, I’m ripping you out of control and taking
your place for the rest, okay? *Akira was a little annoyed at that last*
sentence, but overall, she was contempt, so she kept her mouth shut. Or would
it be her mind shut? Whatever, after we stopped talking I started paying
attention again, and there was a strange robot in front of me. The head looked
like a weird, over sized old radio, with a speaker on the left side of the
face, a large eye with no visible pupil, but instead, indefinitely shrinking
orange and purple rings looking like stripes on it, above the eye was a clock, with
both the hour hand and the minute hand just above the 3, and neither was
moving, meaning it was most likely a broken clock. There was a dial in the
middle of the face for a nose, and on the other side there was another eye
slightly lower down than the first and slightly smaller as well. This eye had a
radio frequency gauge above it turned all the way to the left. There was what
looked like a lever for a left ear, a small smoke funnel for the right, two
large zig-zagged radio antenna, and electricity arcing not only from antenna to
antenna, but along the antenna line as well as around the eyes. The mouth was
the creepiest part, with an unsettling smile as well as rows of curved sharp
teeth and blush on the cheek area of the robot. It was wearing black lipstick
and eye-shadow around the entire eye.

The rest of
the body was a little simpler, but still equally as terrifying. The body was a
box with no neck, and it grew smaller, though not by much, towards the bottom. There
was a control panel on the front of the box where the stomach would be, and it
had a simple speaker, as well as, a few buttons. There were thin arms connecting
to two-cylinder hands much like the body in moving thinner. The right hand had
a control panel, and the left looked to have scratch marks as well as fresh
blood dripping down it. The final part of the hands were four large fingers
attached to the hand, which made me question its grabbing abilities. The legs
were not legs at all, but a single wheel connected to a unicycle like connector,
with different wires running down it.

“This is my
head attraction designer and is the one who made every ride on this ship, as
well as the boss of the arcade, Radio!" Deza said with a sparkle in his
eyes and a beaming smile. Radio's expression didn’t change, but it started
speaking. “It is such a magnificent honor to meet your person. I will be your
personal tour guide as long as your soul is willing to remain on board this
ship.” The voice of Radio had a metallic ring to it, sending an echo
reverberating through the body. It was obvious from the way his sentence was
worded that he expected me to lose the game, making me just a little more determined
to win this, but a small part of it made it sound like he sort of thought I had
a small chance. Though at most he only seemed intrigued for some reason. “Well,
Miss Akira, shall we begin the tour of this grand ship, or shall we continue
this staring contest between the two of us?”. I didn’t like Radio. Too
sarcastic for a robot, but I guess I had to follow him anyway, so I said “Nah,
I don’t want to lose my eyes as well as my lungs on this ship, so I think we
should probably get a move on.” “I would not have it any other way!” Radio
said, a little enthusiastically, if that was possible. The robot moved out the
door and I followed it to a balcony of sorts overlooking the rest of the deck.

The balcony
had a breathtaking sight. The dark clouds from earlier were gone, and the ocean
was such a magnificent shade of blue, with the sparkling light of the sun above
reflecting a thousand tiny sparkles across the surface. The deck was full of
colors, and glistened in the light as well, with the shadows of the funnel masts
stretching along it and into the sea behind. The grass was a very rich light
green color, the few metal spots visible of the deck a magnificent red and
white striped layout. During the night I assumed they lit up with a strange,
eerie but beautiful light, but during the day, the rides shown in their own
respective light from the blast of color. The booths were so greatly designed,
and they were perfect for the landscape drawing attention to anywhere you
looked. Red, pink, blue, purple, green, yellow, orange, white, and even the
darker colors such as black and grey clashed perfectly with each other, making
for an unforgettable sight. The deck stretched far, and there were so many
people passing through it was hard to find where to set my eyes on, so I
focused on Radio. Who was now descending down the stairs assuming my following,
though I was too distracted.

Once
we reached the bottom, Radio said “As you have seen above, our current location
is the *Die Wunderwelt’s* main deck. This
is where the majority of the attractions aboard the ship are located, and the
only place the citizens of the ship are allowed to roam freely, unless ordered
specifically otherwise by staff members or the captain himself.” Did that imply
that the civilians slept, ate, and lived here? Or were they only allowed to go
home, or to their rooms, when commanded. Both were kind of bad, but I think the
one where they slept on the deck was a little worse. We walked into a grand
plaza like area just below the balcony. There were 8 pillars of increasing
height going around, a symbol in the center with a platform and 3 steps leading
up to it. The area was grey, and the symbol was orange and yellow, forming a cross
with a circle going through the upper part of it, and 3 lines coming out of 3 of
the four curves. This was easily recognized as the religion of the Cult of
Ferjül. My mother was a part of the cult, so I was familiar with its rules and
regions, but I had never heard of religious pirates before. I was about to be
instigated into the Cult by the bishop of our region on my 16th
birthday, but before it could happen the village was attacked, and instead of packing
my stuff to go for my finders journey, a journey one must partake to find your
reason for existing, and accept it with full force, I found myself packing up
to try and run from the onslaught instead.