The Fear Machine

## Variant Covers

* "Peace Was Always An Option" Variant
* "Love Is Blindness" Variant

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## **Synopsis**

**Chas Constantine** felt different. Barring him being an adult now and his maturity, Chas felt different. He looked different. A mystically forced blonde short fade had replaced his beautiful black dreads. His hazel eyes garnered so much praise from those who saw and loved them, which had become a cold, traumatized, unnatural evil green that he had no say over. That family made all of these changes. Leveeville made these changes. That family who adopted him under the guise of being lovely and caring had beaten, tortured, and altered him. His smooth black skin had become tough like leather, and Chas was different as he stepped off the plane in Roseland.

A group of people were splashed across every news outlet and media coverage company. They resided in a compound in the forests, some miles away from Roseland, who came peacefully and bought the land legally. Contrary to immediate thoughts, they were not fanatics or killers. They were a group of Pagans who wished to help Roseland. They healed people with injuries and diseases. Initially, Chas paid no mind to this as it had nothing to do with him, but his boundless cynicism got the better of him. Euphoria revealed herself to the news as the leader of this faction and was regarded by her people as a Herald of The Pagan Gods. Chas grumbled as he climbed into his newly acquired car to investigate the compound.

Chas arrived as the media outlets were leaving. When he arrived, a few reporters knew who he was as he solved unexplained cases two years ago. Before the recorders and cameras were turned on, Chas used magic to stop them from working. Before the situation escalated, Euphoria approached Chas and welcomed him to the compound. She gave him the tour of the grounds, and as they talked, his tainted blood came up along with his missing two years from Roseland. Chas refused to talk about his two years and told her that even if her people could cure his demon blood, Chas was still a damned man, to which Euphoria frowned.

They entered Euphoria's private cabin, where the two talked, or rather she talked at Chas about her group's plans to better Roseland while Chas smoked and nursed a growing headache. When he finally did speak, it was nothing constructive. Chas told her the world was not ready for saviors and would never be. Further, he stated that humanity will do what it does best. Appalled, she asked what happened to Chas in those two years to turn him from the cynical but still hopeful occult detective that she had heard so much about. In response, Chas somberly put his cigarette out.

Elsewhere, Nash Western was a wealthy industrialist. He owned the construction development company Western Developments and was a direct competitor to Falls Incorporated. Nash illegally procured the land that the Pagans resided on. He planned to utilize the land as a new development site for a mall similar to a metroplex mall. He hoped it would unite the city, and his actions proved Chas right. Nash started a smear campaign against Euphoria and her people, defaming them as "Evil Satanic fanatics" and saying they were here to spread their religion. Nash appealed to Republicans, and soon, it became a nationwide story.

As Chas moved into his new office in Roseland, he watched as the situation progressed. Republicans and Democrats argued on the six o'clock news, and Chas sighed, hating that he was correct. Chas was not planning to do anything about the situation, wanting to leave it alone. Chas investigated, found they were clean, and warned them about what the world would do to them. However, he got a magical SOS from Helena, who just appeared in his new office. Annoyingly, Helena demanded that Chas get involved. The two argued about what Chas did and why it did not matter if he got involved. The conversation ended with Helena telling Chas that something broke within him and leaving.

It became a significant annoyance. People had routinely told him that he had changed and was broken or different. However, in deep thought, Chas did not realize he was already in the car and driving to the compound. His mind went on autopilot, and he mentally raged against himself when he stopped in front of the compound. Chas stormed the grounds, seeking Euphoria to convince her to leave. When he got to her, she was leaving to find Chas. She asked for his help to stop Western Developments, and Chas offered it by telling her that her people needed to leave.

This begat an argument between the two. Euphoria refused to leave; Chas needed her to leave. Euphoria wanted to stand tall; Chas said citizens would come in mobs and kill her. It was an undying optimist meeting an existential nihilistic. In the end, Euphoria told Chas he was an asshole, a nihilistic piece of shit, yet she felt connected to him. Chas attempted to fight it, but as she got closer, the two embraced. The two were lost, Chas dealing with his demons and Euphoria dealing with the world's demons, and they found each other under the starry night sky of Roseland.

Chas woke up in his office. There was a faint feeling of magic. It was half past midnight, and Chas felt different. Euphoria was his first, but as every human on Earth will undoubtedly state, nothing changes. However, Chas felt different. His television was on. It was always on. It reported that a mob had gathered around the compound, and what kicked off the civil war was a bulldozer with magical warding on it. The news dubbed it "The Fear Machine" and that it was as it tore down one of the walls. Chas listened to the screams and shouts of the Pagans, the unending cries of children and women. Helicopter coverage showed more, but Chas could not watch. He turned his television off and sat silently, staring at the ground as he knew Euphoria had gone and the small slice of Heaven he had carved out left with her.

The following day, Chas arrived at the burnt and destroyed compound. It smelled of burnt timber and nature. Chas looked upon the compound. The place where the bodies were left imprints on the ground, but they were gone. He assumed that the police came shortly after he checked out. What caught his eye was a tree with a knife embedded into the bark and a word carved into it. Croaton. Chas lightly touched the craving and somberly looked down. Just then, a construction worker approached him: hard hat and all. The man asked Chas if he knew anyone in the compound, and Chas lied. The worker handed him a piece of paper and told him that he needed to evacuate the area. Western Developments were tearing down the compound, and when Chas looked behind the worker, he saw The Fear Machine in the distance, being operated by another worker.

Chas looked at the paper, reading the oversized and unnaturally happy text. "Roseland's New Mall!" It read. For a moment, Chas thought of Euphoria, leading to Chas learning that from now, he looked at the world through a glass, darkly. And Chas punched the construction worker.

## **Notes**

* Euphoria (Debut)
* Western Developments (Debut)
	+ Nash Western (Debut)