Day 13 of the Season of the Phoenix
The carnival just arrived in the Reach. People were laughing and running on the streets of the city, flocking to attend the show. The walls were covered by leaflets, announcing the arrival of the circus in the town :
"The time has arrived. Feast your eyes on the most spectacular show of this season. Magicians, Clowns, Contortionists and Freaks of Nature will provide you with a story to tell for the rest of your lives. We guarantee : You will DIE of laughter"
The tickets sold out at the first few hours of the arrival, yet the show was late at the evening, when the sun left the sky and was replaced by the gloomiest moon. Mr.Laughinstalk was looking at the faces of the people, grinning, smiling, saluting. He was entertaining the children that run around him, shouting and playing "pretend" with the Charr, that was unusually friendly and accepted by the humans...thing that made no-one suspect anything, for a reason. The Eastern Commons were filled with people, waiting for the time of the manifesto to come. After a few hours, the evening arrived.
The lights were turned off in the district and the surprised people turned their heads towards the stage. A strange music started to play, like brasses were playing through a gramophone, when suddenly, the stage was filled with a red mist. The spectators were estranged, discussing what could it be. The mist started becoming even denser, when a cloud of red smoke started circling in the front part of the stage. Giggles were heard throughout the district and suddenly a Charr appeared, wearing a red constume and a top hat, grinning with his toothy smile.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Sylvari and Norn, I welcome you to our Manifesto..."
Titus' face was adorned with his smile, his yellow eyes glimmering in front of the lights while the spectators stopped talking and turned their attention to him.
"My name is Titus and I will be your host. This night I will guide you in this trip into the ridiculous and hilarious. With no further adieu, I wish you to have one hell of a night..."
His grin became even widen at the sounding of the word "Hell" before he disappeared into a cloud of red smoke, his giggles accompanying the start of the show. The people were enthusiastic, smiling and clapping, cheering for the first spectacle to appear.
Suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared, wearing a sparkling blue costume, her eyes wearing heavy make-up and her hair adorned with big blue feathers. As the music played, she started twisting her body to impossible shapes as if she had no bones. The spectators were awed, yet terrified of the boneless woman, that kept twisting her body to the extremes. As she was completely unrecognisable, she appeared to become more feint, disappearing like a mirage until the stage was left empty.
The people were rubbing their eyes, trying to understand what happened when a pair of clowns entered the stage. Their faces were hilarious, yet terrifying, their clothes were ridiculously oversized and they held two flaming batons in each of their hand. They spoke in a distorted manner, one having a very high-pitched voice, while the other had a very heavy voice, almost demonic. They run around, jesting and balancing in huge spheres, often falling down, causing a wave of laughter to the spectators. Then, they faced each other and started putting the flaming batons in their mouth as if they were consuming the flames. Then, to the surprise of the audience, they spit out purple flames to each other, laughing and shouting. The flames started taking shape, creating an enormous clown face that grimaced and laughed. While most of the spectators were laughing, the children started screaming and closing their eyes, terrified by the spectacle. When the flaming face disappeared, the clowns bowed and started disappearing, the same way the boneless woman did...
The people were filled with awe, anticipating the next spectacle. Then, a woman form entered the stage, her face extremely disfigured. She had two mouths but no eyes and her clothes were extravagant. She wore an enormous purple dress that covered the stage but hugging her slim figure. As she stood in the middle of the stage, the audience started shouting at her, telling her that she is ugly and a freak while others had an expression of disgust in their face. Soon, the lights turned off and silence prevailed in the Eastern Commons. Then, a beautiful voice was heard, singing a playful yet dark melody. The stage was filled with a very feint blue light. Then a second voice was heard. Then a third, a fourth, accompanying the main melody until it resembled a full choir...coming from the woman with the two mouths. Then, her dress that covered the stage started glowing and phantasmal dancers appeared, waltzing on the tune around the woman. The people were enchanted by the talent of the woman and looked at the show with silence. As the voices started to cease, leaving a single voice to sing the main tune the dancers disappeared in a cloud of light blue wisps and flew through the audience. Then, the woman stopped singing and bowed as she disappeared into nothingness.
The people were screaming, cheering on the wonderful show when Titus appeared on the stage in a cloud of red smoke.
"I hope you enjoyed tonight's show."
The audience started booing, displeased that the show came to an end
"Oh, I am know, you want more, Hmmm ? Of course we knew that, so we decided to stay here for some more time. We will have a new show every three days, yet our Circus will be open everyday for those that want to meet our family. Now...I am thankful that everyone joined us this night and I hope we will see you again on our next show, with brand new spectacles and images to broaden your...Imagination..."
The Charr licked his lips and laughed before he disappeared in the same cloud of smoke as before, while the audience was cheering and clapping, leaving the circus and emptying the streets of the Eastern Commons. Then, Titus walked on the now empty stage and smiled in a twisted, lunatic way
"I will see you in your dreams, Reach...I will see you quite soon, indeed"
As he laughed even louder, he started disappearing as only his eyes and grin were on the air, before they disappeared too leaving the stage empty, only with the sound of the wind and a few leaves flying through the dark street...
