Carnaval Diabolique (Chapter 1)
The screeching of the smoke detector startled Odin awake. He sat up and tried to take a breath but inhaled smoke instead. He coughed and looked around his room as more of the black smoke came in from under his door. Odin jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes from the floor and money from his nightstand. He walked up to his door and grabbed the doorknob. The hot metal burned his paw but he opened the door anyway. The flames lapped at his fur as he ran through his apartment. Once outside, Odin stood among the other Furrs and gazed upon the flaming wreckage that was once their home.
Needing a place to stay, Odin started walking towards his friend Cody's house. Once he got there he knocked on the door for several minutes. He was about to give up when Cody finally opened the door. Cody looked at his wolf friend. Odin was in miserable shape. His fur was coated with soot and ash, the small pile of clothes he had was dirty and wrinkled, and he was exhausted. Cody welcomed him into the house and the questions came quickly.
"So...what happened to you?"
"Well, my house kind of...burned down."
"Oh my god, are you ok? How bad was it?"
"I'm alright I guess. It really sucks though. All my stuff is gone and I'm homeless. Why doesn't anything good ever happen to me?"
"Damn dude, I'm really sorry."
"It's ok man. Hey, could I like stay here for a little while? You know, until I find another place to live?"
"Sure." Cody put his cloven hand on Odin's shoulder. "You know you're always welcome here. So, are you gonna want to take a shower or something?"
"Yeah dude, I guess." Odin sighed and walked to the bathroom. Ha walked in and shut and locked the door. Standing in front of the full length mirror, he unbuttoned his black chain pants and let them drop to the floor. He stared at himself for quite some time, and thought about his life. Bad things had been happening to him ever since he was born. His mother died when he was 10, and he never met his father. He had lived with his aunt until he was 18 and then he moved out on his own. Now, at the age of 20 he was just getting used to everything that was happening. But here he was, no home, naked and covered in soot in his friend's bathroom. Odin shrugged off the negative thoughts and stepped into the tub. He turned the water on and adjusted the temperature. Soon, the water was perfect and he turned on the shower. The warm, relaxing water poured down on him and turned grey as it washed off the ash. He pointed his muzzle up and closed his eyes as the water droplets rained down. A sudden knock on the door disrupted his one moment of peace. He heard Cody's voice, but he couldn't understand what he was saying so he turned the water off. "What did you say?"
"I said, I'm gonna leave some of my clothes out here for you because yours are all dirty."
"Ok"
"Oh, and I made some coffee if you want any."
"Alright, I'll be out in a minute." Odin stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist. He wiped the steam off the mirror and stared at himself again. Now he looked like his normal self. His wet, dark grey fur gleamed in the bright fluorescent light. The lines of his muscles showed through his fur. Strands of hair from his mohawk hung in front of his face. His ear and nose piercings added to his overall attractiveness. After drying off a little more he stepped out of the bathroom with the towel still around his waist. On the floor there lay a pair of dark blue sweat pants and a white T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. He brought the clothes into the bathroom and changed into them. He walked into the kitchen and saw Cody pouring a cup of coffee for himself. When Cody saw Odin walk into the kitchen he got another cup down from the shelf and poured some coffee for him. The two friends then sat at the kitchen table and talked about life, love, and just everything in general. After about two hours Odin got very tired and said goodnight to his friend and walked off towards the guest bedroom. After adjusting the pillows he soon drifted off into a restless sleep.
Odin awoke sometime in the afternoon. He sat up and saw his clothes, clean and folded, sitting on the dresser. He changed into his favorite pair of chain pants and a black beater. When he walked out of the bedroom he heard laughter and voices that sounded familiar. When he entered the living room he saw many of his friends sitting around and talking. He was very happy to see all of them. One by one they came up to him and said they were sorry. After the apologies, they all tried to think of ways to cheer Odin up. His friend Vince suggested stealing from the local thrift stores (always a fun activity for them). But no one was really in the mood. Many ideas were tossed around for about an hour. Finally, his friend Obe made a considerable suggestion...
"Why don't we go to the carnival?"
"I didn't know the carnival was in town. Are you sure its here?" asked Cody.
"Yeah, it's like an underground, gothic carnival. I think it's called Carnaval Diabolique."
"OK. Sounds good to me. How bout you Odin?" Odin nodded and they all got ready to leave. When he went back to the guest bedroom to get his money Odin started to feel a lot better. While he was putting the crumpled bills in his pocket Vince came into the room.
"Hey man, don't even worry about that. We got you covered."
Odin stood up and said "OK." Vince walked up to Odin a hugged him tightly. "Dude, you know I don't like that shit."
"Ha-ha, yeah I know, but you looked like you needed it."
"Alright, but don't do it again or I'll have to kill you", Odin said with a big smile.
When they were all ready to leave, they decided to take Cody's truck instead of walking or taking separate cars. Odin got to sit in the passenger seat and the rest of them piled into the back of the truck. It took them about an hour to actually find the place. It was about 5pm now but the sky was still bright. They all got out of the truck and walked toward the HUGE red and black circus tent. When they got to the ticket booth there was a sign that read "PARTIES OF 7 OR MORE GET IN FOR HALF-PRICE". Since there were only 6 of them (Odin, Cody, Vince, his girlfriend Thea, Obe and his girlfriend Heather), they waited around for someone else and offered to pay for them. Once inside they were astonished at the darkness of the tent. Other than the stream of light from the entrance, the sunlight was completely blocked out. Torches along the wall lit the tent. There was a giant arena with sand floors in the middle and carnival game booths around the edge. While the others took their seats, Odin decided to walk around and check out some of the games. He wasn't surprised at the violent and vulgar nature of the games. While walking past one booth in particular he saw two panthers outfitted in gypsy clothing whispering to each other and pointing at him. He thought nothing of it until he noticed some of the other carnies eyeing him and whispering. Odin became nervous and rushed back to the others who were sitting in their seats patiently. They had managed to get second row seats by the stairs. Odin sat down in the seat they saved for him and tried not to think about the odd stares from the carnies. More and more Furrs came into the tent until all the seats were finally full. Everyone was talking so loudly that Odin couldn't even hear himself think. Suddenly, all the torches went out at once. There were gasps all around and even some laughter. The entire arena was pitch black. Out of the silence came eerie sighs and laugher. It echoed all around them. A single beam of green light shined down on the center of the arena and the sighing and laughter stopped. A stern voice suddenly boomed from the ceiling. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MYSTICAL CREATURES AND FILTHY MORTALS ALIKE, PLEASE WELCOME...THE RINGMASTER!!!" In mid-air in the green light a ball of fire appeared and out from it came a blood red dragon. He fell from the air and when he should have hit the ground, just sifted right through it. Astonished gasps could be heard from all over. Something black began to appear on the sand where dragon had vanished. Slowly, the ringmaster rose out of the sand. He was wearing a black top hat and a black tie and he was holding a black cane. The cane was in front of him and his claws were folded over it. He was bowing his head as if in prayer. Everyone watched and waited anxiously to see what would happen next.