Adrian suddenly woke to distant music. He stood and threw on his robe and went to the balcony. The night air was chilly but it was easier to hear the upbeat music from outside. There were lights somewhere out in the forest to the east and they reflected off the overcast in colorless auroras. Inverted ocean swells of noctilucent white and purplish black. Against the woodland haze a single silhouette was visible. The skeletal arc of the upper section of a gondola wheel.

  He felt no particular urgency to go investigate. He showered and shaved and dressed in the formal regalia of the imperial office. When he arrived downstairs Klara and the elf Scylla were both waiting for him. Klara's hair was still wet. Algot Gunn, shrouded in shadow, haunted one of the alcoves by the door.

  "I was expecting him to bring us to the Gray Circus," Klara said. "But he brought the Gray Circus to us."

  "The fool," Scylla added.

  They loaded into an autocar and Algot Gunn drove them along the forest access roads until they could get no closer. Then they abandoned the autocar and hiked a little ways through the forest to the edge of a roped-off clearing. There was a semi-transparent shimmer at the edge of the trees beyond which the ghostly impressions of other trees were barely discernable. As if the clearing had supplanted reality in that one place, leaving the forest in-tact and hiding it from sight and touch.

  All the circus tents were colorless, alternating stripes of light gray and dark gray. The site was surrounded by an ornamented wrought-iron fence which itself was lit by braziers which burned with pure white flames. White spotlights between the tents left inverted sun shafts of unnatural light which danced and crossed like sabers. The upbeat music was close enough to pick out the individual instruments. Drums and trumpets and flutes.

  "Let's get this over with," Scylla said.

  They marched across the field to the gates. They were wide open and nobody was standing guard. In fact they didn't see anyone as they explored the paths between the outer tents. It was only when they reached the first ring-shaped road that they encountered the first member of the circus crew. It was a man wearing a dark gray suit with light gray pin stripes. He tipped his hat to them but carried on without stopping.

  There were more members of the crew stalking the inner ring. The men all wore the same dark gray with light stripes, while the women wore dresses of the same colors in reverse. There was no color anywhere save the hair of the cast members. Neither could Adrian find pure black nor pure white, only the same two shades of gray. In the very center of the circus was the big top, a massive tent that towered a hundred feet above the others. They went through the wide-open portals into the big top, and there, in the very center, standing on the volcano-gray sands, stood the ringmistress.

  She was at least eight feet tall. Clad in a pale gray suit, with a pale gray top hat and a dark gray cane. The only color on her clothing was a bright red kerchief which was marked with an opalescent device which resembled a burning flame. Her hair was straw-colored and her bangs framed a face painted a shade lighter than her suit. Her cheeks were painted with comical red ovals, like she was perpetually blushing. She smiled at them as they approached.

  "Welcome mortals!" the ringmistress beamed. "Welcome to the Gray Circus!"

  "Where is he?" Klara demanded.

  "Who?" the giantess retorted.

  "You know very well who we are talking about," Scylla said. "My idiot brother. Kai."

  "Ah, yes. Take a seat. He will be here when the time is right."

  They trudged across the coarse gray sands toward the bleachers at the edge of the big top. One of the little half-oval platforms jutted out toward the center of the ring and the seats there were cushioned. Premium seating for important persons, Adrian reasoned. They took their seats and waited.

  "Who is that?" Adrian asked, pointing to the ringmistress.

  "That's an Elemental," Klara explained. "The Elemental Queen of Souls."

  The Elemental Queen of Souls, at that moment, was dancing in the center of the big top, holding her cane with both hands.

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  "I don't think I've ever seen an Elemental dance before," Algot Gunn said.

  "The Queen of Darkness dances," Klara said. "In some cultures her name is 'Dancer' because she generally only interacts with humans by dancing among their corpses."

  "Well, I've never seen her."

  "Yet," Scylla said.

  "Yet," the man agreed.

  A bell rang somewhere outside. After the third chime Adrian started counting. The sound lingered in the air after twelve chimes. After a brief pause, a different bell, with a much deeper sound, chimed two times. Abruptly the Queen of Souls spread both hands and looked up and two portals appeared, one to either side. Beyond the portals Adrian could see nothing recognizable. A sort of opalescent light shrouded by a thin layer of inky fog. Ghostly blue humanoids began flowing from the portals, each as tall as a man and with vaguely man-like proportions, but with limbs that might have been inspired by the blades of some insect. Within each creature a crimson heart pulsed and flashed with fractal veins.

  "What are they?" Adrian asked.

  "Souls," Scylla said. "From the Ideal World. The Queen of Souls will try to convince them to stay in this universe."

  "Why would they do that?"

  The elf shrugged. "You are a soul. At some point you were sitting in these bleachers and you decided to stay in this universe. When you leave through the Gates of True Death, you will remember why."

  Adrian looked around. The circus did seem oddly familiar, now that he considered it.

  Thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands of souls poured out of the portals into the big top. They formed neat lines as they ascended the steps to fill out every available seat in the bleachers. They seemed to murmur amidst themselves but Adrian could not make out the language.

  The last of the souls shuffled through the portals and then the portals closed. Even before the last of the souls had arrived at their seats, the Queen of Souls took off her hat and bowed. Then with a voice amplified perhaps by her own power, by her own mastery of her Domain, she said: "Welcome, souls! Welcome to my universe!"

  "This universe sucks!" a heckler cried from somewhere in the crowd. Curiously, Adrian could understand the language.

  "Who said that?" the Queen demanded.

  "I heard souls end up as slaves!" another heckler added. This one sounded vaguely feminine.

  "Slaves!"

  "Forced to ferry spiritual energy across the Outer Dark for all eternity!"

  "Does the Goddess of Enclaves know about this?"

  "Slavery!"

  The big top filled with the rioting sound of protesting souls. The accusation of slavery continued unabated.

  "I don't think any of these souls are seriously considering staying," Scylla said. "They just came to criticize us."

  With a flourish, the Elemental Queen of Souls removed her red kerchief and held it overhead like a banner. The opalescent device in the center flashed in Adrian's vision as it caught the white light of the braziers. The heckling began to quiet, and then even the low murmurs slowly tapered off. Soon the big top was perfectly silent.

  "We carry the Flame!" the Queen of Souls announced. "I have proof of it right here. Furthermore, we have a special guest in the circus tonight! The Flame Keeper herself is here! Come, Klara. Come down here and show them all. Show them that we still carry the Flame!"

  Klara grunted but she complied with the command. She went down from their premium box and she trudged once again across the gray volcanic dust in the main ring below. Her red robes perfectly matched the shade of the kerchief held by the Elemental. The murmur resumed among the souls, though Adrian felt the murmurs had taken on a reverent tone. When she reached the center of the ring she stood beside the Queen of Souls and pressed her palms together like she was praying. Then she seemed to grasp at something inside her chest.

  Adrian felt something like euphoria wash over him. He could hear a singing even before he saw the opalescent flash of light erupt from her palm. Singing in a language he did not understand, yet which seemed so familiar. There was music but it wasn't the gaudy music of the circus. Mother-of-pearl flames licked up from Klara's open palm and the light seemed to wash across the souls in the bleachers in waves. Where there were once only shades of gray now there were splashes of every imaginable color.

  Klara closed her palm and the Flame vanished, as did the haunting music.

  "See?" the Queen of Souls said. "We still have the Flame, and therefore, the Goddess of Enclaves has not lost faith in this universe. There were some unexpected oversights, yes, but things will get better soon. In fact, our very own Flame Keeper is hard at work fixing these unforeseen issues. Klara, darling, when do you expect the Queen of Darkness will be freed from her prison?"

  "Within one or two generations," Klara replied. For some reason her voice was also amplified throughout the big top.

  This response brought an approving murmur from the souls seated in the bleachers.

  "See? Nothing to worry about," the Queen of Souls insisted. "This universe is perfectly safe. I personally guarantee that nobody here will be incarnated as a slave. Now is the best time to join this universe, because there will be ample opportunities to shape the magic once the Goddess of Wishes bisects herself. It will be a unique opportunity to live through the final stages of universe creation. But there are other benefits as well, as my companion will demonstrate presently."

  Klara glanced around uneasily. With a gesture from the Elemental she marched back to join them in their premium seats. Outside the air filled with the martial sound of approaching drums, and ominous music filled the air. Music like the sound of marching soldiers.

  "It's him," Scylla said.