MidnightScreams

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The carnival was a place of laughter, music, and color during the day. But when night fell, it turned into something else.

Elliot Wren, an exorcist by trade, had never believed in the traditional comforts of a "good time." His life had been one of shadows, of rituals that bent the very fabric of reality. He had encountered demons that wore human skin, spirits who whispered in the dead of night, and entities whose names were never meant to be spoken. But what awaited him in the chilling silence of the carnival was a new kind of nightmare — one he had never prepared for.

It had been a quiet night when the call came through. A frantic voice, desperate for help, had reached him from a distant town, a place he had never visited. There was something wrong with the carnival. No, not just wrong — something ancient had awoken within it. The voice on the other end had pleaded for his intervention. They said the carnival was cursed.

Elliot had always been a man of duty, loyal to the cause even if his heart had grown cold over the years. He had no patience for fear, not anymore. The horrors he had seen were more than enough to steel his nerves. But this… this felt different. The thought gnawed at him as he drove into the town, the full moon illuminating the distant Ferris wheel in a ghostly glow.

The air was thick with the scent of burning popcorn and the faint echo of a calliope. Yet, beneath it all, there was something unsettling, a pull in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t ignore. The carnival stretched before him like a festering wound, the glowing lights too bright, the laughter too hollow.

Elliot stepped out of his car, feeling the weight of the darkness around him. He was no stranger to the supernatural, but this... whatever it was, felt wrong in ways he couldn't articulate.

The gates creaked open with a groan as he walked in, the sounds of the carnival suddenly muted. No more laughter. No more chatter. Just the rustling of the wind through the tents and the eerie squeak of a Ferris wheel turning slowly.

He was greeted by a woman in tattered clothes, her face pale and drawn. She had the look of someone who had seen far too much. “You’re here,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You’re the exorcist?”

Elliot nodded curtly. He had seen people like her before — desperate, broken souls seeking solace. But he was no savior, no healer. He was a weapon. “What’s happening here?”

“The carnival… it’s not what it seems,” she said, her eyes wide with terror. “It’s a trap. An ancient evil is awakening. It’s… it’s not just spirits, not just demons. It’s something else.”

Elliot furrowed his brow, sensing her fear was more than just the usual hysteria. “Where’s the source?”

The woman hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. “The center of the carnival. The big tent… that's where it all began. It’s where they summoned it.”

Elliot’s heart sank. The tent — the place where all carnivals built their most powerful illusions. He could feel the weight of the cosmic force that hung heavy in the air. This wasn’t a simple haunting. This was something far older, more malignant.

He turned to go, but the woman caught his arm. “You don’t understand. They’re not human anymore. The carnival itself… it’s alive.”

Her grip was tight, her nails digging into his sleeve. But Elliot pulled away, too accustomed to these kinds of encounters to let anyone's desperation deter him. He had his mission.

The closer he got to the center of the carnival, the more the world seemed to warp. The lights flickered, and the air grew thick with an oppressive force. It was as if reality itself was bending around him, distorting with each step he took. He knew he was walking into something that could tear apart the very fabric of existence. But he had no choice. He had made a vow to end these things — to protect the innocent, no matter the cost to himself.

The big tent loomed ahead, its entrance flanked by strange, twisted statues that seemed to watch him with unblinking eyes. He stepped inside, and the world immediately shifted. The sound of the carnival was gone. In its place was a deep, throbbing hum, like the heartbeat of something ancient and incomprehensible.

Inside the tent, the walls seemed to pulse. The air grew dense, thick with energy. Elliot could feel it — the presence of something vast, something not bound by the laws of the world. His breath quickened as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Strange symbols were etched into the ground, their meanings beyond him, but their power unmistakable.

A low, distorted laugh echoed in the space. “Welcome, exorcist,” the voice came, seeming to rise from the very ground. It was a voice like no other — ancient, twisted, and yet filled with a mocking amusement.

Elliot spun, his hands already reaching for the symbols and tools that would allow him to banish whatever demon or entity lay in wait. But he knew, deep down, that this was no mere demon. No earthly evil could have caused this.


“Do you know what you’re dealing with?” the voice asked again, now circling him. “You think you can banish what doesn’t belong here. But this isn’t your world, exorcist. This is mine.”

A blinding light flared from the center of the tent, and for a moment, Elliot thought his mind would shatter from the sheer cosmic presence that descended upon him. Images flashed before his eyes — galaxies folding in on themselves, stars dying, the endless void swallowing everything whole.

Elliot fell to his knees, his hands pressed to his head as the force of the entity’s power crushed him. But even in the grip of the vast cosmic horror, his mind stayed focused. He had faced horrors before. His loyalty to his cause had never wavered, even when faced with the unexplainable.

With a surge of willpower, he recited the incantation that had served him so many times before. The words felt foreign in his mouth, not of this world. But they worked. A flicker of light surged outward, pushing back the suffocating pressure that had enveloped him.

The presence recoiled, a scream echoing throughout the tent. But even as the force weakened, Elliot felt the pull of the entity’s grip. He knew he had to act quickly or be consumed.

With his last ounce of strength, Elliot drove the sacred dagger into the ground, sealing the cosmic rift that had torn into the fabric of reality. The world seemed to shudder, and for a brief moment, he thought it would all collapse.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the presence was gone.

Elliot collapsed, his body drained, but his mind still intact. He had faced it, and he had won — barely.

The woman from earlier appeared at his side, her face pale and tear-streaked. She reached out, her hand trembling. “Is it over?”

Elliot nodded, his gaze distant. “For now.”

He didn’t know if he could ever fully comprehend what he had just experienced. But in the end, it didn’t matter. His mission had always been about the fight, not the understanding.

As he walked away from the carnival, his heart heavy with the knowledge that there were worse things out there, things that couldn’t be explained by any earthly means, he understood that this was only one battle in an endless war.

And he would remain loyal to the cause — whatever it took.