>>5272512You appreciate Carmen’s willingness to help, especially after everything that’s happened…but as you reflect on recent events, an errant thought comes to the fore.
"Hang on...There were five of you that we were able to save.” You announce, rattling them off one by one as Carmen’s scarlet eyes go wide with shock. “Zuè and Sval are in my headspace, while Duplicitous Doppel's user is in my daughter's. You're in Dorian's head, so that makes four, but I could’ve sworn there was another one here. Malleable Masquerade’s holder, I think?”
“Chloe made it?!” Carmen demands breathlessly, her former decorum discarded as she leans towards you, fingers digging into her chair with a white-knuckled grip. “Where? Do you know where she is?”
“No…” You admit, rising from your chair as you draw the Silver Key from your pocket. “…but I can find out. Dorian, are you able to hear me down here?”
“Loud and clear, Miss Shu.” Comes his reply, his warm voice carried by a gentle breeze that wafts over the porch. “Need some help?”
“Permission, actually, but only if you’re willing to grant it.” You explain to his disembodied voice. “You’ve got two Dream Daughters in you that know each other, but they haven’t been able to make contact for some reason…would you mind if I use the Silver Key to try and connect them?”
A pause.
“By all means.” The young man finally relents, but you know him well enough to hear the forced smile his words are filtered through. “But proceed with all due caution, my friend.”
“Thank you, Dorian.” And then, extending a hand to Carmen; “Shall we?”
Her cold fingers find yours, the Silver Key pulsing in your other hand as the door to Dorian’s family estate swings open, bidding you entry to its familiar and gloomy halls. You trace the same path you took the first time you explored these forbidding corridors, looping around the right side of the house towards the dining room, the structure’s ornate filigree and exquisitely carpeted floors only serving to deepen the shadows that lay claim to every surface. The paintings that filled the house in the waking world’s past are absent, replaced only by an empty silence that’s promptly shattered by a voice that forces your stomach into knots.
The entire building seems to shake under the hateful roar of a distant giant, the bone-shaking vibrations of thunderous footfalls from the floor above you forcing both you and Carmen to steady yourselves on the too-long dining table, as though you were both aboard a violently pitching ship.
It’s then that something sinks its teeth into your ankle.
(Continued)
