Chapter Text
Music echoed throughout the moodily lit prison that was the Velvet Room. It was a constant, familiar melody that its denizens had long since grown accustomed to. Yet even Igor, the Master of this place, couldn’t help but occasionally nod off to this ever lilting melody. Yet he did not. For he had a guest.
Just not the one he was expecting.
For in the back of the circular cell block, in a cell directly across from where this places intended ‘prisoner’ was to reside, there resided another presence. A presence hidden in the darkness of the cell it sat in.
“How strange it is, that something like you could find yourself in a place like this.” Igor said, his deep voice resonating through the music. Even as his back was turned on his uninvited ‘guest’.
AND YET
HERE I AM.
“S-Silence, prisoner!” Caroline spat, the barest tremor in her voice as she slammed her baton against the occupied cells door. “This place is not meant for you! H-How dare you intrude into our and our Masters realm!”
The diminutive wardens twin, Justine, merely stared into the cell. Her one golden eye trying to pierce through the darkness to see their intruder. But she couldn’t. This darkness… it was strange. Darker, yet darker… It was no wonder a creeping feeling had been going down her spine the entire time. “Why have you come here, creature?” Justine questioned. “This is a place of rehabilitation… But not for one of your kind.”
REHABILITATION?
IS THAT
WHAT YOU BELIEVE?
“Wha-?”
“Caroline. Justine.” Igor called out. The two girl-like beings immediately snapping to attention. “Leave us.”
“But Mas-“ Caroline tried to protest, but immediately thought better of it and gave a stiff nod. “Yes, of course. Justine! We should properly get some final preparations ready for the proper inmate before they arrive.” Trying to keep-up her tough facade, Caroline shot a glare at the darkened cell before marching away. Justine soon following behind her.
After the two left, there was silence. After a few minutes, Igor spoke. But his voice seemed… different. Impossibly deep and resonate. Cutting through the music of the Velvet Room rather than joining in. Like a discordant note in a beautiful sonata.
“I don’t know what you are. But you shouldn’t be here. I had made sure that nothing can enter this place unless I allow it. It is mine to control now.”
HOW
INTRIGUING.
TELL ME.
HAS THE GAME
BEGUN?
“The final pieces have been set. Why do you care? Are you trying to interfere? Because if you are, you will not live to regret your actions.”
INTERESTING.
BUT.
I HAVE
AN OFFER
TO MAKE.
“An offer?”
A COLLABORATIVE
EXPERIMENT.
YOU WISH
TO SEE
HUMANITY’S PONTENTIAL?
I CAN
PROVIDE
ANOTHER OUTLOOK.
IF YOU WISH.
“Another outlook? Of what use could I have of another when my Trickster is more than useful.”
A SINGULAR SOURCE.
CAN PROVIDE
BIASED
RESULTS.
THE LIVES
OF THE PEOPLE
ARE
VARIED.
NO SET PATH.
JUST ENDLESS
POTENTIAL.
“Hmph. And why do I get the feeling that your ‘secondary source’ has already entered the game?”
YOU HAVE
NOTICED?
“Of course I have. This world is under my control. I would notice a rogue element that has entered my domain. What is its purpose here?”
MY OWN
EXPERIMENT
HAS HIT A
SNAG.
AND ONE OF ITS
SUBJECTS
HAD TO BE
RELOCATED
UNTIL
IT CAN
CONTINUE.
“How… infuriating… that you believe you can interrupt my game just because your own failed.”
IT
IS
NO
GAME.
“Whatever the case, it is too late now for me to take this wild card off the board. So I have no choice but to allow your ‘collaboration’. But know this, broken one. Once this farce has come to an end, and I have found the answer I seek; I will destroy you for your impudence.”
HOW VERY
VERY
INTERESTING.
SHALL WE BEGIN?