"Do our differences bother you?"
Damian asked as he glanced back at Elise. A single look caved her as she stifled in her own comfort.
Damian was mysterious; his dark red eyes and hair were striking and his most dominant features. He was a young man of many secrets and sacrifices. To him, the little people knew who he was; the better.
"I."
Words barely escaped her lips. Shy? She rambled; her mind was trying to quickly change the topic; at the moment, just her nose would do. She sniffed the tainted air.
"What's that scent?"
Damian smirked. He understood her actions, but there was a scent in the air.
"Incense"
"What? Like a sacrifice?"
"You could say that? We're in a domain."
Damian was the experienced one; Elise was only tagging along.
"A domain is a world that stretches beyond reality."
Elise was puzzled; she'd rather be home with her drunken dad, listening to dry jokes from him that would make her sleep, not this. But it's her job.
"H—how did we get here?"
"We opened a door in the courtyard; that's how we got here."
"What! And you didn't tell me before we got in?"
"A domain can only fully reveal itself when the inhabitants close the door. What? Did you think the inside of an abandoned chapel looks like this?"
Elise briefly looked around. They were in a long passage, with a long red rug, stretching for miles; there was no hope or sight of an exit on the distant horizon. Candelabra were placed on each side, 6 steps apart when moving forward.
"Are we safe?"
She asked. Elise was a brave young lady, but in times like this, fear prevails; fear was the only rational feeling in a time such as this. But not for Damian; he lived for moments like this.
Damian cut the tough act and turned to her.
"I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Damian looked her in the eyes and gave the assurance. Elise doesn't know whether to believe that. She barely knew the guy; a few encounters and sparks of romance in the air were not enough to guarantee her safety.
They advanced until a door appeared out of nowhere before them.
"How—?"
"You're about to witness a lot of things happen; not all have questions with answers."
Damian examined the door. He felt the wooden structure and traced his hand through the reliefs of book carvings.
Elise let him do his thing for a moment; she held back all the questions that rumbled in her mind. But her anxiety doesn't let her stay silent.
"Another Domain?"
"Highly unlikely. Only a grand architect could construct a domain within a domain. There are flaws in this architecture."
"What does that mean?"
Damian pushed one of the book carvings, and the door opened.
"It means, whatever or whoever is responsible, defeating them would be no great feat."
Damian led the way in, and the door closed behind them.
They found themselves inside a library, with 6 shelves, 3 on each side. There were two windows before them. Elise hurried to have a look, but all she met was her reflection.
"Nothing."
"That's a good thing. If you can see something outside the windows, then that's a bad thing."
"What would that mean?"
Damian glanced at her; she should figure this one out herself. Elise was smart, she does.
"A domain within a domain."
Elise took a deep breath and squeezed her wrist; all of this was getting to her, overwhelmingly. She took a few steps backwards and felt Damian standing behind her. His presence when close to her was like that of a shadow, a dark figure of nothingness.
"Still scared?"
"Yes."
"As you should, fear is the only thing you're allowed to feel. Your safety is guaranteed."
Elise walked away from him.
"Forgive me if I don't trust your words." "I don't need to point out the obvious, but…" "I'm scared of you just as much as I am this place."
Damian understood; he would expect no less. No human would put their full trust in him. He was the opposite of what is good.
"What's the ring for?"
Elise finally let it out. She had been meaning to ask for a long time now.
Damian wore a crimson ring around his right middle finger. It was obviously more than an accessory, and Elise could tell.
Damian touched the ring, the only thing that keeps his sanity.
"Let's just say, you don't want me to take this off."
"What—"
"Let's figure out how to leave this place quickly. The longer we remain here, the stronger the architect gains more possession over us.
Damian escaped her questions… For now.
Damian scanned the room, his eyes gliding over every shadowed corner in search of hidden clues. Elise swallowed her questions and put her detective skills to work.
She studied the towering shelves; each had only two rows, fully stacked with black-covered books.
Damian stopped walking and took a look at the floor. Beneath the dim light, he discovers a carving etched into the floorboards, a perfect circle, its edges adorned with children at play. But the centre is fractured, the carving within obscured. Flaws in the architecture, as he said.
Elise attempted to take out a book, but none budged; it was as if they were built together as part of the shelf.
Elise, being who she was. She tried to pull out every book from the top counter; luckily, one fell off.
A breakthrough. Elise picked up the book and scanned through the pages; somebody had doodled on them, the girls, she thought.
Elise does the same for the bottom row, and a book fell off.
She gasped. This little victory made her believe she was finally doing something to crack the case, other than sulking in fear.
"Damian, the books on each row on the shelves are almost fused except one, I suppose."
Damian got to work. It was as she had predicted.
"Clever girl."
He quietly muttered. This was what drew him closer to her in the first place, her smartness and determination. She would make a great detective partner for him.
They gathered all the books together, and they were all identical, with doodles on the pages. They were obviously done by girls: drawings of gowns, shoes, and flowers.
"They did this? Why is this here?"
"Domains, however, a figment of the imagination, most times draw inspiration from the real world, sometimes on purpose."
"Those poor girls… These books tell a tale of little orphan girls in search of paradise, and that paradise is a castle." "Could it be the reason they all ran away?" "Are they even alive?"
Elise turned to Damian for an answer; he was always giving one, but for this, he didn't know. He reached out to touch her shoulders, and she pulled back.
"Tell me. Are they alive?"
"I can't say for sure. They are here, but I don't know whether alive… or dead."
It was as if Elise's heart almost stopped; she started panting. Her anxiety attack plagued her once more. But she felt a warm feeling all of a sudden, like a pillar she rested on, and slowly her heart started to beat normally.
Elise opened her eyes, and Damian was right next to her. She looked him in the eyes, those red glowing eyes.
"You don't look like a demon."
Damian pulled away.
"Mysterious… Yes. But, not a demon."
"Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty…" "Ezekiel 28:12."
If she had begun to build even a trace of comfort around him, this would've destroyed it.
Damian arranged the books on the floor.
"This was how we took them out."
There were patterns on the front cover of the book.
"It's like a puzzle."
Elise gets down on her knees, and together they pieced the puzzle.
"It's a Castle"
Elise smiled; she enjoyed this.
"This was fun."
Damian let out a brief smile; even he wasn't immune to a little fun.
"Finally?! Do my eyes deceive me? Is this part of the domain's trickery?" "Is that a smile?"
Damian got up and tried to escape the happiness.
"We should arrange these in order; perhaps it'll be the key to getting out of this room. We've been here for too long."
"How long is too long?"
Damian backed Elise, so she couldn't see the devious smirk that he let out.
"Hours inside a Domain could signify days or years in the real world."
"What?"
Damian carried some books to the last shelf.
"For someone so intelligent, you're really poor at divulging information at the right time."
"Let's just hope that's not the case and get to work."
Elise carried some books with her to the other side of the shelves.
Damian had killed two birds with one stone, jolting her to work faster so that they could leave as soon as possible and escaping the emotional bond that was about to brew between them. He wouldn't let his heart fall for her; it'd put her in danger. Whatever relationship they had was strictly business.
Damian came to the last shelf and watched Elise place the last book. They both looked up, awaiting something to happen.
"Nothing is—"
Before she could finish her sentence, the shelves appeared to be bunk beds. The girls now lay upon them, reading and laughing. The vision shimmered like a phantasm, pale and transparent.
Elise was amazed; for the first time in the domain, she saw something not remotely scary but beautiful; the feeling radiated warmth and innocence.
"I'm not crazy, am I?"
"A Temporal Phantasm, it's an event from the past… The girls' past."
A tear escaped Elise's eye.
"I hope they're okay."
"We're about to find out."
A door had opened, and before the door stood a phantasm of one of the girls. The girl walked out of view, leaving Damian and Elise to continue deeper into the domain.