"…what will we do about them?"
Trida's voice drifts through the darkness like a muffled echo. You try to open your eyes, but everything is black. Heavy. Your hands feel numb, twisted behind your back, bound by something coarse. A sharp stinging pulses through your joints—like your limbs were taken apart and put back together wrong.
"…We'll see how things go once the concoction has been completed."
A cold tingle shoots down your spine.
Bradley.
Your breath catches. What concoction? What are they doing?
"Oh? Looks like you're awake."
You flinch as something is yanked off your face. Air rushes in. Light slams into your eyes, blinding you for a moment. Shapes blur, then sharpen. Your heartbeat pounds in your ears.
B-dump…
B-dump…
B-dump…
You scan the room—dim, shadowed, lit only by a few flickering candles. And there, in the corner—
Therley.
Alive. Barely. His wrists are tied, his head drooped, but his eyes flicker open when he sees you. Relief and dread collide in your chest.
Trida steps into view, holding a small lock of Therley's hair between her claws. Without hesitation, she snips it off and drops it into a bubbling black cauldron. The liquid inside churns, thick and oily, releasing a faint hiss.
It feels absurdly cliché—like something out of a fantasy novel. But this is a book, isn't it? A story you were reading. A world you fell into. The line between fiction and reality blurs until you can't tell which side you're standing on.
Your head swims. The room tilts. A fog settles over your thoughts, heavy and dizzying.
"Sorry," Bradley says, stepping closer. His grey fur looks darker in the candlelight, his eyes colder. "But this is for the sake of our father."
DOOMM.
Your breath stutters.
"…Trida…?" you whisper, desperate for something—anything—human in her expression.
But when she looks at you, her face is unreadable. No warmth. No guilt. No hesitation.
Your hope flickers.
And dies.
The cauldron bubbles louder. The air thickens. Bradley's shadow stretches across the floor toward you.
Whatever they're making…
It involves you.
And Therley.
And a father who may not even be alive.