The Moon Calls

55

"You know, this house did not look that big on the outside." Eugene said as he checked a door.

"According to legend, the demon Zhan Tiri had a mobilestronghold that shifted its shape, and its true form is unknown." Andrew said as he opened another door. "Supposedly, there's some kind of 'heart' in the stronghold, but I don't know if that's real or legend. If Lucas is a Disciple of Zhan Tiri and he calls Matthews his 'brother' and this place is clearly magical, well, this may be that place."

"So, we shouldn't question the presence of creepy little girls and giant spiders and giant plant monsters and way more rooms than should fit in a house that looks like a bunch of seashells piled together?" Lance asked. "And is that Melina girl, is she one of them, too?"

"If she is, she must be really, really old." Eugene said thoughtfully.

"Well, maybe not. She may have been recruited shortly before her sealing and she is truly as young as she appears." Andrew shrugged. "Then again, supposedly they were unaging after selling their souls to the demon."

"If we can find that Lucas guy again, he could tell us. He seems to be a friendly." Lance said cheerfully.

"He didn't used to be, though." Andrew frowned. "That man participated in horrific atrocities all over the Seven Kingdoms, and who knows what he did before being recruited? Even if he's helping us now, it doesn't erase his past crimes."

"Andrew, did you forget that all three of us have crime records?" Eugene asked, raising a eyebrow. "If he's turning a new leaf, I say we support it."

"...You are right about that." Andrew sighed. "Still, I don't think we should so freely trust him, or Melina. And Matthews is very suspicious, where is he?"

"Hopefully, if we find him, we will find Rapunzel and Varian." Eugene said, closing the door he was lookinginto. "If only we knew what to look for..."

"Well, if this is Zhan Tiri's stronghold and Matthews is a Disciple, maybe we're looking for something with her visage on it?" Andrew theorized.

"Her visage?" Lanceasked.

"Like her demonic form?" Andrew said, walking past them and approaching a green door with a black ram head on it.

"Oh, yeah, that oughta do it." Eugene said as he and Lance walked over to open it.

The door opened with surprising ease and they all gasped as they saw Rapunzel and Varian wrapped in vines on altars, with Lucas standing between their altars wrapped in vines, his hands on each of their chests and glowing a pulsating green.

"What is going on here?!" Eugene cried. "What's he doing to them?!"

"Ahhh, we have visitors." Matthews said, walking over to them and changing form into a green, glowing man in robes. "Well, I'm afraid zhat your friends will not be able to talk to you right now. Zhey are currently trapped in zheir own minds, inside a perfect world where nozhing bad ever happened to them, where zhey are living a happy life as brozher and sister, with zheir loving mother."

"Gothel?"Eugene breathed. "And Lucas is helping you? I thought he was on ourside?!"

"Lucas?" Matthews looked at him. "Hmph. My foolish brozher has decided to go inside to wake zhem up, but zhey can only be woken up if zhey break free of zheir dream zhemselves. By entering zheir world so deeply, he has put himself at risk of being trapped forever himself. I don't know why he has had such a change of heart and I don't really care, but he had already put himself in before I could stop him, and now I cannot pull him out." He shrugged and walked over to pokeLucas' cheek. "What did you all do to him? Il était une bête si merveilleuse et assoiffée de sang."