RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 17 - Cassandra

The room that Daniela led Y/N to was one with which he was not familiar. His network of passageways didn't seem to have covered this area of the castle, and the route Daniela took to lead him there was so complex that Y/N knew he would not be able pass this way again without her. Roughly, Y/N estimated them to be not too far from the opera hall, somewhere on the far side of the courtyard, but where they were, he had no idea.

They were stood in a corridor with smooth walls and a vaulted ceiling of stone, filled with soft silver light from the glass windows on one side which looked out onto the snow-frosted flowerbeds and fountains of the courtyard. It seemed to be very much a different style from the rest of the castle, more like the inside corridor of a church or an ancient English building, somewhere with strong ties to the catholic faith or religion.

The corridor itself seemed to lead nowhere, but as they turned the corner to be faced with a dead end, Y/N felt his breath leave him.

Ahead of them, the stone corridor ended abruptly several yards away, but it was not empty. A graceful, wandering vine made from solid, bronze metal crept up the flat face of the wall, spreading out across the roof like a tree searching for sunlight, glinting softly from the silvery glow of the windows. Dust motes hung suspended in the air between the tree and the two of them, and as Y/N's eyes wandered across the motionless metal tree and its corridor, he felt oddly as though he had been suspended in time.

'I don't come out here often.' Daniela told Y/N as she moved forwards through the air, the dust motes around her swirling gently as she passed between them. 'It's too cold.'

As the words left her mouth, Y/N stepped forwards as well, and felt the slight chill of the corridor hit him like a wall of air. The hairs on the back of his arms crept upright, and he shivered in spite of himself.

'Will you be okay?' Y/N asked Daniela worriedly, glancing out at the awfully close courtyard beyond the window and its snow-covered bushes. Daniela turned to him, smiling slightly as if surprised by his concern.

'I should be alright.' She reassured him, taking a step further into the hall. 'As long as we don't spend hours here, I shouldn't freeze.'  Y/N nodded, then quickly moved to join her as the two of them walked towards the tree at the far end. As they grew closer, Y/N saw that the tree's metal limbs were blackened and burnished by age, and the sinewy limbs of its trunk and branches were laden with dust.

Daniela took the flower from Y/N as he examined the tree closely, and again, he felt the soft touch of her hands smooth across his as she lifted the contraption from them, before lining up the stem with a strange knot roughly midway up the trunk of the tree before them.

'I thought... it might go here?' Daniela asked tentatively, and when Y/N nodded reassuringly, she smiled, then leant forwards, pushing the flower's stem into the trunk. With a soft click, the flower attacked itself to the tree, and Daniela started slightly in surprise, before giggling sheepishly. Behind them, Y/N heard heels striking the stone floor, and turned to see Bela sweep around the corner.

'So, this is where the two of you disappeared to.' She raised an eyebrow questioningly, and Daniela stepped forwards, bouncing on her feet excitedly.

'We think we've found something!' She told her sister exuberantly. 'Will you help us?'

Bela glanced from her sister to Y/N, and then to the tree with its flower behind them, then seemed to sigh slightly and gestured for them to continue, moving to join them at the tree's base.

'What is it?' She asked, eyeing the flower suspiciously.

'No idea.' Daniela grinned. 'Isn't it exciting?' Bela glanced at her sister, then smiled reluctantly, and Dani spun back to the tree, running her hands over the flower.