It Has Come

Chapter 4.5; "Lost in familiar terrain"

It was in grief that I realized how very large the mansion was. I kept running through it, paying no heed to startled gasps from maids that I passed, ignoring the fact that I nearly fell flat on face multiple times from the long trail of my dress.

Eternity passed.

I found myself on the balcony of the fourth floor. The clouds could not bear their burden any longer; it had started to pour. As I threw the glass doors open, lightning flashed and thunder boomed in the distance. Blindly I stumbled to the railing to steady myself. I grasped the stone and looked to either side.

Gargoyles have adorned my house since it was made, centuries ago. I glanced to my left and saw a statue eerily identical to the real thing, crouching on a pedistal. On my right...

... just a pedistal. The gargoyle was gone.

I heard a scuttle behind me and metal clanging noisily.

Eric was behind me, grabbing a mace from a suit of armour. He strode out onto the terrace with me. He lifted the mace, pulled it back, and promptly shattered the stone statue by pushing it to the ground. In surprise, I looked over the railing as the gargoyle was demolished into unfixable bits of grey sand. I pulled away to see Eric. The butler was breathing heavily, not looking at me. He had just run behind me through the entire mansion to see where I would end up, all with those wounds.

I saw Eric's eyes flicker in my direction, seeing me, seeing him. He took a double take and ended up staring straight into my eyes. His eyelids were pulled back entirely in surprise. Eric stumbled back from me, dropping the mace into a puddle. I looked at him curiously, approaching him slowly to see what was the matter. He kept stumbling back from me as if he were scared of me.

I glanced at the puddle where the mace had fallen and saw myself.

My eyes had turned as red as blood.

Suddenly, my head reeled and the stormy world twisted in on itself, plunging me into swirling blackness.