Samples.

22. Evocatio.

The floor was cold, and... wet? 
At least he thought it was the floor. He couldn't see to tell. 
The last thing he remembered was waking up and going to get out of bed, but he didn't know how long ago that had been. Wherever he was, the room had been robbed of all light. It might've been mid-day, or perhaps midnight. There was no way of saying. 

He should've been feeling uneasy. Disoriented, confused, scared, sick. Instead he felt safe. As if he'd been wordlessly promised something, and was there to receive. He wasn't in pain. He was being taken care of. By whom, he had no idea. He was only aware of the trust he had for them.
He smiled at the darkness. 
It hugged him back. 

The loud clunk of a flipped lever brought with it flickering lights and the crackle and buzz of disused wires.
A single glass case perched on it's own stage was illuminated by white lights from underneath. 
He blinked.
When he looked at the case again, there was a woman inside that had not been there before. 
Long red hair, dark eye makeup, and expensive jewellery decorated her.
She pressed herself up against the glass and stared back at him. 
He stood shakily and reached out a hand to press against the glass. 

The lights went out again. 

Time passed. 
Old pipes dripped.

CLUNK.

Another glass case was lit up. 
This time the woman inside was dressed up in black, with dangling silver earrings and bloodied knuckles. She bared her teeth at him as he gawked.
She rapped her knuckles against the glass.

Once.

Twice.

Lights out.

The temperature dropped further. He could feel his breathe coming out in clouds. For a fleeting moment, he wondered where he was. A twisted peep show? An old warehouse? He laughed to himself. 

A third case appeared in the darkness to interrupt him. 
The woman inside was ghostly pale, with hair and eyes equally as frosty. She extended a finger and beckoned him closer. He pressed his nose up against the glass. She smiled and blew him a kiss, and with it billowed white dust. 

And he was left empty again. 

Another case glowed.
Another woman was inside. 
This time, she was on her knees, pulling her hair back harshly, without a single piece of clothing to protect her modesty. She danced, for him, before the case, and the woman, plunged back into the black. 

A bulb flickered to life across the room.
He approached, to find four levers set in a panel. Above the panel, written clearly, was
"One or all." 
So he paused. 

What was he doing? 
He had to choose. 

Something was wrong. 
He was in a strange building, surrounded by displays holding people. He had a job, hobbies, a family. 
What was he doing there? 

He turned away from the panel and walked in the opposite direction. 

Another bulb came on. 
Far more unreliable than the others- it's light was fading and weak. 
It was there. 
He reached for the door handle, hardly visible under the poor light. 

Thumping echoed from behind him. 
Then, glass shattered and crashed down, mingling with the tortured shrieks of the women. They demanded he stay. He couldn't. 

The noise died behind the closed door.
He walked off into the rain.