Memory Trail | Open Novella Contest 2020 |

Chapter 2

"This is a very strange couple" Tylissa thought, while she led the two people in the room at the back of the shop. After a few minutes walking with the help of the candle she had picked up when they entered the corridor, they came to a door. Pulling a set of keyes from her belt, Tylissa opened and made way for the couple to go in first.

"It's pitch black" exclaimed the woman, while clinging impossibly close to her fiance.

"Give me a few seconds" Tylissa said in her melodic voice.

She walked forward a little bit and muttered an incantation. The room burst into light as six lanterns, strategically placed on the walls, flared into life. Their light revealed the strange machine in the centre of the room. On a raised, round platform there was a chair surrounded by circular metal bars which seemed to go round the floor of the platform. The whole construction had the look of a dome, with the bars criss crossing in the centre above the chair. On the chair there was a tiara made of the same metal as the bars. There was nothing connecting the chair with the machine.

The man stepped forward hesitantly.

"What is that?" he asked.

Tylissa laughed lightly.

"We call it The Throne. This is how the memories will be inserted into your fiancee's brain"

The woman grimaced.

"Do you have to be so crude?" she asked. "It is already uncomfortable to imagine all the process I will have to endure"

Tylissa smiled to herself. People could be so simple sometimes.

"If I told you that this process would be painless, would you actually believe me?" she asked, looking at the woman.

"No" came the curt reply.

"So there would be no point in me not being blunt, since it will not make any difference at all. I am surprised you are afraid. After all, the door is right there, if you find yourself unable to bear it" she said, pointing behind them.

The  woman collected herself quickly. 

"It needs to be done" her fiance said from behind her. "Although, I must ask what exactly is the procedure here. I still have no clue what's going to happen"

Annette laughed as she entered the room and closed the door.

"Tylissa, do you mind explaining while I get the ingredients?"

"Of course" she replied. "It is quite simple really. Your fiancee sits in the chair in the centre of the metal dome. These bar are made of the best iron in the Empire, which is also an extremely good conductor. The memories, which are stored here and Madame is going to get, will be placed in an iron bowl in front of her. Then, we will turn on the machine and you will see what happens next."

"Why won't you tell?" asked the man almost panicking.

Tylissa snickered. "It is not good to give all the secrets straight away" she said.

"If you could come closer" Madame Annette said from near the cupboards lining the walls near the door. Inside there were rows, upon rows of small bottles, containing what, at first, seemed like pearls, but when the couple peered closer, they realised they were glowing with a faint gold colour.

"Are all these..?"

"Indeed" said Madame. "These are all memories, copied and stolen from their original owners. Now then" she said taking many bottles from their shelves and placing them in a counter, right next to an iron bowl, seemingly made of the same material as the bars. "I will select a few memories, carefully harvested, and they will, in turn, be passed on to dear miss Eliza over here. Due to the, ah, nature of the comission you have asked of us, the number will be quite large, but this will not be a hindarance"