Working With Phantoms

The Eleventh Letter of Warning

August 15th

Madran sat down next to Chicory in the Velvet Room, with both of them either plotting or listening to the plotter.

"Ok, so, we need to look for the key or lock or whatever and find it while mom's still at work. Are you ready?"

Chicory stood up and began to wag his tail, which Madran took as enough proof that he was ready to get the ordeal done with. The pair then went back to their home and entered Elia's room.

"Ok, so, Shadow Elia said that we'd recognize it... Maybe, a key?"

Madran and Chicory spent a lengthy time looking for a key, but found nothing.

"Alrighty... maybe, just, a lock."

Madran looked around and found what appeared to be a small lockbox.

"Hey, this lock looks like the one in the palace... Hey, Chic, over here."

Madran then lifted the lockbox up and sat on Elia's bed with it.

"Alrighty... a key..."

Madran looked around to see Chicory holding a key in his mouth.

"Ooh, where'd you find that?"

Madran took the key from Chicory and slid it into the lock on the lockbox. Then, after opening it, Madran found a single bar of chocolate.

"Um... no, Chicory, chocolate kills dogs."

Madran brought the bar away from Chicory, who was trying to sniff it.

"Let's see... M&M's?"

Madran wracked her memory for a few seconds.

"Huh. I remember mom saying once that these were her favorite chocolate for a time."

Madran put the candy in her pocket and ran with Chicory to the Velvet Room, where she entered the Metaverse. Then, once there, the pair raced up the stairs and to the door, where Madran presented the chocolate to the lock.

"I, uh, got your favorite chocolate..."

The lock suddenly clicked and exploded, with the door opening. Madran then stepped into a massive room with an intricate tile pattern on the floor that appeared to depict Elia with Madran and Chicory, large gothic-styled windows, a massive chandelier, and a cloud of mist and haze on the other side of the room. As Madran presented some light to the area by firing fire at the light fixtures which happened to light them, Madran gazed upon everything.

"Wow... Clown, look..."

Madran looked around to see that the hazy treasure was on a desk set against the wall, with much furniture and paintings settled around the room. Madran then saw Yorick appear next to her.

"So, is this her room, but in the Metaverse?"

Madran scanned the area, with her identifying a link to the real world through everything.

"Yeah, everything here is identical to what appears in mom's room. The furniture, the bookshelves, the desk..."

Madran walked over to the desk next to the wall and sat at it, staring at the treasure.

"Well, Clown, tomorrow, huh?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Madran looked behind her to see Tezcatlipoca standing there.

"Oh, right. Uh..."

"You've made it quite far, but this fun shall end here. Elia is not to be saved. Her determination to hide her perilous past has her beyond such things like that..."