Meet the main character - you ✨
One day your whole world crumbles around you. Literally. The sky splits, and everyone you know turns into dust. You escape to the thousands of glowing portals to any dimension imaginable. Only you are trapped, and hun...
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"Don't panic," you tell Lars and pull on a haughty smile.
Scratch that.
Panic.
You whirl your head around–
"So we say we're lost? Can we apologise?" Lars looks up at you.
You glare, and he stutters. The cupboard will have to do. Or whatever that is, covered with red velvet. You dash behind it and yank Lars along.
"Aren't we–"
"Sh-h."
You settle on your hands and knees, and Lars copies your pose. Why do you chicken out so suddenly? Well, maybe because you can only be brave when Lars is such a ninny. Or that you're no longer sure you can crack a portal open any time you'd like it.
The door creaks, and, first, you hear heavy footsteps. Black boots. You crawl further to the left and pull Lars closer to your side. He trembles and might be forgetting to breathe.
A sigh.
The man walks away to the fireplace, and you peek out. Tall and dark. A black cape.
You won't make it to the door, even though he now stands with his back to you.
Short black hair. Bulky black gloves. The man leans in and pokes the logs. Then tosses the poker back into the metal holder. Clatter. He winces and rubs his temple.
The fire illuminates his face. A black half-mask, it entirely covers the left side. From the hairline down to the chin, and straight pattern-like lines are engraved in the metal.
"Ah..." The man shakes his head and undoes the clasp. His cape thuds to the floor, it has heavy metal shoulder plates and all. He's surprisingly skinny below all that. Like half the man who walked in. "I've been gone for too long. This place is a me-ess." He sighs and plumps down into the armchair.
Thud! One boot, then the other. He also tosses his gloves and stretches his legs closer to the fire. Black socks. And a black shirt, you can only see its sleeve as the man lays his arm on the handrail. Blackened silver cufflinks catch lights from the fire.
"Feels good to be back, heh." The man chuckles and slumps further into the cushion. "Limbo was getting on my nerves. How long has it been?"
The logs crackle. Lars suffocates from holding his breath for too long and chokes– You topple him to the floor and press your hand over his mouth.
"Fifty, seventy years? Mda..." He sighs and doesn't seem to hear you two struggling. "Perhaps give it a hundred from the look of things. It's cluttered all over again... I'm out of shape." He flexes his fingers, and a black spark smoulders on his palm. "A hundred is too much without time and space. Is he... is he even still around?"
And he flicks the black spark into the fireplace. The logs hiss, shadows soar and twist on the walls. The black spark eats away a whole log–
Under you, Lars goes still. You glance down, but, no, he's breathing.
"That's the Emperor's special power," he rasps and gapes. His lips tremble and tighten into a thin line.
Now you freeze too.
So, yeah, apparently, the Black Emperor's back. And you've just broken into his house.
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