HouseDerouxScribbles
"Do you two... not see that?!"
In the darkness of the corridor beyond, the single glint of a metallic butterfly fpping its wings beckons...
"See... what???"
The serious tiger-guard looks in the same direction as your detective...
... but by then, that faint glint is already gone...
">that! I can't be the only one who sees >that?!"
".... oraaaaa?! Can't see shiiiiieeeeeeee-----!!!"
Pointing a single finger-gun to the annoying tiger-guard, I dare it continue speaking!
No! I don't have time for this! The 'mystery' will get away at this rate! I've come so far to catch a single glimpse of the 'mystery', and I am not letting it get away!!
"Stop everybody that comes through this point! Do NOT allow any suspicious people to pass!"
""Nyargh?! That's our job!!""
I have on time to py with these two gigantic cats! Dashing into the darkness of the corridor wherever it leads, I look for that faint glint of metal...
There! Right in front!
Your little detective runs as fast as her small thighs can take her, following the tiny and rapid fpping of wings! Passing by rows and rows of rooms through this upwards sloping corridor, panting and gasping for air all along the way!
Its true, I have no stamina, and I am not cut out for this!
But even so, I would like to touch 'the truth' with my own hands!
Impossibly, the metallic butterfly flits past the door of one of the side rooms.
How does that work? Magick? An illusion? Perhaps the room was so dark that I don't even notice that it was open to begin with? This is no time to be timid...!
[SFX:Sm!]
The dark door opens up easily, handle smashing against the back of the wall! This looks like some sort of storage room of sorts. Wooden boxes covered with tarp are all over the pce, and dust dances in the darkness illuminated only by a single high window. That window casts a twelve-squared beam of shattered moonlight down onto the wooden flooring. Standing into the moonlight like an actor stepping onto the final stagelights...
I look around.
Nothing.
Not even a single beat of wings.
Except...
In the middle of the room, a gigantic well-like structure pipes dance floor music upwards; raised wooden ridges safeguard those who might peer too closely over the well-opening to the dance floor below! Through that opening, a single piece of metallic rope dangles vertically in the air, pulled taut and tight!
I think I know what this room is for...
This is where the gigantic disco ball is hung up, isn't it?
I can't think of anything else that is hung up in the air and can be seen on the dance floor.
But... that's not what I am here for.
Breathing in all the dusty air of a room that has not been unlocked in ages...
I shout to the empty room for everyone to hear!
"[La Monarquía]!!! Show yourself...!!!"In my visual novels, this is when the vilinous sorceress should show up.
But the silence of goats is the only response, dance music still piping upwards.
... was I wrong?
Just as I was about to take a step forward to inspect the well-like structure...
I hear it.
The fpping of little, metallic wings passing the side of my head.
Then, as if the entire swarm woke up at once...
I saw it.
Metallic butterflies!
Dozens of them!
No, maybe hundreds of them!
Originally nestling in the darkness, they dance in rapid wings around the room!
As I stumble backwards, I accidentally bump into the room's door, closing it!
This silver-metallic light show cruised through the air, riding the dust motes in the moonlight...
... converging like a whirlwind upon a single spot before the well...
The unnatural whirlwind convalesces in greater and greater fury, the beating wings drawing up a small dust devil on the ground! Swarming together in greater and greater density but not a single one meeting with each other, it is as if they were forming a tall, vertical cocoon!
When the metallic whirlwind parts, someone who shouldn't be here...
... appeared...!Her back is turned to me, and I cannot see past her back that does not face me. But that yered bck-ced dress, those unconventional looking elbow gloves by her side, that hint of darkness as her earrings jingle from brushing her hair from the nape of her neck...
[SFX:gulp]
This is without a doubt the real [La Monarquía]!
She doesn't, cannot, and shouldn't look in my direction!
With the barest of movements, she turns her face to the side, and her brown eyes meet mine for the first time. Her face is somber, hiding all traces of emotion. Either that, or she was not happy to see the detective here! When she spoke, a single cold breath hung in the air, was it exasperation, unhappiness, or was it something else?
Then, soft words parted from pink glossed lips---
"------ -- ---e..."
What? What was that?
I didn't hear the first part correctly.
She can't hear my thoughts obviously.
But,
Her dark gaze narrows with furrowed brows.
Then,
I heard the cold words that followed loud and clear:
"... you shouldn't be here."HouseDerouxScribbles
