Then I stepped onto one of the triangle’s points. I wondered what it meant.
Three points, each with a step, as if they weremeant tobe stoodupon.Each point left a grooveinthe stone, looking remarkably precise as if someone had meticulously measured them to be exact.They weren't just grooves. They resembled thin veins, designed to carryliquidto thecentre circle.
The torches flickered, drawing my attention. Could I use them? Could I ripone offthe wall, swing itaround, and set this place ablaze? Perhaps I could fight Seraphina with it and then make a run for it.Probably not, but the idea lingered.
And then I heard a whisper.
"Tilly, it's a trap."
Her voice was low, but the warning was clear.
"You were always going to end up here."
Seraphina stepped forward, slow and confidently.
"The madness inside you, it’s loud, isn’t it? I can see it clawing at your mind."
Both she and the voices were speaking to me. I didn't want to listen to either, but I wanted answers.
"This is whatthe madnessdoes. Plays twisted games and turnsyoutoward the darkness. It's caused by theprophecy of Vareth"
“In the Varethym Kharos…The old teachings. There’s a warning about what the Mark does. It strips the mind layer by layer until only the soul remains.
“I’m not mad! These are your twisted lies, Seraphina, it’s you who has turned to the darkness. You are the mad one, and I see through you.”
She looked at me, ignoring my plea. “It’s keeping you from the one thing that matters,” Seraphina said firmly.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Child, it confuses you and prevents you from making the correct choice.”Your mortal perspective is a hindrance.”
“That’s not true,” I insisted.
“She thinks you are mad,”came the voices.
“You are right. She is the mad one, and she must pay with her life.”
"We wanted you to have time to choose.That would have been easier forusall.”
Herrobe draggedalongthe stone, and her shadow stretched longacross the floor and up the wall.
"But you were stubbornandclung to the noise.We now see how deeply the darkness has shaped you. Your mindisno longer your own andcan'tbe trusted."
She paused just long enough for me to think.
"Today, that stops.” She said with a glimmer in her eye. “We offered you the mercy of a choice, but the stars do not wait for the stubborn."
I stepped back, toward the door, toward escape. I didn't care where it led.I justneededout.Icould run andlock her in,just likeIdid in the cellar. I glanced at the torches. I'd burn the whole frickin' place if I had to.I had to go. Now.
I edged closer to the door.
"Tilly, there's nowhere to run”, she said without looking at me, without even flinching, like she knewwhat I was planning.
My boots scraped thestone, and the soundechoed off the walls.I sensed a shiftbehind the doors. That's when they began to open, one by one.
I stepped back, watching each one carefully. Each door was twice my height.
So here I was, trapped in a circle with a powerful bitch who had brought me here to say I was too mad to make the right choices? Surrounding me was a room full of Ecliptuari masked freaks who wouldn't stop this.
