Genesis Locorum

Carla is inside the town of Hamlin. The effulgent light illuminates the foreboding skies as she walks past the creaking gates and along the shadow-laden streets of the village. The murmurous crowd whispers around her.

“Murderer!”

Carla walks to a corner, the cobblestones are dyed red and brown by bloodstains. Oppressive air fills her lungs as the Alraune walks to the shelter. The other villagers’ eyes fixed on her like daggers.

“Deceiver!”

She arrives at the shelter and opens the door. Her eyes widen and she gasps at seeing Geraldine lying on the floor, stabbed in the back by a familiar knife. Purple and blue veins decorate the corpse of her sister with the blade as their epicenter. Sigils of an indecipherable nature line the walls of the shelter like hieroglyphs.

“Traitor!”

Carla stands mortified at the sight of her deceased sister. She runs outside the shelter and finds that she is surrounded by villagers. Their faces are twisted in rage as they hurl obscenities at her.

“Disgrace!”

Carla tries to appeal to the mob, to assert her innocence, but the unreasonable and vengeance-driven villagers listen not to her.

“Monster!”

One of the mob brandishes a torch at Carla, she avoids the blazing stick as she tries to run. She knows she is unsafe here as she runs past abandoned cottages, the howls and wails of the grief-stricken people at her heels, and the tune of a pipe, are all that she hears.

“Why did you do it, why did you kill him?”

The mob chases Carla, fire, and furor following their wake. Hamlin is now engulfed in a twisted dance of gloaming yellow, smoldering orange, and sanguine red, The sky above fills with a noxious miasmic cloud of ashen particles. She finds a narrow clearing and enters it. Hiding in the shadows of the firelight and evading the mob for now.

“Where are the children, why did you take them?” They cry as the mob moves past the clearing.

“Children?” Carla thinks. She knows she didn’t bring any kids with her. Her mind then recalls Charlotte, her daughter. Realizing that the town had gone mad, she made her way to the school.

The pipe’s music floods her ears as she moves past the flames and to the school’s grounds. There her jaw stands agape at a horrifying sight. Charlotte is tied to a pole in the playground, surrounded by children flashing wicked smiles as they circle the Alraune child.

“Ring around the rosey, a pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all found down!”

The pole collapses and Charlotte falls onto the burning school. The face is stilled in an expression of unmoving terror, her eyes stare vacuously as crimson streaks form beneath her eyes. A sharp contrast her her verdant complexion.

“Charlotte!” Carla tries to save her daughter, but it is too late, Charlotte’s body disintegrates into embers and ash. None remains of the little Alraune girl.

“No,” Carla says. “This can’t be real.”

“Oh but it will be, it is your future,” a whisper tells her.

The mournful howls of the mob, now indistinguishable from a wild hunt, echoes through the fire and the flames to Carla.

“How does it feel to lose your kid? O’ kidnapper, murderer, betrayer!”

“To think Samuel saw any good in you!”

“We have suffered your presence long enough! It’s time for you to perish, fowl monster!”

Carla could not make out anyone from the merciless apparitions that now surround her. They bodies charred to an ebony hue from the fire they wield. Their faces are distorted into twisted visages. Their hair and clothing now morphed into scales. Protections extrude from their arms and heads, curving and pointing skyward. Their eyes now line their legs and chest, each possessed of a piercing gaze that is as cold as the surroundings are warm.

Carla tries to flee, but someone emerges from the ground and grabs her leg.

“Why, Carla, Why did you do this to me?”

She looks down at the ghast that has her leg in its grip. Seeing familiar features in the revenant’s rotten and maggot-ridden flesh, as the demonic horde of grief stricken and revengeance-craving villagers draws closer.

“Samuel? But I—“

Carla is interrupted by another arm grabbing her other leg. Smaller, yet wreathed in the embers. “Mom, why did you let me perish in flames?”. The blazing arm spreads its smolder across Carla’s botanical body, consuming her as she screams in grief and terror. The Pipe’s sounds grow louder and louder, drowning out Carla’s screams, the sounds of the flickering ash, and the joyous clamor of the villagers.

“This is our closure, the ending you deserve!”

✦✦✦

Carla wakes up from her nightmare in her guest room in the Black Box, a meticulous replica of her home. She soon heads to the kitchen, finding that Charlotte is already there.

“Charlotte?” Carla is surprised to see her daughter already in the kitchen. “What happened?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Charlotte says tiredly. She drinks a cup of warm milk. “I had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Carla thinks. The vision remains vivid in her mind. “What kind of nightmare, sweetie?”

“Everything was on fire,” Charlotte says, “everyone was on fire. I was on fire!” tears well up from her eyes. Transparent and streaming from her face. Carla hugs her daughter, as she wonders if she had the same nightmare and the ramifications of that possibility.

Carla comforts her daughter, telling her that it was just a nightmare.

“But why,” Carla sniffles. She knows the nightmare is no mere nightmare, but a crystallization of what she fears about the town of Hamlin. “Why does the town hate us?”

“Oh, sweetie, Hamlin doesn’t hate us.”

Douglas and his daughters soon arrive. Finding Carla comforting her daughter. Emily also notices the scene and observes it.

After Charlotte finishes crying, she and Carla find the Arions in the kitchen. They stand silently for a moment before the parents send their daughters out to play for a bit.

“Something is wrong in Hamlin,” Carla says. “I don’t know what, but—“

“Save it,” Douglas says. “I understand. Had to comfort the girls about nightmares about them celebrating Charlotte burning to death a minute ago.”

“Did everyone have the same nightmare?” Carla asks.

Emily’s voice echoes to the Alraune. “I don’t think I had dreamt of a burning village.”

“Would be wild if everyone did,” Douglas says. “Kinda reassuring in a sense, at least it would mean that Hamlin is the same as it ever was.”

“I’ve a thing to take care of,” Carla says. “Could you keep an eye on the girls for a bit?”

“Of course!” Douglas says.

“Thank you,” Carla says as she leaves the simulacra of her house.

“Emily,” Carla says to the open air of the Black Box, “Can you grant me a favor?”

“Of course,” Emily says. “What is it?”

“I’d wish to return to Hamlin,” Calra says as she approaches a room where she knows a pack of dire wolves lingers. “If something happened there, I’d wish to know firsthand. Would you and your fellows accompany me?”

“Of course!” Emily says.

“Thank you,” Carla says as she enters the room, hoping to beckon the wolves within to assist her as well. The vision lingers still in her mind, along with the noise of a pipe and a certain accusation.

She finds a pack of dire wolves for her tasks. She uses her fragrance to lull them and calm them as she beckons their aid. She eventually coaxes them to assist her. With that taken care of, she heads back and makes more preparations for the return to Hamlin.

✦✦✦

Carla returns to Revotos’ Valley the next day, alongside Charlotte, Douglas, Euryale, Stheno, Emily, Tim, Sarah, Heathcliff, Minerva, Nina, Elizabeth, and Richard, as well as the pack of dire wolves she enlisted the previous day.

“Thank you for accompanying me,” Carla says.

“No problem, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Anything for a friend.”

The groups make their pilgrimage through the valley. The Dungeon grants them a new tablet.

“Be careful, travelers, for danger’s afoot. Beware the Piper, beware the nightmares.”

Carla looks at the message, already aware of the nightmare she had recently.

“So,” Elizabeth says. “You and the other visitors had the same dream of the village up in flames?”

“That is the gist, aye,” Douglas says.

“That was a terrible dream,” Stheno says. “Why I would never take glee at turning my friend into a bonfire!”

“Why are we even paying attention to that!” Euryale says. “It’s just a dream, right Daddy?”

“A dream that five of us had at the same time,” Douglas says. “And one that claims the children had vanished.”

“I do not know why they would make such a claim,” Stheno says. “We were at the school? Right?”

“Were we?” Charlotte says. “I could barely see anything in that nightmare.”

Carla suspects something is amiss, that the dream was trying to tell them something dire had happened to the village’s children.

“Why did they have a dream like that?” Nina says curiously.

“Yeah,” Emily says. “It feels strange.” Her avatara turns to see the caverns they went into the first time they visited the valley.

Elizabeth muses on the information about the dream the five visitors from Hamlin told her about. “It could be a warning, or it could be a threat. I’ve heard of oneriomancers using dreams as a way to manipulate people, or a bid to warn them of future threats.”

“Aren’t their dreams more… obtuse?” Tim says.

“Yes,” Elizabeth says. “They tend to shroud their meanings in layers of symbolism.”

“That dream felt very clear to me,” Charlotte says. The vision of her body turning into ash, and of her arm binding Carla to the ground lingers in her mind.

They arrive at the lake where Emily and her allies fought the undead Ophidian. There they say the remnants of a trial of footprints. Sarah looks at them. “They seem rather small,” she says. Indeed all of them look like the footprints of children.

Carla Fears the worst. “Charlotte, can you have the wolves track the kids?” Her young daughter nods and asks the wolves to get a scent from the footprints. The dire wolves’ keen noses smell the trail, but they could only get a faint whiff. Carla rushes to the village of Hamlin.

Carla soon arrives at the village, finding Gearldine at the gates. “Carla, you’re back already?”

“I want to know,” Carla says. “Did anything happen in my absence?”

Geraldine stays silent for a moment. “The children,” she says, “They all vanished overnight! They’re gone.”

✦✦✦

The Piper stands in front of his captives. They stand, torpid and dazed, trapped in a haze. He serenades them with his instrument. The children’s eyes glaze over to the tones.

They stand in a space, cut off from the village. The trees around them echo the pipe’s tune. The wind carries the melody beyond.

“The mind is an adequate place to store. They cannot be found so easily there.”

In reality, the Piper hovers. Floating over the ground and the water. The Piper Pruflas plays his pipe again. “Shame that they were alerted prematurely.”

He soon catches the sight of a building. Ebon in color and large in scale. Pruflas smirks, his mind and Stanley’s are as one. “It matters not, for we are here, and so.” He plays a small tune. “We wait, until they return, we shall wait. So I may grant the dungeon her new gifts.”

The children, trapped inside Pruflas’ mind. They remain incognizant of their fates. To them, it’s as if they’re taking a stroll. That they are in a dream of sheer whimsy. As time passes, their memories fade away. Leaving only vestiges of times gone. They barely recall that they had parents. Their older siblings a haze in their minds. Their uncles and aunts erased from memory. And in their place, the void filled with Pruflas. Over time the kids grow more similar. Alike in mindset, attitude, and mirth. They see each other as extensions of themselves. Soon, they shall share the same intelligence. They will become as one, indivisible. Cleaved from Hamlin, but cleaved together.

✦✦✦

In Hamlin, distraught parents are looking for their missing children. Several of them plaster the walls with missing posters. Others embark on Noir to gather aid from there, despite the risks. Others still scour Revotos’ Valley and the other nearby dungeons for any sign of their whereabouts.

Among them is Medusa, who finds that her husband and daughters have returned. She hugs her children and assures them they were not abducted while accompanying Carla.

The grateful wife tells her family about the abducted children and how she had heard of them vanishing in the dead of night, while they were all asleep.

Meanwhile, the mayor declares a state of emergency about the missing children. A single journalist had arrived from Noir, braving the perils of the Brokeback Mountains, on a routine interview for the Monthly Gazelle publication. The mayor recalls everything that occurred in the past few weeks, including how the bard they hired to resolve the rat problem had attempted to steal from them and had run out of town. And of course the sudden disappearances. The intervener asks if there is a possible link between these two, but the mayor discards it, saying that the Piper, Stanley Piers, was not that competent, and also asking where in the area of the mountains would he keep a hundred and thirty children.

The interviewer also asks him about the death of Samuel. The mayor says that the town still mourns his loss and that they are still investigating the cause. He shows him the knife that the Alraunes had found the other day. The envenomed weapon still gleamed under the refulgence of Stella’s cradled light shining through the windows.

“Thank you for your time,” the interviewer says. “Hopefully the kids will be found by the time I next return.”

“I hope so too,” the mayor says.

Later, Emily and Charlotte search the Valley for more signs of the missing children. Charlotte asks the dire wolves if they found anything, but the lupines signal that they haven’t found anyone.

Charlotte sighs. “This is hopeless!” she shouts.

“It’s okay,” Emily says calmly. “We’ll find the children.”

Charlotte takes a deep breath. She looks back at her time in school, about everyone ignoring her, about the three bullies calling her a monster. Something in her heart is telling her to forsake her peers, her fellow village children. Yet she also knows that Carla would be disappointed in her if she did that. “Father wouldn’t give up,” Charlotte thinks.

Charlotte then turns to Emily. “I was wondering, do people ever treat you differently Emily?”

“What do you mean,” Emily asks.

“Do people avoid you? Pretend you don’t exist?” Charlotte says. “Were you ever called a monster?”

“I don’t think so?” Emily says.

Charlotte sighs. “I should have figured as much. Never mind, forget I said anything.”

“Is something wrong, Charlotte?” Emily says with concern in her voice.

“It’s fine,” Charlotte says.

Just then, the dire wolves smell something. The two girls follow the pack toward the source of the stench until they reach the village’s gates.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Carla regroups with Douglas and his family. She notices that the rest of the villagers stare at her with an unusual coldness. A father pushing a baby stroller sees the Alraune and hastens her pace. A breastfeeding mother notices Clara’s presence and quickly moves away.

“What is going on?” Clara says.

“Dastards at the rumor mill are at it again,” Douglas says. “First murderer, now kidnapper?” they claim.

Clara is shocked. “But why blame me?” Clara says. “I wasn’t even in town that night!”

Douglas sips some tea. “I think that is part of why they blamed you.”

Heathcliff arrives, having found no leads on the missing kids. “Trail’s gone cold, cher,”

“Terrific,” Clara says with sarcasm.

A scream is heard near the cafe, the trio heads out to investigate and find the source. A villager fainting in front of Charlotte, Emily, and the dire wolf pack.

“Charlotte!” Clara riches to her daughter. What happened?”

The wolves are docile enough to not attack the villagers, but their very presence is enough to disturb them and Clara’s daughter being among the pack deepens their suspicions further. Despite Douglas’ insistence on her innocence.

“The wolves smelled something, we followed them here?” the young Alraune had said.

“Dire Wolves?” the village baker asks. “Why did you bring wolves here?”

Clara turns to the baker. “I found them.” Internally she screams. “I can’t tell them of the dream,” she thinks. “Who knows how they would take it.”

“Yes, who knows the darkness in the hearts of man?” a cacodaemonic voice calls out. The tune of a pipe plays in Carla’s head as she sees the hellscape she envisioned in her dream. Instead of a concerned baker, she sees a twisted man with a distorted face. Instead of the cheerful building, she instead sees abandoned cottages on fire.

“Mom,” Charlotte says. “Are you okay?”

Carla turns and sees her daughter engulfed in flames, her lifeless eyes gazing at her coldly as she extends a hand. A second later, the flames over Charlotte and the village are gone and the distorted monsters are replaced by the familiar visages of the residents of Hamlin.

“I’m fine, sweetie,” Carla says. Charlotte however is disturbed by the look in her father’s eyes.

The townsfolk look both concerned and scared. Owens arrives on the scene and tells the crowd to scatter. Geraldine, Medusa, and her twin daughters in tow.

“Thank you, Officer Owens,” Carla says.

The dark-skinned man bows gentlemanly at her. “I think you should be more careful with your pets.” He says. “The town already unjustly suspects you for the abductions.”

“Do you have any leads, officer?” Heathcliff says.

“Unfortunately no,” Owens says. “And the one we did found only fanned the flames.”

“Excuse me?” Carla says.

“We searched the perimeter of the village and the mountains for the children,” Owens says. “All we found was a trial of footprints ending at the lake and a familiar knife.” The man takes out a bag containing a pristine envenomed blade. “At best we can assume that the kidnapper is also Samuel’s assailant, but…”

“I understand,” Carla says. “Thank you again, officer.”

“Good luck,” Officer Owens leaves.

“Should we find a place to regroup?” Emily says.

“Good idea,” Heathcliff says. “Folk here seemed less avenant then last time,”

“Well you’ve seen Carla’s place,” Douglas says. “How about to see how the architect handles his own house?”

✦✦✦

The group convenes at the abode of the Arions, still as whimsically designed as ever. Geraldine decided to stay in the village to help quell the tension in Hamlin.

Richard opens the front door, the knob being slightly above the right height for him and his sister. And still too short for the likes of Emily, Tim, and especially Heathcliff.

“Whose idea was it to make the doorway that small?” Elizabeth says as she ducks under the top of the passage.

“It was a security measure,” Douglas boasts.

The twin girls place their palms on their heads. Medusa leads the others to the door to the backyard and then to the oversized backdoors.

“He always sis had a few screws loose when it came to design,” Medusa quietly says.

Sarah, Charlotte, and Nina enter through the front door, while Carla, Minerva, Tim, and Emily use the back door. The dire wolves followed Carla and were tasked to stay in the backyard.

“Watch out for the petunias,” Medusa says. “Took me months to get them just right!”

With everyone now inside, they begin to discuss what to do about finding the missing children as well as the village’s sudden distrust of Carla and her daughter.

“Okay, monsuiers and mademoiselles,” Heathcliff says. “We got five people with the same nightmare, more than a hundred missing kids, and an increasingly distrustful village. Remind me again how did this all happened?”

“The vanishing children,” Carla says. “That is a mystery, seemingly disappearing over the span of a few hours.”

“The dreams,” Charlotte says recalling the horrid and vivid fantasy. “They showed the village in flames, and a dreadful pipe playing over it!”

Emily thinks there is another element, but can’t place her finger on it. “A pipe?” she thinks “that seems familiar somehow.”

“We’ve searched Revotos’ Valley,” Sarah says.

“But we found no one,” Charlotte says. “And the wolves had led us straight to the village.”

“What about the other dungeons?” Euryale says. “Revotos’ Valley isn’t the only one!”

Clara ponders the possibility. “The tracks could be a red herring,” she says. “If is possible.”

“But the other villagers had already searched them,” Medusa says. “There were no sign of them in the Sapphire Caves or the Snowdust Peaks.”

“Officer Owens had reported no luck at Lake Tannhauser either,” Douglas says.

Elizabeth ponders on the mysteries of the town. “Why are they blaming you, Carla?”

“I wish I knew,” Carla says.

“Is it because we don’t belong?” Charlotte says hesitatingly. “Because we’re monsters?”

Carla is shocked to hear that. “Charlotte what are you saying?”

“Are you seriously letting those bullies’ words get to you?” Euryale says.

“Bullies?” Medusa says. “What bullies?”

Stheno articulates what happened the day they befriended Charlotte and the encounter with three boys who constantly called the little Alraune a monster.

“I can attest to that,” Carla says. “I was called in that day by the principal.” She turns to Charlotte, “We aren’t monsters dearie. You know that.”

“Then why does the town ignore us?” Charlotte says, tears streaming down her face, “Why are they so quick to claim you killed Dad?”

Everyone was left stunned by the child’s questions. No one could deny that once Samuel had died, rumors about Carla’s possible assassination spread like fire, despite her being at the shelter with Geraldine that day, and despite not indicating anything that would imply she loathed her husband.

“You don’t know, do you?” an emotional Charlotte says. “Are we certain Hamlin truly welcomes us?”. She storms off.

“Charlotte!” Carla says. The child exits through the front door.

“There’s a lot to unpack there,” Heathcliff thinks to himself.

“I’ll go find her,” Emily says.

“We’re coming with you, “both twins say in unison. They and Nina soon leave the house to find Charlotte.

Minerva, who silently observed the discussion, finally speaks up, “I can see why the little one would harbor such feelings. To me, it sounds like the notes unplayed are finally heard.”

“What do you mean?” Carla says.

“Tell me, Miss Carla,” Minerva says. “Your deceased husband.”

“Samuel?” Carla says. “He was a great adventurer and a good husband and father. The other villagers loved him.”

“Aye,” Douglas says. He turns to the Arachne, “Was considered one of Hamlin’s best, and the reason why the Valley isn’t as hostile to us as it could’ve been.”

Carla nostalgically says, “There were many a time where people would come to our house, bearing gifts and wishes of good fortune.”

“Was he also an Alraune, Miss Carla?” Minerva says.

“No,” Carl says “He wasn’t a demi-human at all.”

“I see.” Minerva had noticed that the only demi-human in the village at all was Geraldine, also an Alraune and one whose rosy complexion made it hard to tell she was one at a glance.

Heathcliff sees where this is going. “Hate to ask this, cher, but did any of them folk visit you personally?”

Carla is surprised by the question. She struggles to recall any time she was visited without Samuel being involved somehow. Even the baby shower had Samuel and Douglas involved in its organization.

Minerva sees the conflicted look in Carla’s eyes. “I’m sorry we had to ask these questions. But it’s important to know that even you we are not monsters, there are people adamant about thinking we are. People that would distrust us off baseless assumptions.”

“She’s right,” Douglas says. “There’ll always be folk thinking anyone slightly different is an enemy no matter what the reality is. I’d hope that’ve changed by now, but—”

“No, I understand,” Carla says. “Thank you for trying.” She sighs. “To think they would accuse me of myriad crimes, after all I’ve done, because of what I am.”

Medusa looks at Carla sympathetically. “There are still people here that love you and appreciate what you have done,” she says.

“I know,” Carla says. “But I don’t know if they could stem the tide. Can they alone bring closure to the tale?” She stands up. “Maybe that voice was right after all,” she thinks.

Carla soon exists through the backdoor, wanting to take some time to herself. The others are unsure of how to console her.

✦✦✦

Emily, Nina, Euryale, and Stheno search the village for Charlotte, but are unable to find her anywhere. She wasn’t at her house, or the shelter and she wasn’t anywhere to be seen at the village itself. The Arion twins ask several people about her whereabouts to no avail.

“Probably joined the other kids,” a man solemnly says.

“Oh sure, help you find the kidnapper’s daughter? No bloody thanks!” a grieving woman says.

“Only if she agrees to release my daughter and the others!” a third man says.

“You should stay away from that monster! Who knows what wickedness her mother had taught her?” a fourth woman says.

The girls end up in the town square, beneath an orange and fuchsia sky.

“Have the townsfolk have any shame?” Stheno says with frustration.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to get their help,” Nina says. She notices the hateful states of the adults around her.

“She can’t have gotten that far from us!” Euryale says. “Think, think, think! Where could she be?”

“Can you tell us more about the day you two met her?” Emily says.

The twins tell her more about the encounter, as they recall she ran off from them before, Euryale has an idea.

“The tree!” Euryale says.

“What tree?” Nina says.

“The tree at the school!” Euryale answers. “That’s where me and sister found her after she ran off last time!”

“Are we sure she is even at the school grounds, sister?” Stheno says. “They are usually closed at this hour.”

“She certainly isn’t anywhere else in the village!” Euryale says. “We have to try!”

“How can we get to that tree?” Emily says.

The school principal arrives at the fountain, surprised to see the Arion twins there. She gives a warm smile. “I’m glad to see that not all my students were spirited away.”

“Principal Amanda?” Stheno says. “What are you doing here?”

“I always come to the fountain at this hour,” Amanda says. “Tis my one few solace lately.” She explains hat with the disappearances, the school had been closed down in the staff furloughed, herself included. Nina and Emily introduce themselves to her and Euryale asks her help in finding Charlotte.

“Are you certain Charlotte is at the school grounds?” Principal Amanda says.

“We’ve searched everywhere else!” Euryale says.

“The rest of the townsfolk aren’t being helpful,” Stheno says. “Please help us, Principal Amanda?”

The principal after a few moments agrees to help and takes them to the school.

✦✦✦

Twilight gleams over the school tree. Towering over the classrooms. Sitting against the arbor is Charlotte, left to wonder about what to do.

The little girl sighs. “Everyone hates us,” she says. The wind brushes her short indigo locks as Stella recedes beyond the horizon.

She ruminates on her life so far, and the people that spurned her and her mother. She wonders if there is another place they can go, where they would be accepted for who they are. She wonders what would’ve happened if her father yet lived. As she sulks, she questions the tree. “Have you ever felt what I’m feeling now?”

The tree predictable stays silent. Charlotte sighs. “Of course not. Silly me, talking to a tree.”

“Lotte!” she hears a voice cry out to her. She raises her head and sees four young women rushing towards her. Euryale, Stheno, Nina, and Emily. The former two hug Charlotte.

“I knew it!” Euryale says. “I knew you’d be here!”

“You had us worried sick, Lotte!” Stheno says.

“Guys,” It was at that moment that she remembered the few people who did not shun her or treat her as a monster. The two friends she made at the school and the one Arachne child from afar.

The twilight’s last gleam fades from the sky, and a few lights from the nearby buildings turn on.

“Come on!” Euryale says. “It’s already late!”

The five head back to the Arion’s abode. Along the way, Charlotte remembers something and approaches Emily.

“Hey,” Charlotte says.

“Yes?” Emily says.

“If you still need help with the monsters,” Charlotte says softly and quietly. “I could, you know…” Her feelings towards the village are still conflicted. Emily senses within the young Alraune a desire to move away.

“We can save it for later,” Emily says.

“Okay,” Charlotte says.

✦✦✦

Emily and her group of five return back to the Arions’ home. There they find Carla. Charlotte calls out to her mother and hugs her. “I’m sorry I ran away like that!” she says as her mother embraces her.

“It’s alright, sweetie,” Carla says. Her mind had lingered on what she had realized from Minerva’s conversation with her. She realizes that even if the town has closure neither she nor her daughter would be welcomed by the town.

The next morning, Charlotte asks Emily to accompany her and her mother as they search for the kids. Carla once again tries to have the dire wolves tack the scent in Revotos’ Valley. The wolves smell the tracks again, but this time they fail to find any distinct scent to track.

The wolves whimper to Carla, signaling their failure. The Alraune consoles the dire wolves, thanking them for their help.

Charlotte talks with Emily as they try to search for the kids.

“So, Emily,” Charlotte says. “What’s it like being a dungeon?”

“Fine, I guess?” Emily says. “It has only been a few months for me.”

“You seem so strong for a recently established dungeon,” Charlotte says.

“Thank you,” Emily says.

The three try to search the other end of the valley for any signs of the missing Hamlin children. But their searching again yielded nothing that could help locate them.

Emily asks Carla something. “Do you think we’re missing any clues?”

“I’m certain we haven’t, why do you ask?” Carla says

“I feel like there is a detail we overlooked,” Emily says.

Charlotte interjects, “Maybe it’s about the knife?”

“That is strange,” Carla says. “Owens says that the knife implies the kidnapper was also—“

The two Alraunes hear the strange sounds of a pipe in their heads. Carla begins seeing hallucinations of angry villagers hiding behind the dormant ashwoods. Charlotte meanwhile begins feeling her skin burning away. She keels over in the phantom pain. Emily rushes to her aid.

Carla sees a twisted monster with a pitchfork where Emily is. And attacks her, but the pipe’s tune stops before her attack makes contact and knocks her back.

“Ow!” Emily says.

“I’m so sorry!” Carla sincerely says as realizes what has just happened, that she had seen a hallucination and mistook Emily for a threat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Emily says. “But what was that for?”

“That nightmare keeps haunting me,” Carla says. “I’ve been seeing things lately.”

Charlotte stands up and examines herself, relived to find out she is not on fire. “Did you hear anything Mom?” she says.

“Other than the tune of a pipe, no,” Charlotte says.

“The tune of a pipe?” Emily thinks. Something clicks inside her head. Her mind recalls to the message the dungeon first gave her, as well as what she had learned about the other visitor to Hamlin. “That’s it!” Emily had found the missing link.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Elizabeth waits in the Arion household, pondering whether or not she should tell Emily something.

“The way the children left with little trace,” the fairy thinks. “Could it be?”

The door opens and Heathcliff arrives. “Heard you wanted to talk to me, cher?”

Elizabeth nods. “Have a seat, this is gonna take a while.”

The knight sits down on a nearby chair.

“Heathcliff,” Elizabeth says. “Have you ever seen a demon before?”

“Demon?” Heathcliff says. “Are you pulling my leg, cher?”

Elizabeth shakes her head.

Heathcliff bears an incredulous expression. “Weren’t the last of the demons vanquished when Elpis resealed them?”

“That is what the legends state,” Elizabeth says.

“And you think one still lingers on Titania?” Heathcliff says.

“No,” the fairy says. “But at the same time, with all other attempts not finding any trace of the children. This is one of the few remotely logical threads I could come up with.”

Heathcliff sees the looks of desperation in Elizabeth’s eyes. “Alright, cher. Tell me why you think demonic involvement is somehow logical.”

Elizabeth takes a deep breath. “I’m aware this sounds crazy, but I know of reports of alleged demonic activity. Ritualists trying to summon a fell ally from beyond the Pandoran Seal. Dungeons gaining a sudden infusion of mana. People suddenly vanishing one day. The Unlifetree gloaming with activity. All of these are claimed to be proof that while Lady Elpis had sealed the worst and most powerful of the Demons, she did not seal all of them. If not that they had escaped it once more.”

Heathcliff looks over the unusably more serious Elizabeth with an open mind and a level head. “Alright, then. If a demon is involved, do you have any way of dealing with it?”

“I’m not sure,” Elizabeth says. “I know of them, I think they might still exist, but they are such rare creatures that I haven’t considered the possibility until today. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Leave it to me to find out how to prevail over demons.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth says.

“It’s my pleasure,” Heathcliff says. “I’d be a poor dungeon master if I let myself be blindsided by improbabilities.” He leaves the room.

✦✦✦

Later, the group, with Charlotte safe and sound, has a dinner prepared by Heathcliff and Douglas. The air is calm, but filled with tension as the fate of the missing children looms over them.

Emily finishes her plate first. “Excuse me,” she says. “Has anyone heard about that Piper lately?”

“The thief?” Douglas says. “Not really.”

“I haven't heard any mention of him since he left town,” Medusa says.

“Do you think he might be responsible, Emily? “Tim says.

“I’m not sure,” Emily says.

“Piper?” Richard says. “What Piper?”

“You know how we went to town on word of a tamer from Noir arriving in the village?” Sarah said.

“Yes,” Richard says.

“Apparently,” Heathcliff says. “Guy was claimed to have attempted to rob the town blind and was brutalized by the local chevaliers for it.”

“The guy seemed so nice,” Medusa says.

Carla ruminates on the tune of the pipe she heard. The nightmarish sounds she hears in her nightmare and before her hallucinations. “The piper vanished before the children,” she says. “There might be a connection there at least.”

“Although there is still a problem with that,” Elizabeth says. She suspects her theory about demonic involvement might be the connecting thread. “How do we find him?”

“I don’t think the mayor would take kindly to having the dire wolves try to smell the coins,” Charlotte says.

“If the tracks had lost the scene after a few days, chances are high any of the piper’s traces are long gone as well,” Carla says.

“I’ll check in with the guild tomorrow night. I gots friends in Noir that connect with Rosenkreuz frequently, odds of they’d know if any Piper returned to Noir,” Heathcliff says.

“It’s going to be a long journey back,” Minerva says.

After dinner, Charlotte asks to meet the Twins in their shared room.

“You want to move away from Hamlin?” Euryale says. “But why?”

“Much as I want to say otherwise, dear sister,” Stheno says “Recent events have made it clear.”

“I’m sorry,” Charlotte says. “But I can’t be certain me or my mom are safe here, not with these accusations over our heads.”

Euryale sulks. “It’s not fair!” she punches her pillow. She doesn’t one to lose the first friend her age she had ever made. Stheno comforts Euryale. “Have you any plans Lotte?” Stheno says to Charlotte.

“No,” Charlotte says. “I want to talk to my mom first.”

The twins intuited that she hadn’t told Carla about her feelings on the town yet. “You know, you can’t keep them bottled up like this, Lotte,” Stheno says.

“I know,” Charlotte sighs.

A now moody Euryale turns to Charlotte, “Promise to visit us?” she says.

“Of course!” Charlotte says. “You’re my best friends! I would never abandon you guys!”

The three girls begin to make plans for tomorrow, thinking they they still have some days left together before Charlotte leaves the town.