Cadenza: Amor
Chapter 5: It Is Done
You wait until Masquerade is over, before you make your way to Club PLURality. The ballroom is only open for a limited time each year, after all, but the clubs are likely to stay open. You prepare clothing that will help you blend in with the inhabitants of Ziara's underbelly, before making your admittedly risky trip out of the "bourgeois quarters".
After asking people who seem not to fit in the usual dress of the "floating city" for directions to Lower Ziara, something apparently only given in hushed tones and guarded whispers, you make your way to what appears to be a run-down garage, with a busted signage reading "lub PLURality." It is dark by the time you reach Lower Ziara, but there is an eerie silence in this part of Atebus, even though it is bathed in neon lights and bright colours. It reminds you of the illumination of casinos, but not quite.
As you walk closer to the door of the establishment, you find an unpowered "C" neon sign close to the welcome mat. You also notice a "Sorry, we're CLOSED!" sign on the front door. However, a touch-screen terminal seems to have been activated on the door. It displays what seems to be a closed-circuit camera feed. Speakers underneath the screen play music and loud conversations from inside.
Buttons shaped like rewind, play, and pause buttons. There is a chat-like panel displaying a transcript of conversations audible through the speakers.
Just then, a man approaches the camera, and begins to speak.
After asking people who seem not to fit in the usual dress of the "floating city" for directions to Lower Ziara, something apparently only given in hushed tones and guarded whispers, you make your way to what appears to be a run-down garage, with a busted signage reading "lub PLURality." It is dark by the time you reach Lower Ziara, but there is an eerie silence in this part of Atebus, even though it is bathed in neon lights and bright colours. It reminds you of the illumination of casinos, but not quite.
As you walk closer to the door of the establishment, you find an unpowered "C" neon sign close to the welcome mat. You also notice a "Sorry, we're CLOSED!" sign on the front door. However, a touch-screen terminal seems to have been activated on the door. It displays what seems to be a closed-circuit camera feed. Speakers underneath the screen play music and loud conversations from inside.
Buttons shaped like rewind, play, and pause buttons. There is a chat-like panel displaying a transcript of conversations audible through the speakers.
Just then, a man approaches the camera, and begins to speak.
"Oh man, this is making me nervous. Is anyone watching out there? Bella had gone missing after she performed a few surgeries during the last few days of Masquerade. I was giving patient consultations. I should have kept an eye on her." His voice seems to crack, and his eyes are damp.
"I would leave this club, but E isn't here, either. This is bad... this is very bad... I implore you, I beg you, please help me! We closed the club a few days ago to evade the notice of the individual we only know as 'Master'. It seems he is an entity from another world, possibly the one where Bella and I come from. If not, he may have captured one of our kind and controlled it for himself. When I solved the last part of the anagram from an epiphany while a patient consulted me, these disappearances happened. I am desperate..."
The display fades to static, when a scream can be heard from the speakers.
"It is done," bellows a deep, guttural voice. It is only then that you catch sight of a bloodied hydrus necklace.
"I would leave this club, but E isn't here, either. This is bad... this is very bad... I implore you, I beg you, please help me! We closed the club a few days ago to evade the notice of the individual we only know as 'Master'. It seems he is an entity from another world, possibly the one where Bella and I come from. If not, he may have captured one of our kind and controlled it for himself. When I solved the last part of the anagram from an epiphany while a patient consulted me, these disappearances happened. I am desperate..."
The display fades to static, when a scream can be heard from the speakers.
"It is done," bellows a deep, guttural voice. It is only then that you catch sight of a bloodied hydrus necklace.