Part 1

In the shadows of the city of lights, a rat scurried along a damp brick wall in the dead of night turning into a drain with metal covering as water trickled out into the sewer below. In this desolate area a shadow ghosted over to the drainage. Its cover gave away on rusted hinges, swinging open with a low whine.

A memory flashed, an agonized cry came from a broken man as he pulled on the cursed barrier locking him out of his world and home. If time had eaten away this very blockade to his lost kingdom, he then must have been a forgotten nightmare to his angel…

He cringed at the thought. His music, his empire, everything… disappeared the night she vanished.

He couldn't shake this nostalgia of the past, even if he learned to put them from his mind. It worsened as he easily found his way through the maze of tunnels. Time was unimportant in this tomb. Damp stale air greeted him as he came into the great chamber connected to the underground lake.

Ah, the ransacked ruins of his empire. He picked his way through the broken pieces of glass, fallen mirrors, knocked down candle stands, and broken various objects… even his piano was tipped over and parts missing as if dismantled. Some of it was his fault. He smashed the mirrors in anguished that night before escaping down a hidden passage.

He came here in hopes to retrieve some keepsakes, but nothing was salvageable. He sighed in annoyance. The years he spent building this place were discarded in a night. He started from scratch again. His current creation was just beginning to take shape. However, he did learn from all this and his brief lapse of insanity, he was quiet and humble now. He would not let himself become arrogant… or desperate like last time.

Picking through the living area, he came to his old sleeping quarters. It was untouched, the curtain was still down. He chuckled that people didn't care touch this area. Lifting the sheer curtain, everything remained waiting his return. On the nightstand lay a white mask. His hand reached out to pick it up, but slowly withdrew. No, he couldn't wear it, lest he get caught despite being just a figment of the public's imagination. Even as an urban legend, he couldn't risk it.

A distant crash made him jerk in surprise as he held his breath.

Nothing moved in the silence. He dimmed his lamp as a soft echo came across the lake. Maybe he should leave it could be a trap. Was it possible this place was still watched? The abandoned building above was boarded up. Still he dared not to go into it.

Against his better judgment, his eyes drifted to the boat that lay just down the steps waiting for him. "Damn," he whispered, bringing his lamp with him as he approached it. It wasn't sturdy, but it would do.

Slowly and silently he drifted to the sound. Again memories swept in taking away his focus, how many times had he traveled this route? The statues he past would carry torches to light the way in this dark tunnel. As he got closer to the soft sound, a light's glow emitted from around a corner. As he rounded this corner in a cautious pace, he found the light's source was a lamp on the very bottom step leading up to the opera house next to...

It couldn't be…

Christine?!