Betty opened her eyes that morning feeling different than she had the past few days, or weeks, she wasn't sure how long it had been anymore. There was a strange clarity to her thoughts that was new compared to the fog she had been in. Her first few days in Eldervair had been an adjustment. She had been fitted for proper clothing and shown to her room within the palace where she had been told to remain until someone came to retrieve her. Betty complied, she had been exhausted and took advantage of the time to rest. She barely got out of bed except to eat her meals when they were brought to her, and to take her medicine the doctor brought each morning. Up until that night her sleep had been plagued by horrific nightmares. Most of them featured her being punished for her bad behavior. The King had no mercy even in her dreams, and Betty feared the day she would be taken to see him, here in his palace.
The nuns from the monastery on the palace grounds had been very good to her. They worked within the palace and tended to her like servants. In only a short time they and the doctor would be arriving to give her that days dose of medicine, and Betty decided to enjoy her moment of privacy and explore the room she had yet to fully take in.
She sat up, feeling a renewed energy within her body which was no longer shaky uncoordinated. Her strength had returned as well, and a smile crept across her face as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up with ease. This was a bedroom fit for a queen. A Gargoyle Queen to be exact. The Gargoyle King sure had a fondness for wood and branches because the room was decorated as if it existed within a tree. She was surrounded by walls that were textured to be like branches with leaves and everything attached to them. They extended up to the ceiling where they came together in a thick canopy of leaves and branches over her head. She was definitely not at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy any more, this place was actually beautiful in its own way.
She walked over to a wooden table where there was an envelope shut with an ornate wax seal. Betty picked up the thick paper and noticed the gargoyle figure stamped into the wax. Carefully, she ran her finger under the edge of the paper and pulled the envelope open. Inside there was a single page with only a few words written in black ink.
Betty read aloud to herself, "Your next quest is to become the Gargoyle Queen. Accept, or your time in Eldervair is over."
She nearly dropped the page when there was a loud knock on her door signaling the arrival of her daily attendees.
Not much was clear to her about how she had gotten to this place. Betty had been playing a round of Gryphons and Gargoyles with some of the other girls in the common area when it happened, her ascension into the Kingdom. They had been deep into a quest, and Betty was determined to complete it. The King would be so proud of her if she managed to pull this off. It was her moment to prove herself to him, to prove that she was finally worthy. Betty had been promised that upon the successful completion of this quest, she could finally ascend. Nothing was going to stop her.
Sister Woodhouse had stood just outside the door, along with the Man in Black, watching the girls play this particular game of G&G.
"What happens next Ethel?" Betty asked her game master, desperate to find out how the dice would rule on her fate.
It was late. The room was illuminated with candles, setting a dark scene for the playing of a game that had infiltrated and destroyed a town's youth within a matter of weeks.
Betty looked at Ethel's face which almost looked like the surface of water with the reflections of the moving candle light. Betty thought to herself how the dancing flames made her look like Ethel was made of pure fire, just like a fire spirit from the game.
"You! Warrior! Walk into the house of the furies, and see before you the three manifestations of evil, waiting for you to make a move. Your secret quest has been found out, and they are ready and willing to kill you. How do you wish to respond?" Ethel said, drama played up in her voice as all the girls in their circle leaned in to discover what the result of this imagined altercation would be.
"I roll for an escape spell." Betty said, recognizing that she could not take on all these monsters on her own.
She rolled the dice, everyone holding their breath, waiting to discover her fate.
It was then that Betty saw none other than the Gargoyle King himself appear over Ethel's shoulder. He was looming over them, staring down at her. He began to speak in a low growl that was so loud it seemed to shake the very foundations of the building Betty was in. "You will ascend Elizabeth, but you will not be free. Welcome to your nightmare, this is only the beginning of your game."
At that moment, the flames that Betty thought she had imagined on Ethel's skin burned brighter, and Betty could not even hear the scream that escaped her lungs as she watched Ethel begin to burn, parts of her falling away as ashes. There were more screams as Betty collapsed at that moment, dice falling out of her hand while she convulsed on the ground.
A chorus of cries for help erupted from the girls around her as Betty laid on the ground twitching and gasping for air. It only took moments before the Sisters quickly arrived on the scene and carried Betty away to the infirmary wing.
"What happened to her Sister Woodhouse?" Ethel asked.
Sister Woodhouse turned just as they reached the rooms exit with the seizing girl and said, "It's nothing to worry about my dears. Ms. Cooper is just having a seizure. She came to us with this condition, nothing to be worried about. Now, finish your game without her. It's nearly time for bed."
The nun shut the large doors behind her with a bang, leaving a group of terrified girls to wonder what exactly was wrong with Betty Cooper. Ethel was now convinced that Betty was there for good reason, needing the help of the kind sisters of Quiet Mercy to nurse her back to health.
The girls did as they were told without further question or discussion, returning with ease to their game of Gryphons and Gargoyles and their lives in the pretend kingdom of Eldervair, as if nothing had gone wrong. They sat in a circle, continuing to play as if nothing had happened and not one of them asked where Betty was when she did not return to the group the next day.
Betty's memory was blank from the time she had started to convulse until she had woken up somewhere else. Sister Woodhouse had watched patiently as the Cooper girl suddenly went limp and sprawled out on the floor. Then the convulsions came, and Betty lay there gasping for air as the other girls screamed around her. Sister Woodhouse and another nun approached and picked up the seizing girl, dragging her away and into the infirmary as the Man in Black watched the scene from his discreet location in the shadows outside the door. He took his leave shortly after, nodding to Sister Woodhouse as she shut the infirmary door. She would update him on the girl later. Their plans had been executed perfectly, and with this accomplished, they were well on their way to initiating phase two.
Hiram locked his study door late that night, confident that he would remain undisturbed at this hour, and pulled out a separate laptop from beneath a false bottom in his desk drawer. He opened the computer and logged into an email address that was separate from all his personal accounts. There, right on time, was the report from Sister Woodhouse about the state of their latest pet project, Elizabeth Cooper.
Sister Woodhouse had kept careful records of Betty's progress as she had become fully immersed in her pharmaceutically induced delusions. Much like the other girls, she now saw the King nearly everywhere, watching her every move, anticipating her every thought. He was in her head, stopping her from sinning, and helping her to ascend as the Gryphon Queen in G&G. The longer they proceeded to feed her the drugs, the more she believed the delusions, and the night of her seizure she was finally ready for the next step. The new drugs they had given her were stronger than the usual ones and she had quickly lost herself and her rational mind to them. All this information was contained in the report sent to him by Sister Woodhouse. Along with more medical statistics about the exact amount of the drugs they were giving her, and how much the dosage had been increased day by day.
Hiram was pleased. She had responded perfectly to the new formula, and now that they knew it worked so well, they could start to use it on the other girls. Luckily it had been discovered that the runoff from the manufacturing process could cause seizures in young women. Betty had already experienced one, and Hiram and Sister Woodhouse had now figured out how to use it to their advantage. She would wake up from that seizure in a different world. A world of the Man in Black's creation, where she would finally offer the Gargoyle King the help he so desperately needed, while simultaneously destroying the very soul of the opposition.
Hiram shut the laptop leaned back in his chair with a content smile on his face. He nearly poured himself a drink for a job well done, but he knew better than to celebrate before all the loose ends were tied up. He still had a vital role to play in Riverdale's final stumble right into the trap that he had been so diligently constructing since the day he returned.
Betty quickly returned to the comfort of her bed and tucked her letter under a pillow as the large wooden door to her bedroom swung open. A man in his early thirties entered carrying a medicine bag and walked over to where she was perched on her bed.
"Good morning, I trust you know why I am here. Did you sleep well?" The doctor asked as he pulled out his stethoscope to check her basic vitals.
Betty nodded. She knew he was here with her medication, although she still hadn't remembered to ask what on earth it was for. The doctor seemed to take it very seriously, so she did not question it. The King would be very angry if she disobeyed the doctor's orders, so she diligently swallowed the medicine she was given.
"You seem to be taking well to the dosage now. You should continue to feel better as your body adjusts. It must be strange to find yourself in this new place, especially now that you are able to explore it properly. However, you must do as the King instructs. Otherwise I fear the consequences will be, well, you know how the King can be when he doesn't get his way." With that, the doctor packed up the few things he had removed from his bag and swiftly left the room.
Betty barely had time to comprehend that thinly veiled warning before a small herd of nuns barged into her room carrying everything from dresses and shoes to makeup.
"What's going on here?" Betty asked.
Sister Woodhouse set down the burgundy gown she was holding and turned to face her. "Why Elizabeth we need to prepare you for your breakfast with the King. We wouldn't want you looking so ghastly and disheveled during your first meeting together."
"What do you mean by first meeting? I have met the King before, he taught me how to be virtuous, he was helping me ascend." Betty said, confused.
"Yes, my dear, we are aware of that. But it seems that the King has taken a liking to you, and since his latest quest is to find a Queen for his kingdom, he has decided that you would be a perfect candidate." The nun said nonchalantly as she pulled Betty over to a seat in front of a large vanity mirror.
"Wait, he actually wants me to be the Gargoyle Queen?" If this was what the King wanted it would only make it that much easier for her to complete her quest and stay in the game.
"Of course, my dear, but even the King is not above a bit of courting and romance before making his final decision. You have shown such promise, such good reactions to the medication. The doctor is going to help you through this. Don't worry one bit, by the time the wedding comes I am sure you will find yourself excited at the opportunity being presented to you here. Now, no more questions. The Gargoyle King awaits."
Betty obeyed and allowed the nuns to prepare her for her breakfast. She didn't quite know what to make of the whole situation. Marriage was hardly something she wanted to go through with, but this was Eldervair, a kingdom in need of a queen and she was going to be it. Betty understood exactly what the Gargoyle King had meant when he said that her game was just beginning. She had been forced into a play for the crown, and she was going to complete this new quest no matter what it took. This was the most elaborate game of Gryphons and Gargoyles she had played yet and she would not lose now that she had come so far. If her new quest was to become the Gargoyle Queen, then she was bound by the laws of the realm to comply.