The Dragon Chronicles
The Secrets of the Opera
The Opera Populaire, Paris, March 1917
The greyish, cold winter had not yet given way to the slowly approaching spring that afternoon, as the doors of the opera house, creaking with effort after a long period of unuse, opened to the public to welcome them at the auction meant to sell some of the old props that still might find some use or some value for today's visitors.
The purpose of tonight's affair was the city's attempt to raise some money from this cursed place, for no one has made an effort to give it a new purpose in a long time, in fact, no one has been interested in even buying it ever since the terrible events that caused the place to fall to ruin nearly fifty years ago.
Among those who came tonight were many people who came for that very reason, to see the place where the frightening legends allegedly took place, eager to satisfy their curiosity for the morbid and the fantastical and perhaps take away with them a little souvenir that, after a few years, would be nothing to them but a useless clutter with forgettable origin.
However, there were two people among them who came for an entirely different purpose, for this was, perhaps, the last time they might be able to see the theatre the way it once was, and they were, each in their own sentiments, drawn to come here to witness its fading glory. Their eyes met in silent recognition of one another, and a nod of quiet respect was exchanged, but otherwise, they did not speak, there was no need to.
Madame Giry, a woman whose hair was once dark and radiant and yet now greying with age, glanced at the elder man that sat in his wheelchair on the opposite side of her and wondered where was the light and energy that this man once displayed as he strutted around this very building in their younger days.
Old and frail, Raoul de Chagny now barely resembled the man he was back there, and the haunted look in his eyes made him seem even more like a ghost - she shivered as she thought about it, for standing here once again brought back so many memories that she never managed to forget, but over the many years of her meticulous devotion to family she managed to push them to shadows in the back of her mind.
She stared in anticipation, carefully hidden behind the emotionless expression she kept fixed on her face, as they presented the old chandelier, hidden under an old, white cloth that obscured it from their vision for now, and she wondered how she would feel when it was revealed, remade into new splendour and glory that would surely remind her of all she had witnessed back then. Suddenly though, she caught a sight of a familiar face and as the announcer continued to speak, describing the history and the tragedy behind the magnificent object before them, she couldn't help but stare.
For further to the front now stepped a young woman with long, flowing blond hair, dressed in a light blue dress stitched with soft lines of white thread forming an elegant pattern upon her chest, modest, but beautiful in its simplicity. And yet it was the young woman's face that caught her attention, for something about it seemed not only familiar, but also so strangely disconcerting that she had to shiver. Suddenly, the young woman turned her head to look at her, and her soft mouth turned upwards in a gentle smile, as she gave a small nod of greeting.
That was when madame Giry suddenly realized what troubled her so much about the figure, for the woman was a spectre of the past. An impossible vision that couldn't be a part of the world they were living in. She knew that young lady, had known her in the days that she so wished she could forget, but those days happened almost five decades ago, a time that was impossible to pass without becoming unchanged. And yet, as she stared into those blue eyes that fixed her with the same stare that she remembered from meeting the young woman years ago, she realized, quite clearly, that she did not look like she was a year older.
The realization came to her slowly, and yet it did nothing to soften the blow the shock of it brought her. She stared at the woman, who still looked like twenty despite the fact that nearly fifty years have passed since they last saw each other, and despite her brain frantically telling her that this couldn't be the same person, she knew that it was. For madame Giry had taken many students under her change and she learned to know their faces, indeed the way they moved, spoke, and sang truly well.
She almost forgot about where they were, almost forgot about the chandelier as she moved to cross the hallway to approach the impossible phantom, when, with a collective gasp of wonder the chandelier was finally revealed, and lights that lined its ancient curves now came back to life.
New ropes, supported by the arms of strong men were pulled, and as the enormous, gilded structure, carefully polished back to its former grandeur, rose from the ground to once again shine upon the people humbled beneath it, madame Giry couldn't help but stare with the others. For a moment, it almost felt like the time had been turned backwards, as she remembered the splendour of these magnificent halls in the time when this chandelier was first suspended upon this shrine to human culture. And then, when she finally remembered what had disturbed her so much a few minutes ago, she looked over to find the young woman, but she was no longer there.
For up in the rafters of the ancient theatre, up in the old woodworks where the magic of the theater industry would once take place, she now sat, a creature that was much older than she seemed, and yet, for everyone else, she would seem like nothing else but the innocent young woman she resembled in her mortal facade. That was a disguise, a masquerade she played even back then when she first came here, and only two people here came to know the truth of her nature, for even though they were as human as everyone else, those two were perhaps as special like no other human beings she ever encountered.
And as she looked upon the glimmering, golden light of the chandelier, sitting closer than anyone had a chance to, she too remembered her memories from years ago as they played out within her mind.
