The Month of Nets, 25th Day, 1850, it had been two hours since Frank arrived in Dunwall and was captured, brought to the dank decrepit hole known as Coldridge Prison. As Frank sat across from a desk, men wearing uniforms and white theatrical masks that looked angry and grimacing continued to interrogate him, they appeared to be of religious and political power.
"Tell us where you are from!"
"I told you, the place I am from does not exist on any continent!"
"Then where is it!?"
"It exists outside of this world!"
"So you admit you are from the Void!?"
"No, I didn't say that and for the hundredth time, I don't know what the Void is!"
The officer of faith slammed his hands on the desk that Frank sat across from, trying to intimidate him.
"You claim to not be a heretic, but your clothing and sudden appearance say otherwise"
"I've been trying to explain where I come from but you're not listening! Look this was, this was a mistake. Can you just give me back my bracelet and I'll leave right now? You will never see me again; I promise"
"No, you bring forth technology beyond our comprehension and expect us not to dissect it?"
"Dissect it? What…"
Frank's eyes went wide with fear at what the officer was implying.
"…wait are you taking it apart!? You can't do that I need it to get home!"
"Yet you refuse to tell us where your home resides! No, you are not going anywhere I'm afraid. Perhaps a few days in your cell will loosen your tongue, but if that is not enough; we have other means of obtaining information"
Inside the prison, stone walls and metal bars created a labyrinth that no ordinary man, or woman, could escape from. Things had gone from bad to worse, but in a strange way as Frank sat in a prison cell, he was content, he had actually found another world. And although he didn't get any fanfare upon his arrival, he could still say to himself that he had done it. Frank's thoughts were interrupted when he saw the door to his cell fly open, followed by another prisoner thrown in with him. As the cell door closed, the prisoner kicked it and swore. It was a woman, she was tall, wearing some kind of fancy black garb with men's slacks and boots, she also wore a hood and face cover. The woman leaned against the rock-hard wall, her arms folded as she stared at the wall opposite of her, breathing heavily in frustration.
"Bastards didn't even have the decency to give me my own cell"
The woman turned her attention towards Frank as she tried to make small talk with him.
"How long have you been in here?"
"Um…it's, kind of hard to keep track of time in here but I guess, two, three hours? Maybe?"
"I see"
Frank decided to continue talking, it's not like he had anything better to do.
"I'm uh, Frank, Frank Williams"
The woman was silent, Frank continued to talk.
"So uh, why are you in here?"
"I have my reasons"
Frank could tell the woman was in no mood to talk, so he remained quiet. After about a minute the woman looked up, her eyes expressing some kind of realization, so she spoke up again.
"Frank Williams…I overheard the guards talking about you, you came here looking for the Empress; you're that man from the Void, correct?"
Frank was annoyed, he tried to make it clear with the guards but it was obvious they didn't listen.
"No I'm not from the Void, I don't know what that is and I've been trying to explain that but nobody will listen to me. Now, I'm finding out I'll be taken out of here to be tortured. Top it off they took the one thing I needed to get out of here and I'm pretty sure they're trying to take it apart; so right now I'm really scared"
The woman went quiet, before speaking up again.
"So where did you come from?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you"
"Try me, you never know, it might just save your life"
Frank figured he had nothing to lose at this point, may as well share what he could before he was tortured to death.
"I did a crap job explaining where I came from earlier, I'll try to be more clear. You see, some people believe that their world is all there is, it isn't. There are millions, billions of other worlds, endless possibilities, different realities you could say, the only thing is you can't reach them by normal means"
"Interesting, so if you aren't from the Void, where exactly did you come from?"
"New York, New York State is more like it, it doesn't exist here. You see where I come from, certain things from your world never existed, but it exists here because every world has endless possibilities"
"So why did you come here? What does any of what you say have to do with the Empress?"
"Nothing"
The woman raised an eyebrow, she seemed confused.
"Why traverse into another existence if it wasn't important?"
"Well, it is important, but not in the sense you're thinking of. I've lost a lot, separated from people I cared about, I had nothing except for one aspiration, one dream; to traverse other worlds. I wanted to learn what was out there, beyond my world I mean. There were also people I knew, the ones I was close to, they went through so much, things that normal, I guess normal in the sense of where I come from, normal people wouldn't comprehend. That's how I learned my world wasn't the only one. So I wanted to help people, not just learn from them. I know I'm not exactly qualified and this all probably sounds ridiculous to you but; that's why I'm here"
The woman turned her head away from Frank, silence, she must have been contemplating what he had told her, before speaking up.
"You only wish to help people?"
"Yeah"
"And it is your desire to help the Empress, and learn from her?"
"Yeah"
The woman went silent again, mulling over what Frank said, before speaking up once more.
"Very well"
The woman stood up from the wall and approached the cell door.
"Guards!"
"Um, what are you doing?"
Frank was confused, the woman was making him nervous.
"Guards!"
"Hey come on don't antagonize them!"
Two guards approached the cell door, opening it up.
"Thank you, he means no harm, you can release him and take it from here"
"Okay, what is going on? Who are you?"
Frank was baffled, why were two guards taking orders from a criminal.
The woman removed her hood and face cover as she turned to Frank. She had eyes that matched her dark brown hair, and her appearance was angular but attractive. Power and pride seemed to radiate off of her with how she looked, and how she carried herself.
"Frank Williams; I am Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin the First, of the House of Kaldwin, Empress of the Empire of the Isles"
Frank's mouth hung open slightly, his eyes wide and his eyebrows raised, trying to process what was happening.
"Well…damn…"
Frank had been concerned what was in store for him, but it appeared that everything was going to be okay. Perhaps the biggest positive out of this was that he no longer needed to search for the Empress; she came right to him.