D1 Explore

"Hmm, so it's that old of line of go upstairs and go to bed," Mira muttered as she looked up at the steps. "But without any answers? I mean, I have no idea what this place or what's going on here."

Mira surveyed the staircases with disdain as sense of hot obstinacy welled up in her along a tempting dose of curiosity. I'm not tired, and I need to know more. They can't just dismiss me and send me off to bed. Something is definitely wrong here, and I should be told what it is.

Turning her gaze to the right, Mira noticed a passage on the main floor that seemed to lead to an area of the castle that she had not seen yet. As the last bit of sunlight faded from the windows, Mira grabbed a torch and entered into the corridor.

The passage was narrow, but it soon opened up into a larger chamber. Here there were several doors standing partially open. One led to a private chapel, another to a room that looked like an armory, and there were a few other empty rooms. But Mira's attention was most drawn to a door that opened up to reveal a set of stairs descending beneath the castle.

She raised the torch over them, but she would have to descend to see what was down there. Mira listened for a moment, but the whole castle seemed to have grown strangely silent. As she began to walk down the steps, Mira felt that even her soft footsteps seemed unnaturally loud.

At the base of the steps, a small room opened up, and Mira noted that it looked like some kind of study or …medieval laboratory. There were dusty vials, lots of books, and strange smells hung in the air. It looked as though it had been abandoned for some time, and Mira was just about to turn and leave when she heard the clink of something metal hit the floor.

Turning around quickly, she waved the torch ahead of her, but she couldn't see anyone. But the light from the flame struck something that gleamed on the stone floor, and Mira walked over and found two keys, lying just as if someone had dropped them. One was silver, and the other was gold. But they did not appear tarnished or dusty like the other items in this room.

"Is someone there?" Mira asked, looking around again.

But there was no answer, and she pocketed the keys. But then she noticed a book lying on a stand in the middle of the room. There was a loose piece of parchment stuck in it, and as Mira drew closer, she saw two symbols on it. One was a prisoner in chains drawn with what looked like silver ink, and the other was a small object hidden behind a bright light, and this second image shone like it had been etched in gold on the page.

(You've just found part of a code that will allow to unlock a certain ending later in the story. Please record the letter G somewhere. This is how you'll know which option to select near the end of the story.)

Mira leaned in to examine it closer, but a sudden wind swept down the steps and swirled through the room, extinguishing her torch with the force of its gust.

"No, no!" Mira cried as she found herself enveloped by darkness.

Stumbling to the steps that led back to the main floor, she found a bit of light still faintly glowing from the upper hall, but as she started to clamber back up the steps, a dreadful sound caused her to halt.

Something like a cross between a howl and cry of rage was carried down the steps by another cold breeze, and Mira felt herself tense as goosebumps rose all over her arms. The sound was so full of anger and hate that it didn't need words to express the malice behind it. Mira couldn't imagine that the ducks… or any human … or any animal could make such a horrifying sound. The only word that came to her mind that made any sense at all was… monster.

Seconds… or minutes passed as the unnatural stillness took over the castle again. Mira found that she had crouched against the wall that ran alongside the steps. Was this why Duke had told her to go upstairs and hadn't he even said "lock yourself in"? That idea was suddenly sounding like a good one.

Forcing her feet to move up the stairs, Mira peered out into the space beyond the door, and it didn't seem that anything had changed, except that the other torches along the wall seemed to have been extinguished. A few that still contained some glowing embers. And then Mira saw a warm light streaming out from the other side of the hall, and she realized that there was an entrance to the dining hall with its great fireplace. Perhaps Duke was still there, and she could ask him what going on.

Or there was the corridor she had used to enter this part of the castle. She could sneak back down the corridor and try to make her way to the staircases that would lead her upstairs. Of course, without a torch, it would quite dark, but surely even in the dark, she could find her way.

Time to make another choice.

If you believe Mira should try to follow the light of the fire and see if Duke is still there, select D1 Dining Hall.

If you believe Mira should go back the way she came, select D1 Turn Back.