The lingering shot of the house sends Epel's heart pumping. That's my house! But how…? His eyes glance in the direction of the front door, then shift back to the footage–now closing in on the magic circle.

Knock-knock!

He swerves around towards the door. Shaken and in disbelief, he returns to the video. Onscreen, Deuce's mangled fist hovers over the magic circle, staining it and turning it an even more vivid hue of red. Epel's heartbeat stops with each following knock. Then a hazy whisper cuts through the tension, coming from both ends.

"Epel?"

Taken aback, Epel whimpers, "Deuce? Is that really you?"

"Open the door… please. I need you. Help me!"

The knocking intensifies, causing him to jump back. "Okay, I'm coming!" Feet slowly becoming unfrozen, he approaches the front door. His hand reaches for the lock, but draws back at the last second.

Something doesn't feel right about this, a thought chimes in. Who drew that magic circle? And more importantly, how did Deuce get all the way here? Assuming Deuce was still in the Queendom of Roses when he entered the forest, it is impossible for him to have traveled all the way to the Shaftlands without some form of transportation. Then there's the footage itself. If he really had been trapped in the forest, unable to feel fatigue, hunger, or thirst, what sorcery is allowing him to survive these past three years?

"Epel!" Deuce's voice rises and distorts as both video and reality synchronize to create a cacophony. "Open the door, open the door, OPEN THE DOOR!" In the footage, a pair of mutated flesh mounds slams itself against the door, wearing down the wooden barrier.

It takes less than a second for Epel to realize the reality of the situation: Deuce or no, the thing at the door is not the person he once knew. He backs away and rushes for the back entrance. While he's in the process of exiting, he hears the distant sound of wood splintering. He shuts the back door, jumps over the porch steps and makes a mad dash–not for the barnhouse, as that's a dead end–for the woods leading up to the mountains.