Chapter 206 Interlude: Scarlet - Ten Thousand Nights

Scarlet whimpered, jumping up in bed as a loud crack of thunder sent her tumbling over the edge to fall on her face. Groaning, she found herself on the wooden floorboards of her internal universe, the perpetual world-ending hurricane raging outside the isolated little house that Veronica had built for her.

"Stupid storm..."

A cool breeze made a quake run down her spine as she turned to the steps leading downstairs, where the light clattering of china could be heard. Fear gripping her belly, she slowly got to her feet, fixing her gray nightgown and hugging herself.

Please, please, do not be some creepy monster or person in a chair waiting for me to come down! Why is this villain crap always happening to me?!

Channeling her inner Rachel, Scarlet gingerly crept to the stairs. All of the thick drapes were pulled, keeping the frightening blood sea and storm outside hidden, yet they couldn’t stop the perpetual tapping of crimson rain, howling wind, and bone-rattling thunder.

Her first step on the wooden stair made her wince as a sharp creak sounded, somehow bleeding past the other sounds of the small, two-room, rickety house.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," she snarled, breathing out her stress before peeking down to study the dully lit 1st-floor combined room. "C’mon... Why!"

Bright-blue eyes lifted to show a cheery smile as the blonde she’d known almost all her life sat inside an armchair, a cup of hot tea resting in her lap. "Scarlet, eh-hehe, I know this is kind of suspect, but isn’t it right out of a novel? Hehe. Sorry for the spook!"

Hands tightening under her armpits, Scarlet breathed out her stress and just accepted it, with how insane her life was. She went down a few more steps but remained on the staircase, nervous jitters hitting her stomach.

"Veronica... Wait, you could be the creature pretending to be her and are actually a mental projection of the thing underneath the Red Sea... Or maybe you were corrupted or brainwashed? Ugh... I’m too tired," she groaned defeatedly, reaching up to rub between her eyes. "What do you want? Why don’t I have any control over this stupid place like everyone else?!"

She peeked up, expecting her to teleport in front of her or do some jump-fright scare, yet Veronica only remained in her sitting position, spinning the teacup around her fingers; the blonde wasn’t even looking at her now, her somber smile directed at her dark tea.

"...You don’t have control since you haven’t taken it... Hmm. Do you remember that trip we took to Paris when your parents paid off some policemen to help us get into the catacombs to perform some rituals? Hehe. You were so over it."

"Yeah?" Scarlet mumbled, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to be terrified at this point and resigning herself to her sure doom in this nightmare scenario; hey, maybe it was a nightmare for all she knew. "It was winter, snowing, and the skulls everywhere weren’t my thing. Why?"

She walked down the rest of the way to sit in a chair across from the creepy girl, tiredly accepting the steaming cup of tea in front of her and playing into the whole wannabe-friend-turned-villain vibe Veronica had going on.

The blonde maintained her focus on the cup, playing with the rim. "We were preparing things for the future... everywhere we went. Haha. I figured it out when lost in the Red Sea. All those fake rituals they did, putting on a show for us... They were doing other things in the background. Sooo much preparation. It’s kind of overwhelming to think about. It’s impossible to stop them all."

"Stop... what?" Scarlet asked, finding the sweet flavor of the tea actually extremely tasty. "How are you even in my dreams, or whatever... Is this a dream?"

"Meh." Veronica shrugged her shoulders weakly. "Isn’t reality just a dream of perception? Hehe. And there I go... reverting back to my hopeless self, muttering random drivel in the Red Sea, searching for... anything. Hmm. It’s... frightening coming back," she whispered, giving a start and jumping as a purple flash struck the sea near them, shaking the house. "I’m half-happy I left."

Now figuring she was in some kind of cutscene, with how non-responsive the blonde was to her questions, Scarlet sighed and glanced off to the side, going the denial coping route.

"So, you’re just some kind of recording, set off by a time-release or event trigger... Cool. Just another ghost inside my soul. How many more cutscenes does this game have?"

Veronica giggled, making her sit straighter as the girl set the cup on the small plate between them before settling back in. Right before her eyes, the teen transformed into a full-blown woman, aging to the point of maturity as she moved to the glass and turned to study her.

"You have no idea how long I’ve spent here, Scarlet. To you, it’s been nearly three weeks since The Oscillation, but for me... Haha. Let’s just say it’s been a bit longer," she said with a reflective stare at the restless blood. "I built this place for me, actually... to escape... to think better thoughts."

Shifting uncomfortably, Scarlet glanced toward the pulled-back curtains to see the raging ocean world outside. "Where are we? Are you even Veronica anymore?"

The woman’s melancholy blue eyes drifted to the crashing waves that broke over the stable house, somehow surviving the impossible forces outside. "The Veronica that you know? No. No, I’ve more or less abandoned everything that name meant... long ago, taking on the name of Twilight. How would I describe it? Hmm..."

Leaning against the wall, she hugged herself, a quiver running through her frame as she peered into the murky, bloody depths. "Ten thousand nights have passed... Change doesn’t happen overnight, Scarlet... or does it?"

Her fingers caressed the glass, spinning in circles. "There is a tug-of-war within those tides that will bring you to a meridian where everything melts away. The past, future, present... Where everything blurs, and your shackles are rusted and shatter. Where do we land in the Red Sea?"

Scarlet leaned forward to rub her face. "Mmgm-hmm-hmm. Are you intentionally trying to confuse me, or is all this cryptic bullcrap for a purpose? What do you want from me?"

Twilight’s sad eyes shifted to her, words shaking her to the core. "What all souls desire... to be understood. Oh, Scarlet, you must stand instead of crawl, holding onto Rachel’s legs. As she dives into the Red Sea, you need to rise and fall with her. Don’t be like me... friend I never had. If you want to grab hold of your life again, then you know what you must do..."

A lump formed in Scarlet’s throat as the woman gestured to the closed and locked door; a quake struck the small house, forcing her to the ground and shattering the cups of tea across the floor. When she looked up, Twilight was gone, and a crack appeared in the glass.

In the next second, she jolted awake, blood slicking her skin. In a delirious panic, she cast her eyes about to collect herself, expecting to see dozens of bodies— Yet there were none, only an empty room.

"Did I kill every—"

Rachel burst through the door, Coral on her head and Nia forming behind her, where Anthony and a few others within the house were gathering. "Scarlet! You were screaming? Are you— Blood?" she asked, ears high and alert as the others scanned for danger.