Valerie tidied up her things in the cell Showtime gave her: making the bed, cleaning up the spilled ink, and tying the letters into a bundle, since she never sent any of them with the dove.
Though, as she searched through the room one last time, she noticed a vintage, hanheld camcorder underneath the pillow. She turned it on, and it seemed to already have full battery.
She paid no attention to it as she continued to keep her things, placing the letters, bird food, quill and ink set, and the camcorder inside her inventory. As she placed the camcorder, she noticed a sticky note attached, saying, "you'll need this :)" in handwriting that did not resemble Showtime's.
As Valerie finally collected herself to leave the cell, with high hopes to see Wemmbu, Flame, and Asterion again, she headed out.
She expected the hallway where she once followed Showtime, the one with unending twists and ends, only to be met with... A dark, empty hallway with flickering flourencent lights above?
Valerie pulled out her camcorder, turning on the flash to see properly, looking around cautiously as she took the first step forward.
She didn't know where to go first, so she chose right.
"Nothing seems out of the ordinary much... Maybe after this turn it would lead to that spiral staircase." She muttered to herself, turning the corner only to be met with a long, straight hallway with the lights falling out the roof and casting weary, faint glows across the floors.
"Whatever leads me to my beloveds." She reassured herself, walking through the hallway with light steps, checking behind her every other while to see if anything was following her.
The dove stayed loyal on her shoulder, cooing softly.
As the pair reached the end of the hallway, they were met with another turn?
and they followed that, only to be led back to the cell.
"Okay, so left it is, birdie." She scratched the head of the dove before continuing, recording the rest of the trip.
The entire time, the battery didn't drop, which seemed odd. Since, all the hallways were often long, and she recorded them all through, in slow, cautious steps.
Maybe this will take a little more exploring to find the exit.
Following the hallway for a long time, she seemed to find herself at a crossroads. Left, or right?
As she took an approach to the left side, the dove on her shoulder woke and started to ruffle it's feathers, cooing loud as if it were scared.
"Oh, so not there, darling." She fed the dove a seed before going to the left, noticing how the bird fell back into slumber.
The hallway seemed to be a different one, luckily, as there was now... Puddles and... Water dripping from the open holes in the roof. There were few that were still flickering, but there were much more lights.
The peaceful quiet seemed to finally dissapear as there was a noise that startled both the dove and Valerie.
"Oh, Artemis, that was quite the scare." She held the scared dove against her chest, careful not to squish it.
Then, a sound of wings flapping came from one of the pretuding hallways as Valerie passed, and it was a dove, crashing into the wall, dying on impact.
She covered Artemis's eyes as observed the body, noticing how it was missing an eye and eyelids, the eye resembling a human's.
"Disgusting. Well, as Flame would say. It seems... Familiar. I believe it looks like one of the beings above. I hear they had a different form of winged creatures that looked similar to you, Artemis, to send messages to the mortals below." She talked to the bird, stepping over the body as she continued to walk, placing the bird back onto her shoulder as she continued recording.
would things get weirder?
The camera flickers back to life, showing Val’s face as she checks if it works. She and Artemis seemed to be in a different area now, the roof shows old, dried blood.
the camera turns around, and the walls seem to be covered in blood as well, with puddles of remaining blood on the floor.
”It’s like there was a massacre…” Val mutters, scratching Artemis’s head.
As they rounded the corner, Val could hear the sound of something rumaging in the darkness.
She made cautious steps forward, glancing at the hallways along the way, the way they twisted and turned, the way they tilted, it seemed surreal.
When she stepped on a puddle, the sound of the splash echoing through the hall, there was a growling sound instead of the rumaging.
Val made the final step forward, and was met with a dead end, as well as a rabid wolf, growling at her. Behind it, there was a dead corpse of another wolf, it's guts seemingly chewed through.
The mouth of the wolf that was growling at her was covered in blood. As Valerie made a step back, putting her hands up slightly in surrender, the wolf turned around and went back to eating.
"Was that caught on camera? Because, that wolf... It looks a eerily familiar to one of Flame's dogs." She muttered, bringing the camera up again, ready to find another way out.
She checked her inventory, finding out she was already halfway through a stack of seeds for Artemis. Even if there were three stacks of seeds in her inventory, she must conserve her goods.
And if they already burned through that much, how long have they been here?
The feed picks up right where the last clip ended, Valerie and Artemis now deciding which hallway to go through.
As they were about to turn left, a sound could be heard from the very hallway they were facing.
A lamb came running into her arms, with a wolf with multiple human eyes across it's face chasing it. Val quickly carried the lamb into her arms, scaring off the "wolf" with her large wings.
As it ran, Val placed the lamb back down, letting out a sigh.
"Oh, what a spectacle that was. I'm assuming you musn't want to follow me there, no? And guessing you came into my arms, you wouldn't want to leave." She shook her head, placing her hands on her hips as she pondered where to go. Right? Or that hall down the left in that corner?
The lamb ran around her in circles, it's tail wagging happily. Val looked down and smiled, unable to hide the fact the lamb reminded her of her dear old child Asterion.
"Oh, you're just like Aster, I think she'd love you anyhow. I'll just have to call you Teri, as a nod to her."
The lamb stopped and bleated, before running down the right hallway. Valerie quickly chased it, the camera turning off as she runs.
Static clears and the camera turns on again to reveal Teri, covered in blood while leading a small march in front of Valerie. It's fur is covered in blood, but it's tail is wagging as in stops and turns around to check if Val was still following.
"Oh, you poor thing, you're covered in blood. You're really like Aster, always jummping in puddles and whatnot, maybe you deserve the name." She muttered to nobody but herself, a small smile creeping up her face.
Her peace is disturbed once again as the sound of multiple animals come charging through. A pack of hyenas. Val quickly picks up Teri, holding her high in her arms as the hyenas run past them, not even paying attention to them.
They weren't any normal hyenas, they had their eyes on their stomachs and they were, once again, human eyes. They seemed to be running backwards, as well, despite being at normal speed.
Valerie followed the hall they came from, finding a room full of clocks. Top to bottom, there's clocks. They all show different times, with some even going backwards.
It was dark, as the flourencent lights of the halls ended. Val noticed there was a door in the other end of the room, placing down Teri gently on the ground.
She watched as the lamb ran around, jumping playfully. She was joyful, much like her namesake. Artemis was sleeping quielty on her shoulder. There was calm that Valerie felt when she scratched the dove's head.
Suddenly, a grandfather clock rung, alarming everyone. Valerie took a hesitant step back, before falling down a slope and losing Teri.
"Teri—!" She called out, the lamb soon sliding down the slope due to curiousity.
Artemis flew up, gliding down gently with the rest of them.
The camera footage ended there, as it crashed onto the ground and broke on impact.
The camera feed turns back on, now a visible crack on the lens. It seemed to work just as fine, despite the fall. Valerie was unconcious on the ground, seemingly she hit her head on the fall down.
Teri and Artemis finally make it down, with Teri licking Val's face over and over.
Footsteps could be heard in the background.
"Oh! Well, we have a new visitor!" the voice, out of camera view, spoke, their tone cheery and old as they tried gently nudging Val awake.
"Young lady, are you alright?" She asked, shaking her to no avail. She noticed the lamb and the bird sitting next to Val, watching her every move.
The feed cuts again, now set on a tea table facing Valerie. Artemis is sleeping soundly on her shoulder, as Teri is seen jumping playfully in the background.
The setting in the background seems to be a library, an endless loop of shelves and desks.
Val takes a sip of tea, nodding her head as she's seemingly with the lady from earlier. The fall from earlier seemed to have set the camera on mute, as she speaks, but no words can be heard.
As the footage goes on, Val seemingly having a peaceful tea with the entity, one of the lights in the bakground turns off.
She stood abrubtly and took the camera with her, as Val takes cautious steps in the area where the light had died. As she takes the final step foward, a tiger lunges at her, attacking Artemis and eating it in one swallow.
The tiger licks it's mouth, no longer attacking Val. Teri remains out of the frame, but it's clear the tiger wants it dead too.
Valerie notices a key detail of the tiger: it wears a black blindfold but can see just fine, fine enough to attack prey.
Val stretches her hand to pet the tiger, being met with the tiger leaning in to her touch.
She can't help but smile, to be reminded of Flame's nature in the feline.
The static clears as it shows Valerie walking through yet another hallway, Teri trotting in the front while the tiger watches from behind.
The mic seems to be fixed, as a low growl can be heard from the tiger, which wants to eat the lamb.
"Enough, already. I know you must want to hurt Teri due to your nature, but I saw you two playing earlier." She scolded the tiger, pointing an accusatory finger at it as it drops it's head.
As Val looks up, she hears a scream from down the hall, as well as hurried running. Teri runs behind the tiger, with the tiger blocking it with it's body.
As the sound of running rounded the corner, it's revealed to be a soldier in diamond armor, wounded and covered in blood. They grab her shoulder's making her drop the camcorder onto the ground.
To Val, it's a wounded soldier, begging, crying, blaming her for the death of their friends and him. To the animals and camcorder, it's an unknown being, thin, glitchy, with void black skin and no eyes. The camera is unable to hear what it says to Val, only picking up her responses.
"I-I didn't mean to hurt them. I-I had to." She stammers, completely frozen in place as the guilt creeps up to her.
"I know, I know... I-I really can't undo whay I did, and I deal with the guilt. Every single soul, including yours." She dips her head down, only making the being shake her.
It screams, seemingly at Val for her actions, but to the animals and camera, it was an unearthly screech.
Was it a sort of heavenly being? Maybe thats why only Val could understand it.
The feed cuts once more as it jumps to another clip, Valerie, Teri, and the tiger are now in a dark room, with no lights.
Val makes a cautious step forward, as well as the animals.
The faint light of the camera shows that the floor is ridden with landmines, most fake with some being real.
Teri makes a step forward, the sound of a click and a hiss turning into a loud explosion as the explosion errupts, killing Teri as it's guts go flying.
This immediately scares Val, as she is reminded of the explosions in Capital City, where Asterion was staying.
It made her worry about her child.
The explosion alerted something in the dark, as footsteps approach Val.
An unearthly screech echoes through the room, as the entity lunges at Val, making her fall. The camera slides on the ground, facing Val as she scrambles to find her blindfold.
It took her blindfold, scratched her face, and ran off.
The scratch stretches acrosd her cheek, blood dripping down as she wipes it with the back of her hand. She's left with no other choice but to go on without it.
She opens her eyes, wings unfurling from behind her head to wrap her face. Eyes float around her, as they search around the area. The wings have eyes on them as well, blinking, looking around.
Her distorted voice is picked up by the camera.
"I h̶̡̠̦̠͚̱̀͂͆͗a̵̛͎̯͔͕̦̦̒̊̌̉̚͘͝v̵͍̤̯̮̻̼̬̘̐̽͝ͅḙ̴̯̱͓̣̏̒̐̏̚̕n̴̖̆'̷̟̫̰̣͈̪̖̓͋ţ̵̲̳̟̜͙̲̝͍̳̄̈́̋͗͠ used this f̴̱͔̝̤̄̽͌̃̐̆ͅo̶̧̬̗̠̺̿̎r̸͈̬̻̞̩̪̠̓̄m̶̻͇͈̰̖͇̦̭̑̔̅̊ in quite some time. Feels nice to have proper sight once more." She mutters under her breath, her voice glitching. She lifts her hand, the camera floating back into her grasp.
She stands up again, floating above the landmines as she makes it across the room successfully. She flies the tiger over as well, scratching it's head as they make it to the next room.
As the television finally works again, the feed shows Valerie walking through a bright hallway, the flourencent lights being too harsh for the camera. It floats in the air next to her, allowing her to record without having to hold it.
Valerie floats on by as the tiger remains walking by her side. The hallway starts to distort and warp, as the walls start to shift and flip, a distant meowing could be heard.
Valerie makes it float over, only to find a skinny, purple cat with an expression resembling Wemmbu's.
She carries it in her arms, scratching it's chin as she feeds it a bit of meat in her inventory, most likely from the remains of Teri. She tosses a piece to the tiger, who catches it and licks it's mouth.
The cat seems interested in the floating eyes of Val, as it reaches out to swat it, making Valerie flinch in pain as the eye is scratched by the claws.
"Such a troublemaker already, much like Wemmbu himself." She teases, gently placing the cat down as she continues walking, finding herself at a dead end.
She turns around, another wall.
She's been trapped by the place itself.
With a quick flick of her hand, she lifts the tiger and cat off the ground as the floor beneath them dissappears. She floats them all down safely, finding themselves at a strange, water filled room, with pool tiles instead of normal tiling all over the room.
She watches as the animals quench their thirst with the water, drinking it in.
It's dark, as the only light is radiating from the hole above, and from Valerie herself. As she looks around, sending the eyes to search around the large room, a chirping of a parrot could be heard.
How many animals were trapped here?
As the next clip is shown, it cuts to Valerie, staring at a mirror, wings unfurled away from her face. Her face is normal under all the wings, except her eyes, where galaxies can be seen, twinkling, shining.
Her expression in the mirror is monotone, as she stares at herself, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
A macaw with the similar colors of Parrot sits on her shoulder, biting at it's feathers.
The footage goes on for hours, as Val continues to stare at herself in the mirror. It's sped up, as it shows the animals going on around her, playing eagerly with each other.
It seems safe, peaceful, in that room. If Val can stay still for hours, staring at her own reflection, contemplating.
Finally, the first words after who knows how long.
"It's all me. It's all my f̵͍̹͙̩͔̬̝̟̿͂̌̋̄̅ä̵̘̜̼͍́̂u̵̢̧̡̢͍̝̞̰̮͍̗͈̠͔̬̇̉͗̋̾ļ̶̨̛̖̩̜̼̩͚̘͍̙̐͐̀̆͂̑͂̀͒͝t̶̡̨̡͓̪̞͍̹̝̝͔̩͉̏. Aster, Flame, Wem, they're all gone because of me. Because I was too s̷̠̉e̴̡̥̹͑̑̄ͅḷ̴͖̣͈̉͂̆̒ͅf̶̢͔̩̀͜i̵̢͎̝͉̙̔͌́̂͠s̸̩̺̈́̏͗h̴̼͚̏ and wanted to live a mortal life. Now they're all hurt." Her distorted voice is broken, quiet, hushed. She never sounded so hurt before.
"And now I'm stuck here, I can't help them. I... I went through this entire room, and it's just a loop." She paused, letting out a sigh. "I found the entrance, and it's been this same room, looping over and over past that door. It's safe yes, but it's impossible to leave. I bashed my head in the wall in frustration."
"I can't go back. I don't know if I can. My loves, if you find this footage, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you, sorry for not being able to see you, sorry for not being able to hold you."
After staring in the mirror for hours, maybe even days, Valerie finally moved. She wiped the blood dripping from the corner of the mouth.
She straightened up, the wings furled around her face again as she stood up, the purple cat jumping into her arms.
The tiger had the macaw in its mouth, the bird long dead. It noticed Val moving, and perked it's head to her, stopping its gnawing on the bird. She didn't know how long the bird had been dead, lost in her trance to notice.
Val paid no attention to the animals, finally looking around the room. It was a pink bedroom, with a large bed in the corner, pink walls, and a door that just led to this room over and over again. She had been sitting at the pink vanity mirror, staring at herself for who knows how long.
She placed the cat down, throwing a piece of Teri's remains to the felines, watching them eat.
She moved to lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. The cats jumped onto the bed, lying down beside her. She lifted her hand, noticing the blood she had just wiped off of her face.
She wouldn't bleed normally. Oftentimes, she'd just have bruises from fighting, being covered in blood that wasn't hers, but she'd never been actually hurt. Only a few things could actually cause her to bleed: the void, beings from other dimensions, and heavenly creations.
If this place was by Showtime, there wouldn't be a way it could hurt her. Showtime surely wasn't a heavenly being capable enough to create such places, anyways. So, this wasn't a performance run by Showtime, it was something far worse.
Then she remembered her disobedience towards The Heavenly Principles. How they wanted her to erase all the glitches in Unstable. How they wanted her to erase the memories of everyone to cause peace, removing any memory of glitches.
At the time, she could barely bring herself to do so. Now, she doesn't think she could ever erase the memories of anyone, let alone Flame and Wemmbu's.
She looked around the room once more, noticing the hole in the wall where she bashed her head. She sent on of the eyes to investigate, noticing how there was a room behind it that she hadn't seen before.
She finally got up, floating towards the hole. She made the opening larger, trying to tear a hole to go through.
The felines woke up at the noise, jumping off the bed to watch her.
She floated the camera towards her, pushing it through the hole to see what was behind it.
It was dark, the light of the bedroom peering through, casting a soft glow on the rest of the room.
Something could be heard shuffling inside the room, before it lunged at the camera, ending the footage.
The camera lay there on the floor, as it starts to record once more. There's light in the room, it's old yellow walls and bloodied carpeted floors can be seen. It's comepletely empty, except for the light bulb casting a soft light on everything.
The animals feast on the dead body of the entity, most likely killed by Valerie. She's walking around, searching for anything that may be of interest.
Just as she was about to go back to the bedroom through the hole in the wall, it suddenly repairs itself. They're trapped.
When she turns around, she finds The Heavenly Principles, standing right there.
"It appears you've finally reached here." Her deep voice cuts through the silence, making Val shiver.
"Would you like to know why we sent you here?" They ask, tilting their head as they fold their arms behind their back.
"Because I disobeyed you?" Val answers, her voice shaking. She's always been scared of The Heavenly Principles, finding them strict and rude.
"Well, originally, yes. But now, we've taken this time to educate you why you musn't fall in love with mortals." She corrects, taking a step forward.
They notice the camera lying on the ground, watching the two, and goes back to facing Val.
"Nearly two thousand years ago, there was this mortal, who loved us so much. We first hated him, not wanting to fall in love. Then, we felt this connection with them, something we hadn't felt with anyone else." She pauses, gesturing to the animals.
"Reminds you of someone?" They continue, letting out a chuckle as they watch Val take a step back.
"We were in love with him. So deeply, truly in love with him." She smiles, reminiscing in the memories. "We felt as though nothing could seperate us from him."
Val pauses, finding similarites of herself in them.
"Then, we woke one day to find him diseased. We tried every single thing in this entire universe to cure him, with no avail. He died a few months later. We then realized that it was a sign from the gods themselves not to fall in love with mortals. You may be lucky that they're alive now, but death is inevitable, Solstice."
"So very, very inevitable. Don't be surprised when you awaken to them dead. "
Valerie froze. She didn't expect The Heavenly Principles of all things to actually fall in love. But she quickly snapped out of it when she heard her real name.
"Solstice? I've long since abandoned that name. It's Valerie." She corrected, straightening her posture as she tried to collect herself.
"Oh? Is it now? That isn't the name I remember giving you." The Heavenly Principles asked, tilting their head slightly. They took a step closer towards Val, watching her as she tried to keep her composure.
"But, if you truly believe that you belong to this world, then fine, go, foolishly believe that you actually stand a chance against the gods." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. She let out a huff, taking a step back as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I'm sure Lady Charemiene wouldn't like to hear of your disobedience once more. She's grown tired of hearing how many times you fail over and over. Before, you used to be the best, universes would be cleansed in decades. But here, it seems we've stretched the time too long. Don't make us wait centuries more, Solstice."
Val stayed silent, her head dipped low. The camera continued to capture everything, sitting on the ground. The singular flourencent light flickered, capturing both of their attentions.
"Lady Charemeine sent me here to remind you of your deadline. Unless, you want to lose your divinity?" They proposed, tilting their head slightly. They walked over to Val once more, tilting her head up to face them. She was quite short compared to them, beng a head shorter or maybe even more.
"I... I don't want to lose my divinity. I... Have a proposal. If I make sure the glitches are patched, and never come back, may I be tied to this universe to do so?" Valerie asked, her voice shaky and hesitant.
"Oh? You'd willingly tie yourself with mortals just to make sure to patch up glitches each time they rise? How attached must you be to a few lowly mortals? Alas, I shall discuss the matters with Lady Charemiene. Until it is decided, you are bound to this facilty, forced to wander until we arrive." They declared, taking a step back. With a snap of their fingers, they dissappeared, faint, twinkling stars shining in their wake.
Val hoped that Lady Charemiene would agree. She always were quite strict, especially towards her.
But she hung onto that thin hope that she'd say yes.
As she waited for them to come back, Valerie continued to wander around the room.
She watched the animals in the corner of the room, eating the body of the entity she killed earlier.
She turned, picking up the camera as she wiped away the dust on the lens. Tears pricked at all of her eyes, even the floating ones, as she thought of her beloveds. She didn't know how long it'd take for Lady Charemiene to accept her proposal.
Continuing to wipe the lens, she cut herself on the crack of the lens, pricking her finger and causing her to bleed.
"Explains why the camera never stopped working." She mumbled to herself, making the camera float beside her as she wiped the blood off her finger.
She turned back to he animals, who were happily eating in the corner. She thought of Flame and Wemmbu once more, how blissfully unaware they were of how much she was hiding from them.
How much pain she had caused them by simply falling in love, by simply staying by their side.
I should've continued to fake my death. She thought to herself, letting out a sigh.
If she had continued to lie to them, to stay out their lives, maybe she would've spared them from this tragedy.
She thought back to when she was experimenting on herself, how she found out she could die by heavenly beings and through the unexplainable void.
Maybe she should've sent herself to the void instead. Maybe she should've just killed herself.
If she was dead, she wouldn't have to bother Flame and Wem any longer.
"I should just end it all here. Everything here is by the heavens themselves, so it must be able to kill me." She muttered under her breath, looking around the room. Then she saw it. The wiring holding the flourencent light bulb up. It was long enough to tie around her neck, maybe even tie a noose.
It'll only be a matter of time until The Heavenly Principles came back, they won't notice she's dead until they find her.
Valerie continued to stare at the rope, tilting her head slightly. She unfurled the wings away from her face, tears finally falling down.
She was sitting on the ground now, knees curled to her chest. She hadn't felt this helpless since... Since she had to fake her death.
She hugged her knees tighter at the thought. It scared her—having to leave Wemmbu, Flame, and Aster—as much as she didn't want to admit it.
Because in all honesty, leaving was always what hurt the most.
She was so lost in her thought she hadn't even noticed that The Heavenly Principles were right in front of her.
"A little birdie told me you weren't feeling good in your head. Cheer up already, Lady Charemiene said yes." They sighed, looking slightly annoyed at the fact that Val was crying.
Without waiting for a response, The Heavenly Principles flicked their wrist, and teleported Valerie out of there, now infront of the base where Flame and Wemmbu were.
But the camera didn't see that, it only showed Val dissappearing and the room collapsing in on itself the moment she left.
But now she's home, right?
Wrong. Whatever happened when The Heavenly Principles teleported her, went wrong, somehow. Because, the house started to drift away further and further from Val, the sky looked wrong, as if they were in a sky box, and the house was suspiciously in the middle of a flower field—where the real house was not located. What's wrong?
"Where am I?" She muttered, finally looking up. There was no camera, so Val was completely alone.
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romaincrisis
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