Shadows grew longer as the faint dusk light of the setting sun had long disappeared. It's 9pm. Midnight is coming soon and a life will be taken in its passing.

The string was pulled and the fates held it close with a strict hand, poised to cut.

---

Montag's dismissal did not phase Carol. In fact the strange woman seemed more intrigued by being put off, her eyes never losing sight of him as the detective turned to leave. 

For the first time she looked away from Montag to give a glance at one of her tattooed associates. A man who had been reclining against a wall in the background of the interaction. He would stand up and march forward, past the guards who were as still as statues. He too was dressed in the white sleeves and red vests of waiter staff, making it strange he was able to bypass security staff so easily. 


He did not need police experience to understand what was happening here, Carol and her team had access that he didn't. Access they probably didn't deserve considering they were supposedly staff just like him. They were able to go upstairs with no trouble despite the guards. Most concerning was Marie on the second floor of Meropis who Carol's team got closer to.

[color=00a651]"You shouldn't turn your back on me, fuzz boy."[/color] Carol however, was staying put.


[color=00a651]"Do you think you were the only one sent here? I know things you don't. You should have left while you still have the chance, because after tonight your life will never be the same again."[/color]

Time came to a crawl. Carol would grip Montag's hand very suddenly and with alarming strength. The noise of the kitchen disappeared, with the lights of the hallways going out. The color of the world receded and was replaced with a monolithic black and white that left only the bright green of Carol's eyes as the last source of color in Montag's perspective. A long and loud drone could be heard, like an object falling through an empty ship. Deep hums of a great metal beast that was no where in view, throbbing in the boy's ears. The witch had done something to him with that touch, his skin felt about to burn.


[color=00a651]"Do you feel the hand of Phobos going through you? Your mortal flesh vulnerable and exposed. Phobos and Deimos ruling over your heart, filling your entire being with fear, falling forever..."[/color]

Carol's words began to echo, growing further away. Eduard felt he was falling, cast down backward into an endless hallway. The hallway he had passed through on his way here to be exact. Montag himself remained horizontal while the hallway had been tipped vertically down. Paintings, furniture, and lamps would stay still and static, uncaring of the effects of gravity. Stuck in a warp of familiar reality and sent falling into an endless loop. The strong vision was abrupt and mind consuming, all from a simple touch of the woman's hand. Carol intended to have the boy suffer for his intrusion and to do away with him with this mental torment. The world he inhabited previously had been replaced with this terrifying vision that consumed his being.


Luckily, Montag was no longer on his own. Coming through the backyard entrance was Abigail who had recently left her meeting with Thomas. She was in a perfect sight to view what was happening to Montag and the perpetrator Carol. It was up to both of them as to how they'd deal with this incomprehensible threat. The priestess could see the black tattoo pulsing and swelling larger as Carol hummed some unfamiliar and creepy tune. None of the bystanders looked to be doing anything in the way of helping Montag.