CHAPTER TWO: THE VOID CALLS
WHEN: 12:36 A.M. Monday, February 3rd, 2020
WHERE: Oculus Manor, Abingdon, England.
So far it’s been a relatively peaceful evening, despite the simmering tension. The Enigmas have settled into the guest wing of the Oculus Manor while the Oculus’ take up their old bedrooms. After a nearly silent dinner together everyone left for their respective rooms. There were some who lingered behind for quiet conversations in the lounge, kitchen, or gardens. But for the most part, the teams went off to hide in their rooms and avoid eye contact with their estranged siblings and old-time rivals.
Sometime just past midnight, ZEPHYR was awoken by the faint sound of whistling. Not human whistling, they were sure, but the sound of air rushing to escape. After checking their window for some sort of draft, they followed the sound down the hall and upstairs to the corridor which contains the doors to the library, study, and The Headmaster’s old room. The whistling, whoosing was faint, but their ears were attuned to such a sound and they were able to follow it down the hallway. As they approached they noticed something strange, the paintings on the wall were rattling. The slightest tremor making them clack against the wood-paneled walls. Stranger still, the further they walked down the hall the more this wind tugged at their clothes and pulled them further. That was when ZEPHYR called out, thinking this was a prank; someone trying to trick them into thinking the house was haunted. They stood their ground and waited.
Awoken by the sound of ZEPHYR’s shouting, a few team members found them standing in the hallway, staring in awe at something at first invisible. Floating in the middle of the hallway, suspended in midair was a black dot. No greater than the size of a quarter, it was difficult to see among the shadows of the night. Pure, infinite blackness confined to a small circle, the teams observed it with caution. It seemed to draw everything towards it. BLITZBANG reached out towards it, but drew back when their bracelet flew off their wrist and was swallowed by the dark orb - disappearing. Though they couldn’t see it, the orb got a little bigger.
MR. MOE arrived on the scene last, and when he saw the orb, he told everyone to stand back. What it the object was, they all could tell: a black hole exactly in the spot where Harold Knox had died. His powers, which had been the reason for building the academy, could now destroy it.
THE OBJECTIVE: Identify the strange floating thing in the hallway and determine if it’s a threat.
IN CHARACTER TIMEFRAME: One night.
