(part 3/3 | part 1: The Ritual | part 2: Midnight City: Dove)
Be careful what you wish for.
Dove gasped, opening her eyes to see a forest floor beneath her. She picked up her head and looked around. There was nobody, nothing but trees. A shiver went down her spine, she wasn't at the crossroads anymore even after failing the ritual. Surely, everything that happened was just because of the ritual trance, right? Dove picked herself up, looking around again. If what Seere said was right, her people would be surrounding her.
Dread hung in the cold air, dense with fog. Dove began to slowly walk straight in the forest while scanning the surrounding trees. Her body felt oddly empty and she began to feel her heart racing and as if it were in a hollow body. She stopped to put a hand to her chest but couldn’t find a heartbeat, so she checked her wrist for a pulse. Finding no pulse at either wrist, she checked her neck. Dove had no pulse or heart beat.
Confused at the reality surrounding her, Dove called out to the void “What the fuck is going on?”.
A twig snapped not too far from her, causing Dove to whip around to the direction of the sound. A white, masked face quickly ducked behind a tree. Dove's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the tree where the face had disappeared. The forest seemed to close in around her, the fog growing thicker, and an eerie silence settled over the surroundings. A sense of unease washed over her, and she hesitated before cautiously moving toward the tree.
As Dove approached, she saw a fleeting glimpse of the white face again, this time peeking from behind another tree. It had hollow eyes, devoid of any emotion, and its features seemed almost distorted. The figure remained elusive, staying just at the edge of her vision.
"Who's there?" Dove called out, her voice echoing through the desolate forest. No response came. The fog seemed to respond to her unease, swirling and thickening, creating an oppressive atmosphere. Dove's surroundings became increasingly disorienting, with the trees closing in on her like silent observers.
She quickened her pace, attempting to navigate through the dense woods. As she moved, the white-faced figure began to appear more frequently, always just out of reach. Its presence felt both haunting and familiar, and Dove couldn't shake the feeling that it was watching her every move.
Suddenly, the forest opened up into a small clearing. In the center stood a tall, slender figure, clad in a dark suit. The air grew colder, and Dove felt an unsettling energy emanating from the figure. It turned slowly to face her, revealing featureless, pale skin where a face should be.
Dove's heart, despite the lack of a physical pulse, pounded in her chest as she stared at the mysterious figure. She sensed a connection, a beckoning to something beyond her understanding. The figure extended an elongated arm, gesturing for her to come closer.
Compelled by the creature and Seere’s promise, Dove stepped into the clearing. The figure's presence enveloped her, and she felt a strange transformation begin to occur. Shadows danced around the trees surrounding the two beings, and her perception of reality began to blur.
In that moment, Dove's consciousness merged with a new entity. She felt a surge of ancient knowledge, memories not her own flooding into her mind. She became something else entirely— a servant of an otherworldly force. The forest embraced her transformation, the fog swirling and acknowledging the birth of a new entity.
Dove, or what remained of her, now stood in the clearing. The once familiar fog became her ally, responding to her newfound nature. She was a monster in the dark realm, forever tethered to Midnight City, and her existence intertwined with the mysterious forces that governed chaos.
The trees whispered secrets only she and the tall man could comprehend. The fog cloaked her form as she became one with the shadows. Static rang through her ears and through the noise, she could hear a voice.
“Dove, you have crossed dimensions, made friends with demons, and now you belong to me. You will be molded into this forest’s silent guardian, forever connected to my domain and the ritual land that has claimed your soul.”
As the newly-formed entity, Dove surveyed the clearing with a sense of detachment. The tall, faceless figure stood beside her, a silent companion in this realm of shadows. The oppressive atmosphere lifted, replaced by an eerie calm that echoed through the darkened woods.
A voice, not Dove's own, echoed within her mind—a symphony of whispers from the past, present, and future. It was the collective consciousness of those who had traversed Midnight City, a chorus of souls entwined in the chaos. The entity that Dove had become felt both ancient and reborn, a fusion of her former self and the force that governed this realm.
The white-faced figure, now a spectral presence, gestured towards the depths of the forest. Dove, guided by an instinctual knowledge, began to move. The fog parted as she walked the woods, each step resonating with the pulse of her owner.
As she moved deeper into the darkness, the boundaries between reality and the supernatural blurred. The forest itself became a tapestry of memories and whispers—a manifestation of the collective experiences of those who had embarked on the ritual and encountered the unknown.
In her trance, Dove walked until she found herself at a dirt road leading to a cabin. Her instinct told her that’s where the Tall Man wanted her to go, so she did. The porch light glowed a deep yellow, just like the one at home. As she walked up the steps, the door opened. A masked man stood in the door frame. He looked down at her and asked
“So you’re the dimension hopper, aren’t you?”
Dove looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders, “I guess I am.”
He took a breath and looked to the side, into the woods behind her. She knew that the tall man was somewhere behind them in the trees. The masked man stepped out of the door frame, grabbing Dove’s arm to bring her inside.
“You don’t want to stay in the fog too long, it’ll do things to you…” He said plainly, letting her go after he closed the door behind them. Dove looked around the room, seeing three other people. They were all in a circle, sitting around the room, staring Dove down. She looked to the man who brought her in, who was taking his mask off.
“We were only told so much about you in the little time you’ve somehow been here…” He paused. “It’s crazy knowing other dimensions exist, but I digress. My name is Tim.” He introduced himself and looked at the others to introduce themselves.
“I’m Toby.” He was short in his tone.
“My name is Brian,” Brian smiled at Dove then looked at the last person. She didn’t seem to want to talk either. He continued for her, “That’s Kate.”
“Tell us about you, what’s your name? What’s your story?” Tim asked.
Dove divulged a short synopsis of herself and some struggles. The group chatted on how exactly she made it to this universe, each one slightly dumbfounded but not completely surprised as they all belonged to some eldritch entity; out of their own volition or not. After hearing of how Dove made it here and why, her new people seemed confused, but Toby seemed to understand the most. He knew what it meant it be alone. Three of them were in a way, captives of the Tall man, doing his bidding against their will.
The men of the group let Dove in on what exactly would be going down, giving her a disclaimer on what she’d now face as property of their Operator. Hearing of murder, stalking, entrapment, and making people go insane made Dove cringe, but with a huge spiritual failure on her shoulders, she had to be willing to accept wherever Seere put her and deemed her fit.
After that discussion, everyone sat together trying to find a new name for Dove.
“Y’know, we all have such basic names. Kate is Kate the Chaser because she’ll chase ya until you’re too tired to keep going, Toby… is just Toby, I’m Hoodie because I wear a Hoodie, and I’ll give you a guess as to why we call Tim Masky.” Brian spoke.
“How about we call her Hopper, ‘cause she can hop through dimensions.” Toby stuttered.
