Scene 3: The Ceremony

Alexander recoils at the creature coming nearer to him. The flames behind him cast his shadow straight before him, its inky darkness blending into his face, his eyes, his clothing. He wills the shadow forward. It creeps toward the cowering fiend. He wills it forward once more, forcing it to lunge at the creature and consume it in shadow.

Nathaniel delicately goes through Dusk pockets, death was at their door, but she was still a lady. He finds the odd metal amulet, and tries to remember how it was used before. Should he throw it? No, Dusk touched it to the foe she wanted to vanquish, he would have to do the same.
He swallowed his fear, and rushed forward, amulet in hand, arm reaching, stretching even, out toward the creature. 'Please let this work' he thinks

Nathaniel carefully checks the witch's pockets for what he can only assume to be some sort of holy symbol or magical trinket. He feels the metal, finding it unexpectedly warm, but pays no attention to it. Quickly he turns to the creature and takes advantage of its struggling with the supernatural shadow of his cousin. As the burning sensation in the hand holding the symbol increases beyond tolerable, his melting flesh clashes with the fiends' body. The thing's distorted roar of pain lets Nathaniel know he succeeded... but at what price?

As Alexander if fully focused on trying to control his own shadow, channeling the darkness inside himself to fight that creature. It is then that he realizes something. He's not sure if this is a real, a nightmare or just an hallucination. He wishes it's he last and that he will wake up to see Lucy's worried face as he did so often. He always felt cursed, but since returning to this place, he plunged into the abyss, faced Annabelle and now, perhaps, that thing is nothing but his own inner demon, that he is fighting.

You feel the call of the abyss once again, you are not sure if you are controlling the shadows or if it is controlling you. You step forward, closer to the creature.

Having outmatched the creature, and with the knowledge of how to destroy it, Twilight confidently approaches it ready to use her witchcraft to end the evil that was hiding under the Rookwood Manor.





"The witches! The witches! Burn them!" Elias crazed shouts are heard as the man runs towards the woman, sword in hand. "You can't stop the ritual. Give up the girl! The pact must be honored" With him, you can now see the ghostly shapes of the old Rookwoods, constantly whispering unintelligible words.

"Stubborn girl!" the girl is clearly agitated despite the peacefulness of the place. "There are no witches in the Rookwood forest!" she retorts to the girl's nonsense. "We don't have much time. Your stupid cousins. They are making a mistake. Only you can make this right." she hopes the girl finally sees some sense, but she knows she cannot wait for it.

"You have no choice. This is why you were born. You are the Pact!" Suddenly, the grey man shakes as the sudden sound of flapping wings disturb the quietness around the Manor. A murder of crows flies across the skies, away from the forest where, somehow, an uncontrollable fire as started.

Alexander stares, transfixed by the darkness...

Nathaniel's plan appeared to be working, but it was also causing great pain him pain. He felt as if his skin was melting, but so much was happening that he couldn't tell if it was due to his newfound goo-iness, or if the heat was melting him. He tries to literally pull himself together.

As the girl shouts, you can see the change in the girl's face. She is shocked at first, then enraged. She starts walking towards the girl, violence reflected in her eye. Then... she stops and looks worried. And then her expression turns to panic. She turns back to the grey man. "I'm sorry. She doesn't know what she is doing". The girl immediately burst into flames and disappears into a cloud of ashes. The man, on the other hand, simply smiles as the entire world slowly fades into darkness.

The girl shudders for a moment to see Nathaniel's arm melting as he forces Dusk's talisman into the creatures bony corpse. He falls on his back, exhausted from the effort, and left with a strange burning sensation in his entire body. Both look as the creature yealling in pain as the metal burns through it. Weakened, it is easy overtaken by Alexander's shadow, which slowly consumes it into the abyss. Alexander is fascinated by the process and once again, feels the strong pull to disappear into the oblivion himself. Unnoticed, he steps forward to be consumed by his own darkness.

The whispers around Elias grow into mumbled complains and curses as the ghosts themself seem to fade from this world. The soldier himself stops attacking Twilight, letting his sword fall and simply staring at the witch. "What have you done?" he asks, never to speak again. The witch, notices Alexander over his cousin shoulder and quickly rushes to keep him away from the shadow...

As the creature disappears, night slowly falls and the full moon shines over the Rookwood Manor. Silences takes over the land as you try to figure out what just happened...