Chaos & Beauty

Stories are powerful things.

They have the ability to change how people- and even whole countries or generations- think about things, or how they view the world. They can drive people. Inspire them. Give them comfort, confidence, and joy. They show freedom and they show hope. They can embody the opposite. Stories tell about everything, and their messages are diverse. And all of them are unique.

Stories are journeys. They are paths that both character and reader travel upon, following twists and turns, ups and downs, facing the consequences that come from which ways were chosen at the forks in the road. Words weave the surroundings of the path; the words are the whispers in leaves and the sound of feet hitting the ground; they're the inky black sky, the bright look in the characters' eyes, and the sound of someone's final breath. Words are the atoms that make up everything that surrounds the character and their path.

Stories are outlets. They are freedom. They bring out the best in people by showing their very worst creations. They are memories. They are cultures. They are the first whispers that inspire people to shout. They encompass more of the world than we know, and without them, our souls would starve- without stories, there would be nothing to satisfy their hunger for freedom.

Our lives our shaped by stories. The stories of our family before us, and the story that is slowly being woven as we  creep through our days- the story of our lives. They are made of moments, and moments are stories, stories that make one big story. You are a story. I am a story. This is a story, and it is a story of what happens

when stories

come

u n d o n e .

~~~~~

Simul was not in the castle anymore, but she wasn't any other place either. She wasn't anywhere at all. And yet, she could see. Oh, she could see. And what a scene it as she was taking in.

It was Story.

She watched the beauty of journeys unfolding- watched the paths being formed and considered and put to use. She watched as people, small and quiet and beautiful, picked up little threads and wove them together. It was incredible, she thought, that things so small could feel so important. It was humbling to be surrounded by such indescribable beauty.

Flitting around and zigzagging through the sprawling, interlocking stories was something almost unnoticeable- and something undeniably sinister. Simul watched it collide with once-peaceful stories and infect them, causing them to whither and die, losing their color, their light, their beauty- turning their joy into tragedy and robbing them of inspiration. Simul had no idea what the thing was, but she knew to fear it. She watched, unable to look away, as the evil being darted from story to story, leaving a trail of darkness in its wake. With growing fear, Simul slowly realized it was coming closer and closer to her... but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Because Simul was a story.

And the thing would be able to destroy her.

Chaos & Beauty was my absolute favorite part to write. ^^

Day 13, part 4

Simul was on the stone floor. She wasn't panicking, but she was afraid. Now, she knew what there was to fear.

~~~~~

"This is just great," Devin muttered sarcastically, forcefully ripping off another little shred of paper. He couldn't see how these scraps could keep him from getting lost. He also couldn't see why the murderer was being so vague in their note. Then he realized they seemed to do that a lot- there was the game where being vague was the whole point, and he almost died then... the thought sent shivers down his spine, and he was glad no-one was there to see him. Catsquill and Bean were also searching in tunnels not too far yet from Devin, though they were being more conscious about how they were tearing their paper, and their thoughts weren't quite as angry. In fact, both of them were being rather thoughtful as they pondered their recollections of previous ski lodges, toying with this new piece of knowledge they had unlocked.

Darkking and Reese, still recovering shakily from Mor's death, waited desperately for the door to automatically unseal itself as the murderer had promised it would at some point. Darkking tried not to entertain the terrifying thoughts about the possibility of the murderer lying- though, he kept reassuring himself, they didn't have much of a reason to lie to them in this case... right?

In the third group, Nihil and Porcelain had succeeded in finding a lever that would hopefully lead to their salvation. Pulling it opened a door that lead to an otherwise unnoticeable tunnel. The CBer and CAPTCHA duo had no choice but to follow it with no light to provide themselves with. It was spooky, but small enough that Porcelain could stretch out her hands and touch both side with her fingers, which was comforting.

Relief, almost stinging his veins, coursed through Darkking's body when the lock on the door clicked open. He and Reese scrambled out, taking deep breaths. Darkking looked away from the loud AE as tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes... but Reese's vision was blurry as well. She had never in her life felt so guilty. She had openly disobeyed the simple rules that had been laid out in front of her, and Mor was dead because of her mistakes. How was she supposed to live with such a horrible truth burning inside of her, that her life had been payed for with another?

"I am so, so sorry," she gasped. Darkking could her what was almost agony in her voice. "That was so horrible. I... Mor..." a sob escaped her.

"Mor," Darkking muttered. "I have to get her... we can bury her properly..." Reese nodded, though Darkking didn't see it. He had a determined look on his face as he turned to go back into the room that had ensured the death of his own CAPTCHA. Reese watched him with mixed emotions- lingering guilt, uncertainty, and a dash of admiration, with a couple other things she couldn't define tossed in a blender.

Devin, Bean, and Catsquill weren't the only ones who were starting to realize they could remember other ski lodges. As Porcelain ran her hands against the rough, wooden surface of the tunnel walls, she thought about things she didn't realize she remembered... because, even though it hadn't dawned on her, she didn't remember them at all. But staring at her hands, she could remember when they were claws, and she could unfurl wings from her back.... Darkking, looking sadly upon Mor, was remembering a time, in a treehouse, where he had seen the same thing... even those who hadn't attended a ski lodge, or at least not one that made it very far, found that, when they searched their minds, several memories that did not belong to them were floating amidst their thoughts. The only one who was not interested in exploring these new and interesting thoughts was, of course, the murderer. There was nothing much for them to do but accept that they could no longer manipulate the guests- they all had strayed too far from the path they should have been on all along. The murderer pushed away the little flashes- a chocolate bar here, a glimmering cruise ship there- they all added up in an equation they refused to solve.

Darkking and Reese, now thinking they were in the clear and safe from any other traps, were in for a nasty surprise. The murderer had expertly designed each puzzle and trap to last just as long as the other two- so while Darkking, Reese, Porcelain, and Nihil were all on their way back to the main floor, it would take them quite a while to actually get there. That meant there would be obstacles in their paths, and they wouldn't be friendly ones. Bean, Catsquill, and Devin, because of their long walk and exploration of the dungeons, would be excused of unexpected traps on their walk back... but that didn't mean the dungeons would be free of surprises.

Bean ran her hand along the curving stone wall. The passages were pretty cool, despite being a dungeon. She was grateful for the paper that would prevent her from getting lost, but she had yet to come to a fork in her path- and she never would. As she rounded the corner, she nudged a tripwire with her shoe. A poison dart, cleverly concealed in the bracket that held a torch, fired into her shoulder and dug deep into her skin. Bean shrieked and tried to grasp her shoulder with her other hand- but she found her arm was very, very heavy- much too heavy... 

Her world quickly became distorted, and she only realized she was on the ground a minute after she had collided with the floor. Vaguely, she wondered if this was what dying felt like, then puzzle over the fact that she felt numbness rather than pain. Then her vision died away, and so did she.

Devin followed in a very similar fashion, about ten minutes later. The murderer knew the paths they had taken were the only three branches of the dungeons. They had doomed the two AEs from the start- Catsquill would be the only one to make it out. He found the object- it was a cardboard box with several layers of duct tape enveloping it. He didn't want to puzzle over it for very long and instead hurried to find his companions...

...And as Catsquill started to discover the fates of his two companions, Darkking and Reese stumbled upon their first trap. It was hidden at the bottom of a staircase, designed more to scare them than to kill. As Reese stepped onto the landing, she triggered something that sent the suit of armor next to her tumbling to the ground in pieces, clattering and reverberating loudly. She yelped, then blushed, and then hastily tried to cover up her moment of panic and continued on. As she did so, she thought about about the Knight Bus for some odd reason- weird, since Night was the Harry Potter nerd in her AE family... she wasn't aware of the Hogwarts ski lodge that had taken place during her stay at the palace...

Porcelain shouted as she stepped forward and found there was no longer anything under her feet. Nihil bumped gently into her, scaring her CBer further. Porcelain pressed her hands hard on the sides of the tunnel. It was too dark for her to see what was happening- if there was just a step down, or a very, very large drop...

"It's just a step... but a really, really steep one," Porcelain relayed. "I'm going to sit down and then scoot off from the step. It should be a pretty safe landing that way."

While both groups were fortunate at those first traps, more were to come in their near futures. Reese and Darkking encountered another, rather similar trap- or a prank is more like it- before they came across something to be truly concerned about. By this time, they knew to be very aware and tread carefully... but the trigger for this trap came from an unexpected place. The murderer had been in a Mystery-induced phase of cruelty when they were configuring these traps, so in was the Mystery's sinister nature that teased the two with tripwires, then caught them off-guard with motion-sensor tech- something the murderer had found in a random closet as they were scrambling to set everything up before the sun rose. This set off a system that pelted the two with arrows from above.

"RUN!" Reese screamed. Darkking didn't need to be told twice. He ran as fast as he could- with Mor still in his arms. The arrows didn't seem to be very strong in numbers- at least, not as strong as the two had expected them to be. Anyways, the amount of arrows that was pelting down upon them wasn't their main focus. They dodged them as best they could until Reese bolted into a room that stood slightly ajar, waving frantically for Darkking to follow.

"YES!" she shouted. "We did it!" She raised her hand in an invitation for a high-five, which was received by an out-of-breath Darkking. He shifted his weight around on his feet in an attempt to get more comfortable.

That small movement triggered a second motion-sensored trap- an innocent shuffle that sealed poor Darkking's fate. The fidget that sent a blade hurtling from a hole in the wall into Darkking's back. 

Reese realized too late what was happening. She could only scream in fear and defeat as a dark red stain spread across Darkking's shirt. She caught him as he fell to the ground. His last words formed on his lips, but never escaped his mouth. He was gone. And Reese had never been so scared. Mor's death had been all her fault, and now Darkking was gone too... it was all too horrible...

They'll be back on the CB, remember?, she tried to reassure herself. But that didn't seem to comfort her. It was something about they way they had gone, how she had seen it... and that she, Reese, the troublemaker and one of the lead roles in the discovery of the Mystery, was somehow still alive.  

Day 13, part 5... we're getting close...

Catsquill reluctantly cradled the terrible cardboard box in his arms, dreading the long trek back to the main floor, knowing that now only his thoughts would accompany him. An old box that he couldn't even open seemed like a terribly unfair reward for the deaths of Bean and Devin...

He sighed loudly, now getting frustrated. He hadn't expected something so horrible from the murderer- which was ridiculous, of course, seeing what they had done in the past... but, he guessed, the issue of the Mystery had overshadowed all the things they had done, especially since their damage, it appeared, wasn't permanent.

So those were the bitter thoughts that mumbled and sulked and formed a raincloud over Catsquill's head as he got lost in the maze of staircases, hallways, and even ladders. They morphed into spiteful questions. Why was all of this happening if everyone is just going back to the CB, anyways? What was the point of causing such harm if it never really... hurt anyone?

Those questions really stumped him. They got him thinking. What all had they said about weather or not the murderer chose to be just that? He had decided it wasn't choice. And yet they still were doing this, all of this, torturing the guests that were left. So something was making them do it... even though they would all go back to the CB in the end.

The "something" was easy enough for him to guess- what was at the center of everything now? It had to be the Mystery that controlled the murderer... yes... and Simul had mentioned there were certain things that were supposed to happen in ski lodges- and there was always a murderer! The murderer was a rule, and they were controlled by the Mystery... and since the murderer controlled everyone's temporary fate... that meant- Catsquill gasped- that meant they were being controlled by the Mystery too.

The muscles in Catsquill's arms tensed. They were controlled by the Mystery... yes... they were a piece in the puzzle the the Mystery fit together, time after time. The players that fell pray to the murderer and their schemes. So what else did that mean for them? They had discovered so much about the murderer and the Mystery and even Simul, but even though they had continued to ask, "what does that mean for us?", the guests had failed to find out very much about themselves.

Well, of course they hadn't- they didn't stop to think how the Mystery would concern much more than the murderer, and the circumstances of a ski lodge! But the more Catsquill thought, the more it made sense that the guests would have a place in all of it too. A ski lodge couldn't exist without them, after all.

Catsquill took a deep breath. The day had already been long, and it was barely halfway over. He was hungry- the game had forced him to miss lunch. He decided to tell his companions about what he had learned over lunch. Little did he know, few of them would be left to discuss it with...

~~~~~

It was about forty minutes after Catsquill's big revelation that the four remaining guests- Catsquill himself, Reese, Porcelain, and Nihil- finally reconvened. The loss of so many companions in such a short time was a very big blow to them. Since the original nine from the morning had lasted so long together, they almost had a special bond, and now it had been torn apart. Catsquill, so eager for some lunch earlier, felt the familiar sensation of being hungry yet having no desire to eat. Vaguely, he wondered how many times he had experienced it over the course of the crazy vacation. Probably too many times to count.

He did know that, even if he couldn't stomach a late lunch, he would have to explain the connection he made with the Mystery. So, taking a deep breath and staring at the table, he did.

The others weren't shocked that he had found another factor to bring in to the equation- but they were fascinated by how it would affect the way they could solve it. Only now, hearing how they were being controlled by the Mystery, did it occur to them how they had forgotten to add themselves in- and now, even though their place in the Mystery was another layer, it was also a very useful, key piece. Within it was also something built off one of Simul's almost disregarded statements- the one about ski lodges having rules. What was the extent of these rules? They would have something to do with the Mystery, the murderer, and the guests- key parts of the ski lodge. Porcelain theorized about the "rules" being what made up the statements they had learned were part of the Mystery.

"We know the Mystery is about what makes a ski lodge a ski lodge- so whatever 'rules' Simul was referring to must be part of the Mystery itself," she stated. The other three agreed that made sense.

Eventually, Simul did show up and make them lunch. Chatting about the Mystery distracted them from death, and they were able to stomach at least a few bites apiece while they were talking. Somewhere along the line, Porcelain dashed to find all their notes about the Mystery, and they sifted through everything they had written, then rewrote the most significant parts, factoring new bits and pieces of information. They forgot to go to magic lessons, but the instructors never came to get them, so they stayed put. 

Reese flexed her fingers. She had just finished with her portion of the notes, and her hand was aching. Nihil arranged all of them- Reese's sloppy, big letters side-by-side with Catsquill's slanted script, Porcelain's neat rows of elegant letters, and Nihil's own tiny print. There was everything they knew about the Mystery, everything they had assumed about it, and everything they wondered about it. However, Reese was the only one who was very curious to learn those things- Porcelain, Catsquill, and Nihil had agreed that protecting the Mystery would be the better option. Though, they had to admit Catsquill's new discoveries, as well as the memories of other ski lodges, piqued their interest. They didn't intend to harm the Mystery, anyways- and it didn't really seem to hurt that they were just talking about it, right? 

Anyways, they didn't like the idea of being divided over the Mystery, especially if Reese was the only one on that side of things. They didn't want to isolate her and reject the thought of even speaking about what the Mystery could mean for all of them. At this point, secrets were more enticing than safety, and the resolve to stay away from messing things up further was reduced to a promise to be careful with their words.

Their outline of the truths of the Mystery began where their journey had- with Agent Winter's walk through the woods, and the words "ski lodge" working their way into her brain. Then, after that, her connection of ski lodges to a murderer. After that, they learned about ghosts, how they had all come from the Chatterbox and how they would return there, how ski lodges always had a murderer, how there are rules to the Mystery and to ski lodges, that they themselves were being controlled by the Mystery, and finally, that they were harming the Mystery by learning about it. They had lots of information to go off of, but also many questions to ask...

They started with the fence. The mysterious barrier that, when crossed, could give you cryptic yet helpful information. Was that where the Mystery was, or where it "lived"? Did the Mystery need a place to inhabit, or was it just present in all aspects of every ski lodge? Why did the fence allow people to learn all of these things? How were the fence and the Mystery significant to each other, and why did the coexist in the manner that they did?

Next were Simul and the elemental instructors. Simul obviously knew about the Mystery, and based on their actions at the fence the previous day, they figured the instructors did too. They were also key parts of the Mystery, and therefore had some significance as well. So what was their role, and what was there to learn about them?

The elemental magic. They obviously did have these magic abilities, as they had been using them for days and even weeks, but did the magic have anything to do with the Mystery? And if so, what would it be?

The murderer. There were several layers to what they knew about the murderer, as well as what they only thought they knew. The murderer was one of the four. They knew about the Mystery, and they were being controlled by it. They were working with Simul. They had killed, despite probably knowing that everyone would come back to the Chatterbox. They believed the murderer didn't have control over the fact that a murderer was what they were. The interrogator and the interrogated mentioned something Simul had said- that the murderer's knowledge of the Mystery had something to do with the fence. The murderer had been a key piece since the very beginning, the center of almost everything that had ever happened at Magicae Palace. Had their role been one they chose? If not, how was it decided?

The rules. This bit of information was a little tricky to work through, since Simul had only mentioned it as something to warn them against pushing further into the Mystery. But what they had theorized was that they referred to things about the Mystery that made certain things about ski lodges what they were. For example, the rules dictated that there would be a murderer, and they stated that the guests were not supposed to know about the Mystery. What else could they encompass?

The guests. They knew their numbers had dwindled because of the murderer who was supposed to pick them off. They were being controlled by the Mystery. What other kind of "role" did they play? If they were being controlled by the Mystery, what else was?

Then finally, there was the Mystery itself. What did it control? What was the extent of its power? How much more was there to learn about it? Was it worth their time to find out?

As they came to the mystery of the Mystery, Porcelain, Catsquill and Nihil began to feel a little guilty. The interrogator and the interrogated had given Simul what was close to a promise that they wouldn't harm the Mystery- and they knew what they were doing could be hurtful. But by the time they started to think like this once again, it was too late- they had already discussed every area of Magicae Palace they could think of for connections to the Mystery, asking questions and coming up with theories for answers.

"Howw culd wedo this?" Nihil whispered. She had been certain that leaving the Mystery alone was the right thing to do, and yet she wrote pages about ski lodges and murderers. 

"I don't know," Porcelain replied miserably. Reese was silent. She had always thought continuing to learn about the Mystery was the better choice, but she could tell her friends were disappointed in themselves. Besides, she felt a little guilty- if she hadn't been there, asking questions, would they have still gone against their resolve to protect the Mystery? Reese didn't know. Neither did the others. Even though they had so much amazing information laid out in front of them, the four final guests of Magicae Palace had a hopeless feeling in them that they knew nothing.

~~~~~

There was meaning in each part of the game the murderer played... any ideas what they could be? 

END OF DAY 13: 

Slowly, Simul began to recover from the things she had seen. Though it had been a crazy scene, she wasn't at all confused. Rather, she was terrified. Absolutely, horrifically terrified. The fate of Magicae Palace was almost sealed. She couldn't save it, no matter what she tried, or how hard she tried. There were mistakes she could dwell on, but Simul knew the warnings she could give were more important. And so, masking her anxiety with bravery, she marched throughout the castle and warned all five instructors of what was to come. Then, she went to find the guests.

When she did, the foursome was still in the dining room, though they were silent and looked mournful. Simul thought she saw why- five faces she had seen, fleetingly, in the morning, were gone. But the truth was that they were feeling bad for themselves. Sadness, hot and sickly, oozed through Simul's body. She had split the guests, dividing them into those who were on her side and those who weren't, and now many of them were gone. Simul felt guilt without reason. Her emotions, at this point, were just about exploding, so she sat down in an empty chair next to Reese. Bean, Devin, Wren, Darkking, and Mor were all dead. The guests had discovered even more about the Mystery over the course of the day. And... the final, towering worry on Simul's mind demanded to be thought about, but she couldn't talk about it with the guests. The other two things, though, were ones she could address.

"It sucks that you guys are the only ones left," she said. Reese nodded miserably. Nihil looked down at her lap.

"So, guys. I want to talk to you about the Mystery," Simul stated.

"I'm so sorry!" Porcelain cried. "I was so sure I wouldn't say anything more about it, or learn anything else- and I still believe we should leave it alone- but we totally went against that and it's too late now, and I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," Simul replied immediately, though she knew it wasn't. "Hey. You tried. And trust me, you could have done worse."

"But you would have already known we did this, right?" Catsquill mused. "Because of the connection or whatever." Simul nodded. She tried to ignore their pile of notes that was sitting in the middle of the table.

"We can't do anything to fix this, can we?" Reese asked. For her friends' sakes, she was willing to give up her passion for the Mystery. She hated seeing them so sad.

Simul shook her head. "And, well... you guys know there's a little more to the Mystery. It's still a possibility that you could figure out more and more, but-"

"Bbut weee shld nntt," Nihil finished for her.

"Exactly." Simul thought about what would happen if they were to break the Mystery- and she thought about the vision she had, the force, the evil that was not the Mystery and couldn't be controlled. For a fleeting moment, she thought about telling them about it- but no. In due time, that problem would be resolved. It would have to be. But not now. Not with them.

Suddenly, for a reason she couldn't explain and never would be able to, Simul felt some extraordinary feeling of peace wash over her. Some wonderful, unknown force gently cast all of Simul's fears and worries away and allowed something blissful to come over her. She felt her mind and body relax, and she looked around at the four sad, tired, guilty, lonely guests that sat around her and she was so grateful for them. She smiled, in a way that the craziness and stress of running a ski lodge like Magicae Palace had rarely ever allowed her to smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Catsquill wondered.

"You guys," Simul replied. "I'm just looking at you and thinking about just how awesome you are. I'm going to miss you so much when you go home tomorrow."

"Aww... thanks!" Porcelain said. She was realizing how much she had missed Simul's smile. The others couldn't help but feel a little better. Maybe Simul's serenity was contagious.

After a content moment, Reese broke the silence. "Hey, Simul... I hate to ruin this, whatever it is, but we need a funeral for everyone..."

And so their little spell was broken, but their burdens felt a little lighter from then on.

~~~~~

Behind the castle, Nihil cried softly with Porcelain's hand on her shoulder. There are so many of them, Nihil thought (though in her head the words were arranged in four and five letters). And she was right- twenty-eight headstones standing in the yard; twenty-eight names of twenty-eight friends. Nihil felt guilty that she was still standing there. Why should she, when so many were not?

"We'll see them again," Porcelain reminded her in a gentle whisper. Nihil nodded. After a few seconds, she turned to go back to the castle. Simul and the five instructors followed them.

Reese stood in the middle of the entrance hall, looking around at everything. "Hey guys, why don't we all sleep here tonight in sleeping bags?" she suggested. "It seems dumb for us to go all the way to the air room when it's that far away- and Catsquill would be totally separated from the rest of us."

"Hey, that sounds like a great idea!" Vita agreed.

"Woah- I just realized that there are four of you, and three of you are in air!" Caeli exclaimed. "Huh... that's a little weird..."

"Compared to everything that's been happening, Caeli, I don't think it's weird at all," Ingus said.

"Since this is the second-to-last day, why don't you guys stick around and hang out with us?" Porcelain suggested. All five agreed to the idea. They spent the rest of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening playing games, talking, and trying to forget their worries. The Mystery, while it was never spoken about, was hanging like a raincloud above everyone's heads. Its precipitation never fell, but it changed the atmosphere in a way none of them could deny.

The murderer also had something else to quietly worry about. All throughout the day, they had been fighting the Mystery and its new, wild suggestions- it was still asking them, in frenzied brokenness, to break it. The murderer had gone from wondering what was happening, and why, to accepting the lack of reason and trying their best to fight it. As it was, they were barely keeping it together, and it was a wonder none of the other guests were noticing their struggle. All day, their hands had been shaking, their lips had been sealed tight for fear of saying something about the Mystery, and their breathing had been nervous and uneven. A couple of times they had to excuse themselves to get back under control. At least Simul knew about their struggle... though there wasn't much she could do about it. Nor was there anything the murderer themselves could do except fight... when they were certain that, sometime soon, they would loose.

The exhausting day that had briefly felt happy and calm began to unravel as the evening continued- but not in tricks and games and death; rather, it was in the darkening thoughts of the guests, the instructors, the host, and especially the murderer. They masked their troubles as they all sat down to dinner together- the first and only time the instructors would have a meal with their guests. The murderer couldn't bring themselves to eat a thing and hoped nobody would notice they were only playing with their food, and not actually consuming it. They felt like they were going to explode any moment- like every secret they should have never known would fall ungracefully from their mouth and into the laps of those who thought they were the murderer's friends. Keeping the fractured Mystery at bay was a kind of struggle the murderer had never known. They dreaded the next day so much more than they could tell...

After dinner, Simul wrested a large wad of sleeping bags out of a closet and set them up for the guests on the floor of the entrance hall. Reese had envisioned their last night at Magicae Palace being a loud and fun one, but the chance to have such an experience was blocked, once again, by the Mystery. Reese was frustrated with how it was preventing them from doing anything enjoyable, but she was nervous to bring it up. All four of them fell asleep quickly- though the murderer could only rest because of how exhausted they were, and their sleep was haunted with nightmares... and some of them were going to come true the next day.

The Final Day is here! I broke it up into 4 relatively short parts.

The murderer's eyes flew open as they gasped for breath. They were covered in cold sweat. The world was spinning around them, and they were sure that it would soon come crashing down.

They took a minute to collect themselves. Then another minute. Then, they slowly sat up and looked around. The three other guests were slumbering soundly in their sleeping bags, unaware of the murderer's panic.

They slumped back down into their own sleeping bag, which was twisted like a straitjacket around them. They pressed the heels of their hands over their eyes and tried to focus, but it was no use. There was no hope that they could have a normal day, and they had very little hope that they could save Magicae Palace.

It was still early, but the murderer knew there was no way they could get back to sleep- and they didn't want to sit with nothing but their thoughts. So, after some feverish pacing, they took refuge in a library- though this time it was to get away from the Mystery, not stew in it. With a horrible lurching in their stomach, the murderer realized that usually when they locked themselves in a library, the death of one of their companions would follow...

Simul was also up early that morning, dealing with some of them same worries as the murderer. Some of those she shared with them were heightened- though she didn't have the shattered Mystery seizing her and forcing poisoned ideas down her throat. But at the core of both of them, the unrest was centered around the Mystery. Their guts were knots of steel, impossible to undo.

The two were practically begging the sun to rise; it seemed to inch at a pace so agonizing Simul was sure it was doing so just to taunt her. She considered waking the guests up early, but that seemed a little too desperate, even at this point.

They'll just have to leave a soon as possible, she decided. The last thing I can do is make sure there isn't much time for things to fall apart.

Luckily for her, the guests woke themselves up early enough. They were anxious as well, especially because one of their own had disappeared- but no, they had just gone to a library. The relief of their friends' faces when they realized the murderer was safe pained the murderer so much they swore they could feel it- or maybe that was the Mystery snarling at them.

Their breakfast was quiet. There was too much to be said, yet nobody was ready to speak of it. Reese was dying to scream it out- who is the murderer?- but even she held her tongue... or least, for as long as she could take it. 

Simul was cleaning up their plates and telling them to go pack up their things when she finally exploded. "Who did it?" She gave Nihil, Porcelain, and Catsquill a piercing look as they stopped back in the entrance hall. "I'm trying to deal with the fact that I can't know everything about the Mystery, but one of you is the murderer, and I want to know who!"

As the accusing words escaped Reese's once-innocent lips, the murderer snapped.

The Mystery had taken a million hits over the past 13 days, and some of them were brought upon themselves. Was this a hit back, or was the Mystery once again shooting itself in the foot- perhaps fatally?

It was swift. The murderer hardly noticed how it happened. One second, they were themselves- one of four, masked with innocence, hiding their deeds and the Mystery. And the next, they were the Mystery's weapon, twisted to doing its will- no matter what its will might be.

The murderer quickly stepped behind Reese- a pioneer in the discovery of the Mystery and it's workings- and pressed her against them with their arm twisted around her neck. Catsquill- the interrogator- and Porcelain- the interrogated- watched Nihil descend into an evil they couldn't control.

Nihil- the CAPTCHA. Their friend. And the murderer.

~~~~~

Eeeek! The murderer is revealed... and Quill's theory from way back when was correct! :D 

Boo says Emmit. I guess he thinks Emmett was the murderer? 

pieces- the penultimate

With her free left hand, Nihil reached up behind her ear and turned on her small device- the one that enabled her to speak, the one she had found in a closet on the night she became the murderer...

"Nihil, no," Porcelain said. Her voice would have broken Nihil if she were in her right mind- Porcelain's cry was a soft plea that was devoid of hope, like she was begging for her CAPTCHA to come back, but she already knew it was too late.

Reese squeaked. Nihil roughly moved her hand over Reese's mouth. "Close the door," Nihil whispered. "Or she dies."

Catsquill walked with trembling hands towards the dining room and shut its doors. "Now lock them," Nihil instructed. He did as he was told. Simul and all five of the elemental instructors were inside the dining room, and now they were trapped there.

"Good." Nihil slowly took her right arm away from Reese's body, but with her left, she drew a pocketknife. Catsquill may have done what he was told, but Reese paid the price anyways. Porcelain shrieked as Reese hit the ground.

"I've wanted to do that for a while," Nihil whispered. She looked up at Catsquill and Porcelain. "Aren't you wondering how I'm speaking normally?"

"I'm wondering a whole lot of things," Catsquill mumbled. Nihil shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"I wonder how many answers you will get," she snarled, pointing her knife at him. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we? With our first night at Magicae Palace.

"I did something innocent. I took a walk. It was late at night, and I went far... all the way to the edge of Magicae Palace's existence. You've wondered why the fence does what it does? Why it's there? Because that's where I went, when the Mystery chose me, a CAPTCHA, to be the murderer. After that, with my knowledge of the Mystery in hand, I went through some of the closets around the Palace to find this-" she showed them the device behind her ear- "Knowing just how much help it would be of to me.

"Why would it pick me? I wondered for so long. The Mystery would know not to- I was a CAPTCHA. That wasn't the only thing wrong with the Mystery- murderers aren't suppose to know about it. But I always did. Right from the beginning, I knew..."

As Nihil paused to collect her thoughts, Catsquill jumped into them. "But," he said, "But the night, when I followed Porcelain-"

"Oh... now there's a good part of the story," Nihil said, her mouth twisting into an evil smile. "What did happen that night, Catsquill, when you were up, my dear CBer was up, and Simul was up... surely there wouldn't be four residents of the Palace up at the same time in the same place? In case you haven't figured it out already, there would be, impossible as it may seem. I saw you, Catsquill, watching Porcelain... and I saw, when you lost her, you would see me. I had timing and suspicions on my side, so I decided to pass the buck- onto my own CBer. I knew I had done my job well when I heard you interrogating her."

"You heard that?" Porcelain asked in wonder.

"So did Agent Winter," Nihil replied easily. "That's how she found out about the Mystery being related to the murderer- she was on one side of the hallway, and I was on the other, and she felt it- she didn't know it then, but it was the Mystery. Dear old Reese was always just hesitant to share that piece of information...

"I feel like I've done far too much talking," Nihil hissed. She turned and glared at Catsquill with venom in her eyes. "No," he whispered, shrinking before her. Before he could react, Nihil drew the pocket knife she had used to kill Reese and forced it into his stomach. "You made a lovely detective, Catsquill," Nihil whispered.

Porcelain, unable to look away, backed away from her CAPTCHA with her hands cupped over her mouth. Tears ran down her cheeks and collided with her fingers. Nihil hadn't done anything to physically hurt her, but Porcelain felt like a blade her pieced her gut as well. It had been Nihil sealing the fate of all her friends- Nihil who played tricks and set up games- Nihil who conspired with Simul-

Simul, who was banging frantically on the door of the dining room, yelling and cursing and begging, praying she could find a way out, a way to stop Nihil from doing what Simul feared she would do-

And Nihil, who was no longer Nihil, who was a vessel the Mystery could use to meet its twisted goals, stepped towards the flailing Porcelain. She paused for a moment and considered her CBer. "I'm not going to kill you," Nihil decided. "No, there's something far more important I have to do with you. I have to figure it out."

Porcelain, still terrified, tried her best to muster up some last thread of courage and dignity. "What do you have to figure out? you have it all, you said it yourself. You know all about the Mystery."

"Not all, dear. No, far from it. I'm missing the most important part. But we'll get there together, don't you worry. Let me get you up to speed."

The murderer crouched down on the floor next to her CBer, her smile so evil Porcelain was terrified and heartbroken all at once in a horrible collision of thought and feeling. "Tell me, where are we?"

The question brought Porcelain up short. It was so far from what she had expected Nihil to say- though, when she considered it, it made sense. Where were they?

"We're at Magicae Palace," Porcelain began to reply slowly. "We're at a ski lodge. A vacation we take. A vacation... from the Chatterbox."

"Very good," Nihil praised. "You're getting closer. How did you enter this ski lodge?"

"I... I filled out a form."

"What did you know when you filled it out?"

"That it wouldn't be a vacation at all. That someone would be a murderer, and it could even be me. But I came anyway."

"You did." Nihil's face was inches from her CBer's. "And you brought me with you. But that's besides the point. Who gave you the sheet that you filled out?"

"Someone... a CBer... wrote it." Porcelain had been staring at her hands as she had worked through everything so far, but when the next piece clicked, she raised her eyes to her CAPTCHA's. "Someone wrote it. They invited us here. And... we're... they're still writing."

Nihil's hand began to quiver as she whispered, "Still writing what?"

Porcelain answered slowly, fearing what would happen if she said it, fearing what might happen if she didn't.

"Us." 

the finale 

Simul gasped. She wasn't sure how, because she had it in her mind that her lungs had shattered; it was a surprise to find she could breathe.

Porcelain knew. Of course she did; of course. Simul had been so close- so close to saving everything...

The instructors could feel it too. They could feel the pulsing, dying, screaming Mystery slipping from their hands that grasped it for just a fleeting moment. They could feel how it broke them to know they had failed it.

"What should we do?" Terra asked anxiously. Simul didn't have a reply. She didn't know if she had anything anymore. She had failed, and in doing so, she had doomed Magicae Palace. Tears fell from her face and onto the stone floor. With nothing else to do, she watched them.

Porcelain nodded, her chest heaving. "They're writing about us."

Nihil nodded back, slowly and darkly. "So I'll ask you again, Porcelain Dragon: where are we?"

"We're in a story."

"NO!"

Simul's scream echoed through the room, through the castle, through the cold veins of the instructors and the pounding heart of Porcelain Dragon, who knew she had ruined everything, but continued anyways.

"We're in a story. This is a story. We are characters. This- this isn't real! Nihil, we aren't real!"

"No," Nihil replied. For the first time, there was something soft in her voice, like the unrelenting Mystery had started to reel back. "We're not real, Porcelain. We're not real."

"NO!"

Simul was shouting, she was screaming, she was doing everything knowing it wouldn't help in the slightest. But she had to do it anyways. She failed, she failed, she failed.

The Mystery had failed itself.

They were in a story, They were not real.

And Simul remembered something.

She could teleport.

Not even pausing for a moment to ponder her stupidity to have forgotten, Simul closed her eyes firmly and teleported herself into the entrance hall. 

Nihil, turning to her quickly, did something she never imagined would do her her in endeavors as the murderer- she used her elemental magic and forced Simul against the wall. 

"There are something just beyond this, Porcelain," Nihil whispered. "There is one last key factor to the Mystery. I don't know it. But I will."

It was taking all of Nihil's strength to keep Simul at bay- but Simul's will to protect the Mystery was stronger, and Simul had more magical abilities (and more experience using them) than Nihil did. Once again, Simul clamped her eyes shut and focused as hard as she could- now on Nihil.

With a reverberating, soul-shattering cry, Simul destroyed Nihil's power. Her magic abilities were stolen from her body- they flew, in invisible pieces, about the entrance hall, rattling and flying and bouncing off the walls. Nihil stared at her own hand in disbelief. Porcelain watched with her hands over her ears and tears in her eyes as Simul conjured a blade from thin air and launched towards Nihil.

Porcelain screamed as her CAPTCHA, the murderer, the twisted vessel of the malfunctioning Mystery, was murdered by Simul Stoicheio. 

Simul's eyes met her shaken, terrified, confused final guests' eyes for a moment. Both the host and the CBer had tears running down their faces. 

"I'm sorry," Simul whispered. With a wave of her hand, Porcelain disappeared. 

And the ski lodge was over, but the story was not.

Simul's whole body was trembling. The blade she had used to kill Nihil slipped from her fingers and clattered on the floor. Slowly, taking deep breaths, she walked towards the dining room and unlocked the doors to let the elemental instructors out. But they were no longer there. Instead, L and C were.

Simul sighed deeply and put a hand to her chest. "Lily and Cassy. Oh, my gosh. Thank you for being here."

"Of course," Lily replied.

Simul plopped down in a seat at the long dining table and put her face in her hands. "I can't believe this."

Cassy put a hand on Simul's shoulder. "I'm sorry this had to happen. I really am."

"She figured it out," Simul muttered. "She figured out that she was in a story... and then I made her disappear."

"Hey, Simul. Don't be hard on yourself. None of this is your fault."

"I... okay, I guess you're right," Simul admitted.

"And don't worry... we think we know how we can fix this," Lily said.

Simul sat up straight, intrigued. "Really?"

"You know that vision you had yesterday? When you saw... what was happening?"

"Of course I know it," Simul said, then realizing something, added, "You guys did that, didn't you?"

"We sure did," Cassy said. "It was... I mean, you saw. It's terrifying. And we have to find a way to stop it. So... we did."

"It's going to be up to the Chatterboxers," Lily announced. "We can't stop it- not us, not you. It's got to be them."

"So..." Simul processed slowly. "Are you saying... they'll have to join another ski lodge... to destroy this thing?"

"That's exactly what we're saying," Cassy confirmed. "But not just any ski lodge."

"They'll have to go... back where all of this began."

Simul gave them a confused look. "The farm?"

"No, no... where ski lodges began," Cassy corrected. 

Simul' eyes went wide. "A ski lodge at TON's cabin..."

~~~~~

So... the story of Magicae Palace is not just its own. It was woven first by the Farm, then by Lake Lelillo. It is the tale of how sometimes stories don't go as planned. It's a cautionary tale about truth and mystery. And it's a story that's not done yet. It's a neverending story about story itself. It's the underlying message of all stories- that without stories, our world would hardly be a world. 

It's the message that always gets passed down, and one everyone shares.  And though Magicae Palace, and its story, is done, I'm not finished telling my tales. 

What is this mysterious force, and what is it going to do to ski lodges? Why can't Lily and Cassy stop it? What is that "final secret" Nihil was after?

These questions will be answered... in Magicae Palace's sequel, a ski lodge taking place at TON's cabin itself.

~~~~~

THE END of my two-year ski lodge! I can't believe it! A huge thank-you to Micearenice, who inspired me so much and let me borrow Lily and Cassy for Magicae Palace. Thank you to all my lovelies who joined my crazy ski lodge, and everyone who has bothered to read it. You guys are awesome and I couldn't have done it without you! I hope all of you will join the SEQUEL, which is coming... sometime soon hopefully! XD

I hope you enjoyed! I certainly did! :D *confetti*

~~~~~ I told you each part of the game on day 13 had meaning...

The venn diagrams were to show how the Mystery was a huge puzzle at the beginning of everything, and their clues were disconnected and hard to put together.

The dungeons was to represent how the guests were searching for the Mystery without knowing what it was. The box Catsquill found was empty.

Sea Glass's room was to show the danger in revealing the Mystery and talking about it.

The craft room was showing how the guests were trying to piece together everything they knew about the Mystery.... but Nihil, one among the three, was hiding her secrets just like the Mystery.

The traps that followed were the murderer's punishment for the discovery of the Mystery.

So there you are. There were little bits during day 13 that were vaguely recognizable as objects/moments from other ski lodges, too. :)

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask. Hopefully I'll have answers.

And that's it, y'all! Thank you for being wonderful and taking the time to get here. I appreciate you so much!

@dreamiiing & Quill~

AAAAHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! <3 You lovelies make my day & you motivated me to get to the finish line in the first place.

@dreamiing- I'm sorry to telll you I don't think I'll ever publish Magicae Palace or its sequel. I'll always be a writer, and my ski lodges will always be a significant part of my journey as an author, but I think the CB is the only place I'd like to publish them. I'm so happy you've enjoyed and I can't wait to see you in the sequel. <3

@Quill- I know I've said this a million times, but I seriously can't thank you enough! <3 It's so awesome to think how you've been reading since the very beginning & I'm flattered to know you think of Magicae Palace as LEGENDARY! (I'm also very glad you think it was well thought-out, because for a large amount of time, it wasn't. XD) I seriously can't wait for you to be in the sequel! It'll be so awesome to have someone who was in this one also be in the next. 

.

I am speechless.

That was so. Good. 

I've been reading this for the past couple of days (and stayed up far too late last night to get as far as I could), while procrastionating on NaNo, and I absolutely couldn't put it down. Luna, you are such a good writer, even the you from two years ago. I can't believe you stuck with this for so long, and I can't believe I haven't read this until now. All of it, but especially the last day, was so fraught with emotion, and excitement. And Lily and Cassy were L and C. Of course. AND THERE'S GOING TO BE A SEQUEL. AT TON'S ORIGINAL SKI LODGE. I can't believe it. I can't believe that there will be a chance for me to be a part of this most incredible story. When will you start? (Ugh, sorry, I'm so impatient.) Will Simul be the leader of that one too?  

Magicae Palace is definitely legendary.