Digesting your response for a moment, the doctor sighed, eerily calm. “Well, I can’t say I expected you to…” Oh, what a pity...you were so promising. Still standing, he crept to the door, shaking the lingering moisture from his overcoat before shrugging it on. “Would you care to take a walk with me?” A gloved hand gestured out the window as he crooned, “The moon is just lovely tonight. Perhaps I could guve you some further inslight into my motivations...?”
Was he offering you an escape route? Or was this some ploy to get you away from any witnesses… Between considering how thick the walls were and calculating your average running speed, you realized you’d run behind the conversation turn and stammered a hurried response. “Uh- sure, yeah…We both could use some fresh air.”
The cool night air felt like heaven after spending hours in that stuffy, hot room with no ventilation! Steepling his hands, Dr. Griffin articulated his words as if you couldn’t possibly understand his motivations. “Is there no better definition of freedom than being unconstrained?” Humming softly, he meandered by your side through the empty streets. “I believe we’re all subjugated by something in our lives… Whether it be oppression, or persecution, or-”
“Or the law.”
So gracefully, you poked holes in your logic. Admittedly, that scheme of his- creating invisible armies and overthrowing the order of the world- came across as being far from idealistic.
But as insulting as your accusations were, Dr. Griffin was being equally as bewitched by you.
As you walked, this newfound animosity manifested as he weaved out from behind a stone pillar, looming over you uncomfortably close. “Put yourself in my shoes.” He growled, fanaticism coating his words. “Possessing the knowledge of these discoveries, wouldn't it be of greater insult to keep them to myself? You must understand…”
Wringing his gloved palms, the doctor continued. “I have lost business partners- I have lost the love of my life, for the sake of my studies!” The doctor’s nose was brushing up against yours now, his advancing steps toward you forcing a retreat.
“And you think that justifies it?” You spat, “You put yourself through that!” It was like some schoolyard bully explaining away their abuse by the victim ‘asking for it’… Scowling, you accused, “You preach justice, but exactly what kind of justice do you seek, doctor?”
Stumbling, you came to the sinking realization of what that tall, stony column you were being cornered against was, ominous fog billowing through the gaps between your limbs.
You were forced back and up onto some sort of ledge, holding yourself steady on the slippery masonry. Fingers finding cracks in the bricks, you struggled to maintain your balance. “Your motives are selfish, Jack Griffin! I can see right thr-!”
For that moment, with his chest pressed against yours so close he could feel your frantic heartbeat, the doctor froze, studying your faltering expression as you tried to save face.
Even after knowing you for one night, there was something in you he found endearing. Darkmoor was not a town for a person like you. No, an intellectual such as yourself, with your strong moral compass, couldn’t survive a day here…
This would be for the better.
In a second, snatching you up under the arms with hands that’d strangled men to death, Dr. Griffin grasped you around the torso! He had to be quick. Before you had a chance to scream, or kick, or fight, your body was unceremoniously heaved into the crimson mist, disappearing into the night.
It was pure helplessness. You were flailing, then falling, then you couldn’t do anything. The light faded into darkness, and then into nothingness…
And you woke up.
Your car. You woke up in the driver’s seat of your car, slumped against the wheel. Groggily, you pulled your body upright to look out the shattered windshield. It’s still dark out? Feeling something wet flowing into your eye, your hand flinched to the sore spot on your forehead. Was that blood?
Surveying your surroundings, you came to the realization that you’d skidded off the road at some point and had been knocked unconscious in the resulting crash.
You find no stone archway. You find no village of Darkmoor.
Off in the distance, you see the glowing LED halo of a gas station.