Chapter Text
The stagnant air inside the House of Dormont had always carried the slightest scent of Wish Craft.
That ever so faint smell, like overcooked caramel, had long since decayed since your arrival.
It was far stronger when you’d first frozen the House in time, when the Time Craft was fresh.
You still remember the little spikes in the scent whenever a human was frozen, like someone had spritzed the air with perfume.
You don’t mind the decayed smell, given fresh Wish Craft was so pungent you could taste it. You hadn’t even noticed it was weaker until it wasn’t.
From far beneath you, a fated sound rings through the House.
The front gate unsealed, orbs to unlock it assembled.
The saviors of Vaugarde have arrived.
You'd known for a while now that one housemaiden had escaped your curse, and was now working to undermine your wish.
Tears leak from your eyes at the mere thought of resistance to your wish.
There are many who do not understand, who refuse to even try.
It isn't their fault, you suppose. No one really knows why your-
The smell of burnt sugar spikes, causing you to cough and wheeze.
Your throat burns, eyes pouring liquid.
What... was that?
For a moment, you thought that the arrival of the saviors had reignited some of your craft, unconsciously preparing yourself for their arrival.
Shaking off the rust, as it were.
But the saviors never arrived, even after several hours.
The House was quiet.
Did they fall to a sadness perhaps?
They might've, but then why would you smell Wish Craft?
You continue to wait, and wait, and wait...
Why can't you feel your wish coming true?
The saviors arrived with only a few days to spare, just under the wire. It's been more than that.
Wish Craft is completed when you feel a slight ping, a tap, on your heart.
There’s supposed to be a slight ringing in your ears, like a chime in the wind.
You’d seen it, felt it before, and it always happened!
So why… can’t you feel it?
Something isn't right, something-
You hear the front gate of the House unlock.
The saviors… it couldn’t be anyone else.
But how? They had already entered, used the orbs you’d scattered across the country.
How did they return, when they should’ve lost?
Before you can dwell much further on it, the smell of burnt sugar spikes once again, along with something else.
You’d been too focused on the smell to notice it before, but now you can’t focus on anything else.
A lurching tug on your stomach-
You blink.
Your hand, which you’d moved to your stomach in response to the tug, is suddenly back to its original position up at your face.
This… this couldn’t possibly be…
Between that and the smell, it has to be,,,
The savior, could she have?
No, no she couldn’t have.
Your home’s traditions were lost to the world, along with all traces of it.
This had to be caused by your wish somehow. No one else here knew Wish Craft but you, so it had to be-
Another tug-
You blink.
Your eyes are drawn to a pair of tears that floated in front of your face.
They’d been on your right side, slowly floating left, before returning to the right in an instant, like they’d never moved to begin with.
You…
You need more information.
Someone or something other than you is using Wish Craft.
You cannot risk any unknown variables this late in the game.
Whomever this wishmaker may be...
I vow to crush them until nothing but dust remains.