Masques Of Mortiferus

Act III

Thunder boomed, heavy rain beat upon the rooftop as flashes of lightning shined briefly through the large, tall windows. The bright light bathed the once dark dining room briefly, making the missing body that once laid dead upon the table all the more obvious. I was both gobsmacked and speechless, staring at where the body used to be as thunder and lightning continue to boom and flash. The room stayed silent and the air became noticeably still, as if the tension of the situation began to vaporize into the air. The Hierophant stepped into view.

"H-how could this be...?" He said in a solemn tone, crossing himself, "we left the room for merely a sec--" Before the Hierophant had a chance to finish, he was interrupted by the sound of the hammer of my magnum being pulling back, aimed at the back of his head. The aura I was emitting could be felt from miles away, the feeling of pure, unbridled frustration. I turned around and aimed my gun at all the guests, my eyes piercing the darkness with intensity.

"Who moved the body." I said sternly, my movements frantic and swift as I aimed the gun at everyone individually, "Who?!"

No one answered. With a soft, frustrated scoff, I raised my weapon into the air and shot a singular round, the sound reverberating across the walls and ringing the ears off all who heard it. The muzzle flash just as startling and frightening as the lightning. I aimed the gun again, the guests now in fright.

"Where is the Harlequin?!" I shouted with an angry tone, hoping to coax an answer out of one of the guests.

The Hatter stepped forward, who then stopped as my firearm was pointed into his direction. The hatter spoke calmly.

"Mindlessly waving around your gun into the faces of suspects is no way to act if you want answers," He said, seemingly trying to defuse the situation with rationality. I thought for a moment, pondering my sudden outburst of rage before lowering my gun.

"You're right, Hatter," I said, situating my gun back into my coat, "I apologize for my outburst." I turned back to the Hierophant, exchanging somewhat distasteful looks as I walked passed him to inspect the scene one last time.

In such a large room as the dining room, it would've been virtually impossible to move a body in such a little timespan, let alone hide any form of evidence. But my eyes weren't deceiving me, the scene wasn't obstructed by the darkness or the lightning, nor was it a hallucination or a figment of my imagination. The body of the Harlequin had indeed vanished. But not only had the body vanished, there wasn't a single trace of any sort of murder. Not a single drop a blood stained the wood or carpet, no scuff or broken sconce, not even any sign of the body being moved. The scene was perplexing, puzzle like almost.

The lightning struck again, but this time I noticed at the corner of my eye a small, golden gleam as I whipped my head into the direction of it. The room turned dark once more but the location of the golden gleam was apparent in that brief moment.

"Hatter! Bring the candelabra over here!" I requested in a sharp tone, crouching down by why i assumed the golden gleam appeared. The Hatter sauntered over quickly, the gold candlestick in his grasp as the light from the flickering flame shined upon the round, gilded object and gently jingled from the indoor draft. It was a single, solitary golden sleigh bell, strewn into the middle of the narrow, candlelit hallway.

The hallway was stretched longer than it actually was due to dim candles. The floor that looked to be mahogany bered an expertly crafted, deep red carpet that stretched the entire length of the hallway, as the portraits of many unblinking faces covering both walls looked down upon it, as well as across from each other. The hatter set down the candelabra upon and empty end table gently and slowly walked into the hallway with me, the rest soon following.