Dark in the Dollhouse Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Patience

Read chapter 15 of Dark in the Dollhouse by Haspberry on NovelPedia.

“Y-you stuffed a human inside a doll!!?” Yuliana screamed as she looked at Evander with disbelief, her eyes trembling in horror. “Now wait a damn second. How the hell did you come to that conclusion?” Evander said as his face wrinkled with a perplexed expression. “How can you be so sure that I would stuff someone inside a doll? I am not that cruel. You’re gonna hurt my feelings.” “O-oh, my apologies. I-I jumped to conclusions.” She cleared her throat and said again, “You stuffed an animal inside a doll!!?” “Like that’s any better! Jeez...” Evander retorted as he scratched his head in frustration. He snapped his finger at Yuliana and said, “You, be quiet. I did not murder nor did I stuff anyone or anything inside any damn doll. Just relax, and let me oh-so-graciously explain. Got it?” Yuliana nodded awkwardly. She was very surprised and taken aback by a doll with the Strings of Menticide coming out of it. She was even a bit tempted to use them to see what would happen but her fear had overridden her curiosity. Seeing her not say anything else, Evander smiled and spread out his hand. He exclaimed in a grandiose manner, “Welcome Yuli! To my Dollhouse! Here, you’ll find the fruits of my labour, the dolls I spent my life working on. Right here is the culmination of my hard work and painstaking effort, a collection of all that I deem worthy. And behind me lies the first of my most prized creations,” He moved out of the way and put his hands out towards the blonde doll sitting at the very end. He said with a face full of pride, “Vindici, the Living Doll.” “Vindici...” Yuliana repeated with a mutter. She looked at the humanoid doll with an odd expression. It wasn’t moving, it wasn’t saying anything, it didn’t even breathe. There was no sign of life within it. Yet, the Strings said otherwise. It was very much alive. But how? Yuliana couldn’t understand. She looked at Evander and he looked at her. He asked with a curious look, “So, how did you figure it out? Was it Dream Vision?” Yuliana shook her head. “No, this doll has the Strings of the Supreme Oracle coming out of it.” Evander looked at her with a complicated expression. His face changed for a moment, but then he smiled and said, “Oh? That’s pretty interesting. What do you see?” “The usual whenever I use it. Seven coloured Strings coming out of it. Every person and animal has them. Even plants.” “Even plants?” Evander asked with his eyes wide. Yuliana nodded. “Yes, even plants. I didn’t try it, but I could instinctively tell that if I did, the plant would die, so I didn’t.” Evander nodded with a hand on his chin. He asked, “So, what do you feel? What would happen if you mess with the Strings of Vindici?” Yuliana remained quiet for a while. “I don’t know...” she replied weakly. All this time, I tried to not use Menticide on anything other than myself. My instincts always told me, but I didn’t. It felt like I was infringing on some law of life, trying to manipulate something that should be beyond me to my liking. But what about a doll? One who is alive, yet somehow not? She sighed in frustration, unable to come to terms with her feelings. She replied, “I can’t say. This doll is not an animal, nor is it a plant. It’s something different, something... unknown. That is what my instincts are telling.” She looked towards Evander with her brows furrowed. She asked, “What is that thing?” Evander chuckled. “As I said, he’s the Living Doll, Vindici. If you want to know exactly how I made him, you can’t cause that’s a trade secret. All I can say is that I used the Codex of Life and a bunch of concentrated ichor, put it in a special vessel and made it so that the particles of Life from the Codex interact with the ichor, mimicking your typical living being. But there was one thing I was never able to get right,” he said as he let out a big sigh. Yuliana tilted her head. “And what’s that?” she asked in a sweet high pitched voice. He said solemnly, “Will. I was never able to infuse him with a will