Dark in the Dollhouse Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Blood Rabbit

Read chapter 26 of Dark in the Dollhouse by Haspberry on NovelPedia.

Yuliana and Blaine walked side by side through the barren winter forest. The chatted and laughed as they spent their time together. After a while, they saw the number of trees thinning as they split apart and gave way to an open space. “Finally, we’re here,” Blaine said as she took a step forward and went past them. Yuliana’s eyes widened as she followed behind and entered the open space. “Wow...” her voice leaked out involuntarily. Amidst the watch of the barren trees, lay an old, abandoned chapel. Grey and dilapidating, the old chapel was overridden by spiralling moss as its tall spire stood on the brink of collapse. A rustic bell could be seen hanging from the top. “Come on in!” Blaine urged with a smile as she hopped forward and approached the chapel. She put her hand on the rotted wooden door and carefully opened it. Yuliana trailed behind her as the two of them went inside. Rows of rotted pews overrun by moss greeted their sight. A cold wind drifted in the through the broken stained windows, sending jitters across Yuliana’s back like a crawling centipede. At the very end was an altar on a raised platform in a chancel with smudged piece of artwork. Yuliana’s brows furrowed. Huh? Why is the art smudged? If it was old, shouldn’t be cracked instead? Was it made to be that way? Yuliana wondered as she asked Blaine, “What is this chapel even for?” Blaine smiled. She replied as they headed for the altar, “This chapel is an old relic of the past from the 4 th Anarchy Era. It is one of the few ancient pieces of history that survived the purge of the 7 th King. Because of his Age of Chaos that spread across the whole world, the history from before the 8 th Anarchy Era has become rather obscured.” Blaine let her hand out towards the painting on the chancel. It showed a distorted and abstract depiction of a circular creature made of black fog with countless black tentacles wafting out from it. The colours around it were faded considerably and much of it was cracked. Only the black creature was discernible. She said, “This place right here is a lucky survivor. It depicts an ancient worship. I don’t know very much, but from what I’ve heard, this chapel is not aimed towards any of the Stars, but rather an entity opposed to Them. If any of the churches found it—especially the Order of the White Star—they’d be sure to burn it and declare it blasphemy.” She chuckled and added, “Luckily, they didn’t and since Senim is mostly atheistic, we have ourselves a nice piece of history.” She walked up towards the altar and put her hand on the stone podium in front of the pews. “Stand behind me,” Blaine ordered as her eyes relaxed. Her sapphire irises glimmered with her gaze cast downwards. Yuliana stood behind her without a word. She felt her heartbeat quicken as a hint of unease overtook her. “Haa...” she put a hand on her chest and released a soft breath. Closing her eyes, Blaine uttered, “The Maple Tree that withers not, “The Night that carols by the moon, “For the Grey Leaves that make our forge, “Our Serenade forever looms.” The podium trembled as yellow specks of light scattered out of it. Like tiny stars ripped from the night sky, the specks of yellow light surrounded the two of the as lines extended out of them and wrapped them in a glowing threaded sphere. Yuliana was startled as she leaned in closer to Blaine and bumped into her. “Oops, sorry,” she apologised and stepped back a bit. “No worries. Hehe, we’ll be at our main destination in a moment,” Blaine said as she snapped her fingers. The world beyond the sphere distorted as they swirled out of focus, becoming a blur. Yuliana felt her body shake a little as the sphere of yellow light trembled and shrunk with the two of them still inside. Yuliana’s consciousness blanked for a moment and before she realised it, Their location had changed. “Oh? Where are we?” Yuliana’s eyes widened as she looked around. From the transparent cover of the sphere, Yuliana could make out a huge room made of st