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“Different?” Alice tilted her head to one side as if pondering the question. She absentmindedly reached behind her to scratch her back, then finally shook her head. “Well, I felt a brief itch near where the keyhole was, but that sensation has already passed. Why? Should something have changed?”

Duncan couldn’t help but frown at her response. “Is that all? No other sensations or feelings?”

Alice looked back at him with genuine curiosity. “That’s everything. Why do you ask? You look rather serious. Do you know what that key is supposed to unlock?”

Gathering his thoughts, Duncan hesitated briefly before settling down on the bed opposite Alice. “What may have seemed like just a moment to you was actually a much longer span of time for me. I found myself in a bizarre place—an immense, antiquated mansion named ‘Alice’s Mansion.\'”

Alice, who was designed to resemble a Gothic-style doll, widened her eyes in a combination of astonishment and confusion as Duncan recounted his tale.

Not wanting to hold anything back, Duncan delved into the details of his experiences in Alice’s Mansion. He described the things he had seen and heard, as well as the bizarre underwater adventures he’d had, including his encounter with a mysterious entity known as the Frost Queen, Ray Nora.

He was fully aware that Alice might only comprehend fragments of his story, and even the parts she did understand could be bewildering. Yet he chose to reveal everything to her because he believed she deserved to know. He refused to underestimate her by thinking, “She won’t get it anyway,” and thereby keeping her in the dark.

Alice maintained an empty expression while listening to him and didn’t speak until several seconds after he had finished talking. “Wow,” she finally said, clearly overwhelmed.

She ran her fingers through her hair, her face etched with confusion and a hint of regret. “I’m sorry, Captain. I don’t fully understand what you’re saying. My thoughts feel muddled.”

“You’re not slow, Alice. All of this is extraordinarily complex,” Duncan reassured her, having anticipated her reaction. He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m baffled myself. We have a plethora of clues, but they’re all fragmented and disconnected. We are far from piecing together this elaborate puzzle.”

Alice nodded, absorbing what she could from his words. She then furrowed her brow, deep in thought, before her curiosity seemed to resurface. “Tell me, were there many other people in this ‘Mansion’? And was it true that none of them had heads?”

“When I was inside the mansion, I met only one person, a man who introduced himself as the butler of the estate,” Duncan began, recounting his unique experiences. “He mentioned that the mansion is full of inhabitants, but that they prefer to remain hidden. What I found most unsettling was that they all appeared to be headless servants or attendants.”

Alice knitted her brows and murmured to herself as she grappled with the information. “Could this strange phenomenon be connected to my ‘Guillotine’ ability, which allows me to behead people?”

“It’s a possibility,” Duncan replied, keenly aware of Alice’s unique power. “Some of these mysterious attendants might actually be the souls of people you’ve decapitated using your ability.” He paused, choosing his words carefully before adding, “However, the butler did mention that the mansion serves as a sanctuary for ‘drifting souls’ who have found refuge there. These souls did not appear to be victims of decapitation.”

Duncan fell silent for a moment, lost in thought. “I wonder if your guillotine ability might somehow influence the appearance of the souls in the mansion, making them seem headless, regardless of how they actually arrived there.”

Alice nodded, showing signs of understanding. Her eyes then narrowed as if recalling something. “And what about Ray Nora, the Frost Queen? You mentioned she disappeared. Is that true?”

“Indeed, her room vanished, just as she had predicted,” Duncan confirmed. “She had said that if the ‘connecting point’—which turned out to be an ancient god’s wrist—were to be destroyed, the ‘Drifting Nexus’ would lose its anchor, much like a ship set adrift after its ropes have been severed.”

Suddenly, Duncan’s words trailed off. He seemed absorbed in his thoughts, his face lined with contemplation.

“Captain?” Alice prodded, puzzled by his sudden silence. “What’s on your mind?”

Duncan didn’t respond immediately. Only after Alice nudged him a second time did he break his silence. “I’m pondering what Ray Nora meant when she spoke of the ‘Drifting Nexus.’ Was she referring to just her room within the mansion, or could she have been talking about Alice’s Mansion in its entirety?”

Alice looked a bit bewildered. “Does it make a difference?”

“It makes a significant difference,” Duncan explained. “If Ray Nora meant that the entire Alice’s Mansion is the ‘Drifting Nexus,’ then destroying the ‘connecting point’ should have caused the whole mansion to vanish—not just one room. However, if the ‘Drifting Nexus’ is confined to her chamber, then what exactly is its relation to the rest of the mansion? Does the link between her room and the larger structure not qualify as a ‘connecting point’?”

Duncan paused and focused his attention on Alice. “Most crucially, when I wound the clockwork key into your mechanism, I was transported to Alice’s Mansion. This suggests that the strongest tie exists between you and that mysterious place. You might even be integral parts of the same entity,” he continued. “If a ‘Drifting Nexus’ requires a stable ‘connecting point’ to exist, then you, Alice, would logically be the most stable and significant of those points.”

Alice listened intently, her eyes wide with concentration as she tried to grasp Duncan’s complex narrative. Despite her best efforts, she found herself lost in the intricacies of the tale.

Yet, Alice had always been genuine in her approach to life, and so she candidly asked, “What are you talking about exactly?”

“The room where Ray Nora, the Frost Queen, resided showed clear indications that it had been forcibly separated from the rest of the mansion,” Duncan elaborated. “Initially, I didn’t think much of it. But reflecting on it now, I suspect Ray Nora might have deliberately concealed something crucial from me.”

“You see, the term ‘Drifting Nexus’ should apply to the entire Alice’s Mansion, which has a deep connection to you. Based on what I observed, the mansion isn’t unstable; it doesn’t ‘drift’ on its own. So I’ve started to wonder if Ray Nora used the opportunity—when I destroyed the ancient god’s wrist and potentially weakened some cosmic ‘connection’—to deliberately isolate her room from the main structure of the mansion.”

Alice strained her mind to comprehend, trying to piece together the information Duncan had just shared.

This time, she seemed to understand the basic premise.

“So you’re suggesting that the Frost Queen saw a chance when you disrupted things and ‘unhooked’ her room to make her escape? Kind of like how mutineers might take lifeboats from a ship under the cover of a thick fog?” Alice inquired, trying to relate it to something she knew.

Duncan looked momentarily surprised by her analogy. “That’s an unexpectedly fitting description. How did you come up with that?”

“Mr. Goathead often tells me stories of treacherous sailors using fog to steal lifeboats, barrels of alcohol, cheese, or even salted fish from a ship,” Alice said, elaborating on her inspiration. “In his tales, a brave and wise captain would then traverse the entire ocean to reclaim even something as trivial as stolen salted fish. Would you pursue Ray Nora like the captains in Mr. Goathead’s stories?”

Duncan looked puzzled, almost bemused by her tale. “Let’s momentarily ignore the oddity of sailors stealing salted fish and why a captain would sail across the sea to get it back. The problem is, I don’t even know where to start looking for Ray Nora. And really, it should be you who seeks her out, given that she ‘stole’ something connected to your mansion. After all, you are the mistress of Alice’s Mansion.”

“Fair enough,” Alice quickly conceded, shaking her head. “To be honest, that room was originally hers to begin with. But what confuses me is her motive. You said earlier that a ‘Drifting Nexus,’ when detached, might end up anywhere, even in the terrifying subspace. Why would she take such a drastic risk?”

Duncan paused, sinking into deep contemplation before finally speaking. “Yes, that’s the real question, isn’t it?”

He thought back to the Ray Nora he had met—a tragic figure wrapped in metaphorical chains from birth to her fall from grace. Even in exile at the ocean’s depths, she seemed imprisoned by an unending nightmare.

She had described her existence as being forever trapped in a cage, even when the physical bars were gone.

And now, it seemed, she had managed to escape—but took that cage along with her.

“Maybe she sought ‘freedom,\'” Duncan mused quietly, the word hanging in the air like a question.

But could the entire enigma really boil down to something as simple, yet complex, as “freedom”?

…

As the submersible ascended through the depths of the ocean, the needle on the control panel quivered with increasing frequency. The gentle rocking of the vessel, a sign that they were getting closer to the water’s surface, became more noticeable. Through the thick glass porthole, weak rays of sunlight began to pierce the surrounding aquatic darkness, signaling that they were emerging from the abyss.

However, despite nearing the surface and its accompanying sunlight, the gloomy atmosphere cultivated in the deep ocean didn’t entirely dissipate. It was as if an ethereal weight from the boundless void below was rising alongside them. Invisible tendrils of unease seemed to extend upwards, almost like arms reaching out to hold back the intrepid explorers who had dared to venture into these untamed depths.

Duncan’s mind was awash with a whirlwind of thoughts, a kaleidoscope of revelations that were as exhilarating as they were perplexing and unsettling. Whether it was the enigmatic soul of the Frost Queen, who had lingered with ancient gods in the abyss for half a century, or the chilling implications that threatened to overturn accepted views of reality, any single notion was enough to shiver the spine of even the most stalwart and pious individuals—light of day be damned.

The radical idea that all life forms were offspring of ancient gods—that the essence of these gods lay dormant in each being, waiting to awaken—was a concept so outrageous that not even the most blasphemous texts had dared articulate it. Even the fervent adherents of extreme ideologies like those worshiping the Nether Lord barely broached such sweeping cosmic theories.

The sunlight penetrating the ocean became increasingly bright, a stark contrast to the gloom that still held sway in their hearts and minds.

And yet, for a corpse, no amount of sunlight could bring warmth.

Agatha folded her hands over her chest, her mind reaching out to her deity, Bartok, as she sought to engage in silent prayer.

Despite her desperate attempts, she couldn’t find the tranquility required to do so. The peace that usually accompanied her communion with the divine was elusive, overpowered by the unsettling truths and questions that now plagued her mind.