The identical woman lying directly beside his resting form carried a surprisingly joyful tone. Her voice completely lacked the heavy sorrow that usually accompanied her previous vocalizations. Her facial features relaxed into a serene, almost childlike expression of pure delight.
"Oh, should I tell you a story?" she asked brightly.
She reached her pale hand into the deep folds of her purple robe. Her fingers grasped a solid object hidden within the silk fabric. She pulled a thick, weathered notebook into the dim light of the chamber. She flipped the heavy leather cover open with a practiced, fluid motion. Lucid recognized the object immediately despite his mental fog. It was an exact duplicate of the notebook he carried in his own pocket. The front cover bore the exact same bone-white human skull engraved into the dark leather.
She traced her slender finger down the aged parchment of the first page.
"Long, long ago," she read aloud.
Her identical sisters leaned closer to the velvet cushion to listen to the narrative. They paid absolute attention to her words.
"The two sisters were together in perfect harmony," the girl continued reading. "One grew magnificent and large above the ground. The other diminished down below in the dark depths. The sister below wished only to have the sister above fully embrace her once again."
Lucid processed the words through a thick fog of physical paralysis. The corrosive energy from the previous attack kept his muscles completely locked in place. He could not move his arms or shift his legs. However, a different sensation began to stir deep within his core. The chemical catalyst from the glass vial he had smashed earlier finally reached his central bloodstream. Jing Xiu had given him that specific alchemical mixture to fight against severe physical pain and magical restrictions. The strong medicine started to counteract the paralyzing effects of the Fate Essence. A warm, tingling sensation spread through his frozen veins.
A different identical girl interrupted the storytime session. She knelt firmly on his right side. She reached out and tilted his heavy head firmly toward her own face. Her expression twisted rapidly into a mask of intense, ugly jealousy.
"He is mine," she declared.
Her voice dripped with raw, unfiltered possessiveness. She grabbed his right wrist with both of her hands. She pulled his arm forcefully toward her chest. She attempted to drag his immobilized body away from the circle of her identical sisters.
A third girl reacted immediately to this theft. She had been resting her weight across his chest. She hugged his torso even closer to her own body, burying her face into the fabric of his shirt.
"Please," the third girl reasoned softly. "This man is a sacred gift. Let us not fight each other over him."
Lucid felt his consciousness starting to merge back into a unified, coherent state. The extreme mental fragmentation caused by the purple citadel began to recede rapidly. The medical vial actively purged the toxic influence from his nervous system. He became half-aware of his immediate physical surroundings. He could feel the texture of the velvet cushion beneath him. He could feel the cold hands of the women grabbing his limbs.
He watched the bizarre conflict unfolding directly on top of him.
'I do not understand this situation at all,' Lucid thought. 'Are not these women the exact same person?'
The peaceful atmosphere of the reading circle shattered in an instant. A loud, sharp cracking noise echoed through the dark stone room.
The girl who had attempted to drag his right arm away suddenly shrieked in agony. One of her identical sisters had lunged forward without warning. The attacker grabbed the possessive girl's forearm and brutally snapped it backward. The bone broke the skin instantly. Jagged white splinters protruded into the dim purple light. Blood spilled onto the floor.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" the injured girl yelled frantically. She dropped Lucid's arm immediately and cradled her ruined limb.
The sister who had broken the arm simply grinned. Her smile stretched incredibly wide. The expression was entirely devoid of any human empathy or remorse.
The girl lying directly on top of Lucid raised her right hand. She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the injured sister who had displayed such selfish greed.
"Her greed undermines the prophecy of our creator," the commanding sister announced with cold authority. "Eradicate her."
The dynamic of the room shifted with terrifying speed. The few remaining identical women resting beside Lucid stood up in a perfectly synchronized, planned motion. They moved with mechanical precision. They walked toward the injured sister with identical, measured steps. Their dark purple eyes suddenly flared with an intense, luminous violet energy.
They lunged at the solitary girl simultaneously. They descended upon her like a pack of starved animals finding fresh prey. Their bare hands transformed into vicious, lethal weapons. They clawed savagely at her soft flesh. Lucid listened to the horrifying sounds of skin tearing and muscles ripping apart. Multiple wet snaps rang out repeatedly. The attacking sisters twisted and broke her remaining bones with methodical, ruthless efficiency.
A piercing, desperate scream erupted from the victim. The horrific sound bounced off the high arched ceilings of the gothic chamber.
Lucid saw a severed arm fly through the air out of the corner of his vision. The detached limb landed on the cold stone floor with a heavy thud. It lay there, discarded like a piece of useless meat. The girl who had initiated the violence maintained her unsettling grin throughout the entire execution.
The sheer shock of the brutal violence acted as a final catalyst for Lucid's nervous system. The medicinal vial completely eradicated the remaining traces of the paralyzing Fate Essence. He regained his full physical awareness in a single, violently sudden rush of adrenaline.
With his physical awareness came the immediate return of his short-term memories. He recalled the subterranean domain clearly. He remembered the liquid gold floor. He remembered the terrifying tentacle that had forced him into unconsciousness.
He twisted his body violently to the side. He rolled off the soft velvet cushion. He scrambled rapidly away from the circle of identical women. He pushed himself onto his feet. His feet slid slightly on the smooth stone floor before finding purchase.
He finally processed the true scale of his new environment. He stood inside a massive gothic chamber located deep within the purple citadel. The architecture consisted of towering stone pillars and sharp, jagged arches. He looked up toward the ceiling. The sky visible through the high glassless windows was a solid, swirling mass of dark purple energy.
He scanned his immediate vicinity for any defensive tool or weapon. He spotted a tall fixture nearby. He grabbed the nearest standing chandelier. The heavy iron pole stood taller than a grown man. The top of the fixture held several thick candles. The wicks were still burning hot. He gripped the iron pole tightly with both hands, lifting it to use as a makeshift bludgeon.
He observed the grotesque, living horror unfolding a few paces away. The vile, treacherous sisters had completed their initial butchery. Five or six of the identical women were actively climbing over the desecrated corpse of the sister they had just executed. They crawled over her broken form. They moved like maggots consuming rotting fruit. They were actively feasting on her flesh, tearing bites directly from her torso.
Lucid was beyond terrified. His heart hammered against his ribs with painful, erratic force.
'Where the fuck am I,' he thought. His eyes stretched wide open as he watched the cannibalistic display unfold.
The feasting women suddenly stopped their horrific meal. They sensed his sudden movement and his heightened state of panic. They turned their heads to look back at him in perfect unison.
The face of one sister was completely smeared with thick, dark blood. Another sister held a long segment of raw intestines casually stuck between her pale fingers. A third sister stood up slowly. Her face and hands remained completely untouched by the gore. She maintained a pristine, elegant appearance amidst the slaughter.
They approached him slowly but surely. Their synchronized footsteps echoed ominously across the gothic chamber.
"Do not be afraid," they said together. Their voices overlapped perfectly. They created a strange, harmonic chorus that vibrated painfully inside his skull. "Lucid. Oh, Lucid."
He backed away steadily. He raised the heavy iron chandelier defensively. He waved the heavy metal fixture through the air in a wide arc. The violent motion caused one of the burning candles to dislodge from its holder. The wax cylinder fell onto the stone floor and rolled away into the darkness.
"Stay the fuck back, or I will kill you!" Lucid yelled. His voice shook with a mixture of absolute disgust and rising panic.
His threat did not deter them in the slightest. Instead, the promise of violence provoked a frantic, joyous response from the crowd.
"Oh, gladly!" they answered in unison. "Please, kill us. Use our flesh as you see fit. We exist solely to serve you. We must prepare you for her grand feast. We wish to be feasted upon alongside you."