Opening Monologue
"Not every warning is meant to stop you.
Some warnings are simply the world asking… are you ready?
And if you answer yes…
the world stops holding back."
---
Scene 1 — The Pulse Beneath the World
The descent chamber quakes with a subtle vibration, like a heartbeat struggling inside a cage.
Lullaby staggers, the cracked mask tucked under his arm.
The orb hovers close, its chimes sharp, jittery.
The golden veins across the walls freeze—
As if the entire structure is holding its breath.
Then—
THUMP.
A deep pulse hits the floor.
The orb flares in alarm.
Lullaby whispers, "That wasn't the Door… was it?"
It wasn't.
Something else…
Something below…
just woke up.
---
Scene 2 — The Hall of Forgotten Tremors
Lullaby enters a circular hall lined with spiraling golden constellations.
But now they've rearranged themselves since Episode 7—
Sharper.
Chaotic.
Twitching like frantic neurons trying to scream.
The hall flickers.
The symbols begin showing…
Footsteps.
Not drawings.
Not illusions.
Actual shimmering footsteps—glowing, child-sized—walking along the walls.
The orb hums with a trembling pitch.
Lullaby: "Those aren't mine…"
The footsteps loop—pacing in circles… frantic… lost.
A faint voice echoes:
"Where did everyone go…?"
Another whisper overlaps:
"Don't leave me alone…"
Then a scream—cut short.
Lullaby steps back, shaking.
He grips the cracked mask tighter.
These weren't warnings.
They were recordings.
The final moments of the children before the Door consumed them.
One last whisper trembles through the hall:
"…is the Door angry…?"
---
Scene 3 — The Vein That Shouldn't Exist
A golden vein on the floor flickers violently—
Then rips open like a splitting scar.
Beneath it:
Blackness.
Not shadow.
Not emptiness.
Something denser.
Hungrier.
The blackness spreads like ink under the surface.
The orb darts in front of Lullaby, aggressively chiming to shield him.
A voice rises from the black:
"Chosen…"
Lullaby freezes—
He knows that voice.
The same whisper from Episode 6.
But now it's clearer.
Closer.
It speaks again:
"You woke me…
…but not fully."
The black vein lashes upward—almost like a hand—
before the golden veins clamp down and seal it.
The hall groans.
Something enormous inside the Door is fighting something else.
And Lullaby realizes:
He's not the only thing moving deeper.
---
Scene 4 — The First Memory Ghost
The ceiling cracks.
Not gold.
Not shadow.
White light.
The same impossible light from the memory blast in Chapter 5.
Lullaby shields his visor.
The light drips downward like liquid, pooling into a shape—
A childlike silhouette.
A ghost made of raw memory.
Its face is blurred, vibrating like a memory trying to remember itself.
It turns toward Lullaby, head tilted.
Raises a hand.
A hand holding a familiar cracked mask.
Lullaby whispers:
"Who… are you?"
The child stutters with glitching words:
"The first…
the last…
the one who didn't… escape."
The orb slams into Lullaby, pushing him back—
Just as the figure lunges.
Not attacking.
Grabbing.
Trying to show him.
The moment its fingers touch his arm—
FLASH.
Children screaming.
A golden door collapsing inward.
White light devouring everything.
Something dark dragging—
The exact same mask he's holding.
Lullaby collapses, gasping.
The figure glitches, cracks, then shatters into drifting white sparks.
---
Scene 5 — The Door Reacts
Every golden vein ignites at once.
Light floods the hall.
The ground shakes.
Metal groans.
Something colossal shifts in the depths.
For the first time ever—
The Door speaks.
Not in whispers.
Not in echoes.
A voice like grinding suns:
"YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR."
The orb panics, circling Lullaby in rapid spirals, trying to drag him toward the ramp—
But before he can move…
A new pathway opens.
Not gold.
White.
Formed from the same impossible energy that swallowed the children.
Two voices speak:
One soft, near, pleading:
"Come deeper…"
And another—older, colder, furious:
"…or leave before you can't."
Lullaby stands trembling, mask in hand.
For the first time, he realizes:
It isn't the Door testing him.
It's warning him.
Something far worse is waking up.
And whatever he chooses next…
There's no turning back.