Another Trip To The Mansion

Taking the rest of the day to yourself, you end up falling asleep quite early after an "early" dinner (early for you...compared to the usual time of around 7-8 PM).

"Hello, wanderer..." The now-familiar voice of the spectre says, welcoming you back into the Labyrinth. Even in your sleep, however, you are still feeling the anger from earlier, and it comes to a head as you take a swing at the spectre. Unsurprisingly, it easily dodges out of the way, but you begin pounding away at the wall.

"Wanderer, you know doing that will not-" You ignore the voice, bashing the wall repeatedly, and you suddenly feel something shaking. Confused, you continue beating away at it until you are suddenly pulled away by the spectre. The first physical contact with it does send a major chill down your spine, but it also feels...strangely warm. Like your body was being pulled into a tub of warm jelly, surrounding your entire being and near-instantly calming you down.

"W-Wanderer! You can't just bash at the walls of my ho-" The spectre suddenly cuts itself off, and you see the same green eyes peering at you from the shadowy figure's face. It composes itself, and the eyes disappear into the void once more. "I-I mean, you cannot bash at the walls of your own subconscious. It will only lead to your own mental destruction. And as far as what was said earlier...if you were to destroy your own mind, I and all of your power would vanish in the same instant that this palace crumbles. It is why I had to prevent you from breaking down your own walls." The spectre explains, and while you want to look further into that, you also know there is a more pressing issue. The rage returns, but now being unable to attack anything, you merely scream out in fury. The spectre takes notice, and without saying anything, a door appears in front of you.

As you walk through it, you are immediately greeted by the grassy fields from before...but the atmosphere is much, much different than before. For one, the mansion you had seen last night is now little more than a seemingly abandoned, decrepit home. The windows are completely shattered, with one of them boarded up while the other remains fully opened. There is no sign above the entrance anymore, and the once-perfectly trimmed grass now is wild, overgrown out of control with vines creeping up the walls of the house.

As you approach the building, however, you realize it isn't completely abandoned, as you can hear the soft sounds of someone crying coming from within. Stepping inside, you find the noise coming from down within the basement. Walking down the steps slowly, one nearly breaks under even the lightest footfall, but you catch your balance easily enough, although it becomes rather difficult to see once you are down there. When you get to the bottom, you feel some sort of string in front of your face, and pulling it reveals a single lightbulb that somehow still works, proving just enough of a glow to show you that Charlotte is currently against the wall, her wrists cuffed to it with steel chains. Her once-expensive clothing now are mere tatters.

"M-Master...where is Master..." She mutters, tears streaming down her face as she vacantly stares out in front of herself. Realizing she cannot see you yet, your face twists into a sadistic smile as you begin to work your magic over the dream. In your hand, a riding crop materializes in your hand, and you approach Charlotte with glee. Rather than immediately hitting her, you simply take the crop and brush it over her barely-covered breasts, sending a shudder into the woman as she frantically looks around for the source. You continue doing this, leaving her afraid and confused.

"W-Where...? G-God, Master...who is-" She is cut off as you graze it under her chin, the chill down her spine only getting worse as you step behind her. Smiling, you finally allow her to see you, or rather, to feel your presence in "her" dream.

"Guess who?" You taunt, and she gasps as you lash her once across her back. She immediately yells out in pain as the leather crosses paths with her skin, the few remnants of clothing on her doing little to protect her from the riding crop.

"M-Mas-" You cut her off immediately with another lashing, and give an eerily calm smile as you circle back to face her.

"Charlotte...why don't you call me by my actual name?" You demand, and she looks up at you in confusion. Without hesitation, you whip her once more, this time across the shoulder, and she tears up even more out of pain.

"M-Mast-" Another whipping cuts her off, the welts forming on her body now.

"Call me by my actual name, and this will stop." You tell her in a calm yet firm voice, and she stares up at you through her tears.

"M-Master...I-" Another lash.

"M-Mast-" Another lash.

"Mas-" Another lash. Then another. Then another. Then another and another and another. You feel your body growing hotter and hotter with each whipping sent her way, and begin smelling something burning, before realizing your anger has seemed to subconsciously affect the dream, lighting the mansion upstairs ablaze.

"Call. Me. By. My. Actual. Name." You command, before lashing her again.

"M-Master, stop!" She yells in a mixture of fear and sheer anguish, and you lash her again for the insubordination.

"MY NAME IS NOT MASTER! YOU DIDN'T SEEM TO CARE SO MUCH ABOUT MY NAME EARLIER YOU WHORE, SO I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU CARE! I AM GOING TO BEAT MY NAME INTO YOUR MEMORY!" You yell, lashing her for pure emphasis as you talk.

"E-Ethan..." She mumbles, and you only get angrier.

"LOUDER!" You yell, whipping her.

"Ethan!" She says out loud, but you're still not satisfied. You whip her again.

"LOUDER! SAY IT LIKE YOU LOVE HEARING IT!" You yell out.

"ETHAN!" She screams at the top of her lungs, and you lash her again.

"AGAIN!"

"ETHAN!"

You lash her again.

"AGAIN!"

And again.

"ETHAN!"

And again. Charlotte at this point is a quivering, bruised, battered mess, and you finally feel your well of hatred resolve as you look down at her. A puff of smoke appears besides you, and you turn to see the spectre looking over your handiwork. You see Charlotte look around suddenly, confused, but it seems she no longer notices you nor does she see the ghostly figure before you.

"Spectre, what do you want? I finally got my name through her damn head, why are you here!?" You ask angrily.

"Wanderer...I appreciate your anger. Trust me, I really...really appreciate it, but it is not the only place you must draw from to make someone truly need you." It says, and you take a second to digest that.

"To...need me?" You ask yourself in confusion, and the spectre lets out a shrill giggle, seeming to be amused by your bewilderment.

"Wanderer, I know why you are taking things out on her. I am always in your head, do not forget, and I know how you look at her. I've always known how you looked at her, and I know that you wanted her to be yours and yours alone." The spectre explains, making you now be the one to shudder as you know that they're completely right. "I also know that you want her to not just be yours for your money or for your possessions, but you want her to be yours in mind, body and soul. You want her to disregard all others and focus solely on you. And while anger was the correct first step last night...to continue down this path will lead to consequences. Dark consequences. I am sure you can understand what happens when all someone dreams about is **** and rejection for days on end, don't you?" The spectre asks, and your legs quiver at the realization that all you have done to Charlotte is push her to be even more miserable...to simply feel what you felt in high school.

"S-Spectre...what do I do, then?" You ask it, and the shrill giggle returns, piercing through your ears and rattling your brain.

"Why, isn't it simple? If one emotion does not work...then try another." It suggests, vanishing. Now reappearing from Charlotte's perspective, you see the fear that you have literally beaten into her, and drop the riding crop in your shaking hands. As you stare at her, even through the new scars you have given her in her dream, you still have one thought of her: she is one of the most beautiful women you've ever been able to meet. In an instant, you feel the scene shift, with the fires in the ruined mansion above dying down. You see Charlotte is still bruised and battered, and is also still cuffed to the wall, and shake your head. The fear is still in her eyes however, even with your own demeanor change, and you begin panicking on how to fix it. Suddenly, an idea hits you, but you're not quite sure if it will work. With a gulp of air, you try to think of yourself...your old self, as a completely different person. A different "master", and thinking of yourself as a new master. Suddenly, you feel a violent pulling sensation from within you, and find a faceless male splitting from your body. It stands in front of Charlotte, the riding crop in hand, and you see that the fright in Charlotte's eyes are now focused on the new being rather than on yourself.

"It...it worked!?" You ask in your own mind, but shake the thought out as you try to grab the faceless man. Turning him around, you punch him in the face, and with a simple thought, he seems to disappear. Charlotte looks towards you in confusion, and you procure a key, unlocking her shackles. She jumps into your arms, crying desperately in gratitude and fear, and you hold back everything within you telling you to simply beat her like before, and instead hug her tight to you. You feel tears falling down your shoulder and back, and pull her away for a moment.

"Charlotte...my beautiful Charlotte..." You say, staring into her eyes. Staring at her body once more, you see her scars beginning to fade away as you replace her pain and suffering (originally at your hands) into adoration towards you. As you look back into her eyes, you see a sparkle in her eyes you had only ever seen in the mirror and pull her in for a deep kiss. Charlotte loses herself completely, and as you focus on increasing her own pleasure, you feel a rumbling from somewhere deep, deeper than this basement you are currently in. You can only focus on her pleasure though, and the rumbling gets stronger and stronger. You just keep making her feel even better and better, making everything seem to wash into pure bliss while you hold her, and suddenly you are blinded by a bright light.

"E-ETHAN, I-" You hear her yell before snapping back to the labyrinth, jumping up to your feet. The spectre looks towards you, and you swear you can see a smirk on its face.

"Hmm...you truly are a weird one, wanderer. Strong yet completely untrained...a being without any kindling on how this place works yet has the perfect instincts to wield this to their pure advantage." The spectre says to itself, before then fully diverting its attention towards you. "Wanderer, you're most likely confused at what just happened. Allow me to explain. What you just accomplished was a dream so powerful that is caused the dreamer to wake up from sleep. Normally, this is only to happen during a particularly horrible nightmare...but here, you caused it with a much, much different type of dream..." The wanderer explains, and your mind flashes to her last words, causing your cheeks to blush.

"You're very adept when it comes to dreaming, wanderer...however, I wonder how you will fare on someone whose mind is harder to access..." It says, and suddenly you wake up. You stare up at the ceiling for a few moments before hearing a knock at the door, the sound of it seeming urgent and quite loud to reach up from downstairs to your bedroom.