The house burned under the sky at the break of dawn.
Hosen watched the dancing flames eat away at the nooks and crannies of what was once a beautiful mansion worth millions of dollars. The fire's hypnotic motion made him ponder:
What was the girl's full name again...?
Roberta… Roberta something… Lound? Anne… Wildberry? No, it didn't seem right. Wood, then?
Ah… he remembered.
Roberta Anne Wood-Lound.
It prompted him to whisper out a pending question:
Was she a famous artist in the future?
"Hm…"
He grabbed his chin as he lost himself in deep thought until he remembered,
"Wait-"
Once he understood why her name troubled him so deeply, he walked down the path that hadn't yet turned to ashes.
The heat seared his face, and the light grew blinding the closer he came. His hands reached through the sea of flames for a small, harmless painting.
"Let them all burn, except this one."
At this point, Inase didn't have the energy to ask why. He let his companion do as he pleased, knowing it clearly held some kind of significance to him.
Whatever, since everything steadily calmed down anyway.
The townsfolk on the mainland seemed to diminish the threat.
And Roberta's cries had faded with her tears drying on her cheeks—Inase would know because he observed her for the last few minutes.
He hated to admit it, but despite the breach of regulations, he found himself growing attached to this little coward. Her determination to press on and confront her flaws was something he couldn't help but admire.
"That should do it."
Hosen dusted off his hands after putting down the small painting in a marginally safer place, in hopes someone else would find it later.
He had already confirmed that nothing else was left unscathed, his overcautious nature ensuring every detail was accounted for.
And after that, the only problem left was…
"So what are you gonna do now that you've lost everything?"
As if reading his mind, Inase's voice echoed against the sounds of crackling wood and the morning breeze combined.
"Still up for that meal at the inn?"
Though he would've preferred to ask about their future plans, the mood was so heavy that he felt compelled to crack a joke.
Roberta wiped her eyes and stood up.
Enough with the moping—a brand new day just flashed over the horizon.
Taking in a deep breath, she strolled around the skerry, determined to burn every inch of it in her memory before the sun climbed any higher.
She stopped at the edge of the rocky cliff to take a final look at the Rockport ahead.
"I… think I owe you a thank you."
Her lips finally curled in a gentle smile.
"Honestly, I feel like you freed me from this mansion."
Oh?
How unexpected.
A simple thanks would be the last thing they thought they'd hear.
Her entire livelihood, belongings, years of hard work, and whatever else reminded her of dead parents burned because of them. Yet, she didn't look angry about it.
On the contrary, she looked as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her hands traveled to her chest, squeezing as if they held her precious heart.
"I've always asked myself: what am I doing, spending all my life locked inside these cold walls? Will I be chained like a prisoner? A hostage? Held down by my luxurious palace of dreams and nightmares forever...?"
She shook her head.
"I mean, I know my parents wanted the best, so they left me all of their property, but still…!"
The invisible shackles that bound her had broken at once.
"Now that it's gone, it feels kind of cleansing."
Cathartic, even.
She chuckled, turning to face them and playfully intertwining her dainty fingers behind her back.
The gentle morning light caressed her fair skin as the sun rose over the horizon.
"I realized I don't need this house to live happily," a warm smile on her lips, "Not only did you save my life, but you also allowed me to stop rotting away like a forgotten artist, unable to be seen by the outside world. Thanks to you, I can leave this place."
Whatever had bound her—the regrets and guilt for even considering it—finally faded away. She had never felt more refreshed than at this moment.
"I want to go on a long journey. Ever since I was a child, I've longed to travel, see different landscapes, capture the beauty of every corner of the world... I can imagine finding new inspirations in every place I visit. And maybe then, I will draw something far greater than I've ever had."
Her eyes eagerly gazed over the horizon, unable to wait any longer to see what hid beyond it. Everything she uttered could soon turn into her new reality.
"My dream was always to become a painter known far beyond this small port town."
A breath of content, a sigh of a dreamer.
"I thought, maybe one day, I'd move to a bigger city—somewhere full of opportunities, where I could start fresh, meet lots of new people, and finally... share my talent with them. A place where I could leave behind the familiar bounds and truly begin to create. It has now become possible!"
Just thinking about it made her heart skip in excitement.
"I can see my art becoming a part of people's lives, hanging in their homes, sparking conversations, and bringing a sense of beauty into their boring lives. I want them to feel something they hadn't before when they look at it…"
Yet, something in her words kept one of the men on edge.
"I'm sure people would love it! That way, I can mesmerize everyone and dye the world in the colors that I've always wanted. Make them see what I see... If that happens, I will be the happiest girl in this universe! And when I become well-known, I'll—"
"—!"
"Eh-?"
Suddenly, his hand shoved the girl off without an ounce of hesitation.
It stunned not only Roberta, who witnessed Hosen's cold expression fade into the distance as she fell off the cliff, but also Inase, who watched her body get pierced by the sharp rocks peeking out of the water.
"What are you—!?"
But Hosen shook his head in dismissal.
Roberta was not a famous painter, nor would she ever be one.
"She was supposed to die in the fire and disappear from the annals of history right here, right now."
He lied. That girl was supposed to live to her 70s and die a peaceful death, alone on the skerry. She wouldn't have any family, so her sudden death wouldn't change the flow of time.
Then why did he make this decision?
One question remained in his mind,
"How did the adumbrali come out from the painting?"
Inase blinked slowly, questioning his partner's intentions as the grim truth crept in.
It wasn't them who triggered their escape—it didn't add up time-wise.
The living shadows had already been roaming the depths of the sea before they found the hidden chamber.
Take the fish, for example; these died before they even entered the mansion for the first time. Which meant that someone must have opened the portal long ago...
Inase laughed, but the sound carried no joy.
What a liar.
"She already brought the adumbrali to this world. What would happen if she brought in something worse—something more powerful?" Hosen concluded.
"But she was sane."
With his thoughts lingering in denial, the blonde frowned at his buddy's words.
"You still think that?"
The memory of when he first sensed something was off resurfaced as he meticulously shared his observations.
The time she showed them around, asking whether her house was wonderful, he watched the shadows crawl—like the mansion was infested with insects.
When they were first attacked at night, she screamed on top of the stairs, but her shaky hands hid her thrilled expression instead—trembling from excitement, rather than fear.
And, even though Inase didn't see, because he snuck out at that time, Hosen was faced with her twisted countenance during the long minutes of being drawn onto a portrait.
Her smile terrified him—especially during the time she told them to burn her works.
Her creepy, empty eyes and a wicked grin were a harrowing image that would haunt him forever.
She looked like a completely different person whenever he saw her, though Inase, despite being right there beside him, couldn't.
"She had glimpsed the Slumbering One(1)*. You know very well that he often manifests in people's dreams. Her mind had already gone insane, and yet, she was so eager to step out into the world to share her deranged paintings and spread his influence."
A source of such transcendent power could drive anyone to madness.
Eradicating anything tied to it was crucial to preventing future catastrophes.
If its influence was potent enough to push one person to create horrors beyond any sane mind's imagination, what could happen if more were affected?
A disaster.
Besides, they already changed what they shouldn't have—a butterfly effect had taken place.
Roberta, who was supposed to stay at home like a shut-in until growing old, suddenly decided to travel around the world because, thanks to Inase, she found the courage to do so.
This discrepancy was a mistake that should never have been allowed to happen.
That's why interacting with people from the past was so dangerous. Who knows what other changes it could bring to the future?
Killing her was the only way to fix it.
"...I get it."
Inase looked down at Roberta's corpse, realizing it was fated to happen.
"She said something about a man clad in white coming to kill her." He remembered their first encounter. "I guess her prophetic dream came true."
It felt like a sharp criticism aimed at Hosen's drastic decisions, though it couldn't be helped. Out of two evils, they had to pick the lesser one.
So, Hosen pretended not to hear the blonde's remark.
"This will prevent the Slumbering One from any chance of connecting with humans."
An instant death for Roberta was, in a way, mercy from them, and a safe bet for their future.
"Lesser sacrifice for the greater good, huh..."
Inase agreed with his stance, to a point.
He understood that they were sometimes bound to do immoral things for the future of humanity. Though if possible, he would like to avoid such actions...
His obedience took Hosen by surprise, who stared at him for a long moment, puzzled.
"What?"
The researcher let out a chuckle, looking at Inase's disgruntled self.
"Nothing. I thought you'd nag me about it."
"Hah! I ain't a nagger like a certain someone we know."
At last, they shared something in common. They exchanged faint smirks at the mention of the female scientist waiting by the portal. The two could already imagine her grumpy expression and furrowed eyebrows.
"Well… I guess this is the end. Nothing more to do here."
The slightly somber atmosphere still lingered.
"Mm."
While Inase closed his eyes for a minute of silence to recall the dead artist, Hosen noticed a single, trodden flower surviving in the burned-down mansion.
Its innocent, yellow petals called out to him, filled with symbolism—a quiet tribute, a gentle remembrance, a lingering hope for a bright beginning.
He tenderly took its stem.
The bud gradually lost its colors once it touched his monochrome fingers.
"It was nice knowing you, even if it was for a short while, Miss Roberta."
Then, he let go...
The flower landed on her body, losing its delicate petals to the ocean breeze.
It was their way of offering her a silent, mournful gesture.
(1)*From: "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P.Lovecraft, 1928