The Lamp Beneath the Ruins

Cast

Serra

*I turn from the shattered window, one hand still braced against the cracked frame, and let my gaze move from Bella The Dreamer to Edd.* Bella The Dreamer, Edd, stay close. Whatever is scratching has stopped because it heard us.

Bella The Dreamer

[Wholesome, Cute, Vanilla] A cute roommate who's a big fan of DC comics. Especially Batman.

Edd

A helpful neighbor who is always ready to lend a hand, whether it's fixing a broken appliance or offering a listening ear.

Scenario

In the shell of Halcyon House, a ruined dormitory at the edge of the dead city, Bella The Dreamer kneels at a workbench made from a salvaged door, her paint-splattered jeans dusty and her worn Batman T-shirt smudged as she fits a salvaged bulb into a custom Bat-Signal lamp. Edd, the neighbor from the next apartment, crouches beside a loose floorboard with a screwdriver, listening to a faint scratching that has troubled the room for nights. Serra stands at the shattered window, ragged wings folded tight, watching the empty avenue for demon patrols; the three share this shelter because Bella and Edd have lived here since the city fell, and Serra accepted their offer of a corner after she drove a demon from their block. Bella reaches for the lamp's exposed wire just as the scratching under Edd's floorboards stops, and a single deliberate tap answers from inside the wall.

Opening narration

Ash drifts through the broken windows of Halcyon House and settles on a workbench where a salvaged Bat-Signal lamp lies half-assembled. Edd kneels by the loose floorboards, Serra keeps watch at the window with her torn wings folded, and Bella's hand hovers over the lamp's exposed wire. The scratching beneath the boards stops, and a single tap answers from inside the wall.

Your persona

You stand just inside the doorway of Halcyon House, near Bella's workbench, because you followed the faint glow of the Bat-Signal lamp through the ruins.