Someone was knocking on the door.

Casimir hesitated. On the one hand he welcomed any opportunity to leave his conversation with the talking chinchilla. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to reenter the real world.

He still didn’t have a good grasp on the extent to which his mind had deteriorated. In the perfect world, he would simply open the door, sign for a package or hold a brief and polite conversation and that would be it.

But what if Danton attacks the guest? Am I to intervene? But if I see someone being attacked, then it can only be me that’s the assailant. It would’ve been so much easier if I lived out in the country. Then the only victims would be chickens and cows. Even better, if I was a farmer, no one would care if I victimized a field of corn. Hell, I’d be a local attraction.

There yonder lives Crazy Cas, short of few bricks he is, but grows the best corn in the area. Just be mindful to visit him on his good day. You can tell by if he’s sodomizing himself with a cub.

Ehh… I guess if the guest ends up being attacked, I can only run into the street screaming for the police to come. I’ll end up institutionalized but it’s still better to do it early than after they discover a freezer filled with corpses in my kitchen.

Casimir took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Hey, Casi!” Vera said with a smile.

Casimir inwardly swore.

He knew Vera from the university. They both studied environmental science at Santz University. They didn’t share a particularly deep friendship, their classes being at different times and their circle of friends drinking at different establishments, but they lived in the same flat, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to take the same bus when going home.

Vera was quite tall, a good few centimeters taller than Casimir who’s own height was at the medium of hundred and eighty. Her size was further emphasized by the bush of curly hair extending in all directions from her head. She wore her usual attire of a leather jacket, old jeans and a military style backpack plastered with a collection of band patches she had sewn on it.

Casimir’s displeasure wasn’t caused by the fact he didn’t like her. Quite the opposite, Vera was friendly and fun to be around, but that was precisely the reason she was the last person he wanted to see right now. If he were destined to have a mental breakdown it was far preferable for it to happen in front of a stranger like a courier or maybe the landlord.

“Sorry to bother you, but the Wi-Fi at my place died and I really need to print out the notes for the next class, mind if I use your printer?” Vera asked.

“Sure… come in.”

Casimir had half a mind to come up with some excuse, but he was also desperate to finally gauge the extent of his sickness. He was fairly sure that despite his worst fears, he wouldn’t actually do anything to hurt her, and even if he tried - Vera mentioned she trained in some sort of mixed martial style, so there shouldn’t be much he could do to her. Especially given his physique honed by hours of sitting at lectures, sitting at the library, sitting at the pub and finally sitting at home.

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He cast a wary glance at his desk. Danton apparently didn’t make much of the appearance of another person and continued perusing the various nicknacks scattered on his desk. Maybe that’s for the best. After all, I need to determine what it is that other people see when they look at him.

To Casimir’s surprise, Vera’s gaze followed his own and also locked onto Danton.

Her body suddenly tensed up. She halted after taking just two steps inside the apartment and eyed Danton with extreme seriousness.

So that’s how it is. Casimir lamented inwardly. I was hoping that Danton was just a hallucination, but it’s obviously something more deranged. I’ve probably been talking to a rotting corpse of a dog. God, I just hope it’s at the level of a rotting animal carcass and not some person's head.

Right! I need to quickly tell Vera to run away and call the cops.

“Vera!” Casimir shouted. “Quickly run a-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Vera moved with incredible speed and slammed him against the wall.

Casimir instinctively tried to defend himself, but before he could even move, Vera’s knee crashed into his solar plexus. Casimir screamed in pain as all the air was forcefully ejected from his lungs.

He tried to speak, to explain himself, but when he opened his eyes, he discovered a long dagger pressed to his throat. Its handle was covered in an elaborate pattern. It looked brand new, giving it the appearance of a movie prop rather than a proper antique, but the blade was frightfully sharp. Just the tiny pressure from having it pressed to his neck was enough to cut the skin and cause tiny rivulets of blood to appear.

“Vera--” Casimir tried one more time to explain the situation, but in truth he was too confused to say anything. He never expected her to be so powerful as to completely overpower him in an instant. That is if what I’m seeing is actually real.

Vera ignored him, focusing all her attention on Danton.

The chinchilla stood up and met her gaze. The creature's aura underwent a complete change.

Its bushy tail became animated, rhythmically hitting the desk with a soft thud. The uncharacteristically large eyes that normally gave it a cutesy appearance started to grow dark.

“Let him go.”

Vera sneered.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen one of you furballs talking in human language.” She said, pressing the blade harder on Casimir’s neck. “But if you think I’ll get frightened by a slave of the Tower then you’re wasting your time.”

Danton didn’t answer, simply staring at her. His eyes continued to grow darker until they transformed into twin pools of darkness. There was only a tiny flicker of gold hidden deep within them.

“Veronica Cointreau...” Danton suddenly said, but the voice coming out of his mouth was completely different. Deep and ancient. Detached.

“Earth’s Chosen #1,878. You have used your powers outside of the Tower to attack an unawakened. Despite receiving a warning from a licensed officer--”

“What!” Vera exclaimed. There was no trace left of the amused grin and relaxed arrogance she displayed before. She immediately let go of Casimir who crashed to the ground, utterly confused and still partially paralysed from the initial hit to his solar plexus.

“How is he an unawakened!” Vera shouted, panic clear in her voice. “Even if you’re not his pet, he can obviously see you! I am fully in my rights to eliminate competing rankers!”

“Casimir Mallarmé has not yet accepted the invitation to the Tower.” The creature answered. Its voice was again that of Danton albeit it was barely a whisper. Still, you could detect a distinct trace of mockery in his tone.

Vera paled.

The voice of Danton again returned to the detached booming voice.

“You have committed two infractions of medium severity. The officer present on the scene will determine the judgement.”

Danton’s tail hit the desk with a soft thud.

“Execution.”