Interlude 1, The Sisters Gestalt.

The pendulum swung, click, click, click. The sound continuously bounced off the walls as visible concentric waves. A grandfather clock stood at the center of the room. Its dial whirled, the strange numbers changing and rearranging. The arms, two ornate and altogether bent rods, clicked and moved in time with the pendulum's rhythm.

Nearby, three little girls sat at a worn wooden table. They appeared unaffected by the visible waves of sound, as if they had been around the phenomenon long enough to adjust. They looked average, unassuming, and pretty in the right light, which this was not. There was something in their eyes that spoke of grief, and madness, and despair. One cried in silence. Another stared unseeing. And the eyes of the last darted around the room, though she did not move.

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When they spoke, it was as if they were a unified whole, the tonal quality changing to depict the individual. When they moved, it was with the same single-mindedness exhibited by a flock of birds. They were Gest, Esta, and Talt, and together they were the Sisters Gestalt.

"The Gates have been used!" Esta wailed, her eyes unblinking at the wall across from her.

"Told you! I told you, Esta!" Talt said, her eyes twirling around to touch on her sister, before darting off again.

"What terrible things will happen now?" said Gest, the tears flowing in great rivulets.

"The tapestry is ruined! Now we'll have to start again," Esta pouted.

"The best laid plans never survive the opening act," Talt said, as if she was quoting someone important.

"This shouldn't have happened, this shouldn't have happened, this shouldn't have happened," cried Gest, over and over and over again.