Gate of Memoirs/Sleep Paralysis

Dreams often feel real to the dreamer, and not so much to the waker.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Where it Rains"	Music: "Where it Rains"
 	
*Gwyll: My! What a riveting tale.
 	
*Gwyll: Care to tell another?
 	
*You look down at the porcelain cup in your hands, though you see no reflection in the amber liquid.
*Stories... Stories of your many exploits and close shaves.
*Of heroics and villainy; of gods, of demons, of the great unknown.
Portrait 	Dialogue
 	
*As your mind wanders, the liquid swirls once—twice, and the surrounding wood comes into view.
*...How long have you been here?
*And more importantly, where are you?
 	
*Gwyll: Oh! Waking up, I see.
 	
*Gwyll: Easy, easy. If you jolt, you'll panic.
 	
*Gwyll: And then you'll crash our carefully curated camaraderie, and I will be very cross with you.
*Gwyll: You don't want that, do you?
 	
*You take a deep breath, and look into your cup again.
*Your weary face comes into view this time.
 	
*Gwyll: There we go. You are now lucid.
*Gwyll: Not so difficult, was it? Not half as difficult as coming here, I'm sure.
 	
*Gwyll: Thanks to a meddling Queen. Pah, I say!
*Gwyll: *I* am the master of THIS realm—I am the Erlking, thank you very much!
 	
*Gwyll: Oho! By the confused expression you wear on your face, you have no clue what I speak of. 
*Gwyll: Allow me to explain, then.
 	
*Gwyll: First: yes, I've seen you before.
*Gwyll: Through all the places where the veneer of reality wanes thin, as well as that gossamer cosmic fabric you call the Veil.
 	
*Gwyll: This place is its nadir. The deepest layer. And a realm I happily claim my own.
*Gwyll: A place where all conscious thought congregates, and dimension-walkers like you eventually settle.
 	
*...Eventually settle?
 	
*Gwyll: You'll come to understand.
*Gwyll: Now. Your friends should be waking up soon.
*Gwyll: Well, the flame-haired one awoke long ago, but I thought it best if she were left to her own devices for the moment.
 	
*Gwyll: The other, with the rather sullen face, is a lot less responsive.
*Gwyll: A pity. She was most interesting.
 	
*With a snap of his fingers, something shifts, and you find Giselle and Kyria seated before you at the same ominously clean tea table.
 	
*Giselle: , you're all right!
*Giselle: Sorry, I've... Never tried this before, so...
*Giselle: At least we're in one piece...in a tea party. Or something.
 	
*Gwyll: Oh, fret not. This is a safe space!
 	
*Gwyll: Why don't you settle down and introduce yourselves properly?...
Music: "Lone Strength"	Music: "Lone Strength"
 	
*Giselle: Anyway, yes. Since you, and I quote, "own" this realm, Master Gwyll...
*Giselle: We've been unfortunate enough to witness the destruction of a world or two, in our timeline.
*Giselle: As far as we know, there is one instance in which its Echo was intact, 
*Giselle: but another where it was straight up disintegrated by an eldritch...thing, and now the Queen has taken her.
 	
*Giselle: ...How does it happen? What does the Veil do, besides keep us separate?
*Giselle: Which one is the "correct" timeline?
 	
*Gwyll's eyes shimmer as he perches his delicate fingers under his chin.
*Gwyll: Answer me this first.
*Gwyll: What would you do if you met yourself from another time?
 	
*Gwyll: Which of you is the real "you"...
*Gwyll: If indeed there is such a thing?
 	
*Giselle: ... ...
 	
*Gwyll: For you, my red-headed darling, that is a question that you know how to answer best.
*Gwyll: But as for here...
 	
*Gwyll turns his luminous gaze on you, but it felt more as if he was looking *through* you.
*Gwyll: Let me just say their mind is not all it seems to be. And I don't mean getting shunted into every dimension possible.
*Gwyll: You probably believe you guide your own actions, but it's quite possible everything you do has already been set in stone.
 	
*The Erlking stands, sweeping his cape in a grandiose gesture.
 	
*Gwyll: But! As I am a magnanimous monarch, I shall indulge your childlike curiosity.
*Gwyll: To you, you most likely believe the "correct" timeline is the one you inhabit.
 	
*Gwyll: And with good reason, for it is the only reality you have ever known.
*Gwyll: But look further, my girl. See from the perspective of something greater.
*Gwyll: To the Queen, the "correct" timeline...is one that does not exist. One that is incapable of diverging.
 	
*Gwyll: A path...erased.
Music: "Source Hall" 	Music: "Source Hall"
 	
*Giselle: You mean to say the Queen collapses all the timelines...by disintegrating any single instance of it.
*Giselle: Creating a vacuum, and wiping out all existence...
*Giselle: Tranquility...and stagnation.
 	
*Gwyll: Clever girl.
 	
*The distant baying of some terrible creature echoes from the edges of the dark wood.
 	
*Gwyll: Oh, look. You've attracted them.
 	
*Giselle: Hey! You said this was a safe space!
 	
*Gwyll: Apparently not if you're already being hunted.
*Gwyll: It seems you've made quite some enemies...
 	
*Gwyll: Not at all surprising, but do try to make it entertaining for me, hmm?