Ei doesn’t bother with any pleasantries once he’s located the next prisoner in his cell. “Prisoner 005, Sylas Grey. It’s time for your second projection. Is there anything you’d like me to know before we begin?”
Sylas jolts up, alarmed, then settles down a bit when he realizes it’s not, like. The kitchen being on fire again. “Uh, no? Unless I can make requests for the- actually, never mind. It’s all good! Let’s skedaddle on outta here, eh?”
Ei lifts an eyebrow but doesn’t jot anything down from that. He could hear out any requests later if they weren’t vital now. “Right. This shouldn’t take long.” On the outside, at least.
—
Again, Ei shoos you away so the chosen prisoner can be guided down the long hallway alone. By now it’s clear this walk is the only thing the wardens are so particular about keeping the prisoner alone for. Once they reach the courtroom, they don’t bother to keep you away as they set the prisoner up in the burnt chair as properly as they can. Perhaps it’s not worth the effort. Perhaps how you behave in the projections is a test in itself.
Regardless of their motives, a few of you make the trek yourselves today, finding the hallway only marginally less lonely with your company. The walls still seem stifling, the unnatural murmurs pressing in on you tighter.
But the courtroom is wide open, if barren, and there’s not much else to be uncomfortable about until the prisoner of the day is secured in place. A strange…—machine? Somehow enough of it remains in shadow to obscure any useful details—emerges from the wall to hover around the prisoner’s head, then everything but you and the wardens is swallowed by utter darkness.
It only lasts a moment, though. Once the shadow subsides, you find yourself seemingly somewhere else…
