The Music Box

Rasa spun into the Masters room. Her touch was delicated as she shut the enormous, archaic door, but there was no preventing the rusty iron hinges from groaning. She winced and shut her eyes as she scorned herself for a fool. "Is that you Rasa?" Came a muffled shout from the floor below. "You had better be in bed or so help me you'll be scrubbing..." the voice rambled on into incoherent muttering. Rasa couldn't help but laugh, imagining the Dama waving her arms about dramatically. With her left hand she pulled held out a small metallic orb and with her other, she pet the small creature in her deep pocket. "Shh Tomo, it's alright, you're with me," she said comforting the infant pangolin. Shaking the orb three times, the small lantern came to life, glowing a warm, soft yellow and revealing the room's interior. "We could have found our way in the dark," she said to Tomo, but she always enjoyed the cozy lantern light and the Dama hated coming up those stairs. Padding softly around the bed and into the side study, she scanned the collection of tomes, scrolls, and other antiques the Master loved so. "How does anyone live like this?" She muttered, shaking her head. The room was filled with the scrawling parchments of an insane person and other nonsense Rasa did not care about. Rolling her eyes she deftly hopped around the room, avoiding stacks of old books and rubbish, cautious not to leave a trace of her passing. Dusk rolled in through an open terrace bringing with it a hot, sticky breeze. Tall drapes billowed and parchments fluttered in the breeze and Rasa smelled the putrid-sweet scent of overripe fruit and heard the sounds of drunken merriment in the city beyond. She made her way around the large desk in the center, setting her lantern on a stack of old papers. Kneeling down she traced two fingers along the keypad, entering six letters while mouthing the key phrase. An ephemeral pang of guilt shot through her. Dismissing the sentiment and biting her lip in concentration, Rasa unlocked the drawer with with a twist of the scarab handle revealing a myriad of devices. From among them she lifted out a small, ornate, circular box. Filigree and carved beasts adorned the exquisite box. She moved the small clasp aside and opened the lid as a soft melody began. Spinning in the center of the box was a small dancer in pirouette. Captivated, she watched as memories of her own mother spilled into her mind's eye. She melted into the embrace of her reverie, but abuptly the spell shattered when sirens blared in the city beyond. Rasa jumped reaching for the lantern and knocking over the stack of papers. A small device must have been resting within the stack and it too fell, thudding on the ground heavily. She hurriedely gathered the papers and odd device and must have engaged the device because it chirped in her hand. The tone was immediately followed by the heavy sounds of some large mechanism activating behind the bookshelves and she jumped again, turning towards the small library of texts. With a hiss,the shelf slid aside on invisible rails, revealing a huge hidden alcove. An enormous Ora crystal was propped within the alcove, the biggest one Rasa had ever heard of. The room was thrown into an ethereal violet light as it thrummed with. She approached, awestruck and pressed her hand against it. Something changed within the prism and the air popped in her ears and Tomo chittered in fear. Her hand phased through the crystal as if popping a bubble and her scream was cut short as the rest of her body was pulled into the crystal. Once she was engulfed, her form abruptly stopped, frozen within the chrysalis. The sirens continued in the distance blending with shouts and screams as the city descended into anarchic pandemonium. In the Master's study, the dancer in the music box slowed her dance as the last teeth on the cyllinder plucked slower and slower notes.