Siel looked a little taken aback by the intensity of Arin's tone.
After a heartbeat, he nodded.
'As I recall, he's been laid in the room just down this hall. Let's go take a look!' he said with gusto.
Arin turned on his heel, cloak swishing out dramatically into an arc.
As soon as he'd taken the first step, however, he realized that something was wrong.
The floor suddenly felt uneven under his feet, like he'd taken a step down instead of across the flat floorboards.
That wasn't all. Within seconds, all of his surroundings looked distorted. They felt distorted.
Before his eyes, the portraits on the walls were becoming more and more crooked. They tilted and swung from their corners, until it almost seemed like they were on the verge of falling off. Then, a few of them did fall off, sluggishly sliding down the walls and melting into the floor like slime. Drapes were flaring and flapping as though caught in a strong wind, and multiple sundries around the room slowly lifted up to ascend towards the bending ceiling beams.
The flickering of the dim lamplight was also becoming stronger and more uneven. As light and shadows flashed erratically, different colors started twisting and blending into each other, bleeding out of their physical borders and swirling into vibrant pools.
Disoriented, Arin lost his balance and fell sideways into the wall. He could feel it rolling under his weight, slowly distorting and shifting outwards. He pushed off with his palms to straighten up, only to stumble again; the floor was also spinning now, slowly, like a merry-go-round that had just been started.
'What the hell?' he gasped out, trying to right himself again as he looked around. He was just in time to see the bed where Elara slept slowly fold in on itself. The girl herself had disappeared amidst a jumble of floating sheets. And by its side was –
'Siel!'
The young, wide-eyed boy was being… it looked like he was being absorbed by the armchair that sat beside the bed.
His left leg and arm had disappeared into the undulating plush back, as had most of his torso. He was grunting and frowning, kicking out and desperately trying to find some hold with his remaining limbs. Even as Arin watched, the material of the armchair rose up his chest.
Within moments, it reached his neck.
'Siel!' he cried again. Giving up on standing, he fell forward onto his hands and knees with a thud, and started dragging himself towards the boy as quickly as he could.
'Brother! I think – mmf – ' Siel's mouth – his whole head – was now sinking into the armchair. Arin caught one last glimpse of his wide eyes, before they too, disappeared behind the fabric.
'No, Siel! Damn it!'
The floor was spinning too fast now, and the room was starting to blur into streaks of disordered color all around him. Arin had no sense of balance anymore. With all the strength he could muster, he pushed forward with his legs. At the same time, he stretched out his hand to try to reach the boy's last remaining limb – a flailing right leg.
He was almost there. He'd pull Siel out. He'd also find Elara, and get them both to safety.
Everything would be fine. He was nearly there.
Almost… almost…
But he couldn't move forward anymore.
One of the soft rugs underneath him seemed to have turned into thick, heavy quicksand. He struggled and scrabbled at the floorboards with his fingers, trying to pull himself away. To keep himself afloat.
It was to no avail. All too quickly, he was also sinking. Sinking into the floor. Sinking into the rug? Sinking into… something.
He wasn't sure.
Colors didn't make sense anymore. Textures didn't make sense anymore. Nothing made sense.
As light slowly faded, he was losing himself to the darkness. Or was he falling into a bright light, away from the shadows? He was falling. He was floating. He was sinking.
He was gone.