Jace stood in a large, dimly lit, empty theater.
The velvet red curtains of the grand stage parted and revealed a silhouette of a humanoid figure.
Thap.
The spotlight shone from above and revealed the face of the dark silhouette: it was a mannequin wearing a suit, standing there looking at Jace.
Its face was blank and held no features, except for a wide, eerie smile painted on it.
Seeing the mannequin, Jace felt a pulse of fear as well as excitement. He walked between the rows of empty seats around him and stepped up onto the stage through the small staircase on the side.
There were small, minor whispers coming from the darkness around the theater, but they didn't bother him as he made his way to the mannequin.
Jace stood before the eerie-looking mannequin. He pulled a spool of dark threads from his coat pocket, moved around the mannequin, and tied the strings around its body one by one—hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, and legs... everything.
Standing behind the mannequin, Jace completed the process of attaching the strings. He felt a great amount of satisfaction, joy, and relief.
Tha-thatak!
Jace instantly had a bad premonition—the worst he had ever felt. Fear gripped his heart and his pupils dilated.
Clack!
Jace was startled as the mannequin's head took a 180° turn and looked straight into his eyes.
'Wait... it didn't have any eyes!' Jace thought in horror.
He still kept a straight face, but when he looked closely at the mannequin's eyes, he realized they were his own eyes!
Jace felt bound and unable to move. He looked down at his body, only to find that it was him bound by the dark strings!
He snapped his head up at the mannequin, only to find there was no sign of it! Immediately, his body stiffened and his thoughts became rigid.
'What... the... fu... k!'
He looked up with difficulty toward where the strings attached to his body extended above, from where the spotlight shone.
There stood a man before the blinding light, the dark strings grasped in his hand.
Jace's eyes dimmed as he looked at the silhouette in the dazzling light, until only darkness remained...
—
Gasp!
'Holy—mother-fuckin'—shit!'
Jace clutched his bare chest, gasping for air after waking up from the dream—or rather, a nightmare.
'Nah, that was no nightmare; it was a dream revelation!' Jace immediately arrived at the conclusion, as he felt this was too specific a dream to just be a nightmare.
He used cogitation to calm himself down and immediately started interpreting the dream.
After a few moments of contemplation, Jace arrived at a conclusion as his eyes widened.
'He knows! The Marionettist knows! The small whispers in the dark theater corresponded to the law of Beyonder characteristics convergence, meaning we were going to meet due to it! Me tying the strings around the mannequin and feeling satisfaction means... the situation overturned, and I was the one the strings were around...
'The Marionettist stood high above the stage, looking down as I tied the strings around the mannequin, meaning he knows I'm a Marionettist as well! And he plans to turn me into a marionette!'
Jace was baffled.
It turned out that Jace's plan of 'marionette inception' had been stolen!
But it was not going to work, as Jace had just received a dream revelation and he knew that the Marionettist was now waiting to meet him and turn him into a marionette instead.
He could avoid it now, but there were still many doubts within his mind.
'Should I just drop the idea of "marionette inception"?' he wondered, as he realized that he had underestimated the Marionettist and the risk of this whole endeavor had just gone up by another level...
Jace had many thoughts and even more questions.
'How the hell does the Marionettist know the fact that I'm gonna jump him? And the most baffling question of all is, how the hell does he know I'm a Marionettist as well!!'
Jace rubbed his head as he felt it hurt. "Ah... fuck, this changes everything!" he whispered.
"What changes everything?"
A sharp female voice came from behind him. It was a woman in her late twenties that Jace had seduced—well, 'seduce' was a vague term here, considering it was mutual attraction and... apparently she wanted to know what 'it' felt like with a... young and a... short man...
Jace felt something firm and warm press against his back as she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder.
"Nothing, I just... had a nightmare..." he said.
"Mm." The girl kissed his neck softly. "Yes, I can feel it. You are sweating, and your heart beats faster as well," she said as she moved one of her hands onto his chest.
She was speaking clumsy Loenese, which to Jace sounded like a Russian girl speaking English, which to Jace—no lie—was very hot.
The woman immediately pushed him down onto the bed and climbed up on him.
With long dark hair, she had sharp and bold features, and red cheeks due to the cold. Her breasts, meanwhile, were not as big as jace was used to, but they were perky and firm, and she was tall, which again was a big turn-on for Jace.
"How about I make you forget~" she said, as she rubbed her wet crotch against his under the blanket.
"Um, wait—" He was kissed before he could finish his word, but after seeing her, he could hardly refuse her; his hands defaultly moved and held her waist intimately.
Not like 15 minutes was going to change anything.
She started moving slowly while moaning softly into his mouth.
Well, 30 minutes was not going to change anything either...
She started moving faster and the intensity of her voice increased.
Fuck, not like the whole night was going to change anything.
Jace flipped their positions and took the lead.