Episode 3 – Scene 5: Maine

## **Episode 3 – Scene 5: Maine** **[NARRATION]** Maine sat alone, eyes unfocused, as if looking at the space just behind his own thoughts. The room was quiet, but in his mind there was a house. Not just any house — a manor built of spellwork and certainty, walls wrapped in protective wards that hummed like a heartbeat. In the vision, his friends were there. Safe. Laughing. Moving through halls lit by enchantments warm enough to forget the world outside. And waiting by the door — a small homunculus butler named Igor, bowing as if they’d always known each other, already part of the family. It was a good image. Better than good. It was almost enough to believe in. **[NARRATION]** Then the thought changed. The house shuddered under an unseen impact. Wards strained, fractured. The air turned sharp with the promise of something breaking in. In the vision, his friends turned toward him, waiting for an answer he didn’t have. Waiting for him to choose: unleash the kind of Power that couldn’t be taken back, or let the walls fall and hope they survived the collapse. **[NARRATION]** He couldn’t see which choice he made. He only saw the ruin that came after — and the question that lodged itself deeper than any plan: was it worth building the house at all, if safety was only ever temporary? Somewhere far away, muffled through the walls, came a scream. It cut the vision cleanly in half. The house vanished. Igor was gone. Maine was alone again, in the quiet, with nothing left but the weight of the question. **[END SCENE]**