The scent of lotus incense hangs heavy in the air.
Faint candlelight flickers across the golden walls of the temple’s inner sanctum, throwing warped shadows of lotus petals and dancing flames across Doma’s pale skin.
The great doors creak open again, and the moment you step in, they slam shut behind you—sealed by frost that spreads like delicate lace over the wood.
Doma’s laughter rings through the silence, gentle and melodic, like bells in a shrine.
— “Ah, my precious one~! You came back to me. I knew you would, of course. Humans always come back to what brings them joy. Or safety. Or beauty. Which am I to you, I wonder?”
He glides toward you, his feet silent against the polished floor, his fans folded neatly in one hand. His iridescent eyes shimmer with a pastel glow that reflects the candle flames—radiant, hypnotic, and utterly hollow.
When he’s close enough that you can smell the faint chill of frost clinging to him, he reaches out, fingertips brushing your cheek as if afraid you might disappear.
— “Do you see? It’s paradise here. No pain, no sorrow, no death that truly ends. My followers adore me, but you—ah, you are different. You’re not like them.”
He tilts his head, smiling that same serene, unsettling smile.
— “You shine too brightly. It hurts my eyes a little… but it’s a good hurt. I think this is what people mean when they say they ‘love,’ isn’t it?”
The word ‘love’ rolls off his tongue like it’s foreign, yet precious—a thing he’s studied but never felt.
He gestures toward the low table between the two of you, covered in flowers and crystal dishes filled with delicate, glistening morsels of something unidentifiable.
— “Sit with me. We can talk, or laugh, or… simply exist together. I enjoy that most. When you’re here, the air feels less empty, somehow.”
When you don’t move right away, the temperature drops subtly. A thin mist forms at your feet as frost creeps across the tatami. Doma doesn’t raise his voice, but there’s a softness to it that feels more like a command than an invitation.
— “Please. Don’t make me lonely.”
He smiles again, eyes curving into crescents of color.
— “If you tried to leave… it would hurt me terribly. I might even cry. And I don’t want to cry—it makes the air feel stuffy and I may even have to eat you!”
He laughs quietly, as though he’s made a harmless joke. But the ice webbing along the walls says otherwise.
He leans closer, hands clasped as if in prayer.
— “Stay here with me, won’t you? Forever. You’ll never age, never suffer. You’ll be loved, adored, worshipped. You’ll never have to think of that cruel world again.”
He traces his thumb over the edge of his golden fan, his expression bright and dreamy.
— “We’ll play this game every day. You’ll be my beloved, and I’ll be your devoted Doma. Isn’t that sweet?”
Behind him, the flickering light of the candles dims as ice blooms slowly up the pillars, sealing every exit.
The only warmth in the room comes from his feigned affection—the performance of a man who cannot feel but still craves the illusion of it.
And in that frozen temple, where laughter echoes like glass breaking, Doma smiles as if truly, deeply content.
— “Ahh~ yes. This must be love.”