Aramis had an idea for a card after having a dream. Instead of attempting to describe it in my own clumsy way I'm just going to quote him...


Here's the set up leading to the scene in question: Three is once again pulled into another world and deposited into a dark wood. However, it's not just her, but several other people from all walks of life. They stumble through the woods, and soon emerge into a small town (just imagine every small town in Maine from every Stephen King novel ever and you'll get the idea). However, as this group of people head towards the this large abandoned mall on the far side of town, they clearly are tested in some way. At first, it seems like it's one of those cases of some entity testing the virtue of various people and weeding out the wicked, but it starts becoming clear that this is just a facade. Sure, the tests require one to be virtuous to pass, but there are also ones that are just sadistic, emotionally tormenting people and subjecting them to dangers for no other purpose other than to cause severe emotional and psychological distress. Imagine Silent Hill, only instead of being obviously a place of horror, it's far more subtle and insidious. Too many good and innocent people die, become lost, or simply give up in despair, and too many otherwise wicked people are able to game the system and emerge no more worse for wear. Finally, after wandering through a huge maze of an abandoned mall, they find the entity who set this all up, or at least a representative. This entity forces everyone to sign a contract that they will forever lead a life of virtue, the signature a single dot of their own blood. Anyone who refuses is allowed to walk away, but those people are quickly set upon by unseen creatures. Those who do sign are then told that they are free to leave and the way home is back in the wood where they started, but they best hurry, for "if you run out of time, time runs out for you." The survivors make it back, but they are confronted by one final vision, and this is the scene I want on the postcard:

Three finally walks into the clearing where the shimmering portal that leads home is, though what used to be big enough to admit a couple people walking abreast is now the size of a window. Covering the floor of the clearing before the portal are hundreds, if not thousands, of open glass jars. Hovering inside each of them is a tiny flame made of glass. Three sees this, and she immediately knows what this is; she has seen similar things far too often, and it is very consistent with with the twisted game that they are about to escape from. Each glass flame is a soul, and every jar holding one is someone who had been drawn into this game that didn't make it home for whatever reason. Hovering off the side of the portal and hidden within the dark woods is a wraith-like creature, looking like a shadow wrapped in a pitch-black cloak, the only features visible being a pair of sinister red eyes. This wraith confirms what Three suspects this to be, and tells her this: if you throw one of these glass jars through the portal, that person will get a second chance, but in doing so, you will give up yours.

Copic marker and gelpen on canvasboard