xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Former Phantom Lord Guildhall, 11:13 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"...Alright... I'm about to touch the dead body of a former Wizard Saint..." Bernard said cautiously as he loomed over the skeleton.
"You don't have to say it out loud you know..." Corvus said with a bothered expression as Vulp and Baurs looked on, troubled by their magical benefactor standing over a skeleton.
"Hold on." Baurs said as she spoke up, prompting Bernard to quickly turn around to look at her.
"Yeah?" Bernard replied. "Oh thank goodness! Now I don't have to touch it yet!" He thought with happiness.
"Are you able to tell if this skeleton is the source of the creature we encountered?" Baurs questioned.
"Huh, that makes some sense." Corvus said in agreeance as Bernard turned around to look at the skeleton.
"No, not really, how would I go about checking that?" Bernard said as he scratched his head in confusion.
"Can't you tell if it's radiating any sort of magical energy?" Baurs wondered as Bernard looked at the corpse and tried to feel for any sort of energy coming off it.
"Anything?" Corvus said as Vulp raised an eye in curiosity.
"...Nothing, I don't really feel anything." Bernard said as he looked at the skeleton.
"Then that means... This dead body isn't the source of that thing I zapped?" Corvus said.
"I'm assuming." Baurs said as Bernard looked down at the skeleton some more.
"Hmmmm…" Bernard mentally mumbled in curiosity.
"Looks like this bag of bones might be a wash." Corvus said as he flew over to Bernards shoulder and perched on it. "And thank the stars for that..." The crow whispered.
"No kidding..." Bernard said as he looked at the crow before turning back towards Vulp and Baurs.
"If anything, I'm hoping that shadow thing I obliterated was the ghost we needed to destroy." Corvus stated as Vulp nodded in agreeance as Bernard started to think.
"...Hold on..." Bernard said aloud, catching the attention of the creatures.
"What's rattling inside your head now?" Corvus said.
"The piles and piles of clothes..." Bernard said as he turned his head back towards the skeleton.
"What about them?" Baurs asked.
"...Let's come back here in a bit. I want to keep looking around." Bernard said as he walked away from the bed and headed out the door with the creatures, closing it behind them as they failed to notice the skull of the skeleton had turned to look at them as they left.
Moving up to the next set of floors, Bernard started to inspect the walls of the building.
"What we looking for?" Corvus said as he flew above the ground.
"Give me a second..." Bernard said as he started to knock against the wall, investigating for something. "Ah, there's a hollow point. Vulp, form a fist with your tail and punch a hole right here." He said as Vulp walked over and transformed his tail into a hairy fist, punching it through wall.
"Why couldn't you just do it? Or you worried you might hurt your delicate hands? Hehehe." Corvus said jokingly as Bernards eye twitched.
"No!" Bernard said angrily. "...Well... Yeah, I dont want to break my knuckles." He thought with relief that he wasn't going to hurt himself.
As Vulp pulled out his tail, Bernard noticed that something was lodged in the fur of Vulps tail; a small finger bone. Pulling it out of his fur with his paw, Vulp looked over it as Corvus flew up to Bernards shoulder.
"More bones?" Corvus said with curiosity as Vulp dropped it on the ground before Bernard started picking at the hole in the wall with his hands as more and more pieces of bones started to fall out.
Ribs, femurs, toes and a skull fell out of the large hole from the wall as the group looked around at the pile.
"Seems to be missing some hands and parts for legs and arms but we have the skull, this is another body." Baurs said as she looked over the pile with the group.
"Ugh, what the hell..." Corvus said, grossed out by the appearance of another corpse. "What brought you to this conclusion there was another?" The crow asked.
"A theory..." Bernard said as he reached over towards the bones. "Okay, Vulp, you just touched the little finger bone earlier yeah?" He asked as the fox nodded in agreement. "Alright, Baurs… Get ready with the mud." Bernard said as he pointed his fingers at the Earth Elemental and gave her some of his magic.
"Got it." Baurs said as Corvus and Vulp stood back.
Bernard reached his hands down and proceeded to put it on the skull. As he held the skull in his hands, dark energy begun to emit from the skull as Bernard looked upward as another one of those mysterious shadow creatures from before with the red circle eyes and hood appeared.
"Now!" Bernard shouted as Baurs opened her mouth and a torrent of mud had emerged, spraying the shadow creature as it slammed against a wall, leaving a large indent as it disappeared. "Nice job!" He exclaimed as he dropped the skull on the ground in a fit of excitement.
"Whoa, another one of those things showed up again?!" Corvus said with surprise as he looked at Bernard.
"Come on, I had an idea and I think I figured out what had happened. Follow me." Bernard said as he motioned for them to follow him as headed for the staircase back down towards the foyer. Walking down the stairs, Bernard made sure to be careful where he placed his feet as he was followed by his beastly allies.
"Ok, now what?" Corvus questioned.
"Aha!" Bernard exclaimed as he looked at the bottom step. "Look what I found!" He said as he picked up a small piece of bone that was on the staircase, showing it to the creatures.
"A toe bone?" Baurs said as Corvus and Vulp looked at Bernard with confusion.
"Not just any toe bone... The toe bone I stepped on when I first got near the stairs and then what happened?" Bernard said as he questioned the others.
"Then... That shadow thing appeared at the top of the stairs?" Corvus said with confusion.
"Precisely!" Bernard said as he pointed at the crow with an excited attitude as he quickly rushed back up the stairs to the top area before it diverged into the upper floors. "Baurs! Come here and slam your foot through this floor, I got another theory!" He said as Baurs followed him up the stairs as Vulp and Corvus looked at eachother.
"Why do you think he is so chipper all of a sudden?" Corvus asked to the fox as Vulp made a confused face as a crashing noise was heard where Baurs stuck her large rock foot through as Bernard started rummaging about in the hole. "Whatcha find?" The crow asked.
"This!" Bernard said as he showed he now had the top portion of a skull in his hands.
"Another head? How many dead bodies are in this place!?" Corvus said with surprise as he and Vulp joined Bernard and Baurs at the top of the stairs.
"That's what I was thinking. Look." Bernard said as he pointed at all the clothes scattered all over the floors. "Why is there so much clothing all over the place? It can't be for no particular reason." He continued as he examined the skull.
"Maybe Phantom Lord was full of nudists... Hehehe." Corvus joked as Vulp and Baurs looked at him, unimpressed. "Hey! I'm only kidding!" The crow said in retaliation.
"So I started to think for a minute. "Why did that shadow thing appear?" So I remembered how I stepped on that bone and then boom, it came out from this exact spot where the skull was!" Bernard said as he held up the skull in front of everyone. "Then when we got upstairs and we found those other pieces of bone lodged in the wall, another one spawned up when I touched the skull with my hands." He continued to explain.
"So what?" Corvus said with confusion. "I swear... The more time I spend with this kid, the more it hurts my head to think of how his mind works..." The crow thought, struggling to follow.
"Ok, I can see you're having trouble figuring it out so let me explain it more clearly. The bones in this place are acting like triggers and the skulls are housing the shadows monsters that kept spawning... What does that mean?" Bernard explained.
"That would mean... Wait..." Corvus said as he tried to think before finally coming to a conclusion. "This guildhall is..." Corvus said as his eyes widened as he started to look around.
"Boobytrapped..." Bernard said as he looked around at the wrecked foyer.
"That doesn't explain one thing though." Baurs said as Bernard and the Celestial Spirits turned to look at her. "If that's true, then why didn't the shadow monsters appear when the fox was touching the toe bone upstairs?" She questioned as Vulp looked to Bernard for answers.
"Maybe..." Bernard said as he continued to ponder. "Maybe... It's triggered by magical energy?" He theorized.
"Yeah but Vulp has magical energy inside him." Corvus said.
"...Or maybe... It's triggered by wizards?" Baurs said, causing the others to turn towards her before the Earth Elemental and the Celestial Spirits looked at Bernard.
"I... Guess that makes sense..." Bernard said as he threw away the skull. "But now we have a new problem..." He said as he took off his beanie and started scratching his head.
"What now?" Corvus said.
"We found two pieces of dead skeletons in the walls and floor and then that one full one upstairs in that room... How many more are in this place?" Bernard said as he put his beanie back on as the creatures eyes widened.
"Oh... Yeah..." Corvus said with an exhausted tone as he realized what Bernard meant as he, Vulp and Baurs looked down at all the clothes. "You don't think there's a skeleton for every single combo of clothes in this place, do you?" The crow said nervously.
"There might be... Why? You worried about running into more ghosts?" Bernard said with a smirk as he looked at Corvus.
"I ain't afraid of no dumb ghosts!" Corvus exclaimed as he looked at the smug look on Bernard.
"But if that's true, how many skeletons are even in this place?" Baurs asked.
"And why are they all weird shady things?" Corvus said.
"And how did they get like that, who or what did that to them and why they are hidden. I know, we have tons of questions and little answers but for now, we have a strategy to helping us finish this job and we're better off sticking to it." Bernard said with a determined tone.
"What's the plan then kid?" Corvus said.
"Ok, so we know we don't need to pick up every piece of the skeleton to get the shadow creatures to come out and attack so if we focus on finding the skulls, we can clear this place of the things in no time. Once we clean out the haunting, we can leave the bone piles for the town to clean up when they tear this place down." Bernard explained.
"Fine by me as long we don't have to actually bury any of these skeletons." Corvus said, hopeful they don't have to clean up the bodies.
"I could just dig a large hole to dump them all." Baurs said casually.
"No! I don't wanna play "grave digger!"' Corvus shouted in a defiant tone as Bernard and Vulp smirked at his tirade.
"Well then, let's get started." Bernard said as the group readied themselves to start searching around.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Former Phantom Lord Guildhall, 2:03 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nearly three hours have passed since the group of Bernard and his beastly allies had started searching around the former guildhall of Phantom Lord. Bernard, pacing around the foyer and continuing to look at the clothes, started to feel like he was being watched as he rubbed his Lacrima pacemaker.
"Jeez... This place is giving me the creeps... And that weird shadow thing... It ran right through me and then I suddenly felt drained but why did I get like that...?" Bernard thought as he sat down on the ground.
"Yo!" Corvus exclaimed as flew into the room, carrying a tarp filled with skulls in his talons as Baurs and Vulp arrived, dragging bags of skulls behind them as Bernards eyes widened in surprise.
"Ho-how many..." Bernard stuttered as he looked at the piles of skulls.
"I went upstairs towards the roof of the building and Vulp checked the middle floors, minus the room where that full corpse was." Baurs said as Vulp nodded.
"...That body in the bed upstairs still has its head?" Bernard thought as he turned his head over towards the piles of skulls they collected. "One... Two... Where'd you get these ones?" He said towards Corvus as he counted and pointing at the skulls.
"Wine cellar... Burp!" Corvus said with a smirk before burping.
"...Well that explains why you smell like booze..." Bernard said in disgusted from the smell coming off the crow as he continued to count.
"This place has a great stash of hooch in the basement." Corvus said casually.
"Great... You save any for me?" Bernard said before asking if there was some left.
"Yeah, couple of bottles still left down there. Do you want one? Because I was thinking about going back down for more, hehehe." Corvus joked as Bernard rolled his eyes.
"Was thinking it be a good gift for Camilla or something..." Bernard said as he continued to count.
"A gift? Thought you didn't like being "lovey-dovey" with her?" Corvus said with a smile forming on his face.
"Hey, it's not like that... She looks at me like I am her boyfriend and it's something I can't fight against so... Figured it be a nice gesture, you know?" Bernard said with a bit of embarrassment.
"Sounds like something a guy in love would say, hehehe." Corvus joked.
"Sh-shut up!" Bernard said with a red face of embarrassment as Vulp looked at him with a happy expression.
"Awww look at his face!" Corvus said as he pointed his wing at Bernards red face.
"Knock it off! I gotta count these damn skulls!" Bernard said in retaliation. "Definitely not going to mention the issues I had sleeping last night without Camilla holding me..." He thought as he went back to counting.
"Or it sounds like a guy who is finding reasons to stick around his home." Baurs said as Bernard looked at her.
"...It's not like that..." Bernard said as he bit his lip.
"Aww come on, we know full well you don't hate your friends and family like you did originally." Corvus said as Bernard stood up.
"I'm tired of hearing that over and over, I get it already. No, I don't hate anybody in Psycho Circus for everything that happened." Bernard said as he looked at everyone.
"Then why you still act awkward around everyone?" Corvus asked as Bernard made a troubled expression.
"Because... I'm not a fan of the whole "prisoner" thing still being active..." Bernard said as he shook his head.
"Then tell them you want to be a member of the guild." Corvus said in response.
"...And then I'd basically be admitting defeat to my old man..." Bernard said.
"The guild master thing again...?" Corvus said with a serious expression.
"I don't like the fact that thing constantly gets shoved in my face and I just don't want that much responsibility with that kind of stuff..." Bernard said as he stood around.
"And don't want to talk about it with him, I guess?" Baurs said as Vulp looked at him with concern.
"...Anytime he talks, it's bad humor and nothing else." Bernard said as he criticizes his father.
"...The terrible jokes aside, I can't tell if the kid can tell his father might just be as intelligent as he is and is a master at hiding it..." Corvus thought. "Well... Lets say this "prisoner" thing ends and you're free to do what you want... Whatcha gonna do next?" He asked with a cautious tone.
"...Well, maybe if we can finish this job, we can find out." Bernard said as he finished counting as the Celestial Spirits and Earth Elemental suddenly looked at him with confusion.
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" Corvus said with concern as he wondered what Bernard meant.
"...Me and Camilla made a deal that if we can handle this job, I can keep the money and the "punishment" will be over. Okay?" Bernard said as he stood up from his kneeling position and then looked over at the creatures.
"Wait, what?" Corvus said with surprise.
"Is that so?" Baurs questioned as Vulp looked at Bernard with wide eyes.
"Yeah so... Once we deal with this place, I'm no longer metaphorically "chained to the floor."' Bernard said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"...That's uhhh… Nice..." Corvus said as he turned around and begun to fly in another direction.
"Hey, where you going?" Bernard said with a raised eyebrow as he noticed Corvus begun to fly towards a doorway heading downstairs.
"Just... Getting that bottle you wanted to give to the hot brunette..." Corvus said in a depressed sounding tone as he headed downstairs.
Looking up at Corvus and then towards Bernard, Vulp proceeded to head off to where Corvus was going and went down the stairs as well.
"Vulp? Where you going- Hey!" Bernard exclaimed in confusion as to where the Celestial Spirits were going before turning to Baurs. "What's up with them?" He said, unsure of what was going on.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Baurs said casually.
"...Well... I guess we could start killing these shadows off without them for now. Worst case scenario, I'll pull out Formosa as backup." Bernard said as he stood over the skulls.
"Very well then." Baurs said as Bernard glanced over the doorway to the lower area of the guildhall once more.
"...What's with them?" Bernard thought with a troubled expression as he got ready to put his hands on the skulls to summon out the shadow monsters.
The writer has informed me to keep this ending monologue brief so here we go; OOOHHH SPOOKY~ What's next? Blah blah blah. Bernard needs to work on his communication skills and Camilla is hot. See you next time!
Authors note: (Wow thanks narrator, way to make me not sound like an ass... Okay real talk time, I have been dealing with the current world situation very hard right now as my personal life and work life have taken serious tolls on my ability to write, I almost was gonna post this chapter to the point it would be the shortest chapter I had ever wrote. To give you readers the respect you deserve out of the gratefulness of you reading my story for nearly a year, I wanted to give you guys the heads up about how hard it has been lately. Thank you for reading as usual.)
