Aya headed towards the end of the storehouse hallway. There, she encountered a door similar to the one in the Chapel. And like that one, it was locked. It was reinforced with metal, so she couldn't just hack it down. She sighed in frustration.
Suddenly, Aya noticed a familiar figure, and not in a good way. It was the priest from earlier. He slowly advanced toward her.
Aya began desperately banging on the door, slamming into it with her shoulder when that failed. Eventually the door budged, and she bolted through the door.
The doorway led to a hallway that ended in two doorways leading forward. Standing at the fork was Mr. Ogre. Aya cautiously approached him.
"The passage was a little cluttered, so I cleaned it up a bit." He said. That explained why he was here but not how he got here. Aya didn't even care at this point.
Aya stormed off through the left passageway, fearing this next part of the house would be a complex maze. She found herself inside a room with black and white square tiles arranged in a diamond pattern. A short set of marble steps, four high, lead up to a rectangular room. It seemed that both passageways lead to it as there was an identical one leading to the other side of the room. Two more identical doorways lead out the other end. The room was divided by velvet rope in the center, separating two nearly identical scenes. In the center was a sealed off passageway jutting out blocked by a portcullis. A vase stood in the right corner on a bronze pedestal. The one on the left contained roses while the one on the right was empty. On the opposite side, a suit of armor stood holding a spear. The one on the right was slightly to the right of its proper position and was missing its spear.
Near the entrance there were three marble pillars on each side. Aya noticed that the right most one on the left side of the room had a large crack in it. Most notably, a perfect replica of Aya stood behind the middle pillar, peeking out at the scene. Aya inspected the front and found that it was indeed identical, down to the last feature. Aya shuddered; it was kind of unsettling.
Two nuns stood across from one and other, their hands clasped in prayer. Next to them, two Benedictine monks did the same. Aya immediately noticed that a nun on the right was holding a spear. An alter arrangement identical to the one in the Chapel sat towards the end of the room, with a priest presiding over it, reading from a Bible. The scene would have looked tranquil were it not for the undressed doll laid out on the table, ready to be sacrificed. Aya noticed the one on the right was missing her head, as opposed to the one on the left with blonde hair. The doll was, mercifully, not very realistic. It looked like a mannequin made of porcelain. Aya had a pretty good idea what needed to be done. She sighed and set down her chainsaw.
The first order of business was the suit of armor. She was dreading moving it, do to how easily she could knock it over. Fortunately, it appeared to have something in it to stabilize the stricture. It was simple enough to carry it over to the proper place. She took the spear from the nun and returned it to the knight.
The vase was simple enough. Aya took half the roses from one side and placed them in the other vase. Once she was satisfied with the placement of the roses, she got to work on the pillar. She was unsure whether it was a good idea to use the chainsaw on the pillar, but she had few other options. Fortunately, it seemed sturdy enough to crack the marble without the chain breaking. Aya hoped she'd gotten the crack close enough to the other side.
Lastly, there was the headless doll. Aya first considered simply cutting off the head of the doll, but feared what would happen if this turned out not to be the intended answer. She decided to check the passageways at the end of the room first.
Much to her relief, the passages both lead to the same small room. It was a trapezoidal one with archway patterns chiseled in the stone walls. Similar patterns were common around the Church. The top of the room had three stained-glass windows. In front of the center window was a doll wearing a red and white dress. She stood there with her hands clasped at her waste. Aya realized that her head looked exactly like the doll from the sacrifice. She ran back to get her chainsaw and got to work.
As soon as Aya put the head in place, she went to the center pillar on the right. She imitated the mannequin on the left until the portcullis slid open, causing the sound of metal on stone to echo throughout the room. Aya sighed with relief now that the puzzle was finally solved.
Aya suddenly remembered that Maria must have passed through here, which begged the question of how she made it through. She gritted her teeth as she remembered Mr. Ogre's statement. He must have been behind this puzzle. Aya stormed through entrance to the room to give him a piece of her mind, but when she entered the hallway, he was gone. She groaned and went on her way.
Unfortunately, it seemed her troubles weren't over yet. The path forward lead to a small study. A brass gate blocked the way forward. The room was small, and had an octagon shape. A crow sat on a perch on a display pedestal to the left. Aya was done questioning where they were coming from. In the center, a book sat on a bronze stand. It as titled Book of memories. Aya opened the book.
As soon as she did, she found herself in a black void. The room around her had vanished. Behind her, a path of what appeared to be star dust led to what seemed to be a small bedroom. There were two wooden sliding doors, but the path seemed to bypass them completely. Aya was paralyzed with fear.
Wh-what!? What's happening!? Where am I!? Am I floating!? Oh God, what if I fall!?
Aya lost her balance and swayed forward. She instinctively put her foot forward to break her fall, on what, she didn't know. She was shocked see that her feet found purchase on the glimmering path before her. She slowly made her way to the room, taking great care to make sure her feat didn't stray from the path. She held her arms out for balance as well.
She stepped onto the wooden floor of the bedroom. She bent down and put her hands on her knees, waiting patiently for her breath to slow. The room was largely bare, save for a fire pit in the center and two nightstands, one wood, one metal. The wooden one had an unlit lantern. Several glass bottles lay strewn about. Several dressers lined the back wall. In the distance, what appeared to be a blue flame floating in the void.
Next to the unlit fire, a woman lay asleep on what appeared to be a futon, like toe ones from Japan. Aya had heard stories of Japan, and recognized the bed from a book she'd read at the library. The woman didn't look Japanese though. A baby sat next to the futon wrapped in a brown blanket. Aya suddenly felt strange, her mind recited a passage from a book she'd never read before. Once again, for some reason, the dates of the events were obscured to her.
Xuary Xth
I was born.
I slept cuddling up against my mother.
Aya immediately realized the issue with the scene before her. She gently picked up the baby and placed him next to the sleeping woman. A path suddenly appeared where the flame once stood. Aya followed the path with trepidation. It led to the book again, and Aya glanced over the pages. Not knowing what else to do, she turned the page. The room behind her disappeared and a new one appeared in front of her.
The next room was similar to the first. Now there was a pot over the fire, and the woman stood near it, clad in a tan sweater and a black skirt. A young boy lay prone on his stomach, Aya recognized him immediately as a young Alfred Drevis. Newspapers bound in stacks sat in the bottom left corner. Three blue cushions sat near the dressers. To Aya's horror, there were two dead animals in the room atop sheets of newspaper. Aya felt queasy as the memories of her own accidental victims. More text echoed through her mind.
Xuary Xth
I killed an animal for fun. Then I got addicted. There's always dead cats and birds in my room.
Mother always gets mad when she finds them. Whenever mother is out, I hide the corpses in the dresser.
Aya's stomach turned as she realized what she had to do. She struggled not to vomit as she carefully grabbed the ends of the newspaper and placed the cat into one of the drawers. She did the same for the bird.
When the blue flame didn't disappear, Aya groaned in frustration. What had she missed? Aya suddenly remembered the woman, her grandmother apparently. She had to get her out of the room somehow.
Aya tried to shove the woman. To her shock, the woman slid across the floor as though it were ice. Aya gently pushed her out the sliding doors and shut them behind her. With that, the path appeared and Aya went forward.
The next room was the same as the last, except there was one less stack of newspapers and the cushions were set around the fire pit. Next to the dressers, a faceless doll in a blue kimono stood, as though watching the scene. That was hardly the most notable thing about the scene however as Aya saw the boy from before standing over the corpse of the woman, both covered in blood. She had a gaping wound in her chest. The knife used to commit the deed sat on the table.
Xuary Xth
Mother found out I was killing animals. Mother scolded me.
Shut Up.
I silenced mother with a knife. Mother fell over, all red. It didn't suit such a pretty face. So I wiped mother's face. Her dead face was very pretty.
Aya eyed the body of the woman, and realized her face as still bloodied. She gulped as she realized what she had to do. She grabbed the napkin from earlier. She hated using the Hungry Boy's gift for such a morbid purpose, but what choice did she have? She'd wash it later.
After Aya finished wiping the woman's face, she went for the knife. As she saw the sick look in the boy's eyes, she was reluctant to hand him a weapon. She reminded herself repeatedly that he wasn't real, and he couldn't hurt her. She placed the blade in his left hand, which was positioned to be gripped around it.
The path appeared before her and she approached the book. She hoped there wouldn't be much left. Fortunately, there was only one more page. The next area was different. It was a forest in winter, the soil was hard and cracked, the trees gnarled and lifeless. She saw her father standing in the middle of a gory scene, holding a bloodied pickaxe. A man lay next to him in a pool of his own blood, while a woman lay off to the side against a tree, her wounds still bleeding into an ever-accumulating puddle of her own. A woman sat still against a tree in front of the Doctor, her eyes blank and lifeless. She was like a doll. More words echoed through Aya's mind. Several came through oddly garbled.
Xuary Xth
I'd XXed mother. I got scared and ran away. Far, far away, across the ocean…
I wanted to forget everything. But I couldn't forget mother's pretty dead face.
I XXed another.
I eventually got addicted to seeing people's dead faces.
Aya got the feeling she knew what had to be done. She glanced at her chainsaw, it felt heavy in her hands. She raised it up and revved it. She cut against the woman's neck until the head fell off. A geyser of blood painted the tree. Aya was disturbed at how easy it was, and how wonderful it felt. She'd felt good when she killed the dolls and the ghouls, but they were monsters. She'd always heard killing people felt bad. Sure, she felt good operating on the animals, but she'd been trying to help them. She'd assumed the jolt of excitement and euphoria that came from the surgery had come from her excitement at treating the animal. Now she wasn't so sure. She shook rapidly as she pondered the thought.
No, no I'm not like that! I'm not like father! I can't be!
She looked down at the blood that covered her dress. She remembered back to the dolls in the cave. Back to the ghouls in the foyer. She remembered the excitement she'd felt when she'd killed them, the maniacal laughter she'd sent echoing through the foyer after she'd crushed the life out of the Brunette's head, the look of rage on the Blonde Ghoul's face as she charged her. She shook faster and faster, and her head began to spin. She felt as though she'd collapse from horror as much as exhaustion.
Suddenly she remembered what was at stake; what would happen to her father if she didn't keep going. She slapped herself, snapping herself out of her panic. She had to move forward. She marched over to the book and slammed it shut.
As the book closed, she found herself back in the study. The gate opened, revealing the path forward. Aya took one last deep breath, and glanced at the crow. The bird gave a look that seemed to be its attempt to encourage her, unless she was just projecting. She didn't care regardless. She pressed forward, deeper into the basement.