Hello everyone!
"Take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again."
- Frank Sinatra
"E-Es!" The Wanderer shouted when she came back to her senses. "This… this place is…"
The Hall of Inquiry. The place where both deities of this place said where she would go and collect EGO.
But the hall seems to be seeing better days, as the walls have cracks, and dust seems to be coming once and a while.
"Wait! Es!" She immediately looked to her right to see the door right there, but the symbol, the once glowing cyan is no more. All that is left is a darkened symbol… Almost symbolizing…
"There's no chance…" The Wanderer murmured, then she tries to open the door, but the door won't budge. "Why..? Why? Why!? Open! Come on, open..! Goddammit, open!" She slammed her own body to the door, but it wouldn't budge, "Please! I, I, I need to…" And in the last ditch, she punched the door, but nothing, nothing worked.
And there, the last straw has been pulled. There, she cried, wallowing for the events she's part in. All she wants is to know more about this place, and somehow, she wouldn't admit it but Es… has grown fond of her. Seeing her like that…
"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry I didn't get the message sooner…" She wailed, letting her emotion for the moment to be present.
Later…
The Wanderer sat there for a time she doesn't know passed. The once hall that is full with wonders, now replaced with lots of cracks and the whispers become insane. Her tears have already dried, but now, all she feels is hollow, an empty feeling that hasn't happened to her for a long time.
"Again… Why..?"
"We meet again, my lost child."
"E… Ego Rex..?"
And that familiar sound of grinding stone heard. And before the Wanderer, is that half faced wall appeared. But Rex clearly has taken whatever Es unleashed, visible cracks can be seen in their face, and she can feel that the cracks are still going.
"You have failed. You chose incorrectly."
I get it. Don't have to scrub it in my face. The frowned Wanderer thought, but unable to sound her thoughts as she is drained because of everything.
"However…"
At this the lone Wanderer perked, jerking her head towards the structure.
"H-However..?"
"Even so… If your spirit is yet intact, go to Es's room."
My spirit..? What do they mean by- That's when her face paled, she took a good look at herself.
Transparent. Her whole body is transparent. She is fading in and out of sight.
No. No way. She would never… But the Wanderer knows, despite her denial, deep inside she knows… That with the state Es in, and the display of apparently godly power she had, she-
She, she...
She stops that thought, unable to even think about it.
"Wipe clear the steps you've taken. Different choices lead to different results."
Different choices… The Wanderer just stares at the structure. "Tell me Ego Rex…"
"Ask your trouble, my lost child."
"Wipe clear. That's what you said. Wipe. Clear." The Wanderer doesn't know how, but she suddenly finds herself, yelling at the proclaimed administrator, "How can you just say that casually?! Wipe clear!? How can I choose a different one if all is already done!?"
Never more than ever in her life she wants to punch that wall. She doesn't care if it hurts her, just the satisfaction of hitting it would make her happy.
But the sudden found of adrenaline quickly fades, slumping the Wanderer. "... H-How am I able to do that?"
"Because you have the ability to do that." Answered Ego Rex, who's gaining the lone Wanderer's attention. "If you wish it, you will surely find…"Your true ending. Your true path."
"My… true ending…" Repeated the Wanderer, an energy that suddenly found her way to stand.
"When you clear the steps you've taken. Everything up to this would be forgotten."
"Forgotten?"
"It appears that everything will become like a dream to us. But…"
"... It's real. Everything that happened here is real… … … For me." The Wanderer looked at the door and asked another question. "Why can't I open that door in the first place? And shouldn't I've been passing through it instead because I'm a… s-sp-spirit..?"
"It's because of the reinforced magic of that door. Even in spirit or body, only with enough EGO should you be able to get in. But it appears you already have enough now."
EGO is a highly valuable thing here. I really underestimate that.
"Now I shall leave. Heed my parting words:"Es must be restrained. Es must be restrained." And with that, the structure splits, and disappears again in front of the Wanderer.
"Es… must be…" The Wanderer looked at the door again, the broken symbol of butterfly still not glowing. "... I'm coming." And when she holds the handle, the symbol slowly glows, as the Wanderer opens the door.
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… This place is a mess.
That's the only thought Wanderer thinks as the once organized library becomes a ruin like one. And close by, she can hear the certain girl hysterically laughing, as if she's fully aware but at the same time, unaware of the surroundings.
The Wanderer goes to the only source of sound, and sees the librarian, her ever stoic face before, now manic. And she's rambling about many things that the Wanderer can't follow nor she understands. But that's not what the Wanderer noticed, it was because…
… She can't see me… Sadly thought the Wanderer, as the girl seems to kinda acknowledge the woman's presence, but unable to process it or really, can't see her. That's when something else has her attention, looking behind the record room where the door is broken, there's another broken door, colored black like the outside ones.
That, that door… it's not there last time I checked. And that's when what the structure said echoed through her. This… this must be it..! The Wanderer takes one last glance at the girl who is still smiling creepily. And she sadly smiled at her. I'll be back. That's a promise.
And all she saw next is a flash and darkness greets her again.
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"I've been waiting for you. My lost child."
"Huh?"
The Wanderer looked to her surroundings, no cracks, no insane whispers. Just a normal blackened hall.
And…
Ego Rex in front of her. The split wall faced half man and woman.
"I am Ego Rex. I administer rules." The voices continued. "What you will find here with me… is you, yourself. Allow me to teach you. The ways of this place."
I really went back to the past. The Wanderer concluded, because there's no way this Façade would repeat it all if they already know the Wanderer. That's when the Wanderer remembered she needed to answer, "Er, yeah! I'll be glad to take your guidance, Ego Rex."
"Shed your daily life. Your life of searching. Here, you shall contemplate. Here, you shall learn." They continued not knowing the Wanderer already knows. "Listen to the whispers. Collect EGO. Walk these halls. Face Es when you are ready."
And same as ever there they go. The Wanderer thought as Ego Rex disappeared. … … … I'm facing Es again… For the second fresh time.
The Wanderer looked to the usual place where the door is. And this time the door is never hidden, present lo and behold to her, the onyx door, silver handle, and the glowing cyan butterfly itching in its frame.
"... Let's say hi to her." She spoke to herself as she opened the door.
I would like to hear your thoughts so far for this!