Castlevania - Elegy of Inheritance

by WhatIsAQM

Arthur Bernhard, 20 year old university student, has a horrible morning in which he is forced to flee from his home before finding that he's the target of a shady supernatural group.

I hear deep, rumbling laughter echoing all around me.

Grasping, clawing hands rise from the pool of inky darkness I stand atop of. I frantically look around for an escape but find the darkness stretches on as far as I can see. Despite my best efforts it's not long till one of the hands finds their intended target, grabbing ahold of my ankle. I am powerless to resist as I am dragged into the pool of darkness slowly, my entire body being subm-

October 8th 2019 - Tuesday, 7:10AM

I jolt awake. That same damn nightmare again! To make matters even worse, my overly loud mobile phone seems to have woken me up with some obnoxiously happy sounding tune way before the time I set my alarm for.

I give my eyes a moment to adjust to the light of the phone's display before looking to see just who thought it could possibly be a good idea to call somebody at this time in the morning.

The mobile display reads "Shirley", of course, who else could possibly think of ringing me nearly three hours before my first class but her. This girl, honestly, does she even sleep?

I let out a brief sigh before swiping the 'accept call' button.

"What... do you want, Shirley?" I groggily croak out with a voice completely devoid of merriment.

"Oh great! You're awake!" comes her characteristically chipper reply. "Umm, Do you mind if I come round, Arthur? I need to talk to you about something important." That's new, she almost sounds like she's being serious for once, maybe it really is important.

"Oh, well sure, I guess. Mind telling me what this is all about?" The only response I receive to my question is the disconnected call tone. Did she seriously just hang up on me? "Well, I guess It'll just have to be a surprise, whatever 'it' is..." I mutter under my breath, letting out another exasperated sigh. I've known her for almost eight years now and she's still no easier to deal with than the day we first met.

I take about ten minutes getting myself looking presentable, I opt for a rather plain outfit of a white dress shirt and black suit trousers before heading to the kitchen to brew a coffee. It's meant to be pretty cold out today, so I'll probably have to grab a jacket before I leave.

As I drink the beverage, I get lost in thoughts, remembering the day my parents just decided to send a 12 year old halfway across the world alone still stings a little. Especially when their only given reason was an offhanded "we think that studying abroad would be healthy for your development". It's pretty obvious they just wanted to get rid of me though, my elder brother and sister were never given such treatment and deep down, there's a part of me that loathes them for it. They weren't really the ones responsible for this, I know, and it's not like I've hated my time in the USA either. But the fact that I was sent away from home without a second-thought by my parents will forever grind away at me.

Ah well, At least I get to make my own decisions here. I even got permission to move into my own apartment and away from the dusty old mansion that I was living in with my aunt and cousins. I find myself missing living there sometimes, I enjoy the freedom I get by having my own place to live, however, it would be a lie to say that I don't miss my cousins, they always treated me more like a brother than my elder siblings back home ever did.

A loud thump on the door knocks me from my musings, sounds like somebody is impatient.

I yawn as I set my drink down on the coffee table. I can already tell that today is going to be a real pain in the neck. I rise to my feet, quickly approaching the door.

Another thump. This one is even louder than the last. Up close I notice that the door seems to be shaking slightly from the force it's being pounded with, what the hell does Shirley think she's playing at?

I put an eye up to the peep-hole, expecting to see the impatient face of a rather rude girl who has no respect for the schedules of their close friends, nor their property, it seems.

Of course I am quite surprised when I actually find myself looking at the chest of an enormous hooded figure, instead of Shirley's face.

I take a moment to look at this unknown individual. I can't get a good look at his face, covered by a loose hood, but I can tell one thing. He's huge! He's actually bending down slightly to avoid hitting the ceiling of the corridor!

The man pounds at the door again, but this time, the creaking of wood accompanies the noisy thud of fist against door. Damn it! I don't know what on Earth is going on, but this guy is clearly trying to smash down the front door, and is probably going to succeed in that endeavour in very short order.

I look around my apartment for anything that could possibly help me in this situation. What really isn't helping my panic-stricken mind is that I'm on the fifth floor of the apartment block, but there must be something I can do!

I back away from the door as quickly as I can while remaining silent. The thumps get louder and louder as I creep from the entranceway.

I need to get something to defend myself with, fast!

There's been no reason to carry it around with me for the past few months, given the university's restrictions on weaponry, but I remember the last place I stored my pistol well enough, looks like those hours spent at the shooting range might not be a waste after all.

I hear another noise from outside.

The sound of a door opening. Not my door, no, but my neighbour, Mr Spencer's. I can hear his angry yelling quite clearly

"Hey, asshole! Do you have any idea what time it is? Some people here are trying to slee-urk!"

Something cuts off his furious outburst and for a moment all is silent, and that's when I hear it.

A sickening crunch.

A soft whump.

Silence once again.

My imagination goes wild and I nearly vomit just from thinking about what could've happened outside. Whoever or whatever this guy is, he's probably not here just to rob me.

I dash the rest of the way into my room. Opening one of the draws, I find exactly what I'm looking for. My trusty pistol, a Beretta 92, it's holster, a few extra magazines and a Combat Knife, though I seriously don't want to go anywhere near that monster.

A loud crash resounds through my apartment, I peek through the crack in the ajar door to see that my front door has been reduced to splinters of various sizes and the huge man is forcibly squeezing his way through the now open doorway. If I'm going to act, now is probably the time to do it. Then again, I am now right next to the fire escape. Climbing down should be simple enough, if I can get the damn window open, that is.

There's no other option. I have to kill them. I slam the bedroom door open before removing myself from cover, taking aim at the huge man trying to force himself through the comparatively tiny entrance to my home.

I fire at the man.

I keep firing until a distinctive click tells me I'm out of bullets.

They slump down after I unload 15 rounds straight into their chest

Satisfied that they are dead, I move into the living room once more, and take a closer look at the dead giant.

The man is totally unmoving and I finally get a look at the expressionless face which seems to still be staring directly at me. It's a horrible gory red patchwork, with huge stitches separating the different tones of red. But perhaps the most unnerving aspect of all are the eyes of the beast, gouged out entirely, only pitch black chasms remain in their place.

Were it not for the adrenaline coursing through me, I likely would've recoiled in horror at the bizarre sight, instead I simply holster my gun as I let out a tense breath.

I need to call the police, and probably warn Shirley not to come round too.

I fish my phone out of a pocket before unlocking it and bringing up the dial screen.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I notice something impossible.

It's whole body twitches as all of a sudden, the expressionless creature's face becomes a visage of inhuman rage. It lets out a deafening primordial roar of hatred before simply smashing directly through the doorway!

I drop the phone in shock, as the impossibly alive creature, now only meters away, lunges straight at me!

I compose myself, this guy might be huge, but after seeing that display, it's clear that he's pretty slow and clumsy too.

Despite my brief moment of surprise at his display of strength, I'm ready for him.

I jolt my head to the side quicker than I thought possible, avoiding the huge palm reaching for my head. The moment before the creature can properly recover, I use my left foot to slide my phone across the floor towards my bedroom door and with the momentum I spin on my heel so that I'm facing the door leading to my escape.

As I start to move, I can feel the other hand nearly scrape along my back as it attempts to seize me in it's grasp, but I'm too fast for him, in fact, as I bound across the room I crouch down, picking up the mobile in one swift motion.

Before I disappear behind my door, I allow myself a quick glance at the monster. It still hasn't moved from where it was. Only now is it starting to move towards me again. Good. I've probably got enough time to escape then. I unlock the latch keeping the window closed.

A brief push on it reveals the damn thing is jammed shut.

I don't let such a minor setback stop me though, as I back away from the window to get a running start before kicking the window with all my might. As my foot connects with the frame, I hear a crack.

The window swings open with great force, snapping off the hinges! It's a good thing that the landlord is such a cheapskate, otherwise there's no way I would've been able to pull that off.

I snap back to reality, now isn't the time to contemplate the low build quality of my apartment.

I clamber through the window and onto the metal staircase, gliding down then as fast as my legs will allow.

I glance back at the window, and sure enough, the creature is staring at me.

It's not long before I'm on the ground. But I keep running. People's faces pass by at high speed, but I'm totally focused, I avoid running into any of them. I don't stop running until I've passed three blocks.

Then, when I'm finally sure that I'm safe. I stop.

I'm gasping for air, I've never run so far that quickly in my entire life. It feels like I just ran an entire marathon. Now that I'm out of the danger, I start thinking about what just happened. Who, or better, what the hell was that guy? Why was it my door he was knocking on?

But the most important question of all is of course...

What should I do now?

Right, first things first. I need to make sure that Shirley isn't going to get herself killed by wandering into that deathtrap. I take my phone out of my pocket and am quite surprised by just how poor a state it's in. There's way too many cracks on the screen. I've never dropped it once and it breaks this badly the very first time I do?

Looking past the damage for a second, I still need to call my friend and make sure she's ok.

I step into a sleepy café as I dial her. It's one I frequent fairly often whenever I need to get up early. The decoration of the place reminds me of the mansion I used to live in, so I also tend to visit whenever I miss living there. I lean against a wall as the phone rings.

The phone keeps ringing. What if she arrived just after I left? I hope she would be intelligent enough to see the damage and just run back the way she came rather than investigate.

But just as I begin to assume the worst, the phone is picked up. "Shir-" I get out half a word before she loudly interrupts me "Not now, Arthur! I'm really busy!" she basically shouts at the receiver before hanging up. Well, at least I know she's safe for now.

I sigh, taking a seat at one of the tables. I request an espresso from the waitress when she comes round to take my order. After a few minutes of waiting, the drink is delivered to me. As it's set down on the table, I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket.

It's a text from Shirley.

It simply reads. 'We need to talk.'

My reply is likewise blunt. 'Haven Café on Third Street.'

She's been acting suspicious all morning and nearly being murdered has understandably got me too on edge to want to write anything further, that and the state of the screen is poor enough to draw blood from a careless typer.

I sit there quietly, drinking my coffee, at least this time, I'll get to finish it. I have nothing else to do while waiting, so I simply sit there, pondering. It's odd, though I am on edge, it feels like I've recovered from my brush with death a little too quickly, I'm certainly not in shock, at least.

I hear a chime as the door opens, a pretty blonde girl wearing a fairly impractical looking white dress walks into the café. Shirley sure was fast, was she nearby? As she enters, she quickly spots me, her green eyes fixating on me as she walks over.

She pulls up the chair opposite me and sits down. She looks around awkwardly before she says anything. "So... I suppose you have questions about this morning."

Does she know what happened and about that beast or is she just talking about her early call?

"Yeah, I do have quite a few questions, actually. But to make sure we're on the same page here. I want you to tell me just what the hell that thing was." She looks you directly in the eye as she answers.

"The thing that was after you is called a Flesh Golem they are artificial life forms created by alchemists stitching together various parts from corpses and animating them with magic, they are usually created with a focus on strength, though they are generally less effective than most other kinds of Golem. Except the orders they can follow are a little more complicated" She explains to me what that thing was like it's the simplest thing in the world, it sounds like something I'd see in some sort of fantasy novel or horror story.

"Flesh Golems? Alchemists?" I echo her words. "What are you talking about? Are you telling me that thing was magical?"

Shirley sighs before nodding.

"Yes. I'm really not supposed to tell you this, and it's going to sound a little unbelievable, but magic is real." I'm aren't nearly as surprised as I would've been before this morning, but her revelation still shakes me.

"Then, if magic is real, what exactly do these alchemists want with me? Why did that thing try to kill me?" I continue my questioning of the girl. It seems she's been living a double life all this time.

"I can't really say why they would want to kill you exactly, it's not exactly easy to read the motives of insane magicians y'know?." "I see." it's not the answer I wanted at all, but it will have to suffice for now.

"So this thing, this Flesh Golem, where exactly is it now? Is it still following me? How do I get it to stop?" As I remember the golem, I briefly recall the terrible crunching sound of it's casual elimination of my neighbour, before burying the memory again.

"Don't worry. It's dead." What? What does she mean? She couldn't possibly mean to say tha- "Yes. I killed it."

It seems she knows exactly what I'm thinking.

"But how?!" I can't keep my voice down as I express my surprise at her claim. "That thing was invincible!"

She smiles "Magic, remember? Those alchemists aren't the only ones that can use it."

I frown at her casual response "Right, so how did you use magic to kill it?"

She breaks eye contact, looks at the floor and murmurs something inaudible.

"Sorry, but I didn't catch that. How did you kill it, Shirley?" I repeat myself.

"W-well, you might not know this, but Flesh Golems have a weakness to spells of the um... Fire Element." I don't like where she's going with this. "So I uh, might have caused a little bit of damage to your apartment..." her voice fades out.

I simply stare at her in response. Not only have I had a man try to murder me and heard the untimely end of my neighbour, but now I'm homeless too! I stare at her, doing my best to keep my expression unreadable.

"Hey! Don't stare at me like that! I wasn't exactly expecting to be attacked by that Golem!"

"Oh? Then what were you expecting was going to attack me? It's rather coincidental that you called me this morning, I'd say you already knew that I was being targeted by someone." Shirley groans as I say that.

"Look, I wanted to avoid having to tell you any of this at all. I was planning on getting to your place before whatever they sent after you did to get you out of there, but they were faster than we anticipated. Sorry." So it's as I suspected, she knew from the start that I was being targeted! She's obviously hiding something from me, though I can't imagine what it could be.

"Well fine. That brings me to my last question anyway. Who exactly are you Shirley? How do you know all of this stuff about magic and the guys targeting me?" A determined look appears on her face.

"Oh, me? My name is Shirley Renard! Vampire hunter!" That sounded terribly rehearsed, and I'm pretty sure that some other people in the café are now staring at the two of us. I'm not sure what I was supposed to respond with, but my complete lack of a reaction to her dramatic introduction certainly wasn't what she expected.

She sighs before explaining herself.

"Fine. I work for an international organization dedicated to stopping the world from falling into darkness from the efforts of the supernatural, I'm one of their newer recruits. Is that enough for you?" She finishes her explanation with a question.

"I guess. But what exactly am I supposed to do now?"

She goes silent for a moment before giving me a response. "It would really be better if you just forgot what happened today and went back to your normal life, my organization can take care of things."

"No. I can't just go back to a normal life, not after today. I was nearly killed, my neighbour is dead and you've apparently blown my house up." I refuse her. There's no way in hell I'm just going to be able to pretend nothing happened today.

"Are you sure? Do you understand just what you're putting yourself up against here, Arthur?" She says in a worried tone.

"I don't need to know much more about them other than the fact that they are trying to kill me and will go to great lengths to achieve their ends. I can't just rely on the protection of an organization I barely know anything about while I wait at home, wondering if the next knock on the door is from somebody trying to kill me." My mind is set in stone. I'm going to get to the bottom of this myself.

"If that's what you've decided, I suppose I can't change your mind, huh?" Her voice is quiet and she's looking at the ground.

"That's correct, I'm not just going to back away from this.". Though there's one thing that's been gnawing at me, ever since the start of this conversation, and I can't stop myself from asking it. "Shirley, I want you to tell me one more thing."

"Huh?" The girl looks up at me. I notice her eyes are glistening ever so slightly.

"How long have you been involved with this organization, exactly?." There's not a hint of emotion in my voice.

"W-well, I was trained from birth to be a member of it." She replies in almost a whisper

I decide against pressing her further for information, just that statement alone in conjunction with all the other evidence is enough to tell me she was likely meant to watch over me in particular for some reason. But it looks like pushing her any further would just upset her more, with how she's currently acting she might even start crying. Her failure has apparently hit her pretty hard.

Instead, I just sit there. Thinking of all that has happened in the past hour. I can't help but wonder just who these mysterious Alchemists behind that monster are. What do they want with me? As far as I can tell, I'm just a normal 20 year old man. But apparently, there's something about me that makes a magical organization send somebody to keep tags on me and makes alchemists send walking death machines to kill me. It just doesn't add up! Why me?

"Hey, Arthur." Shirley snaps me out of my thoughts. "Have you got anywhere to stay tonight? You can't really go back to your apartment after... well, you know."

"Yeah, I'll probably just end up getting a hotel room for the night." In truth, I hadn't given it much thought. Thankfully, my wallet contains around 300 dollars, so I should be OK for today at least.

"Oh. Well, OK!." Shirley seems to have recovered from whatever was causing her to act so upset earlier. "If you're serious about this, you're probably going to want to get a better weapon than that pistol of yours, you should probably know that bullets won't be all that effective on the sort of things you intend to be going up against."

"Well..." I trail off as I start trying to think of a response, but nothing really comes to mind. If my pistol did so little damage to that thing, then outside of high-calibre machine guns and explosives, I doubt there's anything that could actually kill one of those damn things, and I'm not capable of getting ahold of either.

"I thought so, you do know you can't just run into dangerous situations completely unprepared and expect to come out on top?" Is she scolding me? I haven't even done anything yet! "But," she continues "I might be able to get you something a little more effective. If you ask nicely."

"Fine. Shirley please, can you get me something that will kill those things?" It hurts my pride a little to ask her, but between being completely defenceless and not asking for help or having a weapon that actually might work, the latter option wins out. I never were one to look a gift horse in the mouth anyway.

She has an irritatingly smug look on her face as she responds. "Why of course! Seeing as you asked so nicely, I'll see what I can do."

I groan, though at least she's acting like she normally does again. There is another topic I need to bring up, and unfortunately, Shirley is the only one who would know anything about it. "So... These alchemists, do you have any idea where they actually are?"

"We're still tracking their whereabouts, though we believe that they've set themselves up somewhere in the city. They've covered their tracks pretty well too." Her response has a tinge of regret to it. "We should be able to find them and deal with them in the next few days though, which is why I wanted you to just stay out of things. You're just putting yourself in danger for no reason, you know?."

"I already told you that I'm not going to be convinced against going after these guys." I remind her.

"Right, I know, I know. I'm just worried is all." Her concern does seem genuine, but I'm not sure if I can really trust it. This girl has been responsible for monitoring me since she was twelve years old, after all, so she probably has an ulterior motive behind not wanting me involved.

I finish my coffee and put the empty cup down on the table. Checking my phone, I see that the time is 8:40 AM. I should probably get going, today is going to be quite a busy day, what with all the preparation to stop whatever evil wizard that is apparently after me that I'm going to have to do.

I step out of the café, Shirley following close behind. I've got a lot to do, but I need to decide what I'm going to do first.

"I'm going to go check out my apartment then, or what's left of it, that is. I'm going to try seeing if there's anything salvageable left." There's a part of me that is concerned about the safety of such an action, but seeing as Shirley makes no effort to stop me, it's probably fine, right? As I begin to take the route back to my apartment, I turn to Shirley once more. "So, why did your organization have you monitor me for so long, anyway?" With how evasive she's been, I doubt she'll give me a straight answer now, but I may as well try my luck.

Shirley sighs. "You probably won't believe this, but I was never really told. All they told me was that it would be 'dangerous' if you were ever 'to fall into the wrong hands' but everything else was kept top secret" She replies before spinning on her heel "I'll see you later, Arthur!" She calls as she runs off to God only knows where, I consider following her to see where she goes for a moment before thinking better of it.

I begin the short walk back to my apartment, explaining this to the police is going to be horrible, I can't even begin to think how I'm going to get out of this one.

Strangely, as I approach the apartment building once more, all seems normal. There are no police officers swarming the building, and there isn't some raging inferno consuming it either. It's really off-putting, that something so terrible could occur, and nobody around even seems to have noticed it. I consider going back up through the fire escape, but decide that if there is an investigation going on in my apartment building, suddenly leaping through a broken window is going to be quite the bad look. I brace myself for the worst as I push open the front door to the complex.

It's totally silent. It feels like there isn't a single noise throughout the entire building. The silence is eerie. Shaking off a feeling of oncoming dread, I ascend to the first floor, my footsteps echoing around the stairwell as I ascend the steps.

I reach the first floor and there's still nothing to indicate any signs of life in the building, I even poke my head into the corridor for a moment in an attempt to hear somebody getting ready. Nothing.

I go back to trudging up the stairs, it's the same story for the rest of the floors. When I reach floor 4, I consider shouting out to see if anybody would respond, but I decide against it at the last minute.

Then, I find myself at the door to the fifth floor. I draw my pistol, making sure to reload it. Steeling my nerves, I push on the door, expecting it to swing open as it has done hundreds of times for me in the past. Except the door doesn't give way, in fact, it doesn't even budge slightly.

Is it locked? I start looking for the lock on the door. I'm not quite sure who locked the damn thing, but I'm getting past this obstacle one way or another.

Then I remember something.

This door doesn't actually have a lock.

I take a breath. Whatever is jamming this door shut, I'm not going to let stop me from getting to my apartment, I've had quite enough of these magical types interfering with my life already, and after everything else they've done, having the audacity to lock me out of my own home is just about enough to cause me to lose my temper.

In a rage, I slam my foot against the centre of the door hoping to smash it off its hinges. Nothing happens, there isn't even a sound from the impact. It's almost like the door completely absorbed the force of the blow. This unexpected result does naught but fuel my anger further. I kick the door again, there's still no visible reaction as the flimsy looking door once again remains completely unaffected by my strongest kick.

Perhaps it's hopeless. Whatever is sealing this door shut, it's clearly not going to break from just being kicked. In resignation, I give the infuriating door one last feeble kick.

There's still no sound, but as I go to walk away to try the fire escape I notice something strange going on with the door.

My last kick wasn't quite as ineffective as I assumed it would be. There are multiple fractures beginning to slowly spread through the door from the point of impact. Perhaps there was a weak point to whatever was keeping it shut and I simply got lucky?

As I watch the fractures slowly grow, purple light begins emanating from the newly formed cracks in the door. Growing brighter as the fissures in the wood spread further. Then, before I can react, there's a flash of bright light as the door explodes inwards.

I cover my eyes as shards of wood burst into the hallway in front of me, the larger fragments burying themselves in the walls and floor of the corridor.

Whatever just happened, the door blocking my path is no longer an issue. My eyes slowly adjust to the after-effects of the blinding flash, and it's not long until I finally get a look at the corridor. The first thing I notice is the surprising absence of Mr. Spencer's body. I was fully expecting and had prepared myself mentally for the gruesome sight of my neighbour's mutilated corpse, yet there's no sign of his body anywhere, in fact there isn't even any blood. I suppose that Shirley must have taken care of the body somehow, rather than just leaving it to be discovered by the next person. I feel a strange relief, which makes me shudder slightly, considering the morbid topic. I make a mental note to ask Shirley about what happened later.

The next thing I notice is that my front door, despite seeing it being completely destroyed just an hour ago, is strangely intact. I approach the anomalously repaired door and grab the handle, only for my open hand to pass straight through it. An illusion? Something that would have seemed like an impossibility yesterday is now the first thing that comes to mind. I'm not sure what I'll find on the other side of the false door but I am not going to let uncertainty stop me.

I walk through the door and the first thing I notice is a huge circular burn mark centred in the middle of the room that nearly reaches the walls. Shirley apparently wasn't joking when she mentioned a fire spell. Taking in the sight of my ruined apartment, I see that my living room is almost totally destroyed, there's likely nothing that survived damage here. I move towards my bedroom, sticking near the walls in case the burnt floor is unstable, the last thing I need right now is to plummet into the room below me. The entrance to my room is smashed from where that Flesh Golem tried to follow me during my escape, but the room itself is in roughly the same condition I left it in.

"So. You're the one that everyone is so interested in, are you?" A spectral, echoing voice fills the room. I jump in surprise, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Whoever this voice belongs to, they don't seem to be actively trying to kill me. Though I keep my pistol readied, I'm certainly not about to let my guard down now that I know I'm not alone.

"You certainly are quite the brave one, aren't you? Coming back to a scene of such carnage so quickly after you escaped from it." The voice takes on a mocking tone. "But I've seen enough to find out what I wanted to know now. We'll meet again, Arthur." Just like that, the atmosphere of the apartment feels less oppressive as the speaker's presence fades.

I exhale as I sit on my bed. I came here for a reason though, so I don't delay for too long.

As I get up to start searching around my room for anything that might come in useful, I figure it would probably be a good idea to tell Shirley about the locked door and my encounter with that strange voice before anything else. I pull my phone out from my pocket and quickly dial her. She picks up after the first few rings

"Oh, Arthur. Is everything OK on your end?" She sounds kind of wary.

"Well, mostly." I quickly respond to her question

"What's wrong, Arthur? Did anything happen over there? I did set up a temporary barrier to prevent them from just sending another monster after I left." Huh? A barrier? Then was she the one who locked the door?

"Well. You could've told me that you set up a barrier. It's not nice locking doors like that, Shirley." I try to hide my annoyance at her short-sightedness by taking on a slightly patronizing attitude instead of raising my voice.

There's a good few seconds of silence before she formulates a response. "Sorry, what?"

"What do you mean 'what'? You locked the door from the stairwell, didn't you?" Now I'm just as confused as she is. This conversation already feels like a disaster and I haven't even brought up the mysterious presence to her yet.

"No... I set up a magical barrier around the apartment building to ward off evil, what are you talking about?" She takes an inquisitive tone as she begins to question me.

"Well... For some reason, when I tried to open the door to my apartment's floor. It wouldn't open. I think it was some kind of magic, because when I kicked it, it exploded." I explain myself.

There's an even longer silence this time.

"Shirley? Are you still there?" Did I get disconnected?

I hear a sigh some distance away from the receiver. "Yes Arthur. So, what happened after you kicked an exploding door?" She continues her questioning, all the energy she normally speaks with seems to have drained away from her.

"Right, so after the door exploded, I walked through the door to my place and found that my living room was totally ruined but disregarding the destruction of my house for a moment, the reason for me calling you happened after I reached my room."

"And what was this reason, Arthur?" She states in an emotionless, robotic fashion.

"Well, I'm hoping you could tell me what it was, but there was this strange presence that started talking to me, like some sort of strange disembodied voice. But it didn't really talk all that much. It said it had found what it wanted to know and that we would meet again before vanishing."

"I really can't leave you alone for 10 minutes before you manage to run into some sort of trouble, can I?" She sounds more annoyed than anything else. "Look, just meet me at the coffee shop when you're done with whatever you went to your apartment to do and we'll talk there. Oh, and try not to run into any werewolves while you're at it. See you later." She hangs up.

Right, now that's out of the way, I can finally look through my room and pack what's left of my things.

I grab a luggage bag from under my bed, making sure to grab my hidden wedge of cash when I do. Flicking through it shows there's around 2000 dollars altogether. Well if there ever was a rainy day, this would be it.

Pocketing the wedge I open my wardrobe. After a few moments of deliberation I pack a few changes of clothes, It's unlikely I'll be coming back here again any time soon. I also grab a black jacket to wear for now, the weather is still quite cold, after all.

After packing my bags, I start searching through my room for anything else that might be of some use. I find the extra bullet box I bought months ago hidden behind a textbook, as well as a flash-light that had rolled underneath the wardrobe.

Satisfied with my efforts, I grab the luggage handle and start walking out of the apartment.

My journey back outside of the apartment block is uneventful, when I open the door to the fourth floor just to check, I hear the tell-tale sounds of people preparing for the coming day. The silence that greeted me before is gone. Whatever was causing the eerie quiet is gone now. I decide to make haste anyway, I did leave quite a mess on the Fifth Floor which I would rather not have to explain to any concerned residents.

As I step out of the building, I once again find myself on the somewhat empty road I'm so familiar with. It would probably be for the best if I go back to the café as soon as possible. While I might still need to arrange accommodations, it's hardly a pressing issue, and I can't think of anything else I might want to do.

I think back to what that voice said as I begin the walk back to Haven Café. I don't know what it wanted to find out from me, but whatever it was after, it seemed to have been satisfied.

Then there was that magically locked door. Was the voice responsible for that? Why? What could it have been doing in my apartment anyway? It just doesn't add up. I'm really hoping Shirley can shed some light on my questions.

As I turn a corner, I am snapped out of my musings as I spot something fairly unusual. There's a dark-haired girl standing statue still in the middle of the road on the otherwise empty street. She looks a couple of years younger than me and is wearing a cheap looking blank white t-shirt and jeans.

She isn't moving at all and seems to be in some sort of daze, simply staring blankly into space. There aren't any cars in sight right now, but leaving this girl just standing there is clearly an accident waiting to happen.

"Hey!" I call out to the girl, though if she can hear me, she doesn't make any sign of it, as she continues staring at nothing in particular with glazed over dark purple eyes.

I need to get this girl out of the street as soon as possible. Whatever her problem is, I can't just leave her standing in the middle of the road with a clear conscience, it's just too dangerous.

I march up to the girl, but there's still no visible reaction to my presence at all. It's like she doesn't notice me at all.

This girl is getting on my nerves now, as my concern slowly begins to give way to irritation, I grab her left arm with the intent to drag her away from the middle of the road.

Though as I grab her, she lets out a surprised yelp. Slumping forward towards me as I pull her, her surprisingly light body going limp as she collapses into my arms. Did she seriously just faint?

Great. I really could've done without this today.

But now I know that I really can't just leave this girl alone, I'm not sure what kind of condition she has or whether she's under the influence of some drug, but leaving her collapsed here would be too cruel. I sigh as I place one of my arms around her back and my other around the back of her knees before hoisting her into a princess carry. As I hold her, I notice that she does seem to be breathing OK, so it's hopefully nothing serious.

I'm just glad this street is empty right now, otherwise I'd be getting quite a few suspicious looks.

I quickly carry her to the side of the road. It's lucky there's a bench nearby for me to set her down in, otherwise who knows how long I would have had to have maintained this frankly awkward situation with an unconscious, unknown girl. I watch the girl for a few minutes after carefully placing her on the bench. Just as I decide it would likely be wise to call an ambulance, the girl begins to stir.

Her eyes blink open and she stares directly at me. I suppose that's an improvement over staring into nothing, but it's rather unnerving.

"Are you OK?" I take the initiative to ask the girl. "You fainted in the middle of the street. Do you need to be taken to a hospital?"

The girl stares at me for a moment, unblinking. Then she simply shakes her head at me. How strange. Is she a mute or something? She seemed to understand me well enough.

While the girl and her non-vocal response are odd, now that I've determined that she's probably fine, I should get going myself. I turn my back to the girl, continuing my walk back to the café.

The remainder of my walk is uneventful. But as I reach my destination, I spot something quickly moving out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head slightly to see the girl clumsily trying to hide behind a tree.

Her behaviour has ascended beyond merely being "odd" and would now be more accurately described as "bizarre".

I turn around slowly, pretending not to notice the girl as I do. She's trying to further hide behind the tree to avoid my gaze, though she doesn't seem to notice her long black hair gently blowing in the wind is totally ruining any attempt to hide. She really isn't very good at this.

"You know I can see you behind there, right?" I speak while facing the tree. Just what is this girl's deal anyway?

For a moment, there isn't any reaction from the girl. But after a few moments pass, she peeks her head out from behind the tree, only to find me staring directly at her.

The girl just keeps staring at me with a shocked expression, like a deer caught in the headlights.

I shake my head, breaking the eye contact. "Look, I don't know what you want, but there's no need to be so secretive. You're pretty bad at hiding anyway."

The strange girl seems to regain her composure after I say that. She slowly comes out from behind the tree and begins walking towards me.

I briefly consider asking what her name is. Though I manage to stop myself before I make myself look like a fool. Though I can't exactly say nothing to the girl now standing only a few feet away. "So... what do you actually want anyway?" I settle on asking her a question that I hope she can answer without having to talk.

The girl quickly looks around before briefly frowning and pointing at the café behind me. Well, it's pretty obvious from her worried glances around the street that she probably doesn't want a coffee, I wonder why she seems so distressed though.

I oblige her request, turning around and walking to the entrance. The girl follows closely behind me as I push open the door. I glance around the inside of the café. Hm, I figured that Shirley would've been waiting for me here. She must have gotten held up somehow.

I take a seat and the girl follows my lead, sitting opposite to me. I look at the menu for a moment before a flash of inspiration strikes me. "This might sound a little rude, but can you read?"

The girl nods in affirmation, though the look on her face shows that my question has quite clearly confused her.

"Excellent! Then I think I've got an idea." I pull a pen from one of my jacket's pockets and quickly scribble the alphabet down on a napkin. "Here, with this, I can actually kind of talk to you. Just point to the letters." I tell her, handing her the napkin.

She quickly points to the "O" before pointing at the "K".

For the first time since I met her, she has a faint smile on her face.

"Alright then. I've got a few questions for you." The girl nods at me, looks like she's agreeing to answer my questions. "But first off, I suppose introductions are in order, my name is Arthur, and yours?"

The girl seems to think for a moment before pointing to the letters that make out "THERESIA".

"Theresia, huh?" She smiles again as she nods. "Well then Theresia, I need to ask. Why exactly were you just standing there in the middle of the road?

Theresia seems lost in thought for a moment while she considers her response. Finally she comes to a decision and points out "WISHING" on the napkin.

She can't be serious. "Wishing? Wishing for what?" Does she not understand that she was putting herself in danger by zoning out like that?

"FOR" a pause indicates the end of the word. "HELP" comes her next response.

I frown at her response, this girl is just making less and less sense. "If you needed help then why did you follow a complete stranger?"

Theresia has a strangely satisfied expression on her face as she points out her next response, "YOU HELPED".

Huh? She decided to follow me just because I moved her out of the road? What the hell is wrong with this girl? Does she really think that counts as me accepting to just help her in general? I'm almost definitely going to regret asking her this, but I can't stop myself, "Why do you need help?"

She nervously looks around the room before hanging her head and pointing out "CHASED".

I should have expected something like this, honestly. Especially with how she's been sneakily glancing around at the few other customers in the café every so often.

"Yeah, I think after today I can sort of understand what that's like." Theresia looks up at me, apparently confused by my response, but I quickly change the topic. "I take it you don't have anywhere to go then?" Theresia nods. "What about family?"

A scowl appears on the usually expressionless girl's face. At my mention of "family" her hands ball into tight fists and I swear I can hear her teeth grinding together. Then the angry reaction fades away as quickly as it occurred. She shakes her head, trying to ignore her own silent outburst.

Man, and I thought I had family issues.

"So, what are you going to do now? You surely must have some sort of plan," though before the girl can answer me, I hear a loud familiar cough coming from directly behind me, I didn't even hear her approach.

I turn my head as slowly as I can in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable.

I find myself looking up at a fairly annoyed looking girl. "So Arthur, who's the girl? Do you really think it's a good time for this?" Of course. Knowing Shirley, she probably thinks this is some sort of date, or that I'm trying to pick up girls. She's always been quick to assume stuff like that, although she's usually wrong about it. Though I suppose I technically did pick Theresia up, albeit in the more literal sense.

"It's not a date or whatever you think this is." I quickly attempt to clear things up by denying her assumption immediately. "This is Theresia, she... kind of followed me here of her own accord after she fainted earlier. But why are you so late anyway? Didn't you tell me to meet you here?" Honestly, this girl really is terrible at keeping a schedule, isn't she?

"Oh, I see, that's," she pauses for a moment, "fine. Also about my being late, there's no reason really. I just had to go clean up a mess somebody else made. Again." Wow, she sounds even more annoyed now. It's probably better if I don't push her for more info on this particular subject, lest it's somehow related to me. She seems really irritable today, unlike how she usually is. Is this her true personality, or is it just that she's still upset about her failure earlier this morning?

Regardless I shouldn't really dwell on it, it's not like it matters all too much whether she was on time or not and I wasn't just sitting and waiting for her to show up.

"Well anyway, Arthur, we've got a few things to discuss haven't we?" She looks to Theresia, her eyes narrowing as she does. "Privately."

If Theresia caught her meaning, she doesn't show it, making no effort to move from her seat at all. Simply ignoring Shirley's order.

Shirley sighs, "Fine then. I don't know just who or what you are, but I'm not going to give you another chance. Leave now, or else." Wait, hold on. Just what's come over her?

I take a quick glance at Theresia, it's subtle, but the girl seems to be shaking ever so slightly. Yet she makes no action to move. I need to put a stop to this before it escalates. "Whoa! Shirley, what are you doing? You can't just threaten people like that to get them to go away!"

"You don't understand, Arthur." Shirley states coldly while keeping her gaze firmly fixed on Theresia. "This girl is clearly dangerous. I imagine she was actually planning to follow you in order to kill you." She finishes in an accusatory tone.

Theresia slams her palm on the table. As I face her in response to the sudden noise, I notice a pleading look in her eyes, staring right at me.

"Just, hold on for a minute. Shirley. What makes you think all this anyway?" I question her. I'm almost certain Theresia isn't some sort of magical assassin, she just seems too harmless for something like that.

"You can't see it, but I can. This girl has a distinct magical energy swirling about her. It's pretty faint, but I noticed it when I got a good look at her just now." Shirley declares without a shred of doubt in her voice.

"Don't you think you're jumping to a dangerous conclusion here, Shirley? Just because she has some sort of magical energy? I might not know much about how these things work, but common sense dictates if she were really some kind of assassin ordered to kill me, she would have tried to stop me from meeting you here. Oh, and she told me that she's being chased. Now, what do you think the odds are that she's being targeted by the same people after me?" I can't bear to watch Shirley one-sidedly condemn a girl that can't speak back, so I argue for her sake. I hope it's enough to convince Shirley to calm down for a moment.

The two girls stare daggers at each other in complete silence. A minute passes before Shirley exhales. "Alright. Fine. But I'm going to be keeping my eye on her. I don't trust her." It's a start, at least.

Shirley pulls up a chair and sits next to me. "Well, now that that's sorted out, can we talk about the people sending monsters to kill me, or maybe that voice I heard?"

"Well, first off, the voice you heard could have been anything." That's... not the answer I was hoping for. She continues in spite of my disappointment. "It could've been a spirit, a magician, or even a demon communicating telepathically with you. But without more information, I can't tell. As for what it wanted, it's the same story." I try my hardest to ignore her rather casual use of the word "demon", lest I get caught up on the implications of their existence.

"Right, I can see there's probably no point for us to talk about the voice, let's move on then. You said you could get me a weapon that would be effective, right? Have you made any progress on that front?"

Shirley smiles, "Yup! Two things actually, but I'll have to give you the other a little later on." She suddenly produces a sheathed dagger from an unseen pocket before handing it to me.

"What's this?" I pull the blade from the sheathe to examine it, though I can't really tell if there's anything special about the dagger at all, other than it being seemingly made entirely of silver. "Is there anything that makes this dagger special then?"

"I'm glad you asked, that right there is a new weapon that my organization has been working on. It's designed to allow for just about anybody to deal even the strongest of monsters a fatal blow." She pauses to consider her next words. "Have you ever heard of the WASP injection knife?" My blank stare is enough to tell her to elaborate.

"Effectively, it's a knife that uses a canister concealed within the handle to inject compressed gas into anything it stabs to deal additional damage. That dagger you're holding works on sort of the same premise, except instead of compressed gas, it uses holy energy to burn the target from the inside out." While the explanation is useful, I'm also interested in Shirley's newly revealed fondness for weaponry, I never would've guessed this was an interest of hers.

"So, how many times can I use this thing before it runs out of charge then?" It certainly sounds like a powerful weapon. Though I imagine it has some sort of drawback.

"Only once. It injects all of the stored energy into its target. Though it slowly draws in surrounding mana to recharge on it's own in about an hour or two." So it's a sort of desperation weapon to only be used in an emergency? It's not ideal, but at least now I might be able to defend myself against one of those golems.

There's a lull in the conversation as she finishes her explanation.

"Well, before we make a move, are either of you hungry?" I didn't get the chance to eat this morning, so now would probably be a good time to grab something before moving on to the rest of the day.

"Oh, we're ordering are we?" Shirley sounds somewhat relieved at my suggestion. Looking over at Theresia, I see she's already engrossed in reading the menu. Seems like the two of them are hungry too.

I order a chicken salad sandwich along with a latte and Shirley orders a pancake stack and a cappuccino. Theresia spends far longer deciding on her order than me or Shirley. Eventually, she makes her mind up and points at the entry for a ham and cheese omelet along with a tea.

"So, what's her deal?" Shirley asks me, "She hasn't said a single word since I arrived." Shirley glances at Theresia, who is for some reason still reading through the menu despite having already ordered.

"She's mute... I think. While she can understand and read English well enough, she hasn't said a single word to me." I wonder just what the condition stopping her from speaking to me is exactly. Shirley seems slightly surprised by the revelation.

After some time waiting. The food and drink arrives, while my sandwich is of the high quality I would expect of this café, I'm far more interested in the reactions of my two... allies, I suppose would be the most accurate term right now.

Shirley is quite ravenously devouring her pancakes, etiquette never was a strong point of hers, she's so preoccupied by her breakfast she doesn't even notice me staring.

Her lack of table manners is juxtaposed further by Theresia, who is eating the omelet in the manner I would expect from someone who has had lessons about etiquette drilled into her head from a very young age

Briefly, Theresia looks up at the oblivious Shirley, a momentary expression of something that can only be called "disgust" flicks across her face. I can see clearly that these two girls are never going to get along.

There's no conversation as we eat, Shirley is too busy stuffing her face, and it's not like Theresia can make a good conversation partner, as disappointing as that is.

Eventually, the three of us finish our breakfasts. I pay for the food and call for the two girls to follow me.

I step out into the street once again.

Before we start searching though, I need to decide what kind of hotel we'll be staying in.

While a low quality hotel may be easier on my funds, I can't bring myself to embrace squalor for the sake of my wallet. An expensive hotel meanwhile would drain my funds far too quickly. Luckily, I remember there's a hotel not too far from here that should suit our purposes

But there's also Shirley and Theresia to consider. Shirley hasn't really made her intentions clear, but I know that Theresia doesn't have anywhere to stay for the night, and based on how she's acted around me so far, it's likely that she will be staying in whatever hotel we end up at. Another thought occurs to me then. Does she even have any money? While I will, if I have to, I don't particularly want to pay for a room for her too. It can't hurt to ask, I suppose.

"Hey, Theresia." The mute girl stops to look at me. "I don't really know how to say this, but... do you have any money?" It's a blunt way to ask, but hopefully she won't take offense.

Theresia nods before reaching into one of her pockets and retrieving a small cloth bag which clanks slightly as she offers it to me.

"I wasn't actually asking for money, you know." I try turning her down. She shakes her head before opening the pouch and grabbing something from it. Theresia points to my right hand. Deciding that it'll be simpler to just follow along with whatever she wants, I hold an open hand out.

Theresia then drops a gold coin into my hand. It's quite small, yet surprisingly heavy. "Is this actual gold?" The girl nods in response to my question. I make a mental note to ask her about why she's carrying around a pouch of golden coins of all things later on.

I suppose that solves the question of whether or not I'll be paying for Theresia, it's not like she can book a hotel with solid gold blank coins. It might be an idea to get her to have them appraised later though.

I try passing the coin back to her, but she just shakes her head. "Are you sure?" She nods. Well. I guess she means for this to be her payment towards a room, though my funds still remain the same

Eventually, we arrive at our destination, The Tower Hotel. A six story building relatively well known for it's rather imposing clock tower that looms over the surrounding structures

"Well, it's certainly not the worst place I've ever had to stay at." Shirley pipes up.

"You're going to be staying here too? Why?" I had somewhat assumed she was planning on this, but it would be best to confirm her reasoning.

"Isn't it obvious? If you're going to get attacked again, they're probably going to attack in the night, so it makes sense for me to be nearby, right? Oh! You don't need to pay for me, I have actual money, you know." She finishes her explanation rather smugly.

I notice Theresia glaring venomously at Shirley again. I briefly wonder if it would ever be possible to have the two girls get along a bit better, maybe I can attempt something another time.

I push open the double door to the hotel and walk inside. I should probably decide on room arrangements before talking to the receptionist, it might save money if I have the girls share a room, though I'm really not sure it's a wise idea considering their mutual dislike of each other. For a moment, I consider suggesting that I myself share a room with one of the girls, but quickly derail that train of thought before it can even get going.

Though perhaps I was too hasty in dismissing the idea of a shared room, It's likely that being separated from the girls in the night could be dangerous. I bury my apprehensiveness to the idea for now. The girls will probably say no anyway, right?

I clear my throat. "So, about the rooms... I was thinking that it might be safer if we all shared a room." I try my hardest to suggest in a composed voice, hopefully they don't get the wrong idea.

Shirley and Theresia both stare at me in silence. Ok, this might have been a bad idea, I should probably try to play it off as a joke before they get mad.

To my surprise, Shirley responds in a strangely positive tone before I can. "Oh... yes. That will be fine, Arthur. Though I'm not sure what Theresia here will think of your suggestion, personally I can see the practicality in it."

Theresia's face however, is quite unreadable. When she notices I've turned to her for her thoughts, she just gives a single nod in response.

Something tells me that this might have been a poor decision, but I don't dwell on it. At the end of the day, the girls don't seem that upset by the arrangement.

I try to forget it as I head over to the receptionist, the bored looking brown haired girl looks up as I walk over, adjusting her glasses and attempting to look interested in her job. "Good morning." I greet the girl. "I would like to book a hotel room for tonight, do you have any vacancies?"

"Mhm." The girl's response is terribly curt. I do my best to ignore the attitude of the rude girl, but being addressed so dismissively irks me.

"Right. Well, I'm specifically after a room with three individual beds, is there anything like that available?" I ask as politely as I can manage.

The girl sighs at my question before looking through an open book on the table for a minute. Apparently, she finds what she's looking for. "Name?"

I hesitate for a second before deciding to answer her rudely phrased question. "Fine. It's Arthur B-" I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder squeezing. It's tight enough to cause me to pause before I can finish giving my name. The receptionist raises an eyebrow at this display, but says nothing.

"Are you sure giving out your full name is a good idea, Arthur? We don't know the capabilities of the people after you and leaving a paper trail is always a bother, trust me on that. I'll handle this for now, but you might want to work on an alias for later. Just in case." Shirley's voice whispers quietly into my ear. She probably knows more about this sort of stuff than me though, so I don't protest.

"Yeah, I'm going to need a full name and ID before I can give you a key." The annoyed receptionist is getting impatient, thankfully it seems she didn't hear Shirley's whisper, or maybe she didn't care enough to listen.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be the one booking the room. I'm Ellie Richards." Shirley slides an apparently fake driver's license to the receptionist.

"Alright... Room 93, Floor 6" The receptionist starts searching for a key. "The room is two hundred dollars a night."

"Then I'll be paying up front for 5 nights up front." While Shirley pays for the room I make my way over to the elevators with Theresia. A few silent minutes pass before Shirley shows up with the key.

Theresia seems oddly fascinated by the elevator as the three of us enter it, then her eyes go wide as the elevator closes its doors and starts it's ascent. Hasn't she ever been in an elevator before? Just what sort of a sheltered life has this poor girl had?

Eventually, the three of us find ourselves in a room. It's fairly large, with the three beds evenly spaced across the room. Shirley and Theresia immediately claim the two beds furthest from each other. Leaving me with the middle bed.

I sit down, now is probably a good time to ask Shirley a few things.

Now would be an excellent time to ask Shirley a few questions, true. But I find myself curious as to Theresia's circumstances. What could have led to this girl's meeting with me? It's a question that's been gnawing away at the back of my mind for quite some time.

I start searching through the cupboards and dressers of the room, looking for something that she can hopefully write on. After some searching, I eventually come across an old notepad on a shelf along with a selection of other books. Likely left behind by some other guest and accidentally placed alongside the hotel's own books by some overzealous cleaner.

"Theresia." The girl looks up at me as I call out to her. "I want to know more about your story." She looks confused for a moment before she notices me trying to hand her the notepad I found as well as my pen and understanding dawns on her face. She nods before looking at me expectantly for my question. "Ok. First off, who's after you and why. What can I do to help?"

A determined expression appears on her face as she starts writing her answer in the notepad. Hopefully she can give me some conclusive answers. I find myself distracted looking at Theresia as she writes, a look of absolute concentration contrasting the fairness of her face.

"Hey, Arthur." Shirley's voice snaps me out of my near trance. I turn to see her pouting slightly. "As interesting as you might find this girl. We do still need to discuss the people trying to kill you, you know?" She reminds me in a slightly irritated voice.

"Oh. Right, of course." Asking Theresia about her story might be of interest to me, but I shouldn't ignore the threat on my life for too long. "Do you have a plan yet? Any update on their location?"

"Well, the current plan is once we find their HQ, I'm going to infiltrate it in order to eliminate their leaders." Shirley casually says something dangerous. "As for their location, well, we should hopefully have it by tomorrow morning, maybe tonight, if we're lucky. We had a breakthrough earlier. That Flesh Golem got caught on quite a few CCTV cameras when it made its way to your place, so we're figuring out the route it took based on the footage we've got." That organization of hers sure must have a lot of clout.

Bur Shirley's revelation that my assailants will soon be uncovered does take me by some surprise "I see. Are you certain you'll be able to deal with them?" Shirley seems confident, but I have no idea of the capabilities of my enemies, other than those golems of theirs.

"Oh don't worry about me Arthur, this isn't my first time dealing wi-" she cuts herself off with a cough "Well, let's just say I've had a lot of training, OK? Anyway, you need to decide whether you're going too. If you're actually serious about going after these guys."

"Of course I am. Why, you aren't thinking of withholding the location from me, are you?" But before Shirley can respond, I feel a tug on my sleeve. Turning my head, I see Theresia trying to hand me the book. It seems she's finished writing.

Taking the book from her, I see that the response is written in hasty, but still rather elegant cursive. 'I can't communicate by writing like this for long.' It begins 'My name is Theresia Gotthelf. I'm being pursued by my father and his men. Early this morning I managed to escape from him for the first time thanks to an oversight by one of his apprentices. My father is a monster who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. If you truly wish to help me, you must stop...' the note trails off before abruptly ending. I look to Theresia, who stares back, tilting her head in confusion.

Suddenly, she clutches her forehead with a pained grimace before turning towards her bed, walking a few steps, and collapsing onto it. Worried, I swiftly cross the room, but her light breathing tells me the girl has immediately fallen asleep. I briefly consider waking her, but her peacefully asleep face makes me think against it.

"What was that all about?" Shirley is quick to express her bewilderment at Theresia's actions. Wordlessly, I pass the notepad to her. Shirley quickly reads the note, frowning as she does. "So, that's the story she's going with, is it?" Shirley eyes the sleeping girl with a complicated expression on her face. "That name though, I think I've heard or seen it somewhere before..."

"Shirley, I want to talk to you about something." I may as well thank Shirley for her help today, as well as all the time she's apparently been my bodyguard without me knowing.

"Hm? Weren't we already talking though?" Her voice is quite upbeat, though her eyes betray a certain wariness.

"It's about everything that's happened. You've been a huge help today, and I probably would have died earlier had you not called me to wake me up." Her eyes soften a little as I say this. "Shirley, we've known each other for 8 years, and while I don't really want to dwell on what I assume are the actions of your organization setting whatever this is up, I do realize that you're the one who's been protecting me for all that time. So I just want to say thank you."

"There's nothing to thank me for, Arthur. I was simply given a mission by my superiors." The girl tries to deny my gratitude, though I notice a faint blush on her face. "A-anyway, is there anything else you want to ask me? We've got quite a lot of time to kill, y'know?"

Well, I suppose now I've got the sentimental stuff weighing on me out of the way, I can get back to business. "Yeah, actually Shirley. You mentioned you can use magic earlier, right?"

She hesitates for a second before answering me. "Yeah, that's right, why? What's on your mind?"

"Is it possible for somebody to make a spell that would only trigger if you did something specific?" I focus on finding out whether Shirley knows just what happened to Theresia to make her collapse like that.

"Well, I'm not really an expert on magic like that, I'm mostly focused on summoning and classical elemental magic. In theory though, I suppose something like that should be possible with a curse." That's concerning. Is Theresia cursed then?

"Do you know of somebody who could break a curse like that then?" Her organization should have somebody like that, even if she doesn't, right?

She groans for a moment. "Well, there is one guy specialised in the dark arts like curses, but he's kind of... difficult to get a hold of... Or work with." Excellent! So there is a chance to help Theresia then! But from the way Shirley is talking about them, there's probably some sort of catch.

"So, do you think you'll be able to get him to come help?" Hopefully he's not too difficult to get in touch with and will agree to help.

Another groan "...Probably not, no. The man in question is the leader of my organization and recently went on 'an extended business trip'. He said he is only to be contacted in the absolute worst case scenario." She sounds kind of down about it, but I decide not to pry.

"Damn it!" I sigh, "I suppose it was a long-shot anyway. What about Alchemy, then? You should know a few things about the people we're up against, right?"

She frowns at my question. "Not all too much, alchemists are immensely secretive with their knowledge. I do know alchemist's experiment with the 'principles of the world' but in general this manifests as a focus on the transmutation of elements in addition to the creation of artificial life, Golems, or Homunculi and the like. But other than that, I'm not versed in alchemy, It's a forbidden subject, even among my organization."

"I see." There's quite a lot to take in about Shirley's explanation, and I don't have anything else I want to ask her about, so I decide instead to find a book to read to pass the time. The selection is quite sparse though, eventually I pick out a biography of some old film star before heading over to my bed to read through it.

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October 8th 2019 - Tuesday, 5:20 PM

We've spent quite a few hours in our room now, Theresia woke up from her impromptu nap about an hour ago, and after I gave her a brief demonstration of the function of the TV, which she was originally very confused by, she happily started to flick through the channels

Just as I'm about to flick to the next page of the biography, a loud, blood-curdling shriek echoes through the building. Before I can even put the book down, Shirley is on her feet and heading to the door.

"I'll handle this, Arthur, you stay here." She slips out of the room before I can respond.

'Stay here'? Shirley's order may have been well intentioned, but I can't oblige it. Not only would following it completely undermine everything I've said so far about fighting for myself, but it's way too risky! If this was a distraction to lure Shirley away, it worked perfectly!

"Theresia." She looks away from the TV only when I call her. Was she too engrossed in it to hear that scream? "We need to find out where that shriek came from. Follow me."

Theresia gives me a determined nod and gets to her feet. Following closely behind me as I leave the hotel room.

I step out into the hallway, if anybody else on the floor heard the scream, they don't seem to be bothered enough by it to investigate. Me and Theresia remain alone in the corridor.

Hurrying down the hall to the stairs, I notice that somewhere along the line, one of Theresia's hands started grasping my own. As we reach the stairs, I feel the whole building shake, nearly throwing me off balance.

Just what is going on in this hotel? I pick up the pace, almost dragging Theresia along as I race down the stairs. Kicking open the door to the lobby, I'm unprepared for the sight that awaits me.

The lobby is a scene of absolute carnage. Burn marks line the floor and walls alongside spikes of earth protruding from the ground and piercing through the ceiling but nothing compares to the bodies. Arms and legs are strewn across the room, the corpses of 4 hooded men are gathered around a strange glowing circle, filled with geometric patterns. It's like some beast tore them apart, their lifeless faces twisted in agony.

"Y-you over there!" A loud panicked voice interrupts my examination of the circle, and I once again look around the room. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the room, I spot the receptionist girl from earlier, her back against a wall. Surrounding her are 3 grey humanoid figures, which seem to be having chunks of their bodies fall off of them as they approach the terrified receptionist, though they themselves don't seem to notice. "Please! Help me!" She pleads, her terror showing in her voice.

I make my decision. I am not going to let these monsters kill anyone else today! I quickly draw my pistol and take aim at the shambling creatures.

A shot rings out as I hit the monster closest to the girl square in the head. Surprisingly, the terrible injury seems to lack the intended effect. Instead of blood coming from the gaping hole in it's head, as I might've expected, there is merely a small dark grey trickle of liquid. The creature carries on moving towards it's target, apparently unphased by what should be a fatal wound .The receptionist girl falls to the floor in absolute despair when she sees it's lack of any reaction to being shot. Then she begins incomprehensibly pleading to no-one in particular for salvation.

Not to be put off by the monster seemingly shrugging off what should've been a fatal hit, I take aim again, this time at the region where the creature's heart should be. These things can't just be unkillable, right?

I fire again, this time though, my efforts are rewarded. A loud shattering sound emanates from the point of impact. The creature freezes in place, a gurgling moan escapes from its mouth as it collapses onto its knees, the moaning ends as the creature loses all structure and form, turning into a pile of grey mush on the floor.

I don't relax at my small victory yet though, there are still enemies to deal with, and now the other two monsters have stopped paying attention to the cowering girl and are fully focused on me. But unfortunately for them, their shambling run is far too slow to be of any real concern or threat to me. A single shot to their 'heart' before they reach me is enough to render both of the aberrations into the same damp grey substance the first became.

I holster my pistol after I'm sure the strange creatures are dead for good. Honestly, there's a part of me that's amazed I managed to kill those things at all.

The receptionist girl is curled into a ball behind the counter. She doesn't seem to realize that the immediate danger is gone, if her still begging for somebody to save her is any indication.

Theresia meanwhile is crouched down, poking the remains of one of the creatures with a curious look on her face. Just what is she doing?

I can't stand the sight of the receptionist's cowering any longer. Walking over to the shaking girl, I stop directly in front of her and offer her a hand up. The girl doesn't even notice my attempt to help her up, her vision obscured by her legs.

Standing rather awkwardly in front of this painfully oblivious girl, arm outstretched, I cough.

The girl looks up at my cough, her terrified face morphing into one of confused relief. She blinks a few times before realizing I'm offering her a hand up. The girl wipes the tears from her face with a sleeve before taking my hand.

"Who are you people?" She asks quietly as I help her up.

"That isn't important right now, I need you to tell me exactly what just happened here before anything else." I tell her firmly. This girl must've seen just what happened down here that led to all this destruction

"A-ah well, I was just sitting at the front desk and those 4 hooded guys walked in, they completely ignored me though." She turns to look at the hooded figures, her face goes pale when she looks upon the mutilated bodies and she snaps her head away. "T-they all started speaking in a language I couldn't understand, then that circle appeared."

I turn to look at the part of the room containing the circle this time, it's faint glow brings me a distinct feeling of unease. I turn back to the girl "So, what happened next?"

The girl looks nauseous as she remembers. "There was a bright flash of light, but when I turned to look, there was this huge... creature standing between the cultists, it was like a winged man with blue skin, but with the legs of a goat. Then it... it killed those people, it just tore them apart."

"But what about all this destruction?" I push the girl for more information, could Shirley really be responsible for this much damage?

"I'm sorry... but I don't know what happened. All of a sudden there was shouting, and the... monster flew off, then those things appeared. I... I didn't see anything else after that" the girl looks down.

"Alright then." Shirley is probably fighting against the monster as I speak with this girl. "Theresia." I turn to see that she's finished examining the remains of the slain creatures. "We need to go find Shirley, I might be able to help her."

Theresia has a somewhat incredulous look on her face as I state my intention, but then nods.

"Wait!" The receptionist girl shouts in a panic. "What if more of those things show up? What if there are more outside?" Her fear is quite clearly written all over her face.

Though before I can answer her questions, a door on the other side of the room swings open as the familiar body of Shirley crashes through it at great speed. Damn it! I begin to run towards her, I don't know how much help I'll be, but something like that should've broken a few bones!

Before I can reach her though, she's unbelievably on her feet again. "Owwww, that's gonna leave a bruise." She says jokingly to nobody in particular, is she really capable of taking this so lightly? But then her demeanour totally shifts when she spots me. "Arthur! What are you doing down here? Didn't I tell you to stay upstairs?" She sounds fairly angry now, in massive contrast to how lightly she seems to be taking the fight.

I hesitate for a moment, thinking of the best words to defend my actions with. Before I can though, she continues speaking.

"We don't have time to talk about this now. Stay here." Shirley emphasises her order by flicking a dagger into her hand from a sleeve and charging back through the door.

The urge to follow Shirley nearly takes hold of me, but I manage to decide against it. Whatever Shirley is fighting, she's struggling against it, and I'll probably just get in the way. My own lack of strength infuriates me, but I can't just rush into things all the time and expect it will come out my way.

But there must be something I can do! I can't abide just standing around and letting somebody else fight on my behalf, then inspiration strikes me, that circle! If it brought whatever Shirley is fighting here in the first place, it's only logical that it has some sort of connection. Maybe it can even send it back to where it came from?

I sprint towards the circle, there's not a moment to lose! Dodging around one of the spikes of earth, I quickly arrive at the glowing symbol on the floor. Now that I'm looking at it closely, I notice that the geometric patterns are lined with strange otherworldly lettering, too small for me to properly discern from a distance.

That's when I notice the blood flowing into the center of the circle, I hadn't really considered it, but the cultist's aren't nearly as bloody as their wounds would suggest they should be. The blood that should have been splattered around the surroundings is instead slowly trickling from their corpses, towards the center of the circle. A small red shard floats there, the blood disappearing into it somehow, the shard gives me a terrible feeling of dread just from looking at it.

So, is that shard what's powering the circle then? It would make sense, if these people were intended as sacrifices in order to sustain the monster summoned from this magic circle, of course it would kill its own allies! Now I just have to think of a way to shut the damn thing off.

First off, I'll try scuffing the circle itself, if one of the lines are broken, then surely it will no longer be able to function, right? Of course, this is all an assumption, my actual knowledge of the usage of magic is non-existent. I have no idea whether this will work. Casting my doubts aside, I bring my foot over one of the lines and attempt to break it. No matter how I try though, the obstinate symbol refuses to break.

My second plan is to try to move the corpses away from the circle, in order to cut it off from the source of the power. I mentally prepare myself and pick up one of the mutilated torsos, I nearly vomit as I shift it away from the circle, but I manage to compose myself before I let the impulse control me. Despite the body now being on the other side of the room, the blood is still trickling slowly towards the circle, drawn into it even from a distance. Another failure.

That leaves only a single option. The red shard levitating just above the center of the circle. I've wasted enough time as it is. There's no other choice. I steel my nerves and reach out to grab the shard, moments before I touch it, I notice Theresia out of the corner of my eye, clearly panicking as she rushes towards me. Then there's a flash of incredibly bright purple light that explodes from the shard just as you touch it. Everything goes black as darkness claims me.

I wake up. Though when I take note of my surroundings, I'm fairly convinced that I'm actually still dreaming. It's the same black abyss from my nightmares. I stand atop the pool of darkness once more, though there are no clawing hands trying to draw me in. Aimlessly, I walk forwards. If this is all just a dream, then I'll wake up eventually, right? It's only a matter of time.

After what feels like hours of wandering, I see something quite different on the horizon. Some sort of structure risen from the ink-like pool. Now given a target, I race towards it. As I get closer, I can make out more of the details of the structure, it's like a strange staircase that leads nowhere. But then I spot it, there's a throne atop the staircase. I soon reach the foot of the staircase, but before I begin my ascent to find out the meaning of all this, a voice stops me.

"So, you've finally reached this place?" The voice booms around me. I look up to the throne to see a man seemingly made of shadows lounging on it. "It's about time. You have had your destiny hidden from you for far too long, Arthur."

"Who are you? What the hell is this place?" I nearly shout at the nonchalant figure.

"Oh, you'll find out all of this in due time, I'm sure. For now though, I offer you a boon, a portion of the power that rightfully belongs to you, sealed away by those that would wish to deny you it." The figure's cryptic response only gives me more questions.

"Power? Sealed away? What are you talking about?" I don't know what's going on any more, is this even still just a nightmare?

The shadow on the throne bursts into laughter at my question. Eventually, the laughter subsides as it answers me. "You are still unaware of your destiny, of what you truly are. Soon you will understand. But first, son of the Bernhard, it is time for you to choose."

At the shadow's urgings, I find myself staring at what seems to be some strange hole in space itself, a shade darker than the bizarre world you find yourself in, as if no light could ever escape from it. Enraptured by the sight of the rift, I reach out and touch it, but just as I make contact unbelievable pain wracks my body, the rift seeming to both crush my hand and disappear into it at the same time. I feel like my entire body is being crushed from the inside out.

The figure speaks up once more. "Oh? So you seek the power to destroy? Fitting for one such as you, powerless to protect yourself against those that seek you ill." It stops for a moment, chuckling before it continues. "You hate them all don't you? All you wish is for the power to destroy them. Ah, but the fate of the destroyer is to eventually be destroyed himself, is it not?" The mocking tone of the man infuriates me, but the agony makes it impossible to respond to his jeers. "Till we meet again, Arthur. I look forward to it"

The man fades away, and the world around me follows him, leaving only a blank canvas of white behind as I slip from consciousness.