Floor 25 - Chapter 3 - Sweet Dreams are Made of This...
Kizmel knew fear.
She remembered the stories of the Sandman from her childhood, and she remembered - with almost perfect recollection - holding her sister close the evening after they'd been told that story. Not only that, but she was a seasoned warrior at her majesty's service throughout the war, and she had fought resolutely with little cause to pause... but this? She was terrified. Her body felt as if it were no longer her own, as if she were watching her own actions from outside it, with some unseen and despicable force puppeteering her body...
"Foolish children of the tree, you know not of the forces you dabble with..." The voice of not only herself, but almost everyone present spoke, seemingly detached from their own bodies too...
And as suddenly as it had started... it was over. She felt back in control, and whatever unseen force had invaded her mind and body was gone, hopefully for good, despite the cold shiver still running down her spine.
''-zmel! KIZMEL!'' As she returned to her own presence, she noticed that Koharu was shaking her by the shoulders and shouting in frantic panic. It was slightly distracting, she thought, but she was glad that she had realised that something was wrong at least.
''I-I am fine... I think.'' She replied, regaining her composure somewhat. Her hands still shook ever so slightly, but she supposed that wasn't too much of a concern about now. She had, after all, just been possessed by some mystery entity, so the shakes were more to be expected, she reckoned.
Still, she wondered, and despite all that had happened; almost everyone around her being possessed by an unknown entity... everyone just went back about their day. No talk of anything unusual, nary a blink of confusion from anyone but herself. Phillia said it best herself... ''What just happened?''
''I think we just watched the world stand still...'' The blacksmith, Lisbeth answered, but she sounded far from sure of her own answer. ''Please tell me I'm not the only one who is absolutely freaked out right now?''
''Nope.'' Phillia answered curtly. Kizmel could always count on the copper haired girl to cut through the awkwardness and get straight to the point, and here was no exception.
''Certainly not.''
''I would suggest we find somewhere that is not here to continue this conversation...'' The young girl, Seven, answered with a fair amount of uncertainty in her voice, as well as more than a touch of unbridled terror in there. Not only that, but she was shaking even worse than she had found herself, as well as having just finished muttering reassurances to herself under her breath...
''Agreed. We'll had back to our lodgings on the last floor, that should be safe enough.'' A new side to Koharu emerged, she thought. In the time they'd known each other, she had always been by the knight's side, and as such, the... eccentric personality often made itself more known than the quiet and reserved girl. Though she'd shone on the battlefield more times than Kizmel could really count, it had only been now where she'd really seen Koharu taking charge of the situation, and a warm feeling radiated through her; that of pride. She really had grown into someone worthy of the title Pagoda Knight, Kizmel thought wistfully.
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Not for the first time, Jet found himself wishing he was someone else. Also not for the first time, he found himself surrounded by nightmarish monsters. It was, however, the first time he'd found himself surrounded by these monsters, whilst in a town that resembled somewhere he'd visited as a child, whilst the creatures communicated in... well, even he wasn't sure, but it sounded like some kind of beeps, screeches and scratches.
The creatures they found were unlike anything they'd ever seen, especially given how quickly four more had spawned to replace their two deceased comrades...
''I believe we may be surrounded.'' Sanya stated, as if that wasn't blindingly obvious. Problem was though, she was right; they were surrounded on all directions ahead of them, and behind them was a flowing river, and an eight foot drop, into what could be very shallow water. Though, if you'd asked him which he'd rather take his chances with; the monsters or the water, it was a pretty easy answer for him.
''How deep does that water look?'' He asked, hoping this gamble would pay off.
''Please tell me you are joking...''
''Sanya, there are currently an ever increasing number of shadowy monsters appearing, surrounding us, and only three of us. A straight up fight isn't going to end well for us, so we need a different way out...''
''I hate that you have a point.'' Sanya looked resigned to what happened next.
''It's turning into one of those days...'' He mumbled. ''I'll cover you guys.'' He readied his sword, and took up a defensive stance. He really hoped that neither of the girls were scared of heights, because that was all they needed to hold them up. ''So... what exactly are you?'' He asked, despite the lack of likelihood of an answer...
''Heed my warning...'' The shadows began to speak, deciding that million to one odds didn't particularly matter this evening.
''Well, I will admit... I wasn't expecting that!'' He was right with his earlier assessment; it really was turning into one of those days!
''I am coming for you, Children of the Tree...'' The shadows finished speaking, and restarted their advance on him. Wasting absolutely no time, he sat on the wall and readied himself for the plunge into the water.
''Well, this has been an absolutely lovely discussion over your plans...'' He quipped sarcastically, as he removed a portion of his equipment. In most circumstances, removing his armour and his shirt would've been a bad idea - in this case however, he quite liked not drowning under the weight of his armour, so damned were his self-confidence issues. ''But, I really must be off! You know how it is, plans to foil... life to live.'' Hooking one of his arms under his legs, he gave a mock salute and a grin, before falling back into the water...
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The water was deeper than it looked, as it turned out. Not only that, but it turned it out it was also really very cold, as well as quite fast flowing, and even for someone with a fair bit of practice in swimming, Jet found it an unpleasant experience to swim in. In between breaths, he considered whether he owed Rain and Sanya another apology for this plan, given he was pretty sure neither of them were professional swimmers...
Thankfully for his ability to breathe, it didn't take long before he found a river bank that he could get up and get out of the rushing water. ''Looks like the girls weren't the only ones to get a bath...'' He muttered to himself as he climbed out and looked down at his attire, now completely soaked through. His once royal purple coat, now looked to be closer to a shade of blue, whilst his black trousers were now stained purple, from where they dye had ran in the water.
The girls hadn't gotten away with their little swim in any more dignified way - Sanya having come out of the water looking almost completely different to Jet. Her hair, usually tied up in twin waist length ponytails, had now flopped into one mass of silver hair down to her thighs, whilst her black and red coat had suffered a similar fate to his own, the dye running and producing a look that could only be described as either ''bad hair day'' or ''unconventionally attractive swamp monster'' to him. ''My understanding was that baths are supposed to be pleasant...'' The aforementioned swamp monster- sorry, Sanya - glared... possibly, he couldn't actually see her eyes through the mass of hair in front of her face, though he could feel her glare as if it were thousands of small needles near his face.
''Unless you're a cat, I guess.'' Rain, whose attire wasn't as colourful as her two friends, hadn't become stained quite as much, whilst her shorter hair hadn't become the same cascading veil as her oldest friend's had. All in all, she'd come out of the experience looking considerably less ridiculous than either of them - mainly as she still had a shirt on, unlike Jet, and she could still see where she was going, unlike Sanya. ''Still, I think we should get moving, just in case those shadows aren't as slow as we think.'' She commented, as she helped Sanya to at least remove her hair from her face.
''Agreed.'' Jet answered, before looking at his messages. Only one message; from Koharu, stating that something was wrong with ''this place'', and to head to the restaurant in Juliana, on the Twenty-Fourth Floor. ''What the hell is going on here...'' He mumbled to himself, before explaining the situation to Rain and Sanya...
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In any other circumstances, the town of Juliana was an unremarkable place for a fantasy setting, being what felt like another generic fantastical village, the wooden buildings that housed the villagers huddled around a communal square and a well. Today though, that unremarkable nature made it a very reassuring place to the members of The Concord, plus Liz, Kizmel and Seven...
''What happened to you!?'' Koharu asked in extreme confusion, as they approached the village square.
''You look like someone threw you into a river...'' Phillia added, a mix of concern and amusement on her face as she looked them over.
''Well, if you ignore the throwing bit, you aren't too far off.'' He responded, still trying to wring his coat out. ''Anyway, not important right now. You saw those shadows too, right?''
''What shadows? We saw the whole town freeze up, and start talking in unison...''
''What did they say?''
''Heed my warning... I am coming for you, Children of the Tree.'' His face dropped at those words. The pause and the shadows, they had to be related to the nightmares and the Dream Catcher... it was too coincidental to not be related somehow!
''Those shadows, they said the same thing on the bridge...'' He stated, before a look of dawning realisation appeared on his girlfriend's face.
''Wait... did you guys jump off a bridge?!'' Koharu asked, a clear accusation in her voice. He paused for a second, trying to think of a way to put it that didn't sound so far beyond reckless that had it not been as successful of a plan as it had been, would almost certainly have gotten him nominated for a Darwin Award...
He failed to think of any, and decided on just admitting the truth of the situation. ''Umm, yeah. We kind of, well... we got surrounded on the bridge, and as it turned out, those shadows replicated when they died. Off the side of the bridge was the path of least resistance, as it were.''
''To be fair to Jet, it was indeed the safest route out of danger.'' Sanya defended him, much to his surprise. It really was one of those days, wasn't it! ''Despite how irresponsible he had been in getting us into danger in the first place...''
''I was sat on a bench, with Rain, having a heart-to-heart... how the bloody hell is that irresponsible!'' He rebuked her angrily. If she wanted a-
''Okay, knock it off, both of you. Time and a place for arguing, and it's not now.'' Koharu stood between and separated both of them, radiating the same energy as a kindly school teacher. The type who never raised their voice for any reason, yet made their displeasure at whatever was going on extremely known. The type who you genuinely feared getting on the wrong side of, not because they would scream and shout at you, but because they would be disappointed in you... and that was oh so much worse!
Without thinking though, he let his mouth run two steps ahead of his own thought process... ''Yes miss-wait!'' ...Before he instantly regretted it. ''Umm, ignore me please...'' Jet muttered, as he almost thanked the universe for soaking him earlier, because the heat generated by his blushing would easily be enough to dry him off in a cloud of steam...
''Ookay then...'' Even Phillia, the girl with an answer for everything seemed to stumped for a comment there. ''Anyway... we need to work out what we do next.''
''Jet, do you remember how the lord of the manor was acting whilst we were in his presence?''
Almost immediately, his blush faded and his mind to went back to Harley House, trying to picture what had happened only a few hours prior. ''Uhh, yeah. He looked exhausted, but not only that, he kept looking around, like he was exhausted from watching his back all the time?'' He thought aloud, before putting the pieces together. ''You think he had something to do with all of this.''
''You said it yourself, something felt off about him...'' Kizmel answered his statement, before carrying on with her thought process. ''and even if he does have something to do with this, perhaps we may be able to glean more information from him with everyone present.''
''Then I think that's our plan. Tomorrow morning, we go visit Harley House again, and we see whether we can get anymore information.''
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Nanairo Arsharvin had a keenly analytical mind; something that she herself was aware of, even if such analysis would tend towards alienating people. People watching was a thing, she had learned, but treating everyone around you as if they are a nature documentary was what could charitably be described as ''a questionable idea'' - her father had made sure she knew that when she was younger.
Still though, she found watching the members of the group that called themselves The Concord absolutely fascinating. It was weird to see how the group, despite obviously different backgrounds, had come together (mostly) and despite bickering amongst themselves, there was clear sense of comradeship there.
Something that only served to show how she didn't fit there.
The blacksmith, Lisbeth, had left to go back to her lodgings a while back, so the only people present, excepting herself, were those in The Concord, and Kizmel - who was another anomaly that had taken her completely be surprise. The older woman seemed so lifelike, even going so far as to offer her life advice, and offer more than a few witticisms of the seeming leader of the group, Jet, and so, to find out she was an NPC?! That was nothing short of incredible! It was almost a complete game changer in the field of artificial intelligence - something she'd never even considered a possibility in this death trap of a game!
Other than the surprise that had been Kizmel though, there was also the red haired girl, Rain. Something felt remarkably familiar about her, and even when she looked at her, she felt a feeling of familiarity with her, amongst the ever-present guilt she felt at scaring her off. She truly did have no idea what she'd ever done to her, and yet, she couldn't help but feel like it must've been something truly atrocious to justify that kind of fight-or-flight reaction...
Which all went some way as to explain why she was sat on a staircase, whilst everyone else talked and laughed amongst themselves - not that she minded the peace and quiet, but she did wonder whether they'd forgotten she was still there, or were actively ignoring her...
''Umm, mind if I sit here?'' At least Rain was talking to her of her own volition, she supposed, rather than crying and running.
''No! Of course not!'' She answered, and the older girl took a seat on the step next to her. ''I owe you an apology. I can't say I know what I did to you, but whatever it was, it must've been...''
''It wasn't you who ever did anything, Seven.'' Rain interrupted. ''I, uhh, someone helped me to see that I was projecting a bit.'' She offered a reassuring smile, and in that moment, she felt as if she really did know the girl, or that she had known her once upon a time...
''I'm glad I didn't do something so horrible!'' She really was, if only to keep her conscience clean. Though, that didn't help as she looked towards the redhead to see a conflicted look on her face.
''Seven, can I ask you something?''
''Of course!'' She smiled innocently.
''Your family? Is it just you, or are your parents around too?''
''In Aincrad? No, it's just me. At home though, it's my father and I. I haven't seen my mother or my sister in a very long time.'' She answered honestly, feeling a small pit in her stomach open up at the thought of her mother and sister. Her father had never told her why they'd left, but he'd made it clear that it was her decision as to whether she wanted to try to get back in contact with them. She'd reasoned that, if her mother had left willingly, then she clearly didn't want to see or hear from her, but that had never answered the question she'd always had about her older sister, Nijika. She'd seen photos of them both playing together, clearly taken when she was extremely young, and she'd wondered whether things would've turned out differently for her had she had her sister there. Maybe she'd have been less lonely when she didn't have whatever work she'd chosen to take on, maybe she'd have had actual friends, rather than colleagues...
''Umm, Seven? You kinda spaced out?''
''Ohh, sorry, I was just thinking about my family.'' She answered, trying to ignore the forming tears in her tear ducts. ''I do miss them, but... I don't think the same applies for them. I wonder if my sister even remembers I exist!'' She laughed sadly as she thought about her sister's possible life elsewhere.
''She does, I know it.'' Rain offered her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, and she took it. ''In fact, I bet she's thinking the same, wondering if her baby sister even remembers her...'' She doubted that somehow, but it was nice of Rain to offer her kind words to cheer her up. Even despite the uncomfortable situation surrounding the pair meeting, she was a good person, that much she was sure of. There was a comforting feeling surrounding her, and for the first time, she took a closer look at Rain.
''It's strange, I've never met you before, but you do feel familiar...''
''You have, but you were still a toddler then.'' Rain continued to smile, as if remembering something herself. Maybe she was a friend of Nijika's who happened to have a good enough memory to go that far back? Or a family friend of some kind? ''I remember Mom pushing you around on that sled you had, whilst Dad helped-tried to help me build a snowman...''
For the briefest of moments, Nanairo's mind froze up, like a computer encountering a fatal runtime error and crashing, before instantly restarting. ''Ni-Nijika?'' She stuttered, and for the first time, the smile on Rain- on her sister's face - didn't feel like it was hiding a different meaning. In fact, based on the fact she was tearing up too, she'd say she was just as relieved as her to see her sister again!
''It's me, Nanairo. I, guess I never thought I'd see you again. I thought you didn't remember me, and well, I wouldn't have blamed you...'' That smile definitely hid something though. ''Mom certainly wouldn't have.''
''Does... does she still mention me?'' She wondered hopefully, before watching her sister's expression drop, and realising that was clearly a sore spot for Ni-for Rain, even. She didn't remember her mother being anything but loving to her, so why did she have such a negative reaction to her?
''Y-yeah, she still mentions you.''
''Oh.'' She thought quickly for a way to change the conversation, before a male voice bellowed out from the room next to them...
''Either of you want a hot drink before I go to bed?''
''I'm okay, thanks!''
Throughout her life, she'd been taught the importance of good manners, and chief amongst them was accepting any hospitality offered to her... it didn't hurt that she quite fancied a cup of cocoa either, especially after today! ''Can I have a cup of cocoa please? If you don't mind, of course!''
''On it!'' He shouted back, and she was sure she heard footsteps pattering away. Besides her, Rain- no, her sister- was sat laughing into her hand at something.
''Umm, I don't understand why that was amusing?'' She asked, more bewildered by her sister's amusement at asking for a drink than anything else.
''Oh, it's nothing. I just know he did that on purpose...'' She smiled back, and before too long, a cup of cocoa was bought out. It was remarkable how, a game known only to the public as a death trap, happened to have such a detailed system for even seemingly insignificant things, such as hot drinks - the cup of cocoa was genuinely the closest thing to a perfect example of the drink that she'd seen. If she had to describe it, it looked identical to those clearly staged images that one saw in a cook book or an advertisement, the ones that it was nearly impossible to make on any kind of recurring basis... ''Oh Jet?''
''Hm?''
''Were you spying on us?'' She asked innocently, but with a clear tone of accusation in her voice. It was remarkable how she could say such a pointed accusation, yet do so with a sincere smile on her face...
''I am appalled, no I am offended that you would think that I would spy on you, Rain!'' The faux offense in his voice quickly died down, and he settled back to what she assumed was his normal way of speaking. ''Nah, it was Sanya. She's still got an ear to the door now.''
''Traitor!'' She heard the aforementioned girl shout through the door. Based on the venom with which she spoke that single word, it was clear she was actually offended by her comrade's betrayal...
Why he was looking as if he'd finally got his own back on her, she wasn't sure, but she'd worked out from her previous experience that neither of them were particularly fond of the other, but looked as if they put up with each other for reasons she didn't know or understand...
''Well, I'm off to bed now anyway. We've probably got quite an early start tomorrow, if we want to find out what's going on here. Night, you two.'' He grinned knowingly. ''Sorry, you three.'' He walked off, whistling innocently as he did so.
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That morning had been relatively unremarkable, a fact that Jet was oh so glad for. After yesterday, a scene of tranquillity like sunrise over the fantastical village was a sight for sore eyes and weary souls, he'd decided as he looked out of the hut's window. It didn't hurt that he'd gotten a pretty good soundtrack for it either - Fleetwood Mac could always be counted on for that, he'd decided.
Breakfast had been just as unremarkable, minus Liz getting rather more of a view than she'd anticipated, by virtue of poking her head through his and Koharu's bedroom, before either of them were ready for the day. The fact she could no longer look them in the face told him that she wouldn't be forgetting that sight in a hurry...
Arriving on the Twenty-Fifth Floor again though, the atmosphere of the bustling market towns of Emstrey had soon shifted. The sky, yesterday a glorious blue, was today a dull, miserable grey whilst the wind around the town picked up. People stumbled around, almost resembling rush hour commuters on the Underground - most of them knew where they were going, most of them could conceivably be said to be alive... but also so exhausted that they resembled zombies. Even with the people stumbling around, that hadn't been the reason for the unease, no. That stemmed from a far more concerning fear - the town felt as if all life had been sucked out of it...
The hustle and bustle, gone.
The atmosphere of relaxation? Gone, replaced by one of apathy.
If Jet was really honest, it felt like the towns had shifted from their inspiration, spa towns on the rivers of England, to a particular town he'd visited once in Staffordshire. It had been dull, dingy, dank and run down to such a degree that even the pubs, an erstwhile establishment for any town or settlement, had shut their doors and were boarded up...
''That... really can't be good.'' He muttered, as he looked over one of the derelict buildings, and in particular at one of the boards covering a window. He'd looked round this part of town properly yesterday, and the boarded up window had belonged to a small, but thriving bakery. Towns didn't just die like this, it was a series of factors that really couldn't be simulated in Aincrad, from questionable town planning, to out-of-town shopping parks, to the economy in general! ''Whatever's going on here, I don't think we should hang around.''
Not one voice dissented against that opinion.
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Even though visiting Harley House was not a new experience to him, it was hard not to be impressed by it every time he so much as saw it. The place resembled an actual mansion after all - a stately home in the rural countryside, fortified against the monsters of this floor - monsters that were noticeably lacking for once. He'd seen all of one monster as they headed up here, and that monster had strangely found a place to hide - or at least he hoped that was the case. He'd read about animals that, when they knew it was their time to die, would find a secluded place to pass on in peace, and he wasn't too sure whether the possibility that the mobs on this floor were doing the same thing was terrifying, or outright depressing.
Both was the answer he'd soon settled on, but it was telling just how dangerous the Dreamcatcher was, that it was able to pull in far more than just dreams, but almost the life force of the various wildlife too...
''Bozhe moi!'' Sanya exclaimed, as they walked through the gate. A gate that was now notably unmanned...
''This place is amazing!'' Koharu said, as she looked over the gardens, still full of flowers.
''It's huge!''
''What do you reckon the asking price for it is?'' He turned and looked at Phillia, who simply shrugged. ''You can't say you didn't wonder either...''
Choosing to focus on a different subject, he walked up to the door, and as with the gate, it was now unmanned. ''Kizmel, is this normal practice?'' He asked.
''Far from it, the guards of our manors are the elite amongst our ranks. Even one of them deserting their post should be unthinkable, but this?'' The fact that even Kizmel seemed to be only barely suppressing her worry at the developing situation, told him just how deep they were in with this one.
''So them deserting is not good, got it.'' Liz said.
''The punishment for desertion is... well, it is death. There is no way around it...'' Kizmel responded, a dark note to her voice. ''But why would they feel like they needed to desert their post?''
''Umm, I don't think they did.'' Koharu said, stepping back from near the door to reveal to the others what she'd seen already. Two piles of sand, still resembling humanoids in outline, but nothing more. Even the amount of sand was inconsistent with what they'd seen on Nineteenth Floor - there, the bodies had been left to decay for decades or centuries even, but here, there was no way they'd been here longer than 10 hours... and that was assuming that whatever had happened, had taken places only minutes after Kizmel and himself had left!
''Guess knocking isn't going to help...'' He muttered, as he heaved against the door. No wonder there were two guards, this thing was bloody heavy, he thought to himself!
With the door eventually opened, the group headed inside. As with the outside, Harley House still looked stunning inside, if a little more rundown than it had done last night, as paint began to peel in small, but noticeable places, whilst damp had started to seep in at the ceiling...
''Umm, I might be being a bit dense here... but shouldn't there be staff?'' Liz asked. ''Especially as there's more sand here than a beach!''
''Liz... please tell me you tread in any of the sand?'' Koharu grimaced at the thought, whilst everyone else's faces contorted in various ways of disgust and horror.
''No, it's just sand though, right?''
''Liz, that sand... that is the staff...'' He told her, watching as her expression rapidly underwent a number of stages. The first was disbelief, the second was bargaining, and the third was accepting it, before the fourth stage... absolute horror. It was at that stage that she began to shudder. ''Have I ever said that you guys are magnets for trouble?''
''And yet, you chose to follow us...'' Rain replied, to no answer from Liz, clearly not expecting the response. Whilst that conversation was going on, they had finally found the library of Harley House. Walking through the door, the first and most immediately noticeable thing was the abhorrent smell that was now drifting through the corridors - a smell that could only be described as the smell of something, or someone rotting away. He couldn't decide if it was bad that his first thought was to wonder whether they'd overlooked just how bad the smell had been in the lab, or whether there actually was no smell, due to the way the bodies had been contained...
He really hoped he was wrong on his assessment of what the smell might be, but walking over to the largest chair in the room, even he couldn't have imagined the sight in front of him...
''Crap!'' He exclaimed in horror, stumbling backwards slightly. ''What the hell, Kayaba!'' He hissed, clearly incensed by the tyrannical lord of this world's ability to make it increasingly more disturbing.
''Oh my god.'' Koharu said with an almost blank and expressionless look on her face, as she turned away from the sight in front of them.
Jet was loathed to describe the sight he had the misfortune of having now scorched into his retinas and onto his brain, but if he were to describe it - a shrivelled husk sat in the chair, its arms dangled loosely over the arms of the chair, whilst its face was completely expressionless, made so much worse by the emotionless eyes that had sunken back into their skull. The skin had lost any colour to it, and looked almost as if had been drained of anything resembling the colours one would expect from skin; instead resembling a sheet of thin paper stretched over a skeleton...
Against the horrific backdrop, he could think of only one thing to say, as blindingly obvious as it might have been... ''I think we might be on our own here.''
{Author's Comments}
Yeah, this one's going to get dark.
Also, apologies for the longer than planned wait - life came at me thick and fast, and I had other stuff to focus on for at least a week. I'm hoping to be back to a roughly two week release schedule now.