Szczeosny opened his eyes to a grey blur, which solidified into the gentle movement of fog obscuring any sky or ceiling that should have been above him. He was flat on his back and felt like he'd fallen a great distance to get there. A jolt of adrenaline shot through him and he - the base - the portal - something reaching through and -
He sat bolt upright.
Rise and shine, hunter.
His view shifted, but nothing else did. Nothing but fog. But the ground was flat and featureless, not grass. His fingers curled against it. This wasn't outside of the house, and it wasn't the island. So, were they... inside that hell-house? "Kurwa."
The feminine voice sighed. Oh, will you stop worrying already and hold me up? Entrances are also exits. There's a way out of here and we will find it.
Every movement reminded him he was still sore from the fight with the foggy creature from earlier. Szczeosny scrambled to his feet, pulling the huge saw up with him. With the other hand he deftly flipped open his standard-issue phone to discover, or at least confirm, that phone service didn't exist in fog hell. Piosenka's runes shimmered and began to glow, providing at least some color and light in the emptiness. One step and something cracked under his shoe. A puddle of clear liquid began to seep out.
"Szkło," he observed aloud. His voice sounded funny to him, flat, confined.
Broken glass. It's useless. Keep moving.
So he walked, always glancing over his shoulders for signs of movement. In Piosenka's light, he came across some kind of dissolving miniature pumpkin, and the cardboard roll that had once been runic bandages - signs of life, that he wasn't alone in whatever this place was. And finally, something intact. A small vial of clear liquid that he had the good fortune not to step on.
But even as he pocketed the fragile vial, he knew it didn't lead him any closer to answering where he was, or how to get out. The farther he walked, the more sure he was simply going in circles. Every footstep, every heartbeat, they were like pounding drums in his ears.
Tedan was kind of glad when they were all called back, apparently to gear up for something. Having already been inside the house by accident, the Sun trainee wasn't too enthusiastic about going -back- in. Not with random fog monsters running about, along with the Halloweeners. But. Well, that's what they were here for, right? With a sigh, he ran fingertips up and down Arda's pole, waiting for orders. Then, predictably, everything went to hell. There were grabbing hands and tentacles, and who knew what else coming out of the fog and grabbing people and ... s**t. Just, s**t.
By the time the fog reached for him, Tedan was almost ready for it, swinging his axe at it with a yell. But of course he couldn't hit it, and he was grabbed and dragged into the portal and everything went black.
When he woke up, he pretty much expected to see more fog - so that wasn't a surprise. What was kind of startling was that there were no more whispers. No more calls and cries and muttered references to home swirling about in the fog. Still, he had to move. Couldn't just sit around and wait - something was bound to come along and take a bite out of him - or try to. Frowning, he took a step forward and felt something crunch under his foot. Deciding that he was probably better off not looking, he kept going forward in a dogged sort of fashion.
For the first few steps, he resisted the urge to look around, not at all sure what he might see in this place. Finally, though, his curiosity got the better of him, and the Sun trainee squinted into the fog.
Staring at the ground, Tedan lowered the head of his axe to try and light the area a bit better and managed to spot a used roll of Runic bandages as well as what looked like a couple of half-eaten pumpkin candies? It took him a moment or two to realize what those were and then he snorted softly and crunched both under a foot. Just in case they could still be useful - no sense in giving the Halloweeners any advantages.
After a while, the silence started to get to him, and though he knew that it could probably bring some kind of trouble, he risked calling out. "Hey! Anyone else out there?" His voice sounded flat, almost dead. He wasn't sure if anyone at all heard him.
The soft sound of weeping filters through the fog. It increases steadily in volume until a figure appears from the shifting monochromatic depths of Insanity. A small girl in a hooded robe stares with eyes wide, panicked eyes, and her cries break apart into a hundred whispered apologies.
And then she disappears into the fog, soft, tearful sighs following in her wake.
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:15 am
Wait, a little girl? What the hell was a little girl doing wandering around in here? Though part of Tedan was a bit suspicious, he found himself moving toward where the little girl had been standing. "Wait! Who are you? Come back!" he called, reaching a hand toward the disappearing figure.
"What are you sorry for ...?" he asked softly, looking around. It was then that he realized there seemed to be lights in the distance - almost calling out to him. One warm, one cold, and nothing but swirling fog in between. But the girl ... were there kids in here somewhere? Ignoring the lights for the moment, the Sun trainee headed in a random direction, calling out every now and again.
Tedan frowned as he kept on walking, tilting head to the side as faint sounds carried through the fog. Laughter. Music. The sound of people talking to one another cheerfully. What ... the hell? Coming into an area that was a little less foggy, the Hunter blinked. Wait, was he back at the festival? No ... that couldn't be right, the fog hadn't been here before. Was it making some kind of replica? Or something? Kay, this was weird. His suspicions that it wasn't actually real were pretty much confirmed when he made an experimental grab at one of the cakes, only to have it dissolve into fog. "Anyone else seeing this?" he muttered to the empty air.
To his complete surprise, something answered him - or seemed to. The fog rushed in and there was a figure standing there. Someone with a weapon ... it almost looked vaguely like Caelius to him. But he knew that it wasn't. Just as some part of him knew that the figures behind it weren't real. And yet... in studying those figures, Tedan suddenly stiffened. One of them didn't appear human at first, until he realized they were wearing a suit. A very familiar one, with a number emblazoned on the helmet. s**t.
"Three?" he half-breathed, trying to take a step forward. And completely failing to move. His gaze snapped back to the figure with the weapon. "You b*****d, let me go!" he snarled, raising his own weapon up higher. "I never took anything from you and even if I did, I wouldn't give it back because of your stupid little tricks. This isn't real and I know it."
The figure raised its weapon up and Tedan tensed, clearly ready for a fight. Only to have the fog swirl in again, hiding all of the figures from sight. Oh come on what the hell. Growling softly, the Hunter lowered his own weapon and looked around, frowning.
"No s**t, are you just now waking up? You've gotta pay more attention, Arda," he muttered to his weapon.
But before the weapon could reply, time and space jittered and skipped and ... he found himself suddenly kneeling. Kneeling with his hands pressed into something bloody. No. Someone. They were bleeding heavily, twisting just slightly in pain beneath his hands. "Who are you?" he asked, voice coming out as little more than a whisper. He couldn't tell if the noise that they made was supposed to be an answer or not, the sound a choked and strangled thing. Probably they couldn't even talk anymore ... whoever this was.
Without even truly thinking about it, Tedan tried to do something to stop the bleeding. Tried to rip at whatever clothing they wore to make bandages, talking to them. Babbling. Telling them it would be okay, trying to believe that himself.
But it was hopeless - somehow he felt like he'd known that from the beginning, even as the figure mumbled softly, "Thank you." But then the fog faded out a bit and the Hunter blinked. Who ... what ...
It wasn't even a person. It was a monster ... he didn't know exactly what ...
"I really don't care!" Tedan snapped. Then clenched his jaw and murmured quietly, "I'm sorry. I just ... I don't understand." He felt guilty somehow but he wasn't sure over what. It was a Halloweener. They should die, they should all die. So why should he feel like this? Because he tried to save them without knowing who they were? What was the lesson here? Kill everyone he came across in this place? Pounding a fist on the ground, he felt tears p***k at his eyes. This was stupid!
Suddenly, he felt as if he was back home, at Deus Ex ... in the kitchen with cookies baking. That was what it smelled like anyway. Except that the primary cookie-baker had disappeared a while back, and this was definitely not home. Not to mention this cook looked really creepy. He wasn't sure he'd trust anything that she made.
"What are you even talking about?" he asked abruptly, trying to cut off her dialogue. Choose an ingredient, surprise everyone? Who was "everyone"? But of course, all he got for his troubles was more babbling. "Lady, I don't know who you are, but you're not my friend," he interrupted again. "I don't know you."
It seemed like he couldn't leave until he picked something, though, so the Hunter examined the "ingredients" for a moment.
With a sigh, Tedan pointed at the first thing on the tray, some kind of fluffy critter. "That one." He picked it up and held it out toward her. She took it and put it into a bowl, then into the oven. Definitely weird. Then, of course, she burned whatever the hell she was cooking. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, Tedan just waited for something else to happen. She said something about everything being okay and then .... everything went white.
He seemed to feel more than see the fog swirl about him again ... and then it cleared, and he could see in front of him ... a door. It was huge, towering over his head by several feet and looking like someone had gone crazy with varying shades of grey. "And what is this thing here for?" he muttered. Rather obviously, he was supposed to go through it but what was the point?
Well whatever. Not like there was anything else to do. With a sigh, he reached for the doorknob. And a voice called out to him to wait. He paused and in that moment, arms wrapped around him from behind. "Don't go. Please. There's still another way! You don't have to do this!" A different voice seemed to whisper to him from elsewhere, "You ate me ... you ate me ..."
"No I didn't!" he snapped at the second voice. "If anyone ate you it was the cook or whatever she was!"
The arms were still around him. He wasn't entirely sure who they belonged to ... they seemed shadowy in a way. Insubstantial, and yet he knew that he could not easily escape their grasp. "What do you want from me? The door's there, I have to go through it. Can't do anything else, nowhere else to go. What else are doors for except to walk through anyway?" Some part of him knew that he was babbling almost as much as the cook had been earlier, not making a lot of sense. And yet he couldn't stop...
"Don't you think so, Arda? Isn't this door here to walk through?"
"Of course I'm all right and I DIDN'T EAT ANYONE," he replied, wriggling against the arms.
"Hey! Whoever you are, I'm going, whether you like it or not so just ---" his words trailed off as the door vanished.
"Awww you've gotta be kidding me, I wanted to go ..." he whined, falling almost bonelessly to sit on the ground. Pretty much pouting. "Also I didn't eat you, shut up!!"
Stairs ...? Where did those come from? They'd shown up as mysteriously and suddenly as the door. Which was turned out to be fake. Tedan stood up and walked around the cut-out shape, examining it from all angles. "Are you real? Will you let me go down?" he murmured, curious, head tilting to one side like some odd bird.
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