Lucian hadn’t expected it, but Gladiolus-wreathed Queen’s recruiting efforts had been proceeding without a hitch.
Though he was 100% behind the honey blonde’s suggestion, he’d made it clear he wouldn’t—couldn’t—be the one recruiting others on their way over to Transient Cardinal’s improvised triage centre. Because even with the shattered state of his memories, something deep in his psyche whimpered in absolute terror at the mere notion of approaching others on his own volition.
While voicing such an ultimatum had garnered a strange look from the buxom, statuesque beauty, she had taken his word for it—thankfully enough—and left him to his own devices.
Unlike earlier, he took up a position in the background and leaned against a section of wall cast in shadows from a pair of blazing sconces. In his opinion, there wasn't a need for someone to be on watch any longer, considering the sheer number of people that had congregated on the mezzanine. Even if a creature was foolish enough to still come attacking, it would be killed in short order; purely buried by numbers.
It wasn’t like he had been completely idle, however. His position, though a tad out of the way, was still close enough to let him eavesdrop on any of the conversations going on between those the white-haired waif and her towering, lumbering shadow had already seen to.
As a result, he had the unique opportunity to gather some information—all of which he filed away in the depths of his mind—without offering up any of his own. While most of it came in bits and pieces, there were several things he managed to confirm after piecing together all the fragments.
1. Every single person had lost any of their memories pertaining to their personal lives.
2. Pieces of general knowledge were still accessible. Unfortunately, the usefulness of said knowledge varied heavily. While some remembered how to do what amounted to chores, such as cooking or sewing, others only remembered facts akin to trivia, such as the names of constellations.
3. Everyone present had received two boons; first between Knowledge, Instinct, and Perception and, second, between the Past, Present, and Future.
While Lucian was familiar with the trio of implants as well as the boons from selecting the Past and Present, he wasn’t going to say no to finding out more about the Present and Future; even if he was already peripherally familiar with the former.
Where the former nudged Players towards materials they could make use of right at that moment, the latter gifted them with three crafting recipes; the utility of which varied significantly, while being dependent on the luck of the draw as well as the materials ready at hand.
While he hadn't yet asked Gladiolus-wreathed Queen about the source of her glass-enhanced weapon, hearing about the boon bestowed by selecting the Future gave him a good guess.
To be fair, her weapon could be a result of her sheer resourcefulness and ingenuity. In that case, some might question why he hadn’t asked her about it outright. At the end of the day, it boiled down to a lack of interest. While yes, small traces of the emotion had risen in his heart, it was far from intense enough to get him to actually act on it.
Besides passively gathering information, Lucian had been actively triggering his Knowledge implant on any items within reach. Unfortunately, every single item had proven to be as mundane as mundane could possibly be. The only silver lining—and it was a thin one, without doubt—was the fact that the mellifluous voice's more recent Remarks had been continuing its trend of being cheeky.
Speaking of which…
Lucian clenched his right hand into a fist before triggering his Knowledge implant, wanting to check on the number of Players Remaining.
Handle – El Knight.
Health: Slightly injured.
G. A. M. E.—#1.
Players Remaining/(149/201).
A cold shiver raced down his spine as he heard the exact number, goosebumps prickling up along his arms as he thought over the implications. Although he hadn’t seen a timepiece of any form anywhere on either the fourth or fifth floor, there was no way more than an hour had passed since he had woken up with missing memories – slog through the underground passage included.
The fact that more than fifty people had already died in such a short span of time…
A person would have to be an absolute imbecile if they weren’t immediately concerned.
Lucian swiftly kicked off the wall, swept up his end table, and instantly beelined for Transient Cardinal and her colossal tagalong. His boots loudly clunked against the black and white tiles as he covered the distance, his target clearly noticing his approach when he was still a distance away.
Looking up from her final—at least he hoped so—patient, the white-haired waif offered him a slight, questioning smile while tucking an errant strand of long, sweat-drenched hair behind her ear.
“Do you need something, Knight?” She asked, a trace of fatigue underpinning her voice.
He briefly exchanged a wordless nod with her towering shadow; the behemoth of a man having dipped his head in greeting. Turning his attention on the white-haired waif, he answered. “Just wanted to check up on things. Is everything good on your end?”
“Thank you for your concern.” She offered him a slightly wider smile before her eyes briefly darted around, seemingly making sure she had certain facts straight. “I’m almost out of bandages, but I don’t have any more wounds to see to so things are as good as they can be.”
“But that’s not all, is it?” She continued after barely a pause. “You looked pretty comfortable where you were, so I don’t believe you’d come over just for that.”
“You’re right. I just checked the Players Remaining, and the numbers are down by more than a quarter. I think it’s about time we get moving, before whatever’s killing all those people find us.”
Transient Cardinal's only reaction at the news of such a steep decline was the widening of her pale blue eyes. Her recently acquired shadow, however, was a completely different story.
“Do you happen to have a plan moving forward?” A low, gravelly voice, one fitting the man’s physique to a tee, rumbled from his chest like a rockslide. “The name’s Boris, by the way. Pleasure.”
“Nice to meet you dude.” He said while offering Boris a casual two-fingered salute with his bandaged up hand. “Name’s Lucian, handle’s El Knight. Feel free to call me whichever. I don’t really care, either way.”
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Pausing for a moment, aforementioned hand absently combed through his short, black hair, a slight grimace surfacing on his face at the brief stab of sharp pain. “As for a plan… you might want to talk to Gladiolus-wreathed Queen over there—”
He swept a quick glance across the mezzanine as he spoke and waved his end table in the honey blonde’s direction once he spotted her.
“—and get briefed by her. She’s the one responsible for getting a party together.” He finished, turning back and locking eyes with Boris’s patiently waiting gaze; behemoth of a man having remained silent throughout.
“Understood. I appreciate the heads up.” After a brief, silent moment, a gravelly acknowledgement left the man’s throat. “It was nice meeting you, Cardinal. Here's your bandages back.”
Mid-sentence, he tilted his head down and directed his statement at the white-haired waif. Once she stretched out her arms in invitation, the behemoth of a man let the diminished rolls of canvas-bandages spill out from his hold and into her waiting arms before lumbering off.
Looking after Boris as he walked away, Lucian eyed his white-haired partner out of the corner of his eye after a moment, a faint, lopsided smirk tugging at the rightmost corner of his lips. “What an… interesting companion you’ve found, my dear Cardinal.”
Her porcelain-like cheeks were dusted with a fetching, rosy hue at his teasing. However, not even a second later, she lashed out without warning and slapped at his right bicep reproachfully; a move that had completely come out of left field.
“Ow.” He deadpanned. “I’m just kidding, you know? Chill.”
“Hmpf! It’s not polite to insinuate such things, you know.” She chided, even as she waved off her final patient—a forlorn-looking young man—before busying herself with storing away the scant remaining rolls of bandages in her backpack; blush still causing her cheeks to glow.
Lucian wasn't sure about the reason for her drastic change in temperament, but he was glad for it. While her initial state akin to a shrinking violet was rather adorable, it wasn't an attitude suitable for their present circumstances, in his humble opinion. A small part of him was tempted to probe about the change, but it was easily quashed under the realities of the present. If he survived all the upcoming trials, then he promised himself he would ask.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” He said faux innocently, only the barest traces of laughter leaking into his tone. “I did come over for a reason, though, besides telling you about the drop in Players.”
Though the young woman was closing up her aquamarine backpack at the time, she still sent him a skeptical look after he deflected her accusation. “If you say so. So? What else do you have to say.”
Quickly explaining what Gladiolus-wreathed Queen and himself had discussed, the raven-haired man filled the white-haired waif in about all the recent happenings. In contrast with the honey blonde, Transient Cardinal seemed to be fully on board with his supposition; something which wasn’t a surprise in hindsight, considering she was the one to frame the Perception implant in video game terminology to begin with.
Once he was done, she fanned her waterfall of white hair over her resecured backpack, scooped up her pair of table legs from their resting place atop a nearby table, and set off in a quick trot without any questions.
“What are we waiting for then?” She tossed over her shoulder. “Let’s go~!”
Looking after her back for a moment, Lucian shook his head at her impulsiveness but trailed after her; an exasperated, unknowingly fond, smirk quirking up the corners of his mouth.
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Lucian quietly padded down the stairs as he trailed at the back end of the group. His eyes darted from left to right then up to down, arm tensed and ready to swing his end table at the first hostile creature that popped their ugly mug out of hiding.
Though he was alert to his surroundings, his eyes came to a rest on the five people in front from time to time; a wary light in the depths of his gaze, turning them a slight greyish-brown.
Now that the raven-haired man had some time to himself, emotions, ones previously quashed under the fear of the unknown and terror from life and death encounters, bubbled up to the surface. Don’t get him wrong, the fear and terror were still there, lurking at the edges of his thoughts, but other emotions were finally able to take centre stage.
Most predominant amongst which was caution.
Of the people trapped in the Dormitories with him; of his, supposedly voluntary, reason for being here in the first place; and of Nightmares Unlimited, most of all.
While Transient Cardinal and Gladiolus-wreathed Queen were somewhat trustworthy allies, considering how they had first become acquainted, he couldn’t so easily say the same about anyone else.
Being friendly was one thing, but trusting his back to veritable strangers—unproven ones, at that—was an entirely different matter. Even if he put that aside, another burning concern at the forefront of his thoughts was his supposed voluntary presence in this horrifying deathtrap.
Assuming it really was voluntary, as Nightmares Unlimited claimed, he didn't understand why he was so unprepared right from the starting line. But if being here was involuntary… then things would make far more sense, wouldn’t it?
Don't even get him started on Nightmares Unlimited, in and of itself.
While the two boons bestowed and the information given had been helpful so far, he would be far too naïve to believe such good things came without an agenda – let alone without any strings attached, as Nightmares Unlimited implied.
It was far too convenient—suspiciously so, even—for most of his memories, especially those pertaining to himself, to be missing.
Though Lucian was deep in his thoughts, his focus wasn’t fully focused inwards. As such, when Gladiolus-wreathed Queen—the honey blonde having taken up a position at the vanguard of the group—came to a stop on the third floor, he stopped as well.
He quickly looked around, trying to see why they had stopped all of a sudden, but failed to spot anything obviously amiss even after several sweeps with his eyes.
Much like the fourth and fifth floors, the third was of an identical size and sported a hollowed out middle, ringed by the same fragile set of railings; four, equally spaced out, gently curving hallways splitting off from the main part of the floor and leading deeper into the building's depths.
Firelight from the chandelier and sconces covered the white checkerboard tiles in a yellowish-orange sheen, while its black counterparts devoured all of the light like multiple, miniature blackholes.
Before Lucian could walk forward and ask Gladiolus-wreathed Queen about the holdup, she decided to speak up; husky contralto filling the air just as another thunderclap rolled across the floor.
“Like I said earlier. We'll choose which path to take as a group once I find some red skulls.” She paused meaningfully before waving to her right then her left, gesturing at two hallways placed directly opposite one another. “And so here we are. Do all of you want to move right, or left?”
She fell silent after saying her piece, arms folded under her ample bust while one of her fingers rhythmically tapped against the unwrapped portion of her improvised, spiked club – patiently waiting for the group to come to a decision.
Cherub was the first to speak up after a moment; the tanned, rather short man, clad in an entirely brown outfit—t-shirt, pants, and shoes—with a scruffy mop of chestnut hair, having been the first to join their party after the honey blonde’s recruitment efforts.
“I say we go right. Cause y’all know, the righthand rule and all?” He shrugged, leaving it at that.
Diamonddust retorted hotly before a second could even pass; the effeminate man, with flowing golden shoulder-length locks and bright blue eyes, clad in an oddly androgynous outfit—an off-white tailored shirt, baggy grey pants, a denim jacket that had seen better days, and beat-up canvas sneakers—having been the last to join – just as the rest of them had been about to leave, in fact.
“Really? Are you like, seriously gonna base your choice on such an inane reason?” He huffed out, a disdainful curl to his lips.
Before Cherub could snipe back, Boris interposed himself, verbally and physically, suffocating the nascent argument in the cradle; the pale-skinned giant of a man, torso and legs completely obscured under a billowing, short-sleeved, burgundy cloak and lacking any hair on his head except for a bushy mahogany beard, having slotted into the party after speaking to Gladiolus-wreathed Queen earlier.
“Now’s not the time, gentlemen.” He rumbled firmly, both arms cutting down in the space between Cherub and Diamonddust – the two end tables, securely tied to his wrists, trailing behind and swinging in a short, dangerous arc.
The two men, far shorter than Boris, stood down and shut up.
Lucian coughed purposefully and drew all five pairs of eyes his way, choosing to speak up so as to get the momentarily derailed conversation back on track.
“Since there isn’t actually a reason not to go right, I say we go that way.”
“Sounds good to me~!” Transient Cardinal interjected quickly, her plush pink lips stretched into a small, if nervous, smile.
Although Diamonddust let out a quiet, dissatisfied huff, he remained silent. Boris, likewise, remained silent, clearly expressing his neutrality.
Gladiolus-wreathed Queen let the silence hang for a moment longer, before decisively pivoting on her heels and walking to the right hallway; a final comment thrown over her shoulder. “Fine then. To the right we go.”
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Much like the eight other hallways on the two upper floors, the one the group of six entered seemed no different – at least, at first.
Once the main part of the third floor had curved out of sight behind them, Cherub, walking at the front of the group with Gladiolus-wreathed Queen, brought up an odd fact; namely, the faint gusts of wind coming from deeper in.
While Lucian found the observation interesting, it wasn’t until Transient Cardinal brought up the possibility of a way to the outside that he considered the actual ramifications of there being wind indoors – something mostly absent up to now.
The mood amongst the party changed after that.
Where it was previously cautious, but more adventurous, it experienced a complete reversal; since for all any of them knew, hostile creatures were waiting for them right around the gentle bend.
Fortunately for the party, nothing of the sort occurred.
Lucian doubted any action would be forthcoming anytime soon anyway, considering the lack of it over the last minute even as the wind picked up.
Though their pace had been somewhat stymied after Cherub voiced his observation, he was confident not much of the hallway remained; judging from the length of all the earlier hallways.
Moments later, his assumption was proven right on the mark.
“I’m going to have nightmares after this…” Cherub groaned disgustedly, a sentiment Lucian and the others fully agreed with.
At the end of the hallway, a set of rust-coated grills with barely any space in between entered his eyes. However, If that was all there was to it, then all their reactions wouldn't have been so dramatic thereafter.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Beyond the grills was a dense mass of Shadowborn Skullkers, forming a squirming, ebony carpet that nearly obscured the stone-paved grounds of the open-air pathway beyond from sight.
“It's time to re—Dammit retreat, now!” Gladiolus-wreathed Queen started off calmly, before abruptly shifting in tone and acquiring a panicked edge while she rapidly backpedalled.
Evidently, their presence had been a trigger of some sort; because visible to the naked eye, the set of metal grills was starting to flake away.