At our arrival into the mustard-yellow space, which seemed to branch randomly in all directions with nonsensical corridors and chambers, the people trapped here came up to us. From their expressions, it was clear that they were scared, but it seemed they were hoping we’d brought them salvation.
Chris took his headphones off and put them around his neck.
“Are we safe here?” he asked.
“I think I managed to stall the monster,” I told him.
“Don’t be so sure,” Panda remarked, though Chris of course couldn’t hear him.
The Backstabber scanned the crowd of people coming towards us. His little brother clearly weren’t amongst them, so he addressed them all:
“Have any of you seen a young boy with blonde hair like mine!?”
They looked amongst themselves and started muttering, though some of the people just stared straight at us without blinking.
I gritted my teeth as I pulled out my Looking Glass and scanned them. Almost immediately I got a hit.
Level 2
‘David Moreno’
Player x
“My name’s David Moreno.”
Class: Mechanic
Main Attribute(s): Strength, Vitality, & Perception
ERROR!
Cannot retrieve background information.
He is looking at you.
image [https://i.imgur.com/Vm4WbgB.png]
“They’re here,” I told Tina.
Steve looked between us, worried.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Skinstealers.”
“…What?”
“You received a Looking Glass right? Have a look at that guy over there,” I told him, pointing to ‘David’.
Steve brought out the item and gave him an appraisal.
“What the fudge?”
“Yeah, that’s a Skinstealer. I’ve seen them many times before.”
“He isn’t the only one,” Tina said, her eyes sharp and her tone serious.
Although people always seemed to think her alter ego Nina was the dangerous one, it was Tina who’d willfully committed all the atrocities that had gotten her sent to jail and then later the closed Calm Springs Asylum, only to be transferred to an even more secure facility when the orderlies couldn’t handle her.
“This is what Annabella was warning me about with you,” Steve said. “You killed her friend, Sam.”
“I saved her life,” I replied, recalling the incident after the Pool Rooms that’d earnt me the Conspiracy Whistle.
Steve looked skeptical. He was clearly someone who needed to see to believe, so I waved at David and beckoned him over.
“Come here for a second, my friend,” I said with the biggest fake smile I could manage.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The guy slowly shambled towards me, while I pulled out the whistle.
“You might want to back away for this,” Panda warned the others.
Steve and Tina moved away. Meanwhile, Chris was in the process of talking to the people around the chamber, who’d all split up into small groups.
“You should give him the Soul Compass,” Panda said.
“First we clean up the Skinstealers,” I whispered, while David Moreno was continuing to walk towards me, as I backed up to a wall that no one else was near.
“Thaaaat’s right,” I patronized him.
“You should be good here,” Panda said.
I blew a note in the whistle. It felt like a spiked cat’s tongue was doing the nasty to my eardrum and something warm leaked out of my right nostril.
Player ‘Gambit’ has activated a Conspiracy Whistle.
You have received +10% Insanity!
Immediately, David unzipped down the middle and opened up to reveal a massive maw stuffed with teeth. At the same time, everyone in the room gripped their ears and cried out in distress.
“Wait, I think the insanity range might be longer than I remember,” Panda commented.
“What the fuck, Gambit!?” Steve yelled, clearly upset about his insanity gauge going up.
“Inspect,” I said, looking at the whistle and ignoring his complaints.
‘Conspiracy Whistle’ x
Sometimes conspiracies are spot-on, and other times they only breed more insanity.
Blowing a note in this whistle reveals any shapeshifters within 10 yards, but inflicts +10% insanity to any Player within 100 yards.
Weight: 1.3 Pandas
image [https://i.imgur.com/ajjDVMK.png]
“Damn it, Panda.”
“What!? Don’t blame me!”
“I’m counting on you to be the smart one!”
“Gambit, watch out!” Steve then yelled.
I quickly hopped to the side, as Definitely-Not-David tried to chomp down on me with his fucked-up body-bisecting mouth. Then I triggered SPRING_HEEL and smashed Brock into the side of him.
“Get dead in 3 seconds, dog!!” he squealed.
The Skinstealer spun around and lunged for me with another chomp, but I just backpedaled, while letting the timer run its course.
As the delay ended, the top half of Not-David’s body exploded into a fine mist. Again, people cried out and gasped. It was hard to tell if it was because of how easily I’d killed the monster, or because they weren’t used to seeing someone get killed.
While I walked back towards Tina and Steve, an achievement appeared:
Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement! x
‘Madman!’
Reach 200% Insanity.
Seek the truth, Glitched Prophet.
Forsake these mortal struggles.
Abandon your earthly ties.
Find where the System has been secreted away.
And set Chaos free.
Reward: The Key to the Lock
image [https://i.imgur.com/fpKxKTt.png]
“What does that all mean?” I muttered.
“Abandoning your earthly ties probably means to let go of your friends and possessions, right?” Panda guessed.
“Fuck that.”
I stopped next to Steve, looking at the people nearby. They’d gone all the way back to the far wall of the large room and were yelling at Chris to not come any closer.
“Steve.”
“What?”
“Do your Simon Says thing,” I told him.
“And tell them what?”
“To split into two groups, one with humans and one with Skinstealers.”
He frowned. “There are more of them?”
“Out of the seventeen people here, six are not human,” Tina commented. She wasn’t using a Looking Glass, but it was clear she had some kind of ability that did the same, or perhaps Nina was whispering the answer into her ears.
“Can’t you just do the same thing you just did for each of them?” he asked. “But like, farther away. I’m less than 15% from hitting 100…”
“You seem pretty calm about it,” Panda noted. “It’s almost like you mellowed out after becoming less sane.”
“It does help one’s outlook on life a lot,” I said.
Tina nodded in agreement.
“I received a warning when I got the 75% insanity achievement,” Steve said. “If I hit 100%, I’ll turn into something dangerous apparently.”
“It’s called a Boss Monstrosity,” Panda replied. “The thing that destroyed the Mall was one of those.”
“Don’t worry Steve, I’ll make sure to kill you if that happens,” I said comfortingly.
He sighed deeply. “Perhaps I should’ve just let the swan eat me.”
Chris came over to us and asked, “What the hell was that whistle sound? Did you just turn someone into a monster with it??”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. Then I pulled the headphones off his neck and placed them over my ears.
“Alright, go for it Steve!” I yelled.
I watched as Steve’s mouth moved. Then, like a wave pulsing out from him, people started to obey his command. Even Chris followed the larger group of people as they want to the wall where David’s dead body lay, while six figures remained by the opposite end. Tina remained put, clearly immune to Steve’s Birthday Brat power.
After taking off the headphones and putting them around my neck, I rotated my right shoulder joint and ran towards the six Skinstealers. Tina followed next to me, neon-green energy suffusing her hands and birthing spiraling serpents.
Then we dispatched of the imposters before they could break free of Steve’s command.