Sid set down the goblet and stood up. He walked over towards the shimmering portal and stared at the room outside.

"You were correct again. That is troubling," he said in agreement.

The woman nodded solemnly. "I am sorry."

Sid stared out as his eyes seemed to scan the room just beyond. "I do not understand." Sid replied after a moment of silence. "However, that is due to a processing issue on my end, not on yours."

"I know," she said softly as a glass decanter appeared in her hand, and she refilled Sid's abandoned goblet.

"There is no need to refill my cup. I have spent enough time idling here." He explained, "I need to move on."

"But there is so much more I could tell you. So much I could show you, teach you." her voice almost seemed to have a physical form of its own as it tried to drag Sid back away from the arch in front of him.

"There are many benefits to your offer," Sid agreed. "However, I must decline. Your lessons are wasted on me. I am unable to process them, and their alleged morals are irrelevant to me."

"It has been so long since I had a visitor." she said. "Surely you can stay a little while longer?"

Sid kept his back to her. His eyes narrowed in on a pipe as a strange black ooze dripped from a worn connector. He reached his skeletal hand up and pressed it against the viscous surface.

"There is not enough time," Sid declared as he pushed his way through.

The woman sat in her chair as she watched Sid. She was still smiling, but there was obvious sadness poorly masked by her expression.

Sid's body faltered and he collapsed onto his knees as he reappeared on the opposite side of the doorway. His limbs were weak, and his body struggled as he forced himself to stand.

On this side, the archway looked almost exactly the same. Except the eye on top was no longer closed. Now, it was half open, with its pupil pointed down, directly at Sid.

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"Curious," Sid stated as he rocked back and forth slightly as he tried to find his balance.

BRO! You're okay!

Sid turned his head quickly, but Death had already leaped onto his back, and forced him to collapse back onto the ground.

HAHAHAHA! I knew you'd be alright! Death cheered as he lied on top of Sid.

"Your confidence in my skills is noted. However, we do not have the time for such a diversion. If you could get off of me so I could continue our search." Sid explained calmly.

Huh? Oh yeah, I guess I did sorta surprise you there, huh? Death said before he picked himself up and reached his bony hand down to help Sid.

Sid accepted the help, and got back up onto his feet. Immediately, he started to head back towards the giant steps down. He peered over the edge and seemed to be thinking about something as he froze there for a moment.

So uh...where exactly did you go dude? Death asked as he mimicked Sid and looked over the edge. You kind of disappeared off of my radar for a while.

Sid knelt down and then looked back up at the leaking pipe. "I do not know. Time passed, but I have no recollection of three hours twenty-one minutes and thirty-seven seconds. As if my memory has been wiped, or I was shut down abruptly."

Sid wiped his hands against each other and turned towards Death. "However, there is no record of any shut down or restart process. My memory is simply gone. This place certainly changed within that time though."

Death put his thumb and pointer finger along his jaw as he nodded his head. Oh yeah. I know just what you mean bro. I was in this really sweet room, and then Narissa was like yelling at me for something dumb. Then it got all dark for a bit.

Death held out both of his arms and shrugged. Next thing I knew, I was just lying on the ground. But I think I had this weird dream about being some awesome detective or something like that.

Sid opened his mouth to speak, but Death snapped his fingers and and cut him off. Oh yeah! And everything was like super old when i got back up. Like the walls and stuff were crumbling apart.

Sid nodded. "Quite right. Our memory seems to have been tampered with, and this place has aged considerably. Foreboding signs on their own, made even more troubling when combined."

Uhh...I'll take your word for it. Anyway, what's the plan? Death asked as he put an arm around Sid's shoulder.

The machine turned man finally looked at the archway and the carvings all along it. His eyes seemed to avoid looking through to the other side. "We need to get moving, but can you sense the others?"

Death picked at his nose hole with his finger. Huh? Oh yeah totally. Let's see...

Death started to groan as he seemed to concentrate. Sid disregarded him, and jumped down to the next stair down. His legs wobbled when he landed, and then he collapsed.

Uh... Death had appeared behind Sid again and held out his hand to help him up. Were you supposed to do that?

Sid accepted the help again, and as he stood up, his legs still wobbled slightly. "This place has some fairly complicated traps." he said.

Oh yeah? I haven't seen any traps, just this crazy one eyed assassin guy that kidnapped me.

Sid perked up immediately. "You saw one of the denizens of this place? You must tell me all about them. Leave nothing out." Sid paused and added, "But first explain the status of the others."

Whoa slow down. Death said as he held up his hands. Alright alright. So you want to know which of the guys I can still find, right? Then...then what did you want?

"I do not remember your memory being this poor. Do you really need me to repeat instructions I only recently gave to you?" Sid asked.

I mean, it's been a pretty wild day bro.

Sid nodded. "Very well then. We shall just commence with one thing at a time..."

Even though the two of them were out of sight, the woman on the other side of the archway still stared out towards exactly where they were. Almost like she could see them despite the architecture currently obscuring them from her line of sight.