Outside the room, I remembered that I had been lost. I did not know how to go back to the entrance, and it would take a whole day for the unmonitored time to return. Before that happened, I would be killed for not finishing whatever directions I was going to get in less than three hours. That meant that I somehow needed to get out of this place, within that time.

Aimlessly, I started walking back towards the direction I had come from. After reaching a crossroads, I stood there for a while, before deciding to take the right. Something I remembered clearly was that when I first came into these parts of the underground floors, I had taken a left. Keeping going in the opposite direction would hopefully get me back to some place I could recognize.

But I had no luck. After taking turns after turns for the longest time, I had no clue where I was, even now. There was just one last idea I had. I had done the smart thing by making sure to remember where I was going this time. If I could go back to that room and climb out of the hole that had been dug in, I could probably find the hospital and get back to it. It was five floors tall, so there was no way it wouldn’t be visible.

And so, I went back to the same room.

The body and head were still there, so I decided not to disturb them. I also tried not to look at them at all. They made me worried about what was happening to me. Just for second, back when Olbert had first told me about the unmonitored time, I had felt something for these people. Anger on their behalf. But with this doctor, I was right back to where I had started. It was like God had removed all empathy from me.

The chair was not tall enough for me to get to the hole, so I went and got some of the machines which had a regular square or rectangle shape. Then, I tried to place them on top of one another to create a ladder of sorts. Eventually, it took three machines, placed on top of the chair, to end up with a very wobbly one. I would rather not use it, out of fear of falling down, but the alternate was death, so I tried my best to maintain my balance, and started climbing it.

It was fine for most of the time, but towards the top, I almost slipped and fell. Fortunately, I had already grabbed the top of the hole, which I had been able to reach. The machines fell down, and I was left hanging there. The memories of the wardlebeast came to my mind. That was what I had seen the last time I had climbed up like this. I tried to get those ideas out, and pulled myself up.

The result was pretty bland.

It was a fairly open plain, and the hospital was visible quite clearly, a little away from me. Also, it was to the south. I had been going in the completely wrong direction before. If I had known, I would have checked some of the rooms to see what was in them.

Anyways, I headed back towards the hospital.

Once I got there, there wasn’t much trouble getting in. The place did not have any kind of security guard, so I just walked in through the main entrance without anyone finding out.

Well, not anyone. One person did see me. And I saw her too, so the wish to keep quiet about it was probably mutual.

Sylvia was coming out of the room which had the stairs. She slowly closed the door, making sure that there was absolutely no noise. As soon as she turned, she jumped with terror after seeing me.

She held her heart and her mouth and took a deep breath before glaring at me and tiptoeing over.

“What are you doing here?” She whispered.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I am doing my job. What’s your problem with it?”

“None. I was just saying that both of us are somewhere we’re not supposed to be.”

She sighed, “I am supposed to be here. It’s my job to spy on these people. Also, I ran into your friend. Weird.”

Ran into Olbert? It seemed a bit impossible, considering how cautious he was about making sure he did not break any rules. Or…she was lying. Not to me, but to him.

“Ohh. That’s sad. He doesn’t like you very much,”

“Yes, well, I made sure his opinions changed. He had to see I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and I explained it to him. Make sure you two don’t interrupt me again.” She pushed past me and started walking towards the stairs.

Those two had clearly talked during the unmonitored time. I decided to ask Olbert about it tomorrow.

That’s when I thought of something. The doctor had spoken about the basement, and some demon summoning. He had been killed for that, probably because I wasn’t supposed to know that till now. But for some reason, I hadn’t been hurt. The worst punishment I had gotten till now was a broken finger.

Also, when I woke up in the mornings, my role was listed as ‘major’. Sylvia seemed like she knew what she was doing. Plus, if she was in a mercenary group, then she could probably also fight very well. If I told her about the basement, then she might be able to get further in her investigation. The story might progress. There was a chance that I would get punished for it, but that was a chance I would rather take. It was much better than doing nothing; feeling nothing.

“Someone told me that the basement might have something. Have you checked it?”

No punishment. Nothing happened. I sighed with relief.

She stopped for a second, and then without saying anything, just slightly shook her head. And then, she was gone.

She was probably scared of replying. I was safe, but that did not mean that she would be too.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Well, as long as she understood.

I went back to my room, and to sleep.

Current Story – The Hospital

Character – Ryworn

Role – Major

Stage Directions (Day 4) –

Go the basement, and witness the horrifying sight

Beautiful words to wake up to.

I got up and took a short round of the fourth floor. My legs felt a bit sore, so that loosened them up.

I wondered if they had found that doctor’s body yet. Had anyone even noticed that he was missing?

Trying to stop myself from thinking about it, I went back to the room with the stairs, and checked. The door was open, and all the patients were back in. I stepped in and went down them.

Olbert was right at the bottom, coming up.

“Hey!” He said, “Good morning.”

“How are you?” I asked.

“Great!” He laughed, “You know, I was thinking of checking the basement today! That is apparently where they keep all the corpses, even the ones which were here when this place was first created. The hero of the hospital must surely be somewhere down there. I would love to see the face of the man who stopped my aunt. My father would reward me quite heavily if I told him I had seen the hero himself!”

Even today, we both had gotten the same instructions. On top of that, he had already made his entire dialogue ready to make sure I did not make any mistakes. I felt like I did not give Olbert enough credit for his work. He had been incredibly helpful so far.

“Oh. That’s interesting. Where is this place?” I asked.

He started, “Huh. That’s right. I haven’t told you that part of my great-great aunt and uncle’s memoirs yet. This is a very interesting part, so listen carefully!”

It was something about how, while getting carried away by the guards, his uncle had regained consciousness and seen something strange going on in room number nine. As if they were creating even more underground levels in that place. Then, he had thought of fighting back once more, but seeing the sleeping face of his wife made him cry and abandon the idea.

I didn’t know if I was supposed to find this information out today. The doctor had been killed for telling me about the basement, but now the story was acting like today was always supposed to be the day that the basement was checked by the two of us. Maybe it was, but then the directions wouldn’t mention the basement directly. They probably would have just asked me to talk to Olbert.

Also, nothing had happened when I told Sylvia about the place, so was the story adapting according to what the doctor had done? Auria had mentioned something about directions being changed on-the-spot, but I hadn’t thought that they could be affected to this degree.

“You met Sylvia yesterday?” I asked, “She told me you ran into her, and she convinced you that she wasn’t trying to ruin the hospital’s name.”

“Ahh, yes!” Olbert nodded with an odd smile. I winced. Putting him in this situation had probably been a bad idea. Now he needed to come up with something right here, “She is an upstanding person! My father would definitely be pleased to meet her. She is doing her job, because she promised the client, and not because she personally hates this place. In fact, she has been having surgeries and treatments in this place since she was a child. This dedication towards work and promises is exactly what should be expected of people!”

I felt a bit relieved. He had handled it well.

Together, both of us then headed to room number nine.

Right as we were getting to the entrance, we heard footsteps. Both of us stopped. The footsteps grew louder. They were coming from inside the room. Olbert stepped in front of me. He could probably talk his way out of anything, so it was the better idea.

Then, she appeared.

Sylvia got out of the room and stopped when she looked at us. She gave us a tiny smile, blinked with both of her eyes, and then went away towards the direction of the stairs.

She had gotten into the basement already. That was nice. Both of us looked at each other and nodded, before heading in.

It looked very similar to room number fourteen, other than the massive trapdoor in the middle of the room. Once more, out in the open.

“How have we not seen this before? It’s been right here.” I was a bit disappointed at the grand reveal.

“Often, we overlook details in our lack of patience.” Olbert said, “My great-great aunt told me that. Pretty sure she was talking about cleaning up crime scenes, but it still applies to this situation.” He laughed.

We went to the trapdoor, and both of us lifted the handle together, and pulled. The door was heavy, but enough for both of us to lift it up together.

A wooden ladder was attached to the side of the hole which appeared. Carefully, both of us headed down into the basement.

The corridor wasn’t that long. Unlike the ones above the basement, however, this one had pretty sensible lighting, with candles being placed at regular intervals.

At the end of that small corridor, which seemed to head into the direction of the main hospital, was a medium-sized room.

With its cupboards, shelves, and drawers, it looked more like a changing room of sorts. There was also a door on the side, once more towards the direction of the hospital. That was probably where the ‘horrifying sight’ was waiting, given that this room contained pretty much nothing at all.

Olbert slowly opened the door, and almost as soon as he did, the stench that had been following us since the upper levels of the underground, grew even stronger than before. The smell of something rotting.

He stepped inside, and I followed behind him. He gasped as soon as he saw the room. Because of his height being slightly more than mine, most of the view was hidden from my sight due to his head. But once we both stepped into the room completely, I stepped aside to look at what he had seen.

In the middle of the stone floor, was a symbol. A snake-like creature with horns, wrapped around what looked like a human body. There were no lights in the room, but it was completely tinted because of the symbol, which had a faint red glow to it. It reminded of the white one that had been on the portal before. But this was different in some way. There was no way to explain it quite well, but the one in the portal carried more weight to it. That white aura pulled you down. This was just…there.

But while I was busy looking at the floor, Olbert pulled my sleeve and turned my head up. My mind went blank.

On the ceiling, which was pretty high up, were bodies. Around fifty or sixty of them, tightly packed together. Attached using chains, the bodies were hanging over the symbol, upside down. All of their heads had been shaved, and on every single one of their heads, there was a long cut that went from one side to another. Through this cut, drop by drop, blood fell down on the symbol. That was when the stench became normal. Because my senses were overpowered by something else.

Drip, drip, drip, drip. The blood drops did not stop, nor did they slow down or speed up. It was as if they wanted to make sure that every single one was heard properly. All of them hit the symbol, somehow; not one dropping out of it. Every single time that a drop hit the symbol, that part of it glowed for a short period of time.

Olbert pushed me away and went out of the room. I stayed there for some time, looking at the bodies. I did not want to leave. The room wasn’t pleasant to be in, but I still not did not want to go. Because leaving meant talking to Olbert. And that would mean talking about this room.

I could not.

What would I tell him? How would I explain? After everything he had done…

I felt no disgust, no fear. Now, I could not even feel anger, despite noticing the old man who had been grabbed away in front of us. But despite the lack of all other emotion, just one thought kept circling in my mind, like the snake around that body.

These are not my people. I am not from this world.

I am but a spectator.