Oh hello! kept you waiting, didn't I? Well, I tried to get creative but ended up writing myself off a cliff. So i took a two-day break and ended up with this. 3570 words, yikes!
I couldn't fit the cafeteria part in there, just felt like too much of a struggle to me. soz :/
Enjoy!
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Mono waited patiently. His back propped against the wall and his hands crossed against his chest, he kept as far away from the motionless doll as possible, fearing that at any moment it could pounce and reach for him. He should have just crushed its head the moment it was split in half.
As the elevator continued its ascent, Mono's thoughts drifted back to Six, he dared not imaging what could be happening to her now, lest desperation would paralyze him again. He couldn't bear the thought of her being hurt. So instead, he told himself that she was quite capable of taking care of herself. It made him feel better, for a while.
The lightbulb overhead flickered as the lift came to an abrupt halt, Mono wobbled and braced himself against the wall. The doors slid open, and Mono was greeted by an all too familiar sight. another stack of TVs in the middle. It frustrated him, he has seen this three times before, probably even more, and he still doesn't have the slightest clue of what it's all about. Was it some sort of ritual? He thought. Last time a voice beckoned him closer to them, but now not a single buzz in the air could be heard...
He didn't want to linger here just so something could happen, and trap him for good. The room was pretty dark, and the only light was the one coming from the elevator behind him, he found that the room was missing its other half, on the other side of the TV stacks, the floor was caved in and sunken into the room below. Nothing but flipped-over couches and broken vending machines could be seen in the pit below. The door straight ahead was impossible to reach, too far for a jump.
Mono backed away slowly from the edge, this was getting him nowhere. He found himself back in the middle of the room staring blankly at the stack of TVs. Both doors flanking him were locked he had nowhere else to go.
"Right then..." He eyed one of the TVs carefully. He pressed the on/off buttons of each Television, but none of them came to life. What? Am I suppose to chant some sort of incantation?
"Oi!" Mono knocked on the screen. "Anyone in there? You helped me get into the city, could you show me the way again? I'm kinda lost here." am I going crazy or something?
Nothing happened. Mono wasn't sure what to expect from that anyway. "DAMN IT! I'm wasting precious time!" He said as he turned to look around the room more. And as he turned in his heels, he was frozen stiff before he could take a step. A faint buzzing sound came from a single TV. He turned his head slowly, his paper bag rustling as he did. His eyes darted left and right anxiously. Oh God, what have I done?
The screen made a straight white line then flashed brightly, Mono gasped and shielded his eyes, fearing that the buzzing might torment him again. But it didn't come, just a white, blank screen... I didn't even make a sound.
Suddenly a rattling came from the TV, and the white screen began to waver. And before long the whole Television started shaking. IT'S ABOUT TO BLOW! his head screamed at him, he went and hid behind the corner of the elevator. He foolishly peeked his head over to watch it happen...
The TV stopped shaking, and soon enough the screen spat out something. An axe? Its form was glitching, a bit transparent even, it was constantly drifting in and out of existence. Mono was struck in bewilderment, it actually helped him. It did!
He found himself laughing, mostly in disbelief. He came out of hiding and approached the TV, and soon enough he saw something standing there in the white void. A tall figure, its head shifting from one face to the next before finally settling on a face of a man with a hat. the figure bowed and said, "Soon, boy... but not today..."
"What?"
"Head to your right, and keep going, the answers are; wind, human, time, mirror, and darkness. I'll be watching." The figure spoke, its form beginning to fade away.
"Wait! What does all this mean!?" Mono cried, he had so many questions, but it won't give him a chance to ask them, "Answers to what?!"
"Don't you have other places to be, boy?" It said, not unkindly, before the screen went black. Mono was at a loss for words, he tore his gaze away from his reflection on the screen and looked at the glitching axe on the floor. He reached for it and felt its handle, they jolted him at first, feeling its electric current surging through the palm of his hand. After that, he felt its edges, and despite its transparent form, the blade was sharp as a razor.
He lifted the axe and let it rest across his shoulder, Head right and keep going... the words echoed in his head again, just what was that? an ally from beyond? Why was it helping him? He could have sworn he had seen something like it before, but where? Oh, this dreadful sense of deja vu again... Either way, he was grateful for it, its intentions were clearly unharmful.
The door towered over him, blocking his path. He swung the axe from his shoulders and held it with both arms. His body tensed, planting his feet firmly on the ground. He drew the axe back over his head and swung it with full force at the lower part of the door, the axe went through the wood as easily as a knife cutting through butter. Splinters flew outwards, and as he pulled his axe out of the gap, the dim yellow light from the other side seeped into the room. Before swinging it again Mono took a quick peek through the gashes in the door, he saw more of the dolls, startled. They all drew away from him, frightened as if he was some sort of monster that's was about to tear its way out of its cage. And then came the second swing, which made them break in a full sprint, running as far away as possible from the door.
One final swing at the lower part collapsed, leaving a gap wide enough for Mono to squeeze through. He kept his grip firm on the handle of his axe, his eyes darting from one corner of the hallway to the next, wearing that something might leap from behind the lockers. But nothing came, the hall was unpleasantly quiet, the only sound was the faint static of a TV that hung from the wall above him.
Without warning, the door of a locker burst open and a doll leaped out from inside, it rolled in front of Mono and giggled at him as its arms hovered at its side, ready to pounce at any moment.
Honestly, I'm getting sick of this... He tightened his grip on-... Huh? What?! in his palms he felt nothing. He looked down to see that the axe was missing, it disappeared! Oh, come on! seriously!? The doll lunged at him, zooming through the hallway like a wild animal. Mono took a step back, suddenly feeling naked without a weapon. He put his fists in front of his face and braced himself. The doll leaped, its entire body launching at Mono. He was ready to take it on, but suddenly something fell from the ceiling and smashed the doll into pieces. It was yet another glitching axe.
Mono looked up, the TV screen glowed white and the shaded figure stood in the middle once more. "Don't make a habit out of this, boy. Defend yourself!" it said.
"Th-thank you," Mono said, but before he could say anything else a pack of students crawled out from the vents overhead while others crept out of tiny cracks in the walls, there were dozen of them. Oh boy... Without knowing it, his hands began to tremble, and his legs started shaking.
"Fight boy! Fight!" The voice from the TV bellowed. Mono jumped and made for the axe embedded in the wooden floor. He gripped the handle and made tiny grunts as he struggled to tear it out.
"I-I can't fight them all at once!"
The students began sprinting towards him one by one, screeching with their hands waving in front of them. While others stood behind, clapping and sniggering.
Mono managed to pull the axe out just in time to swing it at the charging student, his strike was true, the axe wooshed through the air and slashed the doll's head off. Its body tumbled over Mono, he pushed it off him and readied himself again. This axe somehow felt light, despite its size. It felt like this thing was made just for him, he could swing it all he wanted without even breaking a sweat. Now filled with confidence, Mono smirked under his paper bag. He took his fighting stance, planting his feet firmly in the ground. "Step right up..." He taunted, agitating the dolls.
He cracked this one's head, chopped that one's legs off, and cleaved the other in half. That's until three decided to charge at the same time. Mono stiffened, he found the odds piling up against him. He stepped back, afraid.
"Stand your ground, boy." it said.
Reluctantly he did as it told him, he remained still and waited for them to draw near. They were only a few steps away now, there was no way to finish them off all at once with one blow, he found himself trembling again. Then came the sound of buzzing, and with it, two of the charging students crumpled into a tiny ball and burst into a thousand pieces, leaving only one. Mono's eyes went wide with shock, he saw an opening and took it, hurling his axe and slicing the doll's lower body in half. It shrieked and fell in front of him, its upper body struggling to get away from him. Mono brought his foot on its back then split its head in two.
The few that remained, drew away in fright. They had no expressions, but fear was drawn all across their faces. They fell backward and retreated, tripping as they ran out of the hall, crawling back into the vents and wall cracks.
The axe disappeared again, having served its purpose. Mono's breath escaped in gasps, he desperately needed a moment of rest. But he couldn't stop, not until Six was safe. He turned and looked up, wanting to say one last thanks to the one who helped him, but the TV was already turned off. Oh well, maybe we will meet again.
As instructed, Mono stuck to the path drawn for him. He kept heading forward, passing through the hallway of desolate classrooms, the desks inside were turned over, the chairs scattered everywhere, and sawdust coated the floor. Some symbols too alien for Mono to understand were scribbled across the blackboard. But not a single doll was in sight, he didn't really know how to feel about that.
Luckily it stayed that way until he reached the closed door at the end of the hall, Mono looked up at the sign that hung above the door, 'library Lv1' it read. Well, he just needed to reach that doorknob somehow. He looked around for a moment and checked the corners, a stack of carton boxes stood there next to the lockers, this should do the trick.
Mono went and grabbed a box out of the stacks, and managed to free it from the pile. He dragged the box over to the door, but halfway through. He heard the unnerving click-clack of high heels coming from the other side of the door. And they were getting louder by the moment. It's her...
Mono stopped dragging the box and flipped it over, spilling out the styrofoam laden inside. He quickly crawled under the box and pulled it over him, and stayed put. The doorknob clicked and the door creaked on rusty hinges as it swung open. Mono saw nothing, he could only listen to the tapping of her footsteps. They became louder for a moment, then faded after a few more steps.
Mono lifted the box up slightly and peeked, she was at the far side of the hallway now, heading inside one of the classrooms. Mono pushed the box off and brushed away the styrofoam stuck to his shirt.
Conveniently the teacher had left the door to the library open. Mono didn't waste time, he skipped past the hall and bolted into the other room without looking back. The air suddenly changed in here, it got thicker with dust and rotted wood and worn out papers. As his eyes adjusted to the gloominess of the room he found spires of books flanking his left and right, they rose so high that they brushed the roof overhead. Shelves laden with books hung neatly from the walls, this room was surprisingly tidy compared to the rest, except for those cobwebs that filled the empty spaces in the corners and those ancient books at the very top of the bookshelf.
So Mono made his way across the room quite easily, only squeezing through a narrow path between two spires of books. At the far end of the room next to another closed door, was a desk. And on it was a lantern shining dimly and next to it was an open book and a couple of pencils. Mono made for it, he would hop on that chair and haul himself over the desk to reach the doorknob. But as soon he stepped out of the narrow path, he saw something lying on the floor.
His jacket...
Mono's breath stuck in his throat, was that...? No. he had to be mistaken, but to his horror he soon found it to be true, the jacket was indeed his, and it was covered in blood from the waist down.
"S-Six...?" his voice trembled, reaching for the jacket. He felt the fabric and found that it was torn from the shoulders and the back. He gritted his teeth as tears began forming in his eyes, "I'll kill them... I'LL KILL THEM!"
"What? Kill who? Who's out there?" a strange voice came from beyond the door. Mono gasped and crawled away.
"Wh-who said that?!" He said.
"Boy... Have you no manners? when a person asks something, don't answer with another question..." the voice spoke, sounding disappointed.
It was not the same voice as the one that helped them back there in the hall. He wasn't sure he could trust it.
"You still out there, boy?" it said.
"I'm Mono."
"Wonderful! How can I help you?"
Help me? Was he for real? Mono thought twice about playing along, "I'm looking for someone. A girl."
"Ain't we all now?!" it said and guffawed.
Mono sneered, his voice was setting his teeth on edge, "Did they pass through here? I need to know." he said, impatiently.
its laughter came to a halt and said, "Now that you mentioned it, yes! Three students, and a wild animal-"
"Don't call her that!" Mono shouted.
"So... If you wanna use that kind of tone, take out in the street..."
"Open the door, I don't have time for this..."
"I could do that... Will I though? Nope."
Mono was ablaze from head to foot with passionate anger, shaking with it, but he couldn't let that thing stall him any longer. He took a deep breath and hopped onto the chair then up to the desk, he took a few steps back and stopped at the edge, then broke in a sprint, leaping through the air and reaching for the doorknob. He caught it and pulled it down with his weight. It clicked several times, but the door never swung open. Mono fell off and landed on his back.
"You alright back there? the door's locked you know..."
On his knees, Mono looked up and said "What do you want!?"
"A game of riddle me this... Very simple, I ask you questions, you answer four of them correctly, I'll let you pass. If you get two wrong... Welp, you can always try again in six hours."
"What! Are you insane?" Mono cried. That thing was just toying with him.
"Look, you want to pass or not?" the voice said.
In the back of his head, Mono remembered something, The answers are; human, time, mirror, and- oh God what were the rest?! He couldn't possibly remember no matter how hard he tried. Mono tried calming himself, this was not the time to fail, he came so far and nothing is stopping him now.
"Get on with it then," Mono said. "Riddle me."
"Wonderful! Right, your first riddle; Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters. Riddle me that."
Mono felt his heart beating in his chest, was it human? No! it couldn't possibly be, voiceless cries? toothless bites? he couldn't make anything out of this.
"Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc..." it said and laughed scornfully.
Just take a guess, damn it. "A fish?"
"Your answer is incorrect. it was the wind."
Mono started to panic, he could feel the pressure crushing like a thousand sandbags being piled on his back.
"Onto the next question; It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, the more it appears the less you see. It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter. riddle me this."
He didn't need to think so much for this one, the more it appears the less you see... dead giveaway. "Darkness. Is the answer."
"And the answer is correct." Mono felt the tension lifting now as confidence filled him, "Now onto the next; children delight in me, elders take fright, fair maidens rejoice and spin! Cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep, smile and I shall grin. what am I?"
That was a hard one, so Mono felt the need to cheat. Between human, time, and mirror only one of those is the right answer to this, children delight in me and elders take fright... does that mean the old were scared of time, while children enjoyed it to the fullest? But that still wouldn't explain cry and I weep or smile and I shall grin... Those attributes fits well with the mirror.
"A mirror."
"Most impressive! two more to go. now; This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down. riddle me this!"
A fair description of a human, it certainly devours everything, plants, and animals, it does indeed destroy and pillage. But gnaws iron and bites steel? that didn't make any sense for a human to do. Mono doubted himself. Was the answer human? or time?
He decided to go with time.
"You answered correctly! I'm quite surprised! have you heard these before?" At that Mono's eyes darted left and right nervously. but before he spoke, the voice said, "Well, doesn't matter now anyway. Alright, final question! Riddle me this-"
The click-clack of high heels came from the hallway behind Mono, and suddenly he was filled with fear. She was heading this way. Oh no, oh no! terrible timing!
"-riddle me that."
"wh-what?" Mono said.
"What is your answer?"
"NO! repeat the question."
The voice let out an annoyed sigh and said, "right; what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?"
"H-Human!" Mono answered rather too quickly.
"Oh? Honestly... I did feel something was wrong with this from the start... Alright, wise guy, here's the final challenge, riddle me something and I shall let you pass." The voice said.
The teacher was drawing closer and closer, her footsteps becoming louder every second. "What?! This part of the agreement! Just open the door!" Mono hissed.
"No."
She's right there! think of something quick! Mono forced himself to calm down, he turned back to the door and said, "What do I have in my pockets?"
Click-clack, click-clack. Mono was sweating uncontrollably, and his heart was drumming in his ears, GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.
the voice on the other side answered calmly, "Well played, boy. You win." the door clicked open and Mono rushed towards the small gap, swiping his jacket off the floor as he squeezed through the narrow opening. As he passed through Mono he shut the behind him immediately, feeling it magically locking itself again. His breath was ragged, and his throat throbbed terribly.
"Why didn't you just open the damn-" The grim sight made him bite his tongue, filling him with a dreadful sensation, what on earth? he felt sick, he felt like he was about to throw up. A skeleton in a suit sat idly on a chair. its lower jaw was missing, its bones were all black and blistered. It's been dead for a while.
Mono was frozen stiff, so many questions, but he doubted anyone was around to answer them.
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Well, that was fun!
The riddle part was inspired by Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Tell me of any mistakes, I'm sure this chapter is full of them!
Take care for now! Stay safe! Bye bye!!!