"Rin?" You called out as you entered the killer's camp. You'd gotten back from the trial about 20 minutes ago, and after a long back and forth between where you were going, you had half convinced the others you were going for another stroll.
You were damn lucky Claire didn't follow you like the last time. Perhaps she wasn't a Nemesis whisperer like you. Speaking of which, when you arrived at the camp, there was only one person there: Nemesis. At least you thought that's what Claire called him.
He was stood, clenching one of his fists and staring at it. From first glance you thought he was weirdly interested in it. But after a harder look, it seemed like he was actually just lost in thought. To say how monstrous this thing looked, the idea it was as high functioning as you previously believed was terrifying.
When you called for Rin, Nemesis turned to look at you out of curiosity.
"Starrrrsss?" The creature dragged the word out, turning to fully face you.
"Hello... Nemesis?" You squinted and your voice slowly rose in pitch as you were still unsure about if that was truly his name. Luckily he seemed to notice and gave a small nod as if acknowledging his name.
"Well, that's good to know, I suppose." You thought. With a glance around the fire to double check it was just the two of you, a sigh left your mouth.
"Do you know where Rin is?" You asked.
"Stars..." Nemesis looked off towards one of the paths leading away from camp. It wasn't the one you took to get there, so you could only assume it was... it was... Shit, what was it? You could've sworn someone told you before.
He began storming off in that direction, shrugging his shoulder in a gesture you took as 'follow me'. And so you did. You followed the tyrant along the dry, dirt path in relative silence. The cold air did great at discomforting you, but not as much as walking alongside the behemoth of a creature that could probably kill you in one swing.
The further you walked, more branches of path diverged off to the sides. The odd thing was the signs held up at each path.
They were single planks of wood stabbed into the ground, except there were different things nailed into them.
On one was the damaged photo of four figures you couldn't quite make out. Coming from the path was icy cold wisps of air.
On your left was a letter stabbed into the wood. In the background you could've sworn you heard faint sirens echoing out like a call of doom.
Nemesis just walked past them all before finally stopping at one that held a hanging noose. It was looped limply around a nail and looked as if it would fall with one gust of wind.
"Staaaars." Nemesis pointed along the path, nodding to you. Guess that was the way to go.
Swatting down your fears, you patted the tyrant on his shoulder before beginning to walk down. "Thanks, buddy." You said a lot more cheery than you expected. Nemesis just repeated his single word vocabulary before turning and sauntering away.
After a minute or so of strolling down the path, the world seemed to bend and change shape around you. Where once was forest, a dusty yet sunny biome formed in its place. It didn't take long before you found yourself walking through what looked like an open exit gate and entering into a Wild West realm.
"I'm getting Rango vibes. Am I in the right place?" You mumbled. Had Nemesis directed you properly?
You walked through the tumbleweed ridden world, your eyes locking on what you assumed to be the main building. Once you got past what looked similar to shack (without a window or pallet) your eyes settled on a figure inside the building.
It was Danny.
He was sat upon a stool at the bar of what you now perceived to be a saloon. With a quick step to your stride, you ascended a couple steps and your shoes thumped against the wooden floorboards. The sound gave away you presence immediately, leading Danny and the others he was sat with to turn to you.
"Wazzuuuuup?" Danny greeted, slinging an arm back as he looked over at you. Alongside him was Joey, Amanda and Caleb. But behind the bar stood Rin, decked out in a whole bartender outfit.
"What the hell did I just walk in on?" You furrowed your brows. Rin pursed her lip as if saying the same thing. She ran a cloth down the bar, tapping her free hand against the wood.
"These folks had a little bet. She lost." Caleb motioned to Rin, sipping his glass of what looked like whiskey. You looked at Rin for more information, mildly amused by the spot she was in.
"Danny refused to be bartender, so we made a bet." She sighed, leaning on the bar and narrowing her eyes at a clearly gleeful Danny. "If I got 3 or more sacrifices last trial, he'd work the bar. If I didn't, I had to."
"And she got clowned by her crush. Poor thing. If only you'd caught little Zarina." Danny spoke in a mocking, babyish tone, clearly trying to get a rise out of the girl.
"They got lucky, okay?" Rin huffed, pouting like a child. Her calling out 'luck' should've probably been a punch to your gut, but somehow you managed to overlook that to instead focus on what Danny had said.
"You didn't say shit about me calling him your crush. Got something to-" Danny was cut off as he flew from his seat and into a table by the sheer force of Rin's backhand. She immediately put her head down to hide her burning face, peeking out a single eye to glare daggers at Danny.
The man crumbled to the floor, chuckling to himself in amusement as you just sighed in response.
"They've been like this for the last 10 minutes." Joey stated, resting his head against his fist with a look of tiredness on his face.
"Come get a drink, boy. Wet your whistle." Caleb motioned for you to come sit. You guided yourself to the seat that Danny originally occupied and slid onto it. Rin nodded a questioning gesture towards you.
"Just give me anything. I never made it to 18 in my world, so I don't know what I'd tend to drink." You explained. Ignoring your inability to track time in this place, it felt like months had gone past, even if it probably wasn't true. That'd make you 18 now.
Rin turned and swished her hand across one of the shelves, grabbing a bottle of whiskey before grabbing a glass and pouring some in. She slid the drink down to you with a joking wink as she closed the bottle.
You took the glass, raising it up to your lips slowly and taking a single sip. Everyone quietly stared ahead as they were left to their own thoughts, only to be broken out of them as you sputtered the liquid out onto the floor, coughing like you'd just been poisoned.
"Nope. Fuck that." You pushed the glass away, wiping your mouth along your sleeve as if it would cure what you just experienced. Who would create such a damn concoction?
You could hear Rin, Danny and Joey laughing at your misfortune, making you grumble.
"More for me." Caleb said nonchalantly, taking the whiskey for himself as you sat back up and straightened yourself. You were recalling a question you had meant to ask.
"I was wondering. I heard there's a new killer." You scratched your head, looking between everyone.
Amanda nodded mid way through her drinking, leading Danny to continue as he skulked back over and took a seat beside you.
"A weird pin faced guy. Has a pain fetish or something. Kinda like Amanda." Danny was quick to raise a hand to defend himself, but Amanda only gritted her teeth and held her tongue, promising to make him regret that later.
"Think he called himself a Cenobite or something. Dunno what that means." Joey shrugged. The way the new guy was described, you had mixed feelings. The mode of those feelings was unease. He sounded like a creep.
"I swear. These new guys just keep on coming. A little birdie told me there are even more well on the way." Danny mumbled, yawning and slipping a hand beneath his mask as if to cover his mouth.
"A little birdie?" Amanda squinted at him.
"A little birdie." Danny confirmed. Everyone just stared at him like he had said something stupid. He widened his arms out in confusion. "What? You guys never been spoken to by the Entity?"
"You have?" You rose an eyebrow.
"A couple times." Danny argued, his shoulders raising up and covering his already masked neck.
"I feel bad for the Entity. Having to talk to this idiot." Rin rolled her eyes, grabbing and cleaning a glass. Danny whined in upset as he stared at her.
"That's so mean!" He complained.
"That's the point!" Rin retorted.
Before anything more was said, the Entity snapped a claw around your wrist to indicate you had been chosen for a trial. This made you groan in annoyance.
"Quit your whinging. You gotta go get some red on your ledger. You got no sacrifices in your first trial. Coach wants a better performance." Danny slapped your shoulder none too lightly, making you grumble at him.
"He does have a point, greenhorn. I don't think 'you know who' will be pleased if you keep screwing up in your trials. Skedaddle." Caleb chimed in, downing the rest of the drink in front of him before tapping it down.
"I'll do my best." You said none too enthusiastically as you were whisked away by the Entity. Killing was a lot harder than it seemed.