The place was barely silent as the group stood in the middle of the room. The only sounds that could be heard were their breathing and the sound of people walking, despite the room being empty minus them.
"So, how should we go about this?" Aubrey asked Hero, hoping he had an idea of what to do.
"We should stick together. If more...creatures like the one we saw outside are here we should be with each other." Hero stated.
"Y-Yeah, that would probably be for the best..." Kel nodded, still shaken up from what happened.
Omori made the motion for the group to follow him as he walked to a door on their right. Once the group was behind them he grabbed the knob and twisted it, opening the door to be greeted by a bright yet not blinding light.
Walking in, the door shut behind them and disappeared, leaving them in a room with a floor that looked like TV static. Random flowers were growing out of the ground but instead of having petals, they had a black cat's head. Stranger was in the room as well, standing in front of what looked like a dead realistic whale.
He turned towards them, "These rooms are filled with broken things. Discarded thoughts and feelings if you will...but at least in here I can see who you really are."
He looked back to the whale, "The world you created above...did you make that one to protect this place or hide it away? Either way, it has become more powerful than you, Dreamer."
He then faded away as if he was never there.
On the ground were blue footsteps, leading them to where they had to go. Though, instead of staying on the path Omori completely ignored it. He began walking in a different direction and the others ran to catch up with him.
The room was horrifying and Hero was trying to not pay attention to how it looks but it was kind of hard to do that as Omori stopped to stare at a giant goopy version of himself that had no face. Kel managed to find a giant monster with a bunch of melted heads in it. It didn't try to attack them, only floated above them. Watching them with their pupil-less eyes.
"WELL GEE THAT SURE ISN'T TERRIFYING AT ALL!" Kel yelled as he continued to stare at it.
"Look for something important! I don't want that thing chasing us if it gains sentience!" Aubrey shouted at him.
"Alright! Alright! I'll keep looking!" Kel sighed as he continued to look around.
Walking down a bit more there was a drawn windowsill that had another black and white key in front of it. Omori picked it up and looked around. At first, it looked like nothing had happened and Hero let out a sigh. Maybe they needed to find the exit?
"What's that?" Aubrey suddenly spoke, breaking Hero out of his thoughts.
There was a white and red hand floating aimlessly around before it turned in their direction. It suddenly perked up like it sensed something and charged at them.
"Run!" Kel shouted as he began to book it. Hero and Aubrey began running as well until they realized Omori was standing completely still as if the hand wouldn't hurt him.
"Omori! Run!" Aubrey shouted.
Omori only walked to the hand, allowing it to grab him before he disappeared into thin air.
"What the-!?" were the only words Kel got out before the red hand touched him as well.
Now it was just Hero and Aubrey, both running for their lives as it chased them. Unfortunately for them, there were more hands than just that one and it only took a few moments before they were grabbed as well.
They blinked and the next thing they knew they were back in the room where they started with a door missing. If Hero had to guess, the more doors they enter mean the more doors would begin to disappear.
"Oh, I guess they are our exits..." Kel muttered.
"We've only been here for a bit and I hate this place..." Aubrey grumbled, clearly unnerved by everything.
"That was horrifying! How do you look so calm all the time!?" Kel asked Omori who simply shrugged in response.
Hero doesn't know how Omori does it either, especially since Sunny was always very easily startled.
"I think the most important thing is that we're all okay. Are you ready for the next door?" Hero questioned the group.
"Let's just...hurry up. It's better to get this over with fast." Aubrey sighed.
Hero nodded and they made their way to the next door, opening it and entering it to be immediately greeted by a sight that hurt their eyes.
The floor was made up of bright colors this time with little neon pads on the ground flashing away. Everything looked broken and distorted as they stumbled about, sometimes getting stuck on random floating particles they didn't even notice were there in the first place. There was a giant cat that reminded Hero of the one from the beginning room but inverted with the letter E written by it eight times.
"HI I AM LOQUACIOUS CAT. ASK ME ANYTHING."
Its voice boomed, sounding like someone put it through fifty different microphones that didn't work properly. Despite that, maybe this thing can help them.
"Uh, do you know where Basil is?" He asked.
"A TOMATO MADE OF CLOTH."
"That...isn't the answer to our question..." Aubrey muttered under her breath.
...Yeah, this thing wasn't going to help them at all. It was best to continue looking.
"Hey, guys! I found a cloud that said to follow it! Do you think it might help us!?" Kel yelled from a distance.
"Wait for us! We'll see where it leads!" Hero shouted back before running to his brother with Aubrey and Omori.
They followed the cloud together until Aubrey pointed out the red tracks on the ground that could lead them to where they needed to be. Following the trail they found Stranger standing next to the key.
"Lost in this confusion lies the root of everything. The truth that you locked away...you must find it no matter what. You have to...for the both of us." Stranger once again faded away as Hero tried to piece together what he was saying.
It was clear his words were meant for Sunny and not the rest of them. Perhaps he can ask Sunny what Stranger is talking about in the morning, that is if he doesn't forget nor the truth is revealed by the end of this. He has a feeling though that the truth won't reveal itself that easily.
Omori picked up the key and the hands once again appeared. Instead of running this time the group allowed themselves to get caught, sending them back into the beginning room. This time, however, a sketchbook laid on the ground. Hero picked it up and held back a gasp as the first drawing was a poorly drawn head on the ground with blood coming out of it.
Kel and Aubrey looked over his shoulder and gasped as well, flipping the page to find more horrifying drawings on the blood-red paper which was staining Hero's fingers. Each drawing was horrific and brutal in its own ways, whether the page had an excessive amount of eyes or shadow figures it did a good job scaring them.
Though the last four pages were the worst.
A drawing of Sunny and Basil standing in front of the photos of their past, scribbled out aggressively as if someone wanted to erase them from existence. The next page over showed the one-eyed monster that has been following them around this whole journey.
The next two photos were worse as Sunny and Basil were completely scribbled out and the one-eyed monster was replaced by a woman with a long broken neck and no eyes. Her mouth wide open and her shirt was barely drawn in.
It reminded him of the monster they saw before entering the room. It was horrifying.
He dropped the book, his fingers coated in blood as the sketchbook stained the ground it landed on. Aubrey and Kel were just as disturbed by the imagery as him but Omori only seemed focused on Hero's blood-stained fingers. Hero tried to shake the blood off but no matter how many times he tried the blood stuck to him like glue.
Omori let out a soundless sigh and walked to another door, opening it and motioning for the others to go first. Perhaps, there was something in there that Hero could use to wipe the blood off his fingers. They stepped inside and the door shut once again as they were now in a completely black room. The only color they could see was the white tracks on the ground.
They walked forward only to see illustrations of stick men with their backs bent backward, letting out silent groans of agony. They walked under them and found a sketch of a...Hero doesn't know what that is. It looks like a napkin but with Sunny's mind, you can never be so sure...
"Are you lost? Not to worry, the red hands know the way back." The sketch turned and walked away.
Hero's going to assume that the sketch means the red and white ones they keep seeing when they collect a key.
"...We should probably continue forward." Hero sighed and Aubrey nodded.
He turned to look at Kel who seemed busy staring off into the distance. Hero followed his gaze to find that he was staring at three dancing skeletons, acting like they didn't have a care in the world.
"The longer I stay here the more and more I get confused..." Aubrey muttered.
"We should continue moving." Hero stated, wanting to leave the area as fast as possible. Every room they have been entering has been giving him bad vibes as if someone was taunting them with something.
Both Aubrey and Kel nodded as they left the area.
They continued following the trail until it led them to three giant stick men that towered over them, looking down on them as if they were ants. Between the three was a key that Omori grabbed once again. Weirdly enough Stranger wasn't around to say anything cryptic. Did he leave them? Maybe he is busy with something. Oh well, they got what they needed anyway so he assumes they are fine for now.
A red hand appeared and grabbed them, teleporting them back to the main room which now had an added laptop in it. Kel moved to the laptop and pressed every button possible but it only showed static no matter what he did.
"Does something new get added to the room each time?" Aubrey whispered to herself.
Kel shrugged, "Maybe? We'll have to go into another room to find out."
Both Aubrey and Hero let out a groan at that, though who could blame them? The rooms here were filled to the brim of horrifying things to look at.
Omori opened the door for them as they walked into what seemed to be a drawn-out area. The surroundings had the same poorly drawn house and weird creatures and items laying about as if they were natural.
"Where do you think we need to go in here?" Kel asked.
"I don't know...this place is really eerie though." Aubrey sighed.
"Alright, so do you just want to knock on every door?" Hero looked at the duo.
"Wouldn't that take forever?" Aubrey raised a brow.
"I can do it pretty fast," Kel offered, "I think the room loops so it should be good."
"You know what? Do whatever you want. It's on you if you get yourself killed." Aubrey rolled her eyes.
"I mean, nothing has tried to kill us again yet." Hero pointed out.
"Yeah! C'mon, I'll be fine!" Kel grinned as he began knocking on every door.
Hero, Aubrey, and Omori watched in silence as Kel knocked on the doors, running to the next one when there was no response.
"I don't think anyone is going to be inside these houses. The key is probably going to be" Hero didn't finish his sentence as the distorted version of Mari appeared but instead of having wide black eyes and her mouth wide open, she had her eyes curved up and a terrifying smile as she reached to Kel who collapsed on the floor upon seeing her. Hero felt his blood run cold as the only thing he felt was pure fear.
Her hand just touched Kel's face as she disappeared into thin air, leaving only tiny marks on it to show that she ever existed.
Kel was panting heavily as the group ran to his side.
"KEL! KEL ARE YOU OKAY!?" Hero asked as Aubrey checked Kel over for any noticeable injuries.
"I-I She- I didn't-" Kel began to cry again as Hero tightly hugged him. Aubrey looked at the house where the Mari monster appeared, noticing the door was wide open for anyone to enter.
Omori walked to the door and looked inside, checking to see if any more surprises were waiting for them. He gave them a thumbs up to let them know it was clear.
Kel was clearly not ready to continue looking around and Hero was busy comforting him so Aubrey got up and made her way to the door.
"Me and Omori will look inside to find anything useful. We'll be back, alright?" She looked towards Hero who gave her a nod.
She stepped inside with Omori and the first thing she noticed was just how empty the house was. There were two lone bookcases and a box laying on the ground. Drawn on the walls was a girl hanging from the ceiling by her hair. The drawings got more rapid as they neared a photo of a person whose hair covers their whole face. Aubrey nor Omori moved towards the photo thanks to the vibe it gave off.
Nothing else was noticeable except normal bedroom and bathroom necessities laying about with a cake on the table. Omori walked over to the cake and poked it. Seeing that the cake didn't suddenly become a monster and trying to bite his fingers off he assumed the cake was safe and grabbed a handful.
"Ew, really?" Aubrey sighed as she watched him bite into it.
Everything seemed fine until a loud crunching sound could be heard from inside his mouth. Omori slowed down his chewing as he spat out a bone that was hidden in the cake.
"Holy shit," Aubrey whispered to herself as she saw bite marks in the bone.
Well, that's why you don't eat random cake in strangers' houses. But seriously, who the fuck hides bones in a cake!?
Aubrey's eyes scanned the room and the duo realized there was nothing left for them. They were about to walk out before Aubrey noticed something on the floor that definitely wasn't there before.
It was a mask with a simple smiley face on it. It looked like the ones you would see on drama club logos. She picked it up and showed it to Omori who only tilted his head in confusion.
"Do you think this might be useful later, or nah?" She asked.
Omori shrugged and Aubrey sighed, handing it to him because she knew he somehow had an interdimensional pocket that could carry random shit. Useful for important-looking things, but it couldn't be that important later on, could it?
Walking outside she saw Kel was still stifling sniffles as Hero calmly rubbed his back, "Was there anything good in there?"
"Eh, we found this weird mask and Omori took a bite of a cake that had a bone in it but other than that it was pretty uneventful," Aubrey informed.
"Oh, okay then. At least there was something in there." Hero gently patted Kel's back and Aubrey sent him a concerned look.
"Hey, Kel. Are you good? This is the second time you've cried from seeing that thing." Aubrey stated with worry.
"I- I don't know why but for some reason every time she appears I just feel this wave of sadness hit me like a ton of bricks. It's weird..." He wiped away the tears on his face.
Aubrey can understand where Kel is coming from. When she saw it for the first time she got filled with what felt like a mix of rage and sadness. The second time she saw her she felt a quick blink of rage but it wasn't noticeable at all. She doesn't know why she feels like this whenever she sees it, but she does know it doesn't feel like her own emotions at all.
"...We'll talk about this all in the morning. As of right now, we need to find these keys and fast." Hero stated as he began to look around.
"I agree, I feel like we've been here for way too long." Aubrey nodded.
They continued exploring, walking past weird figures, a fridge, and a bathtub for some reason. At the end, they saw Stranger standing in front of a pond. Just below it was the key they needed.
He turned towards them and stared directly at Omori.
"When you hid the truth, you sealed a part of me away with it. He's been waiting for someone to save him all this time. On that day, when you became nothing, I was split in half. Which one do you think was more painful?"
He faded away again as the group just became more confused. In all honesty, they are kind of worried to find the truth. Just what is it if it caused Sunny's mental state to get this bad?
Hero dipped his hands into the pond water and pulled them out, happy that he can finally wash the blood off his hands. They then grabbed the key and left, returning to Black Space.
This was the calm before the storm. The tides are beginning to pick up. Just where will this ship land?