EnderOni Loop 2
Chapter Twenty Four:
Unity
-...-
Everyone came down when the news of Bodil's death got around. Now all 12 of the surviving minecrafters stood around the meeting point of the three hallways on the first floor, where the tree stood with Bodil's body at it's side. This was the point where any doubt about how dangerous their situation was would vanish. Someone was dead. And to those who still hadn't seen the monster, any thoughts of Bodil's death being due to one of them was stupid. The tree was the mark of the Oni. None of them could get outside, pull a tree from it's place in the ground, and drag it back inside. It was amazing the detail of the murder.
It was a shock, still, and the group was trying to recover from the loss. People like Seto and Mitch were able to keep calm, no matter how they felt inside. Tyler,surprisingly, seemed calmer, but was a mess inside. This wasn't a good start. He was warn out still from the last loop, and his sanity wasn't any better. He thought for awhile that he'd have a chance but everyone's self-hate comes crashing down on them at some point. How was he going to pull this off? He was a weak teenager who had less of a chance then most of the others. If Seto was in his position, Seto would be out of here. Jason and Mitch even make better decisions then him. And Onity was a beast. A homicidal asshole. Tyler was no match for him.
Tyler shook his head and a voice overcame the jumble of voices in the group.
"E-Everyone!" It was Mitch. "We need to get a hold of ourselves."
"But the thing killed Bodil!" Ian replied.
"What happened happened. We can't change the past. But what we can do is stand up and work to avenge Bodil!" Seto said, also trying to help calm the people.
"Right!" Sky agreed, his voice weak.
"But the monster was able to single him out without you all noticing and bring a whole tree inside the house! I don't think we'll be able to do anything!" Bashur said.
"If you keep thinking that way then you'll be next!" Mitch turned to Bashur. "Do you wanna do that?Do you wanna cause your own death?"
Bashur gulped and shook his head. "I'm not gonna do that."
"Look, I understand, but in order to escape we need to be level headed." Seto sighed. "Which I cansee is hard but-"
"There's no choice but to get over it." Mitch ended Seto's sentence for him.
"Right." Seto nodded his head.
Tyler said nothing. He watched them.How could they ever be so level headed? Why was it already so different from before? They all freaked out last loop. What changed?Tyler wasn't feeling so well at all.
"What do we do now?" Ty asked.
"Well to fight back we would need to find more weapons." Brice said.
"There are a lot of locked doors. We need to find keys or at least ways to get around them." Ian mentioned.
Tyler took a few small breaths. He had to calm himself. Sure, what preparation he had before was gone but they were right. He needed to just clam down and work harder. Ashe watched the group talk about what to do, his eyes looked around at each and every one of their faces. None of them were happy, but most of them seemed to be mentally stable still. For a moment he was happy. They were all stronger then before, and were more willing to work together to survive, let alone escape.
"You're wrong."
Tyler heard the voice of Onity echo in his head, and he flinched. Tyler glanced around, but Onity was nowhere in sight. And then Tyler remembered something. He was in a game. He shouldn't be happy.
"Are you okay, Tyler?" Sky asked,and the group suddenly noticed the frightened teen.
Tyler nodded his head. "I'm fine."
"You're very quiet."
"I have nothing to say." Tyler found himself raising his voice. He needed to calm down. But he couldn't.
In order to win the game, they all had to die. How could he have forgotten that already? And he wasn't safe anymore. To be honest, he's never been safe. He didn't trust Onity at all. To Tyler, Onity would bend the rules in a heartbeat. Now was that true? Only time would tell.
"I guess all we can do at the moment is split up and explore this place from top to bottom." Jerome muttered.
Tyler snapped out of his thoughts.Split up, huh? Wasn't that dangerous before? But Tyler had no right to go against it.
"Alright then. Two groups should be fine." Seto said.
"Six people in each group. So who wants to go with who?" Ant sighed.
The group of 12 was able to split up after discussing plans. In order to be safe, one group planned onlooking back over the first two floors, while the second group would go on to check out the third floor. If the first group finished the first two floors, they would follow upward. Group one ended up being Tyler, Sky, Mitch, Jerome, Ty, and Sub. Group two happened to be Bashur, Ian, Ant, Brice, Seto, and Jason.
Group two headed upstairs and group one got to work searching the first floor again. The group searched the left hallway and the middle one before finding themselves in a deep search of the enchantment room for keys or weapons. While Sky, Ty, Mitch, and Jerome dug through the books, Sub messed with the enchantment table, and Tyler "looked" around the coffee table he found his journal on. In reality, He was standing there, his heart beat echoing in his head. His hand was in his pocket, playing with the key he had. He still had no clue where it went to. In his other arm was his journal.
It look awhile to get through everything, Tyler having to move on and look through the books on the shelves like the others. He'd looked at a book, glance around at the others, and look at another. None of them were interesting. Some delt with magic while others were in other languages and what not. Most had dusty covers and worn out colors.
Finally they come to the conclusion that there was nothing in the room to be found, and moved on to the room at the end of the hallway. The last room before moving on. It was the one that Tyler found the plate shard in. The group searched around, Jerome and Sub checking the kitchen. Sub pulled open a drawer, one that would normally hold knives and forks and spoons, but found something else instead. Finally, his eyes landed upon the sight of a key. He picked it up, closed the drawer, and held it up. He kicked the stove next to him, making an deep echo sound. Everyone turned to him.
"Great work, Sub!" Sky smiled.
"Awesome!" Jerome turned to Sub.
Sub looked at the key, and saw that it had a label attached to it. It went to the basement.
"The basement?" Mitch questioned.
"I know where that is." Sky said.
"I guess that's where we'll go next!Unless we want to wait for the others." Jerome said.
"I think Sky should show us the way to the basement." Mitch said, and Sub handed Sky the key.
"Then there's no time to waste!"Sky nodded his head, and the group left the room.
Sky lead them down the hallway, pass the front door, and into the left hallway. Before the hallway turned a corner, there was a door. Sky stopped at it, and Tyler noticed a sign next to the door that said basement. Sky unlocked the door, and placed the basement key into his pocket.
"First one in is a rotten egg." Sky said and held the door open for the others.
Tyler rolled his eyes and was the first one to talk inside.
"Hah." Ty smirked, and Sub grinned.
The group walked in, and after finding a smaller room with two other doors, one a normal wooden door and the other a white iron door, they found that the white iron door was the only one unlocked, and it lead to the basement. The basement was a large maze of hallways with rooms, all with dusty concrete floors and white walls. The lights were dull, giving the place a creepy atmosphere. Every corner they turned, they were on high alert.But yet, no purple fog could be seen. Tyler was playing with his freekey in his pocket the whole time, iching to find where it went too.But all the doors so far were unlocked. At one place, they found that the hallway split in two, and there were two doors to go to. Tyler knew this to be where on one side was to the room with the old wooden door outside, and the other to be to a lone jail cell.
"I'll go check down here." Tylers poke up as the group silently debated which way to go. He turned towards the door with the cell.
"I'll come too." Sky followed.
"I guess we'll quickly check the other door and meet back up?" Jerome asked.
"Is that a safe idea?" Mitch questioned.
"They'll be fine. Besides, we're just down the hall. We'll hear if anything happens." Ty said. "And Sub can stay by the door and check for purple smoke."
"Don't worry, I know what i'm doing."Tyler said.
"Alright then." Jerome sighed.
With no farther conversation, the other four turned to the other door, and they walked in, leaving the door open with Sub standing on guard. Sky and Tyler turned to the door that lead to the cell, and found it to be unlocked. Tyler walked in, already knowing what was to be found, yet looked around to see if anything had changed. Sky found it disappointing that the room they chose to search was so small and empty.
"A jail cell..." Tyler sighed.
"I'm not gonna ask why a jail cell is in a basement." Sky frowned and Tyler grinned.
"This so called basement looks like an abandoned shelter or science lab. It's so cold and dark." Tyler said, walking up to the bars. They were strong and wouldn't move at all.
"I can't help but wonder who decided to build this place. It's got so many rooms that it's more like a hotel then a mansion. And the basement seems almost hidden, so maybe it was a secret." Sky wondered.
Tyler sighed. He remembered that Bodil seemed to know something about the Oni last loop. Would he have known more about the mansion too? It was too late to ask anyway. And Tyler didn't plan on losing this so called game, so he wasn't going to get another chance to ask.
Tyler walked over to the cell door and pushed it, finding it to shake, but not open. Without Sky looking, Tyler pulled out his free key and quickly checked it to see if the key worked. To his surprise, it did. He had the ability to lock and unlock the basement jail cell door. Now why would Onity give him this key? Did Onity do it on purpose? Or was it random? Tyler made a mental note of the key's usage and placed the key back into his pocket.
"T-Tyler!"
Just as Tyler had heard Sky's scream,his eyes had wondered down to the old concrete floor and noticed the purple fog wrapping around his ankles. He turned around to see theOni standing in front of the door, which suddenly slammed shut and locked with a loud click. Sky stepped back beside Tyler, pulling out his weapon. Tyler looked at Sky, and found that Sky was in fact shaking. He was scared. But he held his weapon his a firm grip, and glared at the Oni with hatred. He was scared, but he was strong and willing to fight.
However, this space was small, andthere was no room for leaping out of the way of the Oni's attacks.There was very little chance of either of them surviving.
"W-What do we do?!" Sky asked,glancing at Tyler as Tyler stood by the door, holding it closed to hide the fact he just unlocked it. Tyler was still in thought,staring up at the beast. Sky looked back up, to see the neon purple eyes. Every second passing was hell.
Tyler was short of breath, and as still as a dear in headlights. He wanted to win this game so badly,but in order to do that, he had to let his friends die. He had to allow their death, In turn sorta making him their killer. At least,to him he felt that way. Maybe he didn't kill them, but the guilt was all too real. He stood there, fighting at the thought of abandoning Sky and hiding in the cell, and then watching Sky die. Could he do that? He could. Would he.
The Oni noticed Tyler's pupils grow small as the teen realized what power he held over this situation.Maybe the Oni knew too. Maybe it didn't But there were only a few seconds left for Tyler to decide. The Oni began to move, and in the moment of space and time, Tyler had to choose. His friends or the game.
"TYLER!" Sky yelled, nervous as to Tyler's silence.
And with that, Tyler chose.
"COME ON!"
Tyler grabbed Sky's hand and pulled him into the jail cell, the weapon dropping from Sky's grasp. Tyler threw Sky into the cell, and once inside, he locked the cell with the key in his pocket. He had to do this quickly and without messing up,or the Oni would have a clear shot as his hands as they worked outside the bars. The Oni pounced at where Sky once stood, and then at the door bars. Just in the nick of time, Tyler locked the door and jumped back from the bars. The Oni crashed into the door, shaking it violently, but unable to reach them.
Tyler felt himself fill with relief,and found it almost funny watching the Oni trying to kill them through bars that wouldn't move at all. As Sky kept his distance,Tyler got up and walked towards the bars, a grin on his face. Though he didn't realize it, his sanity was losing a war of it's own bit by bit, and he started laughing at the Oni. Sky stared at his friend,worried.
"HAHA! YOU CAN'T DO SHIT BRO! YOU CAN'T DO SHIT!" He laughed.
The Oni paused, and stared at Tyler,who didn't flinch. After a few moments of silence, the Oni grabbed the bars in front of Tyler and shook them. Tyler felt his heart pound, but he didn't step back. Sky questioned the sanity of his friend.
"You mad?" Tyler chuckled.
The door suddenly burst open, and the other four rushed in. Tyler hadn't even noticed that they were trying to break in in the first place. He and Sky watched as the Oni turned to the four and fought with them. Jerome, Mitch, Sub, and Ty put up a tough fight, and were able to rid the room of the monster.
"He mad." Tyler whispered to himself in amusement.
"I'm sorry we're late! We couldn'tget in!" Jerome and the others turned to the two in the cell.
"I can see you two found shelter though." Mitch sighed.
Sky looked to them and then to Tyler.He stood up, and walked over to the younger one.
"Hey, are you alright? You're acting strange." Sky asked, placing his hand on Tyler's shoulder.
Tyler shook his head, realizing he was being suspicious yet again. Paranoia beat in his stomach and he returned to what was his better half of insanity. He gulped and turned to Sky.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine. I'm sorry about that." He replied.
"I guess the death really got to you.Or maybe there's something in the air. Don't scare me like that though." Sky frowned.
"I'll try not to." Tyler nodded his head and turned back to the cell door. He unlocked it, no choice but to do so in front of everyone.
"You found a key?" Mitch asked.
"Awhile ago. I can't believe you don't remember." Tyler made up.
"Thankfully it saved our lives."Sky replied.
"It doesn't have a label on it though, unlike the others. We need to make sure we remember where it goes." Jerome noticed.
"I'll hold onto it. I don't think I'll forget." Tyler said, placing it in his pocket.
"Alright then! We should show you what we found!" Ty said, and Sub nodded his head.
"Come on then! It's more spaced out in the other room too!" Jerome noted.
"Great. I don't like this place."Sky sighed.
The group went on to investigate the last of the basement. All Tyler could think about was how he acted so oddly in front of the others. But he was happy to see the Oni unable to even touch him. He was happy to see him angry. Because when someone is playing a game and their angry, chances are they are losing, right? It made Tyler happy. And so did this loop's new found determination to survive. Sure, their afraid of the monster after seeing Bodil, but the fight stronger and more efficiently then before.
He admired their hope against their coming despair, and that admiration was the biggest flag to his growing insanity.
-...-
The second group searched around the second floor more thoroughly, looking for keys and weapons and anything useful. On the opposite side of the floor from the safe room, They found a room with a locked door. Or, really, a door that refused to budge.
"It's no use, the doors locked. Let's go on upstairs." Bashur sighed. It was their last room on the second floor.
"No, wait." Brice stopped the group from walking away.
Brice tried to open the rather shaky door, and with enough strength, he was able to bust open the door.
"See?" Brice held open the door.
"Amazing!" Ian and Ant were the first to walk in, and Seto followed behind Bashur. Brice was the last to walk in.
Inside was a small bed off to the right side, in the corner of the room. There was a carpet in the middle of the room with a table on it. On the other side of the room was a fire place. The fire place was stone cold. Ant found a book case to the side and he and Bashur quickly searched through it,while Ian poked at the fire place and Brice searched to see if anything was hidden by the bed. Seto found the carpets weren't covering anything, but yet something sat atop the table.
The curious sorcerer looked down at a journal. It was old and worn out, and looked similar to the one Tyler carried around. However, Seto found that the endereye patched on was instead an Ender Pearl. The cover was scratched up and the edges were worn. It looked to on it's last legs. But Seto carefully picked it up, and opened it up. Inside, on the first page, was a message.
The book belonged to Unity.
Unity? Now in most cases unity was an idea. Did the book belong to an Idea? It made sense. Like a book dedicated to a cause. A book dedicated to a number of people.Besides, Unity wasn't a normal name for a person. It had to belong to an idea. Maybe it would help them in their situation. Maybe the journal to unite them. Yes, that's what the book belongs to. Their unification.
Seto browsed through the first pages and found that they were full of drawings. Drawings probably done by a child. Poor coloring and handwriting. Nothing important. He flipped through, almost skipping the more important part of the book. He caught a glance before he accidentally shut the book. Quickly he opened the book again and found what he had seen. Almost at the end of the book, the childish drawings and writing and blank pages stopped and suddenly turned to writing. Writing with darker ink.Handwriting that was clearer, and not done by a small child. The writing told a story. One that horrified Seto.
"He didn't get here by choice. They forced him here. They stole him from his happy life. They took his from his mother and father and siblings and friends and future."
Seto turned a page.
"So he sits alone in a room. Numbers appear in red every hour, and he has no clue why. They scare him. The poor child."
And it only got worse when small drawings of the story started appearing on the sides of the words.
"He bravely walked out the room, and found he wasn't alone. Others, like him, were trapped as well. But they didn't help him. They never even talked to him. They didn't care."
A picture of the back of a boy was drawn. He had wavy hair, and wore a long cloak. The page was filled with drawings of creatures that looked similar to the oni, all unhappy, and looking away from the child.
"He tried to get back home. He tried to do what was right in every situation. He tried to bring unity to the place he found himself locked in."
The page turned.
"But he couldn't win. He was never to see his family or friends again. He was never to be happy. His destiny wasn't to bring unity to anybody."
There was a drawing of the same boy,only crying.
"The boy gave into the despair, and with no one to stop him, he did things that were unlike him. Thing she wouldn't approve of. He turned into something else. He became a monster."
A drawing of the boy standing, looking down, in front of a monster. The Oni. Seto turned to the last page of the journal.
"The last thing the boy ever did as himself was shot himself and draw a clock on the floor out of his own blood and tears."
Seto saw a picture of a boy in the middle of a bloody clock drawn on a wooden floor. And with that, he read the last words of the book.
"And he was then a boy no longer."
Seto closed the book and took a deep breath. He looked up to see everybody staring at him.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Are you okay?" Ant asked, worried.
Seto nodded his head.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine."
-...-