EnderOni, Loop One
Chapter six:
Stories
-...-
Tyler sat at the table, reading the book that Seto had given him. None of it made sense, and Tyler felt the need to look up every once in a while to make sure nobody was reading over his shoulder. The room was quiet. It held thirteen people.Twelve alive, one dead.
Ant rested in peace in the bed farthest from the tables, the bed against the farthest wall. He laid above the sheets. His bleeding stopped awhile ago. He was not admitting a smell yet. Bashur had a hard time keeping in his stomach ever since Ant had died, and he wasn't the only one. Bashur kept himself in the bathroom just in case, but every once in a while Ian or Jerome would walk in there.
Nobody was eating at the moment. Sub had found some paper to doodle on, and Sky and Ty watched him for they had nothing else to do. Seto talked quietly with Brice, whom sat in a bed, not allowed out. Mitch was sitting down on the floor, his back to the wall, staring into space. Bodil and Jason were sitting down on the other side of the table from Tyler. They did nothing at all either.
Tyler only read a few more pages of letters in the book. They all were written by him, they were all to him, and they were all signed by loops. The part with the loops was never explained, however Tyler found out a few more interesting things. At the end of the 5th page was a bunch of spells written down. At least, that was what Tyler thought they were. Tyler shifted in his chair. Should he go ask Seto? Tyler didn't want to show anyone the book, but Seto had already seen some of it. Besides, he'd never find out if he didn't ask.
Tyler got up from the table, his movement making a few turn to look at him. He walked down to Seto, passing Mitch, Bodil, and Jason on the way. Whispering, he folded the book and handed it to Seto, pointing at the mess of words.
"Those are spells, right?" Tyler asked.
Seto read the mess of words and nodded his head.
"Y-yeah. They are." He answered.
"Well, what do they do? Why are they there?" Tyler asked.
Seto scanned over the paragraphs written above it. None of it explained the spells. Seto shook his head.
"I don't know why they are there, but these spells are attack spells. They arn't that powerful, and they are starter spells for trainees. You wouldn't need to know much to cast them." Seto explained. "I wouldn't bother with them."
"Oh." Tyler took back the book and looked over the lines. "If they're useless, then why are they there?"
Seto shook his head. "I'm the only one here who knows how to use magic, unless someone's keeping secrets, so i don't honestly know. Though i suppose that was just a mental note to yourself said aloud."
"Yeah." Tyler sighed, looking tired.
"So they wouldn't do any good against the monster, right?" Brice interrupted.
Seto and Tyler looked to Brice, the poor thing not even looking at them straight. His bandages were a light red. They needed to be changed.
"No, they would not." Seto answered.
"Also, I meant to ask earlier. I heard someone call the monster a name. Does the monster have a name?" Brice asked.
Tyler nodded his head. "It's called the EnderOni."
"EnderOni?" Brice asked.
Tyler shifted. "I...Uh, well Bodil said the name in the first place. I can go get him to tell you. He told us last night, but i really don't remember. Wasn't paying attention."
"Okay."
Seto watched as Tyler turned around and walked back over to the tables. He went over to Bodil and asked something, pointing back to Seto and Brice. Then Bodil got up, Tyler walking back over to his corner and continuing in his world inside the book. Bodil walked over to Seto and Brice.
"Tyler told me you wanted to know about the EnderOni?" Bodil asked.
"Yeah." Brice said and Seto nodded his head.
"Well." Bodil began. "I knew what it was called because i've heard stories of it before, mainly when I was younger. Stories of a beast called the Oni. In some stories, the Oni is purple or blue. In others, it's a gray alien thing that also goes by the name of Steve or Tony. In one story, it was four people who got trapped inside the mansion, and in another it was twelve. Anyway, I read other stories about different Oni sort of things, and one had an Oni that looked like an Enderman called the EnderOni."
"And so, since this Oni looks like an Enderman, you called it the EnderOni." Seto said.
"That's what the EnderOni is, after all." Bodil nodded his head.
"These stories you were told. How did they turn out?" Seto asked.
"The first one, I believe, only one lived to escape. The second one was never completed, so i'm not sure."
"Part of me wants to think they weren't stories. Given that we're here." Brice said quietly.
"Hm." Seto looked at Brice then back to Bodil. "So. Um, how did they deal with the first death? In the stories?"
"Their first death didn't come so quickly. In fact, their stories are very different." Bodil looked down at the floor.
"How different were they?" Seto asked.
"I don't remember enough to give you a detailed answer. In the first one, there was never a safe room. In the second one, the main character kept secrets from everyone, and they lived for awhile having a safe room, but they still all died in the end."
"But didn't you say the second story never had an ending?" Brice asked.
"I didn't. Everyone died, but then the last one reset time. And it went on and on." Bodil explained.
"Oh." Brice moved a bit. "So...I guess we can't really use the stories to help us. What do we do now?"
"Well..." Seto cleared his throat. "I'm not so sure what we can do right now."
"There is always the other rooms we havn't been too yet, but getting people to leave won't be easy. I know i don't want to go." Bodil said.
"Some of the rooms are locked through. We need keys." Seto frowned.
Suddenly Brice let out a small gasp. He held out his hand, leaning forward, searching the air for Seto. Once he felt Seto's arm, he grabbed onto his friend. Seto turned to Brice, confused.
"Remember?! Jason found a key in the enchantment room!" Brice exclaimed.
"That's right! Where was it too?" Seto asked to nobody in particular.
"We can start there." Bodil said.
"Hold on one moment."
Seto left Brice and Bodil to walk over to Jason, who sat at the end of the table. They exchanged a few words before Jason stood up, reaching for something within his suit's pockets. He pulled out a key with a tag on it. He held it high in the air. Everybody turned to look at him.
"The key to the basement! We found it in the enchantment room!" Jason announced.
"Oh, that's right!" Bashur, who had walked back into the room moments before, smiled and turned to Sky.
"Yeah!" Sky said, fishing out the key he and Bashur had found just outside the basement door. "This key goes to the Piano Room!"
"Two keys. Keys to rooms we'll need to leave the only safe part of the house to get too." Jason reminded them.
The quick excitement began to fade.
"I don't think any of us want to leave so quickly. I mean, not after what happened to Ant." Mitch stood up.
"If not now, then when?" Seto asked.
"Well, it's just-"
"You know," Ty, lounging on the seats of the tables, interrupted, "If we don't do something as soon as possible, the chances of us getting out sooner decrease."
"A human needs time to recover from shock. Are you not phased by what that monster did to Ant, and what it could possibly do to you?" Mitch asked.
"The Oni may be dangerous, but so are we. Don't forget! You almost decapitated me!" Ty growled.
Mitch glared at Ty. "That was a mistake. I said sorry many times anyway."
"Mitch was trapped in a room for hours, scared out of his mind that a beast was hunting him down. You can't blame him. I wouldn't blame him even if I were in your spot." Jerome said.
"Yeah, Ty." Sky looked at his friend, confused on his odd behaviour.
"Anyway." Seto said, raising his voice. "Our plans with these keys..."
"I saw we split into groups and leave to find out what they hide from us." Ty said.
"Who knows were the basement is?" Jason asked.
"We do, Me and Sky!" Bashur said.
"It's on the first floor, down the left hallway." Sky said.
"Now that we speak of it, i've only ever been to the enchantment room on the first floor, room 203, and this room." Seto sighed.
"The left hallway has a few bathrooms and the door to the basement." Sky said.
"The right hallway has the enchantment room and this other room with a dusty kitchen and broken TV." Tyler said.
"What about the middle hallway?" Ian asked.
"Ty and Sub went down there." Sky said, and they turned to look at Ty.
Ty cleared his throat. "The middle hallway didn't have much. a few plain rooms. One was green."
Suddenly Sub snapped his fingers, shooting a glare at Ty. Ty frowned at Sub, turning his head back to facing forward.
"There was also this room called the Annex. We didn't search it very much. It was like a basement, i know that. It's very foggy down there. Why we didn't bother." He confessed.
"So we have the Annex to investigate too now, huh?" Mitch crossed his arms.
"The Basement, The Annex, and the upper stories." Ian said.
"Why is it called the Annex, anyway?" Bashur asked.
"An Annex is basically a part of a building added for storage purposes." Seto answered. "We might actually find something in there."
"So any suggestions on how we'll group out when going to these places?" Sky asked.
"To be safe, we'll need at least four people a group." Tyler added.
"Well, I can go upstairs." Seto started. "Anyone else?"
"Me." Tyler raised his hand.
"Jason?" Seto looked for volunteers.
"Sure." Jason shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll go." Sky said, then Sub raised his hand.
"But arn't you going to the basement?" Ty asked.
"I prefer going up instead of down." Sky answered simply.
"That's five for upstairs." Seto said.
"Me and Jerome can go to the basement." Mitch offered.
"I'll go with you." Ian said with hesitation. He looked around for a fourth member. "Bodil?"
Bodil stiffened to hearing his name. But honestly, he couldn't really back out. "Fine."
"That's four people for the basement." Jason said.
"We only have Bashur, Ty, and Brice left. And Brice really can't go anywhere without help." Jerome stated.
"Looks like we won't be going to the annex. Not until after we search the upper stairs and the basement." Seto sighed, noticing Ty looked a bit upset.
"We can stay and look after Brice." Bashur said. "Besides, isn't the door only accessible from this side? You'll need someone to stay behind anyway."
"That's true." Ian nodded his head.
"The iron door can only be opened from inside? Huh." Seto hadn't noticed that.
Tyler shifted in his chair. "I wonder if you could put some sort of spell on it. Maybe you could fix it, Seto?"
Seto paused. "I'm not sure. It's something I may be able to look into, though."
"Understood."
With that, the group seemed to draw near a consensus.
"We've got our plans. When shall we put them to action?" Jason asked.
"I suggest we eat and build up energy first." Sky said. "We're still all feeling a bit ill, correct?"
"Yeah."
Seto took a deep breath. "Alright. We'll prepare for leaving, some time within the hour. In the mean time, i'll look into the door."
And with that, people left to do as they pleased for the next 30 minutes. It only took them 30 minutes to eat a few apples and get some water, gather their weapons, and have the courage to face the unknown. Once time came, the two groups parted their ways, leaving Bashur, Ty, and Brice within the room.
The room was very quiet. Bashur sat at the table, resting his head. Brice sat with his back against the bed board, listening to what he could. Ty's footsteps could be heard. Ty seemed off, Brice noticed. And he was sure other's noticed it as well. Brice was curious, but he almost didn't want to ask.
"T-ty. Are you feeling alright?" Brice asked, his voice still quiet. His loss of vision effected everything.
Ty stopped walking back and forth.
"I'm fine." He answered.
"Are you sure?" Bashur asked, turning his head to look up at Ty. "Why didn't you tell us about the Annex before hand?"
Ty shook his head. "I had forgotten. And Sub is mute. He wouln't be able to speak no matter what."
"No matter what?" Bashur yawned.
"Hm."
The three continued in quiet for a few moments before Bashur lifted his head. He coughed a few times before places his hands over his mouth and racing off to the bathroom. Brice flinched as he heard the poor thing from distantly beyond the walls.
"The poor thing." Brice muttered.
-...-