Lucy noted the diary entries in her system window, and I saw her tapping away at thin air as she did so. It may come in handy down the line. Not wanting to waste time, all of us except her had already left the room, and I was just making sure nothing weird was going to happen.

It surprised us that the front door was slightly open and just how little the airflow from outside was.

The food… cold yet not rotten, it hasn't been that long since someone was in here… maybe the guy upstairs set this up? I thought. As we entered the dining room, we could hear noises coming from the room across the entrance hall.

"Does that sound like armour clinking to you?" Rhua braced her shields to rumble. Wardi looked out.

"Huh?" he said, dumbfounded. We checked it out ourselves and agreed with his reaction.

A group of knights, each from a different culture. Wearing the equivalent of full plate mail from their origin.

"Yup, that's a normal sight!" Wardi whispered as loudly as he could whilst raising an eyebrow.

The knights gathered and practised some sort of military protocol with their weapons. Twirling them around before a portrait of Lord Broekslang. How did any of us not notice it before? It wasn't exactly small. Trying to laugh at my jokes swirling around upstairs.

"Hello there, are you a noble sort standing in there hiding?" A soft voice spoke out to us within the air itself.

"It is I, Lady Frigibits of the Von family, I'm speaking to you through my telepathy art, I'm hiding within the Ayshun Knight armour, and my daughter Skankerella is in the Thurian one with the robe at the back there.

Rhua whispered into the air, "What's happened? Can you tell us? The house has a barrier over it, we had to go through the sewers to gain entry. A dangerous parchment trap awaited us, we barely made it through."

"Some peculiar well-dressed elites visited our humble abode, then the next day…he wasn't himself, as if he had been switched with an evil twin. My husband, Broekslang Von, has completely and utterly lost his marbles. We've been hiding from him ever since. Please. We can't keep this up much longer; our strength is waning, please rescue us!"

As she finished speaking, the knights stood up and marched back into the armoury room, slamming the door shut.. The word "Please!" echoed and trailed off around us softly.

Responding in the only way I could think of, I said, "This is fine."

"So, where do we go? We've looked everywhere! Larry blurted out with frustration.

"WHAT, about outside?" a scared Horace piped up.

"The barrier covered most of the land as well as the house. Maybe the garden is still accessible? Does someone want to try the front door?" Wardi asked the room, only to go ahead anyway and walk out of it.

The garden was rather minimalist, especially considering the size of the manor. There was a greenhouse teeming with various plants. Most notably, the Singing Sallie flowers were bobbing up and down, humming the occasional songs they heard from visitors.

We wandered over to the greenhouse and looked inside to see if anything else was inside. Leeks & daffodils oddly lined up in an oddly coloured soil, and I could smell something familiar.

Seedar in the air again, not as much as the last guy, thinking to myself.

"Who's there!? A voice whispered in fear. "Is that you, Lady Von?

"Hans!?" Larry was surprised to hear a familiar voice and barged past Wardi.

"Larry, what in the devil are you doing here?"

"Well, that giant barrier would be one reason, and there have been some mysterious things happening around the manor that the whole town witnessed."

Hans was half Koanor from the chest up with bird-like features, orange beak, feathered arms and noticeably big orange eyes… just without wings, he was also half Koanit from the waist down, though his girth was far abnormal than usual for a Koanit. Impeccably dressed for a butler to; the black tailcoat was dazzling, adorned with multiple iridescent gems reflecting the light from the BOF outside back at us like a miniature rainbow disco.

As he sat up, he began to grunt and speak. "Broekslang had met with a group called the Rising Dawn, they're fanatics obsessed with following their self-imposed ways of honouring Serilia. I was left out of the festivities, so I'm afraid I can't help you."

"I fear the good lord is long since capable of returning to his old self, but if you can try to grant this fool's request, then I can die here with a smile on my face." A healing spell began aiding the man on the floor, no barrier appeared to weaken the effect this time.

"It seems fate doesn't deem me ready just yet. Now… how far into the manor have you explored? Have you encountered anything dangerous yet? Hans grunted, appearing to be in much better spirits.

Wardi took a second or two to react. He was trying to eye up any potential dangers in the garden. "Hmm, the parchment trap set up in the cellar was pretty dangerous. It's been non-hazardous other than that. Larry had heard some strange chanting occasionally, but he couldn't identify it. And we found a badly hurt young man that we had assumed was your replacement in one of the rooms upstairs. He had an obnoxious odour about his person." Hans's curiosity was piqued.

"That would be Calder. I was training him to be my replacement, but the boy is soft…too soft. After all this time, the seedar managed to last, thank the gods. I am a Perfumologist, my abilities make scents with social enhancing benefits. I made him one with my only defensive ability, Seedar Musk, a minor defensive benefit, but the lord of the house, he absolutely detests it and will avoid it like the plague."

I said to Hans, "That's a surprisingly niche and situational thing." he smiled in response.

"Yes, well, his lordship has always had a fondness for it, and as we came into this newly formed world, the first ability I learned was that one. I could never have predicted that I'd have to use it against him."

"That's almost like FORESHADOWING." Horace piped up.

Lucy, wanting to know more, tried to press Hans for information, "We've looked here, there and everywhere, Mr Uwe. Is it possible he has left the manor?" Hans was caught off guard by her politeness or possibly her bizarre attire.

"Uh…Oh-um…Well, did you check the bedrooms? The dining room? The cellar?... no wait, you came from there so that wouldn't make sense, the armoury perhaps?" he rambled without pause.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Giving him a small update was important to calm him down. However, I certainly got under his skin with my next comment, "Lady von is hiding within one of the armours with the Skank."

"That's Lady Skankerella. She's earned her title…Don't you forget it."

"Oh, she earned it, you just don't want to know how." I winked at Rhua, who shot me a few daggers, but I could see Wardi behind her trying not to laugh by pinching himself.

"Hmm, did you try the attic whilst you were wandering? If he is still here, that could be the only place. Return to the master bedroom, pull gently on the cord connected to the fan in the ceiling; it's a faux device. It will bring access down for you."

"Back in we go!" Wardi said in a rather annoyed tone. We tried to encourage Hans to return inside with us, but he insisted on staying in the greenhouse as he'd rather be around the things that can keep him sane whilst this is on-going.

Rhua pushed open the door back into the manor. Then came the loud chanting from above us.

Moarte, Tod, Death

Moarte, Tod, Death

"We should be ready for anything at this point. Keep your eyes peeled, I feel like something has changed." With his arms ready to grab his swords at any moment, Wardi looked amped up.

Walking towards the staircase, the light in the room darkened, slowly as if the sun were setting, unable to deliver light for the day. The chandelier slowly absorbed into the ceiling, warping, twisting, and changing into a large, serpent-like eye. The gaze was piercing. All of us were shaken by this monstrosity that just appeared. For some reason, it felt familiar but in a safe way.

"What is that!?" Rhua said, trying to break the gaze by reacting to it audibly. It didn't work, however.

"Can't say I've ever heard of a monster like this if it is one? Everyone, get ready to r-." Upon Wardi trying to speak, I noticed the room quickly turned eerily silent, my party members and Larry appeared frozen when I looked around, not by ice; it was as if time had stopped.

"Fate denier" … the words bellowed as if a choir of many different voices were within it.

"Fate denier? Who and what is that when they are at home?" I jokingly replied to the voices as if I were talking to a friend like I used to back on Terra.

"The fanatics of gods, they will test you on this day. You and your party may face real death; one that there is a point of no return by any means." The voices continued to come forth. It was overwhelming, akin to a critical hit on the senses.

"A cursed baptism will take place soon, one that will push you yourselves to limits you did not know you could reach."

"This sounds insane. How does anyone curse a baptism?

The room turned bright white. Dark lights began to form and fall from the eye itself. Floating down, spinning in a calming motion. The most pleasant, twinkly rings echoed in the room as they hit the floor and bounced upwards. They formed into what appeared to be large teardrop objects.

"What are these?" Unable to think before speaking, I replied to the voice. The teardrop's colour changed from black to slight colours of the elements, though the first tear stayed the same colour: onyx. The rest were: Red, blue, green, brown, purple, grey, and white.

"What you will soon face, you must fight it in ways you would not think to. Use the tears, they will guide you to victory. Fate denier, fear not the darkness, be ready for the battle ahead… I must leave now. Your friends will awaken upon my departure." The words echoed as it slowly blinked, and the ceiling returned to its original appearance.

What is wrong with this world? I just want normality! I screamed in my head, It is best not saying anything to the others I don't want to draw attention to myself, first I get visions of the gods now I get 1 on 1 meetings with horrific entities saying they're going to help me… if the others were aware of this it's going to lead to questions and I can't give answers, not to mention Larry is here, word could spread, who knowns what nutters may end up trying to visit me as well. My mind was racing with so many thoughts as my heartbeat skyrocketed. I took deep breaths to calm myself.

When the ceiling finally reverted to its original look, Rhua was the first to talk, as she was beginning to say something before the event caused her to freeze.

"Leave us alone fr-... huh, where did it go!?

"I think it was some sort of knockout art, probably a last line of defence the owner had in place for coming back in the manor." Trying to pretend and act like I was a little shaken now. Wardi pointed at the teardrop ornaments on the floor.

"Hey, I don't remember seeing these before. I picked the one closest to my foot and grabbed it. It turned a swirling, deep yet pleasant onyx black within, it was the tear that didn't change as much as the others I noted in my head.

"They probably belong to the Von family, though they are tempting. Perhaps we should wait before taking? Ask for them as a reward?" Great cover story, Larry, I thought in my head, not before I picked and placed all of them into my inventory whilst everyone started walking off.

Venturing back to the lord's bedroom with the latest information at hand. Wardi activated the device to get us up into the attic. It came down like a vator from back on Terra, "Talk about showing off by having something like this just to go into a room you probably only used once a bloody decade, this decadence schmecadence is not a life for me!" Wardi blurted out.

"Make sure you have a good wash when we are out of here, I know it's you making the room smell so bad." He pointed at me, turning a pointed finger into a fist, shaking it at me like an old man. Suddenly, the chanting amplified in volume, only this time the word death repeated. Looking at the device to take us up, I asked aloud if everyone was ready, looking at each person nodding and tensing up as we hit the switch on the vator.

The attic was by far the biggest part of the manor; the room took us to the northeastern corner. We could barely see more than a few steps in front of us. "Horace, check if that device is working again. See if you can pick up any traps?" Wardi asked Horace, trying not to get us into a bloody pulpy mess.

He nodded and activated it, it whirred up in power and it picked up one or two traps that had been placed along the path, but it quickly lost power again "damn thing, wonder why it's so temperamental I'll have to ask how to charge it" Wardi said quietly. Horace took the lead, having been the only one to see where the traps were located and walked on ahead, but not before giving us a vision boost from one of his shells.

"C-more in the HOLE!" piped Horace, trying his best to be quiet.

*Dark vision increased by 10ft*

Said the notebook as I examined it. It was better for us to use this over a light source, not to draw any attention. It seemed, however, that despite knowing there was a trap ahead, the activation was triggered by someone's foot being on it. Heavy logs began to fall from the ceiling in our direction, narrowly avoiding the tumbling brown goodness. The chanting had stopped after the heavy thuds from each log hit the floor. One of which managed to break through it.

"WELCOME TO VON MANOR, IT IS I, BROEKSLANG VON!" A snarling, wet voice shouted into the air. Clicks could be heard in the distance, resulting in the attic light turning on. Now we understood what was causing the smell.

Victims of Broekslang's madness were here, gathered in a pile towards the southeastern end of the manor, though judging by the lack of decay on the topmost bodies, it's likely these were taken out in the last day or two.

"ISN'T MY MOSAIC PRETTY!? All of THIS is for SERILIA~ We all need to LOVE HER MORE show her your devotion!" The voice twisted increasingly, growing deeper, eviller. The hulking figure stood on top of the pile and began stamping, causing the floor to buckle.

"IT IS MY TIME TO SHINE SERILIA, I HOPE YOU'LL SHOWER ME WITH YOUR GRACE FOR ALL MY EFFORTS, TO THE RISING DAWN! the floor finally caved, and the bodies began dropping down in the entrance hall, it appeared Broekslang used his new abominable form to grip to the attic ceiling rather than fall with the victims.

Horace panicking like a madman but also being a legend, had already started unloading enhancements for us, a vividly pale shell was fired and blew out a gust of wind to boost our movement speed and he sprayed us with a viscous brown gel whilst running in which he said, "This will help us avoid getting grabbed by HIM!"

We bolted towards the closest floorboard leading down into the bedroom, as Broekslang launched himself towards us, buckling the floor further. Lucky for us, it's not the first time a chase has occurred from a particular nasty foe, and we land on our feet. Quickly escaping out into the hallways. A loud bang came from behind, as Broekslang had busted through to the hallways from the attic, bounding after us.

"COME HERE DARLINGS, LET ME RELEASE YOU TO HER MAJESTY, YOUR BONES WILL CRUMBLE TO DUST IN A WARM EMBRACE I'LL MAKE IT AS DELECTABLE AS POSSIBLE!" Broekslang growled.

"Leave us alone and never come back!" Lucy shouted out.

"It's too constricted in here, let's try and get him outside, c'mon, the door is just ahead, then we can sort this out!" Rhua huffed her words whilst sprinting, she used her quick dash ability to quickly close the distance and break through the door.

The daylight was a welcome addition; a blast of partially fresh air was even nicer. Broekslang quickly tore through the doorframe, flinging bricks towards us.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.