5.21

“Sure I can’t look directly at the envoys that come over, but that isn’t an excuse to not prepare tea or be impolite.” - High Prince Aksum on the eldritch gods that have been the end and beginning of worlds.

My eye was shattered, I idly noticed. The round lapis gem was cracked in two and held together only by thin threads of mycelium.

Behind us, the reflection of the child continued to stare at us. Its eyes were red as if he had been weeping for weeks on end.

Slowly, Noam turned around and spoke, “Hello?”

A move that would get him a horrible death in any horror movie, was only met with silence.

“Should someone go find a mirror?” Noam whispered.

I shook my head, “I don’t wish to split up or let our eyes off this entity.”

“So we’re just stuck here?” Tai muttered.

Noam eyed us, gesturing at the spot where the crying child was. I nodded, for we were lacking viable options.

Slowly, he stepped forward, a single hand outreached, “Hey kid, I can’t really see ya but are you alright?”

We watched in tense silence as he got closer to the still child, eyes still glued on the reflection while Noam got ever closer.

Five paces away.

Four paces away.

Three paces away.

Two paces away.

Noam froze, his step awkwardly falling to the ground. I almost turned around and attacked if I didn’t see what happened.

The boy held out his hand and threaded his fingers between Noam’s own.

“Are you alright?” Noam asked, his face staring directly at the blank space where the boy should be.

The reflection nodded.

“The boy just nodded,” I said, knowing Noam could see nothing in front of him. “Status?”

“I feel a small cold hand holding my own,” he replied with a whisper. “Nothing visible in front of me.”

“Ask him what happened.”

“What happened?” he repeated.

In the reflection, the boy’s lips moved, as if speaking. No, he was speaking, sound simply didn’t transfer, but Analyse could read lips.

“Do you remember?”

“We do not,” I spoke.

Noam turned his neck, “What?”

I turned around, facing the spot where the boy should be, “Can you hear me?”

“He just shook his head,” Tai spoke, catching on quickly. “He’s been doing it as soon as you spoke.”

It cannot read my face, “Noam, repeat what I just said.”

“We do not.”

“He shook his head again.”

I turned around, glimpsing his reflection again. “Repeat what I say.”

“Got it.”

“Are you the one killing people?”

“Are you the one killing people?”

Shaking head.

“Are you the one erasing memories?”

“Are you the one erasing memories?”

Shaking head.

“What are you?”

“What are you?”

Shaking head.

“Do you know what is killing people here?”

“Do you know what is killing people here?”

A single nod.

“Can you tell me?”

“Can you tell me?”

The boy spoke again, a silent voice as the lips moved. “Do you remember?”

“I don’t, but I know something is here.”

“He doesn’t, but we know something is here.”

“You don’t remember,” The boy’s lips moved again.

“But we can understand,” I stressed.

“But we can- hey!” From Tai’s sword, we saw the entity withdraw its arm and turn around. Noam recoiled, clutching the hand that was holding the entity, “It just-”

“It’s leaving, follow it!”

Tai moved her sword, catching the reflection of the boy once again as it moved towards the door. Running behind him with her sword awkwardly outstretched to catch it’s reflection. I followed behind her, cursing my slow speed. Noam finally started moving, catching up quickly behind me, grabbing my back and lifting me as we followed after Tai.

“That kid froze my hand,” he muttered as he dashed after Tai. I couldn’t help but note with annoyance, that Noam carrying me was still faster than me running.

“Can you still use it?”

“Of course.”

Tai kicked open the door to the outside, the cool night air washing our faces as we jumped out behind her. Our steps echoed loudly through the silent streets as we chased our unseen target.

Noam followed Tai through dozens of sudden turns, seemingly random movements and even at one point turning around to run behind us.

Until finally, Tai’s steps slowed as Noam caught up behind her. Breathing heavily as he dropped me. No matter how little I weighed, I still weighed something, the fact he carried me halfway through town with his subpar stats were impressive enough as is.

“He entered here,” Tai spoke.

There was that feeling again, as I stared upwards at the tower. On top of the open door was a sign that said the building was a mage tower, selling magical implements. Yet even as I read it, I felt it, that sense of Deja Vu. We had already done this before.

“Tai take point.”

She nodded, tightly holding her already drawn sword in guard as she slowly walked forward.

I followed behind her, with Noam watching our back once he caught his breath.

The door was already opened. Inside, the tower was a mess of scattered books and broken shelves, there was no sound except the sound of scratching. A constant scritching at the back of the tower. Carefully, we stepped over the books, eyes watching Tai’s blade for any reflection that didn’t belong.

Yet we didn’t catch anything.

Until we entered the backroom.

There was a single doll, poorly made, of a boy with red buttons for eyes and ragged clothing. It was moving, its fingerless arms impossibly holding a piece of chalk as it wrote on the stone walls of the tower. There were words, sentences, scratched onto the stone walls by chalk, the handwriting messy and frantic at first, but soon turned reserved and desperate.

‘It killed the Sister, it killed the Baker, it killed my friends as we were singing singing along.’’

‘We were playing hide and seek, I was It, but I never found anyone.’

‘It plays hide and seek too, but it cheats, it is both Hiding and It.’

‘It found me like it did everyone else. Gobble gobble. Munch munch.’

Tai raised her sword, letting the blade reflect off inside the room, behind the doll, was the boy. Pointing at the doll and looking at us.

‘But it wasn’t the only one who was It. Spew spew, I came out, now I can hide just as well as him.’

Noam slowly walked forward, towards the small doll, he gently kneeled down next to it and hugged it.

The doll was struggling in his embrace, trying to get to the wall to write more, but I saw a single tear fall from the buttons that were its eyes.

“We have to kill this thing,” he muttered as he let go, the doll moving mechanically to the wall as it continued to write with its small nub of chalk.

There was a silence as we considered the weight of what just befell us. The only sound was the doll writing words on the wall. It suddenly felt so loud in the silence, as if it were the only sound in the world… wait… no… as if it suddenly overpowered another sound. As if there was a passive noise that I had just blotted out until-

“Both of you get down!” I screamed as I raised my hands. Noam went down instantly, an innate trust built over years. Tai was slower, but Noam yelled at her to follow my orders. I was already casting. “Sneezing Spores!”

‘It found you again.’

Damnit, why did I spend so much mana on Poison Spores?

‘It comes when it has become quiet.’

Yellow spores flooded the room around us, both Noam and Tai stayed close to the ground, covering their nose and mouths so as to not inhale the Sneezing Spores.

‘It is closest when it is so quiet you remember you forgot the song.’

Movement, just outside my periphery. The spores were disturbed from their natural flow.

‘It attacks when you realise the silence is so quiet it drowns out all other sounds.’

“It’s coming.”

‘So you must be scared of the deafening silence.’

Something shot out, coming from behind me, leaving a thin, serpentine trail as it almost struck me from behind.

‘You shouldn’t hide in the same place.’

The movement of the spores, the way it disturbed them as it moved. I can Analyse them, watch where it moves. The shape of the outline was snake-like, moving in midair like an eel and circling us like a shark. “Shillelagh.” Raising my staff, I slammed down unto the trail it left. Feeling the satisfying feedback of striking something. The moving trail was jerked down from that one spot. Even if I couldn’t see it, it was still there!

‘The touch you feel is a trick to make you think it is real.’

“*huarrgh*” Noam vomited onto the ground, clutching his mouth as gastric juices were spewed from his stomach.

“Noam!” Tai yelled, grabbing the tiefling on the back, “What happened?”

He was heaving, I desperately wanted to watch him but the thing was circling around us again. I was the only one who could stay in the spores without much adverse effect.

“Don’t…” vomit fell from his mouth, slopping grossly onto the ground, “Don’t… Don’t look at its reflection!”

Tai’s eyes drifted towards her sword, unconsciously, for wasn’t it just a reflex to look at what was just pointed out?

‘Don’t look for too long or you’ll remember.’

Noam was faster, slapping a hand still wet with vomit past Tai’s face, getting her to look away just in time.

I was still watching the thing circling around us, I could almost see it, the outlines of something at the front of the trails. The serpentine creature had a head, a human head, a human head with a face which was outlined by the numerous yellow spores.

A face I recognised but did not remember.

“No…” Noam cried out, but it was too late.

That feeling of Deja Vu greatened to the point it became nauseous, to the point my body froze, to the point all that was on my mind was the feeling that I knew that face. Yet I will never remember it, my mind constantly working in overdrive to find that which cannot be found. To the point, I could not think of anything else.

The face of someone I did not remember smiled as I looked at it, mouth opening to reveal a maw of thousands of needle-like teeth, but it didn’t move. No, it couldn’t move whilst it was being observed.

But neither could I.

Something moved behind me, something I only sensed with my manavision. Another serpent-like thing, bearing another human face. Its maw opened in much the same way as it moved in to kill me.

There was the sound of singing steel as Tai rose, one hand covering her nose and mouth as she slashed the attacking head with her other hand.

Her eyes watered as the Sneezing Spores attacked them, but it worked in her favour as her sight was too blurred for her to see the faces. She slashed the thing staring at me. Cutting it in two, right between the eyes.

I gasped out, letting out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding.

But even as the two severed halves fell to the ground, I could see them forming back together, as with the other one. Withdrawing from my spores and outside of the room.

It healed, but how?

Slowly, I glanced at the doll, at what it had written in the short few moments when it attacked us.

‘The touch you feel is a trick to make you think it is real.’

A trick to make someone think it was real? Implying that it wasn’t?

“Was that it?” Tai asked, blade still drawn.

Noam warned against its reflection, meaning he saw it through Tai’s blade. Both me and Tai could see how it displaced spores as it moved. Meaning it could still be seen through secondary sources.

‘Don’t look for too long or you’ll remember.’

It was a warning against seeing the faces it stole, but I needed to. I needed more information.

“We need to follow it,” I said as I helped Noam to his feet, “I need to see it.”

He only nodded, not trusting his voice, leaning on me as we walked out of the room. Tai’s sword still out on guard.

“We can see its reflections,” I muttered to Tai.

She nodded, eyes now kept on her blade and not her front as she moved.

Together like this, we moved out of the tower, into the empty town. The sound of silence was still present, it was still out there.

Tai raised her sword, letting the moonlight catch on its razor edge and we saw it. Noam turned his eyes fast enough, as did Tai, but I did not. I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it.

I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. Isawit. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. I was it. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. It saw I. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. ItsawI. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I. It was I.

I saw it in the sky, eyes as numerous as the stars.

And they all looked back at me.

Dustin stood in a place much like a personal study. It wasn’t the classy kind, but a derivative of that idea. To any other person, the place would appear highly disorganised, but to him and only him. Everything was where he needed it.

Except this once.

He rifled through dozens of drawers, throwing out hundreds of papers, each with a name that was gone until he reached the very first file.

And that name was gone as well.

No matter how he searched, he could not be found. No matter how hard he wished, he could not remember.

Then something broke in, something that stole entirety until not even the memory of what it stole was left. It entered through The Window, flouting the things it stole, knowing they can never be reclaimed, bearing them with vanity as if it held all things.

It grabbed him by the collar, lifting him as if he were a toy, it came to finish what was started, to steal Dustin’s second face. Dustin struggled, but slowly he cracked and so did the study around them.

Yet it made a crucial mistake.

It dared think it could face the defender in his own home.

The body it held fell limp as if a string had been cut from a doll.

Snip snip.

And it realised that humanity and rationality was only a facade for him. Dropped as quickly as a mask.

Snip snip.

He would die to live, but when death became certain, he would live to die.

Snip snip.

In the dominion of Souls, a tree mutilated itself to form a single spear.

Snip snip.

Dustin Analysed the entity.

Snip.

And it screamed.

Two seconds.

Barely the breadth of a single moment, barely one or two heartbeats, and Dustin had turned insane.

But that was the trick.

You can’t turn insane twice, can you?

For what was the greater insanity?

To pointlessly chase around something you could not obtain or to shut that door and everything that made you chase it?

It faced something that had walked the latter path.

Tai tore away her sword, leaving a dazed Dustin standing in the moonlight.

“Dust!” Noam yelled, “Are you-”

“I am fine,” the myconid simply answered, eyes turned and staring at the sky.

“What just happened?” Tai breathlessly asked.

“I saw it,” Dustin simply answered. “I saw the beast and I Analysed it and it ran.”

“Dustin, you're acting weird again,” Noam said, turning to face his friend, “what did you turn off?”

“A lot of things,” he simply answered. “It may take a while to come back.”

“Then what did you see?” the tiefling pressed, hands grabbing the myconid’s shoulder.

Dustin showed no reaction to being grabbed, no reaction at all. “I saw it and I learned its name.”

“What was it?” Tai asked.

He looked to the clear sky, where once it was covered by dozens of squirming serpents bearing human faces.

It was not a den of snakes, but a herculean hydra.

“It is called the Accumulation of White Lies.”