#zetsumon

“Eyy, wassup, homeskillets?” 

There he was again, but you would swear there was something sheepish to his unchanging expression this time.

“So, uh, lemme just confide in you for a minute! Originally, there was meant to be more than one floor to the building. But... I kinda got worked up, and super drunk, and to make a long story short, I kinda messed up the lift.”

He bounced aside, revealing a slightly different hall to the one you were expecting.

“The reason I bring this up is that I managed to get the route up to the second floor working. No thanks to you assholes, but whaddya expect? Anyway, lift now goes up and down between floors, y’know, how lifts normally work. I haven’t got round to fixing the floors above this, but yeah, I’ll chip away at that problem.”

And with that, the doll vanished into the ether again. Good riddance.

Your handbooks ping, letting you know your map has been updated! Time to go explore.

Well, it was certainly something exciting - an offer you were glad to accept. And so you counted down the days until... something? It was something important, you know that much. And so you whiled away the days aimlessly until the night before, preparing and getting ready for whatever it was. You remember going to bed early just to be ready, and then...

Groggily, you came to your senses, cheek pressed to a hard wooden floor. Light streams through tall windows onto your face. It takes a moment for it to register at first, but you very quickly realise this is definitely not where you went to sleep.

As you take a cursory look around, the first thing you notice is fifteen other people, some awake, some lying on the ground much as you are. Secondly, the room seems clean, at the very least, maybe aside from a few scuffs and claw marks on the floor.

There’s a raised stage at one end of the room, some boxes and chairs down the sides, a computer, some potted plants, and... oh dear.

The other end of the room is a rather large and rather heavily barricaded set of double doors. Looks like you’re not getting out of here in that direction any time soon.

Frantically searching the halls, you notice the absence of Lucy and Natsuki in your search party. Maybe they’re asleep, maybe-

Entering the auditorium, you find something rather horrific. The stage lights have fallen, and underneath are two familiar forms. Rushing over to try and help, the search party successfully pull free Lucy from the wreckage, thankfully mostly unharmed. But when you go to check on Natsuki...

Something about him seems... different, though.

“Uh... heya, folks. So... The power’s back up for this floor. I’m still working on the plant, but I’m getting pretty close to getting it back to full capacity. Sorry for taking so long.”

As it wiggles like it’s about to vanish, the substitute pauses.

“So... uh, see you around. Later, I guess.”

It’s gone, with less of a dramatic flourish, and more of a... anticlimactic vanishing.

Your handbooks make that characteristic ping! New areas have been added to your map.

When you opened it, the saccharine, irritating tone of the substitute played over a black screen. “Hey there! Welcome to your personal motive video. Betcha you’re curious now, right? Riiiiiight? Well, let’s just get on with it.”

The video was now of your family. Your closest friend. Your pet. The person or animal outside of the building you hold most dear. They’re sitting in a room with large windows behind them. A brief hello, and then a show of pride. So proud of you for making it to SERVA. So, so proud.

There is a sudden, horrible noise. Something that sounds like the sky itself is splitting. The camera wobbles, a look of terror on your loved one’s faces as a siren begins to blare. They run.

The camera topples to the ground.

A loud, monstrous shriek. The distant sound of explosions, of thunder, of agony. Fire burns outside the window, and then the window shatters into pieces. A tall, shadowy figure looms behind the window. Too tall, too lanky, too... twisted to be human. 

There’s a sudden brilliant light, and the video dissolves into static.