Ester once again walks into the university but this time with really big luggage. Those thing made him a lot more slower than he should be but he couldn"t blame anyone else other than himself because he didn"t prepare anything. And there are still a lot of stuffs left in his room.
4D pocket… where are you… [TL note: Doraemon reference]
Ester thinks of this convenient tool that you can throw anything inside. He read about it a long time ago but there haven"t been any progress in making it even now. Ester knows that there are magics that can store away things in another dimension but Ester himself doesn"t know how to use it and he also thinks he wouldn"t be able to use it even if he learned it.
*Thud*
Ester drops his luggage to the ground. He looks at watch and it"s already 6 PM now. Even though there are a lot of convenient things in this world but for him who"s neither rich nor poor, he have to save some of his money so there"s no magical cart or electrical cart for him to use.
Ester looks at the storage building. It has grey color. And the sad thing about all of this is that the door is pitched black with sign of blood here and there.
I can only hope there"s nothing bad inside…
He takes out the black key that the princ.i.p.al gave him. It"s an old style key like ones before the Great War. On the back of it there"s a little hole as if it"s there for a purpose. And others are trace of it getting bitten, hit by magics and some b.l.o.o.d.y fingerprints. This made Ester a little frightened.
"Guess it"s time to go inside" Ester mumbles "The University didn"t specify the uniform. They also pay for the food and living cost. Even if I have to live in a shabby room, I guess I have to."
*Click*. After he unlocked the door. He found out that the room
"…I thought that the outside is bad… but d.a.m.n, the inside"
Inside the room there are a lot of things scattered across the room from cans, beer bottles to cigarettes. This tells him who"s the person that"s using it before him is like but those junks are really old. When he looks up he found holes on the roof like it"s been hammered by someone. In the middle of the room there"s a big bookshelf, a chair and a table but there"s no bed in here. There"re also a lot of things that has bullet holes in it or maybe trace of being bitten by something. Even if this room was painted white but as the time pa.s.sed the color is now fading, showing cement"s color.
Ester sigh while moving his stuff into his room.
"Hmm. Looks like there"s really no electricity in here…" he mumbles
WAIT. If there"s no electricity in here then… what about water?!
He looks around trying to find the water tap.
"There"s no water… My G.o.ddess!!!"
This room wasn"t designed for living so it doesn"t have anything even thing like toilet. When he walks around the room, he found out that the room is bit bigger than he thought it was. Its size is about three times his bedroom but the dirtiness of this room is around a hundred times more.
"d.a.m.n it, princ.i.p.al. Why are you such a cruel man?" Ester complains while cursing the teachers that agreed to it. Not long after he tries to sit on a chair that"s close to him.
*Thump!!!*
This unlucky guy falls backward in an instant because the chair that he just sat on broke into pieces. Ester picked up the chair"s pieces trying to fix it but soon after he gives up and throws it away. He walks around the room with frustration.
He then sees a trace of something that"s black and red similar to already dried blood but it"s really big.
"Don"t tell me all of that"s blood?" Said the young man who once again looks around the room but the room now isn"t the same as it was before.
"Wait… where"s the stuff that I just dropped there? And where the heck did this chest near my feet come from??" He thought "What is this room…" Because he has read a lot of novels before he is used to those scary stuffs. Even if he"s scared, he won"t scream or anything.
*BAM!!*
The door shuts itself with the fading light of the Sun.
"NOOOOO!!!" Ester screamed before pulling the door"s handle. "Left me outtttttttt!!"
And of course it doesn"t open.
The young man quickly trying to remember the past. The princ.i.p.al sad that he gives this room to him and things he do does affect the room. This place still has many question to it that he has to get answers from the previous owner.
While Ester is thinking, the sky is getting darker and darker like his consciousness that is also slowly fading away
Chest, trace of blood, things that aren"t junks, key… Princ.i.p.al said that the key is a part of this room. There must be a keyhole in here somewhere but the problem is where the h.e.l.l is that d.a.m.n keyhole and what stuff is in this garbage room anyway?
His eyes once again look at that trace of blood. He slowly walk to it and then he sees that in middle of it, there"s a keyhole. He quickly compared the size of keyhole and the key.
"Hm… I got you now, you haunted room" He then push the key in with his full force.
Aaieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
The chest near his feet screams so loud he has to cover his ear. And the moment he tries to glance at it.
*Swish* There"s a sound of something going through his body. He felt pain on his chest.
An arrow? No, this shape… a rapier huh…
*quack*
The sound of sword rotating pushes him into the wall. The wall is once again painted by blood but now it"s fresh. Ester found out that the tip of the rapier is in the hole on the key.
"What the h.e.l.l is this…" He tried pulling out the rapier but he couldn"t do it.
The key in front of him starts to suck the blood out of him like a starving beast. The red stream starts to fade away when that thing keep sucking it continuously.
d.a.m.n it…Even if there"s magic barrier but dying this way isn"t fun…
In that moment, the key changes its color from black to dark blue but Ester didn"t see it because it"s already dark outside.
"From now on, please look after this room" A sound which from what he heard is kind a pleased. Ester tries to look at the person who said it but he can"t do it because he"s stuck to the wall with a sword in his chest.
At that moment, that strange things start to happen in the room. Junks flying out of room. Stuffs that"s scattered around the room start to arrange themselves on the shelves. The chair and the table that"s broken started to repair itself. The bookshelf moves itself revealing a carved wooden door unlike the entrance door behind it. More shelves pop up and the black chest opens up showing a black chain which on its ends have shackles on it.
*Click*. That chain pulls the repair out and because of that the key also falls down.
Then the chain shackle both of his ankle. Even though the bleeding stopped but the wound hasn"t recovered yet. His body is wiredly fatigue. The chain is now draining his souls like a vampire drinking his blood. Even though it"s just a fraction of his soul but for him that just got his blood drained, it"s really bad for him.
"You can stop now. Tartarus." A Sweet sound. When Ester looks up, he sees a beautiful women floating in front of him. Everything is normal for her except that her body is translucent. And because it"s still night-time, he can"t see her properly. The moment she spoke up, the chain stop draining his soul but the shackles are still on his ankles.
A ghost…huh…
"h.e.l.lo, the new owner of this room. I am Victoria Art. I"m a ghost living in this room and that." She then points at the chain around his ankles. "Tartarus, the cursed chain. If she kept on draining your soul, you might have really died and maybe keep on dying for sure. I think you should get it away from you. For you to not die." Said the ghost girl warning him.
"How can I even take it off?" he asks her with polite manners but she only smiled and points at the room"s key.
"Tartarus only wanted to test you if you are good enough for this room. If you want her to accept you, then there"s no need to take her off. You just need to let her keep on draining you soul." Said the ghost girl. "So far, there hasn"t been anyone who pa.s.sed with that method but if you want to get accept then don"t use that key to take it off."
Chain, huh? That girl used the word "her". That means it"s a living weapon and it"s also a girl… I couldn"t get a new weapon anyway. Might as well do it…. Ester thought.
"You stupid chain. I dare you, drain all of my soul out if you can. No matter how many times I die, I won"t take you off."
The black chain moves as if it knows what to do. Ester sigh when the soul drain stopped. He then sit down resting but he doesn"t know that this is only the start of it.
"Ugh…"
As Ester requested, the cursed chain drains his soul a lot more intense than the last time and this time it also sucking his blood out. Ester skin"s getting more and more pale like a person who"s dehydrated.
"I have done this stuff before. You are just only a chain, I won"t lose to you" Said Ester who"s struggling to just talk. After a while the chain drain out almost all of his soul and then finally…
"d.a.m.n, she really wants me dead…" This is the last thing Ester thought before he got unconscious.
*Click*
Huh? …what sound is that?
Ester wakes up with confusion. His clothe and body is still dirtied with blood but it"s already dried. His skin that"s normally white is now even whiter and when he looks at his ankles he"s really disappointed.
"This d.a.m.n chain is still on me huh." Even though Tartarus already drained his soul but the chain is still locking both his ankles together as the same. The only difference is that there"s a black cross on the middle of the chain. It looks like a magical lock. When he sees it, he could only sigh.
Hahaha…
Ester jumped. Even though he"s used to it but he"s still a little scared.
Whose laughter was that?? He thought while looking around the room that"s already rearranged properly. He then looks at the luggage that he"s brought and then the chain which is still retraining both of his legs.
"Was that you, Tartarus?" He asks with doubt.
"Tartarus" He asked again because if it"s a real living weapon then it at least can talk.
"If that wasn"t me then who was it? That stupid ghost girl already went outside." A sound of a girl.
"You are really good huh. The others that got shackled by me quickly took me off. This is the first time I see a guy who"s so stupid to let me suck him to death." She said with a voice that"s bugging him a bit. "And your blood also tastes really good but it doesn"t have that much nutrients. You doesn"t have much magic power and psychic power either. I"m a little bit surprised myself as how you got chosen to be this room"s owner. Because the only ones who"s come into this room are the really strong ones who wanted die.
Ester is now a little scared of this chain. He then looks at his watch.
"It"s 3 AM already?" he mumbles "I hasn"t done anything properly since I came into this room. So unlucky.
Tartarus who heard him speaks up "Don"t be stupid. Who said you didn"t get anything? After you got stabbed by that rapier you have already made a contract with this room. From now on you are the only one who can walk into this room. No one can mess with this place anymore even if you want it or not."
Wait… seriously?
"And I myself will be a weapon for you three times. Rewarding you for that c.r.a.ppy soul of yours. Appreciate it." Said Tartarus boasting herself.
"Are you crazy? I died ONCE. But I only get this room and a stupid chain that I can only use three tim- Arghhhhh!!!"
He got tased by Tartarus.
"You really know nothing huh, you stupid man? You are the owner of this room. Everything from dust, shelves, that stupid ghost or even me is now yours. And there are a lot of treasures that"s still in this room that no one wants. Even that old man isn"t brave enough to come in here." Tartarus shouted. "And I"m more useful than you think. Don"t think of me as a normal chain because I"m a cursed chain." After the word ends the electric shock stops.
"Well I will explore this room afterward anyway so can you release me now? I"m going to change." After Ester finished his words, the chain unlocked itself before going back into the chest.
"The bathroom is right there. You knock three times then say "dark bathroom" then it will change into a bathroom for you." Said the chain who"s not in a good mood.
"Wait… so this room is also connected to other places?" He figured out something. Then maybe he could go to another places in a blink of an eye.
"Yes, it does but you also need to know the keywords for that place. If you don"t then you can"t go there. I will only tell you one place so you need to find other keywords yourself. The first owner implemented it then afterward there"s a lot of wired people who added more places in."
"And so, what the heck is this dark bathroom place?" Asked Ester.
"The moment you go inside you will know what it is. It"s a special bathroom. Other people can"t go in when there"s someone using it. Even if you are in there no one will know, they only would think that someone"s bathing. And if there"s someone using it, the door would tell you."
He starts to see the usefulness in this little fiend chain. His black pupils looks at the door then he knocks it three times.
"Dark bathroom"
In an instant, the wooden craved door changed into a white door that has a sign on it.
Teacher"s bathroom.
"Haa. I thought it was going to be a strange place again but to think that it"s teacher"s bathroom…"
I guess this"s also good… because of them, I have to live in this shabby room then I will use it to my heart"s content. He then goes to grab his clothes and things he needs to take a bath.
After he opens the door, there"s a flower garden inside with a lot of kinds of flowers. There are some flowers that he didn"t know of and some that only staring at it makes him light headed. He then walks unsteadily to the inside. He found there pools that look like small swimming pools, each pool has its own unique bubbles and kind of water. You can see the sky from here if you look up but if you look from the outside you might see the roof instead. And there also are a few kinds of showers on the sides.
"Holy cow, this is really luxury. There"s even water coming out from the lion head." He said. "If it"s like this then even if I had to come here at 4 AM every day, I wouldn"t mind doing it." After that he quickly washes himself even though he really wanted to swim in those pools.
After he finished everything, he came back into the room.
That door is like the secret door, not a main door. Even though the entrance to that bathroom is so big but the door is just small door. When he closes the door, the door on the bathroom side also disappears.
I really need to be careful about this. If the door is connected to a strange place, I might be in a big trouble.
Right now he"s wearing white T-shirt, black jeans and normal looking sneakers but the sneakers has iron in its head for close range combat. He tests it by jabbing and kicking air. He then looks again the room and sigh.
*Click*
Right when he finished changing, Tartarus shackled his legs once again.
"Wait. Why are you still restraining my leg?" He asked. Right now he already used to this chain. The feeling of scared now change to frustration.
"I was inside the chest for so long so let me go out for a bit." The black chain answered.
"Can"t you just change your form? Aren"t you a living weapon?" Ester complains.
"I can but I don"t want to do it. If you still keep on complaining, I will add more weight to your legs that you won"t be able to take a single step from here."
Do as you like…
When he looks at the time, there"s still some time left for looking around the room but he stepped on something.
The key that is lying under his foot shines when he stepped on it. It was dropped alongside with a rusty rapier and the blood on it is an only sign that"s it was recently used.
Hm? The room"s key? But why did the color changed? And is that the sword that stabbed me? Ester thought while picking up the key and the sword on the ground. Right at the moment when he tries to pick up the rapier, the black chain came rushing in then destroys it right before absorbing it.
"*burp* Ah. I"m so full now. Hey, let me drink some of your blood too." And right after the sentence ends, there are blades rushing out of the chain and stab him.
"Hey hey, If you want to drink it, can"t you just do it properly? Do you really need to stab me?" He quickly made a complaint.
"Hmph." The chain makes a displeased sound.
When he picks up the key, he saw his name and three magic circles engraved on it.
"I could only hope that this thing doesn"t have a life too…" Said Ester.
"Are you crazy? Things that has life are more rare than you think, you know? A lot of stuffs must happen in order for it to gain a life. It"s not easy to find as you think."
At first he thought about using the key to take Tartarus off but after he gave it some thought. If he releases her, he doesn"t know what thing she might do in the future so he let her be.
*Click*
In that moment the key shrinks down and there are small chains coming out from it sides. It becomes a normal necklace like it wants him to wear it on.
Ester looks at it for a moment thinking there might be something behind this but soon after he puts it on.
Silence….Nothing happened…
I thought I was going to die… He thought to himself.
Because there"s nothing in this room that looks safe. From a chain that can tase you, drain your blood and soul, eat a sword for food, a door that"s as risky as going in h.e.l.l"s gate to a sword that randomly stabs your back…
And there are still more suspicious things in this room. Like that bag that looks like there"s something moving in it, that pile of books that has a burnt smell and there"s even something that looks like a boat"s wheel on the wall which he"s really sure that it wasn"t there yesterday.
"…Might as well come to check on those things another day…"