Transient Estate

"I've found a few of them again. But I don't feel anything special from them again." She gave them to her. "Here, you can have them!" she said with a smile. She then continued her search. Her intuitions told her that the good one was close, but... What if that voice appears again? She shivered a bit at the thought...

Testing each marble, Drehen realizes that none of these work, either. Honestly, how many marbles are in this stupid place? she thought to herself. Suddenly, she noticed Ysera shiver a little beside her.

"Ysera...are you okay? Is it that ghost?" she asks.

"Yeah... I'm afraid I might meet him again very soon. I'm... Honestly a bit scared. Silly, eh?" she laughed a bit. Deep inside, she was terrified. What would it do? What if it did anything to harm Drehen? She looked away.

"I'll go... Look for more of them. I'll get back with you if I find anything, alright?" She managed a smile and she waved at her. "Good bye 'till then!"

She left for the next one. It was all normal... She was able to get a few of them. Grabbing a new doorknob, she felt a chilll. She knew it... That was where she was going to meet it again. Still, she opened the door. The room was cold.

She walked towards the signal of the marble, trying to avoid any appearances. She reached her hand for it... And everything faded to black. She was standing in total darkness. The voice echoed again. "Welcome..." it said simply. Soon, she could hear the sound of chains. A view slowly appeared before her. She was in a damp, creepy and dark room. The place was made of dark bricks. there was no door. Bloodstains everywhere, even on the ceillings. The chain sounds came from sadistic looking torture machines...

"...to the depths of my mind, Ysera."

She turned towards the voice. It was from a person sitting on top of what seemed to be an iron maid. He was short with long hair, and wore a butler's attire with a tophat... And he had dog ears and tail.

"You... You're the ghost!" shouted Ysera.
"Ghost...?"
"Yeah! You're that creepy voice who laughed at me earlier!"
"Laughed? You're the one who lauged. You looked a bit crazy."
"W-wha-?!"

He jumped down in front of her and bowed politely, removing his hat.

"You may call me Inu. It is a pleasure to meet you." He stood back up and but his hat back on. "This is what you're looking for, right?" he said, showing the marble he was holding.

"Y-yes! Please give it to me!" Ysera said putting both her hands, almost pleading.
"Not so fast." replied Inu, hiding it again. "To gain something... You must make a sacrifice. That's how life works."
"... What do you want?"
"I want... That thing."
"What thing?!"
"Keep this stone on you at all times, Ysera. It'll be dangerous if you don't!" said Inu, immitating someone. Ysera's eyes opened wide. She shook her head no. Inu stared at her. "Oh... You don't to trade? Then forget this marble ever exis-"
"No! I'll do it!"
He smiled lightly, holding out a hand. Ysera reluctantly put a black stone in his hand. He then gave her the precious marble.
"You're a good person, Ysera. You'll live long... And peacefully. Enjoy your friendship."

Suddenly, she woke up. She was on the ground of the room she entered. The temperature was normal now. She was holding the marble... And her stone had disappeared for real. Was she really transported into someone else's mind? Still, she got out and ran back towards Drehen, screaming her name to catch her attention.

Drehen turned quickly to Ysera, who was running towards her.
"Ysera, what's wrong?"
Ysera explained what had just occured.
"You gave something like that up...for me...?" Drehen said, taking the marble from Ysera. "That's..."

Your fault, Drehen. Just like twenty years ago, it's your fault.

What?

The "Child of Calamity"..."Messenger of the Apocalypse"...how many died at your hands? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?

What are you...

You cannot atone...You cannot be...

You're wrong.

What?

I remember now. It wasn't my fault. Those titles were merely bad press. The truth of the matter was...

Snapping out of it, Drehen came to her senses. She must have chanted it unaware. She remembered. She remembered all of it.

"Ysera! We have to get your stone back!" Drehen shouted, erasing the last of the haze from her mind. She had to do this. I'm not a monster...and I'll prove it to all of you!

"Huh? It's okay... You don't have to worry about it!" she said, petting her head.

Besides... That boy who took it... How could we find him, let alone take it back from him? She thought, looking away a bit.

"No, oneechan, I've gotta worry about it," Drehen said, her mood shifting suddenly. "I can't...I can't...That woman! We have to find her again! She'll know where he is!" Drehen shouted, becoming determined once more as she lightly pulled Ysera down the hallway.

She followed while being pulled. "Y-you mean the woman who took your body? And why is my stone so important to you?" she asked. She was at a loss.

"You're my oneechan...I won't...What's important to oneechan is important to me!" Drehen said, continuing her forced drag. The hall began to look more and more like a warzone...
"Hey, crazy woman! Stop firing and tell me where we can find that dog-person!" Drehen shouted.
"Now, what makes you think I'd know that?" the mysterious woman said, stopping her rampage.
"You're me, right? But you're not the 'me' of right now...You're from the future, aren't you?"
Suddenly, the woman bursts out with laughter.
"Hahaha! Well, I guess that means it works, then. That theory about looped causality is right, after all. So, you wanna know where the dog is?"
"Yes."
"Well, go look for it then, kid. Sorry, but I've got my hands full here. You'll understand when you reach this point yourself. See ya!" the future Drehen says, disappearing with but one trace: a note.

But, seriously, Ysera will figure it out sooner or later. Just protect her until then, yeah?

I...really don't wanna be that person.

"That person is you from the future? ... I hope you don't really turn out like that. She's a bad kid." Ysera said, still surprised by what she saw.

That dog boy... How can we find him anyway, if he just appears and disappears? It doesn't make sense...

Showing the two ladies around the house she notices that the someone had rung the bell and just assumed Optoer would get it.
"Alot of new guests all of a sudden,rather odd"

Sevhian wakes up, and looks around for a bit, before noticing the open window. Peering out he ate a piece of pineapple before stepping through, and into the open air of outside. He promptly lands on the beartrap, and it closes, with a loud and sickening sound as it pierced his skin, swinging shut.

Sevhian looked down at it for a moment before looking up at Optoer. "Oh dear, that hurt more than I expected." His expression becomes slowly more pained looking. Before he starts making an elongated exclaimation of "Ow".

Optoer turned his head 180 degrees backward and noticed his master was trapped in the bear trap he had layed for the maid earlier. "MASTER!!" He yelled as he ran towards him to help him out. He tried the pry the trap open with he hands and got it off quite a bit but needed some help. "You know I bet that maid did this." He said, which was a dirty lie. He took a crowbar out of his back pocket and started to pry it open with that.

*you should not try to free the master with that* Said tumbleweed to optoer while poping up from the ground. *you could lose your grip and let it...* As he was saying that, optoer was startle by his sudden apearance, letting go of the bear trap wich snapped close on sevhian leg... again... *Ouch that had to hurt... Here use me instead.* optoer replied * But your about as consistent as a sneeze* Tumbleweed then said * I'll just produce this* Concentrating for a while, Weed produced an amazingly sharp vibro-saw out of thin air. *ouf... im tired now... you can cut the trap with that...*

Dark Aiden remained with Optoer, watching them try to free Sevhian's leg, gleefully watching the trap snap shut again.

"This is fun, I like this game!"

-------------------------------------------------------

"Do you usually get a lot of guests?" Aiden asks Spade.

A moment later Light Aiden appears and looks between Aiden, Spade and Diz.

"This place is nice." She says and wanders off on her own.

*hello there miss, You seem to find this funny... I actually envy him. I can no longer feel pain or the touch of a beautiful women* He said as he passed his immaterial hand trough her hair.

"Ok master that should do it." He said as he finally took off the bear trap.

the dark animus harmlessly passed trough tumbleweed body. *Sadly my condition is beyound magic and technology even space and time. Ive tried a lot of thing to remedy to that situation. I can't even kill myself so your troubled expresion is enough for me.*
He said as he passed his hand toward her chin.

Hours later, Drehen and Ysera still hadn't found the mysterious dog-boy. "Honestly, what is my future self thinking?" Drehen groaned. I can't let my oneechan down. Not again. Not...

Wait, again? What other...nngh...oneechanoneechanletherdownbetrayedherdidnottrustherdidnotlistentohercouldnotstopit
explosioncomalifesupportwherewhereisshegonegonegonegone

Shaking her head, Drehen came to her senses once more. Was there still something she wasn't remembering?

"Oneechan...please, stay close. If something bad pops up...I'll protect you. Okay?"

*no matter how hard you try, Your energy cannot affect me, nors the energy of god nor the one of the Forgotten ones have affected me* Said elsias as he pasionatly kissed dark aiden. of course this did not do anything to him but left a tingling sensation of dark aiden lips.

"I'll help... Maybe." Sevhian cut in, as he smacked Dark Aiden in the back of the head with his celestial hand for laughing at his hilarious predicament.

"Oh, what's this? A smack-around party? ..Wait, that makes no sense," (future) Drehen said, appearing suddenly.

Everyone stares briefly at the newcomer.

"...Oh, right. No one knows who I am. Ah well~ I'm...Regen. Nice to meet ya all!" she says, filled with exuberance.

Ysera looked at Drehen, surprised. "Hey, I don't need protecting! I'm strong too, you know?" she said, confident. "Guh..."

Why am I hanging out with a human...? Kill her! Kill her! Killherkillherkillherkillherkillher NO!!! I won't kill my little sister!

She knew the consequences of giving up the stone... She was resigned to fight her own mind.