3-13 Endless Staircase

Keywords: Reminiscing, Rich, Drifting, Aerobic, Reprising
Materials: Gold, Silver, Metal, Chicken, Phoron, Fabric, Pumice, Airbulbs, Jewels, Copper, Water, Mana, Star Anise, Crystal, Faze Prant, #Feathers, Gradius, Floatwood, Blue Herbs, (Fish), Green Seeds
Stamina Usage +50%

As you step through the portal, you are immediately greeted with a small corridor, a set of stairs the only thing visible. The lighting from above provides little more than a small spotlight directly below, the darkness all around seemingly consuming all other sources. As you proceed down the stairs, the lights fade and reappear almost endlessly, the bottom of the stairs no where to be found, at least, not for a while. Every so often, the stairs open up to a small areas, each holding some sort of material. A gentle whisper of wind can be heard when descending the stairs from an unknown source, though it occasionally seems to get slightly louder and almost aggressive, though none of the words can be made out before it quiets itself again.

Illium takes a step into the area, the darkness of the staircase immediately surrounding him as he begins to descend the stairs. Each light flickers ominously almost, the light proving almost worthless as the darkness even shrouds it slightly.

"What the hell..? Guys, where are... we... Guys..?"

He turns for a moment, not seeing any of the others as he continues to go down the corridor. The whispering grows slightly, each step bringing it forward a notch, each step echoing gently down the hallway. The whispering finally comes into a volume in which can be understood, the words forming a phrase that brings Illium to his knees, clutching his head tightly as the single phrase resonates through his ears and mind, the words the only thing he can hear from within the ghastly hallway.

"You... Killed... Her... You... Killed... Her..."

He sits there frozen, dying from the inside, shaking his head and gritting his teeth as the phrase grows into a louder, more frenzied cry of desperation. The words almost sounding as if the source was starting to yell into his mind. He clutches his ears and pulls at them, letting out a disgruntled groan of anger and pain as the words of madness continue to be droned into his head, each time driving another nail forward into his into the coffin inside of which, held his sanity.

"YoUKiLleDhERYOukIllEDheRyOUkIlLEdHeR!"

Tears begin to form at his eyes as he continues to crumple up, still gripping his ears and groaning with every repeat of the phrase. The speech seems to now be nothing more than a maddened screaming of what one would assume to be the three words. He lets out a sob full of pain and sadness, his limit finally broken. Soon after, he begins screaming at the top of his lungs, his hands flailing mindlessly as he seeks some form of release from the maddening chanting, the thing that finally tears him apart.

"SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!"

If only he knew, the words were in his head, and a lonely dagger dangled above him, blood dripping down onto his back.

Once she steps into the area, she takes a look around to see what is going on, though the sight of the area proves a little frightening...her vision in the dark isn't quite good, so it's a bit disorienting at first.

"The hell...? This is kinda like the cellar Shira made, but... it's so dark and there's nothing but stairs here..."

She was wondering what kind of stuff you'd even gather in a staircase, not quite aware of what the location really was. She flinches a moment, startled by the screaming coming from lower down and she let's out an audibly surprised noise.

"GAH! Wh-what the--?! "

For a moment, she was scared that the scream was coming from a monster. This gave her a bit of paranoia, reminding her of the one time she played that one SCP game where you descend stairs to impending doom...yeah, not a pretty thought.
Then she heard more of it, realizing quickly, it was Illium's voice.

"Oh shit...I-Illium...? " She rushes down the stairs, scared if something is tearing him apart down there -- honestly scared for her own life as well.

Komali entered the area with her gathering list. Typically she liked to follow Illium closely, even holding onto his tail as they went through the portal but she had been distracted this time and had let him go on ahead before she followed. Even Reiko had gone on ahead which seemed a little odd to her. Komali wasn't used to this team but she figured as long as Illium was around she was cool with it. 

The cool air and dim light instantly puffed out her fur and doubled her tail size as she started to put the pieces together. Freaky darkness, heavy atmosphere, the dark panic that settles in your stomach, and worst of all: Illium made this area. 

Her eyes widened at the realization when she heard his voice echoing through the staircase, bouncing off the walls and multiplying his fear in her ears. The list meant nothing now and Komali raced past Reiko, almost falling down the steps as she frantically looked for Illium, with her ears flat against her head. 

Every feline instinct was yelling at her to turn back but she crushed that tugging, nothing mattered excepting finding him now regardless of whatever dangers lurked in the shadows. 

"Illium! Hold on! I'm coming!"

Travis steps through the portal, a bit surprised at the sudden darkness and carefully stepping forward to see the downward staircase. Hearing the footsteps of the party ahead of him and soon stepping downward into the maddening staircase with his tail wrapped closely around him. Trying his best to quickly speed up his descent as he could catch the last bits of shouting.

"Guys wait up!!! Is Illium ok!?"

The whole time he keeps his hand slightly charged with a faint green glow, ready to use his summoned plants to brace his fall or lash out at the unnerving surroundings, soon starting to jump down a couple of steps rhythmically now in hopes of catching up to the group.

"Jeez i'd hate to meet the upset that roam this place..."

Illium's screaming continues, tears running down his face as he now lays on his side, crumpled and defeated. The dagger above him continues to float, although no longer above him as the blood drips on the ground. The voice continues it's mental barrage into his mind, though seeming to grow slightly softer as another figure walks closer from the shadows. The figure is completely covered by the cloak it is wearing, no trace of real identification other than the slight shine from it's teeth as it grins, watching Illium suffer. It eventually walks over, the voice coming from it smooth yet heavy and powerful, and kneels down to speak to Illium.

"Does it hurt? Does it tear you apart?"

The figures grin widens, obviously male from the voice, his words also seeming to gain a bit of enthusiasm and pleasure as Illium lays there, still screaming though obviously weakened by his degenerating mind.

"Can you feel the pain of the words dripping into your mind?! Oh please tell me you do, because then the fun really begins~! You should know, after all. I did teach you."

He pulls off his hood to reveal a wolf like face, a long scar down his muzzle. His fur keeps a dark grey, while his eyes are almost black in the lighting.

She almost tripped over Illium when she rounded the corner but she dug her paws in, cutting her bare pads against the rough floor as she skidded to a stop beside him in a crouch, only a few feet away from the unknown figure. Komali stares at the canine for a brief moment before she notices Illium and instantly goes into vengeful hunter mode. 

"Get the fuck away from him!" she hisses, drawing her bow and firing at the figure, only getting one shot off before tossing her bow aside, determined to shred this monster with her own paws.

She finally catches up to Komali, guns drawn, scared to see if an upset ambushed him in this place. She looks at the figure -- a wolf here as well? But who was he? She didn't know anyone in town who resembled him, but she knew he wasn't good all considering Illium's condition.

"Careful, Komali..."

She looked up at him, glaring with intent to be given an explanation. She wasn't sure if he was some knew person from the town that she never met, but her thought was that Illium was injured, so she handed Komali a potion in case that was the case.

"Who are you? What did you do to him?!"

Travis hears the screaming and tries to pick up his pace while almost falling down the stairs a couple of times from nearly losing his balance. His heart racing as he starts to hear the screams just ahead of him as they get louder.

"Komali! Illium! What is going on down there!?"

He stops as he also sees the figure briefly, trying to growl a bit while restraining himself from hitting Komali with the summoned fly traps by accident while using his free hands to draw one of his guns.

"Ok, judging by this scene YOU have about five seconds to get the hell away from Illium and i'm pretty sure thats a promise we're willing to keep."

The figure turns and grabs the arrow shot at him, snapping it in his grip as he stands and turns to the three. His grin widens while Illium seems to calm down a little bit, no long screaming but more or less sobbing as the man walks forward in the groups direction.

"Oh, so what's this? A red bitch, a rather rude cat, and a trigger happy raccoon? How delightful~!

He turns back to Illium, grabbing him by his hair and lifting him up, bringing his face close to Illiums.

"Now they get to see you weak and broken, just like your Mother when I ended her useless life, though it really was your fault she died, wasn't it?"

Illium suddenly jerks up, seemingly in pain as he begins screaming once more, the voice that was once a whisper now a frightening and almost deadly scream within the walls as it echos all around.

"YOUKILLEDHERYOUKILLEDHERYOUKILLEDHERYOUKILLEDHER!"

Komali's eyes widened with fear and she snarled, "I'm going to fucking tear you apart!" 

Her voice was a little more shaky now as she considered the voices. She knew that someone important from Illium's life had been killed but this was the first she had heard of his mother. It made her stop in her tracks, about 5 feet away from Illium and whomever this beast was.

"Drop him!" she pleaded, her claws unsheathed.

Her ears twitched as she heard the voice repeating the same things over in a violent manner -- she was definitely scared, but she had finally come to the full realization of what was happening upon the mentioning of his mother. She knew she wouldn't be able to help Illium out of his pain from where he was at, especially with Komali being right ahead and ready to hop in and stop him. But questions rang through her mind, she figured the best way to go over it would to be to understand the issue at hand, no matter how grim the result might be"

"His mother...? What do you mean? How the hell is it his fault you killed her?! Illium!"

Travis panics from the sudden echoing of the voice, feeling a bit haunted as well while nervously twitching, the twitch causing him to lose his trigger discipline as he fires his gun and clearly misses anything of value that could be hurt. Quickly refocusing on the canine and readying [Magnum].

"I've had enough lies and deceit to last several lifetimes already. Now stop this noise and tell us who the hell you are!!! Why are you tormenting him like this!?

The wolf drops Illium back to the ground, pushing him away with his foot as the voice suddenly stops. He looks over the three again and just chuckles, staring at Komali.

"As you wish~"

He takes a few more steps toward the group, a grin still plastered to his face as he pulls out a ring almost exactly the same as Illium's. He looks to Reiko and points to her.

"Let's start with your question, because I'm sure he never told any of you. In our little organization, you aren't allowed to have kids, or family for that matter. So~ When this little shit came about into Amy's life... Well, lets just say we didn't exactly agree with that. As you can guess, she died trying to protect him, and we can see where that went. Now, as for who I am? Well... I'm his recruiter. I knew he got away, I just never realized until he had been in our organization several years that he had been under our noses the entire time. We don't take too kindly to people who have broken our laws. I must say though, he was great at his job. His first assassination was beautiful~! The slaves rejoiced, even over their friend's dead bodies in which Illium had sacrificed."

The knife lowers itself the now twitching Illium. A gentle though potent voice can be heard through the walls, almost as if from coming from outside of them. The voice soon is joined by a number of voices, all ranging from small children to older teenagers, the loudest being his own, though he himself still lays crumpled behind the wolf.

"Illium has murdered sleep~ Illium has murdered sleep~"

Komali lurched forward and to the side, trying to get past the wolf to Illium in the narrow hallway. 

She was listening to the wolf as she moved stiffly towards Illium with the potion that Reiko had pushed into her hand.

He...did what? Sacrifices...?

She seemed a bit pained, thinking about what Illium must've done to be considered "sacrificing" them...Was it really bad...? She didn't know enough of the story to be able to object. She knew, as leader, that sometimes sacrifices are necessary. After all, isn't that the whole point of her being here? She willingly put herself in danger knowing that the end result would likely be her death -- but she saved who she could.

Wouldn't that be the same case with his mother? No... it's still not an excuse. It's twisted, but the rules were set forth, but he had no control over something written into his own destiny.

"So what? He's good at killing people but you wanted to tear him away from what little he had? I can get over what twisted business you run -- maybe I don't agree with you guys killing whoever the fuck you want, but you can't blame people for things out of their control! Illium didn't choose to be born, so why is he guilty of it--?! A mother's protection -- the will to sacrifice for the greater good ... What exactly did he do that made the slaves cheer? Did he free them? If then, you understand the means to the end -- it doesn't mean people died in vain. They did everything they and to discount it as such is heartless. Maybe in the end Illium did die, but he's been given something -- he's been given a lingering sentiment and some hint of reason to still be here. That's why he's here enjoying his wife and his life.

Illium... you don't think any of that was in vain, do you? Do you?! "

She growled, getting agitated the more ridiculous she found this claim...

"Maybe I don't know everything about him, but what choice did he have? It sucks... it really does. There are things even the gods have no control of in the worlds we know of. But the end result is you take what you're given while you play Russian roulette, and you point the gun at the motherfucker hosting the game until the round fires. Your organization can go fuck itself if you think it's so bad to not be given that kind of control over fate! "

The wolf just laughs as Reiko finishes her statement, almost doubling over as it laughs and clutches its sides as if laughing too hard. The voice that had once barreled around the corridor joins in, a multitude of different laughs can be heard in a cacophony of laughter. He soon calms himself, the voices still laughing alone as he looks back at Reiko.

"Oh dear, of course he freed them. He killed their, his, master~ But those slaves didn't agree to die, they didn't even know it was going on! Who's to say he won't pull that on you guys? Who's to say that pretty little knife he carries around wont end up in your back? What's stopping him from killing every single one of yo-

The wolf stops and turns to Illium as stirs a little more, getting up slowly before taking hold of the knife floating just in front of him, the knife itself forming back into his own.

" No... They weren't in vain... They may not have known, but damn well they would have died, even if not for my selfish actions... And you know what... Fuck you... Fuck you and your shitty ass organization..."

He brings himself to stand, tears still marked on his cheeks as he grips the knife tightly while looking. His whole body shakes now as he takes a step forward, his leg giving a little before he straightens himself out. The wolf begins laughing again, the voices joining with him, although noticeably quieter.

"I'm not part of that anymore. That's not who I am and if you have a problem with it..."

He looks up at the wolf slowly, almost threateningly as he points the knife at the wolf. He then lunges forward and stabs the knife into the wolf's side, a slight trickle of black smoke escaping from the wound as he then tears the knife down to let the smoke escape more freely.

"Then get the fuck out of here."

Komali stepped forward a little, reaching for Illium with extreme concern but, remembering her own struggle, she waits and lets him do what he needs to, trying to lend her own quiet support from a few steps up.

"That's right Illium. You're in this with us -- you're no longer part of no bullshit organization or something that denies you rights to be who you are. You've got something better than anything that could've been given to you under shitty 'laws' that don't even grant you the right of existence. But you're here with us now and you're very real."

She closes her eyes.

"Tear him apart. He's got nothing on you. He could try all he wants, but the end result is you're in a better place and a better person than you might've ever thought. Right, Komali? You should know first and foremost."

She puts her paw to her chest, content with being able to reason out what she could.

"You'll... Regret this~!"
The wolf closes his eyes and lets out a final laugh as Illium finishes the job, slicing into the wolf in an flurry of x shaped forms before watching it explode into smoke, the lights growing a little bit as the voice returns to the gentle whisper of nothingness.

"The only thing I'll regret is the day I hear the Executor's Symphony..."

He stares at where the wolf once was, putting his knife away silently. He then turns to Komali and hugs her tightly, looking more like his normal self, though still a little pained.

"I'd love to say thank you and all, but let's get out of here... I don't want to come back here for a while."

Komali holds him tightly and nods, encouraging him to lean heavily on her for support that she happily takes. 
"Yes, let's leave, I don't like this place at all."
She takes his hand and slowly starts working back towards the portal.

She nods and follows them out, still wishing she knew more about Illium, but she was content with her aid in the matter.

Komali steps through and is instantly uncomfortable but there are things here they need...

He steps in and looks down at the staircase...

"This is...quite ominous..."

She hops in, squinting from the darkness. "It's super dark in here.."

He rolls in behind them "dont worry~ Darkness is my element~" He said, cartwheeling to the side and disappearing on them

Komali rolls her eyes and anxiously looks around for some Mana, eventually finding some and gathering 29 Mana.

The member 'Komali' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Encounter-Sense' : 3

She looks around for him, but cannot find him and decides to start gathering. 

(She gathers 16 Gold!)

The member 'Bey Noveri' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Encounter' : 2

He opens one of the doors and takes out his HIGH CAPACITY FONT BUCKET (tm) and then gathers Mana with his many tiers of buckets!

"This is...advanced!"

The member 'Minh Fan' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Encounter-Sense' :

He sighs, not in the mood for fighting and tosses a smokebomb.

He takes out a pickaxe and mines up 31 Crystal for the group

The member 'Treelite Hotaru' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Encounter-Sense' : 6

Komali hopped through and waited for the others.

Sirocco flips in and gives a smile...

"Hmph... Let's do this..."

Shizue jumps in on her face and lands on the hard ground...

"Oof..."

He would enter into the area, once again floating. Which was a good thing he did, as given it was merely a large staircase, he didn't need to worry about falling. Of course, upon seeing a specific person he hasn't in a while, the first thing he did was float over towards her and rub her head

"Ah.... AH!!! Komali!! "

As, he was still, affected by the time of her vanishing from memory.. and suddenly inclinded to do this before gather anything.

Komali happily noms on a sandwich, ignoring the others for the most part as she looks for Crystal using [Harvest] to gather 78 Crystal.

The member 'Komali' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Encounter-Sense' : 3

Shizue attempts to get a diamond...

"Just one... I can do it!"

The member 'Shizue Aihara' has done the following action : Roll Die

'Metallurgy Diamonds' : 1