
Group OneAvian closed the door behind them and pressed his ear against the wood. He couldnât hear any of the low rumbling noises that were present earlier at their first encounter with the Midnight Man, so the lot of them seemed safe for the time being. He turned around, a sigh of relief escaping from his lips, and surveyed the surroundings.
A childâs playroom? How odd, not to mention creepy. He strode over to the window as the humans began to talk amongst themselves and rapped a fist against the dusty glass. It was just an ordinary window but was useless since you canât look through it to the outside thanks to the murky make. Avian left it alone and rifled through a large wooden chest instead, carefully but efficiently placing all of the contents on the floor one by one. The Lost Souls were talking to each other and the soldier wasnât called so he just continued on with his work, but the sword wasnât in the chest and he had to return everything he took out back inside the container. It was easy since all there was to scoop up from the floor was a bunch of broken dolls and bears with tangled limbsâŠ
The room froze over and the dragoon scrambled to his feet, skirting over to where Harper was. The boy was glancing at the mirror, asking if Avian saw
that too, and before the man could reply he saw that the boyâs reflection grinned, contrary to the alarmed expression that was on the real personâs face. He acted out of instinct and pulled Harper away as the mirror flew into pieces, but the boy slid somewhere else when glass all around began breaking and darkness enveloped the room.
"Avian? Is this you? Oh God, Avian...what do we do, is there some special protocol for times like this?"âIâm right here,â Avian called out to the panicked voice and he strained his eyes to get accustomed to the lack of light. âFirst of all, donât panic, okay?
Everyone, get to the door, quickly. Lesley, Leon, youâre together, right? Jasper? Harper? Whoâs nearest to the exit? Use your hands to feel for the knob- itâs oddly shaped, with triangular edges the feel a bit prickly. Donât rush. More haste, less speed,â The dragoon gritted his teeth after spitting out those firm orders before a lighting flash lit up the entire room for a brief moment. That interlude was enough for Avian to see the shadowy figure which was in the very center of the room, right where he was about to walk into, before the light vanished and something came crashing down. Before that period ended, though, he was able to detach the salt packet from his belt and launch it at Lesley and Leon. It bounced off the young manâs forehead and he scrambled to pick it up before thrusting it at Lesley.
"Let go of him you demon! I have your sword!" The sound of honed metal cutting through the air came from nearby and Avian quickly walked towards the dimly glowing amulet. However, the Midnight Man wasnât too keen on having his game end too soon; with an ear deafening roar tendrils shot out everywhere, randomly assailing every solid surface each of it could land on. The sword, in particular, was the target and innumerable tentacles reached out at Jasperâs arm. âThrow it at me!â A spark burst out of nowhere and a flame flickered into existence before the candle itself was crushed by a box the Midnight Man threw over. Just as the albino reared her arm to chuck the sword over where Avian was, a tendril slapped her on the wrist and she accidentally let go, the sword making an arc as it flew through the air and-
Hit a certain suspended Lost Soul in the face. âOw! Oh hey, got it!â Harper panted out. âHere Avian, take it!â The boy flailed at the tendrils that were aiming for his hands and threw hard, and the weapon successfully landed in the dragoonâs hands.
âEveryone duck!â The sword landed blade first at Avianâs hand and he realized that the metal was dull, practically useless at fending off the tentacles, which were all now hissing closer and closer to him. He wouldnât be able to use this to cut anything, but maybe⊠Avian tested the weight and balance of the sword by quickly executing a circle parry, before bringing his arm back and throwing the sword at the Midnight Man like it was a dart.

Group TwoThe door gave way and the two of them fell down on the hallway. âThank-,â Songbird choked when Riley yanked him up by the scarf, which constricted his airway and reduced him to a sniveling mess in a moment. Were those snakes he could hear? Brandy helped him up and they lighted some candles, handing these out to the Lost Souls while Ace brandished her fiery sword. âThat works too,â The white-haired nobody muttered as he tugged on the bunnyâs hand and followed after Ace. "Nobody panic! This place is weird enough without anyone screaming or wailing, geez," He added with a tense laugh.
The door that the redhead approached wouldn't open and Songbird got annoyed. "Oh come on, do I have to bump against it again? My shoulder kinda hurts," He murmured before something caught his eye.
The corridor was lined by windows separated at an equal space, where faint light pored in and formed luminous blocks on the carpeted floor. On both sides of the hallway they were in, these squares of light were slowly being consumed by a thick, viscous black...
"Oh snap. Brandy, help me with this, will ya? Hey Ace, go check on Riley!" The item hunter cried out before he and the black bunny rammed against the door, trying to force it to open as the darkness swirled upwards to form the silhouette of a keeling man.
There was nowhere else to run.