—???
"Hello. Gabriel." I said with a smile
"…" Those words instantly silenced it.
"How do you know that name?"
…
"Does it really matter?"
"It does."
"Former human Gabriel, born in Germany, you worked countless part time jobs, one of which where you were an employee of a small bakery where the owner was always depressed. You vowed to never drink or get yourself drunk and find a good job in the future."
"…"
"Your family spoiled your brother too much. You hated him, in the end you finally went to china, specifically Hangzhou taking a business major and—"
"alright what do you want."
"Nothing much really."
"…I can grant your wish for free."
"Nice try. I know what happens. I tried, died before hand after all."
"…?"
"Exactly what I said."
"…" 'Gabriel' went silent then out of no where. He started laughing.
"AHAHAHAHAHA—You remind me of a someone. He was a self sabotaging person. Loved Biology, a bit weird. and had no social awareness."
"Is that so?"
"Well. Surely after saying all that you must have a wish do you not?"
"Even if I told you my wish, you'd never be able to grant it"
"Hoh~? that's interesting…"
"Tell me, Gabriel. Do you know what is Conclusion?"
"Of course, Conclusion is the end, a summary of an essay, the end of a story, the question however should be why are you asking me this when—"
BZZZZZYTZUDSOIAQ
"Well looks like times up, 'It' should be coming soon, see you, Magic Wishing Lamp Gabriel" I said confidently as I put my hat back on and walked away out of the containment zone.
Step Step Step
"Hey? Hey?? At least tell me your name mysterious guy"
Stops
"You can call me, Mr. G"
—Cael Lucian
Run.
That was the only thing l could think off
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
The corridors blurred together.
White. Grey. White again. Every few seconds the lights flickered, and every time they did—
BZZZZZZZZT
My vision warped.
No...
Not again.
"Keep running..."
Don't look back.
Don't acknowledge it.
Don't—
SCREEEEEEEEEECH
The static screamed directly beside my ear.
Flinch
Instinctively I turned my head—Nothing.
...
No, there was something, far down the corridor past what should've been pass my normal vision. There was a black silhouette. Standing perfectly still—Watching. Learning. Waiting
Don't fear him.
Right—Don't fear him. Easy for you to say. when your body was screaming at you, every instincts telling you to scream, every hair standing up as you
I forced my legs forward.
Left.
Right.
Left.
The corridor suddenly twisted.
"...What?"
That wasn't there before…
An old steel door rust covering its hinges and across the center
A faded yellow sign.
Containment Testing Wing
...
Unconsciously I frowned, was this always here?
"...System?"
No response.
Of course.
"...Great."
Another hallucination?
Or...
Something else?
SCREEEEEEEECH
Fuck.
"MOVE DAMN IT"
Push
My body moved before I even commanded it, survival instincts pouring out of my body as I forced myself to push the heavy door open.
BZZZZTZTTZT
"OPENNNNNNNNNNNNNN—WOAH-"
Thud
—
The moment I opened my eyes once more, the room was quiet.
Not silent.
Quiet.
The kind of quiet laboratories had at three in the morning when even the ventilation seemed afraid to make noise. As I glanced around the place Dust floated lazily through the light . Old testing equipment. Observation glass. Metal restraints.
There was no fog, noo static. Nothing.
Step Step Step
Rustle
"Hmmm." I thought to my self as I hold what seemed to be some old reports.
"A broken camera…"
Then—A single pedestal.
On it...
A tiny golden lamp—No a kettle
covered with unknown symbols that can't be decyphered. Impossible, it can't be. I know this, that peak Dong Hua showed me, and it was something I remembered till this day.
…
Rub Rub
Fwwwshhhh
Almost instantly, as the fog erupted without mercy a single figure appeared beneath the fogs, it's face was covered in fog, a humanoid male, with a wine red suit and a head while bowing down, it looked at me and said.
"Hoh? What's wrong not the person you expecting?"
…
Right. Stay Calm. Stay Calm, the figure may be different, but the lamp is the exact same as I remember. 0-05, from the world of Lord of the Mysteries. A sealed artifact that may grant it's owner 10 wishes, but—Each wish is always twisted.
From the novel, it is said that the 1st and 2nd wish can still be done safely with proper wording, but the 3rd wish will always end with doom, of course in the second book we learn who it truly is, which I'm not saying as I don't want to get corrupted—Oh wait.
Now that I think about it, if that was the case, pretty sure a lot of people would've dropped dead the second it starts—Well doesn't matter
"Hm. Interesting you seem cautious, this is a first." it suddenly said calmly. "You're the first you know."
?
"The first one who seems to partially recognize me."
…
"Alright then that means you know the drill no? Make a wish~ what's the worst that could happen?"
"Before that can I ask you a question?"
The figure seemed to ponder for a moment, it's figure slightly obscured, then it muttered
"Alright. What's your question?"
"When I make 'this' wish will I be the 'Owner' of the lamp?"
…
"You're a pretty interesting person aren't you?"
"…"
"To think you knew." It then went silent for a while then spoke once more "No, there was another one of those… R Class whose my current owner~ I had fun tormenting it every day as it begged me to stop"
In the end after all they were still dangerous things.
"Then my wish. It'll be too—"
"Very well. It's an interesting wish."
—Jeremy
...
Something felt...
Wrong.
Not the type of uncomfortable wrong, No.
The opposite.
The silence.
It was...
Comfortable.
...
"...Huh."
Without realizing it, I glanced at the cafeteria
Amanda was checking the door.
Old Man Randy had already lit another cigarette.
Eve...
"Hm~ Hm~ Hm~" She was humming.
...
Wait.
Wasn't something chasing us just a moment ago?
...
"..."
I frowned.
That thought felt strangely distant. Like trying to remember a dream immediately after waking up. I knew something had happened. I just...
Couldn't seem to care anymore.
"...Amanda."
"What?"
"...How do you feel?"
She blinked.
"...Fine?"
"No headache?"
"No."
"Static?"
"...Static?"
She looked at me strangely.
"What static?"
...
"..."
That answer stopped me. Amanda wasn't joking. Her expression genuinely said she had no idea what I was talking about. Wait. What static was I talking about?
Tall Man
Unconsciously I opened my notebook, what I saw only made me frown.
"Old Man."
"Tsk. What is it?"
"Do you know anything about the 'Tall Man'?"
"???"
"What the hell are you blabbering about kid?"
Huh.
I flipped through the pages again, on it 4 words were written.
DO NOT FEAR IT.
…?
Fear what?
"…"
"…Weird" I thought to myself as I closed the notebook,
"whatever." For some reason, it just didn't seem important anymore.
"Weird, why is the cafeteria wrecked? and Scheisse it's dusty as hell. Where'd all this dust go?" I said to myself as I tried to fan the fog away from my face to no avail.
"Tsk. Could be a new containment procedure we weren't told of" Old Man Randy spoke, at the same time Amanda slightly trembling muttered "C-c-could we be the test subjects???"
"Nah~ We should be fine~ Oh look at that tall man in the front" Eve suddenly said, it was a tall man he looked quite long, with no face—Hmmm. It's like that Slenderman story we heard as kids
Step Step Step
"Damn what the hell? what happened to the cafeteria" Another voice could be heard coming through the cafeteria door. "What faction are you guys from?" I shouted. "Researchers" They shouted back.
"You guys seeing this tall man over here?" I asked as I pointed at the tall man, and as soon as I said those words. Nobody moved. Nobody screamed, everybody just turned their heads out of curiosity as they looked face to face to the tall man
...
BZZZZZZZZT
"Huh. Weird my ears are ringing again." Amanda suddenly muttered
...
Step
The Tall Man took another step. Its body flickering The tentacles behind it stretched—
Then...
Collapsed into black mist.
...
I narrowed his eyes.
"..."
"It looks..."
"...Pathetic, somehow this feels anti climatic I wonder why…"
...
No.
That wasn't right. Anticlimactic? Since when did I describe unknown Remnants like movie endings My eyes drifted toward the notebook again.
DO NOT FEAR IT.
...
Why would anyone write that? If it was only some random humanoid Remnant standing in the hallway... then why would I need to remind myself not to fear it?
That sentence implied something.
Something dangerous enough that fear itself mattered.
...
My fingers stopped.
Fear...
Static...
Pages...
Fog...
...
"...Wait."
BZZZZT
A dull pain spread across my temples as the thoughts scattered without me noticing. Like trying to hold water in my hands.
...
What was I thinking about?
...
Right. Nothing important.
My gaze swept across the cafeteria. Broken tables. Bullet casings. Blood, too much blood.
...
We fought...
didn't we?
...
Against...
...
Against what?
BZZZZT
Must've been the midnight games ruining me.
"but where's Cael-?" Evelyn suddenly muttered
"Huh—?"
"O-o-oh yeah, where'd he go wasn't he with us just now?" Amanda replied
"We might've been under some sort of weird Silentium experiments as test subjects not gonna lie."
"Tsk. Typical Silentium." Old Man Randy sudden;y muttered
Well surely we're gonna have another holiday right?
—A Few Hours Later…
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
—???
"The one named Cael Lucian, interesting to think he knows about the lamp without prior knowledge." Said a voice filled with static.
"indeed, perhaps it would be a good idea to demote him to an R-Class so we can see his knowledge."
"Then. Let's put an emergency training? One that would force him, no?"
"As always let's settle this with a vote"
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Agree"
"Against"
"Agree."
"By the majority of votes, the decision is clear."