Chapter 63: Room of Horror
37th Year of the Dawn Era.
July 1st.
5:30 PM.
"Hey~ Hey~ Little dummy~ I'm bored~" Rolling on my bed, the bundle of black and white cloth sprang its head of ruby-red hair upwards with boredom written all over its face.
Her job as a Sword Maid consisted of two roles.
First, she's my sword, and where I ask her to strike, she must strike.
Second, act as my bodyguard.
Third, fulfil her duty as my personal maid.
And, thus far, her favourite activities—running about, playing, and eating desserts with her friend Yulei—have been heavily restricted.
Sure, she may listen to my orders, but she's human.
And she's a kid.
And she's a girl.
I could only restrict her so much before she'd blow up.
Fortunately, or, perhaps, unfortunately, the time for my meeting with the Maiden was promptly coming up.
Once that happens...
Hilda's boredom will disappear.
I was in the midst of sorting out the Flamm's documents, which I had inadvertently scattered in a quite messy manner. It was taking a prolonged period to sort them in chronological order.
Normally, a job like this would fall into the hands of a maid, but my maid...
Nevermind.
If I gave her this job, half the documents would somehow end up missing.
Anyways, the job was almost complete.
Patting the stacked documents into an orderly fashion, I placed them down neatly and leaned back on the chair.
Massaging my aching forearms, I quietly circulated a fresh wave of Curses into the location. The pain rapidly amplified as I flooded the area with Curses, but the dull ache ceased once my bones were put back in place.
Alas, now the pain came from the overflowing Curses and not from the broken bones.
As I've said before,
It's a spiral of despair.
I fix one thing, but then it causes another issue.
I then fix the new issue, which leads to another issue.
...And this loop is endless.
"..."
A loop.
That reminds me.
I'm about to re-enter that loop.
The rightful punishment loop.
I inadvertently smiled.
How many years was it again? The number of years that were needed to prepare myself for my first Descent?
For Esme's sake?
For her?
One?
Two?
Three?
Four?
No.
It was five years.
And.
Once again.
It will come.
I glanced at the clock.
[5:58 PM]
I've done a lot of bad things recently.
I lied a lot and I broke a lot of things.
So, surely, the upcoming punishmentwill be severe?
[5:59 PM]
It's coming.
The Maiden is coming.
That vile woman is coming.
But it's fine.
She won't administer true punishment.
Only my mother would.
And I would never accept true punishment from the Maiden, not from her.
Then.
I glanced at the clock.
[6:00 PM]
The world turned mute.
Hilda's incessant cries of boredom.
The light of the aurora.
The gentle breeze that was coming in through the open window.
All of it ceased.
The world turned dark.
Click.
A creaking door echoed from behind, then came the-
Step.
The Maiden had entered.
"Greetings, Lady Alora." Her voice hissed in my ears, echoing quietly whilst my mind lay dazed.
I took a sharp breath and swivelled my head towards her voice.
There, she stood.
The Maiden, and, as usual, she was adorned in her black and white antique maid's outfit. Her dark-blonde hair was tied in a ponytail as she stared down at me with murky, dark eyes.
Faint wrinkles lined her face, signs of her gradually growing age.
"...Greetings."
Thud!
A loud bang echoed from the bed. Thrashing and stumbling over her feet, Hilda quickly put herself together and dusted her clothes as she stood at attention.
Awkwardly clearing her throat, she cut eye contact with me.
Classic Hilda.
"Sword Maid, take your leave." The Maiden's authoritative voice crackled like a thunderclap into Hilda's eardrums.
"Y, yes!"
Even though Hilda had verbally agreed, her eyes still moved over to mine again to confirm whether she should leave.
She's learnt well.
Nonetheless, I nodded.
There was no reason to torment Hilda with this creature's Descent into further perfection.
Moments later, Hilda pitter-pattered her way out of the room and-
Boom!
-she slammed the door behind her by accident, almost breaking the doorframe.
Classic Hilda.
"Now that the nuisance has exited the premises, I shall pass this on to you. Her Excellency, the Mistress, has instructed that it be opened chronologically with each passing day."
In her palm resided a rolled-up paper, a scroll. The Maiden held it out to me, awaiting me to receive it.
"Understood." I answered her mechanically as I picked up the paper.
Then, the Maiden bowed towards me, turned, and promptly exited the room.
Now it was just me and the scroll.
Why did my mother not hand it to me in person?
Why instruct the Maiden?
With these curious questions in mind, I held the scroll with both hands and dug my fingers into the sealed portion-
Rip.
-and unfolded it.
The moment I started unfolding the scroll, a pressure exuded from within the paper, forcing me to cease my actions.
I could not open it further than this.
But, it was enough, because I could read the first line of words imparted to me on the scroll.
It read:
[My sweet, sweet, Alora; you've been a bad girl. And you know what bad girls deserve, right?]
"Punishment."
I responded.
[Indeed, it is punishment.]
The words on the scroll had predicted my response.
[So, go, my sweetie. Go through the doors. Unless you would like Esme to take your place?]
The words ended there.
Nothing more, nothing less; merely a set of instructions.
Instructions that must be followed regardless of the circumstances.
"So be it."
Picking up the crutches, I re-rolled the scroll and stuffed it into my pants' pocket, then clacked my way to the bedroom doors.
Staring at the door handles-
It's been a while.
-that thought flashed through my mind, and I twisted the door open.
"..."
As expected, I was back.
A corridor that was lined with sets of repeating white paintings, vases, and skylights.
I was back here.
Doors repeated endlessly to my left and right, unlocked doors. After having been here hundreds of times, I can concretely assert the fact that none of the doors are locked.
I've tried most of them already, after all.
And the truth is:
None of them lead to a set, pre-determined location.
Any door could lead to any location, and the location is determined entirely by mother's whims. Were she to want me in the gardens, I'd be in the gardens. Were she to want me in her presence, I'd be in her presence.
...Meaning I had to choose a door.
This is part of my punishment.
I must choose a door that will lead to one of many punishments.
I must decide my punishment.
I must decide the severity of my punishment.
You may wonder:
How?
How can you understand what punishment lies behind what door?
And my answer to that is simple.
I just can.
Just as how most humans can just see.
And just as how most humans cannot understand when a blind man says that they just see nothing.
It's ingrained in me, the ability to determine what lies behind the doors.
And, to be fair, it would be ingrained into anyone after over a hundred punishments have been endured.
My eyes remained empty.
My breath was regulated yet disorderly.
Each time my chest rose, the pain within shocked me back to reality.
Crushing the ground beneath me with the crutches, slowly but surely, I arrived at the centre of the pathway.
Seven months.
The only minor punishment I've received was handling the aftermath of revealing my face to Hilda.
On the bright side, that girl was quite stupid, so it didn't seem to have much effect on her.
However.
I, in my deluded state of chasing after Esme's presence, have committed a multitude of transgressions.
Thus, I stared at the door closest to my bedroom.
The one almost opposite mine.
...It's this one.
Punishment.
Deadly punishment.
It resides behind that door.
The rattling of wooden crutches sweeping across the central carpet echoed throughout the endless corridor as I approached the door. Unlike the centre of the hallway, the sides of the pathway weren't carpeted, so the sound of my crutches amplified by multiple magnitudes once I was standing by the door.
Pushing the crutch held in my right arm to my left arm, I cleared up my right hand and clenched my newly empty fist.
I repeated that action with the left fist moments later by swapping again, then I planted my hand on the door handle.
Click.
I did not contemplate.
I did not hesitate.
I simply took action.
I stepped into my punishment.
...And then abhorrent horrors descended.
It was a room.
A square, enclosed, yet abnormally large room.
To compare, my bedroom would look like a baby in comparison; you could hold a grand banquet in this room.
Yet.
I.
My breaths were halted.
No longer was there a door behind me; I was transported to the centre of the room.
And.
I wanted out.
I wanted to leave.
I want to see Esme.
Hilda, can you come?
Hilda, please?
Esme, can you burn it?
Esme, can you destroy it?
Please.
Pleasepleasepleasepleapleapleplspl-!!!!!!!!!!
The walls; they breathed.
The walls: they were human skin.
The walls: they had fine hairs.
The walls: they had visible, contracting pores.
The walls: they had eyes.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands, all over, every corner, beneath my feet, the eyelashes, the eyebrows, eyes, so many, eyes, eye,s,ye,yes,ye-
"..."
My brain emptied.
...And the creature dug its fangs through my brain, awakening once again after many months.