The mansion stood quietly, away from all the ruckus that was situated in the town. It was, after all, in a deeper cave of its own, all engraved in the same crystal that shrouded the town's "sky" and served as the tower's interior structure. Although the crystal was clearer than before, and brighter, shining great light down at the mansion. But that light made it even more brooding. The building appeared to be three-stories tall. Sheets of paper covered all the windows from the inside, hiding away the sight of whatever terrifying being lied inside, away from the two adventurers, but still added another layer of eeriness to the place.

All of this was just the doorstep. Eeira didn't want to think of what lied ahead and was already considering backing out. However, Aten wouldn't sit still. Their freedom and lives were on the line. She might have not understood the gravity of the situation they were in, but he certainly did, and he was not backing out now.

Pushing the wooden doors, Aten and Eeira finally stepped inside the mansion, as the dust and rumble on the red carpet floor were immediately swept away. A decrepit bifurcated staircase greeted them at the entrance. Eeira, hesitant at first, shut the door gently, leaving out the last source of light within the place. It was oddly warm, which was something not expected from a place that was uninhabited for three years. The dark hall was eerily quiet; Aten and Eeira could hear both their hearts beating like a drum. Only Eeira was the one openly expressing her nervousness, constantly shaking her hand, and unintentionally scratching her arms as if she suffered from a rash. Although it was warm, Eeira could feel a chill running down her spine. And all she could ever think of was cursing the mayor over and over in her head. On the other hand, Aten scrutinized the mansion's interiors with a glance, not knowing whether to be marveled or terrified.

Everything was vague, and the darkness was just too much. Nevertheless, Aten had to push forward. His first course of action was to search the area on the left.

It was a wide old morning room, but there was nothing bright about it. Spider webs were already coating every piece of furniture within the place. The patio door that led to the supposed balcony was completely shut-off and covered in paper. At the rear end in the corner was a giant black piano — as expected in a place like this. If it suddenly started playing by itself, it would be of no surprise. Aten carefully examined the crafted designs on the walls and on the cabinets. Most of the walls were covered in brown hexagon shapes that were neatly crafted; you could feel them with just a touch. A flower shape lied in the middle of each shape, circled by a wreath of smaller flower shapes that were separated by a thin line at each side. They were quite bizarre, not even oldworld, however, it didn't mean that the mayor's words were in the right, yet.

As for Eeira, she was still at the entrance, walking in circles. Her mind was too busy worrying over being in a place like this; she didn't notice Aten scurrying off earlier. She then stopped in her tracks and stood with her back glued to the door. As she began to become accustomed to the darkness, light began to flicker in her eyes. Suddenly, the mansion didn't seem too bad in her eyes, just old — and a little bit eerie.

'Hey!' She heard Aten calling out to her, 'Come take a look at this!'

Aten was still trying to study the designs on the walls. He figured Eeira, with the little knowledge she had on Oldworld, might find what he couldn't.

Still somewhat scared, Eeira cautiously made her way to the morning room, walking with her back still to the wall. Without much explanation, she saw Aten lost in thought over the designs, and she took it upon herself to examine them as well. But just like him, she had just a small idea of what it might be, but there was nothing concrete.

'Hmm…,' she looked around some more, as her fear from earlier began to vanquish, 'If it's not oldworld, then it's definitely something way older.'

'But not ancient… not necessarily, right?' Aten asked, 'Maybe it's another unknown type of oldworld design.'

'I don't know…'

With that being a lost cause, Aten made his way back to the entrance, followed by Eeira, who regained her fear once again. He thought of heading to the next room on the right, but the stairs to the upper floors were just too inviting. Of course, there would be nothing good by going to the upper floors, but curiosity was at the top — and it wasn't like they weren't going upstairs eventually.

The entryway of the second floor led to a long corridor that was blocked off half-way through by old and broken furniture. If you were to ignore that corridor and head either left or right, you'd find yourself facing a hallway with broken railings on each side. Knowing that Aten decided to proceed towards the front corridor. Before the furniture blockage was a wooden door with wolf scratches on it — there were no wolves in this part of Eldria, and certainly not inside a cave, but that was what it seemed like — that led to what seemed like a small bedroom.

This was one hell of a mansion, so any bedroom that wasn't the size of a full hall, or at least two suites, would likely be a guest room. Aten didn't think much of it until Eeira grabbed his attention to something else within. A giant black box lied near the wardrobe on the right.

Eeira looked at the giant box with astonishment, 'Dear God, what's that?'

'Uh… it's a chest.' Aten moved her aside to check the lock on it.

'W-Wait, don't… don't they have dead bodies inside? Like you know, when someone dies, they put them in this box, and then bury them?'

He rubbed his forehead, trying to comprehend the idiocy he had just heard, 'That's a coffin! This is a chest. They have stuff in them,' he tried to explain to her as if he was teaching a five-year-old, no, a three-year-old what this box was, 'I know it's weird, "doctor," but…'

She looked at him with obliviousness, 'So… should we open it?'

'Yes… Yes… That's what I was gonna do before you…,' he was too tired of the conversation, and quickly shifted his attention to the damn chest.

The lock on the chest was quite bizarre; if you put in mind that this place was older than the oldworld era. It was a dial padlock, something that you would never see on a chest, and more likely on a briefcase or a locker. Perhaps this was more recent, it could belong to the mayor, but considering what he knew and where he lived, Aten doubted that it'd belong to him. All of this renewed and "secure" equipment and tools were gone from anywhere besides the cities of the empire — they devoured all the "modern" oldworld supplies after all.

Aten sighed, 'You didn't happen to spot a serial number here and there, did you?'

Eeira shrugged. She might have, but her mind was too centered on recalling how to breathe correctly, rather than being useful to the search. It didn't matter though. If the mayor was in the right, then she'd have to lend her assistance sooner or later.

'I see… so casting spells is all you're good for,' Aten stood up.

'They're not spells and…,' She faltered for a moment, 'You are getting way too used to me.'

'Oh! You didn't think that when I hit you?!' He walked out of the room, but stood between the doorway and the corridor, not moving an inch.

Eeira was oblivious to that as usual, 'Alright, Fifth — isn't that what you like to be called? I might have let you off yesterday, but that is over now. We need to draw a very careful line on how we treat each other. And I am not going to set—'

He wouldn't let her finish off her sentence and immediately shushed her. She couldn't believe his audacity to do something like that. However, this time, before she could utter another word, he rushed at her and held his hand against her mouth, silencing her completely — although her faint grunts could still be heard.

"(If you don't wanna get yourself torn to pieces, then shut up!)" He whispered.

That sentence was enough to put her back in a "sound" mind and stop struggling. Anything Aten would say after that; she would obey it without question.

As much as he wanted to believe that there was "foul play" of some sort in this mansion, there wasn't. What he saw outside the corridor was no trick. Even if it was a projection from magik, it would still mean danger. A ghost, likely a wraith, stood out front near the staircase. It didn't seem to spot Aten when he saw it, the moment only lasted seconds, but even with that, he managed to get quite a good look at it. It was completely nonchalant, that if Aten didn't know better, he would have been likely perplexed by it. And that was what it wanted, that was what any spiritual creature wanted… attention, deadly attention.

The two of them approached the doorway carefully, and from there, they tilted their head to catch a glimpse of the outside. Eeira was about to scream, but Aten quickly held her again.

Straight out of a horror book, the wraith pondered in silence, not paying attention to the two at all, just gazing at the abyss, away from their direction. Escaping from the corridor was not an option, their path was blocked from both sides. They could either face that wraith head-on or weep in the corner until the unspeakable arrives.

Aten looked around once more. The bed seemed strong enough to hold what lied beneath it, and that gave him an idea. He tapped Eeira's shoulder, pointed back at the bed, and then gestured for her to hide underneath it. But Eeira failed to understand him, hand signs weren't exactly in her area of expertise (like most things). Instead of repeating the same gesture, Aten sighed and then pointed under the bed. Even a child would understand that, and thankfully, she did. However, Eeira shook her head in denial. Hiding from something you couldn't comprehend was the worst possible scenario in her viewpoint, it was more terrifying. For her, it was best to keep an eye on the terror than lying low and remain heedless to it. Aten pushed her away toward the bed, and nodded vigorously, telling her to stay put.

With her out of the picture, the next step in Aten's "plan" came forward. He snuck a peek once again, and the wraith was still there, motionless. His shotgun had only a few shells left, but that was enough, even though it was unlikely for it to work on a wraith, a spiritual being first and foremost. Nevertheless, he pumped the shotgun, stepped out of the room and into the corridor, before aiming with precision at the wraith. However, he didn't immediately shoot, there was no telling what would happen if he jumped to conclusions and shot away — there was no telling what would happen either way. As for the wraith, it stood inanimate, not even the sound of Aten's footsteps or the pump of his shotgun was enough to detract its attention. He decided to approach the wraith with caution.

Out of fear for her newfound "friend" (and for herself as well), Eeira stood at the doorway, holding her hand against her mouth so as to not emit a sound. Aten wasn't as much of a focus for her as the wraith. A few moments earlier, she only caught but a glimpse at the wraith, and it was enough to distinguish its "gender." Yet, what lied before her now wasn't a wraith, but rather a brilliant image of a young girl, not of the typical child, but rather a girl that could have been around her or Aten's age. Her hair was quite long, reaching down to almost her feet, and it was completely white, almost as if it was see-through. The gown that covered her was no longer torn like it was a few minutes ago. Aside from her appearance, it was her face that caught both Eeira's and Aten's attention.

Even though her bangs covered her eyes, she wore a deep expression of sorrow. It caused both Aten and Eeira confusion. Eeira didn't feel threatened by it. But the same could not be said to Aten, he was facing it at the forefront with a weapon in hand. He was not about to let his hand slip only for something unexpected to overwhelm him. Despite all that mental preparation, the force he reckoned with still had the upper hand.

And then… the unexpected happened. It didn't come from the girl, rather, it came from above. A being in the shape of a dark cloak carrying a scythe emerged from the dark and charged at Aten at break-neck speed.

A shot managed to escape Aten's weapon, striking the reaper's scythe, faltering its speed for only a second. That didn't stop it from attacking Aten like it had ruled a divine judgment death upon him, yet it only managed to slice his shoulder as he rolled on the ground, dodging its deadly attack. Even if it was just the scythe barely touching him, the injury did a number on his shoulder. Aten knew he knew there was no chance against this thing. But he wouldn't go down without a fight first.

That would have been the case if Eeira didn't decide that it was her time to step up. Before the reaper can turn around and land another shot, she stepped out of the room, shielding Aten and then blowing a peculiar gust of wind onto the reaper, which surprisingly caused it to back away and scream in agony. This was quite a shock to Aten, he never imagined the scaredy-cat that was Eeira would end up saving his skin like that. She might have not been a sorceress, but when it came to neuroalchemy, she was the real deal — at least for now. However, this was an in-the-moment decision, Eeira had no idea what to do next. And so Aten came up with the simplest of solutions.

'Run!!'

Without a second thought, he grabbed Eeira and ran down the stairs — completely ignoring the still wraith that was in their way. Luckily, they didn't make it that far within the mansion, so the entrance was right beside them. The reaper's foul cry could be heard right above them, it took almost no time to recover and chase after them. Aten pushed Eeira at the door, keeping her away from the crooked demon, and letting it strike the blow on him alone instead. He shot the scythe once again, hoping to slow down the demon again, but what he didn't expect, was Eeira's aid once again. But instead of the gust of wind from before, Eeira threw a whole flammable bottle on the reaper.

'Shoot it!' She shouted.

Aten aimed at the bottle in mid-air and shot it to bits, turning into a poison bomb to the reaper. With that many chemicals, it would take a while for the demon to recover. Aten was baffled by what was happening before him, he never saw actual neuroalchemy working before. But there was no time for that, Eeira opened the door, grabbed Aten, and together, they escaped the hellish mansion.

And so, there they were, lying down on the mansion porch, not daring to move an inch. Everything was quiet… until Eeira started laughing her ass out, maybe due to stress, or insanity, Aten did not know. However, that laughter soon turned into sobbing. They may have escaped a life-or-death situation, but Aten didn't consider it was a matter worth crying over. Eeira, on the other hand, whose life was only filled with the wonders of the empire's cities, the temple she cherished, the alchemy she studied, and the lab she loved, did not have the same experience as Aten, she was still just an ignorant young girl despite her incredibly useful knowledge of neuroalchemy.

But with their minds and bodies still in one piece, a new question lingered.

— What to do?