Nightmare Mythos

'This guy's here!? And what happened to the surroundings? It looked like it had been destroyed by some sort of anomaly, a wake after a battle of… two entities?' Cesar's mind raised the moment as veins popped out in his head.

The others, especially Quentin appeared rather agitated as they were all currently staring at the heretic using the corpses of the humans as if it were some sort of chair to sit down.

It was more like he was flexing.

Cesar grabbed his revolver but Leah merely shook her head with a sigh, "Quite an attitude you got there, kid. I know how frustrated you're feeling but we should approach him carefully. In fact, I wouldn't even be surprised if the bloodlust you and Quentin are leaking has already reached that guy,"

Suddenly, the group shuddered as the heretic called out of the blue, seemingly agreeing to Leah's words.

"Whoever's hiding themselves there, care to show yourself? Really tired of waiting around, expecting someone to attack me in 'surprise'" The Heretic voiced out with an even tone as he patiently waited for a few seconds before chuckling, "Okay, you're not some Nightmare or Corrupted Human. Judging by the way you are still waiting and observing me, you are humans!"

The heretic stood up, gladdened that he found some lost people while roaming around the library.

Suddenly, he spoke with an amiable tone.

"It's okay, I'm a good person."

Jeremiah shook his head strongly, stopping his group from moving further toward the heretic. He seemed not to believe every word the figure had spoken, and he was right to think so.

"Uhh…"

Awkwardly shifting his gaze to the corpses on the floor and the path that leads to Cesar's group, the heretic shrugged his shoulder and added.

"My hands just forced to move that's all. This bunch… wanted to kill me when I clearly stepped into a fucking trap that wouldn't leave me alone…!" The heretic seemed to have emotional issues as his tone rose up very slightly before it died down.

The heretic took a calm breath before saying, "But anyways, I dealt with the trap and came to this battlefield sight to eliminate these people who pursued me. Oh, how I wished they would willingly cooperate with me since that's a deal I strike with them. They just wouldn't fucking listen!"

The raising of tone became apparent once more, his anger was visibly outwardly showing. Upon seeing that he was losing the facade of a cool person, he took a moment of breath to relax before adding.

"You guys are not the same, right?"

The tone was cold this time.

"Nobody wanted bloodbath after all. I'm just here for an objective and I will not be coming out without it,"

"!"

The word "out" escaped from the heretic's mouth, and the group, despite it coming from an enemy, was instantly entranced at how alluring that sound is.

Of course, there were doubts. Heck, there's no way in hell they are going to get out of here.
Your journey continues at m v|l-e'm,p| y- r

But… if the heretic knew that they were going to be transferred to this mansion, something that he had been teasing most of the time when they were out, according to Cesar and Quentin's description, the group couldn't help but think he had his ways.

Jeremiah was silent for a while before conversing with the heretic, "What kind of deal have you struck with the people you killed in the back?"

Creak—!

The heretic remained motionless for a moment, trying to contemplate the question raised to him before answering, in a slightly different answer from the demanded inquiry.

Creak—!

"You guys are newbie…" The heretic couldn't help but pull a tantrum, "Don't tell me you've arrived just now!? Oh, come on!"

Cesar was becoming more confused, at the same time, questioning if the heretic had finally lost its mind.

Creak—!

Finally, after realizing the creak wasn't just a fly buzzing near his ear, something impossible inside the library, Cesar's heart began to race. He understood then that the sound was coming from somewhere… somewhere that surrounded the library itself.

'Don't tell me the Void caught up!?'

Creeeeeeak—!

The heretic let out a sigh as he muttered, "It's the fluctuating period,"

'A what—'

Suddenly, the whole library shifted.

Their worlds turned upside down… in a literal way.

"Ahhhhh!"

Cesar screamed in his lungs once he realized that he and the rest of the group had their center of gravity changing as they started falling to the other side of the library downward.

Whoosh—!

The floor they were merely stepping onto earlier started to become the ceiling while the ceiling from earlier is where they are dropping into, becoming the floor they are supposed to step into.

However, that wasn't the only thing that was changing.

The whole library was moving.

It expanded and became bigger which made their fall longer.

The shelves were transitioning into different kinds of positions, rearranging and shuffling. The bizarre mechanism of the whole library was being shown right in their mundane eyes, giving them a sense of feeling that this kind of power would not be able to replicate with human hands.

Not in many years to come, not in eternity.

'Crap! Crap! This is insane!'

However, because of their 'falling state' while in the fluctuating period, Cesar was able to peer through the entirety of the library and able to spot hundreds of shadows all over the place.

Large ones, smaller ones, even smaller ones, and even bigger ones... All of them were scattered in different parts of the library. Cesar even found out that some of these shadows being in the same 'falling state' are near them.

'Vin!? Maine!? Reyna? Jacqueline!? Anyone!?'

Cesar hoped his eyes were able to see his squad in this state as the library arranged itself but his own eye failed him.

With no hope of finding his squad, Cesar couldn't help but take note of the other figures who were in the same situation as him. This knowledge intake, however, soon takes a halt as soon as he spots two humongous figures somewhere in the middle of the library, far from their position.

Cesar felt relieved washed over him as he saw these gargantuan figures were kilometers away from their position, located near the very heart of the library.

As of now, they were nothing but shadows in Cesar's eyes due to how far he was from them. But, he instantly deduced who those Nightmares were while seeing them afar was already making him at his wits end.

'it's Keeper of the Void and the Librarian… isn't it?'

Suddenly, Cesar had to force himself to look down, feeling his senses tingling. As he did, knowing it wasn't just a hallucination, down below him. Someone is indeed observing him.

There were Jeremiah, Klaus, Leah, or any part of the cohort to look from and be wary of but the heretic continued looking at one person amongst them.

The heretic's robe had been left open, exposed by the natural forces within the library. The intensity of their fall sent their clothes fluttering in the wind.

And there, two of them observed each other.

Cesar was frowning his eyes while the heretic was smirking.

The latter couldn't help but called the former.

"Cesar Sparrow!"