Someone killed me, or at least tried to, and he was not belonging to the main group out there.
Maybe he was a silent observer, watching from behind until the perfect moment to move or something.
"It's not my business after all."
I was typically lucky that I didn't really die because of that. Although that was a possible chance, I somehow erased it from my mind for a while.
"Aside from all of that. Where am I?"
The place was so dark that I could see my hand when I raised it, and honestly, not seeing anything felt more comfortable than what I might see, so I took my sweet time before wearing my glasses.
And, of course, my feelings were right.
"Out of all places in this crazy world; this was where to find myself…"
The storehouse, the dolls room.
That same room we got out by using the last time.
"How could I even eat after seeing this, how could I even forget?"
After getting out of this Vessel last time, I genuinely didn't think about anything that happened on it that deeply. And, one day was never enough time to think about such complicated things.
Beside—
"If this wasn't the Carnival then it's the Auction… shouldn't I get some kind of mission to it?"
The system has been weird these days, since I've entered three Vessels already without any mission or information about them.
Maybe not all Vessels have a mission?
Or there's an order to it?
"What does that system need from me, so to speak?"
The one who put it in me, why did he do that?
Of course he got his reasons, but maybe those reasons were related to me?
My safety, by chance?
"What are you even thinking about?" I laughed at my thoughts. "Safety?!"
How could that be true when all the accidents I was involved with Vessels in were likely because of the system and the gems' powder in my body?
"He was someone who needed to kill me in the worst way possible."
Yeah,
That was something reasonable to say.
"No, let's get out of here."
I claimed up half of the way up to the exit before remembering that getting in was the hardest part before. So I returned and got out of the room through the door.
I put my hat on, then the mask, then took off the company's watch.
My clothes changed, just like the last time. This time the color of the suit was gray instead of burgundy, even the accessories were different, somehow more elegant and pricey…
How could a simple mask do that?
I had no idea.
But depending on the fact the Vampire told me that these things could be used as money , it means that this thing should be really precious.
I would get roped at this point…
"Now, let's find what I could here."
It was not long when I memorized the place's map, so I found the employees room pretty quickly… and it wasn't empty this time, there were humans in it.
Who are they?
I didn't recognize.
They weren't wearing those ugly masks, nor the Disaster Management Authority uniforms.
They were wearing simple outfits that may belong to office workers.
Wait.
Humans?
How could humans go here and there in a Vessel so casually?
"What are the chances—" that this is not a Vessel?
My breath suddenly stopped at his thought…
What if I ended up on the human side after getting killed on that Vessel? Since there were no guarantees that we'll end up on a Vessel.
All I know that ending up would be in 'the other world' but nothing about the reference to 'the other' there.
But how to know which world I was in?
For about five minutes or so, I was standing in my place with a head empty like a white sheet, then before a proper idea kicked in, I went to the employees room, which had become empty minutes ago.
Same one.
Lots of monitors…
In those monitors, the place wasn't much different from the last time, there were dolls rooms, wood rooms, instruments room and all of the others.
Everything was the same, even the map… and that was enough for me to believe that I was in that Vessel for a moment.
What cracked that belief was something I didn't expect.
"The company name is different."
It wasn't the same network from before, and even the name and the general outlines were so various.
'Are you happy?'
It was the company's name.
Strange and didn't seem like a name at all.
"Wait a minute." could I possibly hack it?
I needed to erase the clips of me in the place so I did erase it from the last records, and made sure to put a repeated record for the time I would be out by it.
But the network?
I really hesitated before touching it, since it may be my first time to hack a real network, but after a long breath I just did my best to do it.
I erased the records, then put the new ones in, then without much attention, I copied every thing I could copy within the few moments I had, then just shut the computer up and went out.
All I had to get out was two minutes,
And I barely made it by using the employees exit.
And then—
I figured out that I wasn't at the Carnival or that Storehouse at all. The place I was in was a factory.
Typical factory…
It wasn't even an old factory, it was just— factory?
"This is unbelievable…"
I took off my hat, then just wandered around until I got out of the area with such a good vision about it. When I was far enough, I asked a random man for a phone then checked the location.
Crazy enough, it was in the same city I was in.
"So it wasn't a Vessel after all." I didn't process what was happening pretty well. "But if it wasn't; Why the dolls then?"
Why was it the same as that crazy storehouse in the Vessel? Not just 'similar' to start with, it was typical…
Were they trying to do an experiment by copying a Vessel here or something?
Agh—
First of all,
Where should I go?
I couldn't return to the company, since I had no idea what those crazy beings were doing, and the apartment was a part of it… so I was homeless, at least for now.
"Should I call Sials?"
That was the best way to progress, since I would at least know what happened after the play I did there…
What a headache…
After a deep breath, and about three minutes of wandering around, I just called him.
Unaware of the bloody answer I would get.
"Do you have any idea about what you've done?!" It was the first thing I heard after I just said 'Sials'.
"No? I didn't do anything special, as I remember."
"It has been one day since you did that stupid idea and made all of the people out there start a war!"
Oh.
"They started a war?"
"Wasn't it your intention?! What did you even think about when you made that group look so suspicious in other's eyes?"
"Strategy."
"Go to hell you and your Strategies! Half of the people in the Vessel died! Haven't you seen lots of people around you there?"
No…
"All the time that passed for me was an hour and half at most. I didn't see anyone."
"Hour? What about the other twenty three?"
"I don't know." I rubbed my forehead, unable to think about it as I should. "And, do you have any information? Suspicious things that happened or a report from the company about why they did what they did?"
"They said that it was a selection process for who will go to the auction."
"Auction?"
"Yeah, it happens every year and this time they chose a different way to choose. The Vessel you are in is the same one as the Carnival, but the event this time is different."
"Ah…"
I wasn't in a Vessel, so to speak…
Should I tell him?
"Such a stupid reason."
"Yes, but who knows what's in their minds. Did you find Adeline?"
"No. I'm somewhere different."
"So you couldn't find a way?"
"I'll, somehow. For now I'll just walk around. Tell me if you know anything new."
"Okay. Take care and call me when you need to, since I couldn't reach you before."
"Deal."
The call ended that way, and I found myself in the center of the city. When I walked beside a restaurant, I eventually took a look at myself, and all I've seen was Tristan's face.
Same as mine, but older.
Even his eye color was the same.
"What are the chances that he is Hero's father?"
And if he was the father, where was he?
Did he have a memory loss just as what Hero's said so he couldn't come back?
"Why over-thinking all of this?"
It was the last weekend before returning to my peaceful life, and I promised Hero to go out with him on it.
So I did.
Not knowing that doing it in the center of the city was never a good idea to do.