It took longer than the girl had expected to get everything sorted out, as when she looked at the clock it was already 7pm, which meant that the talk with the two men and the doctor with his check up had taken far longer than she expected.
She wondered if she should take a quick shower but discarded the idea as she wanted to check up on her friends before the visiting hours ended, so she dressed in the clothes from the party that had been hung in the wardrobe for her.
She was fairly sure that this was Leylas, or at least her parents doing, it was likely that they somehow felt responsible for their mass fainting and had paid the hospital fees already, although she'd ask about it when she got discharged tomorrow.
She gave a soft sigh as she stepped out of the hospital room she'd woken up in and looked at the room number that was displayed on a small plaque next to the door.
Room 180.
She tilted her head and walked down the white halls of the hospital ward, doors were lined up left and right and a few scarce paintings were hung on the wall as if to breathe some form of life into the building.
The windows were clear and clean and she threw a glance toward them, watching the sun sink behind a cluster of white, fluffy clouds before she continued to walk around and look for her friends.
She watched as the numbers grew and stopped when the hallway ended, at the end of the long hallway sat a large elevator and next to it was a door with a small rectangular glass window that let people see the staircase behind the closed metal door.
There was a hospital map displayed near the door and it told her what she already figured, she'd need to go up one story to reach the rooms 201-300.
She was just about to reach out her hand out towards the metal door of the staircase entrance before a cold feeling washed over her and she spun around, looking over the empty hallway with renewed caution.
She found nothing and furrowed her brows, an action that was accompanied by a small head tilt, there had to be something, else she wouldn't have felt this abrupt feeling of danger around her.
She was left stumped as the feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come, did someone watch her through a door crack or, she stilled... or the staircase window?
She looked again but found that all the doors she could see were closed, the staircase was empty, and she had yet to hear a noise, she also found it beyond odd that she had yet to see anyone.
A quick glance at her phone told her the time -7:13 pm, she was sure she had left her room at 7:11, the time didn't seem to add up, she hummed under her breath and put her phone away, more focused on the problem of the unseen watcher than the wonder of time.
"Hee?" She made a confused noise before she slowly made her way next to the still closed door separating the staircase from the hallway and slowly pulled it open, bracing herself for danger.
The staircase was cold and even though there were lights installed on the wall, it still seemed somewhat dark and gloomy, she leaned in after failing to find anything of interest and to her relief, she found nothing, another soft sigh left her lips as she leaned back and closed the door, throwing another glance at the ceiling and still finding nothing.
She huffed, deep in thought and decided to use the elevator instead, even if she wanted to stretch her legs, the staircase looked very uninviting right now.
The elevator was a steely grey and had a mirror panel going from floor to ceiling, there was no music and she pressed the button 3, watching as the red number 2 changed into 3 as the elevator gave a small ping and opened, the hallway stayed the same as she stepped outside, the only thing changing was the room number, 300 instead of 200.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance as she started the long trek to room 206, this time she didn't forget to look around for any spying eyes, but except the occasional nurse or doctor that passed by her, she found no one, no doors were left ajar and no one entered or left the rooms except the hospital personnel, it was peculiar to say the least.
"Is everything alright, Miss?" A female nurse asked as she stopped by her and looked around.
Hayleen turned to the nurse and small as well as petite were the words that popped into her head as she looked at her, she threw quick glance at the name tag placed on her uniform,-
"Mayla" It stated, it fit the small and likely young woman in front of her, the short, blue hair standing out from the otherwise innocent appearance of the lady standing before her.
"I'm looking for room 206, but I keep walking in circles." She replied and gave another quick glance at the clock on her phone -7:17 pm.
She blinked, she knew she had been walking around for far longer, with a confused and confounded frown she started a timer, hoping that it was just her nerves getting the better of her, but doubting it before the thought even truly settled in.
"Oh, let me show you." The nurse smiled and Hayleen followed, throwing glances at her phone for more frequently than she normally did, it seemed like time had slowed down and it made her skin crawl.
The woman led the way, looking more and more confused as time went on, "Where is the door?" Her voice quivered and her face was painted in confusion, she then turned to Hayleen, a reassuring smile on her face after she had taken a deep breath to collect herself, "The Hospital hallways are long, but we should reach the doors soon, then we just need to take a left and we should be there." She reassured her as they wandered on and Hayleen took a picture of the number plate, 277 as they passed the door yet again.
The nurse started to look more and more nervous as the walked on and she started to look around for help, although she didn't say that aloud, but Hayleen knew that her concerned and worried glances around the corridor were likely to look for someone else to talk to, but there was no one in sight.
Hayleen huffed and looked for the nameless app from the dream she had, she found it, and she wasn't sure whether she should be concerned or relieved.
Feeling a bit speechless, she clicked it on, the red dot from the night still there as before, she saw that the Missions icon was still lit up, even though she recalled that it had greyed out after she agreed to the rewards.
Hayleen was beginning to worry a bit, the only explanation for the fact that they were seemingly trapped in a time loop that revolved around room number 277, if the fact that the loop seemed to reset at that number was anything to go by, was that there was something supernatural at play again.
She clicked on "Mission" and saw a notice.
_________
"Congratulations "...", you have found a "Hidden Mission", please complete the "Hidden Mission" before continuing on with further "Missions"
_________
She blinked "Hidden Mission"? Maybe she should take a look at the "Guide" She saw in the menu before.
__________
"Guide: The Guide is a function to help new and old players alike to get more accustomed to the "....-System", what do you want to know more about dear "...."?"
_________
"Missions"
-Tutorial
-Hidden Missions
-Unique Missions
-Mission Rewards
__
"Items"
-Blessings
__
"Skills"
__
"System"
-Ranking System
__
"Risen"
____________
Hayleen stared blankly at the displayed information and looked around the white halls again, was this a bad joke? Was there a hidden camera somewhere?
This had to have been staged, right? Was she in one of those TV shows?
She doubted it and sighed as she looked back at her phone, there was a lot of information to go through, but she clicked on "Hidden Missions", as it seemed to be related to her current dilemma.
____________
Hidden Missions,
Hidden Missions, or Home Missions, are missions triggered in the hosts home world and are triggered if the host discovers an anomaly in their home world.
Hidden Missions take priority over "Missions", unless specified otherwise as it is directly involved with the host.
Hidden Missions share the "Missions" ranking system and are separated into different levels.
___________
Missions,
Missions are given by the System and will, upon completion, give the host various riches and rewards corresponding to the "Mission rank" and "Completion Rate".
Note: Please work hard to complete as many missions as possible.
To see your current "Missions", click on "Missions" in the menu and then "Mission Status"
___________
"..." The girl blinked as she stared at her phone and nearly ran into the nurse walking in front of her, "What's the matter," She started, glancing at her name tag, "Mayla?"
"No, no, nothing's wrong miss, just follow me." She stated, a pit of panic slowly seeping into her voice, she nodded and smiled at her, the pretty nurse turned her back and walked forward, Hayleen did too, but was soon more focused on the contents of her phone again.
____________
"Missions"
-Mission Selection
-Mission Status
-Mission History
______________
Mission Status:
One (1) Mission active.
Hidden Mission*
____________
Hidden Mission: The ghost in the Hospital
Mission Info: Hospitals are a place death frequents, so it comes as no surprise that one or the other ghost has settled in such a place.
Mission Task: Find the ghost.
Rewards: ???
____________
Well, Hayleen thought, that's as helpful as a barking dog.
The auburn haired girl rubbed her forehead as a slight headache made itself at home and looked at the panicked nurse in front of her.
"Alright, we both know we're getting nowhere with this, so let's check out room 277, we've been back here at least six times already." She stated as she halted her steps, Mayla turned to her, "What are you talking about miss, everything is fine, we'll be right there." She gave a strained smile afterwards and the teenager gave her a dry look.
She took out her phone and looked at the ticking timer: 34:48, and held it out to show the woman.
"I started that timer as soon as we started walking;" Then she exited the timer, still leaving it running in the backround, and looked at the clock 7:17, where time had slowed down before, now it was stuck. "And it was 7:17 when we started walking."
"Are you really going to tell me everything is fine?" She asked the now pale nurse, the nurse nibbled on her lip and shook her head.
"What do you propose we do then?" Mayla asked, looking around the empty hallways with due caution.
"Well, seeing as we're stuck in time, I am guessing we're dealing with either a really bad prank or a ghost, considering that I am not finding any cameras around here, hidden or not, I am going to say we're dealing with a ghost stationed in room 277, so I'm going to go there and see if I can get us unstuck." She explained and turned back to the door of room 277, she tried the grey doorknob and watched as the door swung open and inward, revealing the room inside.
"..." Hayleen stared at the interior of the room silently and with a wry look on her face, "That's a lot of blood." She stated with a deadpanned look on her face as she looked back at the nurse, who by now was looking a bit green in the face.
"What happened here?" She screeched and the girl, now standing in the doorway that was seemingly separating two different worlds, held one hand to her ear while cringing, "Shut up, you're loud." She complained as the woman threw her a dirty look.
"Someone was killed here and you want me to be silent? Is this a bad joke? If it is then the gig is up, I'm leaving!" The nurse stated decisively before turning tail and running down the corridor, although running may be taking it a bit far as she was just angrily stomping off into the distance.
The teen just looked at her as she left, a bit stupefied how this situation was her fault all of a sudden, she was just as much a victim here as the fleeing woman, although Hayleen internally commended the woman for her decisiveness.
"Wha?" She mumbled, stumped by the quick change of temper from the seemingly mild woman.
She gave an annoyed groan and looked back to the room practically dyed in crimson red blood, it stained the walls and the bed, it covered the ground and slowly ran down the windows.
The blood seemed to originate from the bathroom as the door was left ajar and a cut off hand was left on the floor, nails still scratching on the floor as if trying to get out of the bathroom.
"Alright, no." She said to herself, her voice surprisingly flat, as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
She took her phone out and sat down next to the door, remembering the "Gift" of the ghost girl and the other rewards mentioned by the "System", and if there was anything more to it than a prank, then the items could be helpful as of now, as she was not going into a murder scene without preparing as much as she could.
As she was now stuck in time, she believed that what had happened before may not have been an empty dream.
Although Hayleen was still doubtful of the System, she would try and see.
She tapped her chin thoughtfully and clicked on "Guide" again, deciding to go through the guide first, she had all the time in the world after all.
Most of the options were a glimmering red, with the exceptions of "Missions", "Hidden Missions"and "Guide".
She decided to go from top to bottom, so "Tutorial" it was.
______________
Tutorial,
A "Unique Mission" that is given to every potential "Risen", it is an introduction to a world unlike any other.
The "Tutorial" is a mission that is tailormade for the "Risen" it is introducing into the World of "....."
No Tutorial is the same, and the rewards are always an unknown.
________________
"Well, at least Sid, Oliv' and Laura didn't have to deal with four ghosts and a knock-off-zombie." She muttered, hitting the black glimmering arrow to go back and watched as the "Tutorial" icon flickered to a light grey.
____________________
Unique Missions,
"Unique missions" are missions that, as the name suggests, that are only available once, and never again, there may be similar.
Once a mission is given a "Fully Cleared" ranking or the Unique rating, they will only appear once and never again.
______________
Mission Rewards,
The "Mission Rewards" are given by the System to the "Risen" upon the completion of missions.
The rewards may vary depending on what type of mission it is, what rank the System has given the mission and what the completion rate is.
You may get extra rewards if your completion rate exceeds the "Complete" or "B" rating.
________________
Hayleen tapped the cold floor with her shoe as she scrolled through her phone, it looked like she was waiting or just idly sitting there with nothing to do, she even yawned from time to time as she focused on her phone.
Sometimes her eyes darted up and around the area, her ears also twitched from time to time and was then soon followed by a sweeping glance or her stilling completely to listen to any noise around her, upon finding nothing, she would turn her attention back to the little gadget in her hand.
____________
Items,
"Items" are the property of the "Risen" and can be found in missions or picked up in the host world, some mission rewards may also count as "Items" or "Skills".
Note: You can find your "Items" in the "Inventory"
________________
Blessings,
"Blessings" are good wishes given by the Supernatural, the departed and lingering, they may offer protection to some degree or boost the blessed´s luck.
Blessings seek to help the one they have been given to and are seldomly harmful.
Note: You can find your "Blessings" in the "Library"
___________
Skills,
"Skills" are given or bought/ exchanged from the System and can help the "Risen" complete missions or help out in the everyday life.
Skills can range from "Sewing" to "Summoning Demons".
Note 1: Some skills may be harmful to the user.
Note 2: Skills can be found in the "Library"
____________
System,
The "System" is there to assign the "Risen" Missions and give out rewards according to performance.
The "System" is there to assist its users to the best of its ability.
__________
Ranking System,
The "Ranking System" is to categorize the various things the System can offer, as such there are many sub categories of the "Ranking System."
The most common ranking from the "System" is following, from lowest to highest: Mortal, Soul, High Soul, Spectre, High Spectre, Red Spectre.
The Mission ranking is divided into Stars:
* (One Star), this ranking is given to easy missions and the Tutorial.
** (Two Stars), this ranking is given to easy and medium difficulty missions.
__
The Mission Completion ranking is:
[F] Failed Mission.
[E] Barely acceptable.
[D] Acceptable.
[C] Passed.
[B] Completed.
[A] Cleared.
[S] Fully Cleared.
Note: Extra rewards are given out beyond the [B] ranking.
____________
"Hell." Hayleen complained softly, the amount of sudden information was giving her a headache, she groaned, shook herself awake and clicked on the "Risen" after resting her eyes and digesting the onslaughter of new information.
__________
"Risen"
The "Risen" are like players in a game, they have the assistance of the "System".
You are only counted as a fully "Risen" and not a "Rising" once you've completed the "Tutorial".
Congratulations, you are a fully "Risen", a reward for completing the "Unique Mission: Tutorial" will be awaiting you in your "Inventory".
Please, "Risen", complete as many missions as possible to grow stronger and stronger, the System will be by your side.
_______________
"Alright, either I'm going mad or the world just turned into a Horror game."