"Is this even the right place?"

The young man's eye twitched ever so slightly, as he stared at the dusty, old, rundown hotel. The hotel was in extremely bad condition; paint was chipping off the walls, there were bugs and insects infested in the halls, and the whole building just looked generally unsanitary. Adrian had been on a few trips in his life, but only really to places close to his hometown. He had never come to a place this far away before… The places he'd been to before were all to say the least unique… in their own way, but never had he witnessed a place as shabby as this hotel. This was going to be a difficult night to catch some sleep.

"I shouldn't have accepted Drew's idiotic proposal for this trip. God, this place is disgusting!"

A while back, Adrian and Drew — his childhood friend — planned on going on this, supposedly, 'luxurious' vacation during the summer holidays. The trip had everything: an amazing local tourist experience, a private white beach; and seeing as the duo had nothing to do during the summer, they had bought the plan from a trusted friend of Drew's. However, as Adrian was preparing for the trip, Drew had suddenly pulled out at the last minute, claiming an emergency had popped up at his job. Even though Adrian was feeling a bit apprehensive going alone, he still went due to the insistence of his friend.

At first, Adrian was slightly suspicious as to why the place he was meant to be enjoying his vacation in was quite an unpopulated and secluded area, and as he entered the town, he only grew more skeptical to the few people that roamed the area; he thought that they walked weird, and their facial expressions were almost that of an abnormality. Whatever, he thought. Maybe all secluded locations were just as strange as this. Even though he felt weirded out by everything and felt tempted to turn right back around and leave, he simply braced himself and entered. (After all, he had already paid for everything and didn't want the trip to go to waste).

Compared to the outside, the inside fortunately looked fairly better in comparison. As soon as he entered, the first thing he saw was a young man with a bird casually lolled on his shoulder. The man was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, as if in a deep meditation, not taking note if there was anyone else around. Adrian was slightly confused and, honestly, a little weirded out. There were no other staff members around, no receptionist, nothing — the place was completely deserted.

"God, what a nightmare!" He grumbled to himself, as he grabbed his bag tighter and decided to head out after all. Adrian turned back and tried to open the door, but the door wouldn't budge. He assumed it was stuck or something, as the door indeed looked quite old, so he tried to pull its handle, but it came right off and sent him tumbling back. He grew more agitated and panicked, and resorted to attempting to force the door open using the gaps, but it was no use. It was practically super-glued shut.

"Oh for god's sake," Adrian rasped, "just open!" He exclaimed loudly. A noise could suddenly be heard from behind him, the sound of a tongue clicking. "Tsk-tsk-tsk… there's no use in trying to open the door, it won't work." Adrian turned around, surprised at the voice. "What do you mean it won't work- who are you?"

"I meant what I said. And who I am is not important." The young man began to pet the bird who was still hazy on his shoulder. His eyes were still shut during this interaction. "Once you enter here, there's no way back out." He said, as the room then filled with silence.. Adrian continues to stare at the strange man, looks at the door, and then faces him once again.

"What do you mean there's no way?

Adrian asked hesitantly, trying to appeal to the idea that the man in front of him is bluffing. After all, how can such a thing happen? Magic or the supernatural obviously isn't real… right?

The bird sitting from the young man's shoulder squawks, causing Adrian to look directly at the man's face. His eyes were now wide open, deep black eyes staring right at him; Adrian felt like he was being pierced straight through. The man raised one of his eyebrows, almost as if he had read Adrian's thoughts and was pondering on an answer. "You have entered an instance, it's one of the core rules."

"Wait just a second, what do you me– " Adrian paused, his question about these so-called 'instances' and 'core rules' put on hold, as three people suddenly appeared out of thin air by the seats in the reception area. Adrian stared in shock, as the young man looks at the newly-apparated trio and mentions stoically, "Hm, looks like the other newcomers are here." Then continued to lean back as if nothing had happened at all.

Adrian however, – who is the kind of person that doesn't quite believe in things like magic – rubbed his eyes repeatedly as he stared at the trio, who looked to be just as surprised to suddenly be transported here as him. As Adrian stood there stunned, a man who looked to be in his late 30's or early 40's shouted in surprise "W-What hell, where on earth am I?!"The middle aged man was dressed in a tracksuit and looked relatively normal, almost kind, but had a somewhat… sinister feeling to him, uniquely to greasy old men. Just a little bit away from him was a woman with long wavy blonde hair and dressed in a business suit frustratedly walking around tapping her phone "Ugh What is this place I need to go to a meeting in 20 mins!".

As Adrian looked at these two still somewhat stunned when suddenly a young girl about the age of 10 suddenly clinged to his legs and was crying and he was finally brought back into reality. "Gege, gege i finally found you!" He was a bit surprised with the child sticking to him crying so he patted her head and said comfortingly "its ok gege is here." Even if he didnt know the little girl, Adrian had a soft spot for children and so he slowly comforted her, after she calmed down and stopped crying, he bent down and smiled at her and tried to ask."well what's your name?" The little girl finished crying, slowly blushed from embarrassment and quietly said "Lia's name is Amelia but you can call me Lia! and s-sorry for mistaking you mister, you had the same glowy light as gege." (A/N: Gege for those that dont know means older brother)

'Glowy light?' Adrian had seen so many different strange things happening today so much so he wasn't too surprised if something was upb

with him too.

Adrian patted her head, chuckled and said. "Well no worries lia" the little girl blushed and hugged adrian.

While the big and small pair were talking the middle aged man shouted in surprise as a young lady who seemed to be in her early 20s dressed in a receptionist uniform came out suddenly from the darkness. She was overtly pale with a cold but beautiful face. Though if one looked closely they would find that apart from her face her body was littered in purplish-red bruises.

With the middle aged man's shout, everyone put their attention to the lady who came out of nowhere. Seeing as she had everyone's attention she slowly opened her mouth and started speaking, her voice deep, hoarse and somewhat robotic…..

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Mini Theater:

Kaid: Cycles of Death its gonna be an iconic name hehe (*°▽°*)

Adrian: ....

Adrian: Cycles of Death wow so original i wonder whats gonna happen with a name like that *eye roll*

Kaid: ....

Kaid: "…(இдஇ)"

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A/N: This author is bad at names. I'm the type of person to name their pet with it's defining feature.

A/N: SPECIAL THANKS TO HEX, ARASHI, SUSU AND TO MY FELLOW AUTHORS LITTLE BLUE LAKE AND SILLY_FOX TYSM YOU GUYS HELPED ME A BUNCH IN WRITING THIS

MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT BLUE'S AND FOX'S STORIES

BTBAB (Is it better to be a beta) and Pandemonium!