Jacob awoke with a start.
He was once again on the ground in the misty area.
But unlike before, the mist wasn't a creepy grey substance blocking light.
It was more like a morning fog, promising a better tomorrow.
Rousing himself to deal with whatever was being thrown at him now, he began to get up.
Before he could complete the action a hand entered his sight, unlike the butler's, it wasn't see-through.
Taking the offered hand, he was hoisted up and bought face-to-face with the master of the house.
The father.
The one who had summoned the demon in the first place.
"Thank you for freeing us" he said, a relieved smile gracing his lips as he used his other hand to hold his wife close.
Jacob's face twitched a little, he hated it when people thanked him.
"And I'm sorry for everything in the mansion. I had changed the ritual to guard the pentagram and my daughter at all costs. I won't attempt to explain the nuances of ritualist mysticism but suffice to say that things went wrong and turned us into unwitting wardens of our own prison.
The demon ended up designing his undoing. You see the reason for our malice was due to his interference. AH twisted our forms as a method of torturing us to relieve his anger. But it only created a more difficult challenge for anyone who would free us. It appears I was 'lucky' enough to summon a relatively simple-minded demon rather than a cunning one." The father apologised with a slight chuckle as he stressed his 'luck.'
Jacob's face once again twitched at this.
If that demon was considered simple, with the amount of planning and cunning it had displayed in manipulating him, what the hell were the more cunning ones capable of?
"Our time in the land of the living is up. But at least my sins will not spread to the rest of the world." The father stated, looking at Jacob with gratitude.
He walked backward somewhat to reveal the rest of the people Jacob had saved.
The boy, the girl, the head maid, and chef smiled warmly at him as their bodies slowly faded to light.
The girl rushed forward before they could fade completely, tackling Jacob's lower abdomen.
He recognised both the warmth and the voice from the dining room. The place he had almost given up.
Only this time, her voice wasn't pleading but relieved.
"Thank you… Thank you for getting up." The girl whispered.
Jacob was stunned, eventually electing to awkwardly pat her on the head before she separated from him and ran back to her family.
As they completely faded back into the light, Jacob had a thought.
He may not have enjoyed any part of the mansion's trials and tribulations, but he was happy he had seen it through to the end.
Even if this was all just a dream.
And finally, everything was white.
***
But something was still different, off slightly.
He could feel the presence of something formless, like water but also a gas
Like the eye of a tornado and the middle of a tidal wave.
And suddenly, it was inside him.
Like he was drowning in air.
Like he was flying through stone.
Like he was burning in ice.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was his head.
It felt like he was being stabbed constantly in the back of his eyes.
Like the worst hangover of his life in the middle of a dubstep parade, while he had to take vital notes on an exam.
All at the same time.
He couldn't remember a time he had felt more pain.
Even setting his broken arm felt trivial in comparison.
***
After what felt like an eternity.
[Installation in progress]
A striking yellow text appeared in his view.
[User mental capacity too low to store full dataset]
[Deleting all non-core data. Leaving core dataset]
[User mental capacity too low to store core dataset]
[Deleting all core data]
[Installing functions]
[User metal capacity too low to store or utilise all functions]
[Archiving excess functions and leaving core function only]
[Success]
[Analysis installation complete]
And somewhere, far, far, far away, an entity covered head to toe in chains... shifted.
Its slothful eyes lowered as it observed the first change in its surroundings in eons.
But that didn't matter, it was patient.
It was born to be patient.
'soon' it thought as its gaze finally met the ground.
Where a single chain now lay broken.
***
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
A loud banging woke Jacob from his sleep.
Instinctively preparing to deal with some crazy bullshit, he sat himself up again.
Only to realise it didn't hurt.
In fact, nothing did.
His arm, his leg, all his bruises and scratches were healed. Even his clothing was back to normal!
What's more, he was in HIS room!
Not the creepy murder mansion room, but in his honest-to-God room where he had fallen asleep last night. Although it felt more like a lifetime ago.
He never thought he would miss the sounds of life, birds and cars, and every other 'normal' sound absent from the mansion.
But here he was, ready to cheer at every horn honk, bird tweet, and indistinct conversation he could vaguely hear.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
Once again, the same three bangs echoed from his door, causing him to focus his gaze, staring at it in contemplation, half expecting the ghost of the father, aka the knocker monster, to burst through.
[Door. Wooden in construction with simple opening mechanism and lock]
Jacob nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw yellow text appear in front of him. Not only that, but the door appeared to be outlined and highlighted in a similar colour.
The text seemed to stay in a certain space, not in his eye line but hovering within the space around him.
Shaking his head, he figured he should answer the door before further studying what was happening to him.
Luckily for him shaking his head seemed to make the yellow text disappear.
So, he got up and put on some slippers before heading towards the door, preparing to converse with what he expected to be a neighbour or maybe the building owner.
As he walked towards the door, it opened of its own accord, startling Jacob and revealing 2 individuals wearing black suits.
"Jacob Bochard, we need you to come with us."