Gwynne locked eyes with Hershey as Rueben silently looked over them.
"..." Hershey stared at her for a moment, then softly nodded her head.
Gwynne let out a bright smile as she turned to Rueben, eager to get some recognition but Rueben just shrugged his shoulders.
"You ask her, I don't know what to ask."
Gwynne stared at him, then sighed and turned to Hershey.
"First question. Who are you?"
"Hershey. The first Doll."
"The first... "Doll"….?"
She asked, putting heavy emphasis on the word doll.
"Yes. I was the first to turn into a Doll. A successful one."
"Do you mean you are the first to turn into a True Doll unlike the others?"
"You get it."
Hershey nodded her head as she answered Rueben's question.
Gwynne rubbed her cheeks, then asked, "Why were you chosen out of all of you? I heard from Rueben that there are six of you down here."
Hershey smiled, "It was because I was the most obedient one."
"The most obedient?"
"I immediately followed Mother's orders. Accepted Her love. I truly became Her child."
"..." Rueben paused, then opened his mouth, "Then those who were not… Obedient.. are turned into a mere doll unlike you?"
"Of course. Mother have no use for disobedient children, much less children that would hurt their own mother. Though She sealed them into the bodies of dolls, that doesn't mean She hates them. She only grounded them for a moment, sooner or later, they'll be free again."
Rueben stared at her, "Then how about Sara?"
Hershey locked eyes with him, then gave him a grin, "Sara? That rotten disobedient, manipulating rat?"
She chuckled.
"Mother is disciplining her. She went and found a certain Hunter and bonded with him. You must never talk or even interact with strangers, you'll get bad ideas in your head."
Gwynne stared at Rueben as he clenched his jaw and fist. Then she turned to Hershey and asked, "What is this place?"
"Mn? What ever do you mean?"
"I mean this whole… dungeon, labyrinth! Whatever you call it! What is this place, what's happening!?"
Hershey stared at her, then slightly turned her chin up, "You mean our Home? Why? What's wrong with it?"
".…What's wrong with it? Why are there so many beasts lying around, monsters! What is going on? Why was there an entire region behind us! Who was guarding that gate! Why was he stabbed with so much weapons! Why are there graveyards, cities, towns, and even an armory here! Even a beach! Where the fuck did the beach even come from!?"
Rueben stared at her for a moment, suddenly registering what Gwynne had just said.
Why were there buildings and towns here? Why specifically this place? Why were the Corpsewalkers standing in one direction? For the first time, Rueben asked questions.
This whole place was filled with mysteries, secrets hidden from their prying eyes.
Was he so focused on surviving that he didn't stop for a moment and think about the mysteries and secrets that was hidden in this place?
Or was it because he didn't care?
Hershey stayed silent for a moment, then answered, "Isn't it normal for pets to be inside homes? Isn't it normal for there to be rooms inside a house? Isn't it normal for there to be a person guarding your front door? Isn't it normal for there to be a lawn and a backyard for a house?"
Her left eyebrow was lifted high as she spoke, "Why are you asking useless questions? Isn't it common sense to have all these?"
Gwynne stared at her, then scoffed, "This isn't normal. Nothing about this place is normal. Even time here isn't normal!"
"Hah! Then tell me what is normal, woman. Tell me." Hershey chuckled as she stared at Rueben, still holding the gun towards her.
"A home should be cheery! Filled with people, pets are dogs and cats, food should be on the table… and… and…" Gwynne slowly stopped speaking. "…"
Hershey gave her a laugh, "See? THIS place is normal."
"...No, it isn't…"
"It is. We have everything that a home should have. That a home could be called "Normal"."
"..." Gwynne fell silent.
Did she even know what a normal Home was?
Had she experienced it?
"Then… That supernatural power of yours. How did you do that? Is it magic? Sorcery or rituals?"
She changed the topic and asked about the thing she liked to ask the most.
Hershey fell silent for a moment, then gasped as if she understood. "Ah, you meant my Concept? I was taught by Mother that. You didn't know?"
The two only shook their heads.
Hershey rubbed her cheeks, soiling it with the black liquid.
"Basically, when you are in a certain height of Status, you can somewhat dwell into a Concept. You would then tap into the powers of that certain Concept and use it in the Real World."
Gwynne pursed her lips, "Elaborate further may you."
"There are levels to our Existence. These levels are called Status. The higher your Status, the easier it is to tap into a Concept and use that Concept to affect the Real World. These concept can be both abstract or straightforward, it really depends on your attributes and connection with that specific Concept."
Status? Existence…. So there are levels to our Existence and they are called Status. When one's Status is high enough, they can begin to tap into the powers of Concepts and use them into the Real World?
"Then what would your concept be?" Gwynne asked.
Hershey only smiled.
"What would it be?"
Hershey smiled as she turned to Rueben. Gwynne promptly looked to her left.
"Guess."
She says as Rueben slowly turned to Gwynne, pointing the gun towards her.
Wha- …. Gwynne looked at Rueben's dazed face for a moment, shocked.
Then Rueben pulled the trigger as Gwynne swiftly rolled forward, barely dodging the bullet and tackled Rueben, Rueben only grabbed her two arms and pulled it out of the way. Then he coiled his arms around her neck and headlocked her.
Gwynne gasped, the two fell to the ground as they squirmed around.
She gasped for air, her entire body slowly losing air as she held his arms and tried to pull it away. But Rueben was physically stronger than her and he had a good foundations, she couldn't get out of his headlock so easily.
A few moments passed and Gwynne felt her conciousness slowly lose itself. Gritting her teeth, she muttered. "Sorry for this….!!!"
She swiftly moved her right hand to Rueben's nether regions, felt something… big... and touched it, then gripped it hard.
"..Argh!" Feeling the pain, Rueben got out of his dazed state and hurriedly let go of Gwynne before swatting away her hand from his crotch.
"Argh, fuck!!" He cursed as Gwynne breathed in beside him.
Curling up, he saw Gwynne stand up and grab the flintlock and hurriedly reloaded it as she yelled, "Protect me, you idiot!"
Rueben gritted his teeth and stood up, enduring the pain, he clenched his fist and a hidden blade fell from the gauntlet.
He then turned to Hershey, who was in the same spot as she once was, smiling.
"What do you think my Concept is?"
Gwynne didn't answer and quickly shot her once she finished reloading the flintlock.
The bullet swiftly fly to Hershey before seemingly passing through a mirror like object, creating cracks in the air as the sounds of glass breaking sounded throughout the entire area.
Rueben and Gwynne swiftly opened their eyes and turned to Hershey, who was just sitting there, drinking some black goo with a somewhat broken tea cup.
"Oh, you have awoken." She smiled. Gwynne immediately reached to her back and pointed the flintlock towards Hershey.
The bullet grazed an invisible mirror like object and the sounds of glass breaking sounded out again.
Rueben and Gwynne opened their eyes once more.
"What the...." Gwynne muttered softly as she looked at Hershey, now taking out a piece of rotting bread and placed it into her mouth.
Hershey just smiled as Rueben grabbed the flintlock and aimed it towards her.
Her eyes widened a little as a smirk formed on her lips.
"What're you going to do with that?"
Rueben gave her a glance, then promptly changed the trajectory of the flintlock and aimed it towards his head. Then he pressed the trigger.
He softly fell down as Gwynne stared at him in disbelief.
The sounds of glasses breaking rattled in ther ears once more the were back in their original position. Rueben stared at Hershey, who as surprised at Rueben and amused at the same time. Her eyes glowed as she stared at them in anticipation.
After all, if you saw an ant promptly kill itself infront of your very eyes, you would get amused.
Rueben turned to Gwynne and took the flintlock from her and then aimed it at her, earning him a confused and emotionally scared face from Gwynne.
Just as Rueben was about to press the trigger while Hershey was looking, Gwynne raised her hands up in the air and shouted at Rueben.
"What in Almer's name do you think your fuckin' doing????"
Rueben stopped his hand and gave his feet a glance, thinking for a moment, before turning to Hershey and let loose.
Hershey smiled as the sounds of glass breaking sounded out once more.
They were once again, back in their original positions.
"Was that because of what i did earlier...?"
"Apologies." Rueben glanced at Gwynne, then dashed towards Hershey to which she jumped from her seat and made Rueben trip.
Rueben managed to regather his balance while falling and continued running towards her as Gwynne took out the flintlock and a small dagger and threw it towards Hershey while she tossed the gun towards Rueben.
Rueben caught the gun and turned it around before coming infront of Hershey and slammed the handle of the flintlock to her face.
As Hershey caught the incoming knife, she just ducked down and hugged Rueben's legs, making the two of them fall. Then she punched Rueben in the neck before grabbing the gun and pointed it towards Gwynne, who was about to stab her in the back.
Gwynne swiftly dodged the incoming bullet but failed to dodge the incoming fist that was about to crash into her face but before it could land, Rueben swiped her feet with his and made her fall down on the floor.
To which Gwynne took the chance to kick her in the stomach. Rueben swiftly grabbed a knife from Gwynne and quickly stabbed Hershey's face with it.
The sounds of mirrors crashing into each other sounded out in their ears and the two of them were back in their original position.
The two of them glanced at each other for a moment, then both turned to Hershey, who was sitting on the ground with a flintlock in her hand. She was staring at them with a smile as Gwynne reached for her back and found none of her hidden weapons were there.
"They weren't reset?" She asked outloud to signal to Rueben that she had no weapons.
Rueben's eyes narrowed into a slit before licking his upper lip to moisten them, "We're going back to basic hunting without weapons 101 then."