"So what are we going to do with this one?"
"I don't know? Why are you asking me?"
"Because you found her."
'A familiar set of sentences constructed from words out of the mouth's of some very annoying people.
Feeling a strange weight press down on her eyes, Shana's mind quickly fired up it's neurons to understand what was happening.
'So I went back in time once again'
Not moving an inch, the conversation besides her continued to flow as she listened to Albert and Lily continue to talk.
"Well just because I found her outside our estate during my duties doesn't mean that I know what to do with her."
"Surely you're worshipped book of rules has something to do with the appearance of unknown people?"
"Not to my knowledge it does, but I might be wrong."
The sound of whirring gears filled the room as Shana perked her ears up and continued to listen
And after a brief rustle of the pages from some unknown book, Shana mentally struggled in the darkness as two pairs of metallic feet slapped against the ground.
Slowly receding off into the distance until she couldn't hear them anymore, Shana opened her eyes before quickly assessing the room that she was in.
Since she was mostly preoccupied with talking to the androids in the first and second run, she didn't get the chance to see what it was that was around her.
But when she did, it was basically all in line with normal hospitals like the ones back on earth.
However, strangely enough, the lights in this place were... on?
She couldn't really tell since the lights placed on the ceiling weren't glowing with the distinct light that they should've been glowing with.
But it was strange that they turned off the lights saying they were turning on the dark.
It just didn't make sense since the world operated on a reversed concept of light and darkness.
And although she didn't exactly know the science between people seeing in the dark and being unable to see in the light, Shana didn't want to think to hard about it.
All she had to know was that light is dark and dark is light, simple.
Just make sure to not fuck it up.
Mentally noting those things down, Shana adjusted her shirt before placing her ear on the doorway.
"..."
Hearing nothing else but the sound of her own breaths Shana waited a few seconds more as her heart beat within her chest pounding like a drum in her ears.
'The coast is clear'
Slowly turning the door handle, Shana gave a last look at the medical bay she had woken up in before opening the door and walking out.
And as she did, she found herself in the halls of the estate.
Staring at the plush white walls that were sparsely decorated by the odd painting of something unknown alongside a couple plants, she felt her feet sink into the plush red rug.
Stepping on the red carpet, Shana bent down to look closely at the fibre's and created a small image of what seemed to have happened.
The two pairs of indentations by the door were most definitely the androids leaving the premises.
The third pair of feet that joined them on the way out of the door was most probably the guard.
And seeing as they went right, it seemed that they were heading to the library.
For what reason she didn't know, but since the guard was accompanying them, Shana deemed it smart to not interact with the incredibly aggressive android wielding a gun.
And although she would like to pick up the diary from the library once again so that she could read through it again.
Once again, the three androids were in that direction and she didn't want to die again.
So although it wasn't exactly the best choice, it was the only choice.
Making a decision on the spot, Shana spun on her heel before heading to the left.
Walking forwards, she observed her surroundings and noticed how lavish yet minimalist it was at the same time.
Before hand, as she was being led to the library, the only things she noted outside of the fancy and luxurious painting flanked by plant pots and the odd table was how human like the android was at close range.
Like no joke, if not for the steel skin visible from beneath their clothes, Shana would've thought that this guy was just an incredibly buff man with a fixation on masks and large top hats.
'Well I guess the hats have a use in containing that weird spider controlling them.'
Recalling how strange the spider looked while controlling the androids, Shana shivered.
To think that she thought that they were normal before the diary.
Rubbing her hands together, Shana finally reached an interruption in the monotonous surroundings that was nothing but hallway.
Two doorways.
One on the left and one of the right.
The one on the left was a large set of double doors that was layered in thick metal sheets that were well kept and shone brightly underneath the lights.
And if she listened closely, Shana could hear the sound of metal against metal.
The one on the right on the other hand was a dingy one and stood stark against the well kept background of the estate.
Not to say that it was disgusting or anything, it was just dirty compared to the rest of this place.
And if she listened closely, zero sound came out of the dirty door.
She noted that there was the faint smell of garbage.
Of course she could also go straight forwards in the corridor that still went on for some way, she now had a choice.
Continue walking forwards to some unknown place with a heightened chance of meeting the buff man who was ridiculously fast.
Gamble and look into the gigantic set of metal doors containing the sound of construction.
Or gamble again and enter the dirty door that may or may not be the dump.
First off the hallway choice could fuck off since she was happy not visiting the forest where she had her brains blown out by a mentally unstable android unit that was most probably insane.
'Well they are insane.'
Correcting herself, Shana was in the midst of deciding when the door on the left creaked.
Adrenaline flowed into her heart causing her body to jump.
Feeling a jolt run around her soul, almost instinctively, Shana quickly opened the door on the right and slipped in while the sound of tracks clattered out from behind her.
Shutting the door and hiding behind it, Shana felt her heart beat fiercely as sweat poured from her forehead
Carefully listening to the sounds beyond the door while her heart continued to beat fiercely, Shana listened to the sounds.
Gears clattered against each other, as something large that ran on wheels slowly moved in the corridors.
Hands moving to the spot where her heart was, she felt through her breasts the fiercely beating heart that easily reached a steady 130 bpm.
Something unimaginable outside of extreme sports.
'But I guess that I'm already doing extreme sports... with my life.'
Cursing the Dark that was nothing like the beautiful depiction of the reversal of life and death that her dad had made it out to be, Shana heard the tracks slowly move away from her.
And as they did, she finally gained a moment of reprieve as her once shivering hands slowly returned to normal.
Letting loose the breath that she didn't even know that she was holding, Shana observed her surroundings.
It was better then she thought, that was her first reaction.
Since she smelt garbage she had thought that this would be a garbage dump or a sewer system and the door she just entered was the entrance to it.
But from what she had seen so far, it seemed that the smell of garbage was just the mold.
Observing the surroundings, it was bright, much brighter than the rest of the facility.
Lights glaring from who knows what source, Shana observed the rows upon rows of shelves that had several boxes of different sizes stacked on top of each other.
It was lack luster compared to the rest of the places she had seen so far, but it at least was lacking the murder robots that were contained in it.
'I mean, if they aren't called murder robots what are they supposed to be?'
Walking amongst the rows of boxes she curiously looked into a few boxes and gained a face that was a mask of various emotions.
Most of it was confusion and a small portion of it was disgust.
Not that it was complete disgust as one would act besides rotten food, it was more like an aversion someone would have wearing new shoes near mud.
It was completely illogical but it was human nature.
Staring at the box that was a collection of Metal and fungus, Shana had a thought.
'How on earth is a mushroom growing on metal?'
If one was awake during biology lessons, it would come as common knowledge that plants primarily thrived on soil rich in nutrients.
That was because it was both loose yet firm enough so plants could take root.
If it was in sand the roots wouldn't be able to maintain a grip while the inverse would happen with solids.
This meant that plants as a whole were
And although fungi weren't technically plants, they were grouped up in with them due to their similar nature.
But then again, in this place where light was natural and just was everywhere logic didn't really apply here did it?
'I don't really want to think about it'
Using that logic, Shana continued to explore the complex, and of the things she had to say about this place...
"It's fucking big"
With no exaggeration, Shana thought that this place might've been remodeled out of the Titanic with how large it was.
With no visible end in sight Shana continued to explore the place filled with boxes.
Sometimes stopping every now and then to look into the boxes they were a mixed bag of goodies that were a mixture of anything possible.
Ranging from the fungus covered metals to cloth dolls and white bones Shana really didn't want to think about where those last parts came from.
'Oh who am I kidding, those guys definitely killed them.'
Coming across a skull that had a fist sized hole on it, Shana grimaced before shoving the box back into its place.
Most likely a victim of Gregory's impulsive shooting.
'What on earth is behind those calibre's?'
Struggling to remove the Image from her mind, Shana continued walking forwards all the while periodically looking into the boxes and grimacing when she saw fhe innards.
It was something she had no control over as her curiousity just like always got the better of her.
Shoving back the latest box which contained a series of bones covered in scratches, Shana finally stopped her feet as she stared at an anomaly amongst the orderly boxes.
Laying against an overturned shelving unit, boxes filled with bones, metal, moss, dolls among other things lay gathered around the body.
To be exact however, it was just one large porcelain doll wearing 20th century clothing which was somewhere in the midst of modern and old fashioned.
Brown overalls that hugged the legs and were strapped over the white striped shirts and a beret that was commonly found on paper boys.
It was one of the more iconic fashion choices at the time.
But outside of all that, unlike the other dolls that carried the stitched button faces or were plain slates.
This doll wore a mask with crying eyes but no smile.
Staring at it, Shana noted that she felt as if she was supposed to pick it up.
A strangeness beckoned at her mind as the mask appeared more and more important in her mind, like a treasure or keep sake that she had been with for several years.
Something she found off putting since she just laid her eyes on it.
But even despite knowing that it was out of place for her, Shana felt...
Compelled
'Wait a minute, when did I get so close to it?'
Flinching out of her revery, Shana jolted when she noticed that her fingers were mere inches from the mask.
Quickly ripping her hands away from the mask, Shana felt her heart beat as sweat poured down her forehead.
Dripping onto the ground, Shana stared at the mask warily before observing it closely in detail as she made sure to move a meter away.
'Just what the hell are you...?'
Murmuring to herself underneath her breath, Shana observed.
It was a plain white mask of the same design of the other masks adorning the robots being controlled by spiders.
The only differences here though was that although the masks on the faces of the demonic androids had incredibly elongated smiles on their faces and varied eyes.
The mask in front of her didn't have such a feature as they only had semi circle eyes with lines drawn beneath them that seemed to signify tears.
Although she didn't know what type of tears one would have to shed for them to become thick pillars underneath the eyes.
If anything, if the lines were filled in, Shana would've thought that this would be some form of castrated spartan helmet.
Touching the surface of the mask Shana felt the smoothness that seemed to be some unknown metal.
Holding it up, Shana stared into the deep black abyss surrounding the eyes and felt the cool touch of metal rest in her palms.
Adjusting the mask in her hands, she looked behind it and noted that it had no visible straps upon it that could hold it onto her face.
'So how does it even hold itself up?'
Curiously bringing the mask nearer to her face she hesitated for a moment as a fleeting sense of unnaturalness flitted through her mind.
But just as quickly as it came, Shana figured out what the sense of unnaturalness had come from.
'...Oh how silly of me.'
Using her other hand to take off her glasses, the world suddenly became less focused as she dismissed the pervading sense of unnaturalness.
Fitting it onto her face, she opened her eyes and thought.
'How curious.'
Looking through the eye holes, Shana saw that the world around her was in magnified focus that was akin to when she was wearing her own glasses.
Holding up the red framed glasses, Shana tucked it away into her bosom before snapping her head to the side when a voice filtered in through the shelving units.
"--ade! I've come to bring you fresh souls! Now get over here!"
'Shit!'
Feeling her heart leap into her throat as she quickly recognized the voice, Shana swiftly looked around before locking onto the pile of toppled over boxes.
Quickly making her way into the pile and moving the cloth life size doll out of the way, Shana slowly placed it on top of herself.
And as she hid underneath the doll making it so that she was completely covered by various items, Shana stared at the figure who had entered the storage room.
Metal feet slapping against the ground, long pants that were neatly pressed came into her vision.
Slightly shifting so that she could see the rest of the being that came in, Shana was taken aback.
Because Albert Conningham was holding something with all ten of his arms.
You heard her right, ten arms.
But that wasn't the thing that she was focused on.
'What in the nine hells is that!?'
Silently screaming, Shana focused her gaze on the bluish white blobs stuck on the ends of the arms.
In the form of faces, they silently screamed in what seemed to be pain as they writhed like living undulating blobs of blue flesh.
Twisting around, they writhed in the tens pointed arms as Albert continued.
"Shade Mistress? Are you present? I have brought you fresh souls."
Holding up the blue blobs of undulating souls, Shana felt sick in the stomach as Albert looked around.
"Mistress Shade?"
Moving towards her position, Shana quickly got rid of her disgust and held her breath.
It was terrifying.
Heart beat spiking, sweat ran down her forehead as her eyes shuddered within her face.
Lungs expanding and contracting as they took in as much oxygen as possible, light reflected off of the metal surfaces as an eerie blue light emanated out of the souls.
Heart beat spiking with the addition of adrenaline, Shana tightened her fists as she stared at the arms that were glinting ominously close.
"Mistress?" Bringing the souls closer to her position, Shana felt her stomach drop as the souls seemed to see her.
Staring into the blue eyes of the soul, the soul seemed to gain new life as it opened its mouth wider and wider in a tortured scream.
"Hmm... Is she asleep? I shall notify the master."
Holding the souls in their ten hands, Albert stared at the soul who seemed to scream even louder as they were being brought away.
'I'm sorry.'
Of course, although she felt sorry for the soul, she liked it that she survived even more.
'Wait, why do I feel sorry? I can just free them later if I have the chance.'
Licking her lips, Shana suddenly let out a cry from her lips as something sharp was suddenly embedded into her leg.
"Ah!"
"It seems that a rat has entered my Mistresses abode."
Removing the arm which had stabbed straight through the leg of the cloth doll, Shana fearfully stared at the android with ten arms holding all ten souls in one hand.
Blood dripping from one of the sharp arms, Albert flicked its arm sending the cloth doll flying off somewhere.
"Oh? Isn't this the additional sacrifice that Lily found outside? Why are you here all of a sudden?"
Tilting their head, Shana quickly reacted.
+++
Tree