Shady Hospital

This entire place was seemingly abandoned. Like all the staff and patients just up and left the place just recently. Though I did find Isamu, look just as confused as I was.

He jumped in surprise upon seeing me, letting out a short scream. "Man, you scared the crap out of me! Why'd you go sneaking up like that? Geez, you come in late, you cause trouble. You know what, forget it. Not worth it." His shoulders rolled back and he let out a sigh.

"I'm sure you already noticed, but this place has been cleaned out. You think everyone died off? I called Ms. Takao to make sure this was it. She clearly told me, 'Shinkjuku Medical Center'" Pacing around the room, he tried and failed to find a reason for all of this.

"I heard that the residents did some sort of ritual and sacrificed everyone here." Isamu was was quick to call me out on my bullshit.

"You expect me to believe that crap!? Get a load of this guy, talking about rituals, the occult like they actually exist. Absurd! They could've at least put a sign out the front for the visitor or something!" Letting out another sigh, his frustration got the better of him, exploding everywhere as he spoke.

"All right, I'm going to head back down and check out how Chiaki's doing. I bet she's all pissed 'cause I've been gone for so long… It ain't easy pleasing a princess. Anyway, Sora… I really hope this isn't the shit storm it's shaping up to be." He tiredly admitted, walking out of the room.

Following his example, I left the barren room. But not before switching to my other shroud and sucking up the soul. It seemingly gave me a boost in my abilities, as my body felt lighter and more energized. It was like a shot of caffeine straight into your veins.

Getting back to the lobby, I found Chiaki, her face glued to the magazine I gave her. "Oh, you're back." Surprised, she turned to look at me, her face turning concerned.

"You know that special report at the beginning of the magazine? Well, it says some things that are more than just a little unsettling. According to this, there's a cult of demon worshippers who call themselves the Ring of Gaea. And they're right here in Japan. Apparently, they believe in this book of prophecy called the Spricture of Miroku. In the book, it says that chaos will engulf the world. And these people are trying to cause that somehow."

As the fear within her grew, a small portion of her hair and the pointer finger on her right hand began to glow a dim silver. It was then that Isamu decided to enter the lobby.

"No luck finding Ms. Takao. I even looked in the men's room." He tiredly announced, putting his hands around his neck. His laid-back nature seemed to rub Chiaki off the wrong way.

"We didn't need to hear that Nitta-san, why would a woman like her be in the men's room anyway? Argh! Moving on," With a bit of irritation in her voice, she continued reading and explaining the contents of the magazine

"a hospital on the east side of Shinjuku is closely linked to the organization's sinister plan."

There was a short pause before Isamu interjected. "Lemme guess, it ends with. 'Find out on our next issue' Get real, this actually believes this crap?"

"Though from the rumors I heard about this place, it wouldn't sound too far fetched. Like how they run deadly experiments on patients, or how a psychic in a straitjacket bolted out of here screaming bloody murder. And of course, there's a rumor that a cult is behind all of this mess."

There was another eerie silence, the three of us looked at each other, a bit shaken up, before Chiaki spoke up.

"Y-you're serious?"She tripped over her words before recomposing herself. "Why haven't we heard about this before? Why did Ms. Takao tell us to come here if rumors like that were associated with the building, it doesn't make sense!?" Disbelief blinds her emotions as more and more portions of her body become silver.

"How 'bout we ask the woman 'erself? We search every part of this building, and if she's not here, we split." Isamu explained, trying his best not to get the little princess angry.

Everyone nodded and he continued with his plan once more. "Sora, you should take this. It's the key card to the basement. "

"And if he finds any of those 'things' down there? Why don't you check the basement, while we clear out everything else? You scared of the monster in the closet?" This was near-180 for her character, though it really is my fault. I don't mind, it's more survivability while I try to get my abilities up and running.

"Fine then! Why don't the two of you go to the basement if you're worried about his safety. Look. All you need to do is confirm that Ms. Takao isn't in the basement, Got it? After all, saving the day is my job. Should things take a sharp turn towards the shit storm, just run like a bat outta hell! Okay?" And with that, Isamu turned back and went up the stairs, in search of our mysterious teacher.

Closing the magazine, Chiaki stood up and grabbed a hold of my hand, bringing it close to her. "Come on Sora, we have to go through a hospital basement, and I would rather be anywhere else but there."

Going up to an elevator in the back end of the lobby, we called for it and went down to the bottom floor.

…

Entering the basement, I covered my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the new lighting. While not necessarily "night" dark, the lights adjacent to us were dimming with each second, some of them even flickering. The cold metal(?) walls surrounded all but the ceiling, which was just grating. The whole place just had this atmosphere of sketchy science experiments.

Right in front of us was a metal security gate, slotting the card inside, it opened with a loud creak, adding to the already dense air of this place.

Using the mapper, we successfully made our way to the room with our teacher. This feels… great. Not bumping into every single wall and getting lost in the labyrinth that is the entire new world, is quite refreshing.

Entering the room, a man sat quietly observing a device hooked up to machinery that was scattered around the room. The device itself looked like it had 3 individual circles stacked on top of each other, with rune-like inscriptions all over the surface. "Who is it?" The man said in a stern tone.

"Who dares disrupt this stillness... Only two lost lambs" Spinning his chair, he turned to look at us. Getting a good look at him, he appeared to be a man dressed in a suit, his most notable feature was definitely his hair, having a sort of "m" shape to it.

"A well-known poet once said, 'April is the cruelest month.' Have you any inclination as to why?" There was a pause that only lasted a second, not giving us any time to think of an answer, he continued.

"Because it is then one awakens from a long sleep and faces a barren world…" He continued on with his monologue, about the world needing to be born anew, my mind blacked out through most of it until he asked if we were acquainted with our teacher.

"Come to think of it, this was a hospital, wasn't it? And you merely came to visit her." Shifting his position on his chair, his expression seemed to only grow more bored as time went on. He glanced at the back of his hand lazily before continuing.

"However, even a pebble creates ripples when cast in water… And while I do feel pity for you… Your life end here!" The last word left his mouth, centering his body relative to the seat, he waved his hand to the left, and the machine behind him proceeded to glow a bright blue.

In moments a heavy pressure forced itself into the room, a ghost-like image of Baphomet appeared behind the man as he said. "Don't be afraid. All the inhabitants of this world will follow before long. Your time has just come a bit sooner, that's all"

That was my cue to dump mana like it was oil into curse defense buffs and creating a shield from the shroud, while Chiaki's arm became fully silver. "I reject your reality with my own!" I loudly exclaimed, raising a black shield from the shadows within the room.

"Interesting, you know of magic… But that won't help you. Demon! Attack these brats." The door behind us opened up, and just before the attack was about to clash. Out came our teacher, Ms. Takao, moments too late to save her students.

"Sto-!" She tried to reach out to us, but it was all for naught, as a blast of pure death was hurled towards the two of us.