Understanding Vain

"We need to know more about what happened before we can trust him."

"Think about it logically. If Jack was taken away by an entity or just a strange force, he might have been crazy, making the man's blurry eyes see him like a hound."

"If we follow that train of thought, then that means he only defended himself in a way so he didn't get hurt and probably die with how much he was injured before we met him."

"So the only thoughts we have is either he killed our brother and ended up making it a life or death situation, or on the other hand he didn't even see our brother at all and we made a mistake thinking he killed Jack."

"Although we could consider those questions all we want, now since we decided our brother dying probably doesn't have anything to do with him, we need to think about his actual danger level. He is smart enough to know why we won't kill him depending on the situation, also we know he is strong enough to even kill a Vine entity without a flamethrower."

"I guess we can just threaten him and just invite him into the group for now."

"Too dangerous."

"I agree. It is dangerous, but... I think we should let him join us and understand his personality for now. The time limit is three to five days."

"I guess that is fine. We will go for that for now."

The brothers had finally stopped talking to each other and turned back to the man.

"We think you most likely didn't kill our brother, but our superiors told us we shouldn't trust people on this level at all. So for now we will be wary of your existence until the other group that our superiors have sent." Jason spoke for the group while looking straight into Vain's eyes.

***(end of last chapter here)***

Jason was the first to speak, "Alright for now we will just go with our original plan until the next group comes here. I hope we won't regret this."

Vain nodded rapidly, "I wish to work with you all in good faith."

"We hope for that as well."

The men all nodded to each other after waking up from their thoughts.

After they all calmed down Jason spoke up once more, "So tell me. What type of life were you living before you met us here? Where is your group?"

Vain smiled wryly, "Have you heard of a secret organization on level 5? Specifically, an organization that also has entities?"

"No, I don't think I have. What does this organization have to do with your group? Unless they come from that organization?" Jason was completely confused since all organizations are made of humans as far as he had heard.

"No. It is called 'The Lost Hall Society' and I only met one member who just so happens to be a Tentacle entity. I only really had a single person in my group permanently... She was just a child I had originally adopted... Her name... Athena." Vain's voice had completely broken when he spoke her name.

"You aren't making any sense what did this organization do to your 'daughter'?" At this point, the other brothers, who had originally been planning to listen to the conversation on the side, had now stopped everything and started to look at Vain who was telling his story.

"They said she was special... I agree with that... She was intelligent and curious... She was amazing... They said she had potential as one of their members... She wanted knowledge and they took advantage of that want... They promised her access to all the information she desired as long as she wanted to join... The kid was too young... She agreed... and THEY TOOOK HER! THEY TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!" Vain's eyes had gone red and his anger seemed to overflow as he clenched his fist.

"Calm down! Calm down! Just speak to me and tell me what happened." Jason tried to save the situation and calm down Vain, especially since he had started to open his wounds with blood starting to stain the bandages again.

Vain was now breathing heavily and trying to calm himself down as well.

Ten minutes later Vain's breathing had calmed and his eyes were no longer bloodshot.

"I'm sorry. I just was really angry at them."

"It's fine just finish your story." Jason had a smile on his face and was doing his best to keep a calm face.

"Well, that organization told me I would go through certain tests and then threw me into level 3 which I thought originally was just because I originally thought was just because I had just exited the level before arriving on level 5.

Later when I was able to escape again I realized I was stuck on that level and unable to leave. So at that point, I was alone and on the most dangerous early level. I think I stayed on that level for about a week before I was taken back to that entity." Vain's voice had started to escalate in anger once again causing him to take another break to calm down a little bit.

"Sorry... After a short meeting with that Entity, I was brought to this level. I don't really know any more than that."

"Is that all? I mean I'm sure there was more to it than just being thrown into levels, right?"

Vain could only smile wryly and shake his head, "Besides the experiences I had on the levels like the constant fighting or the close shaves with death, I haven't had any real interactions with that organization past what I had already told you."

Jason could only sigh softly before speaking in a sadder tone than before, "For now you should get some rest before we get going on a run. You should know our real goal for these runs are the Firesalt crystals and any water we find. You also said you fell into a trap? I assume you grabbed one of the keys and set off the trap, right?"

"Yeah I touched a key and it trapped me in between several entities."

"The only other thing you should avoid is the 'Exit' doorways which lead to an area infested with entities. So grab everything except the keys. Next, go as far as you can into the halls for approximately eight hours before turning around. The doors aren't a good idea unless you want to leave through specific doors that lead to different levels, but without knowledge of where to go, I don't suggest going through any doors unless you get trapped by entities.

'hah' You got all that?"

Vain nodded his head to which Jason smiled and spoke again, "Go get rest. We will leave in three hours."

Vain listened to Jason and decided to believe these people had stopped worrying if he killed their brother and would let him sleep peacefully without worry.

The brothers on the other hand all sat around a table and started to whisper to each other as they started to have some type of breakfast.

"How much of his words should we believe?" Harry was the first to speak his worry.

"I think we should just believe him without really worrying too much because I think that anger was just as real as the blood that flowed from his wounds as he tensed his muscles." Nick was unsettled by what he had seen so he showed his full support.

"I know he is smart and he could have made up all the anger, but I am inclined to believe him because of how long it took him to calm down. If you are going to lie then you most likely would instead show anger for maybe three minutes because the longer you do something the more likely you will be to make a mistake.

Those things most likely did happen to him, but we also found out he isn't stable emotionally. He is dangerous because he can go crazy in a moment, but I believe he would only show his crazy side to the entities that took away his daughter. We most likely would be safe, but what I think we should do is just move away whenever his eyes go red." Jason threw out all his thoughts at once.

"So trust him and work with him until he doesn't seem emotionally stable which we then just abandon him?" Nick spoke up to understand what will happen.

"Yes." The brothers all nodded to show they understood how they should act to Vain.

"Eat and get ready for what will come."