-'°'•Basement•'°'-

Soon enough, everyone departed, Clara, Mei and Issac went on to explore the third floor whilst Aradia and Astolfo were on the first floor

The red head instinctively glanced around, trying to spot Lir but it would seem he was not there

'Astolfo..'

As a protagonist, naturally he would fall under the "sad backstory, cool looks and overpowered" category

But Yeon Haa would beg to differ, the sage haired protagonist did ultimately fall under this criteria but it was still not quite that

Astolfo is an orphan, he doesn't know his real family, a classic sad backstory but he was taken in by a well off noble family, so that cannot count, can it?

He didn't have to suffer, at all, he was taken in at a very young age, barely at the age to think, let alone remember any of it

Before the red head's thoughts could wander more, Astolfo spoke

"So.., you will go into that room, yes?"

Aradia stared at him for a second, before shaking her head

"No? Were you not supposed to go?"

"Pardon?"

The sage haired protagonist voiced out bewildered, it would seem a misunderstanding had arisen

"You raised your hand, so shouldn't you go?"

"But you also raised your hand, if anything, you seemed far more eager than me"

Aradia deadpanned at his response before responding herself, this was a no brainer of an argument

"Yeah- ..why are you moving towards the stairs?"

The red head, who at first was pacing around the room, started to slowly backup, going near the stairs where the basement door is located

"I'm not?"

Astolfo deadpanned at her answer and walked over in phantom speed, his footsteps were so light, it was concealed by the light breathing noise in the room

He paused, noticing a small doorway beside Aradia

"That.."

The sage haired protagonist looked at the red head, brows furrowed

"Where does this lead to?"

"I don't know.. but presumably the basement"

Aradia answered, she knew it was a basement, yes, but she had no idea what was inside; for all the red head knew, the violet witch herself could be in there

"Let us check it out then, shall we?"

Astolfo offered with a gentle smile, it made the red head almost scoff

"Sure, let us go"

She replied back in the same falsely sweet and persuading tone

________________

The door was small, no grown human could enter without crouching down, it got harder to see as they entered, their surroundings were pitch black

The first step inside was stable but..

"Ahhh!"

"AHHHH-"

There were stairs to get lower, huh?

Aradia felt sick to her stomach, falling once again after what happened at the cave, luckily, the fall was cut short as they hit the cold brick floor

"Ugh-"

Astolfo sat up, only to realise he had been stripped of his sight privileges, either that or it was far too dark to see

With the snap of his fingers, a small, red flame appeared in front of him, just enough to look around without falling

"There are some red looking things over there.."

Aradia commented, she couldn't tell clearly what it was

"Oh! These are candles"

The sage haired protagonist voiced out, soon enough, all of the candles were lit and it was far easier to navigate through the darkness of the basement

The duo each held a candle as they moved around, not too far from each other but just enough to explore everything

Suddenly there was a loud crack noise...

"What was that-?"

"I don't know...."

Aradia slowly looked down, her eyes widened as she saw what had made the noise

There were bones scattered throughout the floor.. human bones

The red head quickly retreated backwards, the whole floor space was filled with them, there were even skulls here

"Talk about a surprise, huh"

Astolfo spoke, he had, interestingly enough, not stepped on any bones as of yet

"You don't seem surprised if I do say so myself.."

"Yeah, because I left all of these here"

The red head paused, her eyes darting towards the sage haired protagonist, he had a stoic look, no signs of a smile or laugh..

"You what..?"

"Pfft- haha, I was just joking, no need to look like I will murder your entire family"

Astolfo cracked a laugh, looking pleased with Aradia's baffled expression

"Haha.. very funny"

"Indeed quite funny"

The red head rolled her eyes at his cheeky stunt, but she can't help but feel as though.. the way he said it.. it almost seemed true

"There's a door!"

Astolfo exclaimed, making the red head push back all her thoughts for now

Upon closer inspection of said door, they found out it was another room divided by a fake wall

And it was torture chamber..

"Holy..."

Aradia had to stop herself from cursing, this was.. a terrifying and breath taking sight

There was what seemed to be a small bed in the corner with a long rusty chain attached to one of the beds legs

'a shackle..?'

There was a wooden table beside the bed, covered in mold and dried blood, with the way the dust settled on the table, there were definitely tools here but now.. they were gone, almost like they had vanished

Astolfo stepped forward, looking for anything abnormal

Aradia, too, looked around which led her to realise, the shackle was left open, if someone were to accidentally step in it and..

'stop!'

The red head stopped herself from thinking further, turning away from the bed, not wanting to look at it anymore

"I found something"

The sage haired protagonist declared, catching Aradia's attention once again

"What is that?"

There was something written in blood on the grey brick wall, the red head could not make sense of what it read but judging by Astolfo's reaction, it was probably not good

"What does it say?"

And yet, she still questioned what it read

"It's a riddle.. or a saying"

Astolfo added before reading it out loud

""One spills blood, t'other makes blood seep,

Thou remainst below while she perch high on high""

"What the hell-"

"Let's see..., she means the violet witch.."

Astolfo started to find the meaning behind the saying straight away

""one spills blood, the.. other makes blood seep? you remain below while she stays high on high" is that it?"

Aradia asked, she knew a little bit about old english after reading a lot of novels but she wasn't too confident in her ability

"Yes! That would be correct"

The red head stayed quiet, happy she had gotten it right and not made a fool of herself

'really grandpa?'

Aradia wanted to say that to her grandfather, he made this saying? While it's true, for someone who has little to no knowledge of old english, this may appear hard, but it's actually quite an easy one

""high on high" huh? Is there an attic in this mansion?"

Astolfo asked but it sounded more like he was talking to himself

"I think so"

The red head replied regardless

"That must be it.. let's go!"

As they turned around, the duo was greeted with a not so nice sight

The fake wall apparently had metal spikes embedded on the side, they were racing out, trying to meet with the other wall

'great..'

The duo ran for their life, if they didn't they would be stuck there for all of the eternity paraphrase..

Aradia managed to make it out, however the end of Astolfo's cape got trapped between the spikes and the wall, pulling him back the moment he made it out

The red head stepped forward and took out a small curved dagger, she had kept this all this times, it was finally time for the dagger to shine

With one slice, the end of the cape was cut off, letting Astolfo free

"We should get out before the actual door closes.."

With that Astolfo ran out of the basement, running up the stairs like his life depended on it

Aradia followed behind, not as fast as she knew they will be stopped at the third floor regardless of how fast they run up

'damn slow down..'

The red head said to herself, struggling to keep up

And thankfully the basement' door didn't close

As they ran up, Aradia noted how they didn't get stuck on the second floor

Astolfo halted at the sight in front of him, stretching out his arm to stop the red head as well

Aradia paused at the sudden obstacle in front of her

"What happened- oh"

The red head saw the situation in front of her, Clara, Mei and Issac were currently fighting shadows

A quick look around was enough to tell both of them there was no floor higher to this point, or at least not that they can see

While watching, Aradia came up with a rather bazaar theory, what if these shadows were somehow related to the bones in the basement..?

"Say, how good are you at climbing?"

The sage haired protagonist suddenly voiced out

"Not too bad, is there really a way out though?"

"Yes"

The confidence in his voice both terrified and comforted the red head

"That window over there, is the only window in the whole mansion that can be opened"

Aradia's eyes went over to the said window, and indeed, it could be opened unlike every other window that had no opening

"Math isn't my greatest suit but I assume you will have approximately ten seconds at max to make it out"

"Ten? More than enough"

"Pff- I'm rooting for you"

To someone else it may seem as though Astolfo was speaking in a joking manner, but he genuinely meant it..

"Ready?"

"Of course"

Both of them darted towards the window, surprising the three people already present there

"Cover for me!"

The sage haired protagonist shouted, it was meant for Issac but really anyone would do

"Huh?! What-"

The blonde in question was left baffled but Mei on the other hand didn't need to be told twice

She quickly made her way over to the window where they were standing

Astolfo withdrew his sword from its shaft, flexing the blade into space between the window and it's frame

He sucked in a deep breath before slamming his palm down onto the hilt of the sword, forcing the window wide open

Mana flowed from his palm to the sword, helping to keep the window open

Aradia didn't need any further instructions, she quickly grabbed the top of the window and pushed off her feet, crouching on the ledge with pointed toes

The red head looked back for a moment, noticing Astolfo having a hard time and Mei glaring at her, right they had a lot of catching up to do

Aradia steadied herself for a moment before swinging out in a front flip, she held onto the tiled roof that extended outwards

Her legs stayed in air before falling backwards onto the roof, the red head slowly let go of it and stood up right, she was standing outside, on top of the roof of the illusion mansion

The moment Aradia had let go of the window, Astolfo pulled back his sword, the window fell, closing once again with a loud thud, it was a miracle the glass didn't shatter from the impact

"Let's just hope everything turns out well..."

Bonus:

Aradia once she meets the violet witch:

Aradia: pardon my french, but you're being a douchebaguette

Violet witch: what the f-

                                           To be continued...

Hey, hello, hi, it's me Yan, I'd like to start off with an apology, I'm sorry for not posting okay?? I really wanted to post two chapters during this break but I had no motivation, I'm so burnt out that I didn't get anything, emphasis on anything, I'm sorry, I really am

I don't know how long this will continue, so you all might get another chapter before the Halloween special one but no promises

Life's been annoying honestly, I just want a vacation now..

Also, I actually don't know anything about old english so if the saying in this chapter is wrong, my bad

Fun fact, this chapter has been cut short (for both my sanity and for you all to enjoy an update and not wait anymore)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it

Hope you have a good day, afternoon, evening or night

Once again please forgive this lowly author for any grammatical errors and I'll see you all in the next chapter

Peace.

Words: 2,122