The next stage to our plan wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. We held a wedding in Babi’s cabin. Jim and Jon’s grand plan to allow Babi to enter the complex was to have Gunter and her get married. Once Babi becomes Gunter’s spouse then they’ll both be tenants and she’ll be the secondary tenant to Gunter’s room. You could tell this was more Jon’s idea than Jim’s. Jon seemed a little too eager to watch them get married. Seeing a giant humanoid cryptid jump in excitement to see a wedding was something I wouldn’t never have guessed I found cute. Babi and Gunter have been together for years, but never had a ceremony to make it official. Mila officiated the wedding in a rushed manner as we’re short on time, but Jim and Jon still found it beautiful as they wept while watching. Babi made a rusty iron nail and a splinter from her cabin turn into bands for the newlyweds. They sealed it with a kiss and had a quick cheer.
We had no time to have a proper celebration and promised to celebrate later when we had time. Gunter took a few more splinters from Babi’s cabin and started turning one into a door. It was then that Babi explained that she took a portion of the spell that was on my key and can now link any door to any room of her choosing. However, since my key had the unlocking spell, those doors can’t be opened without my key. Babi took Siete and smuggled her inside her gown while Gunter wrapped Mila around him again. We tested Babi’s new ability and instead of using my gold key Babi created a door to my room. We entered together while Babi was hesitant. We all watched as Babi slowly walked to the door and a green barrier that didn’t appear when we passed formed. Babi stopped and inspected the barrier for a moment. She reached out with her left hand and had her ring finger be the first to touch.
Little blue sparks popped around her finger, but Babi seemed unfazed by them. Her ring finger poked through and the barrier popped like a bubble and little blue sparks rained down. Babi strided through the door and entered my room with no problem. We all smiled with relief. Babi then grabbed Gunter cornucopia, held it, grabbed Gunter’s hand and shoved it in. Gunter and Babi then pulled out a fruit that looked like it was made of leaking smoke. Gunter looked surprised and turned towards Babi. I missed you, Gunter said with care in his voice.
I know, Babi replied confidently. Babi let go of Gunter’s hand holding the fruit and turned towards me. No matter what happens, you get that door unlocked and get inside. We’ll deal with our neighbors. Babi states with the authority of a general. All I could reply was, yes ma’am. Babi turned towards Jim and Jon, You two, make sure The Wanderer doesn’t jump in and follow us fast. Jim and Jon agreed and got serious. Mila, you have the most important job of all. You need to distract Winthorp for just a moment. Gunter will have your back, Mila didn’t say anything, but we knew she understood her assignment. I’ll worry about Her and the wind djinn. Are we ready?! Babi questioned us loud and hard. We all took our places at my room’s exit. Jim and Jon on the left. Mila on the wall to the right. Babi stood in the middle while me and Gunter stood behind her. I held my silver key tightly when Gunter tapped my shoulder in our brief moment before we moved. I looked back slightly. Just know, thank you. For everything, Gunter says with a grin. You too buddy, I reply with a brotherly grin.
NOW!!! Babi uses her magic to swing open my door from a short distance. Her was right there with open arms and howled a scream that could deafen the deaf. Gunter leapfrogged over me and Babi and threw his smoking fruit right into Her’s face. Babi placed a wind bound barrier so that no smoke entered my room. Jim and Jon ran out first while Her was still trying to figure out what’s going on. Babi sent another invisible blast to push Her back as a precaution while Jim and Jon headed out to their opponent. Mila clung to the walls and went to the right towards Winthorp. It was time for me. Go straight and don’t stop, Babi commands. I sprint full speed forward and head first into the smokescreen. I kept my eyes wide and ignored all the sounds around me. The hallway was about 20 ft. wide and I closed the gap in a short time, but it felt long. My hands were the first to feel the chains and I pulled myself towards the door. I followed the chains to the padlock and used my finger to find the key hole. I found it right when I felt a huge gust of wind from my left that started clearing the smokescreen.
I couldn’t help but look when the cover was blown. Jim and Jon were in an intense hand to hand battle with The Wanderer. Jon’s hands looked as if they were on fire as they punched The Wanderer from the left. Jim’s size was also noticeably increased. He was at least 50% bigger and his fur went from a mossy green to almost a blackish tone as he matched Jon’s punches from the right. Their teamwork and unison in punches left The Wanderer no time to react as the force from one’s punch pushed his face immediately into the other’s punch. Gunter was to my right and standing behind a massive sized Mila as she used her mass to block Winthorp’s view of me. Babi pinned Her on the ceiling with some light permeating from her right hand. Her stared down at me and screeched with anger as Babi was using her other hand to cast the wind bound barrier to pin the invisible wind djinn down on the ground behind me.
I regained focus after meeting Babi’s angered gaze from me being distracted for a moment. I turned back to the padlock I was grasping and shoved my key inside with my opposite hand. I turned the key and the link on the padlock popped open. The chains on the old door suddenly went limp and fell to the floor. The handleless door was now open. Hurry!!!, Babi yelled as I grabbed the door’s plank to open it. I jumped through the door first. In one motion Babi pulled Jim and Jon’s backs towards her and they flew like a guided fall towards her and then shifted to fly through the door. She took the bound Her and djinn and threw them at The Wanderer. Before they could even react she yelled for Gunter. Gunter grabbed Mila’s tail and jumped backwards towards Babi. Mila reduced her size quickly once she felt Gunter’s grasp and trusted her friend to carry her to safety. Gunter in an inhumanly quick motion grabbed Babi too and jumped through the door. Once Mila’s long body was fully inside Babi used her magic again to shut the door behind her.
Babi didn’t hesitate and stood by the door speaking in some old language that I assume was a magic spell so they couldn’t follow us in since the door is now unlocked. We all laid there in almost complete darkness if it weren’t for Jon’s hands still ablaze. I couldn’t help but stare in confusion as the fire seems to not be damaging Jim’s hands. I asked Jim and Jon what the hell that was all about. Jim and Jon then reluctantly admitted that they didn’t tell us all of their abilities. Jim’s race can ignite their internal body temperatures to a heated point to always stay warm and deter predators, but Jim isn’t very good at it and can only do his hands which is something even children of his race can do. Jon explains as he reduces his size and color of his fur that he has a dormant alpha gene that he can shift into. However, it works like a muscle and he would have to be doing the extent of a full body flex in order to turn into that form. It is exhausting, he says with relief as he turns normal again.
We suddenly heard Gunter yell, Ew. We turn to face him and see that he’s sat up and flinging off some kind of mucus. I lift up my arm with everyone else and we notice that the floor is covered with the stuff. The floor itself is also weirdly soft and squishy. Jim’s hands don’t illuminate much, but enough for Gunter to see what fruit he can scrounge up to help. He gets through about 6 before he picks up one that looks like a purple and yellow bug hive. Gunter shakes it hard and we hear an angry buzzing coming from it before he cracks it wide open. He tore the fruit in half and what looked like fireflies flew out and surrounded us. They dispersed quickly, but one was bright enough to easily illuminate a whole room. They took off down the halls around us while a few stayed and hovered around their broken home. We could see around us now and it was not a pretty sight.
The floor, walls and ceiling were glistening with that mucus that we were covered in. Every surface was a pinkish red and had pulsating blood red cracks going through them. We all were inspecting our surrounding area. Babi even noticed what was surrounding the door while she continued casting her spells. What looked like thick red and purple veins started coming out of the walls began sealing the door shut for her. This concerned Babi. Babi slowly stopped casting her spells and let the room of flesh bind the door shut for her. Guys, what the fuck is this? I asked loudly to get someone to answer. No one replied. I called out Babi’s name and she admitted she’s never seen anything like this. There were 3 rounded hallways. 1 connected to each wall that wasn’t the door we just entered from. The left one made an immediate turn to the left. The one in the middle went down a bit longer before turning and other halls were on the sides. The right hallways led into a sizable open room with several visible walls and turns.
Gunter was the first to recommend that we don’t split up. We don’t know this place or if it morphs. Jim and Jon agreed that the open room should be the one we enter since it has more space. Babi retorts that an open space also makes for the perfect trap. My idea was the stupid one judging by the looks I got after I did it. Klaus!!! I yelled around and was met by angered glances from my friends. I shrugged and tried to laugh it off to lighten the mood, but my friend’s faces shifted from anger to fear. Not at me, but behind me. I turned back towards where we came in and saw the cracks from the old door are exaggerated by the darkness protruding through them. An all too familiar black shadow was slowly creeping through the door’s cracks.
I yelled that we need to move, now. We turned to make our choice and saw that the halls were slowly getting smaller. If we go left or straight we might get trapped in the shrinking hallways. We had no choice but to choose the right path into the open room. We ran in quick, but with no next direction or specific person to follow we all began to naturally split up in our panic. It didn’t matter as the other halls also began shrinking. A pulsating sound also became noticeably louder down the hallways that surrounded us. We all grouped back together in the center and tried looking for a hallway that wasn’t shrinking. Some of the upper hallways above us began secreting a thick red liquid that we could only guess was blood. They dripped down the walls and began pooling onto the floors. The hallways shrunk to the size of a fist before stopping. All began bleeding. The only hallway to not shrink was to the room we just came from. The few bright fireflies that clung onto the high ceiling from earlier allowed us to watch as the blood pools began connecting on the floor.
We were trapped. The room we came from darkened from the left and the blood pool began to enter that room as well. Ripples can be seen coming from the darkness where the door is. We all got ready. We’ll have to escape from where we came and regroup later. With no time to plan we all began to get into position to fight. Jim and Mila grew in size, Jon reignited his fists, Gunter desperately dug into his cornucopia to find something, Babi’s hands glowed with cyan colored magic and all I could do was raise my fists and sweat. What came was not who we expected at all as Him walked into the room.
We all stared in a quiet confusion as Him just stood there in the shallow pool of blood we all stood in. In a well lit illuminated room of flesh stood the black shadow of a trench coat, fedora hat wearing man of darkness. What was also less expected was the sound that came next. A low guttural voice that sounded more like a growl than words came, Welcome. The blood was about half way up our feet now. Almost enough to make our toes no longer visible. Him continues speaking, I’ve waited so long for you. Even without eyes we all somehow knew Him was talking to me. He continued, Well. Not you exactly, but someone dumb enough to finally let me back in. Immediate regret screamed in my head.
Two ripples began to form in front of Him parallel to his feet. The blood that carpeted the floor began to flow upward in narrow strands that resembled vein trails. We should’ve never come here, were the thoughts ringing in my mind. I don’t know if those thoughts were mine or the other’s from the hive link, but I know we were all thinking it. Babi was the first to try to react. She began weaving a spell with dark purple aura and when it was released nothing happened. Him began to laugh. Rule 3, he said simply. I tried to shift my stance, but was unable to budge my feet. The blood pool that submerged our feet was holding us in place. The others just watched as the vein trail converged and began forming the mass that resembled the bottom of a torso.
We couldn’t do anything but wait and hope. The blood trail framed the body, then the arms and then the head. He was creating a body. After the veins were formed muscle tissue began to creep out of the pool of blood we stood in and worked its way up. The head was the most disturbing. No mouth or eye sockets were formed. It was just a head made of muscle tissue and nothing else. Him’s arms raised and the walls of this room looked like curtains being pulled by an unseen force. The flesh walls wrapped the body of flesh and blood like a blanket. The now skinned body was red as the flesh walls were not tan like a humans and its head was blank. It stood limp and lifeless until Him began walking towards it.
The shadow of Him embraced the flesh doll from behind and the doll moved in unison to Him’s movements. The shadow of Him dressed the flesh in an open trench coat and fedora. This thing began caressing its new form. Oh how I missed the warmth, Him said. He began to feel his blank face. He then shoved two fingers from each hand into where his eyes would be and pulled them open. I felt sick watching this thing tear itself open. Once two eye sockets were now present he then took his right hand and with four fingers shoved it into where his mouth would be. He pulled and stretched to create himself a new face. When he was done he finally directed this thing’s face towards us. His mouth and eyes, if you even call it that, were just open sockets of flesh bleeding from his own attack and torn skin fanned out like ribbons.
You’re Klaus? I asked stupidly. Almost, he answered. I just need a few more things before I’m whole again. Before I could question him anymore, he lunged forward and was inches in front of Jon in an instant. Faster even Gunter is. He then shoved his hand deep into Jon’s chest. We all tried stopping him, but were still being held by the blood pool. Jim was just out of arm’s reach and couldn’t stop what happened next. Jon grabbed Klaus’s arm to try and fight back, but even with his strength and size he was no match for this thing. We all watched helplessly as Klaus pulled his hand out of Jon’s chest and was holding a mass of bloody flesh. Jon stared at what Klaus was holding while holding his open chest in disbelief. Jim never stopped trying to reach for Jon.
Klaus’s hand moved with the motion of the flesh he held. It was Jon’s still beating heart. Klaus’s face formed a smile and shoved Jon’s heart into his own chest. Jim realized he can’t help while being held down. Jim grabbed his own shin and calf and began pulling his leg out of his trapped foot. Our screams were a mix of yelling for Jon, while some begged for Jim to stop. Jim ripped his right leg off of his trapped foot. Jon’s eyes turned from Klaus and to Jim. Tears ran down both their faces as they looked at each other helplessly. Jon reached out to Jim and Jim reached back. Jim was able to grab Jon’s hand with the few extra distance he got from getting rid of one trapped leg. Both collapsed into the bloody floor.
We turned our attention towards Klaus as he began laughing maniacally. Just one last thing, he said to himself. We all could tell we weren’t his primary target anymore. He turned around and began walking away. KLAUS!!! I screamed towards the new monster we’ve unleashed. He didn’t stop walking away or even gave my call a fraction of a second worth of attention. I felt like a gnat compared to this thing. I kept screaming his name to command him to come back, but as he turned the corner towards the door we and he entered from I could tell I meant nothing to him anymore. I stumbled and noticed our feet were released as soon as he was out of sight. We all ran towards Jon and Jim. Jon was trying to talk to Jim, but was stopped by the blood he was bleeding internally. Jim kept yelling for Jon to hold on. Gunter searched his entire person for a fruit that could help, but every fruit he pulled began to immediately rot when they touched the air of this room. Babi tried casting healing spells, but none affected Jon when they connected.
Jim begged Jon to hold on, Jon kept coughing up blood and we were running out of time. Jon held Jim’s face as he began to slowly fade away. He tried his best to tell Jim something, but his eyes became blank and looked past us all. Jon fell limp in Jim’s arms. We lost him. We lost Klaus. We lost. The blood that once flooded the rooms is turning dark and sinking into the floors. The room’s walls and ceiling are turning brown with rot after Klaus left. We think whatever flesh he left with was also keeping this whole room alive and is now dying without it here. We’re trapped inside as I’m typing this up. Babi and Mila are trying to open the door we entered from, but the link to the Pandemonium Complex seems to be severed. By Klaus or Winthorp, we don’t know. Me and Gunter have tried using my key to his doors, but none open a gateway and just open to the room we’re already in. Jim is holding Jon away from us and screaming his sorrow.
We don’t know what to do or how to get out of this. We messed up. We shouldn’t have looked for Klaus. We’ve unleashed pure evil onto the tenants. We can only hope Winthorp can stop him. Pray for us and The Pandemonium Complex.