Chapter 47: The Void
'It loathed someone? So the Void and the owner of these hallways are two different beings and we're in the middle of these behemoths battle, for whatever reason that is?'
That was one of the surprises. As for the other, it was the eerie voice itself.
"How come you knew about this? And how true is your information? Wouldn't that mean escaping to this place is meaningless?"
As usual, the eerie voice remained silent for almost a minute before answering back, "You have a lot of questions. For that, I understand. For sure, you're thinking "How come will I trust this being?" and anything related to that. In that regard, all I can say is that I found a library in these vast hallways while trying to find a way out,"
'A library?'
As if answering his thoughts, the voice continued.
"Yes, these vast hallways had an end to it. When you reach the library, hopefully, the Void hasn't found it yet, go towards the middle where a book is a door towards the other side. It is swift and always moving but it always stays in the middle so you'll have to be smart about how you'll approach it,"
Cesar couldn't help but read the lines more intently and understand them better as of now before he retorted.
"When you mean the other side, does that imply the out of this Void?"
From another perspective, Cesar was already considering not believing a single word that the mysterious voice kept feeding his brain. Not until he was so sure that everything was a fact, he'll have to keep his options open.
All he was doing was receiving information that might or might not help in the future. Still, for some reason, Cesar felt reassured that there was a voice talking to him rather than being in a constant fight with his life.
After a while, the eerie voice replied, "Believe me, kid. If it was easy getting out of here, I would've never needed your help. The book door is just another path and it will lead you to someplace else in this vast…mansion,"
Once more, Cesar couldn't help but notice a slight detail that the voice just revealed in his ears which he questioned.
"Mansion?"
"Yes…" The voice creepily paused, "The place you're stepping into is just a mansion of the benevolent being that once had been used to inhabit this place,"
Cesar didn't retort in the meantime. He wanted to digest the information he received from the mysterious voice and only then he asked yet another question once he did.
"When will I be able to encounter this library? Are you there?"
"All paths will lead to that library so you don't have to worry about a single thing. Hence whatever you read at that place, it will be a knowledge that only you all are privileged or fortunate enough to learn… in my opinion. And as for your second question… not really,"
The voice creepily paused, "I escaped in that cursed place a long time ago because a being really couldn't stay at that place for a few days."
"Is there any particular reason why you decided to leave?"
The eerie voice seemed to scoff in disbelief as if remembering a bitter past before answering, "There's an enemy there, a kin of the Void. The one who observed the vast library, the Keeper of the Void. Be careful not to meet that entity. But if you do… even I don't know what might happen to you,"
Cesar blankly stared upwards, feeling his head going crazier at these encounters before finally wrapping up this conversation.
"Whoever you are, I guess a little bit of thanks is well deserved," Cesar paused, "Is there any additional thing you like to remind me of?"
The eerie voice if it wasn't really a figment of Cesar's imagination, answered with a light chuckle, "Actually yes. Aside from the Keeper and the Void itself, there are two more things you need to watch out for while being inside The Mansion,"
Patiently waiting for the voice to continue, the voice completely disappeared inside Cesar's head. Confused and believing that it was just one of its antics to reply for a long time, he gave up before letting out a smile.
There aren't any voices in his head left any longer.
"I'll remember your words at the back of my head,"
Cesar shifted his gaze below and couldn't help but sigh as his descent continued as it was without any kind of stopping at some point.
The slight distraction that the voice made for him was enough to put him on guard once again, knowing for a fact that if the voice meant harm to him, it wouldn't even have second thoughts about doing some damage to him.
But was that really just it?
'Whoever that voice is sounded much more powerful than Vin. Not only was it knowledgeable enough, but the fact that it can transmit a mental message into someone's head is mind-blowing as well. It's like those people in the myths, The Shaded of the Sixth Order.'
Now that he was done revering and analyzing the power capabilities of the voice, Cesar fell into deep contemplation once he put his mind back on track.
"The Void… Keeper of the Void…"
Cesar was sure that these two entities were sentient enough, and it was unfortunate for someone like him to land these powerful beings.
"Are they even Nightmares?"
This question was even more pressing than the rest.
If they were Nightmares of this caliber, they are considered to be the highest rank of what was most known to humans, Higher-Nightmare Creatures.
Throughout the recorded data and what was known to all the world, there are only five traces found relating to these ranked creatures. Four out of five creatures were eradicated in exchange for the lives of thousands of people since they are in a variety of Active Nightmares.
"Higher Creatures; Active Nightmares…"
Cesar couldn't help but shiver at the mere thought.
What if these creatures invaded the whole world right now?
They could only pray that it wouldn't come to that point.
Cesar shook his head to remove such thinking as his goal right now was to leave the Mansion, and just get the hell out of the city altogether.
He might not get out to see the invasion of these creatures once they decided to come out and wreak havoc if he continued twaddling about it.