EnderOni, Loop One

Chapter Seventeen:

Notes

-...-

“H-hey! ”

Seto felt someone pushing him gently.

“S-Seto! W-Wake up!”

Seto sat up from where he slept, blinking a few times and seeing Ian standing in front of him. Ian pulled Seto up, and Seto shook his head, waking up a bit more.

“W-Whoa, what's the matter?” He asked.

“Dude!” Ian gasped, letting go of Seto. “Sky and Mitch are missing!”

Seto's eyes widen and he turned to see Bodil, Tyler, and Ty.

“I woke up and they were gone!” Bodil reported.

Seto looked around the room, and of course there was no sight of Sky or Mitch. His heart, yet again, went from zero to sixty and he tried to figure out what to do.

“O-okay! W-Well then.” Seto glanced at the four in front of him. “We have to go f-find them!”

“We've got to hurry!” Ty frowned, walking over to the weapons pile and picking up the crow bar. He turned back to everyone else. “Hurry up!”

Bodil and Ian took a weapon from the pile, Tyler having his journal in hand and Seto following behind. They left the safe room, reaching the hallway of the second floor, and then realized they had no clue where in the mansion the missing two could be.

“Oh god.” Seto looked from the stairs leading up to the stairs leading down. “Which way?”

“They aren’t in room 209 or 203.” Said Ty, who had checked with Ian.

“Well we can't split up!” Bodil said.

Seto had to make a decision.

“I say downstairs!” Tyler said, and it seemed Tyler made up Seto's mind for him.

“Alright! Downstairs!” Seto said, and the five went down to the first floor.

The moment they reached the first floor, Seto felt a feeling that told him that they had chosen wrong. But that feeling was quickly put to sleep when the strong stench of blood yet again invaded their noses. It came from the middle hallway, and without hesitation, the five ran down it. The smell got stronger and stronger, covering the smell from the room Sky had found. The five found their way into the green room, only to find Sky and Mitch.

Two bodies, both laying at opposite sides of the room, surrounded by blood on the walls and on the floor. There was an even mixture of Oni blood splattered around the room as well, and their swords lay in the mess, no where close to their owners. Both were slumped against the wall, and there were no signs of life. A seven was drawn beside Sky's head on the wall, and an eight was drawn beside Mitch's shoulder on the wall.

“W-Wait-”

Tyler ran over to Sky and placed his fingers on Sky's neck, but what he was looking for was not there. Seto got the idea, and went over to Mitch to do the same. Neither of them had a pulse. The two looked back up to Bodil, Ian, and Ty. Ty was wiping away tears from his eyes, a struggling frown on his face.

“B-But he w-was the strongest per-person I know.” Ty spoke, his voice cracking.

“And the Oni still killed him.” Tyler said under his breath, stepping away from Sky, walking to the back of the room, turning around, and taking another look around.

“W-What the hell were they doing down here!?” Seto asked, not looking at anybody in particular for an answer.

There was no answer.

“WHAT MADE THEM THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO GO OUT ON THEIR OWN!?” Seto yelled, his fists balling up.

“You think that m-maybe the Oni possessed them?” Bodil asked, tilting his head.

Ty shook his head. “Sky was stronger then that!”

“Well evidently not, Ty.” Ian sighed.

“They went out on their own. They died. That's it.” Seto shrugged, and stepped away from Mitch.

“Why did the Oni kill them both, though?” Bodil asked. “He goes by hours, right?”

“Idiot!” Ty hissed. “Have you not been paying attention? Jerome and Brice were killed within minutes difference! The death of Ant and Jason were well over an hour difference!”

“So it's happened before.” Seto looked down at his feet, only to flinch when he saw the mixture of the red and purple blood stained into the flooring.

“B-But it w-wasn't the Oni w-who k-kill-” Tyler shook but Seto shot a glare at Tyler.

“Did you paint the five next to Brice?”

Tyler shook his head.

“I thought so.” Seto then said. “So stop blaming yourself.”

Tyler sighed in defeat and the room was silent. Seto turned back to Mitch, and carefully, he took the body into his arms, staining his own clothing even more. By this time, nothing mattered. Ty picked up Sky, struggling a bit, but was able to do so. The five walked out of the green room, and they carried the two back upstairs to the safe room, Mitch's dog tags dangling together in the saddened silence. The laid the bodies down on the beds, and then wasted away in total silence.

“D-do you think the Oni would ever spare anybody?” Bodil asked.

Ty shook his head as he sat with his back to the table, his leg resting over the other.

“You've certainly lost your mind if you think the only reason you've lived so far is because the Oni has spared you.” He said.

“I honestly think that thing is just going after whomever steps in front of it.” Ian crossed his arms. “It doesn’t seem to have a pattern. It's not following any sort of law like survival of the fittest. It's not going in the order we stood on the clocks. It's not going from oldest to youngest or vice versa.”

“So no pattern, huh?” Ty replied.

“What if there is a pattern in it's mind that we just haven’t found yet.” Seto suggested.

Ty huffed. “I beg to differ.”

“Well, how about we look at past deaths?” Seto asked. “I'm sure are things we're over looking.”

“And if not,” Tyler muttered, “then there could be weaknesses we've forgotten.”

“True.” Bodil said, resting his head on the table.

Ty stared at the four, confused.

“What's with the sudden burst of optimism?” Ty asked, looking around at the four.

Seto shrugged.

“You all are bipolar.” Ty huffed again, shifting in his seat.

“Why are you so disgusted about it?” Tyler asked.

Ty paused.

“Whatever. You all were saying...?”

Seto continued the conversation.

“Let's think back to Ant's death.” Seto began. “Ant died while we were all distracted. We didn't notice till the battle was over. The Oni was able to murder someone right in front of us without us seeing.”

“But does that mean anything?” Ty asked.

“It shows he knows what he's doing.” Bodil said.

“He can cut one of us off from the rest, without even separating us.” Seto said.

Tyler, who saw in the back of the room, kind of hidden as he sat with the table in front of him while he was on the floor, against the wall, realized something, and opened his journal, flipping to a page. While he still had a few pages with letters that he apparently wrote to himself, he found a blank page. He wanted to take notes, but then realized something. He didn't have anything to write with. His sudden excitement faded, and he went back to listening, now hoping that he could remember the whole conversation.

“But that doesn't seem to be much of a problem now.” Ty replied.

“It was before. It's worth noting.” Seto said.

“Well, he kinda did that with Bashur.” Ian added.

“That was different.” Seto shook his head. “Let's go over Jason's death first.”

“But we can't. Only Sub was there to see it.” Tyler then said, and Seto stopped to realize that was true.

“I guess that's true.” Seto dipped his head. “Onto Bashur, then.”

“From what we can guess, Bashur was controlled by the oni and forced to jump to his death.” Ty started.

“His eyes were neon purple, when they are normally light blue. That would suggest what Ty said, right?” Bodil asked.

“Correct.” Seto nodded his head. “So, I can assume that if the Oni controls somebody, their eyes turn a different color, most likely neon purple.”

“That sounds about right.” Ty tilted his head, the hair covering one eye falling over the other until he huffed, setting it back.

“So Bashur was controlled, and he was an easy victim as early on, Ant's death made him throw up, and he was a wreck ever since that.” Seto said.

“So the Oni can control people, right?” Tyler asked. “Does that mean he has some sort of magic? He's a magical creature?”

“W-Well, if I remember correctly from the legends, The Oni is a beast related to Endermen. Endermen can teleport and are hurt by water.” Bodil mentioned.

“Hey, Bodil. I remember you said you heard about the Oni in a story once, right?” Seto asked. “Could you tell it again?”

Bodil nodded his head. “Certainly.”

Bodil shifted in his chair, and then remembered what he could.

“I remember different versions of the story, but there was always an Oni in the story, it either being purple, blue, or gray. In one, it's an alien sort of monster named Steve or Tony, and it trapped and killed about eleven people. In another, it trapped four people.” He then shook his head. “Anyway, I remember hearing about the EnderOni's version of the story, but it's not as clear as before. It was just a boss like Enderman who lived it's life murdering whomever found themselves trapped inside the mansion. It had some level of understanding of magic, but I don't think it could communicate.”

“Anything else?” Ty asked, finding it interesting.

Bodil shook his head. “That's all I remember.”

“Right.” Seto crossed his arms. “So, Anything we can conclude from Jerome's death?”

Seto looked to Bodil, since Bodil was there, and Bodil paused.

“It teleported behind us, I'm pretty sure.” Bodil said weakly. “And it could keep the door locked so that nobody could save us. It made the ceiling collapse and nearly bury us alive.”

“So It can keep doors locked or unlock doors as it pleases. It has an ungodly amount of strenght and can, in fact, teleport.” Seto concluded from the story.

“If it's playing a game, it's certainly cheating.” Ian frowned.

“I don't think it has any rules written out.” Tyler muttered and Ty cracked a small smile.

“Playing rather blindly, but it's probably finding it amusing.” Ty commented.

“Anyway, on to Brice's death.” Seto sighed. “There was a five painted on the floor, so It was not Tyler who killed Brice. What we can conclude from Tyler's story is that he can somehow cast spells, but I don't think we get anything about the Oni.”

“The Oni survived the blinding light.” Tyler said. “That or it woke up before me and..and finished Brice off.”

He gulped. “I still feel guilty though...”

Seto shook his head. “Our story on Brice's death isn't very clear, so I say we move on to Sub.”

Seto cleared his throat. “Sub's death was different from the rest, I noticed. There wasn't as much as a mess as Mitch and Sky, but for one person, that was a lot of blood. The Oni didn't just knock him out of throw him against the wall. The Oni wrapped his organs around the strings of the piano. He hid the key inside his body.”

There was a bit of silence, and Seto realized how graphic he was being.

“I think there was something Sub knew that he didn't get the chance to tell anybody.” Seto sighed.

“We still don't know why he tried to kill Ty.” Tyler muttered.

“He tried to kill Ty?” Ian asked, and he and Bodil looked at Seto, Ty, and Tyler with confused faces.

“Yes, he tried to kill me. But I think it was just the mansion getting to him. I won't blame him, and neither should any of you.” Ty replied.

“I want to think the way the Oni left him, he was trying to leave a message to Sub. A reply. But to what? Maybe Sub did know something.” Tyler tried to build on it.

“Or maybe he was just losing it.” Ty shook his head.

“Moving on, then.” Seto sighed. “Mitch and Sky.”

“They left while we were all asleep. We went out, and they died. Who knows what they were looking for.” Ty stated.

“The Oni killed them both at the same time, but there was a lot of purple liquid at the scene.” Ian said.

“That was the Oni's blood. Mitch and Sky put up a fight, that's for sure.” Tyler said.

“They were able to leave a mark. But in the end, the Oni overpowered them.” Seto said. “The Oni isn't easy to defeat, and if it was, it wasn't using-”

“If it was easy to defeat, it didn't want to kill you just yet.” Tyler stopped Seto. “Remember the enchantment room? I was the first person to be attacked, correct? It knocked me out, nearly killed me, but It didn't.”

“Which goes to show that it will spare!” Ian pointed out.

“Okay, okay, so it will spare lives, but I think it wanted to leave a first impression.” Ty shrugged.

“And so it did.” Tyler sighed, moving his arm. Parts of his body were still sore, but honestly everyone had to have some sore limb.

There was a silence.

“Anything else we can conclude about the Oni?” Ty asked.

“It doesn't know about the safe room. Or, at least, it can't get inside the safe room.” Bodil added.

“I think that's it.” Ian then said.

“So It can teleport, is incredibly strong, can outsmart us, or cut us off from each other. It can control people, like mind control. It doesn't know about the safe room, and will spear people, rarely.” Tyler repeated from his memory.

“Anything else?” Seto asked.

If there was, they had forgotten it already.

Seto let out a long sigh and shifted where he stood. He didn't have anything else to say. Now all he was left to where the thoughts in his head. He went into the kitchen to grab something to each, and then walked over to the table to review in his head what they had come up with. Ty laid down on the table seat, and Tyler rested his head against the cold, hard wall. Ian and Bodil were left in silence, and then they found their own things to do.

The safe room was again, quite.

-...-

A few hours passed, and Tyler and Seto had fallen asleep where they were. Seto had a half eaten apple in his hand and had drool falling from the corner of his mouth. Ian Was resting near the beds, his face dug into the corner of an empty bed as he sat on the floor. Bodil had got to the bathroom to wash his face off.

Suddenly the sound of the iron door opening and closing was heard, and Seto flinched, waking up again. Ian, sort of in a daze, slowly looked over from the corner he was in. Tyler still slept. Seto turned to see Ty walking into the room.

“Did you just...just walk in?” Seto asked, confused.

Ty nodded his head.

“Where the hell did you go?” Seto asked, standing up and wiping away the drool from his face. Bodil walked out of the bathroom to see them.

Ty stood there, staring at Seto. “I went out for a walk.”

“YOU WHAT!?” Seto hissed, and Tyler jolted awake.

“Yeah.” Ty replied.

Seto approached Ty.

“WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!? YOU WENT OUT ALONE!? HOW THE FUCK DID YOU RETURN ALIVE?!” Seto yelled, obviously tried and a mess. The mansion was taking a rather angry tole on him.

Ty then smiled, and laughed.

“You'll never guess what I found!”

Seto looked at Ty's face, and stepped back. Bodil and Ian and Tyler started at Ty as well.

“Come on! I found something and if we don't hurry, the Oni will rid of it, like he did the escape routes!” Ty continued.

Something was off. Ty looked happy. And he apparently found something.

-...-