Nightmare Mythos

He wanted to imagine that it would take hundreds of steps to reach the end of the flight of stairs but he didn't like how it appeared to be superficial since the architect of the mansion was crazy enough to build a descending hallway that extends for hours till reaching the end.

'Does imagining something good even matter at this point?'

Cesar shook his head before steeling his resolve to go further once more. With no other choice but to climb upstairs, Cesar took his first step upward.

Tak—!

With no time to waste, Cesar continued climbing upstairs, already on his twentieth step as he was counting his way up. It was a way to keep his focus so that he remained vigilant and avoid even acting a second of negligence just because he was complacent or tired.

Tak—!

Once it took a hundredth step for Cesar, his breathing appeared heavy, and did a moment of break by stabilizing his breathing for over a minute. The moment the minute was up, he was ready for another journey up.

Then it took another hundred, another hundred, and another more.

His legs started to be weary from the relentless and exhausting way upstairs with no way near the end goal. He even believed he was barely reaching a quarter of the entirety of these stairs but since there was no choice but to move upwards, he could only suck it up and grit his teeth through it.

On his way toward the five hundred steps, Cesar heard the eerie voice once again.

"Woah, you are in this area?"

Cesar took a quick break once he heard the same evenly and creepy voice and couldn't help but greet his companion for today.

"Where have you been? And your words… you knew where am I?"

The eerie voice happily answered, "I was just… resting. Believe me, talking to you is taking too much toll even for someone like me. Not only do I have to hide from the Void, I also have to worry that I wasn't found by them yet,"

It paused, "As for how I'm able to know your location, let's just say I have my ways,"

'I guess I'm not wrong in my judgment that this guy is a powerful being who was trapped by the Void.'

Cesar mused inwardly before leaving the mysterious voice words as it is. He was just glad that he had someone to talk to, even if it was an incoming enemy.

Cesar then raised a question, "If you know where I am, will I be able to find another door by the end of these stairs?"

"You seemed to have thought that every hallway would lead to another door one after another. Thankfully, you are not a dumb brat so that's a bonus for me." The eerie voice felt jubilant for some reason before it continued, "Three thousand steps, a few traps, and one corrupted human. That's the thing you should remember while taking this hallway,"

'Three thousand steps… If this voice was telling the truth, then that'll take a very long time. As for the corrupted human, it's something I was expecting to meet anyway. But traps?'

Cesar paused while forming a frown, 'That's something new. By the looks of it, the further one went inside the mansion, the harder the challenges,'

Cesar contemplated his new learnings from the voice even though he wasn't believing most of them. Still, all of them are stored at the back of his mind.

As if it had given him ample time enough for him to think, the eerie voice then added, "Anyways, did my voice stop after telling you the people you need to watch out for or before that?"

Done considering his plans for the upcoming fight, knowing there's certain danger upstairs, Cesar answered the voice after a while.

"Before that,"

The eerie voice then replied, "Then, I'll tell it to you now. The people you need to watch out for are first the Heretic. This guy had a key that enabled him to enter in and out but its potential is much more than that. He'll be someone you'll be in trouble with when you reach the library,"

'Heretic… That heretic?'

Cesar only then realized that the voice was talking to was no other than the heretic that he met earlier. For the voice to warn him about the mysterious figure, showed that he was considered a person with aptitudes, something that he had already shown when they were outside.

The eerie voice then added evenly, "Up next is the being that the heretic had stolen the key from. It goes by the name The Librarian. Erm, as for this one, you'll have to probably avoid fighting this fellow because it has grown to the point that I'm not even sure of defeating it. Just run if you see it,"

'To regard this… librarian, which had a funny title to it, a being that can stand toe to toe with this voice. It must be damn powerful. So how the fuck did that heretic managed to steal something from it!?'

Even though he had only met the Void, if running away from it was considered coming in contact with it, and the heretic, who still had an unknown purpose, the other two didn't seem to be far-fetched from the previous ones in terms of being a menace.

The one that stood all of them was the eerie voice that talked inside his head.

"Oh, if you want to survive all of that, you really have to mind the traps that you'll trigger,"

As if it was well-timed and while still completely focused on his surroundings, Cesar came across a hidden plate while making his way towards the top.

The gears from somewhere only then started shifting which made Cesar freeze at the spot.