Raindrops fall upon my hair and coat continuously as I wait at the front door of this building. Just before I force my way in, the handle of the door turns, and it swings open. Inside, a girl with an immaculate white dress and oddly shimmering hair crawls on the floor, writing, their arm outstretched towards the handle of the door. Her blue tear-filled eyes look at me, her dry lips quiver, and her skin is far too pale. As I extend a hand to help her up, I spot that her dress and body are stained with blood and mud. In their hands they hold a spotless doll with an appearance akin to hers, except for the clothes, which seem to match mine.
"I'm so–sorry… I regret it. I–I really do. P–please… I don't… I don't want to die."
"You regret what? Hey! What's wrong? Talk to me!"
"The p-pain. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever you want, just please let me live!"
"Hey. Hey!"
They're unresponsive. I thought that if they were looking at me, they would be able to respond. Who are they talking to? I investigate their body further to find signs of starvation and dehydration. They hold their mouth open upwards, where rain filters in through cracks in the ceiling, in desperate hope to live.
Out of my peripheral vision I see another person lying down further back, lit up by a lantern. I walk over to see another girl with the exact same appearance, their eyes starting to glaze over. Their body has a kitchen knife lodged inside; not in a vital area, but without medical attention they've been bleeding out for probably hours. Luckily the knife isn't large, nor is it lodged in deeply.
Carefully I remove the knife, then quickly use my gauntlet on them to close the wound. What is going on here?
"Hey, how are you feeling now?"
"I'm sorry that I… that I…"
Also unresponsive. Behind me the other girl placed her hand on my shoulder.
"D-don't continue…"
Then she falls over. I try to catch her but slip on the wet floor, scraping my knee. The girl falls on a pile of debris, a copper gas pipe impaling her through the chest, around the area of her left lung. I rush over to help them, starting to lift them from the pipe, but then a wall starts to crumble to my side. I look over to see a pale light quickly vanishing just as the wall falls. I look behind me, then leap there, learning from my bout with Denied Beauty.
Pieces of the wall have entombed multiple of the girls' limbs, and she is also left with more bruises and cuts. I try to clean off the rubble and save her, but her body has already turned as cold as the winter rain around me.
The other girl still lies on the ground shivering, but the color in her eyes has started to return. Relieved, I take a moment to look around.
This area seems to be a large foyer with a marble floor, ebony and walnut walls, stairs on both sides with a balcony from the second floor, and a grand chandelier on the ceiling. Well, it was supposed to be, but now it is run down beyond measure. Rubble lines the floor, the walls barely remain intact, and the ceiling has completely caved in, taking the balconies and stairs with them, the chandelier lying at the center of the room. Dried blood can be found where the rain doesn't reach, and the same glowing vines cover the walls and part of the floor here, allowing for some illumination.
"Do you remember the day when you were promised that Santa was real?"
"What? Hey, are you alright?"
"I'm sorry… I think I'm still… confused. You helped me, right? Thank you."
"Do you know what is going on here?"
"That Eidolon… I made a grave error. I lost most of my memories due to it… All I can do now is repent. Can you do something?"
"Like what?"
"Burn this place to the ground. Erase it. Please… free these spirits. Free her…"
"Her? Wait, don't die on me, buddy; you're alright. Hey, wait. I can save you."
Again I use my Gauntlet, but there are no wounds to heal. Their body is shutting down from the lack of food and drink and the cold. She's terribly cold, so I placed my coat around her, but it might be too late.
"Hey… Don't die on me like this…"
As I continue to hold her, my hands quiver. After a few minutes I place her down and retrieve my coat, using some of the remaining energy of my gauntlet to heal the scrape.
"For fuck's sake. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do."
After some deliberation I tap both of the bodies with my gauntlet, withdrawing the remaining vitality within them. A pale light guides me back to the doll, which releases two spectral objects that immediately flit away.
I retrieve the Eidolon register from my backpack, reading through its effects. Invidia-07-5-042, Abandoned Promise. Rank 5? Fucking hell. I read through the description again, and nothing bothers me at first, but then I recognize there being two girls at the same time, neither of whom was acting like they should. It has the ability to possess and control bodies, which usually is used for one's own benefit. Should someone be corrupted with high amounts of envy, then they enter a point of no return should they use its abilities again; their souls are trapped in the doll, and the soul of the girl takes control of the person's body, returning to this manor with it to die a miserable death.
But this isn't what happened here. Could it be an additional effect due to another sin being especially present? The fact of the matter is that I didn't just see two children die. Actually, there is no way to tell whether they were adults before this or not. But surely there would be no child stupid enough to walk into the Rose District past multiple barricades into a scary ghost house to then retrieve a haunted doll Eidolon. No, I can actually imagine that very well now that I think about it closely. Children tend to do stupidly brave stuff. I just hope it wasn't the case here. (Besides, how would a child gain that much envy corruption without their parents or friends noticing?)
I will take the doll with me for now, as there is no harm in it for as long as I remain inside the manor. Though it is but a doll, it holds an uncomfortable warmth to it. Now I head further into the manor, eventually ending up in a sort of study that was repeatedly pillaged. Even so, a piece of paper remains on the desk, and it reads, "Still, in my lonesome, I weep."
All across the floor are more and more of these papers that each only hold one sentence, all of which describe either sorrow, pain, or emotional anguish. As I continue to look, I eventually notice a board at the end of a wall that hangs slightly in a way it normally couldn't. Due to being worn over time, it revealed itself to be a hidden compartment, but I wouldn't have been able to find it otherwise, and I still don't know how to open it normally. Inside is a diary.
March 3rd
Today something horrible happened. I was on my walk with my mama and papa, wearing my favorite dress, but during that time, we spotted something out of the ordinary. Before us lie multiple groups dotted about the area, each of them sleeping. It gave me a fright, but my mama reassured me that we'd be alright. Still, my dollie was also terribly scared of it. We decided to return on the spot. On the way back my papa kept lamenting about the frequency of these appearances, hoping that it would be solved soon.
March 13th
Today I overheard my papa talking to someone on the phone. He was pretty angry that these 'Eidolon' could not have been disposed of. He said that he worried about Mama and me and also didn't want to move to another district.
April 2nd
I almost don't feel like writing today, for today something truly terrible happened. My mama and papa had turned to stone, and this living statue stole them away. Even all the kind servants were taken away, but I was able to hide. But Mama and Papa told me that everything will be alright, that I wouldn't need to cry.
Why did they lie to me?
Reading through this confirmed that this was written by the person who would eventually become Abandoned Promise. The notes from back in the Trombone District that I found with Elizabeth then reminded me of something. Since nobody is holding onto this Eidolon, the soul of the girl should still remain inside of the doll. I'm not really someone that talks to dolls, but there is a first for everything.
"Hello? Are you there, inside of the doll?"
"What a rude way to speak to a lady, but I'll forgive you this time."
"Right, I'm sorry. I'm Nathan Verren, and I've heard of your story."
"I'm Lady Valentine Delphinium Phalion, but that is a mouthful. My friends and family used to call me Lady V. A pleasure to meet you."
"I would like to call you Lady Valentine if that isn't an issue."
"I do not have an issue with that. Also, may I ask who gave you permission to view my diary?"
"You could have protested at any time. Anyways, inside of there you mentioned seeing a certain Eidolon. One that makes people near it fall into a sort of coma. Can you tell me more about it?"
"Oh, that Eidolon. Maybe I could tell you about it; maybe I couldn't."
"Is this a situation where you want me to do something in return?"
"Yes, you are correct. First off, one of the dead children told you to burn down this manor, didn't they? Refrain from doing that. This isn't much of a request, as it is a warning."
"What happens should–"
"You will be haunted eternally, whether in life or in death, by a swarm of vengeful ghosts."
"Understood."
"If I may continue, my request is that you clean the miasma out of the basement. It has been barricaded by the last person, but I don't want this manor to become a breeding ground for the apocalypse. With all the people dying here."
"I personally cannot do that because I am too weak, but I could inform my friends, and they might do it."
"Am I really placing my expectations too high? Whatever, fine. I can get the next idiot to do it for me. Then how about cleaning up my room upstairs? Even if the rest of this manor falls to ruin, I'd like to be able to at least return to a memory of the past."
"Sure, I can do that. What about all these notes in the study then?"
"It was my father's, but in the past I liked to imitate him."
"Actually, how do I get upstairs?"
"By climbing? Wait, are you one of these lazy losers?"
"I don't think I can climb that with the rain and the lack of grip."
"Then how about building a staircase from the rubble?"
"Yeah, okay, that is actually fair."
"No, wait, at this point just let me handle it."
As we arrive back in the foyer, the doll whistles, and many spectral masses appear in the foyer, all of them lining up in front of us. Shortly after, they all pull at me, dragging me towards a door on the second floor.
Inside, there was a large, but messy, room out of a fairy tale. The walls, roof, floor, and furniture were all maintained as opposed to the rest of the manor. It seems like what I'd expect of a girls' room in the Beta or Alpha Echelon Zones.
With the help of the girl, I do slowly clean up the room. I expected to find some more secret things hidden here, but there really is nothing to be found. After I finish, the room looks tidy again, and the girl is pleased.
"Thank you. Before I tell you what I know, why do you want to defeat that Eidolon? I don't take you for a hero."
"I made a deal with someone. I'll be able to figure out the secret behind the miasma to be able to deal with it."
"Oh… you won't like the answer."
"It's not like anyone is willing to tell me for free."
"There isn't a singular solution to the miasma. It depends on what miasma, to be fair, but if you mean the most basic miasma, then the easy solution is certainly not the best one."
"There are multiple types of miasma?"
"Yes, kind of. I always like to imagine miasma like blood. It's made up of different parts, but should you take away one of them, most people would still call it blood. In this case it is five different elements. I myself would also like that Eidolon to be removed, so I'll keep it at that."
"Can I take that as you implying that, should I take care of that Eidolon, you will impart your wisdom to me?"
"Hmm, I suppose so. I'll fill in the gaps of whatever that person will tell you about the miasma."
"That is great. So, what about that Eidolon do you know?"
"I would place it at Rank 6. About that coma, I believe it is just an inescapable dream. I can imagine it being either greed, lust, envy, gluttony or sloth."
"So it would be Avaritia-13-6-XXX if we went with Greed. Interesting. At first I didn't take the dream domain into account."
"It is still only my speculation. I have yet to investigate it personally. I also believe the person that eventually became this Eidolon to have been my aunt."
"Your aunt?"
"Yes, she became a victim to an Eidolon at a young age. That Eidolon forced her into large amounts of corruption before killing her, as it was a semi-conscious Eidolon."
"But isn't that Eidolon far older than that?"
"Ah, right, you wouldn't know. Due to modern biotech advancements, lifespan can be increased to over two hundred years. It isn't talked about often due to the expected lifespan of people being drastically reduced by the presence of Eidolon.1"
1Lifespan in Iphte-houp averages just below 20 years. This is due to a lot of deaths at childbirth. For people outside of the Alpha and Beta Echelon Zones, the expected lifespan only goes up to a maximum of 50. Anything beyond that is about as rare as people reaching over 100 in real life.
"Right, but that wouldn't affect childbirth, would it?"
"You don't understand how it works. Your body kind of freezes in time once you reach thirty and only resumes once you are almost two hundred, but then you will age very quickly. So, childbirth is still very possible at over one hundred years old."
"That… messed with my understanding of the world. Ah, I did have some ideas planned that I wanted to run by you for dealing with it."
"Go ahead."
"So, at first I thought that I might be able to enter the area using your power safely, since dolls may be unaffected."
"Hmm, unlikely since it doesn't seem to be tied to exhaustion but purely mental. Also, remember that returning is through touch, so you'd be stuck there for quite some time."
"Right, damn. Well, I have another idea. If I break a promise whilst lying asleep, would you be able to force me to wake up?"
"It is possible under usual circumstances, but that Eidolon is of a higher rank than I am, and it also is part of the dream domain, so I think my hypnosis wouldn't have any effect besides distorting your dreams maybe."
"Wait, but ranks aren't necessarily tied to power; they're tied to Link reached before dea–hold on. Why are you Rank 5 if you died as a child?"
"You do have an Eidolon register, yes?"
"Yes, why?"
"There should be a disclaimer on that. Whilst under usual circumstances it can be inferred to be the case, since usually someone's Rank as Eidolon is the same as the Link they achieved, after further investigation it may be the case that said Eidolon is stronger or weaker than initially assumed. So that number should refer to the strength of the Eidolon, but in case it doesn't, they have an excuse."
"Ah, right. Why wouldn't it?"
"So, at this point I'll assume that you will be leaving the manor alongside me sooner or later."
"I think it is worth the risk. I've already fallen into Lethe once, so what are the odds it happens again?"
"That… is not how probability works. I can promise that I will make for a nice travel companion. You do not have any Envy corruption, so all is well."
"I do want to confirm. If I make that promise with you, will that mean that you are bound to me for the duration?"
"Unless you are dead by the time the promise is broken, that is."
"Right. Then I promise to return you to the Phalion Estate at least once within a thirty-day interval."
"I'm flattered, but do make sure to keep your promise. I do so hate seeing them broken."
I feel a shiver crawl up my spine as I make this decision. To be safe, I will try to return this doll every twenty days instead of thirty. Around me I hear giggling, likely from others that had failed to uphold this promise in the past.
Actually, to make sure that I can return here at any time, I'll mark this place using my chalk. First I draw a small circle in which I draw curved lines to make a sort of mandala pattern. I then draw another circle, sketching out a series of lines in between them. Then a last circle, in-between which the symbols that designate this location are to be entered. Given there might be hundreds of these things, a code of less than 10 letters would not work to set a location, and I would instead be teleported to some random part of the world. That actually sounds fun, not gonna lie. Finally a vacation, haha.
Looking inside of the manual I was given, I saw an entire array of icons that were able to be used. Some wrote in the common tongue, others in Seilaolvolure, and others just created random scribbles. There are also some other languages belonging to minorities, but these kinds of minorities have long since been bullied into submission by this city. Honestly, it is a surprise how well this city is taking the presence of most ethnicities and the like. I'm saying this as a straight white dude, to be fair.
Eventually I decide to just use the common tongue to spell 'Nathan-TP-Gamma-Phalion,' which should work out for me. I then take a photo of it to send over to Revenant, Elizabeth, and Mary. I also write it into my notebook to make sure that I remember if I should deal with Lethe again. I should write down a 'Lethe protocol' in there now that I think about it, just to be safe.
Just as I was finishing up, I heard knocking from downstairs, in response to which Valentine began to speak.
"It seems we have a visitor. Before you ask, I assure you that this is not the ghosts' fault. You should get ready to fight."
A battle already? Considering they knocked, this battle is against people. Given they enter the Rose District, they're geared for battle. I should at least try to get away without murder for once, but just in case, I will prepare my newest incantation. It likely won't work, but it would be nice if it would.
Slowly I look out of the door down into the foyer, where someone on the other side lost patience, kicking the door open. They walk through, their head almost reaching the tall doorframe, as they are just that tall.
In walks this dark-skinned guy stands at over seven feet tall with a black metal mask covering up to his nose. He has black dreadlocks, some white tribal markings on his forehead, and red irises, and he has an onyx earring in a diamond shape. He has black tactical pants with black boots, on which rest metal soles with a similar function to brass knuckles. He has a dark red military shirt covered by heavy bone armor, and he has a bear pelt cape on him. On his back rests a large black scythe and a greatsword with barrels, like a gunblade.
As soon as I see his head, his eyes have already locked onto me even though I was hidden to a decent degree. Either he is very good at Where's Waldo, or there is something else going on. I do recognize two Eidolon on him. I don't remember details except that I marked both as very powerful, with the scythe one being a Rank 7. The earring was around 4 or 5, I think.
"Hey there," I call out cautiously, given that my cover is already blown.
"What's good, man?" He responds as the mask is unveiled.
"I was just about to head out actually."
"Really? I came here looking to see the condition of my man Jerome."
"Jerome?"
"Yeah, he had this doll thing with him that was kind of girly, but I was chill with it, and I'm pretty sure it murked him."
"Oh, that. Yeah, he is very dead. I have the doll with me currently."
"I wanted to check up on his stuff. He had some other Eidolon and Sin stuff on him."
"Uh, I wouldn't really know where that went."
"It isn't around here? Dang. The Register didn't really specify where that shit would end up, y'know, so I came here looking."
"Hey, uh, Lady Valentine. Do you happen to know?"
"It would be where the effect was triggered, not here. I know where it is, but all of their belongings have long been stolen, I'm sure."
"So, according to the doll, it's pretty much gone. It's over where he triggered that effect, so it was left out in the open."
"What a shame. Is Jerome one of the two corpses over there?"
He pointed towards the two 'Valentines' that I had seen die.
"It would be the one buried in the rubble. I tried to save both of them, but wasn't able to."
"Alright, well, I appreciate it. I'll take my man out to go rest six feet under then."
The doll immediately told me that it was a bad idea to do that and why.
"You don't want to do that. The spirits in this house would be very angry and haunt you for life and death."
"Whatchu talking 'bout? You think I'm scared? I'm not just some guy, lil man."
"No, they're seriously bad news. One of them was able to prevent me from saving your Jerome. Can you imagine what one hundred or so could do?"
He side-eyed me for a couple seconds before relaxing. Then he took out a lighter.
"Are you a smoker?"
"Nah, smoking's bad for you. Imma burn this place down."
The doll essentially went haywire upon hearing that, practically begging me to stop him from doing that.
"Oh, no. No, that's a–that's a lot worse."
"Alright, let me get this straight for a moment. Jerome's spirit is also one of them ghosts, right?"
"Yeah, I saw his spirit leaving the doll's body."
"Okay. Cause I don't wanna see my guy all trapped in here. I want my man's spirit to be free, alright? So why are you all up in my game?"
"I'm just telling you to be cautious."
"Nah, you are a little man, alright. You don't get to step in my game. I do what I want."
"Hey man, if you really want to do that, then go ahead."
"You look like the kinda guy that keeps telling himself he don't gotta hit the gym 'cause he's a blue-collar worker."
"Alright, calm down. I don't want any beef."
"You come down here right now. I'll show you what beef you gonna get. If I want to help my man, then I'll help my man."
I carefully jump down from the second floor and walk over to him with my hand resting on my falchion. He pulls out his scythe.
"See, I don't care about any of that. If those ghosts come to haunt me, then imma become the Grim Reaper the way I be guiding them back to where they belong."
As he talks, I finish my chant, but the call fails. Figures.
"Oh, you scared? Yeah, you should be."
He cracks his neck and loosens his shoulders as the mask covers his face. Alright, time to improvise. This is not about winning but instead about getting out alive. This guy looks even scarier than Calypso, but I don't think he is a Link 6. Well, anything above 3 is trouble for me.
To begin the battle, he dashes forward using some force from what I assume to be Sin Equipment, then launches up his leg for a swift kick I narrowly dodge with a back step. I continue to back away but fumble over my own words. I have been trying to get faster and faster with my incantations, which has now come back to bite me as I fail another incantation. Come on, Nathan, get it together.
He lets me get away, using the distance to pull out his gunblade. He fires some large canister that is slow enough to parry with my blade as it shatters into hundreds of shards of glass.
My heart stops for a moment, and I vomit blood. Just barely I managed to escape using my inline skates' ability to be used subconsciously. My vision has dimmed, and I almost passed out with an intense dread over me. I was milliseconds, maybe nanoseconds, away from passing out, or worse. What was–oh shit!
I look over to the location I stood at moments ago just to see a cloud of the miasma starting to disperse into the air. This guy weaponized the fucking miasma? Holy fuck, I'm actually screwed.
Before I can catch my bearings, two of him appear at my sides, swinging their scythes at deadly angles. Two? I dodge forward and to the right, one scythe missing, and the other luckily getting stopped by my armor. Even so, the sheer strength of the swing has enough force to strike me into the ground. As I look up, I see him wielding his gun-blade. With an especially loud explosive noise, hot lead shrapnel embeds itself into my lower chest after an unsuccessful dodge. Three of him? No, wait, I remember now. That earring allows him to create temporary clones with the goal of attacking.
The register does make fights a bit more boring but way easier to live through. Under the pressure, I do manage to rip the successful incantation from the depths of my unconscious, calling upon the power of the Tengu. In addition to that, I also focus on my Thassular Relic to enter deep focus.
My falchion comes out like lightning to my eyes, deflected by the large blade. He feints at me with his bare hand to allow him to swap to his scythe, coming down from above. I move with this 'flow' to swerve to the side, then draw a shallow cut up the left side of his chest, though he made no attempt at avoiding it.
Instead, he throws his body forwards to tackle me, which knocks me off balance. He dashes forwards, twisting the grounded scythe, then swinging up for a clean cut through my chest and face, luckily avoiding major arteries, but definitely injuring a lung and blinding an eye. His scythe was thrown up slightly, during which he feints with a kick, cutting my arm, then–CRACK–he lands a swift and decisive blow with his fist at the dead center of my rib cage, shattering it. Blood streams out of my mouth, but my leg stands strong, and I'm not pushed back by the force.
I activate my gauntlet to heal the most severe of wounds when he twirls, throwing up a roundhouse kick whilst simultaneously catching his scythe, using the momentum for a horizontal slice that leaves behind a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard whilst it slices through the air. I move my head back to avoid the kick, then parry with the sword, launching me to the side slightly.
Copies appear with a mix of scythes and gun-blades, which keep me on the defensive. I manage to dodge, and as such also restore my vitals. As the copies fade, I catch his presence with the aid of the Thassular Relic, him running up the wall, then jumping off to swing his greatsword with even greater momentum. Since I catch him, I can adjust my position to leave him out of range with his initial strike, then finish my incantation to restrain him. It succeeds, but only snags him for a moment before he shoots free. His momentum is gone, but he is still a tank.
In the meantime I notice his injury on the chest having disappeared without leaving a trace. My cut was shallow, yes, but it should have still landed more severely. The armor didn't give any more resistance than I predicted, so it must be an incantation. That damn mask.
So in conclusion, he has supernatural strength and durability, he fights through pain as if it were nothing, he regenerates, he has expertise in combat, he has incredible movement through his boots, he has something improving his eyesight, he has a gun, he has miasma grenades, and he can summon clones. He doesn't seem to have that 'special sauce,' as opposed to others I've met. Mary is deceptive, Calypso has his space-time abilities, Elizabeth is a vampire, and the rest seem to have something unique to them as well. Now that I think about it, he fights like a vamped-up Revenant. I would put him at Link 5 then.
He switches to his scythe and walks up slowly before then stopping and pulling his mask down.
"Little man, you don't fight too bad."
"Just let me get out of your fur, man."
"Now hold up a moment. I wanted to say that you convinced me. When you said that those ghosts would fuck my shit up, I didn't believe you at first, since you seemed like one of them minimum wage ahh motherfuckers."
"Yeah, I wasn't lying."
"I gotchu now, little man. Call me Dremonte."
"I'm Nathan."
"Alright, Nathan, you better get out of here then, but lemme patch you up real quick, my guy."
He pulls out a bracelet made from a set of strung-up beads out of his pocket, then crushes one of them, after which I feel the remaining wounds and scars on my body healing.
I thank him but then quickly head out of the manor, looking at my watch to confirm it. At 2:44pm on Monday, the 17th of November, I started my promise with Lady Valentine. The 17th of December is when this doll has to be returned by at the very latest.
Now I move towards my goal for now. It doesn't take long before I can already see countless unconscious bodies lying strewn about the place. Now, I suppose that I should remain outside of this area. After pacing around for a bit and not coming a step closer to a solution, I decide to overthink things.
"So, Lady Valentine. Has anyone ever woken up here according to your knowledge?"
"Without murder, no. If they are killed, then they become Eidolon."
With a small flourish I take out my phone to message Mary that I am about to do something borderline insane. I will experiment by trying to rely on my ability to use the inline skates without conscious thought. Technically it works subconsciously and not when I am unconscious, but maybe that isn't true. Besides that, I do also have the Thassular Relic and my new chain shirt to also test. If push comes to shove, I do have one last resort.
"Hey, Lady Valentine. I promise to talk to you again within the next three days."
"So you're planning to test that. Good luck with that."
If any promise is broken, the consequences are less severe than if I were to break the main promise. The issue is that the estate is literally right there, and I have to count on someone to save me. I also text Mary to help me out in three days. She replied to my previous message with "Please do not. You will regret it if you don't come back alive."
I guess I might as well message Elizabeth as well. There I at least know for certain that she will help me. So, with all said and done, let me take a nap.