Chapter 65: Mansion of Horrors

Chapter 65: Mansion of Horrors

As the heroes explore the woods, they notice a change. The trees turn lifeless with signs of rot, some peeling bark and hollow. The air becomes colder, and a slight fog sets in.

“Does it feel colder to anyone else?” Emily asks as she crosses her arms tight against her body.

“Yeah, but I love the cold,” Zeth replies, showing no signs of being remotely bothered by it.

Soon, the wind picks up a bit too, just enough to slightly sound like a howl.

Kurt holds up his arm to shield his face from a small gust of wind. “Now the wind is picking up too.”

Zeth glances over at him, saying, “It’s not that bad.”

“It’s not even the wind itself that’s bothering me,” Kurt notes. “I just have a bad feeling that this is a sign of trouble.”

Soon after, past the trees and fog, a large structure comes into their view, a massive mansion. It’s dark, rundown exterior resembles the trees in the area. Spider webs hang around some of its windows, some of which are cracked. A light near the front door flickers. Heavy fog above obscures the upper parts of the mansion from being seen from a distance.

“Whoa, that’s not just a mansion, that’s a giant mansion!” Joe shouts.

Zeth glares at it, determination in his eyes. “And I have a feeling that inside is where we will find Clora.”

“I just want to know why there is a mansion in the middle of some creepy woods,” Sasha mentions with curiosity.

“You’re right about the creepiness of this all,” Emily replies. “I can’t imagine anyone would choose to live here.”

“Yeah, they’d have to make a contest that no one would enter and then pick a winner of someone that didn’t even enter the contest,” Joe adds with a slightly humorous undertone.

Kurt sighs. “I’m guessing we have no choice but to enter…”

Zeth nods while glaring at the mansion with determination. “I’m betting this isn’t just some regular person’s mansion. Clora must be in there.”

They walk up to the entrance, and notice the front door is slightly open.

“Kurt, I think your bad feeling is right…” Emily says, her nerves increasing.

“Do people who own creepy mansions tend to leave their front doors open?” Joe asks just before clenching his teeth.

Zeth does not waver. “It’s pretty clear that this door is intentionally open. They must want someone, or us, to enter. Let’s go.”

He takes the lead and the others follow him. He opens the door all the way, leading them into a room that is medium-sized. A door is at the back of the room, and there are two staircases that lead to two different doors upstairs. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Next to a wall by one staircase is a CRT TV on a wooden stand.

Standing around, the room is eerily quiet. They take in their surroundings without a word. It’s not dark but no lights in the room are active.

Before they take another step, the silence ends as a wicked witch-like voice emits from a couple speakers by the TV.

“Hehehe. Welcome, son of Light Goddess Harmona.”

“Who the hell is saying that?!” Zeth shouts in anger.

The screen on the TV in the room turns on. On the screen is a short woman with long, red hair sitting with her legs crossed. Her big bulging eyes are barely contained in her eye sockets. Her skin is full of wrinkles, seemingly indicating she is past middle age. A crystal ball sits on tiny stand in front of her.

“My name is Daykona. Son of Harmona, you are now in my Mansion of Horrors. I suppose you are looking for the angel, Clora.”

Zeth lashes out. “What have you done with her?! Tell me now!!”

Daykona grins. “Hehehe. Now, now. There’s no need to be rude. She is alive. But if you want to rescue her, you will have to make it through my mansion of horrors alive.”

Zeth clenches both his fists tight, his patience declining. “And how do we do that?”

“Simple, you just go through. It will all work itself out. Of course, the whole mansion can be one messed up place at times. So good luck. Hehehe.”

The TV shuts off.

“What should we do?” Sasha asks.

“Get through this stupid mansion, rescue Clora, and then make Daykona regret all the trouble she has caused us,” Zeth replies.

“Sounds like a plan,” Emily says.

Before they decide which direction to go, the floor under Zeth and Sasha opens, and they fall in. As they fall, Sasha screams and Zeth shouts, “What the hellllllllllllllllllllll!!!” The floor closes immediately after.

“Damn it! We can’t go after them!” Kurt shouts with urgency.

“We’re separated!” Emily shouts before asking, “Now what?”

“I once read a manga where this happened all the time, but I don’t think a fictional story will help us deal with this situation,” Joe says.

Kurt sighs. “It looks like our only option is to start going through this mansion and hope to find them.”

“As good a plan as any,” Joe says.

“It’s not like we have any other choice,” Emily adds.

“Do we split up or stay together?” Joe asks.

“We stay together,” Kurt replies. “It’s too risky to split up. Splitting us up seems to be what Daykona wants.”

“But which door do we take?” Emily asks. “We have three options.”

“They fell down below so let’s stick with the door in front of us,” Kurt replies.

They walk up to the door in front of them, open it, and go in.

***

Meanwhile, down below.

Zeth and Sasha drop out through a hole in the ceiling and land on the floor of the inside of a prison cell in a dark dungeon-like room. Their cell is not closed off. They both sit up.

Zeth rubs his head as he groans. “So, she drops us down here and doesn’t even close off the prison cell we drop into?”

“I doubt she forgot,” Sasha says. “It feels like it’s all a game.”

Suddenly, they hear a noise. One that is gross, slobbery, and monstrous.

The noise spooks Sasha. “What was that?”

Zeth looks out of the cell, and he flinches just before saying, “I guess I now know why she didn’t close off the cell…”

A humanoid monster moves out from the darkness and faces their cell. It looks similar to a zombie with gray skin and has a large monstrous mouth on its belly. The eyes on it are completely black. More of them start walking out from the darkness, all hungry to feast on Zeth and Sasha.

“It looks like we are meant to be their lunch…” Zeth says with increasing nerves.

The heroes have entered the Mansion of Horrors! Can they survive all of its deadly traps?

Chapter 65 END

To be Continued in Chapter 66: Saykomera