[Floor Thirteen]

  Flaring: The basic act of engulfing one's body in Anima, used for empowering and replenishing.

  Coating: Derived by Flaring, it precisely applies Anima to one’s body part or object.

  Masking: Simply hiding one's Anima from untrained senses or those without Eye-Coating. However, it prohibits the usage of Anima.

  Concealing: Derived by Masking, it camouflages one’s Anima to other users, despite the usage of Coating. Allows users to use Anima.

  ***

  Old furniture littered the rooms: a pipe organ shoved in the corner, paintings on the walls, and overturned tables. They were draped in dirty white cloth. The windows were opened, letting the intruding moonlight in. Curtains fluttered.

  “I suggest we work together,” a young man proposed, his eyes narrowed. “Unless we want to get turned into a puddle of flesh.”

  “There’s nine of us. You heard the announcer. Five,” a woman from the corner said, her voice low. “This is a game of luck.”

  “Not at all,” the young man interjected. “The dolls have Anima in them. Perhaps, the ones we need to find don’t—“

  The rest of the climbers scrambled. One ran inside a room, others leapt upstairs, and some stood there, still staring at the puddle.

  Sighing, the young man shook his head before noticing Lodio. “Ah, you’re still here… we should work together. I’m Rokkle.”

  Lodio didn’t answer at first. Instead, he stared at Rokkle’s face: narrowed eyes, short brown hair, and a crooked nose. “Lodio,” he stated.

  It was true; Lodio’s eyes swept at the moving dollies, a flame in each one of them.

  Then!

  Another blood-curdling scream.

  “I guess one of ‘em got desperate. Tsk. Tsk.” Rokkle shook his head. “We should work as a team, Lodio. If we find one, I’ll give it to you. On my Anima,” he proposed.

  “I’ll work alone.”

  Lodio moved past him.

  Every footstep made the floor creak.

  “Catch me! Catch me!” One of the dollies quipped, running toward a room.

  Lodio didn’t.

  In the first hour, all the dollies had an Anima in them, or that’s what Lodio swore. He went upstairs, downstairs, to the kitchen, to a living room, and even back to the starting area. But nothing. Some of the rooms were locked or boarded up.

  A man tripped downstairs.

  Lodio stared as he stood and scratched his skin.

  “W-what i-if the r-real test was to e-escape! I c-checked all the dolls! A-and n-nothing! M-m-maybe I-it’s—haha—I-it has t-to be!” Biting his nails, the man rushed toward the opened window and jumped out.

  A wet splat.

  How did he get this far?

  Biting the inside of his cheek, he turned toward the walking dolls. Anima. Anima. Anima. All crackled the same. Burned the same. Looked the same.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Five dolls… six hours… five dolls… six hours… thirty dolls in total…

  Ding!

  [One had found the correct corndolly! Goal: find the correct corndolly (1/5) under six hours (1/6)]

  Lodio’s head snapped back up.

  How? I checked! All Internal!

  “That asshole left us for dead!” One of the climbers banged their fist against the wall. “Fuck this game! I came here to fight! Not to solve puzzles!”

  “Getting mad won’t do—“

  “Shut the hell up, scrawny! You probably spent all day hiding in the forest.” The climber flipped their finger at Rokkle.

  Rokkle sighed.

  In the second hour, two people screamed and melted. Another one escaped.

  Five remaining.

  In the third hour, no one escaped, and Lodio? Lodio counted and counted and counted the dolls. All the same. And by the fourth? One sat in the corner, biting their nails and muttering. Lodio sat on the stair.

  “Catch me! Catch me!” A dolly next to him waved their knotted arms.

  Lodio ignored it.

  The enraged person seethed in the main hall, their teeth gritted. And suddenly, they started to kick the dolls around. “Fuck this game!” They said repeatedly.

  But in unison, the dolls looked at him.

  “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” They all asked, approaching him. “Why are you us? We just to play. Why? Why? Why?”

  They started to climb on the person’s body.

  “Off me! I’ll fucking kill—“

  Blood sprayed into the air like a morning mist.

  Punishment?

  He stood.

  Anima—

  Rokkle came out of a room, panting. “I get it! Anima is a soul! The dolls said ‘wanted,’ right?! That means… everyone! Catch a doll! And we should pass!” He threw himself on the floor, catching a doll.

  A few seconds passed.

  Ding!

  [One had found the correct corndolly! Goal: find the correct corndolly (2/5) under six hours (4/6)]

  “Catch me! Catch me!” A dolly walked across him.

  Lodio dashed and swept it up to his rooms. “I got you—“

  ***

  The cold fog prickled his skin. It swirled, covering the furniture and walls. Through the fog, a faint light was visible. Heavy footsteps creaked on the wooden floor.

  Instinctively, Lodio followed the light before bumping into the dining table. It screeched.

  This is the manor?

  A faint kiddish-like giggle echoed in the manor. But it wasn’t in one direction; it was in every direction. Boy or girl, he could not tell. However, what he did know was that he wasn’t alone in this.

  His eyes squinted at the incoming light, then became clearer: a man clad in black. His face was deeply lined—still visible behind his grizzled silver beard. In the man’s hand, he held an oil lamp, while the other held a leather belt. Every step, a key jingled.

  “Playing hide and seek, aren’t we?” A pause. “I love it when you struggle.” The man phased through Lodio, continuing on his pursuit.

  Then I have to find the doll? Before him?

  His legs moved before he continued to ponder. Shortly after, Anima engulfed his body, then coated his eyes. Despite using Anima, he couldn’t do anything at all. His gaze landed on the light source, and what he saw made his heart quicken.

  Red.

  That’s the only word that came to his mind.

  It reeked and spilled into the air like a bloody mist.

  “Come out, come out.”

  Lodio shivered.

  Moving through the manor, his hands were outstretched to feel the walls or paintings, and his eyes were still coated.

  Another giggle.

  I can’t see…

  Lodio bit the inside of his cheek. His nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.

  Ding!

  [Hours (5/6)]

  Already?!

  His breath hitched.

  Despite the hovering screen, it provided zero illumination. It was a dim blue with white text.

  He had looked everywhere: the kitchen, hallways, upstairs, and downstairs. Everywhere that he could see. It was the same layout except for the suffocating fog.

  The light source approached him again. A low snickering. “Where are youuuuu?” He whistled.

  Again.

  That foul-stench flame.

  Phasing through, the man walked toward the kitchen.

  I have an idea…

  Clenching his fist, Anima coiled around it like a snake. Then, without warning, Lodio smashed his fist against the man’s scalp.

  Thwack!

  The man fell with a thud. And the oil lamp? It shattered into a billion pieces—fire blazed, catching on the wooden floor and cloths. His keys scattered across the floor.

  Stepping forward, Lodio crouched and picked up the keys.

  Keys?

  Pondering.

  Where had he seen something that needed keys? That’s a question he didn’t know the answer to. Yet. He stood and looked around. A cough escaped his lips, and his nose crinkled. It smelled. The fire spread further, snaking upstairs.

  And then, Lodio’s eyes widened. His feet carried him upstairs and toward the end of a hall. A locked door.

  Behind him, the fire trailed behind. Below him, the floor trembled and vomited splinters. Above him, debris rained.

  Fumbling with the keys, he tried the first one: a copper key, but it was too small. Then, a second one: a brass key, but it was the wrong shape. Finally, the last one: a skeleton key. He shoved the key inside, but the door wouldn’t budge.

  The fire lashed his back, eating away his linen shirt.

  Coating his key-wielding hand, it coiled around the key.

  Thud!

  Fire billowed into the room.

  It was dark and foggy.

  A child was slumped against the wall, hugging their knees.

  “I found you.”