The Non-Existent Room
The man claps his gloved hands softly. He is beaming at you. “Oh, I say, was that not a marvelous result?” he asks.
“Yes, Master,” replies the maid primly. “It certainly was.”
You frown at his carefree pleasure – the experience was not marvelous at all – but somewhere deep within you, you instinctively understand what the man is talking about. The abyss: for the Shinoseki that is in the loop; the you that is elsewhere, but at the same time still you… being swallowed by the abyss has changed something.
“He was too careless. Buoyed by his desire to take control, he judged it an acceptable risk to chance your escape. That was a splendid move, I must say. He fell for the bait that you set so thoroughly that you were free to dive into the sea of the underworld yet again, for the twelfth and hopefully final time,” smiles the man proudly.
“The twelfth time?” Is it the twelfth time that you have encountered that abyss? You certainly do not recall anything like this occurring in the previous nights. You would have remembered such a ghastly sight. Searching your memories, you find something related. “The old man… he said something about seeing the abyss a second time,” you murmur. You look at the man’s expectant face, and answer your own question. “…but he was mistaken, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. Misled, and mistaken. He thought you had visited it ten times, and told you that you had visited it twice, hoping that you would believe his words. An old fox he may be, but he is yet a mere child.” The man grins, then continues. “The eleventh visit allowed you to find your way here. The twelfth will have opened the path. Come, take a look.” He raps the table with his knuckles, drawing your attention to a stack of cards. They appear to be tarot cards. Expertly, the man shuffles them, and then begins drawing and flipping over a card one by one.
“Tarot cards are used as auguries for fortune-telling by Western occultists, a tradition popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but they can also illustrate the stages of a spiritual journey and ascension. A man is born as The Fool: a blank slate, unaware and ignorant. As he travels he gains insight and strength, but also faces obstacles in his path. Death, in particular, is unavoidable. And it is Death that you face every night. Should one seek out and overcome the embodiment of Death, it signifies a transition into a new state. A transformation, preparing the self for ascension.”
You blink. “Are you saying… I’m going to get superpowers?”
“What? No. Of course not. Nothing so ludicrous,” snorts the man disgustedly. “You have undergone that final change, that twelfth visit to Death. As a result, you will have changed the way you see the world… and in changing the fundamental root of your observation, you will also have changed the world itself through the force of your own will. The path will now be made clear. The labyrinth is still manifest, but the solutions to unravel it now exist. Of course, to properly make use of this opportunity, your journey will become more precarious than ever before: from this moment forward, you will enter the maze as you are now. Safe refuge in this place is no longer a guarantee.”
He glances behind you. Turning to follow his gaze, you see a massive set of ornate double doors. “The fifth night has already begun. You only need to walk through those doors to join it. Though you have finally succeeded in laying out the foundation of your plan, he, too, has not been idling. He will have gained an advantage from his actions in the previous night. Be on your toes.”
You turn back to the man, looking at him.
“Yes?” He raises his eyebrows mildly. “You have questions for me, I take it?”
“Who are you? Why do you know so much? You keep talking about my plan, but what exactly is it?”
He chuckles politely. “Ah, but as I have said before… do I truly exist? Does this place truly exist? I may seem to know a lot, but I am certain you know as much as I do. You are just unable to remember.”
“If that is the case, I am sure that you can tell me what I do not remember at the moment.”
“Oh… but I cannot. I can only tell you what you truly want me to tell you.”
“Are you saying that my subconscious is telling me I do not truly want to know everything? Have I put a mental block on myself?”
“Perhaps. You would have to ask it yourself. The only things I can say are what I can say. A tautology of sorts, and quite infuriating, admittedly, but that is how things are.” He smiles. You have no idea whether he is telling the truth or not. “Do not be frustrated. We are ultimately on your side,” continues the man. He gestures to the maid. “Show him.”
She bows, and stretches out her palm. A strange, flower-like crystal, shining with multiple colours, lies in the center of it. The crystal is glowing gently. It appears to have been fractured and pieced together again. “With the final gate open, we can now begin piecing together the fragments of your shattered psyches. It will take some time, but hopefully it will be complete before the nights come to an end.”
“Shattered psyches? What do you mean? How will it help me?”
“It is exactly what you think it means.” He smiles that infuriating, enigmatic smile yet again.
You shake your head, and ask one more question. There are too many of those, and too few answers. “There is something else I saw. Na… Maeda, jumping off the building. She escaped from the loop. That is not part of the nights that I return to, over and over again. Why was I able to see it?”
The man leans back in his comfortable chair, steepling his fingers. There is a slight frown creasing his brow, a rare sight for you. “You did, did you?” When his answer comes, it is slightly hesitant. “The walls between the worlds of the living and the dead are particularly thin here, and the curse – for lack of a better word – permeating the hospital is particularly strong. Those that escape are doomed to be drawn back, one way or another. It may take fifteen minutes, or fifty years, but eventually they will realize that there is no escape. In this case… she may have been drawn back into the eternal loop... but I cannot say for sure.”
He pauses, and his smile widens. “Of course, if you had brought her with you when dipping into the abyss, you would have been able to bring her here. Such is your nature. Now, allow me to ask you a question instead. Who would you want to save, should you see a way to resolve this entire situation?”
***
A. Yourself, first and foremost. From the sound of it, you might just be rather important to this whole charade. The others are dispensable. To get to the center of it all, you must prioritize your own survival from now on.
B. Those you want to save. You probably cannot save everyone. You will have to choose who you would like to be saved, and do so carefully. You cannot afford to waste time on people who cannot be rescued.
C. Everyone. You cannot leave anyone behind, no matter who they are. You will save them all, even if it comes at a personal cost. Your conscience won’t allow you to do otherwise.
