I don't care what anyone says, I wasn't scared. Absolutely not. Fear? Never heard of it. I just wanted to make sure these two wouldn't get scared. Totally a noble act. Which is why I had both arms hooked onto Lumine's and Nilou's like my life depended on it.
The desert wind was doing that thing where it feels like it's trying to peel my skin off. You know, the type that makes you regret leaving your bed, your home, and possibly the entire concept of existing in a hot climate.
"This trip's safe, right?" I asked for the fifth—okay, maybe tenth—time, looking over at Alhaitham, who was leading us through the sand like a very unamused tour guide.
He gave me a side glance that could be classified as 'tired of your nonsense.' "You sure don't look scared at all."
I grinned, trying not to stutter. "D-damn right!" My voice cracked like a badly tuned lyre, but hey, confidence is confidence.
"You've asked that like ten times already," Lumine said. "If you're this worried, why did you even come?"
"Moral support," I answered without hesitation. "And by moral support, I mean me supporting my morals of not dying alone."
Nilou chuckled softly. "It's fine. We'll look after each other. Besides, you're pretty strong, right?"
I hesitated. "...Define 'pretty.'"
Greg, perched on my shoulder, rolled his lizard eyes and flicked his tongue at me. The flick had the vibe of 'You're hopeless.'
Paimon decided to be a menace. She floated behind me and let out the most cartoonishly fake "Boo!" you could imagine.
My soul left my body. I screamed like a little girl at a haunted house. My knees buckled, my heart did a triple backflip, and I almost accidentally unleashed all four of my current elements at once. There's a good chance the entire desert felt my pain.
Lumine lost it. Not a smirk. Not a chuckle. No. She laughed. Full-on, head-thrown-back, tears-in-her-eyes laughing. Paimon was rolling in the air, kicking her legs like she was trying to swim. Nilou chuckled behind her hand but still rubbed my back as if I'd just survived a trauma. Which, I had.
Lumine bent over laughing. Like, full-on, no-holding-back laughter. "You should've seen your face!" she wheezed.
Paimon was doubled over mid-air, cackling like a goblin. "Totally worth it!"
Nilou chuckled again but still patted my arm in comfort. "It's okay, you're just... very expressive."
Greg gave me a long, disappointed blink, then slapped my leg with his tail. The message was clear: You disappoint me, you fucking donkey.
Alhaitham sighed. "Idiot."
Moments later, we reached what Alhaitham called a "hospital." Calling it a hospital was generous. It looked more like an abandoned sandcastle with bad architecture.
Paimon hovered, frowning. "Is this the place? It's in terrible shape... and there's sand everywhere."
"Everything's covered in sand here," I pointed out. "The sand has sand."
Alhaitham scanned the area like he was reading the place's tragic backstory. "Empty and forgotten. An ideal place to hide people."
Nilou tilted her head, looking at the cracked walls. "It feels... sad. Like it remembers being important."
We started exploring. Or at least we were, until a group of hilichurls decided to crash the party.
"Aaaah, monsters! Watch out!" Paimon yelped.
Finally. My time had come. I cracked my knuckles. "Oh-ho-ho, you picked the wrong time to exist, my friends! I've got a lot of frustration to unload, and you're standing in the perfect punching range!" I leapt in, swinging like a gremlin on espresso. "Blame this creepy hospital for making me think there'd be ghosts! Blame the heat! Blame my childhood trauma, why not!"
"You have childhood trauma?" Nilou asked mid-swing.
"This is neither the time nor the place!" Lumine shouted, kicking a hilichurl.
Lumine joined in with smooth, precise strikes. Nilou danced her way through them, her hydro blooms detonating in perfect rhythm. Greg... mostly bit ankles. But he bit ankles with purpose.
The hilichurls didn't stand a chance.
After we mopped them up, Paimon exhaled dramatically. "Phew... They were easier to deal with than Paimon expected."
Lumine gave her a look. "What were you even expecting?"
"Uh... super strong bandits? Or monsters taller than buildings dropping out of the sky? Or y'know, something like that."
"Why would you even expect that?" I asked.
Paimon shrugged. "Because it'd be cool?"
Alhaitham stayed silent. Which somehow made him scarier.
Paimon floated closer to him. "He looks super serious... We gotta stay on our A-game, too!"
He walked up to a Dendro Monument, his vision flashing briefly, and the barrier at the hospital's entrance melted away.
"Aaaah!" Paimon yelped again.
"Let's go in and take a look," Alhaitham said.
The inside was just as creepy as the outside. Dusty hallways, broken doors, and shadows that looked way too friendly.
Greg's head swiveled left and right, his tail twitching like a metronome of suspicion.
"Heeey!" Paimon called to Alhaitham after a while. "We haven't found squat! Are you sure we aren't wasting our time here?"
"Patience. Shani says she only hears the crying at night. We have time to burn." He found a spot, sat down, and casually pulled out a book.
Paimon gawked. "And just like that, he sits down... Wait, you even brought a book!? What are you reading? Let Paimon see!"
He handed it over. She stared at the page. "Uh... 'The natural position, which is the positional propensity of an entity in natural motion, in contrast with an object in forced motion... When free from external influences, every entity... displays the tendency to follow its natural trajectory...' Huh?"
"So, you got that?" he asked.
"Paimon gives up! You keep reading your impossible book... See ya!" She floated back toward us, muttering. "How is he so relaxed? Reading in a creepy place like this..."
Lumine smirked. "Maybe it's time to spread your wings and become learned."
She shot Lumine a glare. "Hey, what good is that gonna do for you? You're acting like one of those annoying grown-ups who nag people to study!"
I mumbled under my breath. "She is though."
Lumine's glare found me instantly. "The more you learn, the more money you can earn to support us."
Paimon gasped. "Hey, what gives? Shouldn't you be the one providing for Paimon?"
Lumine crossed her arms. "Isn't that what I'm doing now?"
"Oh, right... okay then." Paimon suddenly switched gears and grinned sheepishly. "Um, thank you for working so hard and earning so much Mora... If it weren't for you guys, Paimon would probably still be floating around in the ocean somewhere. Hehe. Thank you!"
Lumine softened a bit. "You're welcome."
Nilou, who had been quietly looking around, smiled warmly at us. "It's nice, seeing you all like this. Even if the place is..." She looked at a cracked wall. "...less than welcoming."
Greg flicked his tail at a pile of dust like he was trying to duel it. The dust lost.
I leaned against the wall. "So... anyone else feel like we're in the opening act of a horror story?"
Paimon groaned. "Don't jinx it!"
***
You know those horror movies where the idiots decide to "wait until night" before investigating creepy noises? Yeah, that's us. That's our plan. And if we were to rank the idiocy here, I would proudly — or shamefully — take first place. No contest. Gold medal of bad decisions. My acceptance speech would just be me screaming and possibly fainting mid-sentence.
So there I was, tugging on Lumine's sleeve like my life depended on it. "Hey, blondie. You love me, right? You're not gonna let me die, right?"
She didn't even blink. Just stared at me with the expression of someone already planning my obituary. "I do love you, but if you don't stop being an idiot, I'll throw you at the nearest ghost."
I jolted. She was probably joking. Probably. The problem is, she's really strong, and I've seen her throw hilichurls like they're frisbees.
Nilou smiled sweetly at me, which was somehow even more terrifying. "Don't worry, Shigeru. If Lumine throws you at a ghost, I'll make sure you're still cool when you die."
"G-Goddess, I accept the gesture, but please don't kill me yet. I'm too handsome to be a ghost."
Nilou tilted her head. "Ghosts can be handsome too. I bet you'd be a very stylish phantom."
Great. Now I'm imagining ghost-me trying to haunt someone and just getting ignored because I'm 'too pretty to be scary.'
Greg, my so-called emotional support lizard, gave me a slow blink. I could almost hear him say, you'd be the least threatening ghost in history.
The sun was dipping below the horizon, the sky turning into that deep shade of orange that says bad things happen after this point. My spine was already filing for early retirement.
Paimon yawned. "Paimon's getting so sleepy..."
I gestured wildly. "Sleepy? Sleepy?! We're about to be murdered by supernatural forces, and you're thinking of a nap?"
Paimon shrugged. "Better to die well-rested."
Lumine smirked faintly. "She has a point."
"Don't side with her!" I said, pointing at both of them like an overworked teacher catching two students cheating.
Then it happened. Crying sounds. From the hospital. My soul almost punched a hole through my ribs.
We started heading toward the sound. Lumine froze for a second. "...!"
Paimon's head darted around. "Huh? What was that sound?"
Alhaitham's voice was steady. "There it is. It's coming from that direction."
I puffed out my chest. "D-Don't worry, you guys. I-I'll cover you!" I announced bravely... from behind Alhaitham. He didn't even bother looking at me, just sighed and kept walking.
We followed, and Paimon kept glancing around nervously. "Is the sound coming from here? Paimon's not seeing anything."
Alhaitham knelt, inspecting the floor. "It's from below."
Paimon gasped. "Huh?! But there's no way we can get down there!"
Alhaitham's eyes scanned the walls. "Something is off about the interior here."
That was my cue to discreetly back away toward the exit — until Lumine grabbed the back of my coat and started dragging me like a sack of potatoes.
"Blondie! Spare me!" I squirmed like my survival depended on it. Which, it did.
She smacked me lightly on the head. "Stop being dramatic."
I turned to Nilou with my most pitiful expression. "Goddess, help me!"
Nilou gave me a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine, Shigeru. Think of it as an adventure."
"Adventures don't end with me as ghost bait!" I hissed.
Greg slapped my cheek with his tiny paw like, get it together, you coward.
I gave up, going limp as Lumine continued to drag me.
Alhaitham found a hatch hidden in the floor. "Hmm..." He opened it.
Paimon's eyes went wide. "Whoa... there was a hatch here?"
"Yes," Alhaitham said simply, as if discovering hidden ghost basements was Tuesday for him.
We descended into the basement, where the air was colder and the walls seemed to breathe. Another barrier glimmered ahead.
"As I thought," Alhaitham said. "There's a hidden structure."
Paimon's eyes widened. "Whoa... It's like they tucked another hospital into this one..."
I frowned. "Why would anyone need two hospitals stacked like cursed pancakes?"
Nilou giggled softly. "Maybe the ghosts needed extra room?"
"Not helping!" I snapped.
She floated closer, looking around. "It looks like there are other mechanisms here. Let's keep exploring!"
I muttered under my breath, "Damn you for suggesting that, you floating piece of emergency food."
Lumine tugged me forward. "Come on. You'll survive. Probably."
Nilou followed close, still smiling. Greg sat on my shoulder, tail flicking against my neck in a way that felt less like comfort and more like a countdown to my demise.
***
Man, if someone told me this would be just a chill day at the hospital, I'd laugh so hard I'd probably choke on my own stupidity. Instead, here I am, running back to the entrance of this haunted nightmare to find another mechanism to open that godforsaken creepy barrier. Because, you know, nothing screams "fun" like shooting veggies at weird tech to unlock doors. Seriously, who designs these things? Some mad salad chef?
But of course, the universe wants me dead or at least thoroughly annoyed, so the mechanism isn't unguarded. Nope. We got monsters. Classic. Hilichurls everywhere like they're holding a rave, mushrooms with wings flapping like they just discovered flight school, and brown mushrooms that look suspiciously edible but would probably kill you faster than a fall from the highest tower. And let me not forget the giant bird thing that's probably thinking, "Hey, I'm here to ruin your day."
And to top it off, the Eremites show up again. Yep, those creeps are like that bad sequel nobody asked for. They pop up everywhere, worse than the mushrooms. At this point, my brain's just screaming for chaos to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest. Ghosts? I can't fight them. I can't hit what I can't see. So I do what I do best: go full Gremlin mode on everything else. Smash, bash, scream like a maniac—basically turn into a walking disaster zone.
The monsters don't stand a chance. And you know what? For the first time today, I'm actually having fun. Chaos fuels me. Destruction is my battery. I'm the tempest of madness in a calm world. After lighting up all those blasted mechanisms, we head back inside, and that's when it hits me.
Right. We still gotta face our real doom.
I cling onto Nilou and Lumine like a kid who lost his candy, trying to muster some bravado. "Don't worry, I got you guys. I'll protect you."
Lumine just sighs, clearly used to my nonsense.
Nilou chuckles, ruffling my hair with that "you're hopeless but adorable" look.
Greg, my trusty lizard sidekick, just blinks slowly, probably judging me. Whatever, Greg. You're just a scaly ball of judgment.
Suddenly, Paimon perks up with her usual hyper energy.
"Look, there's someone over there! We need to be careful!"
I squint suspiciously. "Oh great, another weirdo in this hellhole. What's next, a talking rock?"
Paimon bounces, clearly ignoring me. "Good idea. Let's approach slowly without alarming him." Because nothing screams stealth like a walking circus sneaking up on someone.
Alhaitham's voice cuts in, calm as always. "Wait... You're..."
The guy groans, "Ugh... Argh..." Eyes all glazed over like he's seen too many bad days.
Paimon whispers, "He can't speak. And he looks way too young to be anyone's grandpa. Also, why's he the only one here?"
Alhaitham replies softly, "That's Razak. A senior of mine at the Akademiya."
"Scholar, huh? The forest-mumbling, training kind?" Paimon quizzes.
"No," Alhaitham shakes his head. "And that's the problem. Razak never trained in the forest or reached Satyavada Life. How he ended up like this is a mystery."
I lean in, curious despite myself. "So... what do we do with him?"
Lumine, ever the voice of reason, suggests, "Observe for a bit. He might be important."
Greg flicks his tail lazily, as if to say, 'Good luck with that.'
I mutter, "Great. Babysitting a half-zombie while the real doom waits inside. Could this day get any better?"
Nilou laughs softly. "Relax, Shigeru. You make chaos an art form. Calm is boring anyway."
"True. Excitement is my cardio." I grin, flexing my fingers ready for whatever mess comes next.
Paimon bounces again. "Do you think Razak knows something? Like, a secret hidden in this place?"
Alhaitham points to the floor near the door. "Drag marks. Someone was pulling a heavy cart in a hurry. Looks like they took everyone else. Razak was left behind."
I snort. "Left him like trash. Charming villains."
Greg hisses softly, probably agreeing.
"Looks like we're walking into a trap, huh?"
Lumine shrugs. "Probably. But what choice do we have?"
"Yeah, what else am I supposed to do? Sit here and let ghosts haunt me?" I glare at the dark corners. "No thanks."
Nilou pats my shoulder. "You handle things your way, and that's why we're still alive."
"Barely," I joke. "But hey, I'm the disaster magnet. It's my job."
Greg blinks again, giving a tiny hiss of what I swear is encouragement.
We get closer to Razak, and I can't help but think — If this is how the Akademiya treats their seniors, maybe I'm better off fighting monsters than dealing with bureaucrats.
Suddenly, Razak's eyes flicker, and he whispers something garbled. Everyone freezes.
I clear my throat. "Uh... Buddy? You good? You trying to tell us something? Or are you just moaning for effect?"
Nilou crouches beside him, eyes soft. "He's weak, but there's a spark. We need to get him to safety and figure out what's going on."
Lumine nods. "Agreed. But first, we move carefully. This place is a death trap."
I grin, cracking my knuckles. "Death trap or not, chaos is my playground. Let's show these creeps who's boss."
Greg hisses like he's ready to back me up. The lizard's got my back, silent but deadly.
Paimon floats excitedly, "Let's go! Adventure awaits!"
And just like that, we're back into the fray — me, a hyperactive disaster magnet, my calm yet deadly friends, a judgmental lizard, and a silent mystery man who might just hold the key to this nightmare.
What could possibly go wrong?
___________
End of Chapter 123
Quests Completed:
*Investigate the abandoned hospital near Aaru Village where mysterious crying sounds are heard at night. Face down monsters and uncover the strange presence left behind by past patients.
*Survive your own terror and keep your friends calm during the haunted hospital exploration. Bonus points for not screaming like a little kid (failed miserably).
*Unleash your chaotic fighting style on a pack of hilichurls and winged mushrooms invading the hospital grounds.
*Observe Alhaitham's unflappable calmness while he reads philosophical tomes in the creepiest place possible.
*Gain the reluctant approval of Greg, your ever-skeptical lizard sidekick.
*Find and rescue Razak, an incapacitated Akademiya scholar trapped within the hospital. Learn of the darker secrets hidden beneath the sand.
Rewards:
*Adventure EXP +4,500
*18,000 Mora (Apparently, there are treasures in creepy places)
*Companionship EXP: +400 (Lumine, Nilou, Paimon, Greg)
*"Hospital Dust" : ( A vial of eerie dust from the hospital basement. Contains faint traces of elemental energy.)
*"Razak's Pendant" : (A worn pendant once belonging to the Akademiya scholar, rumored to hold protective magic.)
*"Greg's Tail Tap": (Restores morale by 5 points; a reminder you're never alone (even when you're scared).
*"Sun-Dried Book Fragment"
*"Paimon's Super Fake Boo" (A dubious morale boost that either scares enemies or just annoys them.)
*"Lumine's Warning Smack" : Temporarily reduces damage from surprise attacks by 7%.)
*"Nilou's Soothing Essence"
*"Ghost Whisperer's Token" : (A small charm that improves hearing, helping detect faint sounds in)
*+12 (Aaru Village — "Trusted Visitors")