Hirune stared at the unfamiliar faces around her with trepidation. Eyes slightly squinted and her lips slightly puckered as if she's about to ask a question yet can't find how to word it.
She didn't want to be here, but she doubted they'd cooperate from how Kala acted towards her and the fact they seemed to be friends with her.
She looked around to find some sort of escape. She'd just gotten here, but she was already scheming on ways to leave.
To her left was a mini bar. It wasn't the most extravagant but for such a small space it worked. With a shelf behind it withholding many drinks of different kinds, mostly sodas and juices, with a stack of barrels next to it. The counter being made of a light gray almost white marble. A distinct smell of a bunch of different beverages combined coming from it.
To her right there was a weapon storage area. The area having a bunch of different wooden racks that seemed to be made of oak wood. Many different kinds of weapons life maces, flails, and swords on it. There being a larger rack behind those racks that held different kinds of pistols. This reminded Hirune to feel her pocket to make sure they didn't disarm her, which luckily, they didn't.
Slightly to the left of the weapons a staircase that went downwards, and slightly to the right of it was a staircase that went up. Hirune slowly sat up and looked behind her to see if there was anything else to observe. Right behind her was a counter with some printing presses, which she found weird because for the way they seem to control their finances from how tidy and high-quality the things around her were, she'd expect that they wasted all of their money on those things. There's also a weird tube in the middle with a little dispenser thing that launched whatever went down it onto the counter. Next to that counter was a small hallway that led to a door that says " BEDROOMS ".
"Ahem," someone behind her cleared their throat. So Hirune turned, a little too quickly for Kala's liking though, almost getting her a spear to the head. A girl with light blonde hair and light hazel eyes stopped her. This girl was certainly unique though because she has gaping hole through where her heart is supposed to be. "Sorry about her attitude, I take it you already know each other considering how she kept on mentioning a witch being at her school?"
Hirune just kind of stared at her, she wanted to give her some attitude, but she seemed like the most rational person in this room. Not to mention she was the only one unarmed, so it seems as if only she's open to talking things out.
"We do know each other, not personally though. We're just acquainted. Also, what did Kala mean by I'm a half-witch? Oh, and what's your name?" Hirune said in a tone that attempted to be respectful, slowly sitting up straight while side eyeing Kala.
"My names Ellen. About your witch question, we can talk about it once we know you're trustworthy. But I'm glad you know each other in some sense. Still, I should introduce you to the others since we don't plan to let you leave anytime soon," Ellen said gesturing towards the others with a slight smile.
She pointed towards a boy with gray-almost white hair and icy blue eyes that seemed to be around the same age as them. "That's Tundra, he's pretty distant and doesn't talk much, so I doubt you'll get to know him before you leave in roughly... five years." Hirune just shrugged it off. She didn't care about getting to know them, she cared about escaping, but she'd be lying if she said the five years part didn't concern her if her escape, she failed.
Ellen pointed at the other guy in the room. He had curly chestnut hair and green eyes. "That's Clint. He's very extroverted, or at least towards me he is, and our campfire... In a way... He has fire powers." Hirune furrowed her eyebrows a bit wanting to fail even less. Judging by how Ellen described him he's a broken record player that won't run out of batteries, and that seemed treacherous for her sanity.
But Ellen seemed experienced in this weird unknown world Hirune found herself stumbling into. She looked at her, curious about the mysterious purple thing she consumed, but still extremely unsure as to if she can trust her or not considering how untrusting she seemed towards her.
She raised her left hand to her chin, placing her dumb under it, and her pointer fingers knuckle to her lips, forming a fist with her hand as she considered her options to gather intel. She then rested that arm on her right arm and rested her right arm on her lap while leaning forwards.
"So, Ellen, I'd like to ask you about something." Ellen straightened her back, half to show she was paying attention, half in case she needed to defend herself, "Go on." She answered in a patiently curious voice.
Hirune moved her hand away from her chin and laced her fingers together. She had no clue where she was or what could happen to her if she said one thing wrong, so she had to be careful with her phrasing. "So, I ate this little weird purple thing, and it seemed important in some sort of weird way."
The other 3 who were just listening seemed doubtful, but Ellen actually took a second to consider it. "It could be an artifact. Artifacts are these things that hold great powers that vary into many categories. There's an infinite number of artifacts, but not an infinite number of categories. There are 15 categories that all have 5 subcategories. You don't need to know that much about them, so I'll leave it at that rough overview of them."
Hirune nodded, that made no sense at all, but if it was true, it was better than having some sort of parasite or piece of glass in her system. After all she saw that weird lady and room after consuming that artifact. Not counting her interaction with Kala of course, because that didn't help in the slightest.
"Well either way, it's 10pm and we've got stuff to do early tomorrow. So, you should try to get some sleep alright?" Ellen said in a warm soothing voice.
She pretended to go to sleep and listened to the footsteps go into the little hallway and into the bedrooms. She instantly sat up and sneaked towards the staircase that went down. She thought the staircase that went up went towards the main entrance, which would make it easier to leave, but they probably expected her to try that and set something up there already.
She creeped down the stairs and peeked the corner to see if anyone was down there. Which luckily there wasn't. Then looked around trying to figure out where to go from there. It was a colossal library, yet sort of a museum at the same time. The walls were covered in books, from the floor, up to the ceiling. anything within these shelved walls was something like an artifact, some extra scripture, or a weapon. An all-marble flooring, besides a path in the middle that has little paths coming out of it and goes around the artifacts which are in glass casings. Hirune walked down the path down the middle, which leads to a large pair of doors.
She decided to go through the doors and saw 15 different paths, a long straight corridor that went to the left and to the right connecting them. She decided to go down the one in the middle, which leads to a pair of large black metal gates that have a dark mysterious veil covering any view within the blinding void.
She slowly opened the gate, then her eyes widened, it's the same place she was in when she spoke with Namulenza, but unlike how it appeared when she saw it for the first time, it wasn't broken down. Instead, it seemed like it was in pristine condition.
What made her eyes widen wasn't the place, she would've actually been happy to see the place because it would've concerned, she wasn't seeing things under any normal circumstances. Instead, it was the shadowy figures sitting around the long table, feasting on what looked like rotting human corpses on silver platter.
She quickly shut the door and ran down the corridors and up the stairs. She stumbled and fell when she reached the middle floor again. Then she went up the other stairs. At this point it's better to alarm them about her escape than staying in this place any longer. When she went upstairs it looked like a hotel lobby, but she didn't bother to make out any of the details besides the front door.
She stumbled out of the front door exasperated trying to catch her breath. "Well would you look at that. Our little witch tried to escape." Someone said in a monotone voice.
She looked up and saw Tundra standing there, snow blowing in the wind around them. Which was weird because last time she checked it can't snow in Triste. A shiver went down her spine and from the chilly air around her as she suddenly found breathing just a little harder. Then she said her jaw vibrating, "I have a good reason, ok?! And how's it snowing?!"
Tundra, surprised Hirune by giving her a straight answer, "I don't care about the reason for your escape attempt, and it's snowing because I have ice powers... The rocks and strong winds crushed the ice I made to appear cool to powder." He then froze Hirune's hands and feet together before picking her up and taking her back in.
Hirune just kind of sat there as Tundra went to get the others. She wasn't sure if she was just being paranoid, but she was seeing a weird shadowy jester clowning around near the staircase that goes to that forsaken nightmare of a basement. Then when she heard the footsteps of the others the jester pranced back into the basement.
Ellen walked around the couch in front of Hirune. "So, why'd you try to escape? We we're all-" Ellen cut herself off and glanced at Kala. "Most of us, we're nice to you. You just had to be a little patient. All we were going to do was see how well you controlled your powers to see if it's safe for you and the people around-,"
Hirune cut her off, "Wait! How do you know I have powers? I don't even know if you're telling the truth."
Ellen just looked at her, "That's what artifacts do. They give you powers. I thought I made that obvious earlier, or did I forget to mention that part?"
Hirune's head went blank and she blinked a couple of times while smiling slightly, "I forgot too."
Ellen rolled her eyes, explained artifacts again, making sure to mention the power's part. Then she said, "We'll be going on a trip to Medio in a bit. Kala's going to allow you to pick out a weapon."
Hirune nodded, she still had her revolver, but a secondary weapon could come in handy.