Embrace The Ether 9 Marigold, The Madhatter

"Once we get there, remember, let me do the talking. We never know how she'll react to seeing someone new like you."

"I know, don't worry so much about it Droh. If it doesn't work out, we'll just have to think of something."

Deus seemed almost too nonchalant, to the point of even causing Droh to be caught off-guard. The true purpose for his apathetic replies, however, had more to do with his previous encounter that resulted in such an unpredictable, unimaginable death. Such a thing left behind a terribly grotesque scene of murder.

'That was all self-defense… yeah. I'm fine.' Deus tried to rea.s.sure himself, only to be hit dead-on in the face by his own realization. 'Wait, what the h.e.l.l was that, anyway? Is there… like… someone in this place I can see to check me?... Wait, am I sick?'

"What's up Deus, you look distracted. Wait, did something happen? You didn't get into a fight, did you?" Droh asked in a concerned voice, bunching his eyebrows into a frown, "The last thing we need right now is more drama."

"No, no. Nothing like that, don't worry about it. it's more personal, I guess. Just trying to figure some stuff out."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, that's how it is. But enough of that, we should be arriving soon, I imagine. Can we get back on track?"

Droh gave out a puff as he turned back around with a brief shrug. "Fine, let's just keep going. She should be close, that is if she's even still here."

The two pa.s.sed by several storefronts as they finally entered the residential area, a place built out of old tin sheets that stood approximately eight meters high, they piled together to form these hut-like structures.

"Hmm…" Droh mumbled under his breath as they walked, occasionally glancing around from one side of the street to the other.

'I should probably look into getting someone else's opinion… maybe. G.o.dd.a.m.nit, why does everything have to be so troublesome?' Deus mentally whined to himself, being unable to forget the scene from before, his mind concentrated on that moment. The feeling of being sick, nauseous even, while all the while feeling as if his body was heating up like a furnace to an excruciating degree. Of course, for all of that to happen not only at once, but for it to result in such a gruesome scene like before had obviously been shocking.

'Wait, would this make me a threat to the territory lords? If that's the case, wouldn't they kill me if they knew?'

"We've arrived!"

Drawn out of his daze, Deus glanced toward the spot that Droh pointed, his attention landed on this old bunker-looking building. The walls were double reinforced with this old metallic sheet while several copper rods plastered themselves onto the side of the building, allowing smoke to puff out of them from within.

The door was the most peculiar part, being cast in old chains and nails, seemingly completely unwelcoming.

"Yep, it hasn't changed a bit," Droh said almost matter-of-factly, his head nodded slightly as he stared.

"Yo-you're joking, right? This is a d.a.m.n murder-house… Are you telling me someone lives here? Voluntarily, too? I'll ask again… how are you even sure they'll help us?"

Droh could only chuckle in reply, "Yes, yes. Come on, let's see if she's home."

"Marigold!" The boy shouted aloud, all the while hammering on one of the metallic walls of the house with his closed fist. "Marigold! If you're home, I need you! Marigoooold, it's me, Droh!"

To no one's surprise, a crowd had begun to gather outside as Droh continued obnoxiously shouting out to no reply, all the while still beating the walls of the place.

"D-Droh, maybe she's not home? You're causing a scene…" Deus awkwardly whispered as he glanced around, his face turned a slight pink as embarra.s.sment overtook him. He definitely hadn't mentally prepared himself to be thrust out into the public eye so suddenly.

"Don't worry, she's home… I just know it. Marigold!"

Suddenly, the sound of a loudspeaker began to stutter into existence as Droh stepped away from the wall, a smile showed on his face.

Bzzzz! Click!

"DrOh, iS tHaT yOu?!" A female voice shouted out to the surprise of everyone around. A blaring screech sounded as the loudspeaker faced an audio distortion that caused almost everyone present to immediately frown and jump back, clenching their ears uncomfortably.

'This woman is literally insane, isn't she!?' Deus asked himself as he pushed his palms against his ear-ca.n.a.ls, in an attempt to keep his hearing in one piece after all was said and done.

"Eh heh, hey Marigold… Do you mind letting us in? It's kind of awkward talking to you like this…"

Bzzzz!

"wHaT dO yOu MeAn!?"

'Aaaah!' The speaker's sound distortion screeched again, causing even greater audible pain to everyone around than before. 'This d.a.m.n woman… what a useless person.'

"Mari! Mari! Come on, just let me in for a minute, alright? Wait, no… don't answer that… don't talk… just, open the door."

Several seconds pa.s.sed as everyone present cautiously prepared themselves for another painful screech. All of whom wore nothing but frowns as they glared off at both Deus and Droh, and even more so at the building which held that mad-woman, Marigold.

"Droh… I'm starting to regret following you here."

"Heh heh. Don't worry, I got th-" As Droh was speaking, the sound of a mechanism unlatching could be heard, interrupting him mid-sentence. "Oh, looks like she unlocked it."

The two of them stared toward the main door, believing that it had been the front door that had been unlocked, which would, of course, had made the most logical sense. But, to their surprise, it remained just as locked and chained as it had ever been. "Umm…" Droh coughed out, his breathing becoming sporadic as he felt everyone stare at him as if he was some sort of odd specimen to be evaluated and observed.

"Again… this isn't one big waste of time?"

"It's n-not! Ah, there!" He shouted out, pointing off toward something in specific, redirecting everyone's attention elsewhere as he temporarily gave out of a sigh. "Maybe the door was just a decoy? I guess."

From where Droh had pointed was what appeared to be an old metal hatch, half buried by a vast collection of metal and junk. Above the hatch sat an enormous stack of old junk and metal, which seemed to be deliberately placed by hand. "Wait, is that a trapdoor?"

'This d.a.m.n woman… I won't forgive her… really, I won't.' Deus swore to himself as his eyes rolled around beneath his skull as his eyelids were closed, agitation clearly showing on his face as he silently grumbled to himself. 'Heh, maybe I can see the limits of that murderous power I seem to have… maybe this trip wasn't a waste.'

"Alright Droh, let's see where it leads, I guess."

To Droh's shock and dismay, it appeared as if Deus's mood was actively changing sporadically from annoyed to angry to seemingly pleased all within only a few seconds. "Ri-right…"

"Well whatever we do, we should at least head inside… since we've come this far."

With both of them in agreement, they slowly approached the half-buried hatch and started moving a majority of the junk that had been used to cover it previously to one side. Truth be told, none of it had been particularly heavy, but it did make Deus question how such garbage had gotten there in the first place. 'I wonder if someone had gotten so sick of her that they tried to bury and trap her inside? Heh, good on them.'

"Deus, come on." The young Faun called out as he carefully dipped his head beneath the surface of the hatch, descending further inside as the crowd of people slowly faded away. Now that their main source of entertainment and anger had gone further in, they had nothing else to keep their attention. It didn't help that Deus seemed to be on their side, so they couldn't just concentrate on him now.

"Wait, don't go too far in so quickly, you don't know how dangerous it is!" Deus spoke as his voice echoed down through the pothole, the steel hatch that laid ajar sat next to him, slightly creaking as gears slowly moved around on it.

Click. Click. Click.

The sound of clicking gears could be heard as the hatch started to slowly close up. "Oh s.h.i.t!"

Deus tossed himself down inside before the hatch fully closed on him. The sound of metal latches moving echoed down the hole as the crimson light from outside faded into nothing, leaving both of them in complete darkness. Stood in what seemed to be a small hole, but due to the lack of light, they were unable to see what sort of place this was.

"This has been such a great idea from start to finish, Droh," Deus spoke in a monotone, almost sarcastic tone, which only seemed to cause the little Faun to nudge out with his elbow, hitting him in the gut.

"You be quiet. Hmm, Marigold… are you there? We can't see anything!" He shouted out without even knowing if she could hear him. "I didn't just walk straight into a trap, did I? Stupid Droh… stupid."

Flash! Wooosh!

A faint light seemed to explode forth from all around them, causing their eyes to quickly dilate and blur their vision. "So, little Faun boy, what do you want?" A woman's voice asked from behind them, drawing their attention as they spun around to face the source of the question.

'So this is Marigold.' After seeing her in person Deus thought he had to reevaluate his thoughts on her if even only a little. Truth be told she wasn't a particularly ugly woman, in fact, her appearance seemed to almost shine in contrast to the faint glowing lights. Her hair, tied into a single knot, resembled that of a b.u.mblebee as most of it was a sharp yellow, which brought out her mascarheavy eyes even more so. 'Wait, is that even mascara? Of course it probably isn't, how could it be. Ugh, it's probably something filthy like oil or grease.'

"Ahem! I asked you a question monkey boy!"