Allen woke up startled and drenched in sweat. He was dazed and confused as he looked around the unfamiliar room he found himself in. The blinds were completely closed but he could still make out a hint of his surroundings as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

  "Where the hell am I?"

  He racked his brain trying to recollect what happened prior to him falling asleep and was jarred as the memories began violently rushing back towards him. The fog, the monster, the ax wielder, and mage, all of the events of that night were all coming back to him, especially, one thing in particular.

  "Nera...She must have brought us here after the fight. Now, I just gotta find out where that is exactly."

  Allen twitched as he noticed his hands were now bandaged. Allen examined further to find that a large portion of his arms, torso, and legs had been heavily wrapped as well in white bandages. He did not feel any trace of pain as well.

  "Wherever I am, at least they have pretty thorough first aid," he commented dryly to himself.

  He inspected the room once more now that more light was filling it from the rising sun. It did not appear to be any sort of medical office and it also did not look like a room of a house where someone actually lives due to how sparsely furnished it was.

  He was sitting upon a flat mat with a thin sheet over him and a single pillow where his head had laid. Next to him were his wallet, phone, necklace, and the odd trinket he had found the other day. He slowly picked them all up and put them in his pockets one by one. That was when he noticed something was already in one of his hands. A small cylinder covered in purple fabric.

  He tried strongly to recollect where it came from but instead remembered something else, his time going to the Underworld for the second time while he was asleep. Unlike his first time going there, that instance actually did feel like a dream. He pondered if it would be better to just dismiss it as one before deciding to mull it over later. He finished gathering what was next to him, including putting the cylinder into his pocket.

  Along with this, Allen took a moment to look fondly at the trinket before putting it away.

  He then looked around and saw that the walls were decorated with depictions of tundral landscapes. There were two shelves, one next to the window with various boxes in it that seemed to be filled with tools and machine parts, the other was in front of Allen and had plastic cups strewn throughout it with each one having a different country flag such as Spain, Denmark, Brazil, and so on. Perhaps one of the oddest objects in the strange room was what looked to be a yellow robot penguin perched on top of the plastic souvenir cup shelf.

  "It must be because it's so dim in here but it really looks like that toy is glaring down on me." Allen voiced out loud.

  Almost immediately, the mechanical penguin's grimace grew and it launched itself from the top of the shelf directly towards Allen beak first. Alarmed, Allen quickly caught the penguin in its air blitz and haphazardly tried to hold onto it as it furiously attempted to peck at his face with its beak.

  "This is so unfair! Why do I have to wake up to this mechanized monstrosity trying to peck my face off while I'm still recovering from my battle wounds!?"

  There were many things that Allen would have rather been greeted to that morning as a reward for his heroic deeds. Especially now that he knew magic and magical beings existed.

  "Hot nurses, maids, elves, or even a homely but still cute witch would've been better than this!" Allen yelled out vehemently. While this was occurring, the door to the room slowly creaked open.

  "Is that so? It's unfortunate to say, but we don't have anything like that here I'm afraid." This was spoken by the man with brown hair and light brown eyes dressed in what resembled a highly customized train conductor's outfit with a pocket watch adorned on the vest he was wearing. He was currently leaning in the doorway with a belated smile on his face.

  "Good morning, I'm-"

  "Where's Nera?"Allen interspersed before the unfamiliar man could finish his sentence.

  The man did not seem annoyed by this though and appeared as if he had been expecting that to happen.

  "Figured you'd be quite worried as well. The first thing she did when she awoke was to check up on you. Nera's on the roof."

  Allen sighed, relieved to hear that she was okay.

  "Of course it'd be some precarious place like that."

  "I'm going to see her now." Allen announced before getting up to his feet, holding the squirming robot fowl in one of his arms.

  "Before I go though. Where are we, your house?"

  "Affirmative, this is also my place of business, Trinkets and Treasures, an antique and machine parts store. Not at all a hospital as you've probably already noticed, but she probably brought you here because it was the closest place you could get treatment of any kind. There’s someone here who’s fairly good when it comes to medical aid."

  "Yeah, in the condition we were in. There wasn't much time to get that far."

  "Indeed, more specifically, we are in their room which is why they're so angry at you right now," the man elaborated, pointing at the mechanical penguin Allen was holding., “However, they had the courtesy to wait for you to awake before enacting their revenge."

  "That's a strange design for an A.I. even for Atelier City." Allen remarked in a judgemental tone.

  He then wrapped up the robot in the bedsheets to keep it from assaulting him any longer and walked past the odd man who he noticed had another robot penguin that was colored green on his shoulder. Allen absentmindedly chalked this up to the guy liking penguins and walked into the hallway. It was oddly decorated with weirdly fashioned metal structures on the wall that could be likened to modern art pieces which led the young man to believe that the owner of the building had bizarre fixations in general.

  He kept going until he entered the living room of the building and reached a door with a window, figuring it was the front door that would lead him outside.

  "Wait, that's not-" The resident of the building called out to him but Allen had already opened the door and stepped one foot outside into open air.

  "Wha!?"

  Allen, who had put his full trust in there being a solid firmament of earth under his foot when he walked outside, would have fallen from the two-story drop if he had not grabbed onto the door handle in time after losing his balance and going out the doorway.

  Now, he was fiercely holding onto the small doorknob that was carrying his entire weight. Meanwhile, the person who had warned him much too late was looking out through the doorway safely from the house.

  "Don't worry, that doorknob was made by me personally. It won't break that easily."

  "Damn you, why is there a door that leads to a two-story fall."

  The older man laughed.

  "It does seem a bit odd doesn't it, but would it not be odder for a living room to not have a front door?"

  Allen was left speechless at the sheer inanity of that response.

  "This guy is a nutjob."

  "Hey!" voice called out imperatively from up above them.

  Allen raised his eyes to see Nera looking down on him once more from atop the roof of the building. She was wearing a form-fitting black t-shirt along with her tracksuit pants. She had an annoyed expression on her face as she leaned over the edge of the roof with her hands placed firmly on her hips. This expression instantly shifted into a wide grin with her next words.

  'How long are you going to stay hanging there? Hurry and get up here!'

  Allen smiled, "As long I feel like it. I don't recall you ever being my boss."

  With the same innocent grin, she warned him cheerfully, "Get up here now or I start dropping stuff."

  Allen nervously chucked, "Understood boss."

  He swung the door frame a few times to gain enough momentum then launched himself deftly onto the large drain pipe on the side of the building before quickly climbing the rest of the way to the roof where Nera stood.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Nera observed him like a wild animal out in nature.

  "What are you, a squirrel?"

  "From someone like you, I'll take that as a compliment. The local gym in my hometown had a rock climbing wall which was the most exciting thing to do there."

  She sat down on the roof and Allen did the same. She followed by picking up an open can of orange soda that was beside her and taking a sip from it. Allen noticed that there was another one as well.

  "It's for you, consider it a reward."

  "For saving you? But that was pretty much a bizarre fluke even I'm not sure how I did. Plus, I would've been a goner after that if you hadn't brought me here to get patched up." Allen asserted, displaying his bandages."

  "It's not that. Have you heard the sound of someone's heart stopping before?" She solemnly asked as she looked out to the horizon.

  "No." Allen answered trepidatiously.

  "Well, let's just say that it's a pretty shitty thing to hear then." She picked up the can of soda and handed it off to him.

  "That's why this isn't a reward for saving me, but one for surviving."

  Allen opened his mouth to respond but no words came out. He could not find the right ones to say. "So that's why." or "Thanks for caring" were the things that came to mind but neither seemed good enough for a proper response, so he decided not to respond properly as he looked down at his lukewarm can of soda.

  "I actually prefer cherry."

  "You really do know how to ruin a moment, thanks."

  "You’re welcome, it's an acquired skill."

  He snapped open the can of soda and took a generous chug of the carbonated beverage. He had not realized how thirsty he had been.

  “I guess this is probably the best time to give this back. I figure it’s yours since it matches your taste in color.” Allen gave Nera the small cylinder covered in purple fabric which she slowly took into her hand with a gentle look on her face.

  “Yeah, this is mine for sure.”

  “Seems like that’s actually important to you. Why’d you give it to me then?” Allen questioned.

  “It’s sort of a good luck charm. I’ve had it since as long as I can remember though good times and bad times.” Nera replied fondly as she placed it into one of her jacket’s pockets.

  ‘I hadn’t figured her to be the superstitious type. That must hold a lot of sentimental value for her.’

  "Anyway, so what do you want to talk about?"

  "What happened in that Expanse of course. How did you control those vines and use them to pull off that crazy attack? You aren't even a Crafter."

  "Expanse? I guess that's what those Underworld leaks are called."

  "I already told you. I've got no idea what happened. To be honest, I’m still not convinced all the crazy stuff that happened last night wasn’t some sort of weird hallucination. Regardless, at that moment, it was like I was in some sort of trance with my body moving on its own and when I came to, the armored guy was lying on the ground with a big gash on his chest," he explained as he looked at his bandaged hands deep in thought trying to recall the sensation.

  He gripped his hands as if trying to hold onto that feeling.

  "Anyway, how about you? You really don't know anything about the Grim Reaper Trial she was talking about?"

  "Not a clue." Nera quickly replied.

  "Hmm, she talked about some "Grim Piece" mark as well. You sure you don't have one of those?" He put his hand on his chin and scanned over her while she looked at him dubiously back searching for anything that resembled what the musical Crafter had etched on her skin and his eyes widened as he spotted a black stylized "A" design on her exposed left shoulder. Nera noticed this and quickly covered Allen's face with her hand.

  "Sheesh, no one ever told you not to leer at a girl before? You really need to learn how to better act around them," she scolded him. "Anyway, this is just a tattoo, got it? Nothing occult about it besides how steep the price was."

  "Aye aye. Could you please unhand my face already then, milady?" He asked in a mockingly gentlemanly way. She roughly unclasped her hands from Allen, returning his vision to him as he took note that she was now covering the tattoo conscientiously.'

  "Should I just tell her everything, both about the deal with her Harpe I made and the dream I had with the disembodied voice? It might be better not to.’

  Allen sighed. They were not going to get to the bottom of any of this if he started keeping secrets like that.

  Allen proceeded to explain to her everything he had not gotten the chance to tell her yet. Her brows furrowed at the mention of his deal with Harpe to keep them safe but she ultimately stated she understood his reasoning and that she was lost in the heat of the moment. However, she did have one objection.

  "One kind of dumbass gives a psychopath their address and a key to their apartment. Are you trying to get your head chopped off?" Nera berated.

  Allen's head drooped in shame. "I couldn't think of any better options." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "How I'm going to be able to sleep soundly now?!"

  "It's your own fault. Though, I'm partially responsible, so if you get any hint of danger, don't be afraid to yell out for me."

  "Hmph, noted. Anyway, what do you think about what I heard in my dream?"

  Nera tilted her head to the side in contemplation. “I’ve heard stranger believe it or not. If we take this at face value, this means that there are nine people at least involved in this mess and that the Grim Reaper isn’t the one behind it." She held out all her fingers except one for emphasis.

  “Who exactly is the Grim Reaper anyway? You can’t actually be talking about the Grim Reaper, a literal walking skeleton with a hood and scythe, right?”

  Nera shook her hood.

  “Nah, the Grim Reaper is just a person...probably. They’re just called that because they’re infamous for causing all sorts of mayhem. No one is quite sure what their deal is, but they’re definitely powerful and definitely not someone you’d want to run into in a dark alley or even the middle of a fortress.”

  “If they’re so dangerous, why hasn’t anyone captured them yet?”

  “They can’t. Many have gone after them and tried but they have powers like the ones you were told the Grim Pieces have. They can warp the Underworld to their will. If anyone tries to fight the Grim Reaper, they can just throw those saps into some hole at the bottom of the Underworld and call it a day.”

  “So the part about the Grim Pieces coming from the Grim Reaper lines up then,” Allen stated hesitantly.

  “I’m not sure about that. Why would someone as fearsome as the Grim Reaper give their power up? It doesn’t add up to me.” Nera dismissed.

  “Then, maybe someone is just imitating the Grim Reaper’s power with the Grim Pieces?”

  “Nope…I’ve never heard of anything that could replicate the Grim Reaper’s abilities. If those did exist, the Grim Reaper would have been caught a long time ago. I feel like all that talk about ‘Grim Pieces’ is just a hoax regardless of what you heard in your dream.” Nera proclaimed before allowing herself to fall backward onto the roof and look up to the morning sky. Her messy black and white hair was scattered in all directions.

  “Ugh, we won’t get anywhere just guessing aimlessly like this.”

  "So, what now? We don’t have much more idea about last night than before." Allen wanted to be sure of what happened, so he could try his best to avoid anything like last night as well as possible. He was sure it was the same for Nera.

  Nera groaned at that question.

  "I guess we'll have to ask the Nitwit below us. He's a Crafter as well and a lot more familiar with magical stuff than I am, so maybe he knows something. But, make sure you don’t say anything about me having a ‘Grim Piece’ or whatever. My reputation is already bad as it is.”

  Allen nodded in response and she promptly stood up to her feet and walked over to the roof's ledge."See you downstairs and happy climbing squirrel boy." With that snide remark, she nonchalantly walked off the edge of the roof.

  "Ugh, you know I'm still healin-Wait, shouldn't she be healing too, but when I looked her over there wasn't a scratch on Nera. Just what is she?"

  ***

  Allen walked through the front door of Trinkets & Treasures several minutes later. This area of the building looked much more like the antique and machine parts store he was told it was. As Allen looked around at the shelves of tools and knickknacks, he could not help but think about how odd a combination this was. At the counter, Nera stood waiting with her arms folded along with the odd man he had seen earlier behind the counter and the yellow mechanical penguin standing atop of it. It seemed to not be as agitated as it was before.

  "..." Allen froze as he spotted what else was behind the counter. There, standing next to the shop owner was a woman dressed in an elaborate French maid outfit. The woman's skin and hair were completely a metallic bronze and she had lines going down from her eyes that were currently closed, which made Allen figure that she could see without them using some sort of hi-tech sensors.

  "An android maid? You really have one of those? I’m getting less and less convinced all this isn’t some strange hallucination or an elaborate prank."

  Allen had seen a few marvelous technologies since coming to Atelier City such as hologram and hover technology but nothing as advanced as a fully functioning android maid.

  "Oh yes, you could say she's a family heirloom. We did not get to properly introduce ourselves, did we? I am Walter Isaac Theologia, but you can call me Wit and my android maid is Owlette." He motioned towards the android as if showing off a brand new car.

  "Oh, we didn't? I'm Allen," he followed, still kind of dazed about seeing the android maid. It was like something out of an old sci-fi show.

  Nera seemed like she wanted to say something at that moment, but she just shrugged instead.

  "Let's get to the point, Nitwit. Have you ever heard of a Grim Reaper Trial?"

  Wit looked perplexed for a few seconds and began to fidget as he appeared to thoroughly rack his mind over the question while Allen and Nera peered on expectantly. The tension was so thick, even a saw wouldn't be able to cut through it.

  "No, can't say I've heard of that at all. " This response instantly deflated the tension in the air and caused both Allen and Nera to let out a deep groan.

  “You can just forget it then. It was just something mentioned those thugs that beat us up were talking about. They were probably trying to scare us by throwing the Grim Reaper’s name," Nera exposited deceitfully before letting out an extremely awkward laugh. Allen figured she was not the type that was good at lying.

  ‘It should be alright though. But, we were beaten up by thugs? What exactly did she tell them happened?’

  Walter seemed to see no holes in her story and continued on like normal.

  “Then again, I may be a Crafter but I don't associate with other ones much. I spend too much valuable time tinkering with my machines to waste time socializing in magical society."

  Allen perked up at this.

  "Magical society? You mean there's a whole group of Crafters somewhere?"

  "Indeed, right in the heart of Atelier City in fact. Actually, how about you two repay me for letting you rest here by delivering a certain package there, and maybe you both can find some clues about your perplexing situation as well?"

  Allen thought it over carefully for a few moments. First, his mysterious dream of the disembodied voice, and now this. It seemed everything was leading him to venture deeper into the Underworld, including his own curiosity.