Throne of Steam

Gradually, darkness achieved a hold over the dominion; an obscure haunting overcame Garett's heart, and he didn't know if the temperature was rising due to supernatural circumstances or if it was the pressure building up within him.

Afflicted with a gnawing uncertainty, Garett's hits on the adjacent wall turned stronger, and consequently, louder. But the whistling wasn't so easily intimidated by the promise of a veteran huntress, with short steps, it eventually arrived at its intended destination.

'It thought supernatural phenomena could only appear at a fixed range from the manifestation's core! Why is that thing here!? Does that mean the energy core is nearby? But why...' Garett's mind wandered as he used his shallow experience to access the surroundings as his vision blurred in a poignant show of despair.

"That's not it! There's no way Alice wouldn't have woken up with all this noise. There's also the strangeness of the situation..." A faint possibility surfaced on Garett's mind, every cell on his body freezing as his eyes constricted!

'The whistler is not a supernatural phenomenon!' He concluded as a series of faint, ominous knocking sound echoed from the door, the vibrations terrifyingly spaced between each other.

"But it doesn't make sense if he just came because I whistled, there has to be another reason..." His eyes constricted after uttering those words. "Vincent! The whistler is after me because I've interacted with Vincent!?"

That was a very plausible possibility, as the Almir child seemed to be intrinsically connected to everything that was happening in Tobacco Yard! The Almirs had clearly stirred up something very problematic!

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to please stop the noise. It's bothering the other guests." A firm voice sounded from the corridor; Garett could recognize the man who spoke, it was one of the room attendants of the hotel!

'F**K! Run, you fool!' Garett screamed inwardly, his thoughts starting to race while thinking of a way to help the attendant.

A maddening silence ensued as the whistling stopped, the cold walls only exacerbating the eerie atmosphere. Garett's mind raced as he struggled to find an appropriate course of action!

Racing to stand in front of the door, Garett stretched his perception to its limits! The blurry details of the corridor faintly surfacing his mind as the seconds ticked.

'I can sense a strong presence right in front of the door, but where's the attendant? It simply vanished!?' Garett pressed the materialized firearm against the door, a drop of cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

The blurry figure in his mind slowly lifted its hand and knocked twice on the door; a strange, emotionless voice sounded in his ears.

"Sir? Would you mind opening the door?" The attendant almost robotic voice elicited Garett's every hair to stand! He struggled against the surging instinct to pull the trigger, he didn't even know if it would be effective!

"I-I'm sorry, I'm feeling indisposed right now. I'll have to ask you to leave." Garett stammered an answer, seeking only to buy enough time for Alice to notice the situation!

'Come on! Why are you always absent when trouble arrives!?' He could only hope that she would arrive in time!

"Sir, I have to insist - Please. Open. The. Door." The previously robotic voice abruptly turned cold, almost as if it was becoming enraged at his attempts to delay the inevitable!

'Why don't you just barge in, anyway? I'm pretty sure a door can't stop you!' Noticing this detail, Garett felt something amiss! How could a simple door protect him?

'Forcefully breaking in would surely create a commotion, is it afraid of that? But it came so openly, it doesn't make sense… If it came after me, why would it come unprepared?' In the complete darkness, Garett distanced himself a couple of steps from the door and raised his arm to properly aim at the blurry figure's head; completely relying on his Perception.

'Alice is still asleep, that shouldn't be possible! Unless…' Garett formulated a possibility while piecing together the facts!

'It's objective is to distract me! Maybe this is all in my head!' He didn't think that the Whistler was an unintelligent being, and he also didn't understand the complete extent of its powers!

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Mustering all his courage, he decided to trust his baseless intuition! What could create a bigger commotion than a gun being shot!?

Employing his perception, he aimed right at the figure's head and held his breath while focusing. His mind entered an unnatural state of stillness as he slowly pulled the trigger, he could sense the revolver's insides moving as the mechanisms set into motion!

"Here goes nothing" He muttered in a low voice while biting his lips. Half of him sure of his bet, while the other half regretted the decision!

The loud burst ensued, creating the long-awaited commotion he was seeking. Time seemed to halt as the bullet pierced the still air and subsequently wrecking the door that stood in its wake.

The light coming from the corridor lamps dispersed the room's shadows for just a second before he felt the surroundings being plunged back into darkness as the very reality seemed to shatter.

…

An annoying knocking sound raised Alice from her sleep, the door trembling slightly as to indicate the source from the noise.

"Hmm, Yes?" She drowsily muttered in a low response, refusing to leave the warm bed. "Nobody is in, leave me alone"

She couldn't even notice the contradiction in her words as she forced herself into a slumber one more time - only for the knocking to echo once more.

"Who is it!?" She barked in annoyance. Being forcefully interrupted from her sleep was one of the things she hates the most!

"It's me." Garett's voice sounded from the corridor, slightly lessening the annoyance in her.

'It's better to be important! Or I'll have to teach him to never interrupt a lady's sleeping time!' She murmured with a nod before reluctantly rising from the bed and stretching her bare body.

"Yeah Yeah, wait a minute. I still have to dress up." She unhurriedly trod across the room while looking for the scattered clothes and underwear that created a trail in the ground. The knocking seemed to have stopped after her words, not sounding again even if she took a long time to dress.

"Huh, how considerate of him, I expected him to complain a lot. But what was he expecting? He wanted me to just invite him in to watch me dress?" She talked to herself while following the trail of clothes, gradually dressing herself and approaching the door.

Just as she arrived in front of the door, she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the corridor.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to please stop the noise. It's bothering the other guests."

'Huh, serves you right! Your annoying behavior should have raised the whole floor!' She puffed while gloating at Garett's misfortune, perking her ears in the corridor's direction as to hear his response. She could make fun of him later about his awkward answer!

A long time passed with no response, eliciting Alice to portray a disappointed frown.

'What? Did He just nod or something? That's not fun at all!'Just as she was complaining inwardly, Garett's voice sounded once more; breaking the awkward silence.

"Alice, please open the door." Only then did Alice notice that something was amiss! Even if she usually behaved very in a very carefree manner, she was still a veteran huntress with years of experience!

"Garett?" She muttered while stopping on her tracks, changing the course to the table at the side where she had left her gauntlets!

"Please open the door." The stiff, repeated phrase only serves to confirm her suspicions! The thing outside obviously wasn't Garett! Her previously slow pace suddenly sped up as she almost plunged towards her gauntlets, she would only feel safe after being properly armed!

She arrived beside the table in a dash and opened the case. The steel gauntlets reflected the faint light that came from the window, and almost instinctively made her smile.

"Let's see what you made to my recruit!" She wore the gauntlets in a trained fashion that showed the familiarity that she had with her equipment!

"May the goddess bless us all." She muttered in a prayer, causing the mists outside to faintly move in response before frantically streaming inside the room through the small gaps in the window! Her gauntlets being involved by the mists as she prepared to charge into the assailant.

Just as she was about to rush towards the door, a loud bang sounded from somewhere in the corridor!

"A gun!?" Just as Alice recognized the source of the noise, she felt the surroundings being plunged into darkness as her consciousness drifted into stillness.