Throne of Steam

A suffocated scream echoed throughout the empty hotel corridors, its tone conveying a dreadful terror as the lamps on the walls slightly faded before returning to stillness.

The sounds of rapid footsteps created a unique symphony amidst the darkness; an oppressive atmosphere soon spread, leaving the whole hotel in a state of panic.

…

"F**K! My head…" Garett felt his head throb in piercing pain as if someone had stabbed him with a thin shiv "That freak!?"

Garett rose with a jump, his thoughts instantly racing to the dreadful situation from before. He reflexively materialized a firearm in front of him and controlled it to hover as he rummaged his vests for ammunition.

"It worked?" Doubt clouded his mind as the lingering sensation of the vivid reality he encountered himself before reminded him of the creature's abilities. "No… I can't be certain…"

He guessed that the Whistler had dragged him to something akin to an illusion, and every sense of his was fooled into believing the surroundings were real during the previous encounter!

"That was dangerous…" A drop of cold sweat surfaced on his forehead as he noticed the power difference between them "He was too strong, even those strange dogs that originated from the plush toy couldn't compare…"

He had a strong inkling that the Whistler wasn't an apparition like those dogs, instead, his actions seemed more like those of a living being!

'But the intersection between real and illusion was very abrupt, I don't see the need for him to emulate the arrival of a hotel attendant…' Garett reflected inwardly about what had transpired, everything was still fresh on his mind, even if a little foggy for some reason.

Right after the beginning of the encounter, Garett was able to hear the familiar voice of a hotel attendant. Recalling the series of occurrences, he was almost certain that the intersection between real and illusory happened somewhere after that!

"But I remember calling for Alice's help before that…" Garett shook his head, he felt that it was futile to keep making empty guesses at the abilities of the entity.

'That's right! Alice!' Finally remembering about the huntress presence, Garett forcefully snapped in himself back to his senses and extended his Perception into analyzing the corridor outside to confirm that the Whistler was already gone.

Heaving a sigh of relief, he took his time to take in the surroundings and assure that he was alone in the room and formulate a plan.

'Hell… There's no plan! I just need to get Alice and let her deal with the rest!' He nodded to himself, there was no plan that could be formulated with such haste that could let him deal with the Whistler! The two of them were in entirely different categories of power!

He grabbed the floating revolver and carefully loaded it before hastily heading towards the door with unwavering conviction, just to stop right before putting his hand on the handle.

The door suddenly burst open, bringing with it a spurt of cold wind as Garett was forced to reflexively step backward in order to avoid being hit by the hardwood.

"Could you please give a warning before kicking the door open!?" He yelled in a reproaching manner while inwardly relieved that his Perception ability warned him of the incoming threat!

"Garett! Are you okay!?" Alice rapidly barged in, her eyes frantically scanning the surroundings. Her whole body radiating a fierce aura as she prepared to battle.

"Yeah! I'm okay now." Garett responded as he scanned the huntress in front of him, still half-suspicious of the veracity of what his eyes conveyed him. "The hotel is not going to like what you did to the door."

"And that's what you're worried about!?" She spat fiercely, her face portraying vivid disbelief. "Something that was mimicking your voice! And then I heard a gunshot before blacking out, does that seem normal to you?"

"Mimicking my voice?" Garett's brows perked up with a frown. "Wait, did you say you heard a gunshot before blacking out?"

"Yeah, why are you repeating what I just said?" She answered with a grumble.

Garett ignored Alice's words and started with his habit to deduce things based on the new information it had.

'Just like I've heard the Whistler mimicking the voice of the hotel employee, it also mimicked my voice to keep Alice from coming? No, she would have heard the commotion… Did it bring her into that illusion first to keep her from hearing me? Wouldn't it be easier to drag me first? That doesn't make sense…' Like usual, a dozen different scenarios surfaced on his mind as he assessed the facts.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask for more information, the sounds of frantic footsteps came from the hallway. Only giving Garett enough time to hide the firearm that he firmly gripped on the insides of his vests.

Alice on the other hand just stood there nonchalantly with both her gauntlets into plain view, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

'Is that okay? I know normal people would only think that she is weird but…' Garett murmured to himself as he took a step forward and looked at the corridor, his eyes glued to the source of the noise.

A group of three burly men instantly closed in the distance between then, their countenances heavy as they eyed the duo of hunters.

"Mister, may I trouble you into explaining what took place here?" One of them said after exchanging looks between then, their complexions lessening slightly after seeing the goddess symbol hanging from their clothes.

"I-"

"We are from the church patrol, " Alice interjected before he could respond, her tone very professional, different from her usual behavior "We had a… conflict with a suspect."

She kept silent after saying that, not bothering to give off more information to the trio.

"Ohh... Yes, it's just that we heard gunfire and a loud sound of crashing wood." He inclined his head slightly in the direction of the broken door. "I suspect that was the doing of the suspect?"

"Oh…" Alice seemed stumped at the sudden inference, her expression showing the uncertainty of how to proceed. "Y-Yes… Of course."

'How shameless…' Garett shook his head slightly in a judging fashion.

"Well, miss… We were about to look for the patrol, other than your… Incident here, we had a more serious occurrence at the hotel lobby." The man said, his face turning somber once more as he seemed to recall something horrendous.

"Another occurrence?" Alice's eyebrows perked up as she asked. "And a more serious one?"

'Maybe my guess was right? The whistler wasn't attacking us, but distracting us? That explains why it was so easy to repel it…' Garett remembered his previous guesses during the encounter, the pieces of the puzzle gradually aligning together!

"Yes, ma'am There has been a killing."

...

A crowd was gradually being formed outside of the lobby as the hotel guards were doing their best to keep the guests from barging in into the crime scene.

"I think we were the last to know…" Garett mumbled as he stared at the gradually increasing crowd.

"Yeah… I don't understand what is happening here…" Alice muttered in answer, her frown only increasing as time went by.

"Please, give way to the church clergymen."

The phrase elicited almost the people in the area to turn their necks, every single one of them scrutinizing the pair of hunters.

"How welcoming." Garett said as he felt his lips twitch, the surrounding looks made him feel very uncomfortable.

"You'll get used to it." Alice replies in a low voice before taking the lead, her steps firm with unwavering conviction.

The crowd of people opened a path for the duo, the three guards from before walked in front of them as they guided the pair toward the body.

"I am afraid that you will find the victim… familiar." One of the men said as he eyed Alice.

"Familiar?"

The group approached the bloody scene, a single figure laid stretched across the floor. Scarlet red markings circled the corpse in an almost ritualistic fashion.

The figure seemed to be barely hurt, in fact, Garett couldn't see a single scratch on the body despite the bloody scene. After continuing to approach, the corpse's face gradually became clear; its expression was one of extreme terror, as if its last vision was one of hell itself.

"She…!" Garett drew a gasp of cold air as he stared at the horrified face, the corpse's features completely matching those of someone he had come to know recently!

The burly man spoke in a stern tone as he stared at the gruesome scene.

"Yes. The victim name's Cecile Almir."