Chapter 64: Chapter 64. Haunted
Silva POV
I am standing in front of an old decrypted mansion with Rory and Lilith, I and I ask her amazed.
Silva: How can a place like this exist up in Atlas?
I never expected to see an old abandoned building like this here in Atlas since everything here is fairly modern usually. Rory looked hesitant then told me quietly.
Rory: It's haunted...
I looked at her skeptically and she started to explain it.
Rory: You see it has been several decades since this place has anyone living in it. During that time when anybody tried to live in it, they were found dead and when some tried to demolish it, it rebuilt itself overnight and any equipment near it went missing. There was even a major movement to remove it in its entirety from Atlas but it failed. So here it is collecting dust making the neighborhood around it the most unpopular one in all of Atlas.
I whistled impressed by its history and focused my sonar on it along with using a bit of magic to find out what I can about it. After a few moments, I found something odd about it, it was too orderly. Every nail, every tile, every bit of its structure was uniformly aligned by a terrifyingly accurate degree like it was not made by human hands. Not only that there was a multilayered pattern to its design that made me think of Glyphs.
Not the Schnee family semblance but the archaic form of using dust in the past. It involved setting up an engraved pattern with dust then supplying it with more dust to activate it which recreated feats of magic through the use of dust. I know this from my studies during my travels to prepare for Beacon Academy but I didn't look further into it despite its curious nature. The reason was simple for the amount of dust that goes into setting up and using it I could make over a hundred high caliber bullets with elemental effects for the same amount of dust.
I further focused my sonar on the abandoned mansion and found that it was lined with dust all across it plus I found out the nails had Glyphs inscribed on them. I marveled at the level of work that was put into building this place and decided to see how it will rebuild itself.
Silva: Rory, Lilith, stand back a bit.
I warn the 2 of them, and I charged a shockwave with magic then unleashed it on the mansion. It instantly became rubble and I then asked Rory.
Silva: Rory can you get us some chairs? I want to see this place rebuild itself like you said to confirm a suspicion of mine.
I suspect that this place was made into a massive Glyph made to defend and repair itself continuously. However, I don't know where it gets the dust to do so but if I find that out first I can make a plan to permanently destroy this place and set up my place instead. Rory just numbly nodded at me and went off to get some chairs as I focused my sonar on it as to not miss a single moment of this place's actions.
( Hours Later)
Okay, this is just weird no dust, no magic, or anything I can pick with my senses. I looked at the fully restored mansion with a great deal of confusion not understanding just how it rebuilt itself. Rory then commented.
Rory: See, this is fairly creepy right?
I just nodded then told her.
Silva: I'm going in.
Rory grabbed my arm to stop me and reminded me.
Rory: Silva, I told you whoever enters there disappears and is not seen again. So I am forbidding you from entering that cursed place.
I rolled my eyes then told her calmly.
Silva: Rory unless this place is housing something completely unbelievable I am very confident that I can escape unscathed.
I opened a portal in front of her to show her what I mean and her grip loosened but made me promise.
Rory: Just promise me that the moment you pick up something, you will high tail it out of there.
Silva: I promise Rory...
She let me go and I went through the front door. As I entered I felt the air stir and a chill that hit me to the bones overcame me. I then felt that this place might truly be haunted which did not deter me at all but instead piqued my curiosity. The door slammed behind me without me touching them and I then felt a tug on my jacket and I turned to see...
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Silva: Lilith why did you follow me here!?
It was just Lilith and her reply to my question was a tilt of her head which made her look cute. I shook my head side to side in amusement and saw the interior of the mansion which was glyph patterns on the tiles, pillars, stairs, and everywhere else as well. I am seriously wondering who just built this place and I am willing to bet either a previous incarnation of Ozma or one of previous Winter Maidens.
I decided to try and find either the library or maybe a private office to find some records about this place. As I walked with Lilith holding my hand upstairs I then saw rows of suits of armor and I walked past them. A pair of them were holding halberds and just as we were in front of them the halberds started to fall. I got both of them with my aura protected hands then shoved them aside and took a closer look at the armors.
I didn't find anything odd about them and I just shrugged then went back to trying to find any information about this mansion. There were pictures on the walls of various people and I recognized one of them, Nicholas Schnee, Weiss and Winter's grandfather, Willow's father, and the previous CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. Throughout the series, Nicholas Schnee is one of the least known characters but I also found him one of the interesting ones as well because Weiss took him to be her inspiration to be a Huntress to restore the Schnee family name.
This meant that the stories she heard about him left a deep impression on her and if Willow's weak state is anything to go on he was likely one of the strongest Huntsmen alive. Willow's current strength is a bit above Weiss right now and as I said she is in a weak state that limits her aura and physical ability. Feeling a bit of regret that I could not meet him from one old soul to another I felt we may have gotten along.
Seeing his picture makes me wonder if he has anything to do with this mansion, I hope to find some journals or diaries from the original owner of this place because clearly, this place has a great deal of history to it. It did not take me long to find an office room to which I start digging through the shelves of books on one side of the room. There were some interesting books here, A Beginner's Guide to Glyphs, The Effects of Mixing Dust for Glyphs, and I found one book that seemed to be personally written considering the state it is in with the title on it, Alchemy.
I opened it and found gibberish that I could not understand this made me think it was written in code or something if it is not a joke to mess with people. I put the books in my Blue Jade Ring's pocket dimension and started to check the desk for anything else that might be useful. All I found was a fancy-looking silver and black fountain pen with glyph engravings. After I finish checking the rest of the room I decided to look for a library next then the master bedroom for journals and diaries.
When I went to the doors to open them I found that I couldn't despite putting my full strength into pulling them open. I clenched my fist then cracked the air around it with my semblance Echo Tremor and punched at the door to bust it open. A glyph appeared in front of the door stopping my attack cold I then decided to crank it up a notch and cause a localized earthquake around me. The mansion groaned and moaned at my efforts.
Lilith grabbed a hold of me to keep her balance at the earthquake I am causing and I steadily ramp up my semblance. A series of glyphs surrounded me and Lilith, I smiled at this and fully unleashed my semblance at full power. I destroyed the room revealing the outside and walked past the broken down doors with Lilith still holding on to my arm.
I walked down the hall towards the library for information passing by some suits of armor and they suddenly came alive holding their respective weapons. I am really curious about how all this is happening without dust or magic because aura is out of the question unless someone is squatting here that happens to be a bastard Schnee from Nicholas Schnee. Willow could not have any lovers without Jacques finding out let alone have any half-siblings for Weiss and Winter.
Jacques would plan an unfortunate accident to not only the lover and child but Willow herself in that case. My curiosity is killing me on how all of this works because I can't make any sense of it without magic, dust, or even Grimm in the mix. The suits of armor charged at me and I hacked them down with Thunderous Roar's sword form. After turning them into scrap metal I put away my weapon and continued making my way to the library.
I reached the library after a bit and started combing through the books to find anything useful. After some time I got a call on my scroll and I answered it.
Silva: Hello this is Silva Cloud how may I help you.
I continued to look through the various books as I found out it was Rory that was calling me.
Rory: SILVA! Thank the brothers your alright, I was worried that I might have to go in after you.
I chuckled slightly then assured her.
Silva: Don't worry I have yet to run into anything I can't handle... Quick question, do you know who the original owner of this mansion was?
Rory quickly replied.
Rory: Apparently, it was owned by one of the original builders and financers for creating Atlas.
This new information made it seem more likely that Ozma had at least a hand in this place's construction because he helped raise Atlas to the sky. I sighed not finding anything useful in the library and decided to look for the master bedroom next. I felt Lilith tug at my sleeve and ask me.
Lilith: Can we leave?
I smiled at her and answered.
Silva: Just a bit more Lilith and we'll call it a day.
She nodded in understanding and held my hand. With Lilith, it feels like I got a cute little sister instead of a friend because I don't feel any romantic emotions towards her for some reason either but yet I feel she means more to me than a friend. It was a feeling that I was not familiar with and I don't dislike it but rather it was novel and pleasant with me being an only child in my past life. As we walked towards the master bedroom more suits of armor came us much to my annoyance.
Another annoying thing is that the master bedroom is on the other side of the mansion opposite if the library and office. Throughout my walk there I was attacked by more suits of armor, chandeliers fell from the ceiling and the floor broke under my feet multiple times. I was just starting to get annoyed and decided after the master bedroom I am leaving this place.
I finally reached the master bedroom and started to look around for any journals and diaries. As I searched I found a small hole in the wall with engravings around it behind the bookshelf. I noticed the engravings looked similar to the fountain pen I found in the office, I took out the pen and inserted it into the hole. I then heard the sounds of gears turning and the bookcase pulled back revealing stairs heading downwards.
Lilith popped her head beside me looking at the hidden stairs with me. I head down the stairs to find out where they lead to, as I head down deeper I felt nauseous for some reason. I ignored it and continued then I soon reached the end of the stairs revealing a room with a large black glyph on the floor with glowing skulls around it. That wasn't all that I saw there was a black mass floating in the center of it that was covered with white featureless masks.
As I walked closer to it to examine it Lilith stopped me and pointed to the black glyph then simply said.
Lilith: Dangerous... Do not touch...
I heeded her warning because she is equipped with various sensors and might be picking up something I am not sensing. Regardless, I think I found the source of this mansion's haunted legend, and despite my curiosity about what I am looking at, I decided to break so that I can build my mansion instead. I started to use my semblance Echo Tremor at full blast at it by firing a shockwave at it to which a series of glyphs appeared to block it.
I just continued to bombard it with shockwaves until I finally broke through hitting the black mass in the center. The room was then filled with anguished screams that made me cover my tiger ears. The black mass started to disfigure itself as it screamed and I focused on belting it with shockwaves as its screams caused me pain. I grit my teeth feeling determined to destroy it and soon cracks appeared around it.
As the cracks grew under my assault it finally broke down into black particles and I found that I had a new summon. Before I could summon it to get an idea of what it was the mansion started to creak and groan along with dust covering my head. I quickly realized that the mansion is coming down and before I opened a portal to Rory I snagged an entire bookcase that was down there, by putting it in my Blue Jade Ring.
I quickly opened a portal and pushed Lilith through it first then soon followed after her. I found myself outside with Rory looking at me with a mixture of annoyance and amazement. I was about to say something then I heard a loud crashing sound and turned to see the mansion fall into rubble. Rory then demanded.
Rory: Silva, explain now!
I sighed and took out the bookcase I grabbed out of that hidden room and told her.
Silva: Well I might have found out source about the strange happenings surrounding this place and kinda of smashed it.
Rory just sighed and shook her head in exasperation at my explanation. I shrugged and started to look through the bookcase to find out just what I destroyed exactly because I am clueless on what it is I just saw down there. Lilith poked me and said looking bored.
Lilith: Home, please now.
I put away the books and decided to call it a day. I can always look into it later.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone