[House of Broken Mirrors]Mirror mirrors on the walls.[Keido]

[Ssafirsotibones]

4 Fall 511 Once more, Bones found himself walking amongst the streets of the city. He passed by a building that had been left upside down, with the confused inhabitants trying to climb out through were there was once a basement staircase, now a hole in the "ceiling." Shaking his head at the odd things that occured in this city, Bones looked around, and found he was in a place he had been before. A building full of mirrors... Which had led him into the middle of a cave full of hungry rats, which had tried to kill him. Which somehow was not in the city even, but out a few miles. He was still scratching his scales trying to figure that out.... Regardless, it could not be coincedence he had ended up at the place twice. So what was he to do but to enter. After all, he had his freshly acquired Great Hammer on his back. What could go wrong? Surely the same would not happen again. So he walked inside, noticing after he was in that he had just walked through the frame of a mirror shaped like a door. He turned to touch it, and though he could see back outside, there was now solid glass there... Or something pretending to be glass... Sighing, he resolutely turned, and walked on, looking at the mirrors as he passed. Some were empty... Some showed himself in various states.... And one showed an old man he did not know who was mouthing a scream to be let out... Odd...

[Keido]

What did the sign mean? Was Keido meant to enter or not? Alvadas was truly a strange city with stranger places and if not for the strange places, the strange people he already met. Even if he was told to keep an open mind, it was hard.

Which was why he was led here at the entrance of the House of Broken Mirrors. Some of the more normal folk in the city said that if a person would not keep an open mind, the house would open if for them whether they wanted it or not. Keido was skeptical about a power like that. It was something of an old wives tale used to test children? Nevertheless he was not one to shy away from a challenge.

Outside it looked just like any other ordinary abandoned house. But once he stepped in everything changed. The first thing he noticed was the gleam of the mirrors reflections. There was just so many of them. The house really lived up to its namesake even if the mirrors did not seem broken at all.

Another place which had a special name? The Garden of No Return. What a lie. Keido was here wasn't he? He sincerely hoped that the House will not be the same or it will just mean that the entire city was a lie. A lie of illusions and trickery. Keido hated lies from the bottom of his heart.

He continued on walking through the house. Going deeper and past the mirrors. Some of the reflections of him was distorted. Some none at all. It was amusing, but amusing was all it ever will be. How can people be so scared of this place then?

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones continued to walk on, ignoring most of the mirrors, only looking at some that caught his interest. After passing the fourth mirror which showed him disemboweled corpses, and bloody mounds of flesh... He was starting to get a bit annoyed... Why did it show him such things when he was here... All it did was stir up his hunger, and make him want to eat. What was even stranger, was that at darting out his tongue, he could taste the scent of the meat as it sat there, fresh and tasty... He was even beginning to salivate a little... Why would it tempt him in such a way? Hopefully he would not meet anyone else while in here, or he might lose control for a bit, in his hunger for flesh... A great internal struggle fought its way through his mind, as he tried to stop the urge... And then he passed another mirror which showed freshly killed meat.. Losing his temper for a moment, he took out his Great Hammer, and swung it at the view. But his weapon simply went right through it, bouncing off the wall behind. Letting out a hiss of rage, Bones walked on, getting quite annoyed. Then he saw something... Movement ahead... It was a rat! Losing his mind for a moment, he would follow it along down the hallway, taking a few turns, and chasing after the animal with his over-sized weapon overhead, ready to smash it down on the beast as soon as he got close enough. "Sssit ssstill you lump of flesssh!!!" He would shout as he blindly followed after the animal, not paying to much attention to were he was going, or if there was say another person nearby....

[Keido]

Keido tapped on one of the mirrors which looked like flowing water. And much to his surprise, it reacted. There were ripples spreading out where he tapped the mirror until it enveloped it fully. That was strangely normal. But not what he saw next. The other mirror looked like a tree bark. And when Keido knocked on it, it was not the sound of glass but the sound of a hollow back. Was this what it meant to experience an illusion? It was not as dangerous as he heard it would be.

Then there was a sound echoing about. It sounded like something hitting. But not the hollow sound of the wood in the front. It sounded more like crashing. Keido was not alone here, and the source of the sound...where was it coming from? It seems to be coming from all around him. But it was not something he should worry about. For all he knew it could be just one of the heavy mirror's dropping.

But that was something to worry about. A vicious and threatening voice spoke. Keido could not catch what was being said with the dragging voice but the tone was enough to get an idea of the intent. What did the person mean by lump? Lump could mean many things and the curiosity got the better of him. Keido went off to find the source.

[Ssafirsotibones]

What could possibly go wrong with blindly chasing after an animal with a huge weapon hefted over your head? Well apparently a lot... It was not long before Bones came crashing down a hallway, at a cross-section. Just as he went to pass, there out came a person, wondering what the ruckus was. Bones was startled to see this, and froze for a second. At which time the rat turned, went between the other mans legs, and disappeared into a mirror. Bones was going so fast, he did not have time to stop. He crashed into the man, with his Great Hammer flying off through the air, and both of them colliding in a confusion of limbs and possessions. He finally managed to extricate himself, and dislodge the other person from himself. He was still rather hungry, but he tried to keep himself in check... Which was not easy. Bones would start to speak, and make a quick apology for the collision, when he would realize something... And cut off any further words.... His weapon had gone flying off through the air... But it never came back down... Looking up, he tried to see were it had gone.... Had it caught on something? Needless to say, odd things happened around here. Just as he was starting to give up hope, there was a sudden clanging noise, and his Great Hammer shot out of a mirror at foot level, knocking both feet out from under him, before flying on, and clanging off of a different mirror, were it settled on the ground. Once more, Bones was flat on the ground, and he tried to regain his footing. Today was not his day...

[Keido]

Keido would soon learn that walking blindly into something was not a good thing to do. Right about now! He was more surprised with a rat suddenly running in between his legs. Which was why he completely missed the man and his hammer. No matter how big the two were.

But the man did not miss him. Keido was smashed on the floor. With a man on top of him. Just like the man he did not like the position and tried his best to push the man off. A few moments of awkward silence passed with Keido staring straight at the man.

"Sorry..." he managed to utter out

But the man seemed to have his attention elsewhere. Suddenly he started falling down. What the heck was going on? Keido looked around the ground only to find a hammer which made a clanging noise as it fell. Who could have thrown it?

Unfortunately there was a man on the ground which Keido extended his arm to help him up. But his eyes was not on the man. It was at the direction that the hammer's handle pointed to. Who could have thrown something so great so easily with such accuracy? That question stayed in his mind for quite a while.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones took the offered hand, and regained his footing. Shaking off the blows, he bent down and hefted up his huge Great Hammer with just one hand. Which might seem a bit odd, since most humans would barely be able to hold it up using both arms. And he could do so with only one... Regardless, he looked around, wondering how the weapon had gone from flying through the air... To coming out of a mirror at ankle height and knocking him down... He wondered on how impossible it was for a moment, before remembering were he was. No point in thinking on it to much... "Sssory about ssat... I did not sssee you ssere... And ssen my Great Hammer popped out of a mirror and knocked me down... Don't bother trying to figure ssat one out... Thisss isss Alvadasss, ssingsss don't always make sssenssse..." Looking around, it seemed things had calmed down for the moment, though the rat was no where to be seen... Continuing on in his slow sibilant speech, "Humansss usssually call me Bonesss... And you are?..." He said, putting out his hand, attempting a normal human gesture which he had seen many times... Hopefully this man would now how to complete it, since Bones seemed to have forgotten past the putting the hand out thing...

[Keido]

Don't even think about someone throwing that accurately at someone's leg, how was he carrying that hammer with one hand? Keido saw nothing like that. But then they must be both as puzzled with the sudden flying hammer. Keido took the opportunity to look again but finding no one. There was only mirrors. Wait...was that? No it was just the man's reflection in the mirror with his great hammer as well. Keido thought it was their assailant.

It was not only carrying the hammer, but the talking that was strange. It kept dragging along. Especially with the Ss. It reminded Keido of something brushing on something else. It took a while to interpret but in the end he got the rough idea. Like everyone else liked to say, strange things happened in Alvadas.

"I'm Keido, Bones?" and grabbed to shake the arms. The name was strange but who was Keido to judge?

"So what are you doing here? I was told this house would be quite an experience." Keido said with a chuckle.

The hammer was indeed a surprise. Keido just wondered what else he would find before the day is out? Unlike the Garden of No Return, things have been going fine so far and he would like to keep it that way.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones shook back in that odd human fashion. He was not really sure what grabbing and shaking someones arm was supposed to mean, but he went along. Humans... Though Keido might notice a distinction in what Bones said, which was a bit odd... He said humans called him Bones... Not that it was his name... Perhaps this might also intrigue Keido? If humans called him that, was he not a human to? And what did others call him? What was his actual name? Bones would continue on, not realizing he had said anything odd. He often did that, due to how different his own thought processes were from humans. He usually tried to hide what he was, as humans tended to be scared by it, but his attempts were not always successful.... "I am sssimply here... The city took me here once again, and ssso I went in... You will find in time ssat the city hasss a mind of itsss own, and usssually hasss a reassson behind were it leadsss you... Perhapsss it wanted the two of usss to meet? And ssso it led both of our pathsss here.... It isss hard to underssstand itsss overall goalsss and plansss for usss mortalsss...." This might also be taken as odd, since Bones was quite sure on the topic that the city was alive and had a mind of its own. Depending on how long Keido had been here, that might be taken as crazy talk, or acceptance from seeing all of the things that happened here, which could not be by chance. Anyone who had spent a decent bit of time in the city knew there was something orchestrating it all, and the city was not as it seemed.

[Keido]

Bones was a strong man. Which might have been from his lineage that Keido was still not aware of. He was more concerned with how did he do that instead of the strange speech of ssssss. As for the city, after being here for nearly a season Keido understood. But he himself did not know what those plans and goals are.

"So do you know what these plans and goals are?" humoring Bones who was already comfortable with living in Alvadas.

What were they going to do now? Actually there was one more question that was nagging in Keido's mind ever since the hammer flew up.

"Why are you even carrying a hammer that big in a place like this?"

It made sense. Weapons should belong somewhere like the colosseum. But in a rotten house like this there was no point. Unless there was dangers that Keido was not made aware of yet.