'"Remnants Place"? This just looks like a normal door to me.'
Edward cleared his throat.
"Ahem, if I may ask, what exactly is behind this door?"
"Didn't he just tell you? It's the Remnants Place," Dew responded, stating the obvious as if that explained everything.
'The FUCK do I know what a Remnants Place is?? These dumbfucks are making me lose my calm, ugh!' Edward thought, suppressing the surge of frustration at their deliberately mysterious antics.
Still managing to keep his annoyance in check, he asked them again, "So, is anyone inside? Should I have you say something to him?"
"Damn it, just go inside!" Dew shouted, losing patience, and pushed Edward toward the door.
Edward was already holding the doorknob. The sudden push made him accidentally twist it and open the door. As he stepped in, he slipped on the doorway mat and fell onto the floor inside the room.
He quickly scrambled to his feet, turning his attention to the room itself.
It was nothing.
Not the secret vault or cult hideout he'd imagined; it was just a normal room, very similar to the premium guest room where he'd first woken up.
'Huh! What the heck? There's nothing special about this place.' He looked around in disbelief.
'Those gangster wannabes just hyped it up so much! I thought it'd be like a sacred worship place for some devil or something.'
*SO HOW DID YOU WANT IT TO BE LIKE, HUH?*
An unfamiliar voice echoed distinctly in Edward's ears, seemingly from nowhere.
"Huh!?"
"Who said that!?"
"Was it you—"
Edward spun around, thinking the voice came from outside the room, but he noticed something impossible:
THERE WAS NO DOOR. The spot where the door should have been was now just a solid, seamless wall.
"What the fuck!!! Where's the door?"
*UHEM. RIGHT SIDE.*
The voice came from the right side of the room.
Turning quickly, he saw a door exactly where the first one had vanished. Not understanding anything, Edward walked to the door, twisted the knob, opened it, and stepped through.
The place outside the door was the exact same room. He had exited and immediately re-entered the room.
"No, no, no! WAIT ? What?! How?"
*OH, IT WASN'T THE RIGHT. HMM, STRANGE. SO TRY THE LEFT ONE, THEN.*
He turned to the left and saw another door standing there.
"Hello? Who are you, mister? Or miss? Or something else, I don't know what you are? Hello?" Edward tried to speak to the voice first, but this time, no answer came back.
"Shit."
Moving forward, he opened the door on the left. This door led to a set of stairs. The stairs went down into the dark, but their end was nowhere to be seen; it felt like they descended straight into an abyss.
"No way I'm going there."
*SMART MOVE.*
"Now you're talking, you asshole."
Saying that, Edward quickly closed the door and stepped back into the confusingly normal room.
This time, Edward had finally had enough of the mocking and nonsense.
He burst out in rage.
"Listen, you fuckhole imbecile freak!" Edward yelled into the white room.
"If you think I'll be scared by this shit-load of delusions you're performing, then you better know I have tasted near-death experiences more times than you could possibly imagine."
"I DO NOT FEAR DEATH."
.
.
*OH, YOU DO, KID. TRUST ME.*
For a terrifying second, Edward had a vision—a sheer, unbearable sense of someone staring straight at him, inspecting his very soul. The intensity of this invisible gaze made every part of his body tremble completely.
He froze, standing perfectly still for several minutes, his eyes desperately focused on trying to locate that being again, unable to even blink. Edward hadn't felt this level of raw, paralyzing fear in a very long time.
*OH NO NO, NOW YOU'RE SCARED.*
The voice returned, this time with a hint of a sympathetic tone, though it still felt mocking.
Regaining a sliver of consciousness, Edward quickly gathered his composure. In a soft, humble, and completely makeshift voice, he retracted his rage.
"Ah, whosoever you are, sir," he said meekly.
"I ask for my heartfelt apology for disrespecting you."
"I beg you to have mercy and show yourself in front of me, as I have no clue what my purpose is here."
*AHH, WHY SO FORMAL, KID? I WAS HAVING FUN.*
The voice sounded distinctly disappointed by Edward's sudden, humble change in demeanor.
*STILL.LET'S CHOOSE A COSTUME, THEN.*
Suddenly, the room fell apart like a house of cards. The bed Edward had been standing near—which had reappeared after his second attempt to leave—vanished into thin air, causing him to stagger and fall slightly.
He quickly stood up, looking around. As far as his vision could reach, he could only see white.
White ground, white sky—it felt like a barren, endless white desert of nothingness.
"You think rich people look like this?!"
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
The same voice Edward had heard in his mind now came from directly behind him.
He spun around to see a figure standing about ten meters away.
It looked like a male, perhaps in his late 40s, dressed in a typical three-piece suit with a brown overcoat thrown over it. He held a walking stick and wore several golden rings on his fingers. The man wore a fedora, giving him the appearance of a stereotypical wealthy nobleman often seen in old movies.
Edward was less shocked than he was relieved, as he finally had a physical person to address.
"Um, what do you mean, 'I think'? Is that not how you look?" Edward asked, confused.
"No, fool. I don't show my real form to mere mortals, as they can lose their sanity with just a peek," the man replied, his voice taking on a professional, officelike tone.
"I only use your mind as a clothes shop for my avatar, and to be really honest, you are just uncreative."
"But still, as I have wasted too much time here, let me start by addressing myself." The man adjusted his coat dramatically.
"I AM THE BROKER OF HELL."
"THE LORD OF AVARICE."
"THE GOLDEN DEMON."
"I AM MAMMON, THE SIN OF GREED."
"And you are Edward Owls, the descendant of the family I have contracted with as my representative on the council of 7 Families."