Hideki walked around the small room and looked around. Megumi was still at the street waiting for him to give the all-clear. There weren't any signs that anyone had been in this place in some time. Dust covered the floor and there was no furniture, just a few full length mirrors that were lined up on one wall. "Megumi, it looks like a dead end. The guy must've given you bad information, we should go to the next place on the list."

He turned to leave the building and that's when the door slammed itself shut. Shit! Why does this kind of crap always happen to me? Hideki ran to the door and pulled on it as hard as he could. The door didn't budge in the slightest. Damn it! Next, he tried kicking it with full force; still nothing.

"Poro-tan? You okay? What happened? Megu can't seem to open the door."

"It shut by itself. I can't get it open. Try blasting it?"

"Try the boarded up windows first, Megu doesn't want to draw attention to the alleyway unless we have no choice." 

Hideki groaned to himself, but had to admit that she was right. Why hadn't he thought of that? The boards on the window looked old and he should be able to get out that way. Unfortunately, the windows were somehow just as sturdy as the door had been when he tried. Next, he tried slashing at it with his sword, but the enchanted blade didn't even leave a scratch on the surface of the wood. Hideki cursed under his breath before shouting to Megumi, "No good! Get me the hell out of here!"

"Stand back."

He did as she asked and took several steps back. Getting sprayed with splinters from an exploding door was far from his idea of a good time anyway. "I've moved back. Go ahead and blast it."

A series of booms rocked the front of the house, but the door still didn't budge. It didn't seem like it took any damage at all. "What in the fuck kind of trap is this?"

Silence. He didn't hear anything from the street. A unsettling feeling deep inside himself began to stir. "Megumi?"

No response. He ran back over to the door and banged on it with his fists. "Are you okay? Answer me damn it! If you're screwing with me, it isn't funny!"

Hideki paced around the empty room, stirring up dust for several moments and then he heard a weak reply. "Por...o-tan? Spell backlash.. Megu... will be okay soon.. took potion."

He sighed in relief and sat down with his back against the door. "Any ideas of how to get out of this mess?"

"There must be something powering the enchantment inside the house. Megu won't be able to disable it from here. You're going to have to find and deactivate it on your own."

Great. So I get to wander around through this creepy, probably booby-trapped house all by myself to look for something that I probably won't even be able to recognize if I see it. Hideki stood up and brushed the dust off of his clothes. "What kind of thing am I looking for exactly? Remember, I know next to nothing about magical stuff."

"The item you're looking for will probably be small, and it will likely be glowing since the trap has been activated. Other than that, Megu couldn't really say. Megu hasn't encountered something like this before."

"Okay. I'm going to have a look around."

"Be careful, Poro-tan."

Part of him wondered if she just didn't want to lose a valuable pawn, but the words had sounded sincere and full of concern. "I will. Stay safe out there."

With that, he headed towards the next room, sword in hand. The house wouldn't take too long to search, even though it was quite large. From the street they had seen that it stood three stories high. A place like this would also likely contain a basement. The next room was a large space that seemed to be a common room. Dim light shined through the slats of wood from the windows that were facing the street. Dusty furniture was strewn about the room and oddly enough, just like the room before, there were three mirrors. This time, however, they were spread out so that one was on each of the three walls. I have a very bad feeling about this place. I'll need some light soon. 

Hideki pulled off his pack and took out the small magical lantern that Megumi had given him to carry and lit it. He hung it from a loop at his waist and the room was now lit up much better. There weren't any trip wires or anything of the sort that he could see, which was a relief, but who could say what other kinds of nasty surprises could await him in a place like this. I have a feeling something is going to happen with those mirrors. Maybe I'll go check them out up close? 

It was possible that the mirrors were some sort of trap though. After a few moments of consideration, he decided to leave them be for now and continued onward to the next room. There was a dusty dining room table in the middle of this room and a small open kitchen. Cupboards were open and there wasn't anything inside any of them. Once again there were three mirrors in this room, but they were stacked against one another in a row like in the first room. 

A dark shape appeared and moved across the surface of one of the mirrors and he jumped a little at the surprise, looking around him and gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. There's nothing here. Don't be a freaking coward. You're letting your mind play tricks on you. Just the same, though, he wanted to get out of the kitchen. It was a dead end, anyway. He left it behind and went back into the previous room. 

Another doorway stood to his left and led towards the back of the building. The hallway was narrow and he couldn't help but think about how impossible it would be to fight in a tight space like this one. There were two doors, one on either side that led off from where he was. He peeked inside the one on the left and saw that it was just a small bedroom. 

A broken bed lay in the middle of the room and once again there were three of those same mirrors in this room. This time they were spread out as they had been in the living room. In fact they were in the exact same positions relative to how they had been in that room. Hideki thought he heard something behind him and spun around with his sword at the ready. Once again there was nothing to be seen. He really wanted to get the hell out of this place. It was seriously giving him the creeps. 

The room across from the one he was in was also a bedroom. It was almost an exact duplicate of its counterpart across the hall except that it was slightly larger and the bed wasn't broken. There was no mattress on this bed and the frame stood empty in the center of the room. Hideki didn't waste any time hanging around and started to move more quickly through the rooms. At the end of the hallway, it widened to reveal a stairwell. One set of stairs went up and the other went down. 

Knowing my luck, whatever it is I'm looking for is locked down there, but I'm going to go up first. Basements give me the creeps. He carefully made his way up the creaky stairs and found himself on the second floor of the building in no time. The stairwell continued up, but he needed to be thorough in his search so he headed down the hallway. The second floor featured a shorter hallway and only two large bedrooms as well as a washroom. Each of the rooms had the mirrors spread out and not together, but there wasn't anything particularly interesting that he had seen.

After looking around the large bedroom near the front of the house he tried once more to simply break through the window facing the street. It didn't work, of course. "Megumi, are you still out there? I'm on the second floor. Still haven't found anything yet. This place is creepy as hell though." he called out the slats of the window.

A moment later he heard her voice, "Keep looking, Poro-tan. There has to be something in there that's keeping the enchantment running."

"Everything still okay out there? I can't help but worry that they might have a way of knowing this trap was tripped."

"It's quiet out here, and boring. Just hurry up and get out of there, it's getting late and we still need to check the other locations. Megu is worried they might all be dead ends, but we need to be sure." 

"Okay. I'm going to head to the third floor next, and then the basement." Hideki didn't wait for a reply and headed back towards the stairwell. After only a few steps he thought he heard something again and turned around. Inside one of the three mirrors spread around the room he saw something odd. Instead of just seeing his own reflection, there was something dark and large standing behind him inside. 

Hideki spun his blade in an arc while spinning his body and slashed through the spot where the thing had been standing in the mirror. He didn't feel any resistance and there was nothing there. What the fuck is going on with this place? An invisible force smashed into his chest and sent him flying backwards. He hit the wall with a thud and coughed up some blood. 

He quickly shook his head and jumped to his feet. Hideki gripped the sword with both hands and performed a horizontal Shockwave attack. The energy from his blade smashed its way through the room and wreaked havoc upon the furniture but there were no signs that he had hit his attacker. An inhuman cackle was heard after the dust settled. 

Damn! I might just be screwed here. Think, Hideki! He looked at the mirrors for the shadow to show itself again. and kept his back against the wall. The shadow once again appeared in the mirror to his left and it was moving straight towards him. Hideki didn't know if there was anything he could do to hurt that thing, so he quickly cast the only other spell he had at his disposal, Holy Blade. He ran his hand across the blade of the cursed weapon and it shone with a brilliant white light that slightly turned his own stomach in knots just being close to it. 

Of course. You're undead, you fucking idiot. He felt like he was going to throw up, but held onto the sword with everything he had. If there was anything that could hurt that shadow monster in his arsenal it would be Holy Blade. The light seemed to stop the shadow in its tracks and Hideki forced himself to lunge forward at the target. He utilized Tiger Style and slashed wildly at his opponent. For the first time in this fight, he felt resistance when he swept his blade through the air where the monster was. 

A horrifying scream of agony filled the room and Hideki knew he had made the right decision. The creature was trying to run, but he was able to see it thanks to the mirrors in the room. He chased it down and thrust his blade forward through the back of the shadow. A concussion smashed against him through the air and sent him backwards onto the ground. 

The shadow was nowhere to be seen in any of the mirrors and Hideki allowed him to breath a sigh of relief. He in no way wanted to deal with any more of those things. The spell on his blade ran out and the queasy feeling in his stomach from being near holy magic dissipated. He considered going back to the window to update Megumi on what had just happened, but decided it would be better to get the fuck out of this place faster. 

Hideki ran full speed back towards the stairwell and bounded up the stairs to the third floor. It turned out that rather than being another floor, it was more like a large attic. Piles of junk lay strewn about the tight space and he had to bend over slightly to look around. He made his way carefully through the area, examining all of the piles of discarded items for something glowing or magical looking. He found three more mirrors that were placed face down, broken. There were shards of glass littering the floor near the area where they had been placed. 

I guess I have to go to the damned basement. My life is seriously fucked up. He sighed and headed down the stairs quickly reaching the first floor again. The basement was extremely dark and seemed to almost press itself against the light his lantern was emitting. The circle of light around him got tighter as he descended the staircase and found himself in the basement of the building. Instead of lighting the entire room as it had before, only a small pool of light a few feet around him existed.

Hideki gulped and got to work. He found a wall and followed it. Deciding to be on the safe side, he once again cast Holy Blade. The extra light emitted by the spell seemed to push the darkness back better than his lantern. That was both a good, and bad thing for him as he saw something horrifying towards the back of the room. 

A black thing that resembled a heart thumped with a steady beat on a pedestal. Light seemed to be sucked into the thing and Hideki noted that there were two statues standing next to the pedestal depicting wraiths. To his horror the stone of the statues melted away and the things began to float towards him at a deliberate pace. Fuck! Fuck! I can't let those things touch me or I'm dead. Again.

Hideki backed away towards the steps slowly. He didn't want to fight those things down here if he didn't have to. The stairs were just a few paces away. He held out his glowing sword like a talisman in the darkness, warding the things back. When he reached the stairs, he felt his back hit an invisible shield that had been erected. 

"Join... ussssss," One of the wraiths whispered to him in a voice like death itself. 

"Put it ddowwwnn. Stay with usssss foreverrrr."

"Go fuck yourselves. I'll stick with the eternal torment that I already have to endure over this shit any day, thank you very much."

Hideki didn't have a way to retreat, so his only chance was to kill the things, if they could even be killed. The creatures were ethereal, just like that shadow had been on the second floor, and they were the things of every child's nightmares. Tendrils whipped towards him from the two ghost creatures and Hideki had to dive to the side to avoid one from touching him.

Every school child learned that the touch of one of those things meant death. He was already dead in a sense, but he didn't want to take any chances. Another tendril whipped towards him from the wraith to his right and he slashed through it with his blade. The wraith let out an ear piercing shriek as the tendril fell away and to the ground steaming. 

The most important thing that he could do in this fight was make sure that he didn't let them pincer him. If they surrounded him, it would be all over. The heart on the pedestal began to glow a dark purple and pulsed faster. The light coming from his lantern began to stream out in a line going straight into the heart. The pool of light around him shrunk by about half. 

Raspy voices continued to call for him to join them and stay forever in the darkness. Hideki needed to move. There wasn't any time to be meek, he would be plunged into darkness soon enough. The creature on his left charged towards him, tendrils once again reaching towards him and he slashed through them again. 

While the creature was stunned for a moment, he made his move, stabbing the glowing blade into the wraith. It screeched and popped out of existence. Unfortunately, the time of his spell had chosen that exact moment to give out and the light winked out of his blade. The remaining wraith charged towards him, seeing the opening and he only just barely rolled away from it as it got close. I just need time to enchant the sword again! Hideki's pool of light continued to shrink and he could only just barely see at this point. 

Darkness threatened to consume him. He didn't give into the fear that threatened to stop him in his tracks and continued to dodge the wraith's attacks, which were becoming faster and getting closer and closer to hitting him by the second. Hideki jumped to the side after the next attack and ran to the far side of the room. 

The creature let out a screech of irritation and he knew that it was coming for him already. He only had a second. Hideki quickly cast Holy Blade and swung his sword in an arc in front of himself. He thanked his lucky stars that he had instinctively done that, because three tendrils had been coming right for his face. The wraith screamed again and he had to force himself to not wince at the horrible sound.

Time to end this. He ran forward and dispatched the monster just as he had the previous one by stabbing his enchanted blade into its chest. *Ding*

Congratulations! You have reached level 25! +1 TP

He didn't have time to celebrate the new level as the light in his lantern winked out of existence and the light from his blade was even starting to be sucked away. Hideki's heart raced as the structure of the building began to tremble violently. The sound of mirrors crashing to the ground above him could be heard. I don't even want to fucking know what that thing is doing now. 

Hideki charged towards the undulating heart of darkness and slashed at it. His blade clanged against a barrier that had been erected around the heart, but it appeared that his blade had managed to damage it. The familiar sound of the shadow monster's laughter sounded behind him. Did it summon more of those things? Shit! 

The barrier had been damaged, and he only had one chance. Frantically he slashed at the barrier again and again. His blade was glowing much less strongly than it had been before, but he finally smashed through the thing's barrier. Hideki pounded his blade down again and again on the heart and as he did the light from his weapon glowed just a bit brighter. Purple blood splattered against his face, but he didn't dare stop or turn around to face the shadow creature that was surely coming for him at a dead run. 

Hideki slashed at the thing two more times and then the house stopped shaking. His lantern flickered back to life and the room suddenly lit up. He turned, slashing his blade through the air behind him, but there wasn't anything there. Hideki didn't see any more mirrors in this room and everything had gone still. 

Not wasting any time, he ran back towards the stairs. The barrier was gone, and he was able to go upstairs without any problems. He ran down the hallway and towards the living area. When he got to the front room he was surprised to see that the glass had shattered in all three mirrors that had been in the living area. Were the shadow monsters coming out of these mirrors? 

Hideki shuddered at the thought and ran for the door leading to the entrance to the building. The three mirrors in the entry area were still intact and he grabbed the things and smashed them face down onto the floor. The sound of breaking glass filled the room. Hideki charged the door and kicked it with all his might. To his pleasant surprise, it burst open and he jumped out into the cool air of the city breathing frantically.

Megumi was sitting against the wall by the dragon mural. "Took you long enough, Poro-tan. Let's go."

"Long enough? That place was the shit of nightmares, Megumi." 

Hideki spent the time walking to the next location explaining what had happened to him in there. Megumi nodded grimly as he continued the story and the conclusion was that, unfortunately for them, the Thieves Guild had a warlock at their disposal.