Aran could only see hallways wherever she looked, her head whipping around desperately to find her friend. She attempted to go down one of the paths, realizing quickly that, even though it looked like the estate, the format was nothing like it. The hallways seemingly looped, as they had always met at a point that surrounded the courtyard outside.
Aran continued walking in an attempt to find what may have caused such an anomaly before reappearing at the main estate again, seeing as servants were now walking amongst her and that she wasn't alone now. That place was like a ghost town. This has to be caused by what Raphael mentioned earlier. One of those Boons he mentioned.
"I always wondered why you go around walking with a cane," The man in plum-colored garb spoke to Luce, who was reduced to tears due to the stress of the situation they were suddenly thrust into. "I want to end this early, y'know? I'm doing this without permission after all. Hey, wanted to mention, they never mentioned anything in the rules about not starting early with the violence, y'know? Maybe they shoulda thought of that."
Luce was too stunned to speak, stumbling back with every step, trying to create as much distance as possible between him and his assailant.
"A-Anyway, sorry, sorry. I got off track... uh... like I was saying. I always wondered why you go walking about with a cane and all that, y'know? Like, the initial explanation makes sense-- you're unable to support your body due to an unknown disease, right? Some sort of autoimmune thing goin' on, but it doesn't explain one thing... why do you walk with a limp? If it were just a weak body, you wouldn't be walking with a limp, right?"
A beat.
"I wanted to separate you from that bodyguard of yours. No way I'd be able to take her on, on my own, so I thought this was the best way to go about it. It's one of those things that Raphael said that we all had... 'Boons'? Right?" He paused, waiting for Luce to answer, but receiving no response in turn, "Unfortunate... look, at least talk back to me, man..." They snickered, "I think that's what it is anyway... this is my Boon. What should I call it?"
The man put his index and middle fingers together, facing the inside of the fingers up to the ceiling before flipping them reverse-wise, the environment suddenly changing, the people moving about the estate suddenly disappearing.
"I don't want anybody interrupting, y'know? I want it all to be... Static... that's a good name. I'll call it Static. Honestly, now that it's like this..." He began snickering again, "This is way more advantageous than my previous position, no!?"
Luce stumbled back, continuing to attempt to get away from the man in front of him.
"It's only respectful, right? My name, I'll tell you my name, okay? I'll even say it slow for you since... in this place, heh... I have all the time in the world." A momentary pause. "C-a-r-s-t-o-n... Carston Heracles. Pleasure."
"P-Please... l-leave me alone."
"Honestly, I didn't get the time to experiment with this thing, so this is a great opportunity-- by the way, can you answer my previous question? Why do you have a limp? What caused that? I know it isn't the autoimmune thing, that doesn't make sense. Honestly, this is a great time to pry, God, I'm lucky." Carston froze in place for a moment, "So... ya gonna tell me what for or... are ya gonna keep dribblin' all over yourself like a fuckin' pansy?" Wait... is that a fucking rhinoceros beetle on this kid's shoulder?
Luce stumbled into one of the doors, opening it and slipping inside.
"Oh, shit."
Luce's thoughts raced as he limped his way down an almost identical hallway to the one before, keeping himself close to the wall, tears still streaming down his face, droplets seeping into the floor as he desperately attempted to find an out.
At the other end of the hall, Luce spotted Carston, around 5 meters away from him. Just as Luce was about to open another door for himself, the man in front of him took out a gun, "Nah, don't try it. Instant you try turning that doorknob, you get a bullet to the head, ok?"
Luce began hyperventilating, stuck attempting to think of a way to get out of this situation, the barrel of a gun pointed straight at him for the first time in his entire life.
"I'll ask you just in case... will you drop out of the race, or will you die for your family?"
"I... I..."
Cartson smirked, "Well... I'm curious, so..." With a click and a pop, the gun went off, causing Luce to tense up, almost dropping to the floor before feeling his leg kick up from under him, causing him to fall flat on his face. Tink! "Tink? That was a 'tink' sound, right?"
A part of Luce's leg is revealed, showing metal.
"A missing leg... that makes so much more sense!" Carston cackled loudly, his voice echoing through the empty halls of this mock estate. "It's so much more than just a sickness, you're a full on cripple!"
Luce, feeling humiliated, groveled on the ground, tears in his eyes, biting his lip as his panicked state slowly bubbled into frustration at himself for not doing anything. As Luce found himself in this pathetic heap of a state, Pierre launched itself through the air, startling Carston.
Pierre crashed into Carston's arms as he attempted to block the beetle's pursuit, causing him to slip onto the ground.
This was Luce's chance to escape, to give himself time to think about a way to defeat this opponent, but Luce's kinder nature left him stuck, not wanting to leave Pierre behind against this man, a man with a gun of all things. It was the last thing Luce would ever want to happen, Luce believed he couldn't handle the distress he'd feel if Pierre died here.
Even at a young age, Pierre was an oddity amongst Rhinoceros Beetles.
As Luce could recall, he was 10 years old when he first found Pierre, who was an injured Rhinoceros Beetle that he had found in the woods.
This was during a time when Luce's illness had barely any effect on him. It showed signs, and he did go to the doctor about it, but it was manageable if he took his medications at the time. The recommendation from his doctor was to stay inside as much as he could, but, due to his old, adventurous spirit, he'd sneak his way outside to play in the wilderness.
During these days, Luce had a hobby of capturing and collecting insects that he'd draw in a sketchbook he had at the time, having a particular interest in beetles. One day, he found a rarity amongst the variety of beetles he'd often find out in the wilderness on his lonesome, an injured Rhinoceros Beetle.
He saved it and soon discovered that it was more than what it initially seemed, an oddity amongst its kind. A Rhinoceros Beetle typically has a lifespan of 2-4 years and a limited range of intelligence, yet Pierre was special in all aspects, along with being exceptionally large, impressively so compared to their peers, but not by a lot. It wouldn't even be too much of a surprise if one were to come across Pierre in the wild, and one could assume even that it was just a special case of beetle and move on with their day without going into the true eccentricities of this peculiar animal.
Soon, Pierre recovered, and Luce was ready to let the beetle go back out into the wild, but instead of staying... it returned, almost like a bird, or a wild dog of sorts. He attempted over and over again, yet Pierre returned to his side as if it were its natural place of being.
Luce was content with this, but as the years passed, Luce would soon realize that Pierre was more than meets the eye. Pierre could recognise their name, understood commands and patterns, it was almost as if a beetle had been given the intelligence of an average German Shepherd.
Then, when Luce turned 17, his suspicions grew significantly. Luce believed it to be a fortunate coincidence at first that Pierre had survived a year past his typical life expectancy, but at that age, the age of 17, it would've been around an estimated 6 total years of life that Pierre had left, yet, it was still kicking, stuck to Luce like a baby penguin nipping at it's mother's heels.
Luce had formed an incredibly special bond with this Rhinoceros Beetle, not only because it had proven itself to be special, a statistical anomaly incarnate, but because, aside from Aran, Pierre had been his only friend throughout his Teen to Early-Adult years of life. Now this friend of his, the greatest pet that Luce could ever have, was risking its life to save him.
At this rate, Luce couldn't stop the tears from flowing, his heart beating out of his chest in fear.
Luce stumbled up to his feet, throwing himself at one of the doors, turning the knob but not opening it just yet.
Carston grabbed onto Pierre, throwing the beetle away from him, not considering the direction he was throwing it in as it flew straight back to Luce, who opened the door.
Pierre slammed against the door with a thud before Luce quickly snatched the small creature with one hand, slipping away with him as a gunshot went off, making Luce visibly flinch for a second before quickly running into another hallway.
Carston cursed under his breath, attempting to recollect his belongings as he checked the cylinder of his revolver.
Luce scrambled down the hallway, still keeping himself close to the walls as he clutched Pierre close to his chest, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation. How do I even begin to fend for myself here? Is there a way I can use that thing, the thing they call a 'Boon'? What would my Boon even be? How...? What do I do to get myself out of this? Limp, weak-bodied... no... I, I don't know, I don't know what to do... I'm stuck!
Luce slumped into the corner of the wall he was near, obscured lightly by the shadows cast against it, barely able to keep himself together anymore. I need it! There has to be somewhere I can hide? I can't do it anymore! I just want to disappear! To stop all of this suffering!
Luce thought back to how he'd handled conflict before this competition had started, how he'd always hole himself up in his room, obscured by the dark that he'd entrench himself in, turning all the lights out and just obscuring himself. Those were the moments he was the freest, a time when he did not need to worry about his illness, about his place within the family, about anything at all.
"Where are you~!" Carston yelled out, attempting to find Luce, wandering the halls aimlessly.
Eventually, his head snapped toward Luce's general direction, causing him to freeze up, covering his mouth in a desperate attempt to obscure himself but failing miserably.
Carston stomped on over, his stance leaning forward as he approached at an above-average pace, leaving Luce to his thoughts, bile coming up from his stomach to his throat as he truly believed that this was the end, before suddenly... Carston walked past the young man, somehow not noticing him. Luce steadied his breath, confused.
Luce scanned his surroundings, spotting what looked to be a fairy-like creature squeezed up next to him, a finger to where its lips would normally be if it didn't have what looked to be a mask over its face. It wore a captain's hat, and its wings appeared to be moth-like, which acted as a cloak over its newsboy-esque outfit underneath.[1]
I... survived... It was the only thought that remained in Luce's head as Carston passed him, his frustration growing as he paced throughout the halls of the mock estate. It was then that Luce had realized that this place had a flaw... the time of day, it corresponded with the time of day outside of this section of space, so as time continued to pass, the light outside changed accordingly. There is a catch to this that Luce will find out, but for now, he needed to figure out more about the creature in front of him.
Luce took a steady inhalation of breath before exhaling once more, keeping its gaze on the fairy creature that floated about a meter away from its face. I know what to call this... I... I think I'll call it... Cassini's Division... I think I might even understand what it does.
Luce shimmied across the wall, seemingly still obscured by whatever this creature was doing to hide him. He looked at where the sun peered through the nearly 10-foot windows leading out to the courtyard, and if his instincts steered him right... It could move it to shine a light onto this situation, literally.
It was then that he saw it, an anomaly outside the windows that wasn't there before; some unknown object sat right in the middle of the courtyard.
Cassini's Division hovered toward the light and brought their hands out, and Luce's theory was swiftly confirmed as the lights beaming into the building had begun to shift as its tiny body pushed against it, almost as if it had manifested the object into a corporeal object that could be touched and interacted with.
This was the trick, this was how Luce would seek victory.
[1] Oh my gosh, the cover art creature thing! *points*