[Voice] 1. An Inquiry

[thelordsage]

[Some sounds of fumbling around can be heard as Sephiran tries and fails to get the video function working.]

Ah? Hmm? It seems these terminals aren't working as they should... the video function is disabled, and I've been waiting for hours for the service to actually work.

[Finally, Sephiran plops into the chair at the terminal. He clears his throat before he begins speaking.]

Hello, everyone. This is Sephiran speaking. I have but one simple question for you today. What do you see on Floor 100? I've noticed that everyone sees something different, so my curiosity has been piqued.

Comments

[Voice]

[kindofademon]

[Blood and darkness. Twisted bodies that form every kind of furniture and art and clothes and object they could imagine. A place where he could have as much fun as he wanted, where his only limit was his own mind.]

A place I lived at before I came here.

[Voice]

[thelordsage]

And this place was important to you, I presume?

[Voice]

[kindofademon]

Yeah. I only was there for a little while, but I shared it with someone and we had a lot of fun there. I miss it.

[Voice]

[thelordsage]

Ah... places you share with someone are rather potent in the memory, aren't they? I have several places like that.

[Voice]

[kindofademon]

Any of those people here?

[Voice]

[thelordsage]

No. And I'm suppose I'm glad that they aren't. This is a place of punishment, after all.

[Voice]

[kindofademon]

I dunno... it's better than being dead.

[Voice]

[thelordsage]

Is it now? [There's a lengthy pause as Sephiran considers this.] I'm not sure whether I agree with you or not.

[Voice]

[kindofademon]

Wouldn't you say that being dead means nothing good can happen to you?

[voice]

[fish_or_die]

[Wait. What?]

How many floors are there? I didn't know it went that high.

[voice]

[thelordsage]

Last time I checked, there were roughly 100 floors, plus that one garden above the 100th floor.

[voice]

[fish_or_die]

Seriously? I've never been up that high before. What's it like?

[voice]

[thelordsage]

It depends on the person, I've heard. I see a beautiful, verdant forest from my past... but sadly, even before my world came to an end, that forest was no more.

[voice]

[fish_or_die]

What kind of forest is it? [He really means "why would it become a forest," but his thoughts are still catching up with him.] What happened to it?

[voice]

[thelordsage]

It was razed to the ground. The people who lived in the forest were framed for assassinating an important political figure, and they were massacred. [His voice is almost blank as he speaks.]

[voice]

[canofworms]

... What exactly is on the hundredth floor?

[So very suspicious.]

[voice]

[thelordsage]

I've heard that it depends on the person. You haven't been there, have you?

[canofworms]

No, I just got here. It's not dangerous?

[It sounds like an illusion, and in his experience those are rarely completely harmless.]

[thelordsage]

I can't say I know for sure. I imagine that it shouldn't be dangerous unless a monster follows you up. As I said earlier, what is there changes from person to person, so you could see anything.

[canofworms]

Illusions can be dangerous. [He's frowning to himself, though. Staying out of the floor isn't entirely an option, either.] ... I'll have a look, but you shouldn't just send everyone to an unknown floor next time.

[thelordsage]

Ah? My apologies. I simply assumed that most people had already explored the floor on their own, if they could. But to my knowledge, the illusion you see is not dangerous.

[canofworms]

Some of us have just arrived, you know.

[He relents, though, there's no point in beating a dead horse until zombies are a thing.]

But don't worry about it too much.