Silhouette

As James had seen from above during his descent, this part of the Sunken City was pretty calm. Underwhelming, even. It probably used to be on the outskirts of the city in its prime, judging by the fact there was a road and pavement but the area was really open. Honestly, if it weren't for the whole "this place has been abandoned for years after most of its inhabitants probably died until the scum of the world decided to use all of this free real estate", it would be pretty nice. He never understood how people could handle the mania of the big cities, it was one of the reasons why he had stayed in his relatively small hometown.

Unlike the slums, this place was deserted. The only sound around was his own footsteps, sometimes the occasional gust of wind - which made absolutely no sense scientifically speaking but, again, James had gone through enough magical shenanigans that he knew better than wonder how that one worked. He'd argue even the sewers were more active with how the local wildlife thrived whenever no one was around to interrupt them. Which reminded him he probably should have another talk about overhunting one specific species with the ratlings and Mischief. Mostly David.

James let his curiosity guide him, aimlessly wandering around in case something caught his eye. Throughout his life, he had seen many representations of abandoned cities through various media, including some actual abandoned urban areas such as Chernobyl. Though he had heard some people still lived in that one, it was still much less than in its heydays.

But as always, seeing a picture or reading a description is so far from the truth...

What a lot of those representations had in common was the theme of nature taking back its rightful place. Plants taking over everything, wild animals roaming the streets and making their nests in old shops and homes... Here? Some flora had grown and covered certain areas, for sure, like the buildings covered in vines he saw during his descent, but it was much less than he anticipated. The plants and mushrooms that grew down here were mostly small, desperate things, oddly shaped and unappealing. There was no fauna, apart from bugs and maggots he saw every once in a while. It felt weird to be in a city with no birds singing or screaming or chirping or whatever else noise they could make. Even the Black Block had pigeons, crows, and ravens flying around in search of scraps to steal. Here? Nothing. Not even a bat.

As he walked James' thoughts went back to Mimi. What was she? A skeleton, obviously, but of what? A really tall human? Even then, how did undeath work? She had confirmed she was undead, so it wasn't some sort of "everything is invisible except the bones". Had she been reanimated? Cursed? Did she remember her old life? When did she die? How? Did she have contacts with any sort of death expert? A magical one of course, not a forensic doctor. Maybe...

Maybe there's some sort of "reborn" group, for undead and reincarnated folks. A way for me to know why I'm here.

He couldn't be too precise, otherwise, she'd know why he wanted to have this sort of information, but he could always make use of the friendly and energetic personality of the skeleton. It wouldn't be the worst thing he would have done in this life.

But this can wait. For now, let's focus on-

Something caught James' attention. Further down the street was a relatively large place, with multiple buildings placed together to make one big property. There was a big space between it and the road, some sort of parking judging by the few faded white lines that had survived the test of time left on the asphalt.

James stepped closer, studying it even further. Past the parking was a big metal gate, its thick bars covered in rust, with walls surrounding the entire area. Beyond the gate, he could see another open area, though much smaller than the parking, with a spot that must have been covered with grass once, with only dirt left now. Beyond that was a two stories tall building, with a dozen broken windows and with only a few patches of flakey beige paint left on its red brick walls.

On the sides of this building were two more, and if James had to hazard a guess he'd say there was probably a fourth one behind so that all four of them together made a square. He couldn't be sure of course, but it was often how those sorts of things went.

On the second story of the front building, standing tall and mighty, was a sign in horrendous condition, barely holding on. On it, there were only a few letters left, most of them had fallen to the ground below and shattered.

Mo r Gr e e d's O ph age.

James approached and looked around, making sure that no one was already occupying the place. It would be odd for such a large place to go unused, but... If his guess about this place's past was correct... And with Martha's warning about ghosts... Yeah. It made sense.

I just hope the place is empty.

He didn't even have to open the gate, one of its two doors had fallen off its hinges long ago. He slowly walked forward, taking care not to disrupt anything. He went up the front steps of the main building and carefully knocked at one of the two wooden doors of the main entrance.

He waited.

He waited.

He-

The door opened.

Of course, there was no one in the entry hall, nor behind the door. James stepped in, his steps echoing against the old rotten floorboards, and didn't flinch when the door closed behind him. It was a classic, one he had utilized himself. He looked around the room, taking in the red brick walls occasionally covered by torn white and grey vertically striped wallpaper and wood on the bottom fifth. The place might have been heartwarming once before time had taken its toll, but all that was left was a gloomy remnant.

There was a large staircase ahead, but James preferred to ignore it for now in favor of exploring the rest of this level. He wasn't in a hurry, after all.

Though I should probably head back home after that. I don't want the others to get worried and I want to secure the passage with another fake wall.

The orphanage - if James' guess on the missing letters was correct - was pretty much what he expected. An office near the entrance, multiple hallways, a large cantine with multiple long tables and dozens of chairs, a few study rooms, a library, a big kitchen, multiple bathrooms, numerous toilets, what was probably a music room judging by the piano, a schoolroom judging by the desks and the blackboard, different playrooms with different toys...

Of course, everything was in an advanced state of disrepair. The walls were pretty much bare, the furniture falling apart, the books unreadable and falling to pieces, the paintings on the walls had turned completely black, the water in the bathrooms looked worse than the one in the sewer canals, what little food remained in the kitchen was mostly dark mulch that had fused into the various appliances, everything was covered in dust... Not to mention the constant feeling of being watched.

There was also a small room with stairs that led to some sort of basement, though it was hidden behind a locked door. James could have easily broken it, but he did not need to go down there yet. Not only did he have more buildings to explore after that, but maybe he'd even find the key upstairs. Besides, going to the basement of a haunted building, especially an orphanage, sounded like an atrocious idea right now.

Especially with the wordless whispers that he could hear from here.

James went up the stairs in the entry hall and explored, finding two dorms and a few bedrooms, as well as a door.

This specific door stood out to him. Though just as damaged and old as the rest, the wood seemed a little nicer than the rest, and there was a little sign next to it.

th r G r nh l .

James put his hand on the old bronze door handle, but when he pushed it realized it was locked. So, he tried knocking again.

And again.

And again.

And he heard a small click.

James tried the handle again, and this time found the door unlocked. He opened it, and had he still been human would have let out a gasp at what he saw.

The office was clearly better than the other he had seen downstairs, it was bigger, what remained of the furniture seemed more luxurious, the bookshelves to the side were filled with old leathery books - probably ruined by no care and the passage of time, but still - and it had a massive window that occupied most of the wall giving a view of the court between the buildings - which denied James' hypothesis of there being four buildings, there were only three, with the last side of the court being closed off further away by the walls surrounding the property. It must have been a beautiful garden long ago, but all that was left was rot and decay.

But it wasn't all of this that made James gasp, no. It was the thing on the seat of the desk, its back to the window. It looked like at its core it was a human skeleton, but for some reason, it had turned into a tree. Ligh brown bark replaced the white of bones, each one growing into a branch or root that spread throughout the room. The shape of the skeleton was somewhat preserved, with the skull hanging slightly to the right and the space between the ribs being preserved. No leaves, but somehow the tree still seemed alive, even with no light or water.

Considering everything that had happened so far, James assumed that it was somewhat conscious.

"Hello? Are you the one who let me in?"

The skeletal tree stayed silent, but its branches began to rustle and James could swear he heard some creaking near its head.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you. My name is James. I wanted to know if I could use this place?"

The rustling grew more intense and yes, there had indeed been creaking near the head considering the skull began to break out from the rest of the tree, the jaw slowly moving as the thing began to groan.

"If you don't want me here, I will leave immediately."

The eyeless sockets stared at him as the skull straightened, its jaw clacking in a strange thud of wood hitting wood as a voice spoke out, a messy thing, closer to a garble than noise and barely intelligible.

"Death..."

"Yes, I am aware you are dead."

"You... Death..."

"Is... Is this a threat? As I said, I don't mind leaving."

"Dead... Alive..."

"I... Are talking about yourself? I met an undead earlier today, maybe I could ask her for some tips for you?"

"Name... Name..."

"I am James."

"Mother... Mother..."

"You are the one who was in charge of the orphanage?"

"Children... Nuns... Basement... Safety..."

The skull began to spasm, twitching left and right.

"Catastrophe... Pain... Danger... Hide..."

The skull stopped moving at once.

"Trapped... Forgot... Free..."

The wooden ribs began to pulse.

"Take... Open..."

James approached the skeletal tree and slipped his hand between the ribs. His fingers felt something, and with his domain, he knew it was a wooden key growing from its spine. He grabbed it and pulled it, breaking it off from its wooden prison.

"Children... Happy... Mother... Happy... Share..."

James nodded.

"It's the basement downstairs? What about the other buildings?"

"Basement... Safety..."

"I'll see what I can do."

James bowed at the poor thing and left the room.

He had an idea of what he would find down below, and frankly, he hoped it wouldn't scar his poor psyche even further.