The Isdïra Complex

Questions unanswered

Towers and hallways mostly were to be found here where there was no one to talk to. Some mountains stood in the North, and numerous small waterfalls in the South. There was life somewhere out there, birds and snakes, lions and tigers - the only other human beings were somewhere in or around the gigantic building which looked like a castle from afar.
There also were some birds here whistling their reiterating melodies. You could hear someone's low voice once you focussed on it: One of the guards standing next to a tower complained about the cold wind because he didn't have any warm clothes to put on.
Returning to reality, Miranda woke up in one of the rooms from where she'd heard the voice. It was dark all around her, but from what she remembered she must have had a good dream.
The small room had two doors and the mattress and the blanket was everything it provided. Miranda got up, lay the blanket on the bed and listened to the voice that had woken her up. When she figured she didn't understand a word the girl went to one of the doors and opened it.
Where was this place? How did she even get here?
One room led her to the next and each one of them was shaped the same way like the one before. It was like a maze and Miranda happened to ask herself why she wasn't already so upset about what was going on.
Where did she even come from? Trying to think of the last memory she had of the time before she had fallen asleep last night, she had to admit that the questions in her head would continuously pile up and Miranda wouldn't get smarter of it.
There must be someone else to talk to!
At least her age told her that she probably went to high school.
In the next few rooms there were stairs leading down to a basement. Not knowing what else to do Miranda walked down and was happy to see more than a dim light to guide her way: Some lights were at the ceiling of the hallway she got to and behind the next door there was a huge saloon - with tons of people!
They sat around long, thin mahogany tables, the men wearing suits, the women blazers and blue pants, drinking all sorts of liqueurs out of transparent goblets. Dozens of chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
Miranda walked up to one man who almost bumped into her and wanted to ask him something, but he walked that fast and it was so loud in the room because of all the people talking that the girl decided to go to someone else. There were enough people here who could answer some of her questions, that's what Miranda thought.
She went to a woman this time, sitting at the end of a table and asked her where they were.
No answer.
She repeated her question.
No answer.
The men and women didn't even notice her; they interrupted her whenever Miranda wanted to say something.
It was as if she didn't exist for them.
Now the time came when the girl got frustrated. She had no idea what was going on and seemingly there was no one there who would tell her anything about her situation.
A blink of an eye later they all were gone.
As if they never existed...
From one second to the other it was so quiet. The conversations had abruptly stopped, some of the goblets had fallen to the floor. Miranda assumed some of the people had drunken something the moment they disappeared which had left the goblets alone in the air.
Now they were broken, anyway.
Not that it mattered to Miranda. She wanted to understand what happened to her and she wouldn't give up until she knew. Nevermind if people called her stubborn for that. Right now there was no one there she could talk to, she believed.
This time though she was glad that her thoughts proved her wrong: Three men entered the saloon from one of the many doors it had.
This time they talked to her!
They all were bald, wore light leather jackets and pants, they were quite tall and one of them had a black beard at his chin.
That was the one who started to speak: "You're here so that we can seek revenge for the crimes you commited two lives ago. Just listen to our rules and we won't harm you." He left the saloon again and the second man talked to Miranda, also without caring about introducing himself.
"You have to fight on your own to get out of here," the man said. "There are certain keys you'll have to search for - and food and drinks. If it takes you too long to find anything, you'll either starve or die of thirst. Your aim should be to discover the connection to your past. We'll keep an eye at you and if you are who we believe you to be, you're one of the Vengeants. We'll kill you immediately in this case, not that your life will completely end then..." The second man left.
The one who hadn't said anything yet moved two steps closer to her. "Good night." He punched Miranda in her face and while he vanished out of her sight her consciousness faded.
★★★
Someone shook her by the shoulders next time she woke up.
"Hello? Who are you?" a young man's voice asked.
Miranda merely shook her head. It was uncomfortable to lie on the hard floor, but she wasn't fully awake yet.
Another one or two minutes later the other person gave up on asking her anything. It seemed like he believed it would make more sense for him to wait and so he sat down on one of the chairs in the saloon until Miranda got up again.
When she did, he stood up again, now not asking questions anymore: "My name's Charles and someone brought me to this place against my will. I have no idea what happened in the past few hours."
Unlike Miranda, the young man had dark skin and short, black hair. He had blue eyes and was taller than her, but not as tall as the other men she had already met.
"If you expect me to know more than you, I have to tell you, no, I don't." Miranda hesitated, then corrected herself: "I have met three men who were here before I lost my consciousness. They told me something about some rules and that I'm here because I might have been a criminal two lives ago. I don't know what they mean by that..."
"Who are you?" Charles asked all of a sudden.
She raised her eyebrows, looking at him for a second before she replied. "I'm Miranda. Whoever I am I don't know though. Not that I'm frustrated about it, I just worry a bit about whatever could happen to me in the near future." She looked around in the room, then turned back to Charles. "Nice to meet you anyway."
"Nice to meet you, too."
Neither of them smiled.
"Where are we here?"
"I got here by walking to this place from a dark room where I woke up the first time," Miranda said without actually answering the question. "What's your plan?"
Charles looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"What should we do next? I'd say we search for something to eat and drink. One of the men said that's what we're supposed to look out for. If we don't, we're dead before surviving the first few days here. Have you found anything so far?"
The young man shook his head. "I woke up in a small room right next to this saloon a few minutes ago. I don't even know how I got here. I don't know whether or not my brothers and sisters know where I am." He was lost in thoughts as he stopped talking.
"I've asked myself a thousand questions since I'm here," Miranda stated. "Even if I manage to answer some of them soon, more will come up over time I believe." When Charles just nodded, she went on with her short monologue: "Another of the men told me I should find the connection to my past. Whatever we do, we should go somewhere to discover this huge building."
Charles nodded again, then shook his head.
Before Miranda got a chance to look at his face again his body transformed itself to dust that fell to the floor.