The Object Realm

Chapter 10 - a strange being

     The apartment was holding a party, and every resident of the place was invited. "Nothing like spontaneously holding a big party for the entire building to relax and have fun." Sign was showing his silly side for once, as he was more than some office guy who fills papers and deals with business. He liked goofing off every once in a while, and this was that time. Multicolor Pen was also doing something, he was trying to play an extreme game of hot potato with Medal, Backpack, and the crime-solving crew that recently moved in. It was with a sealed bottle of fizzy cola, and whoever lost the round had to put Mentos in it and everyone had to run away, and if someone got hit by the mess, they were out until the game restarted. "Oh them, goofing off as people like them always do." Orchid was having a conversation with Rose and Ribbon, they were telling stories to each other. "So this one time in the human realm, I was with my coworkers in the office and somebody came in with a banana suit, singing and all. It was chaotic, I was one of the few people who kept their focus." They were laughing along, telling their laughable tales, whether they were from the human realm or before they got into the apartment. However, during the extreme hot potato game, Multicolor Pen felt a bit off. He was dizzy, and he knew it was wrong. "You guys, I'm feeling a bit off. . . can I take a break?" His friends were fine with his decision and understood the circumstances. "We get it. If the game's been getting a bit rowdy, you can always lie down on the couch or go to your room where there's no music," Ace assured. Multicolor Pen went to lie down on the couch since it was easier than walking upstairs in this state. He felt drowsy like he was going to fall asleep at that moment. He thought it was just the intense running away combined with the somewhat loud music, and blamed it on that. He blocked out the noise with a pillow. . . and fainted. He had blacked out, practically unconscious at this point. "Is he okay?!" Everyone was concerned to some degree, but Rose was especially concerned, for it was in her nature. "Don't worry everyone, I'll get help. You guys can continue the festivities, Sign, Ace, and I will deal with the situation calmly before it escalates." Ace and Sign carried him to Sign's room and Medal followed for assistance later. They put Multicolor Pen on the bed and continued to check on him as Sign tried looking for help. "He's still alive from what I can tell, just knocked out. Not sure what knocked him out, though," Ace assured, while also unsure.
     Meanwhile, Multicolor Pen was in what felt like a fever dream. He was in a strange realm with nothing but a path. It was like the [ERROR] game but in a dark purple. He could see silhouettes of all his friends from the building, but could not see their faces. Nothing else happened for a while. Then, a purple figure started to form in front of him, being a crystal ball. "What? Who. . . are you?" Crystal Ball responded in her cold and serious but quiet voice with a slight echo. "I am the one who did this," she mumbled. "I am why you are here, and why you can see me or the void we're in. I cannot explain this any further, for doing so would break my integrity. Farewell." The vision abruptly ended there, before he got to ask her anything. He saw an image of crystals on a dark purple background flash before his eyes, and woke up. "Thank goodness you're here, we thought something serious happened." Ace and the others were grateful that he woke up. "That thing I saw, it-" Multicolor Pen was trying to explain his sights. "It what?" "It had crystals and stuff, and said things about her starting this!" Ace and the others were confused. "Oh well, the party's still going on. You weren't out for long, you can go back if you want. You can stay up here, but you should probably leave Sign's office either way."
That night, Multicolor Pen's thoughts raced as he theorized in his mind about what that could have meant. He went to sleep but left the theorizing for tomorrow. But in this dream, he saw something similar. Crystal Ball was back, but did not speak. She simply gave Multicolor Pen a crystal shard, and left. It was all connected, but he had to figure out how.