Welcome to Gaia! ::

Somewhere in another hall, Alihi was doing the same tactic Rhys had thought. Somehow, she too was separated from Abel when a wall suddenly appeared before them. Alihi tried to inform the Hero of how to escape, but Abel had left. It seemed that he was worried about her and he tried to rescue her by looking for a way to get her. The Tactician decided to escape on her own. She figured she may be able to find Abel if he got lost.

As she made a turn, she noticed the wall had become circular. There was no lighting in the circular hall. Only at the end of the hall had the light. At the end of the hall was a dark silhouette of a person. That person was doing the same tactic as her as the figure moved toward her.

“Hello?” Alihi called out as she entered the circular hallway. Although she had nothing to fear about the person, she had no idea who the person was. If only there were more lighting.

“Alihi, is that you?” A figure cried out.

“Yes, it’s me!” Alihi cried out as she moved further down. But before she could ask who the person was, something went wrong.

Just as she was to take a further step, the floor beneath her began to move. Not only did the floor moved, but so were the walls and the ceiling too. The hall was spinning? What sort of magic or trickery was this?

“Whoa!” Alihi yelped as she tried to get up but fell down again. To make matter worse, she had dropped her orb too.

“Ah! My orb!” The figure cried out. It seemed that her mysterious company had dropped the orb too.

It was not easy for Alihi and her companion to get out of the situation. No matter how many times she got up or crawled, she would tumble back down again. In addition, it was hard to get her orb back too. She could hear the orbs rolling and tumbling. But how could she get hers if she was in the same predicament?

“Got it!” A voice cried out. The figure had found the orb. But getting out would not be easy.

Suddenly, Alihi felt something hit her. It felt small and light. It must be her orb. Struggled to get her balance, Alihi heard the orb heading toward her again. She quickly went on all four and snatched the orb in her hands. She got it. Then she fell into another tumble. This time, she clung onto her orb tightly. There was no way she was going to drop it.

“Alihi! The hall is moving clockwise! Face yourself to the right and wait for a moment! Once you’re up, run as fast as you can to get out without stopping! It’s the only way we can get out quickly!” A voice cried out.

“Got it!” Alihi yelled as she turned around. The figure was right. It was moving clockwise. The Tactician waited for a moment as the hall moved upward. When she got to her feet, she quickly ran to the exit. It was not easy for her to run over a moving floor. If she fell again, she would use the person’s tactic again.

It took her two minutes to get out, after tumbling twice in the hall. Alihi sat down and tried to catch her breath. She was back where she had started. However, she would never go in again. The Tactician looked around to see her companion. The person was nowhere in sight.

It seemed that her companion went back the other way too. Whoever the person was, Alihi wanted to thank for sharing the tactic. If the person hadn’t told her, who knew how long she would be trapped in there.

Now readied to move around, Alihi got up and-

“Oh, no!” Alihi cried. The Tactician had looked down at her orb. However, it wasn’t her orb at all. Somehow, that spinning hall must have made her and the person switched orbs.

The Tactician looked back at the spinning tunnel. She could go after the person and give the orb back… But that would mean going back into the infernal tunnel. Not wanting to get herself tumbled again, Alihi decided to continue forward and looked for the exit. She hoped that Abel wouldn’t be upset about her having the wrong orb.

In a different area, the atmosphere was dense with fog. There were barely lights in it. The area was now big, but was crowded with bushes and trees. Walking in the area was Blossom.

“How did I end up in the forest?” She muttered as she pushed the bushes away.

One minute, she was separated from Aidan. Thanked to the wall appearing out of nowhere. Next, she walked aimlessly through the maze, looking for a way out. And all of a sudden, she was in a forest. However, it didn’t feel like a forest at all.

There was no fog during nighttime and it was in the middle of autumn season. And there were no stars and moon in the sky. This meant that she was in a room to make it looked like a forest. To make matter worse, she heard noises in it. Animal noises and they were sounded loud too.

Blossom’s hand kept moving back and forth to the hilt while the other squeezed tightly over the orb. She knew that this was a haunted house. This meant that everything in this place was nothing but fake… If so, then why were the animal noises sounded so real?

The Hero moved around slowly in the forest. She muttered to herself that everything was not real but fake. That it was a haunted house. That no one was going to after her.

Somehow, that didn’t calm her fast beating heart down. She could feel her heart racing quickly and pumping louder as she continued walking down. Goosebumps were starting to form on her arms. As much as she tried to be braved and knowing that this was nothing but prop, she had started to hate this room. This place was giving her the creep.

Blossom jumped when she heard a noise. It came from behind the bush. Her hand went back to the hilt for the umpteenth time.

“Who’s there?” She cried out. The Hero hoped that person would answer and not trying to scare her. But if that person did, then that person would receive a full whack from the flat side of the blade.

The Hero could hear the noise, but the person did not response. Felt annoyed but also cautious, Blossom approached to the noise. She couldn’t decide whether she should draw her weapon or not. With the weapon, she felt safe. However, she may accidentally scare and injured her friends. Without the weapon, she would feel vulnerable. Oh, what to do? When she reached to the bush, Blossom leaned forward to see.

Suddenly, something popped out. Blossom let out a scream. She moved and later fell backward. Her orb fell out of her hand. The Hero quickly sat up to see what jumped out. The color of her skin began to pale as she widened her eyes.

Standing in front of her few feet away was a Gwyllgi. The fur was wild and ruffled. There were cuts and blood over the body. The dog-like creature was growling at Blossom, baring its yellow teeth. Its eyes were staring down at her. It was not the eyes to be feared or territorial. It was the eyes of hatred and loath as if it was her fault.

Blossom screamed again as the Gwyllgi began to jump. It opened its mouths toward her. Blossom quickly placed her hands on the hilt and scabbard. The sword wouldn’t draw out. It was stuck due to the sitting position. Blossom cursed.

Unable to draw her sword, Blossom quickly raised her arms to protect herself against the powerful jaws of the beast. This was going to hurt her. There was no escape. She was going to die.

However, the pain didn’t come to her. Not even the full impact of the beast’s weight against her. And there was a cry. It was not the cry of the anger. It was the cry of pain.

Before she could look what had happened, she felt something wrapped underneath her arm. The next thing she knew, she was suddenly pulled backward. Not wanting to be dragged behind into something sinister, Blossom struggled to get free. She was quickly stopped and released. The Hero quickly got up and turned around as she drew her sword. There was no way she was going to be scared again.

When she looked up, her expression changed from alert to relief. Blossom lowered her weapon.

“Oh, thank goodness it’s you.” Blossom spoke as she placed her hand over her heart. Suddenly, she heard a growl behind.

Almost forgotten about the beast, Blossom turned around and raised her sword. The Gwyllgi was growling and tried to jump toward her and her companion. However, the animal didn’t move anymore. It was as if some force had stopped the dog-like creature from going.

Blossom looked at the animal confusingly. Wasn’t that Gwyllgi about to attack her? She then heard her companion spoke.

“… That Gwyllgi is chained up.”

“Huh?” Blossom took another look at the beast. She then noticed the collars wrapped around the Gwyllgi’s necks, along with the chains connected to the collars. So that explained why the beast couldn’t move further. The Gwyllgi was chained up. Blossom collapsed down and let out a long sigh.

That was a close call. If she had known about the chains, she would have move further. However, that didn’t help the Hero to relax. Whoever thought about having real lived animals in this place had a sick twisted mind. She admitted that it scared her. However, scaring her to death was crossing over the line.

“… You’ve dropped this.” A voice called behind her.

Blossom turned her head around to see her orb. She had nearly forgotten about the orb. Well, Aidan would understand her after nearly got attacked by a Gwyllgi. Blossom thanked her savior and took her orb. Somehow, she wished she had her pouch with her.

But before she could ask her companion, the savior was gone. It seemed that the person had moved onward. Probably looking for an exit or someone else.

Blossom sighed as she got up. It would be helpful if she was with someone instead of being herself. Who knew what other sick, twisted plots were in this place? The Mercenary began to walk, both with a sword in one hand and an orb in the other. With a Gwyllgi in the area, who knew what other monsters were lurking in this forest?

“Hello?” Alihi called out for the umpteenth time. No answer replied to her.

Ever since that spinning hallway, Alihi had decided to stay cautious. Who knew what other sort of trickery or traps were lurking around. With each turn or intersection, Alihi would stick her head out to see what the place had stored for her. Somehow, she heard some sliding and clanking noises. But when she looked around, nothing seemed out of ordinary. So far, nothing had ever happened since the spinning hallway.

As the Tactician looked up ahead at the fork, she noticed another room at the end of the right hallway. Curious, Alihi went to the room, her hand still clutched over the orb. Entering the room, the Tactician felt that she had entered a mad alchemist’s lab.

In the room, there were papers, scrolls, and few cobwebs everywhere. The tables were full of strange bottles and contents. Some of the bottles were half-full of weird liquids and few were bubbling. There was a bookshelf against the wall full of books and scrolls. Opposite from the bookshelf was a fireplace that had a cauldron over it. Something was boiling in it. There were wires and crystallized objects hanging from the wall and ceiling with some of the electric sparked out.

Alihi walked around, observing the area. It looked somewhat creepy. But so far, happened had happened so far. The Tactician went over to the bookshelf and looked at the title of the books. The titles were written in strange language she had never seen. Not even the languages she would recognize from her friends who taught her. This must be the ancient language of this world. But were these books real Tomes or just decorations for the haunted house?

The Tactician moved onto the table. There were some papers lying on the table. Some had mathematical problems on it. There were some animals’ bones and weird subjects in the bowl. Next to the bowl was a book with its pages opened. Alihi scrunched her face at the bowl. She didn’t want to know what was in it.

After looking over at the table, Alihi went to the next table. But before she could look over the next table, a spark suddenly exploded. That surprised the Tactician. Alihi let out a scream. Not wanting to get sparked, Alihi tried to move over to the left. However, she felt a sudden force.

There were a scream and a yelp as Alihi tumbled down again. And like before, she had accidentally dropped her orb. Was this her day to be clumsy?

Before she could get up, she heard a groan below her. Looking down, she noticed she had knocked down someone. A light blush came across her face.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Alihi apologized as she got up and helped the person. The person let out a groan again before looking at Alihi.

“Alihi? Oh, you’re safe!” A person cried out. “For a moment, I thought you were in danger.”

“Oh, no. I’m okay. But-”

“Let’s get out of here.” The person announced as Alihi’s wrist was grabbed and the Tactician was about to be dragged. “The sooner we find the exit, the sooner we get out of this place.”

“Wait!” Alihi protested. “My orb! I’ve dropped it!”

“What? You’ve dropped it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s look for it. I have my- …. Darn it! I’ve dropped mine too! Guess we have to look for ours then.”

“R-right.” Alihi spoke unsure. She wasn’t sure how she would tell the person about her orb being accidentally switched. She didn’t mean to accidentally drop her orb and take someone’s orb. But how would she be able if she was in the spinning hall, feeling like she was being rolled down the hill in the barrel?

She had to find her orb first and fast or else her companion would ask her about her orb. While the person was looking over on one side, Alihi looked over on her side. Surely, it wouldn’t be hard to find her orb in-

“Oh man, there are different orbs everywhere on the floor!” A voice cried out.

Her heart sank low. This was not good. If there were orbs on the floor, there could be a chance that she won’t be able to find her orb… Then again, if she found another orb with the same color she had, then it would solve her problem. Frantically, she looked under the table to find some of the crystallize objects below. She searched around.

Some of the objects had different shapes such as squares and ovals. Some were broken and some had wires connected to it. This was not what she wanted. Alihi separated the objects away. She found some of the orbs, but they were crystal clear as if they were bubbles. Not good again.

Seeing nothing from the pile, Alihi moved onto the next area of crystallize objects. She found her orb, but was there another one that she had earlier? Alihi knew that she would be cheating, but she couldn’t let that person knew.

“Finally!” Alihi smirked as she found a crystal orb with the same color she had earlier. Now that she found it, what she needed to do was-

“Alihi, I can’t find my orb over here! Did you find them?”

“Ek!” Alihi yelped as she hid both orbs behind her back and turned around to face her companion. She couldn’t remember which orbs she was holding in her hands. Okay, her companion was asking her did she find the orbs. All she had to do was lie to the person and searched for another crystal orb.

“I find- Ack!”

Another spark flew off the wire, making the Tactician jumped and covered her face with both arms. The person looked up.

“Alihi, are you okay? Hey, you’ve found the orbs!”

“What? Wait! I-”

“Let’s go!” The person spoke as one of the orbs was taken from Alihi’s hand and she was dragged again. Once they were out of the lab, the person let go of her wrist and turn around.

“Alihi, you have no idea how-”

A wall suddenly sprang up between them. This was the second time this had happened to Alihi. But before Alihi could talk to the person, the person told Alihi not to worry and stay put while the person was getting help. Then she heard the footsteps ran off. This was not going well.

Fearing that she carried the wrong orb, the Tactician went back to the lab. When she looked at it, she noticed that this was not the orb she had carried. It had been switched again.

“Oh no….” Alihi moaned. “Not again.”

Somehow, things were not going well to the Tactician. Now she had to find another orb with the same color, find her partner, switch it, and get out of this crazy place. Alihi went back to the pile of crystallize objects. After several minutes of searching the lab (and trying to avoid the sparks), Alihi found no orbs with the matching colors. This was not good at all.

Unsatisfied of finding nothing, Alihi exited the lab. She placed her hand on the wall and began to walk. Somehow, she had a feeling that her partner would not be happy that they had lost this contest.

Having her hand slide against the wall, Amelia continued walking through the maze. Although she had followed Rhys’ strategy, she was still in the maze.

“Where is that exit?” Amelia questioned impatiently. There was no way she had missed the exit. After all, she had walked into the entrance shortly. But when she went back, the exit was gone. It was as if the exit never existed. Could it be that the exit was blocked just like the wall appeared between her and Rhys?

Annoyed by this trickery, Amelia continued to follow Rhys’ tactic. Somehow, she wished she could find the weak spot on the wall and smashed it through like a stupid Brigade who couldn’t find the door. However, this was a maze. Breaking the wall may lead to another path and not the exit. She clutched the orb in her other hand.

Somehow, she wished Rhys was here with her to not only keep her company, but also to light the dimmed hall. Having a light user would be helpful in this place. It was not easy to travel in a nearly dark area.

Amelia made a turn and continued walking. She began to wonder how the others were doing. She somehow feared that everyone was separated like Rhys and herself. The General hoped that everyone was safe and not lost.

In addition, she felt that this maze situation was the work of the fortune teller. It was the woman’s idea to host this contest. Therefore, it made sense that all the sliding walls was the woman’s work.

But what was the woman’s purpose? Amelia first thought that the woman tried to prevent them from winning the contest. What else would explain about the separating the pairings? But when she thought more about it, it would have made more sense if the woman pretend NOT to host the contest. After all, why bother hosting a contest if wanting to keep the prize?

She couldn’t figure out what the woman was trying to do. However, she refused to give up so easily. If she couldn’t escape this maze through knowledge and wit, then she had to create her own answer by force. She wouldn’t care if she caused damage or trying to “cheat.” But she would do anything to escape.

It was then that the General realized that the area was completely dark. What had happened to the dimmed lights? How did she not notice?

Figured that she was thinking too much to see where she was heading, Amelia turned around, switched the orb to her other hand, and walked along the wall. The General would not continue walking forward in the dark. It would be foolish of her if she ended up in a hidden trap like that sliding wall.

Suddenly, she heard fainted footsteps. It was coming from behind her and it was getting louder. Could it be Rhys? Or someone else? Well, at least she was not alone. Amelia turned around.

But before she could say anything, a great force hit her. This made Amelia and the person to tumble. In addition, Amelia’s orb fell out of her hand.

“Ow, damnit! What did I hit?” A voice cried out.

Amelia was lying on her back with a person on top of her. To make matter worse, their legs were between each other. If the hallway was lit, Amelia’s face would glow into the color of a tomato. It was a good thing that the hallway was dark.

“A-are you okay?” Amelia questioned.

“Hmm? Amelia? Is that you?”

“Yes. You knocked into me.”

“Oh, sorry…” The voice replied as the person got up. Amelia sat up before she felt the hand wrapped around her upper arm, lifting her up to her feet. The General thanked to the person. The person muttered before silence loomed over.

At first, Amelia thought it was Rath. After all, he was quiet. But before the General could talk, the person spoke again.

“Did you drop this?”

“Hmm?”

“The orb. Did you drop this?”

“Oh, thank you.” Amelia answered. She had almost forgotten about her orb. However, it was not easy for her to find the person’s hand in the dark area. After waving her arm three times, she found the person’s arm. Her hand traveled down to the hand before she could feel the orb being placed in her hand. The person asked her.

“Is the hallway dark when you came here?”

“Oh, um… No. I don’t think so.” Amelia replied. Although she admitted she didn’t pay attention, she knew she didn’t walk too far from the dimmed hallway before. “It was dimmed when I came here.”

“Ah… Yes, I can see it from there.”

“You can?”

“Sure, it’s straight right ahead of us.”

“But I don’t see it from here.”

“It’s because my eyes are sharper than yours. Now, c’mon. Let’s get out of here. I’ve been wondering around in the dark too long.”

“Okay,” Amelia replied as she turned around and walked, followed by her company. It was nice having a company with her, even when walking in the dark. Curious as to whom was this person she was traveling with, Amelia turned around.

But before she could ask a question, she heard something sliding down in front of her. A loud curse was heard, followed by a loud pounding. It seemed that the wall had fallen down again.

“Oh, no. Not again.” Amelia whined as she went up to the wall and tried to feel her way for the switch or button. It was still flat just like every wall she went. The stranger behind the wall spoke.

“Amelia, just continue walking. I’ll find my way out. I’m not going to let a little wall stopping me.”

“But it’s dark on your side!”

“Don’t worry about it. A little dark wouldn’t scare me. Besides, my eyesight is sharper than yours. Now, don’t stand there waiting. Be careful.”

She heard the person muttered before silent took over. Following what the person had said, Amelia placed her hand on the wall and walked. After three minutes of walking in the darkness, the General saw the dimmed light up ahead. The person was right. There was lighting on her side. Satisfied of seeing things again, Amelia walked toward it with the orb in her hand.

“Aw, man. Now where am I?” Abel complained as he made a right turn. After being separated, the Hero had tried to find a way to get back to Alihi. However, it seemed he had lost his way.

Retracing his steps wouldn’t help him since he didn’t know where he was going. In addition, there were sliding walls around to change the maze’s path. He felt that the maze was alive and had a mind of its own. Not letting the maze get the best of him, Abel decided to take whatever path his gut told him to take. After taking another turn, he came into a large area.

Though the area was dimmed, he was able to see well. There were cobwebs everywhere. There were boxes and coffins in every corner and floor. Not to mention, there was dust everywhere.

“Geez, someone needs to clean the place up.” Abel remarked as he looked around. Although this was a haunted house, he felt that they had made this place looked like an abandoned storage than a haunted crypt. Suddenly, he heard a sneeze.

“Who’s there?” Abel shouted. His hand went to his sword hilt while he clutched the orb tightly. If someone wanted to mess with him, then that person would receive a blow from him. This Hero doesn’t like to be messed around.

Being alerted, Abel walked cautiously around. His hand was still hanging onto his sword hilt. As he walked, he heard a whistle. Someone was whistling a melody. And yet, this melody sounded familiar… Not to mention, it was getting louder too. Before Abel could investigate, he looked behind the stacks of boxes to see a pair of eyes looking back at him.

A pair of scream was heard in the room. Panicked, Abel drew out his sword and readied himself to strike when he heard a voice.

“Ah, Abel! Don’t!”

Abel halted his attack. He then looked down. Somehow, the person fell down due to the sudden surprise. In addition, he recognized that person.

“Geez, you’ve scared the heck out of me.” Abel spoke as he placed his sword away. Next time, he should be more careful. After all, this was a haunted house. This place was to scare people and let people have fun. Not to harm people… However, they should give warnings to those who had heart conditions. Who knew someone would die from a heart attack?

“Sorry… But you’ve scared me too.” The person softly muttered.

“Sorry. I can’t see well in this dark area.” Abel replied as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Man, I wish this place isn’t a haunted house. That way, we can see where we are.”

“But we don’t know where the exit is.”

“… That woman is lucky we didn’t pay her or else, I’ll want my money back.”

However, that complaint wouldn’t solve their problem. Right now, they were in a room of what supposed to be either a crypt or a storage room. Not to mention, he didn’t know where Alihi was.

“Here, you’ve dropped this.”

“Huh?” Abel questioned as he looked back at the person. Holding in front was the orb. Abel must have dropped it during a little screaming contest.

“Thanks,” Abel said as he took the orb. “C’mon, let’s get out.”

“You know where the exit is?”

“Not the maze, but I entered this room from that way.” Abel pointed out and led the way.

As he walked, Abel heard his companion let out a melody tune. It seemed that the person was frightening of this place. The best way to calm down was to sing or whistle a merry tune. Well… At least it was not a sad or horrible tune. It would make this place more depressing than it was before.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his shirt.

“What was that?” He heard the person asked.

“What was what?” Abel asked. Suddenly, he heard a creaking noise.

“T-that noise.” The person replied. Another creaking noise was made.

Placing the orb tucked between his sashes, Abel drew out his sword. He yelled to the unknown to come out, but nothing replied. All except the sound of the creaking noise… The Hero concentrated his hearing, trying to find the location of the source.

He heard creaking noise next to him. Abel turned his attention to the right. His sword was facing forward.

In front of him was a coffin. But unlike the rest of the coffins, its lid was opened. Abel could feel his partner being closed to him; afraid of what was inside it. The Hero took a step closer and tried to peer into the coffin.

Suddenly, a zombie popped out of the coffin. Abel and his companion screamed at the top of the lung. Due to this instinct, Abel swung his sword and cut off its head.

The head flew six feet from the coffin and rolled. Though the head was cut off, the expression of the face remained the same and there was no blood coming out from the base of the neck. The same went to the body too; remained motionless and bloodless.

It took a minute for the Hero and his friend to calm down. Another minute later, they realized that the monster Abel attacked was a dummy. A nervous chuckle filled up the silent gap.

“Oops… Forgot that this is a haunted house.” Abel spoke dumbfounded as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Yeah… It got us.” His friend chuckled nervously as if this was a joke.

“It sure did.” Abel agreed. “Now let’s go find the others and get out of here.”

Abel turned around and headed toward the exit of the room. But when he took his third step, a decay hand sprung out from the top box in front of his face.

Screams were heard in the room as running footsteps were made. With each dodge and weave, more dead popped out. Dead were coming out of coffins and boxes as well as from the floor and cobwebs.

Besides the screaming and dodging from the dead, Abel had sometime swung his sword to attack. The Hero was too surprised by the sudden popping of the dead to remember it was the haunted house props. He just wanted to get out of here ASAP.

After five minutes of screaming and running, not to mention slicing too, Abel had finally exited the room. The Hero leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths to calm his nerve. Whoever created that room had a sick, twisted mind? Abel thought.

When he felt his heart slowed down, Abel looked around to see his partner. It seemed that his companion wasn’t with him. In fact, Abel didn’t hear any screaming from the room either. Whether his friend left or fainted in that room, Abel decided not to go back. One round of scary-go-round was enough for him. And even though he should go back to check on his friend, the Hero surely didn’t want another surprise popped in his face like the decaying hand.

Hoping that his partner had left the room, Abel stood up and placed his sword back.

However, the sword wouldn’t go back into the scabbard.

“What the…” Abel curiously wondered as he looked at his sword. There was a hint of green on his face as he widened his eyes.

“EW!” Abel cried as he swung his sword up and down. At the end of the sword was a decaying body. With one powerful swing, the Hero had let the body flew out from the sword’s impalement and hit the wall. It thudded down as it hit the ground. Abel panted.

“That’s it! I’m getting out of here!” Abel shouted in frustration as he walked off. The sword was still in his hand. He would not dare put his sword away if someone planned to annoy him again.

“Hello!” Aidan cried as he walked against the wall. His hand was pressing against it while his other hand clutched the orb. Ever since he was separated from Blossom, Aidan had tried to find the exit and wait for her. However, after looking for the exit, he concluded that the exit was blocked.

Using his tactical idea, Aidan marched along the wall. However, it was not easy walking through the maze. With sliding walls and various traps inside, it could easily make the person lost again. Somehow, Aidan wished he had some of Blossom’s makeup with him. It would be useful to make some markings on the wall to help him keep track of where he was going.

As he walked, he noticed something up ahead. Aidan looked and found that it was a room.

This room looked like a lounge room, despite it being covered in dust and cobwebs. The room was half lit by crystallized orbs with lightning inside hanging from the ceiling. It somehow looked like it was trying to create a romantic atmosphere. The Tactician could see that there were three huge bookshelves full of books on one side. In one corner, there was a grand piano. In another corner, it was a love seat. There were paintings up against the wall. However, the paintings were either torn or faded. Around the center of the room were chairs and two tables. On the tables and the piano were candlesticks.

Satisfied of seeing the candlesticks, Aidan entered the room. Even though he didn’t have a match or anything to create a fire, he would figure out a way. After all, there were other ways than having the proper materials to create a fire. Before he could grab the candlestick from the table, he heard someone calling his name.

Aidan looked around and a smile began to form in his face. “Thank St. Elimine, you’re here. And look, I’ve found a candlestick. We can use your sword and my lance to light up the candles.”

“That’s wonderful news, Aidan.” The person cried happily.

The Tactician was happy he was not alone. Now, all he needed was to find the exit. Aidan grabbed the candlestick. However, he couldn’t lift it up.

Aidan arched his eyebrow and gave another tug. The candlestick wouldn’t budge. Aidan placed both hands onto the candlestick and pulled. No matter how much strength he used, the candlestick wouldn’t be lifted. Annoyed, Aidan climbed onto the table and told his partner to help him.

With four hands on the candlestick, they pulled. Grunting noises were made in the room. However, the candlestick still remained in its place. Aidan wondered. Could it be that someone had glued the candlestick with industrial strength? He hoped it wasn’t. As Aidan pondered about this, his partner went to the piano.

Just as his partner pressed the key, Aidan heard something sliding. The Tactician looked around and saw the entrance being blocked. Before he could alert his partner what had happened, he felt the floor moving.

“Ah!” Aidan screamed as he fell backward. When his body hit the floor, the orb slipped out of his fingers. In addition, he heard his partner gave a yelp too.

“My orb!” It seemed his partner dropped it too.

Suddenly, the Tactician felt his body being pulled toward the wall, slamming him against it. It was then that he realized that the room was spinning. The room was spinning faster. Aidan had no idea how many times the room was spinning in one minute. In addition, he had no idea where the orbs went too. However, he could hear the tapping of the orbs.

As for the furniture, he noticed that the items were staying in their original spots. The furniture did not fly across the room, making huge crashes and maybe hurting his partner and himself. They stayed in the same area, continued being spinning. It seemed that like the candlestick, the furniture remained in its’ spots. Well, that would explain the candlestick. IF the furniture were not bolted to the spots, who knew how much damage it would cause.

Suddenly, Aidan heard a scream. Oh, no. He thought panicky. Aidan tried to crawl his way to is partner. However, due to the speed of the rotation and the gravity, Aidan was forced to pull back to the wall. It seemed that trying to get across wouldn’t work.

Unfortunately, Aidan wanted to get to his partner. He worried that his partner would be in harm. But how would he get to his partner?

Not letting the room get the best of him, Aidan decided to crawl against the wall. The Tactician struggled to get up. Once he was up, Aidan forced himself to crawl.

“Don’t worry! I’m coming!” Aidan cried out as he crawled. It was a slow process for him to reach his partner. However, he was able to go from one place to another.

Just as Aidan reached over the bookcase, he heard a tapping. It was one of the orbs. However, Aidan had no desire to get the orb. His companion was his number one priority.

But before he could move over, he felt something tapped him in the head. This caused the Tactician to lean over to the right, accidentally have his hand on one of the books. The book leaned forward, but stopped in mid-falling. It was as if it was a lever. Suddenly, Aidan felt his body being swung.

He heard his partner yelling at him. But before Aidan could see what happened, the movement stopped. Aidan flew across and felt his back hit against something before sliding down. The Tactician let out a groan as he sat down.

Somehow, the room wasn’t spinning. Curious, Aidan looked around. He noticed that he was in the hallway. Wasn’t he in the spinning room previously?

Aidan looked at the spot where he came from. There was no bookcase and the wall wasn’t moving. The Tactician wondered how he came out if the wall was solid. This maze was confusing. Aidan knew it was hopeless for him to find his way back to his partner. He had no idea where he was. In addition, he couldn’t figure out how he got out.

Having no choice, the Tactician began his usual tactic: walking among the wall. As he took a step, he felt something at the tip of his foot. Looking down, Aidan saw an orb. He didn’t know that there was an orb earlier. Bummed out of unable to help his partner, Aidan picked up the orb and continued walking.

Ayra made a right turn as she continued walking down the hall. Ever since she was separated from Tibarn, the Swordsmaster wandered around bitterly. She disliked being separated from her husband and her friends. She disliked walking in the dark with minimum lighting. But what she disliked the most was the contraptions of the maze. With shifting walls, trap holes, and being lost in the maze was not what she had in mind. She was to be with her daughter, celebrating Halloween by going trick-or-treating. She was to play game and eat Halloween stacks with her friends. She was to have a little foreplay with her husband after the event.

But where was she? Ayra was in the maze, looking for her husband and an exit. She clutched her orbs tightly in annoyance. When she got out of this maze, she would give a beating to that fortune teller. Ayra didn’t need to foresee what would happen in her future. Ayra PLANNED her future of what would happen. All she needed was to find Tibarn and get out of this maze.

As the Swordsmaster marched down the hall, she noticed an opening on her right. Ayra looked went inside and looked around. Was there an exit to the maze?

Though the room was dimmed, what she saw looked more like the courtside field. The morals were decorated as the castle wall with pictures of archer targets, barrels, and weaponry racks. Hanging half-way above the wall were rows of what appeared to be mounted dummies. However, unlike the mounted units Ayra met, these dummies were decorated differently. Some of the Cavalries, Wyvern Knights, and Pegasus Knights appeared to look like zombies and skeletons. Three of the mounted units had their heads missing, as if they were trying to be the headless mounted units. The Valkyries and Magic Knights appeared to be ugly witches. The Swordsmaster frowned. It was very clichéd of how the mounted units were decorated. If she was in charge of the interior decorations, she would make it more drastic and frightening than whoever set it up.

Just as she was about to leave, she saw something opened at the other side of the room. A dark silhouette entered the room. The Trueblade placed her orb between her bosoms. She had no pockets or pouches to put her orb away. What other places did she have to hold her orb? Ayra drew her sword quickly and held it in front of her.

“Hold it! Who are you?!” Ayra shouted coldly.

She wasn’t sure whether it was her comrades or not. If it was an enemy, she would charge them without a second thought. And if that enemy knew this maze well and wished to stay alive, she might use that said person to lead her to the exit. What better way to escape the maze than having a map or a guide? And if the said person tried to lie, then she would have her sword do the persuasion for her. Ayra wasn’t the type of person who was compassion to enemies like Isadora.

“Ayra? Is that you?” A voice cried out.

That person knew her, so it must be one of her comrades. Ayra lowered her weapons and placed it back in the scabbards. No harm of killing an ally… Unless she was on her PMS and she didn’t intend of killing.

The figure walked inside. But when the figure entered halfway into the room, there was a sound of a click. The person stopped walking. Ayra placed her hand on the sword’s hilt and scanned the area. She had a bad feeling that this was a trap. But what trap was it?

Suddenly, she heard her companion let out a yelp. Ayra turned around. The Swordsmaster didn’t see her companion. However, she saw an orb bounced few times before it rolled to her. Ayra raised her eyebrow. What had happened to her comrade?

BANG!

Ayra was flung sideway from where she was. She could feel the pain surging through her side as she crashed onto the floor. Then she felt her orb jumped out from her chest and rolled away. What had hit her? She didn’t hear an enemy enter. Could it be an assassin?

Annoyed with this tactic, the Trueblade got up to her feet and drew her sword. Whoever that enemy was, that said person had messed with the wrong Swordsmaster.

POW!

She flew forward across the room. Her sword flew from her hand as she nearly had her face planted when she crashed onto the floor again. She could feel her back aching and hurt as painful as her side. Okay, she wasn’t annoyed. She was pissed. Her eyes flashed a glint of frustration as she got up the second time. Before she could look around, she heard her comrade yelling at her.

“Ayra! Duck!”

Duck? Ayra wondered as she looked around. That was a mistake. When a person yelled duck, the other should listen instead of seeing what was going on. Because when she checked, she saw an image of a horrible crafted horse in front of her.

For the third time, the Swordsmaster was flung across the room. She could feel the pain shoot through between her chest and stomach. Few seconds later, her back cried in pain again as she received a headache from behind. Though she had been used as punching bags thrice, she now knew that it was not a person.

As she lay down, she saw something swinging over her head. It took a moment for the Trueblade to see what flew over her. Swinging back and forth were the mounted dummies she saw earlier. What held those dummies and swinging them? She had no idea what could do control the dummies. However, what she knew was that she was pissed.

When her pain lessened, Ayra slowly got up. Once she was up, she saw a mounted dummy heading straight at her again. Having enough of being the punching bag, Ayra dodged to the right. She then grabbed the chakram that was rested against her hip. As the dummy swung backward, Ayra turned around and swung her arm. Her chakram pierced against the Cavalier’s neck. After it cut through its neck, the Swordsmaster felt something as it went passed over the horse’s head. As it rode away, front part of the dummy fell to the floor. Its head continued swinging as the body and the horse suddenly stopped its motion at the center of the room.

As the head swung back toward Ayra, the Swordsmaster grabbed it. She gave it a tug. She felt something snapped from the head when she pulled it. Curious, she examined the head.

The head looked terrible. It looked as if a six year old child had made it. The head was in the shape of an egg with bumps and dents on the cheeks and helmet. There was an ‘O’ shape as a mouth with uneven triangles as teeth. There were angry eyes drawn, but one of them was bigger than the other. Attached to the helmet were five strings of wire. So that explained the dummies being able to move. The dummies were swinging as pendulums. And due to the dimmed lighting, it made it looked like that the dummies were moving on their own.

“Ayra! Are you okay?” The person asked.

“Annoyed, but I’m fine.” Ayra replied as she tossed the head. She needed to find her sword. Having a sword was much better than the chakram to unleash her frustration on the person who created it.

As she scanned the area, she found her sword few feet away from her. The dummies continued swinging back and forth. Ayra gripped her chakram. She watched carefully as she watched the dummies swung back and forth.

“Ayra! It seems that the dummies are two seconds apart from swinging!” The voice cried out. “If we can time it correctly, we can go over to the wall and crawl our way out. We won’t get hit if we’re close to the wall.”

The Swordsmaster narrowed her eyes. “Not without my sword.”

She suddenly sprinted. She didn’t care about timing to avoid being hit by the dummies. Ayra had another option for that.

As the dummy was about to hit her, Ayra jumped over the dummy and cut the wires. As she landed on her feet, the dummy was sent flying across the room and smashed into the wall. The Swordsmaster continued her path, slicing the wires and parts of the dummy.

When she reached to her sword, she stopped and picked it up. The Trueblade let out a small, satisfied smirk. Now that she had her weapon, she could-

“Ayra! Look out!” Her companion yelled.

Knowing what was coming to her, Ayra gripped her sword. She quickly turned around just in time to see the dummy about to hit her. The Swordsmaster suddenly critically sliced the dummy, tearing it into millions of pieces. She let out a smirk as she rested her blade against her shoulder while pieces fell onto the floor. It felt good having her sword back into her hands. Now to find her companion.

Ayra scanned the area. She saw her companion in the middle of the room, clutching down and trying to avoid the dummies. She let out a frown.

“You can’t avoid it with that stick over your back.” Ayra muttered as she ran to her companion. Once again, she used her speed to get to her partner. She swung her sword twice when she was unable to evade the swings of the dummies. As she reached to her partner, she gave another swing at the oncoming dummy. The horse’s head was cut off, but the body and the headless body was swung back and went back on its path. Ayra then lifted her leg and gave a house round kick at the dummy. The dummy was now swung sideway and it crashed into another dummy, causing the two to swing around and became tangled by the wires. The Swordsmaster looked down at her partner.

“Why aren’t you using your lance? You could have used it to push these dummies away.”

“I’m sorry,” her partner apologized. “But I wasn’t trying to get our orbs.”

“Orbs?” Ayra questioned as she raised a brow.

Her partner showed her. In the hands were two orbs. Now she understood what her companion said. It was the orb to the contest. And frankly, the Swordsmaster was not in the mood to care about the contest. She wanted to beat up the fortune teller and whoever built this place. She didn’t enter this place just to become a punching bag.

Before she could speak, she heard a grinding noise. Both her and her partner looked around to find the source of the sound. There, above the entrance where her partner entered, the hidden panel was opened. Inside was what happened to be a poor design of a dragon.

The head looked more of a bird with teeth sticking out of its mouth. One of the front claws was bigger than the other. Instead of bat-like wings, it was constructed as a dragonfly wings that barely fitted the width of the room. If it was an art contest, this would have failed for sure. Suddenly, the dragon was moving forward. As it exited from the hidden wall, it begun to swing.

Following her instincts, Ayra quickly grabbed her partner’s wrist and began to run toward her entrance. Her partner was staggering to get up and tried to run in her pace. The dragon chased after them despite the wires that the dummies were swinging and hanging.

The Swordsmaster ran as she dragged her partner with her. Although she could cut it easily with her sword, the dragon was too large for her to slice it. In addition, her partner won’t be able to draw out the weapon. Off she ran with her companion. Both were heading the entrance she had come.

They both went through the entrance. Her partner tripped on the last minute, causing the said person to fall along with Ayra. As they both fell to the ground, there was a sudden crash behind them. Dust began to fill up partial of the hall. Few seconds later, a bird-like dragon’s head slid up between them.

Ayra let out a groan as she got up. “Are you okay?”

Her partner coughed from the dust. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Before the Trueblade could say anything, a wall fell down in between them and smashed the dragon’s head. There was a tingly noise afterward. Suddenly, Ayra felt something tapped against her foot. She looked down. Rested against her foot was an orb. She was somewhat surprised that the orb wasn’t smashed by the falling wall.

“Ayra! Are you okay?” A voice cried out behind the wall.

Ayra picked up the orb and placed it between her bosoms again. She yelled. “Yes, I’m okay. But it looks like we have to go our own separate way.”

“Yeah, it seems so.” Her partner replied. “Just make sure you place your hand against the wall. It will help you find your way out.”

“Sure. Whatever.” Ayra said as she walked away. When she reached to the intersection, she swung her sword at the floor, leaving a mark from where she came from. She didn’t bother placing her hand against it. All she needed was to get out of this crazy house.

“Incoming!” Rhys yelled as he dove to the right. Few seconds later from the spot Rhys was on, a heavy chair fell down.

This was insane. The Bishop had no idea what had happened. One minute, he entered a room with floating objects, furniture, and ghost dummies hanging on the ceiling. The next, he saw his companion in the same room when a sudden click noise was heard. And now, he and his partner were trying to dodge the objects falling onto them.

There was nowhere to hide since all the furniture were either hanging in the air or falling on top of them. And they couldn’t get to the exit due to the objects nearly crashing them. To make matter worse for the Bishop, he would sometime have to drag his partner away from the heavy, big falling objects. It seemed that his partner had some trauma in the past about falling objects. The Bishop wondered which one would give him a terrible heart condition: falling objects falling onto them or his partner unable to move.

“Look out!” He yelled again as he jumped toward his partner to push. As he and his partner tumbled, the counter dresser fell on the same spot. The Bishop got up.

“Are you okay?” Rhys asked.

“Don’t let the alcove fall! Don’t let the alcove fall! Don’t let the alcove fall!” His companion repeated the same sentence. Okay… So his partner was still traumatized. He had to get his partner out of there. ASAP.

“Come on, let’s get out!” Rhys yelled out as he grabbed his partner’s wrist and dragged the said person. The Bishop was looking up at the ceiling more than where he was going. Those objects continued to fall onto them. Yet, he wondered how the person created so much objects falling onto them. There weren’t a lot of objects when he entered. However, it felt as if the ceiling was limitless as the objects fell onto them.

Rhys stopped suddenly as the coffee table fell right in front of him. That was a close call. If he hadn’t look, he would be knocked out by that object. The Bishop resumed what he was doing. He continued looking up at the ceiling and few times looking for the exit. Where could that exit be? The Bishop could still his partner continued chanting the words.

Suddenly, he saw the love seat about to fall onto them. Rhys turned and jumped to shove his partner down. The crash was heard three feet away. This was not what the Bishop had wanted; being crushed by the weight of the heavy object. Was it scary? Halloween scary: no. Scared of being crushed by the heavy objects and had brain damages: maybe. Being killed by the weight of the heavy object: that would work. He wondered whoever had this idea was either sadistic or mentally retarded.

The Bishop tried to get up, but he nearly fell when he felt something was rolling under his hand. He looked down to see what it was. Underneath his hand was an orb. If it were an anime, he would have sweat dropped. He had nearly forgotten about the orbs. Earlier, when trying to dodge the falling objects, he and his partner accidentally bumped into each others. Maybe crashing into each other had caused them to drop their orbs. Well, now that he found one, what happened to the other one?

Rhys tucked the orb inside his pocket and dragged his partner out. He would have to find the other later. He couldn’t look for the other when the objects were falling over their heads. Then he saw a couch about to fall onto him and his partner. Not wanting to be crushed, he grabbed his partner and began to roll around. There was a huge crash from where he and his partner were. If they stayed longer than five seconds, they would be bombarded by the objects.

Quickly, the Bishop pulled his partner to get up. Instead of dragging his partner, he decided to give his partner a piggyback ride. Rhys nearly choked when his companion wrapped the arms around his neck. His partner was still muttering that same sentence. The fear still lingered inside the said partner. Though it would slow him down, he knew had to get out.

Rhys struggled to run as he looked for the exit. A bookshelf fell near by his left side. That was close. A table fell three feet from his ride. The Bishop continued to evade. Where could that exit be?

Then he saw the entrance. Finally, now he and his partner could escape this trap room.

CRASH!

A couch crashed about two feet in front of him. His heart was jumping ten times faster than what it was previously.

“Gottogetout! Gottogetout! Gottogetout!” The Bishop chanted as he went around the couch and headed for the exit. That crash nearly gave him a heart attack. If he continued to stay, he feared he would die from a heart attack than being crushed. He needed to get out. He had to get his traumatized partner out. He-

He slipped onto something that made him and his partner fell backward. The Bishop would have received pain surging through his back and head if he wasn’t carrying his partner. Then he saw something was about to fall where his face was.

“Ah!” Rhys screamed as he rolled his partner and himself to the left. A vase smashed against the floor. The Bishop quickly got up and carried his partner to the exit. He then began to wonder was the Goddess punishing him for what he did in his previous life. He knew he wasn’t as strong as his fellow Ike’s Mercenaries or the FEF guild. He knew he had a heart condition and he sometimes feel ill. However, Rhys didn’t understand why he deserved to have this sort of punishment.

As he struggled to run toward the exit, he saw something shined at the bottom of the exit. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look. The object was small and round. It must be an orb. That was good. He didn’t need to look for another in this crazy bombardment. All he had to do was head for the exit.

He could hear the objects continued crashing. Rhys looked up at the ceiling. Oh, Goddess! There were still more along the way. He had to run immediately. Heart, don’t give him a heart attack right now. Rhys was almost there. Just few more steps and he and his partner were out of there.

Suddenly, something horror came to him. Above the exit, he saw the grand organ began to drop. That thing would block that exit!

“Oh, Goddess!” He yelled as he quickly rushed. There was no way he was going to stay in this contraption. The organ continued to drop in midair. At the same time, he quickly jumped, clutching tightly on his partner’s arms.

Please let us make it! Please let us make it! Please let us make it! Rhys prayed desperately. He prayed that his death would not be crushed by an organ. Amelia would grief terribly if she heard that news. The organ crashed down, causing a huge smoke.

When the smoke was clear, Rhys was lying on the floor, clutching his partner’s arms. It took a moment for the Bishop to notice that the noise was muffled and there were no objects continued to fall. He had his neck unwrapped, let go of his partner’s arms, and looked up. Four feet away from their feet was the exit they escaped, being blocked by the now destroyed organ. An orb was rolling toward his partner’s feet.

The Bishop stared at the scene for a moment. Then he let out a huge sigh of relief. He did it. They made it out alive. No more dodging. No more bombardment. No more fearing for his life. Now all he had to do was help his partner get back to reality and leave this maze.

Before he could ask his partner, he heard a grinding noise above him. Rhys looked up and saw something was falling on top of him again. The Bishop rolled over just in time as the wall slammed down between him and his partner. He looked at the spot where he previously was. He then let out an unsatisfied groan.

He figured that wasn’t the Goddess, but Loki. Somehow, that Chaos God must have pulled a sinister, practical joke on him from beyond the dead. And somehow, it wasn’t a very funny joke to him.

Nino walked down the corridor with a grim look on her face. This was not what she thought of having fun. She thought they would just wander around the house, getting surprisingly but funny spooks, and leave this place. But where she was? She was lost in this haunted house. Alone and uncomfortable of what had happened.

She did encounter the people she met, but she was separated from due to the situations the house was set up. Next year, the Archsage had planned to cancel any haunted house plans till further notice. This haunted house had taken the fun out of her. Maybe she should have her crew to investigate this fortune teller. She wasn’t sure if that woman was an enemy or ally.

As she continued walking, Nino noticed some odd objects leaning against the walls. She went and took a closer look. Nino jerked back up and gasped in disgust. Lying against the wall were piles of bones. Were these bones real or not? The Archsage didn’t want to figure out. Though feeling disgusted, Nino continued walking down.

It wasn’t long until she noticed that the corridor had different scenery. The walls were becoming minimal as rows of bars appeared in between. Lying against the bars were not only bones, but also some buckets too. For some odd reason, it made Nino felt like she had entered the prison hall. Curious, she looked into one of the cells.

The walls were dirtied and covered with cobwebs. There were some shackled hanging from the walls too. Hays were laid everywhere on the floor. Sitting at one corner was a bucket. The other corner had a skeleton in ragged clothes and a chain with ball attached to the ankle. Nino gave a look of disgust.

Though she was unsure whether the bones were real or not, she admitted that at least she saw the scenery that related to the haunted house theme. Suddenly, she heard footsteps walking in the corridors ahead of her. Nino pulled out her tome. She muttered the spell and created a fiery orb in her hand. Her spell brightened up the hall.

“Rath, is that you?” Nino asked. She wasn’t sure whether it was Rath or someone she knew. She had to know who it was. And if it was an enemy, she would throw her Elfire at that said person. The Archsage had enough trouble in this haunted house. She didn’t need another to add up.

“Nino?” A voice answered. It wasn’t Rath. However, at least it was someone Nino knew.

“Oh, thank St. Elimine.” Nino sighed in relief. “I thought I would be alone in this place.”

“So do I.” Her partner said. “I don’t know how long I’ve been in this haunted house, but I’ve keep track of where I’m going.”

“You’re keeping track?”

“Yes. In case I get lost or going in circles. Whenever I encounter an intersection, I draw an arrow pointing in which direction I’m going.”

Her partner then demonstrated. Her partner drew and redrew the three lines with the sword. After finished drawing, there was an arrow pointing toward Nino.

“That’s a good idea.” Nino said. “Have you found the exit? Or Rath and the others?”

“I ran into some, but got separated afterwards. And I haven’t found the exit either.”

“Darn! Then I guess we have to find our way out too.”

“Right.” Her partner nodded.

“Okay, which-“

The Archsage stopped her talking when she felt something eerie lurking nearby. The presence was dark and evil. Could it be an enemy?

Nino looked down the corridor. There was no one behind her. And there was no one behind her partner either. Yet, she could feel the presence lurking around.

“What is it, Nino?” Her partner asked. It seemed the Archsage’s silence told her partner that something wasn’t right.

“I think we’re not alone.” Nino replied in low and soft tone. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying sense the location of the presence. After few seconds, she reopened her eyes.

“It came from over there,” Nino whispered as she moved toward the cell from her left.

She and her partner moved closer to the cell. Her partner positioned into the sword fighting stance, readied to thrust if enemy planned to attack them. The Archsage cast her fireball a bit larger. Although she used her spell as a torch, it was also a weapon too. Therefore, whoever or whatever popped out in front of her, she was readied.

Nino and her partner looked inside. Just like the previous cell Nino passed, this cell was the same. She rechecked again. Nothing was unusual. She then stuck her spell inside the cell. There was nothing unusual. There were no traps, no hidden compartments. Nothing. Both the Archsage and her partner looked at each other before let out a nervous chuckle.

Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe that was it. She could be paranoid by the setting. It made sense. After all, it was a haunted house. As she and her partner looked back inside the cell for the third time, thinking there was nothing inside, they both saw a huge eyeball staring back at them.

Screams were heard throughout the corridor. Nino thrust her spell at the eyeball. She then tried to run, but she ran into her partner. Both she and her partner fell on their butts. Nino apologized to her partner until she felt the presence. She looked back inside the cell and saw the eye staring at her.

Another scream was heard as Nino quickly cast another spell and threw it at the eyeball. She then got up and ran. It was a ghost! A ghost in the haunted house! She didn’t see the ghost when she looked in. How did the ghost appear? She didn’t want to find out. She wanted to get out.

“Nino! Wait!” A voice cried behind.

Nino stopped. She had nearly forgotten about her partner. But as she turned around, she saw the giant eyeball again. However, this time, she got a better look. It was a Mogall. Not a ghost. So that was what behind the cell’s bar. Well, the Archsage didn’t find it amusing at all. She quickly cast her Elfire.

“Take cover!” She yelled as she threw the fireball.

Her partner stopped and ducked down as the fireball flew over her head. It hit directly at the Mogall. The creature let out a shrieking scream as it moved away from Nino’s partner in agony. Her partner got up and ran toward her.

“Let’s get out of here!” Nino shouted as she began to run. She had no idea why was there a Mogall in the haunted house. What it part of the haunted house? If it was, then the Archsage thought that the creator must be out of his mind. The creator should know full well that monsters did not make as great props for Halloween, especially for a haunted house. It would bring death to those people. She needed to get out of this house, confront the fortune teller, and close this house. This place was too dangerous to be a fun amusement park.

“Nino! We got company!” Her companion yelled.

Nino turned around and saw more Mogalls and Arch Mogalls chasing after them. The Archsage cursed. Why did she left Sophos back in the FEF Castle? She knew she only used it for dire situation. However, she should have brought it with her at all time. She would never know when there would be trouble.

“Nino, do you have the Fimbulvetr?” Her partner shouted while running.

“What? No. I don’t have enough room with this costume.”

“Okay, time to think for plan B.”

“Now would be a good time!”

“I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

“Then I guess we have to kill them!”

“Nino! There are too ma- AAHHH!”

Nino stopped running and looked back. She saw the trap door began to close up. It seemed that her partner had fallen into the trapdoor. This was not good for the Archsage. She looked up and saw the monsters heading toward her. Her partner was right. There were too many.

The Archsage cast another spell at one of the Mogalls before continue to run. How would she escape from them? She needed a plan. She knew she could destroy them with her Elfire. However, with many monsters after her, it was unknown to her when would her weapon broke.

Suddenly, she heard a pounding sound behind her. Not only that, but something had caught her costume that made her fell. When Nino turned around to see what caught her, she saw nothing but a wall. It was one of those trap walls. Nino wasn’t sure whether to sigh in relief or have a heart attack. Thanked to the wall, she had escaped a horde of Mogalls and Arch Mogalls. However, it had nearly crushed her too.

Now that the path had become a dead end, she had to take a different path. Nino sat up and ripped her costume. She wasn’t planning of staying to wait for the wall to lift up. There were monsters on the other side. There was no telling if they would wait or not. Once she was free, the Archsage got up and left the scene.

“Oh… How did I end up here?” Aidan thought as he walked around. The Tactician had found himself in what appeared to be a foggy cemetery. There were tombstones and open graves with coffins inside. There were dark silhouette of trees around with fakes ghosts hanging from the branches. Although he knew this was a haunted house, he didn’t understand who would set an outdoor setting inside the building.

Aidan peered inside the open grave. There was an empty coffin. He sighed in relief. The Tactician somehow figured that there would be some mannequins dressed as zombies, monsters, and ghosts to pop out and surprised him. But as he looked around for a while, there was nothing but tombstones and opened graves. Why wasn’t there any surprises? After what had happened to him, he would expect something from the scenery. So far, there was nothing.

Just as the Tactician was walking, he heard something. Aidan listened carefully. It was a whistle. Someone was whistling a happy tone. Who could it be?

“Hello!” Aidan cried out.

The whistle stopped. Someone had heard him. Then a dark silhouette started to form in the fog before Aidan was able to see the person.

“Aidan, is that you?” A person cried out.

“Yes. I heard you whistling.”

“Oh, I was whistling because this place gives me the creeps. Whistling a happy tone helps keep the nerve calm.”

Aidan nodded. It did help keep the person calm when walking through a cemetery. But before he could talk, the Tactician stepped onto a button. The button clicked. Before Aidan and his partner could react, the ground beneath them popped up. Both the Tactician and his partner fell backward.

Aidan gasped sharply as he felt his back slammed against the ground. He also felt his orb slipped out of his orb slipped out of his pocket too. Before the Tactician could get up and retrieve his orb, he felt his upper body shot upward. Only problem was it was not Aidan who got up. Aidan let out a yelp as his upper body flew forward. What was going on? He never had his body acted on its own without his knowledge.

Before the Tactician could figure out, the ground below him popped upward again. Aidan let out another yelp before he felt into the opened grave. Now he was sitting upside down in the opened coffin. If there was a zombie in there, he would have screamed. Lying on his back, he wondered what was going on. He knew he activated something. Could it be that the ground was what he triggered? Maybe that was how he ended up in this coffin.

The Tactician shifted his body around and looked up. The grave was six feet deep. It was a good thing he was 5’6” feet. He placed his hands on the ledge and began to pull himself up. But when he pulled himself, he came across a pair of red eyes.

“AAAAHHHH!” Both Aidan and the owner of the eyes screamed. Due to the surprise, this made the Tactician to fall back into the grave again. As he landed hard on his bottom, he clutched his hand to his chest. What was that he saw? He didn’t see any zombies or monsters in the cemetery.

Suddenly, he heard a yelp. It must be his partner. Who else would be in this cemetery besides him? Aidan quickly got up and pulled himself out of the grave bed. Just as he got back to the ground surface, he felt his weight being shifted. The ground was moving again, causing him to fall. Instead of falling back into the grave, he fell forward. Aidan lied himself on the ground.

It was then that he felt his body going up and down as the ground continued to move. It was like being on a mini roller coaster. Maybe if he could find the button, won’t it stop? Aidan looked around, trying to find the spot where he stepped. He spotted the area. The Tactician crawled, despite the ground movement.

As he reached to the spot, Aidan found the button. He slammed his hand on the button. There was no clicking sound. Aidan slammed it again. The button made no response. The bad feeling curled up in his stomach. He was afraid that this was a once activation button. Now he had no idea how to stop this mini earthquake.

“Aidan! Help me!” A voice cried out.

Aidan looked around, looking for his partner. He couldn’t see well due to the fog and the movement of the ground.

“Lay low on the ground!” Aidan shouted. “It’s easier to move around than trying to stand up.”

He crawled. He wasn’t sure where his partner was. This ground kept moving up and down like tidal waves. He needed to figure out how he and his partner would get out. Aidan looked around as hard as he could to check the area. The locations that weren’t moving were the opened graves. However, those areas were too low to see the area at top. In addition, there was a fog too. The Tactician wished he had brought a Torch with him.

“Aidan! Where are you?” His partner called.

“I’m over her- AH!” Aidan yelled. The Tactician slipped when the ground began to move faster and higher. He tried to hold on to, but the movement was moving too quick. He tumbled from the mini-hill and rolled toward the open grave. His back screamed in pain as he landed backward in the coffin.

“Ow…” The Tactician groaned. This must be the worst Halloween he had ever had… Well, not as worse as all the previous events he was in. However, never would he have numerous attacks per one day. Aidan rubbed his forehead to soothe the pain in his head. As he leaned his head back, he fell something underneath him.

Aidan slowly sat up and looked down. Lying behind him was an orb. The Tactician picked up the orb.

“He- AAAAHHHHH!” He screamed again as the trap door below him opened. The Tactician fell in for the third time. This time, he had no idea where he was going now.

“Where is that exit?” Amelia muttered as she continued walking. The General had been walking around in ages and there were no sign of the exit. In addition, she hadn’t run into Rhys either. She wondered how her husband was doing. Surely, he should be safe and already exited the building.

She then wondered about the others. How many were still wandering in this haunted house? She was unsure. However, the General hoped that she would able to get out of the haunted house. That was, if there weren’t any trap doors and hidden walls.

Amelia’s hand still lingered along the wall. She had been following Rhys’ instructions so far. However, she started to doubt that it wasn’t working due to the shifting of the maze. She wandered who was controlling the movement of the maze. It must be a magic user. There was no way a melee user would be able to control the walls and trap doors. She would have seen them if she caught them in sight.

As she turned around the corner, she saw a room up ahead. Though the room was dimmed, she could see the silhouette of a figure. She was unable to tell whether it was a person or a statue. Amelia moved closer. She could see that the figure was moving. However, it was moving slowly and odd. This was not how a normal person would walk. Unless… It could be a Bonewalker.

Amelia pulled her weapon from her back. As she held her weapon into a fighting position, she let out a battle cry and ran forward. However, that was the mistake she made.

When she was charging, she saw the figure raised the head. She couldn’t see the figure’s expression. However, she saw the figure raised the arm and tried to yell stop. It was at that same time that Amelia entered the room. Once she entered the room, her foot sank down. Not wanting to sink into the floor, Amelia flipped her weapon around and stabbed it to the floor as leverage.

“Don’t!” The person yelled.

It was too late. The instant she stabbed, there was a jet of water spurting out. Amelia had some water splashing at her. The General spat the water as she turned her head away from the water and pulled her weapon. However, this caused her to fall backward due to the movement of the floor.

Amelia was sitting, but she was moving up and down. It was as if she was in the bouncing castle. But then the movement stopped, her body was now sinking. She then feel something wet dripping along her leg.

“Ack!” Amelia cried as she tried to get up. Not making the same mistake twice, she placed the stem footing of her spear on the odd floor for support. What just happened? Was this some sort of magic to make the floor like this? The General was thankful she was wearing her costume and not her armor. It would have made herself sank more if she did wear it.

She noticed the figure was heading toward her. The figure was struggled walking, but slowly. Could it be the floor the figure had troubled walking? Was this figure someone she knew?

“Are you okay?” Amelia asked.

The figure stopped for a moment. The figure didn’t spoke for a moment until there was a reply. The figure was okay and informed her not to move. The figure then began to move.

The General was unsure what to do. Should she do what the figure told her or defend herself? If defending herself, she may lose her balance. She decided to do what the figure told her. The figure was approached her. She recognized the figure.

“… Walk slowly. This floor is filled with water with leather as the surface.”

“What? The floor is filled with water?” Amelia repeated. So that would explain the water squirting out from the floor. But how did her partner know? Did her partner do the same situation as she did: walking into the room?

“… Come. We need to leave before we sink in further.”

“Right.” Amelia answer as she struggled to walk. She had no idea how her partner could walk well without trying to trip over. Maybe her partner had more training in elevation and terrain than herself.

Just as they tried to get to the exit, Amelia’s shaft somehow dug deeper into the somewhat floor, causing the General to fall. She fell against her partner’s back, causing both to fall. The movement of the floor began to shake. In addition, she felt her orb fell out.

“Oh, no! The orb!” Amelia shouted as she struggled to get up. Her partner didn’t say anything, but she could see her partner got up. The General got up and held her spear for support as she looked for her orb. It was somewhat hard to find her due to the movement of the floor. Then she saw something glittering among the surface.

Walking slowly to the orb would take forever. There was a leak in the room and it won’t be long before she and her partner would sank into the floor. So she decided to do the one thing she would do if she was a child. Amelia jumped as if the floor was a bed.

Her foot sank into the floor, but it made her bounce up too. She held her spear over her head. She didn’t want to cause another leak. The movement of the floor continued to shake, but faster and deeper. The hole, that she had punctured, was spilling more water out.

“Got it!” Amelia yelled as she grabbed the orb. However, she noticed that her body is sinking down more. It was now gone to her knee. She had to get out quickly. Amelia got up and jumped.

But as she jumped, she noticed that she was sinking down than being bounced up. The water were gushing out. There wasn’t enough water to make her bounce. Amelia struggled to move. It was starting to become difficult. She was going to be trapped. She was going to sink into the floor with water pouring out and into the somewhat made hole she created. Trapped and drowned in the room and it was her fault. This was not what she wanted to be.

Suddenly, she felt an arm grabbing her. Amelia looked up to see her partner. But before she could say anything, her partner raised the arm up and slammed it down on the floor. Water began to gush out. The General was shocked. What was her partner doing?

Her partner continued waved the arm back and forth as if stabbing, letting the water gushed up and filled up in the area they were sinking.

“What are you doing?” Amelia yelled.

“… Getting us out.” Her partner answered while continued stabbing. The floor was sinking six feet deep and water continued to gush out. “Stab as many as you can. We need as much water as we can to swim.”

“Oh, okay.” Amelia said, now understanding what her partner was doing. She tucked the orb securely and began to stab the floor with her spear. Water continued to pour. The General was really thankful that she had left her armor back home. It would be difficult for her to swim if she wore it.

The floor looked as if it was eaten by millions of moths. The water was now up to her neck. How deep was the floor beneath the surface? Then she felt a hand clasped on her shoulder. Her partner signaled her it was time to go. The General placed her weapon on her back and followed her partner’s procedure. She could feel the surface beneath her feet as she swam; however, she ignore it. She just wanted to get out.

Amelia and her partner swam to the exit. They pulled themselves out of the room and walked a bit further from room. As they reached the intersection, she heard her partner spoke.

“… Do you have the orb?”

“Yes, I have the orb.” Amelia answered.

She could see that her partner was about to speak, but there was a grinding noise above them. Before she could react, the wall fell in between them. Silence loomed over the area now. Amelia called her partner, asking if her companion was okay. It took a moment before her partner replied. Her companion was okay. Then Amelia heard her partner informed her to find the exit. Amelia nodded, lifted up the dress, and walked. She was still drenched in water.