Meera surveyed the door for a number and didn't see any. Maybe whichever animal was behind the door had tricked her, but then she was going to go to both regardless. She kicked the polished door with a kick power by Primal Power. The door reverberated, and dust fell from the door, but it held. Meera glanced at Onyx, who had his legs in the ground this time. It made it look like he had no legs at all, just smoke coming off his lower body, which jutted out from the ground. It was weird but still better than talking to a headless horse.

"Maybe try kicking it harder," Onyx offered.

So, Meera did. The door shook so hard, but still, the door held. Meera cocked her head to the side. "This is annoying."

"Hmm, maybe the people locked it before they ran out of there," Onyx said.

"They locked your door, too," Meera replied. She placed her hands on her hips and knocked on the door. "Hey, can you unlock this door?"

"I'm a ghost, not a waiter, waiting on your every order. You have hands. Unlock it yourself."

Meera drew a short breath. "Well, Onyx, maybe the other ghost will be more agreeable."

"And less rude," the horse added.

"No, no, wait," cried whoever it was behind the door. "I'll see what I can do. Hey, wait, don't you have another ghost with you? Why don't you ask him to come in and unlock it for you? I am missing the parts needed to unlock this thing."

Meera looked to Onyx and shrugged. "He has a point."

"But it's going to be so dark in there. I hate the dark."

"Weren't you trapped in that dark room for, I don't know, years?"

"Yes, and I was scared."

"Relax, Onyx, you'll be fine." She tried to pat his neck, only for her hand to go right through him. She pulled it back awkwardly, but Onyx was focused on the door as if it were the devil staring back at him.

He drew a deep breath, neighed, and stepped forward, only for his head to be bonked on the door. "Ow!" He cried.

Meera frowned. "That hurt?"

"Yes."

"But you're a ghost."

"I'm not making this up."

Meera squinted at him. "Are you sure you're not doing this because you're scared?"

"No, seriously, that hurt." He shot back. "Why else do you think I or whoever it is behind this door could not leave on our own? Don't you think I tried?"

Meera sighed. "Fine." She turned to the door. "Looks like it's up to me."

She looked through her skills, and unfortunately, she hadn't picked up a lock-breaking skill. That would have been useful. So, it might not work, then magic it is.

She took two steps back, and Onyx followed along. She raised her hand and shot a Mirror Shard Barrage at the door. Sharp mirrors shot out of her hand and crashed into the door. Some shard blasted back in her direction, and she raised a Mirror Shield to protect her. It wasn't long before she saw the cracks forming in the wood. Since her Mana was already low, she stopped her attack, walked up to the door, and punched it with Primal Power. The wood blew into splinters, and her arm went through the door.

"You did it!" Cried the voice of unknown origin from inside the room.

She brought her arm back out and punched the door a few more times until the hole was wide enough for her to duck through. Onyx followed behind her, quiet as a mouse. Meera placed her torch in the holder and surveyed the room.

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It was similar to the room where Onyx was experimented on, complete with the beakers and strange liquids. But it lacked a huge table, and in its place was a small table that held the dissected body of a bat.

"Okay, come out," Meera called to the bat.

A shadowy figure swooped down from the ceiling. It looked like a ghostly bat, but instead of how Onyx gave off a white smoke, this flying rat only gave off darkness. She quickly used Identify on it.

[Trapped Soul – Level 65]

Onyx shrieked and backed into the wall but couldn't go through it, thanks to the magic in this room.

"Relax, horsey, I'm not about to drink your blood," the Bat said as he came to rest on the table with its body. The way it sat, with its wings on either side of its body. It looked like it had eaten the dead bat.

"Relax, Onyx, he can't even if he tried," Meera told the scared horse, who stayed as far away from the bat's ghost as possible.

"Onyx, now, that is a good name," the bat said. "I wish they had named me that instead of Duskwing. What kind of self-respecting bat has a name like Duskwing?"

"What would you call yourself?"

"Bloodwing!" The bat shook his head. "No, wait, I've got one better, Moonshadow. No, wait, wait, Shade. Yes, that is what I'd name myself."

"Good enough for me. So, I'll call you Shade. Hello, Shade, I'm Meera, and this is Onyx," Meera said as she hooked a thumb to the scared horse.

"'lo to you both," Shade replied. "Now, let's get out of here."

"Not so fast," Meera shot back. "You promised me treasures and said this was room number thirty-nine."

"Yes, well, I might have exaggerated a tad bit about the treasures and…and…"

"You can't read, and this isn't room number thirty-nine."

Shade backed up. "Now, listen, it could be room number thirty-nine. Check that book over there. They were always scribbling something in there." He pointed to the table with a large open diary, just like the one in Onyx's room.

Meera walked to the diary while watching the bat like she watched the rest of the room with her Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity skill. Onyx was still trying his best to meld into the wall. It was rather comical for a creature as large as him to be scared of a measly, lying bat.

Meera skipped through the diary's contents. There were pages upon pages of how they experimented on the bat. What organs they took out, and what liquids they dissolved them in. It was all done in a lot of details, so if they needed to recreate the experiment, they could do it with other specimens. In essence, they were trying to attain Shade's ability to see in the dark.

Meera snorted. Clearly, they'd never heard of the saying—blind as a bat.

"They were running a pointless experiment on you," Meera said. "You can't really see all that well, can you?"

Shade shook his head. "Nope, and I would have told the bastards that if I could speak back then. But they got their comeuppance, being stuck as those wraiths out there."

"What were they trying to do?" Onyx asked in a shaky voice.

"They didn't realize that bats don't use their eyes to see in the dark," Meera said. "They use something called echolocation. They use ultrasonic screams that we can't hear, and once those screams bounce back and reach their sensitive ears, they know where everything is."

"That's right!" Shade cried. He flew into the air and circled the room, exclaiming. "Yes, finally, a human who knows. Yes!" Then he paused and snapped his head to her mid-flight. "How did you know that? Were you a bat in a previous life?"

Meera chuckled. "Not even close. I'm well-traveled, and my people figured this out long ago."

"Now, can we leave?" Shade asked.

"Let me check that treasure of yours," Meera said as she walked to the wooden case. It looked like the one where she had found the Failed Crystal of Darthin. She blew away the dust on the box and opened it. It opened with a sharp creak and inside lay a grayish crystal. Meera used Identify on it.

[Gem Of Echoes – When held or worn, the Gem of Echoes heightens the bearer's auditory senses to extraordinary levels. Faintest whispers, distant echoes, and even minute sounds are magnified, granting the ability to hear the world in intricate detail.]

Meera smiled. Welcome back, Nimble Ears.

"What are you smiling about?" Shade asked. "Is it something good?"

"Looks like they did succeed in cloning your ability to see in the dark…at least one part of it."

"Why? What does it do?" Shade asked.

"I'm about to find out," Meera smiled and picked up the gem.

Instantly, she could hear everything. The crawling of insects on the floor was like the thrums of a giant's feet. Outside, she heard the wails and moans of the wraiths waiting for her to return. She even heard the skittering of insects outside the room. There was even a faint dripping sound coming from somewhere outside. She couldn't make out where, but it was close or felt like it was close. There was a whooshing of wind through the tunnels, which told Meera exactly where these tunnels lay.

She opened her eyes and looked at her two ghostly companions. "Say something."

"Can we get out of here, please," Shade said.

Meera yelped as each word was like a dagger in her ear. It was like when she had first activated Eagle Eye, and it had overwhelmed her senses. She let go of the crystal, and the pain subsided.

"What happened?" Onyx asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Meera breathed in deep and dropped the gem in her Lunar Hoard Belt. I'll figure you out later. If Eagle Eye were any clue, it would take some time to get used to this gem, which thankfully did not take up a skill slot.

"Let's get out of here and go to the real room thirty-nine," Meera said.

Shade coincidentally found something interesting to look at on the ceiling.