--Present Day James--

We sat and watched the TV in our room because Violet said it would explain things. On the screen where two people sit in front of a news desk, a man and a woman, each wearing business attire. The man sat tall looking to be chiseled out of marble, clean-cut, dark-haired, strong, and with a disarming smile perfect for an interview. The woman herself was no slouch, sitting strong with smooth black hair cut in a shoulder-length bob, her piercing green eyes brought a stunning contrast to her tanned skin, her presence was both calming and severe, a dichotomy she knew how to use.

The camera zoomed in on the man. "And in other news. The supposed doomed team has, in a quite unexpected turn of events, have freed themselves. As previously reported the team was entered into an impossible to win situation, and were not slated to come back. Against all odds, they have escaped, and even completed the challenge."

A wide view showed both of the news anchors when the woman spoke. "I for one am excited to see the upcoming footage, to see how this team accomplished such a feat."

"Can you believe they escaped a supposed inescapable situation?"

"Not so inescapable now. It's inspiring really, and we've recently received information that the entire thing was caused by a careless administrator."

"What exactly happened?"

The two news anchors bantered back and forth as the camera began to zoom out to include another person. "For that. Let us go to our expert the Architect. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us."

A man looking to be in his mid-twenties with strong muscles and thick hair sat smiling. "It's great to be here."

"Can you please tell us what exactly happened?" The newsman asked.

"I would be happy to. After the first quest was finished, this new team had decided to split up, as one of their members was not present when they entered the testing grounds."

"But aren't their safeguards to stop that sort of thing?"

"You'd think, but no as a matter of fact it normally wouldn't matter. There is always a way out even with only one person. It may take some time but there is almost always a solution."

"Then how did they get stuck?"

"Like I said. That is normally the case but there is one test that requires all the members, and our administrator set them up in it before realizing they weren't all there."

"How could they let that happen?"

"Well," The Architect carefully considered his words. "While the administrator did set the scenario. There appeared to be an error showing them all present. It wasn't until he was finished finalizing the scenario that he noticed the error. And by that time it was too late."

The newsman put on a befuddled face. "Why didn't they just shut it down?"

The Architect took on a lecturing tone as he answered. "Something most people don't realize is that this quest was set by the keepers at the very beginning. There are many safeguards in place to keep it going once it's been started, as a means to keep the questers safe."

"Surely there is a way to have gotten them out?" The newswoman asked.

"There is." Shocking both of the news people.

"Oh? What is it?" Both the anchors leaned forward.

The Architect had a mischievous glint in his eye as he answered. "Find the testing area, and get them out."

"Are you saying you don't know where the testing grounds are?" The man asked.

The architect shook his head and laughed. "No one does. We have been searching for it for the last 300 years and we still can't find it."

"That sounds dangerous." The newsman stated.

"Yes, it does. Why do we use such a dangerous test?" The woman asked with genuine concern.

"Ah! I've actually been advocating for changing the procedure for years, but that requires all members of the committee to agree and there is always one holdout." The Architect said excitedly.

"And who is this holdout?"

The Architect shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm probably the only public member of the committee, and I don't know who the others are."

"That's a little odd."

"Well, we all know how our world loves its secrets." The Architect chuckled.

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The 2 news anchors shivered. "That it does. We are running out of time, anything else you'd like to say before you go?"

"Yes." The man looked into the camera and softened. "If that team of young people are seeing this. We are sorry, and please don't give up. This was never meant to happen and we only wish for you to thrive."

"Inspiring words. Coming up next a Keeper relic has been stolen and a new type of thief might be involved." The camera zoomed out going to the commercial and Violet turned off the hotel room TV.

"That just raised more questions, Violet, didn't explain anything like how they knew? I asked."

"Simple answer. This all is a reality show, James." She said smugly.

My mind grinded to a halt, rerunning what Violet had just said. "So everything we went through. Is part of a reality show?" I wanted to scream. If these...these...monsters put us all through that for a reality show.

"Pretty much," Violet said calmly.

I had to take in a few large breaths otherwise I would scream. When I was confident I wouldn't lash out I asked through gritted teeth. "Is there any point to the show?"

Violet seemed to try to put something into words.

My eyes widened at her lack of response. "So there is."

Bay chimed in, answering for Violet "Kinda. There is a reason, other than it being a reality show but..." Bay looked annoyed. "No one remembers"

"How could no one remember?" I asked incredulously.

"I went back to as far as I could, and found that this wasn't always the case. It mentions people before the first season. So there used to be a point, but they've forgotten." Bay was sulking. She would get irritated with a question that obviously had an answer but it was forgotten. She must have searched every day since she woke up.

"So what happens if we finish these chain quests?" I asked, hoping for some kind of big reward.

Bay was still sulking so Violet answered. "No one knows."

"???"

"No one has finished them all. Apparently, there is a time limit and it runs out."

"What's the time limit?"

"18 years," Violet said this with a bit of venom.

Why would a show have a new season every 18 years? Why would they do something like that? Then it hit me. "No."

"Yes. It's once every generation. At some point, the quest turned into a show and people watch. They even choose their favorite teams."

My mind was swirling with questions about the whole thing "Why would anyone agree to this?

Violet rolled her eyes like it should be obvious. "Questers, tend to get a bunch of help getting stronger, and the whole fame and fortune thing."

"..." Now that she said it, it was kind of obvious.

"Are we celebrities or something now?" My mind was racing, it would be a lot of fun to ride around everyone knowing me, getting to meet important people. Maybe we could even get a sponsor for our adventures. A smile reached my lips.

"Not yet."

"So it hasn't aired yet then? Our season that is." I asked for clarification.

"Soooooo that is up to us," Violet said flippantly.

"How?" Why would something like this be up to us? I would imagine they'd have already sunk a lot of money into something like this.

Violet turned to Bay who sighed and answered. "Normally after the second mission, we go to our quest giver and say whether or not we want to continue. Then they can use footage or not."

"What happens if we say no?"

Bay shrugged. "They just don't air it."

"That's it?" I asked doubtfully.

"That's it."

I stared at her with disbelief. "Ok. Then what if we say yes?"

"We get the next mission, that will be incredibly difficult, and they can air footage from the first and second quest."

"How did they get the footage from the first?" How could they have possibly gotten anything of that fight? There was no one else around just the 5 of us.

"It's the quest egg. It can record anything, within a sphere of 20 meters of us." Bay answered.

"I don't know if I'm horrified or not." As an afterthought, I threw out a suggestion. "Should we burn the mayor's place down?"

Violet laughed. "Nah, apparently it's normal. Rot, they aren't even allowed to tell any of us anything till the end of the 2nd quest. It's a fucking law."

"The fuck?" I was taken aback.

"Yeah. It doesn't apply to us till after our season."

That would make sense since there would be nothing for us to tell anyone. "So you guys have been out longer than me, and my head is spinning. What do you think we should do? And why are we at an inn? And do we know what happened to Aster?" My questions just spilled out.

Violet looked sheepish when she answered. "Not sure what happened to Aster, still figuring that out, but it's oddly why we are at the inn."

I smirked. "Why? Was this the last place he was seen or something?"

Everyone stayed silent.

"It is isn't it?"

"It's also a really nice inn. I stayed here the night I learned and just liked it, then everyone started to show back up, and it made more sense to rent a room with everyone."

"Then why do you think he is in the wilds?"

Bay answered. "Only thing that makes sense. He messaged us he was going to do something dumb, and didn't know when he'd come back. None of us can contact him and since he sent that last message we can assume he has his phone on him. So the only logical conclusion, is he went to the wilds. And theirs no way to contact people if your that far out." Bay paused before adding. "It's that or he's given up, but I don't think he would do that. And I think if he left use he would have said something." Everyone nodded agreeing.

"In the text, he knew of the loop. How?" It wasn't something he should have known about.

"Do you remember him there?" Bay turned the question around.

I thought and there were some memories of Aster but they were strange. "Kinda but I think it may have just been the visions."

"We've been discussing it and we think he might have been there near the end, but none of us can differentiate between the visions and how we got out," Bay said looking at the rest of the group.

"So he saved us?"

Violet let out a snort. "If he did It was an accident." Bay glared at Violet.

"But he did get us out?" I asked.

"We don't know." Bay sighed "As for what we should do...we think we should do the show."

That was a surprise. "Why?"

"Money, meeting people of power, adventure, and fun. We'll get to go to places no one gets to go." Violet said excitedly.

I threw up my arms. "Fuck it, and besides now we can go to the dark continent." I always wanted to go there and see why it was so feared.

Everyone groaned at my comment. "It might bring us there," Rowan answered surprising everyone.

"Seriously?" I asked,

"Yeah. It makes sense, if you wanted to build a hero where else would they send you?" Rowan said thoughtfully.

"Ah." I had no words.

"Yeah."

There was only one real question left. "When are we leaving?"

Violet answered. "Tomorrow, you need to rest. You just woke up and are too cool about everything. I don't think you've processed anything yet."

I looked at Violet considering. "Is that why I'm so calm, now." I thought back to earlier when I ran down the shadow. "I was raging earlier."

"Should pass. I just kept yelling my first day." Violet said nonchalantly.

"You do that anyway." I joked.

Violet hit me knocking me across the room. "Ow."