Norbert bolted upright, a smile on his face. Obsius turned to him, perplexed at the expression on his face after having tripped on his own feet. Dismissing the bird with a wave and comforting words that he was fine and not missing a few loose screws, just smiling at something the bird wouldn't understand.

Annoyed at Norbert's reply, the bird returned to the white room with the ladder, traveling up, the doorway obscuring her. Norbert dismissed the bird from his mind as he looked around, confirming his thoughts of what was to come.

The single word he heard around his mind before waking up again was "Better."

With something now affixed in his mind, a path to go on further, Norbert began speeding up the energy around his body. Going as fast as he could, Norbert focused on making it a solid wall, covering his insides.

Hoping that it would stop whatever the pink outline was from infecting him. Closing his eyes as Norbert imagined the purple energy flowing through his veins, Norbert waited, breathing calmly for the freezing to occur again.

Not keeping track of the time as he only focused on himself, not wanting to get distracted. Imagining it racing through his mind, going faster and faster until it is only a solid object, an indestructible wall.

Losing track of time, Norbert felt a prickling sensation from the back of his neck, the hairs rising to attention. Trying to dismiss it, not wanting to get distracted, the feeling grew, irking Norbert increasingly with each passing moment.

Cracking an eye open just a slither, Norbert looked out the empty, dark hall. However, it would generally be empty, except for the figure crouching before him, their nose nearly touching Norbert's.

Startled, Norbert scurried away, making distance, instantly losing concentration, the energy faltering around his body. The freezing sensation at once engulfed his body, and before he could even start the energy moving around his body again, Norbert found himself lying on the stone floor. Opening his eyes, Norbert saw Obsius staring at him from behind.

With a groan, Norbert slowly rose to his feet, smiling at the bird before giving a dismissive wave to confirm with the bird that there weren't any issues.

Sitting back down again with a plop, Norbert tried to remove from his mind the annoyance of what just occurred, knowing the figure was doing this to annoy him more than anything else and breaking his concentration to add that extra layer of difficulty. Well, Norbert wasn't going to be beaten that easily.

Closing his eyes, breathing regular deep breaths as he once more forced the energy around his body, feeling himself slowly slip into a trance. Once again, losing track of time, after what Norbert felt was long enough, he cracked open an eye again, the exact figure looking back at him, sitting in the same position as Norbert.

Forcing himself to try to stay relaxed as he sent the energy around his body, feeling like a solid wall. Seeing the world in magical sight, Norbert looked at the ground, confirming the two black appendages, now a completely solid pink.

Following them across the ground, instead of going out on either side, Norbert losing track in the shadows, instead he saw them come into the figure, watching the individual in front of him, the two arms coming out where Norbert assumed the shoulders commonly would be.

Norbert stared back at them, wondering what the next thing would be—keeping himself calm, waiting to see if there would be another ruckus that the individual may cause to break Norbert's concentration again.

The figure stood up, turned their back and started walking away, deeper into the tunnel. Norbert wondered what was going on as the figure turned to Norbert again, beckoning him forward and staring back at Norbert.

Watching the figure, neither of them moved as Norbert relented his stillness, knowing he was being asked to follow along. Norbert slowly went onto his feet, keeping calm as he did so, looking down and seeing the two pink appendages latched onto him.

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Pushing off with his knee, Norbert slowly stood up to his full height, feeling his back crack as he forced himself not to sigh and give in to the relief he was experiencing, not realising how uncomfortable he was previously. But giving in the relief now would send him back to lying on the floor.

With a tentative step forward, Norbert followed after the figure, holding his breath for the first few steps, not wanting to lose the moment, letting his control slip and send him hurtling back.

Slowly exhaling the air in his lungs, Norbert took another breath, making sure not to overtax himself as he continued walking forward, imagining he was in a field of flowers with the summer sun shining down on him, warming his clothes up as a cool breeze flapped.

Looking around, Norbert realised it wasn't there as the smell of the sunflowers slowly drifted away. The figure was still standing there as Norbert stood beside him, Norbert waiting for something to happen.

The figure slowly turned towards Norbert.

"BOOO!" They shouted at him, Norbert jumping back at the sound as he looked at the figure's face. Norbert was now able to see it. Watching as his face came onto it but was twisted.

It was a gaunt representation, with flesh falling off it and purple puss coming out of pimples around his jawline and staring at grey, lifeless eyes that were bloodshot, turning the whites almost utterly red from the veins within his eyes. Dark bags under his eyes, as Norbert saw little specks of purple underneath.

The figure jumped at Norbert, losing focus. Norbert went for a dagger, about to release it from his hand when he couldn't move his body. The disfigured self's action in front of him made him lose focus as the energy within him stopped moving.

As Norbert was once more controlled, unable to push back against his freezing body, the figure stepped up to Norbert. "Luck."

***

Norbert bolted upright again, pushing himself off the ground, wondering how many more times the figure would annoy him, causing him to restart again.

Calming his nerves, Norbert sat again, legs crossed, as he tried to clear his head and start sending the energy around his body again. Obsius, annoyed that Norbert was ignoring him, pecked him on the earlobe; after several attempts, she flew off, heading towards the torch and kicking it across the floor.

Norbert kept his eyes closed as he heard the skidding of the torch, only for it to stop. Norbert continued to send the energy around him, coming to the same levels as before. Confident that he had found the right place, he opened his eyes, now seeing the two pink appendages slowly snake towards him, easily seen on the brown-coloured grey stone.

Walking forward, Norbert watched as they latched onto his leg's shadows, grasping onto them. He continued to walk forward, not feeling anything from them, like they weren't even there, as he followed them towards the figure.

Knowing that he had done this before, it was easy to walk forward, and nothing would happen to him. Norbert continued to breathe as he looked ahead, wondering when the figure would appear.

He looked expectantly, surprised that his thought didn't spring into existence on the horizon. Knowing that he usually would need to wait a long time for the figure to appear, at least now it would be half as long if they met in the middle. Wondering when the figure would appear, Norbert continued walking forward, dismissing it from his mind.

He was watching the two pink appendages confirm his trajectory. Long later, Norbert left the torch far behind him, no longer seeing a reason for using it, just posing as a distraction for him to carry and the individual to use.

The two now coming closer, Norbert looked up, seeing the two come out of the ground, the figure standing before him. Watching as the figure gave a little wave to him before walking off, heading towards the direction it came from.

Shaking his head, Norbert continued following after the figure, wondering where they could lead him.

Norbert followed next to him for quite some time, looking at the hall around him, seeing it was the same as before, just the unending stone on both sides as he made his way forward. Looking up at the ceiling, I did not see any pipe network that could hint at something; no other stairs were found leading to higher or lower floors.

No signs of what Norbert was looking at or what the rooms could have been beforehand were shown to him. Continuing down the dusty hall, the figure turned to Norbert.

Arms outstretched on top of him, trying to act as a scary vampire about to drink your blood. Norbert just turned, unfazed as he expected something like this to happen, looking back at his half-mutilated face, giving it a grin and a nod before he continued walking forward, shaking his head in annoyance.

"How much longer will this take?" Norbert said aloud, hearing his voice echo off the walls around him. The sound breaking the atmosphere created shattering. As Norbert looked around, hoping for when the next thing could happen that the figure would do so, he could see what was at the end of this hall.