“Hey. Hey! Why isn’t the door out working?!” I pulled at the door leading to the tower at the side of the wall in an attempt to escape. No matter how much I pulled at it, it would not budge.

...this is a special type of door. A, ‘gate,’ if you will. This is meant to be done as a group. There’s a whole system that unlocks once you get to level 10 to do them the world over, or to find help from anywhere in the world to help...since they’re too dangerous to do alone.

“And how is that related to the door not being able to open.”

Since they’re so dangerous, the chances of one of you dying in here are higher. And once human blood is spilled in one of these enclosed spaces, the protective barrier becomes undone. Therefore we ensure that nothing can come out, once something goes in until all the tasks are completed.

“So there’s no going back?”

No.

I’m fucked.

I glanced around. Luckily I was inside an alley in between a house and The squeeze was a bit tight, but I wouldn’t have to worry about attacks from above for now. A wind howled from beyond the alley, and a chill ran up my spine.

“What are the tasks?

Kill the Enemy 0/23

Kill The God-Beast 0/1

Destroy the Altars 0/2

Yep. I’m fucked.

“Clio. Shadow...I’m sorry.”

I should have set the bags of cat and dog food in the living room…my brother was coming by tonight, right? Perhaps he’ll try to call, and once he can’t get in contact with me he’ll be worried and take them in. No...he wasn’t that attentive. He would think I was just not taking his calls. I couldn’t give up just yet. Clio and Shadow would be in trouble if I did. I had to live through this, I had to get out.

But how?

I had trouble enough dealing with 1 or 2 enemies, and that was one at a time. The only weapons I had on me were my wand and the dagger. I suppose if I wanted to live, I needed to get good at magic, and quick.

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I squeezed out of the alleyway and used my phone to take a quick picture. There was a wide street just beyond here. For the most part, it was made up of small houses, much like the ones I first stepped into on my first Dive. The buildings at the end of the street that opened up into a plaza had paned glass walls. Shops, perhaps? A fountain sat in the middle of this plaza, and at the far end was a tower-like building that went up three stories. Over the large wooden door, was a flag: the white flag with the red dagger piercing the skull that I had seen at the camp. A staircase leads into the building from the plaza.

A pair of Ratman stood on one of the thatched roof houses overlooking the street leading toward the plaza. Luckily they didn’t see my phone. Sneaking out in this way would lead to my death. I squeeze down the other side, and do the same; I took a quick picture and brought it back. Two ratmen stood guard there as well. So I couldn’t go out either way, huh? Was I just going to be stuck here? I tap my finger on the wall in front of me while thinking, and a bit of the dried plaster fell off…could I just go through here? No, what if there was something inside? That would be suicide….but it was also suicide to just sprint out from either side.

I grabbed hold of my wand.

“You that bind them all, protect me from all that would give me harm.”

Repel glimmered over me. I sighed pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down over my knuckles, and began to tap at the mud-plastered walls. Once I was sure I made enough noise, I pulled the wand out of my pocket and pointed it to my left, where I knew the door to be. I waited for a few minutes, and when I was sure there was no one coming, I went back to it. Little by little, I chipped away at the mud wall, — when my knuckles began to bleed and throb, I would cast Lesser Healing and recast Repel to absorb the impact from the blows. As a result, my Magic Affinity rose steadily.

Whenever the wind stopped, I would stop; so that the noise I was making wouldn’t be detected by either set of sentries. The longest it took for the winds to start up again was about thirty minutes, so I’d begin again.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The mud-plaster walls fell away in small shelves, slowly exposing the insides. Layer by layer they fell, until at last: the second layer. Blood stained the inside of my hoodie sleeve by the time I reached the braided wood innards of the wall. By that time my Magic Affinity had increased by 2, my Repel had reached 14/999, and my Lesser Healing had reached 30/999. At level 25 of the spell, I was granted the passive Miracle Affinity, and that was currently still at 0/999. I wonder if I’ll get an affinity for other elements in a similar way…

Once more, I waited until the winds picked up again, jammed my hand in the scant room between the branches, wrapped my fingers around one of them, and began to pull. I pulled until the branch snapped. I did it again, and again. And again. The broken branches would scrape against the flesh of my hand every time I pulled, and every time I pushed. Soon enough, I had made a hole just big enough to squeeze my gut through if I sucked in enough air. Next…

I reached my arm through the opening and began tapping away at the layer beyond that.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Until it, too, fell through. While doing this, the first movement of the skies above began: as the sharp gray that I had thought to be an eternal facet of this world, began to dim.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Night fell, and my stomach grumbled. I was hungry now. Every so often during these processes, I would stop and check to see if the guards were still there: and though different guards rotated in and out, there were still guards there.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The way was open, all that was left was to squeeze through. I drew in a lungful of air, exhaled it, and sucked in my gut as far as I could before squeezing through the broken wood and plaster. The sharp breaks scratched at my face, and tore my clothes, but still I pushed on. Inch by inch I pushed through until my head was clear, and then my shoulder. I nearly collapsed on the floor when I was finally on the other side.

“Hail Mary, full of Grace, I beseech thee to seal my wounds, by the power of Christ thine Heavenly Son.”

The crimson lines cut out by the broken branches sealed, as I pushed myself off the ground, and stepped as lightly as I could toward the staircase just beyond the door: knocked off its hinges where the dimming daylight bled through; puncturing the darkness that permeated the house. I hid behind the wall that separated the opening hall from the staircase and waited with my wand drawn just in case something came to investigate any noise.

“You that bind the all, protect me from all that might do me harm.”

I whisper while waiting. Confident that nothing was coming to investigate, I sat down on one of the steps and stretched out my back. Now what?