Quinn took the final step, landing on the platform that held the colossal cathedral. It looked much bigger up close, standing high above Quinn. From so close, he couldn’t even see the top tower that held the silver bell. Quinn was astonished as he looked up at the cathedral.

After hearing the steps of Alec and Kiara behind him, Quinn turned to see Kiara sighing with relief, happy that she didn’t fall, “We’re finally here. I really hope there aren't any enemies inside of this place.”

“There is only one way to find out.” Alec looked towards the massive door that towered over them, “Are we even able to open the front door? It looks a bit large, likely very heavy.”

“If we push it together, we should be able to open it. If not, we’ll have to find another way in.” Quinn walked over to the door and waved for the others to do the same. Putting their shoulders to the door, they looked at each other and counted.

“One… two… three…”

On the count of three, they began pushing with all of their might, slowly opening the massive door. Light peered in through the crack of the cathedral door as they pushed it open.

Once the door had been opened just enough for them to walk through, they made their way into the cathedral. Rows of white pews made their way to an altar that sat at the very end of the room, some being dyed by the blue, red and pink lights that poured in through the stained glass. Footsteps echoed across the room as Quinn walked.

The room was empty, with no monsters in sight. Most importantly, there was also no sight of Lex.

After walking to the front of the altar, the cathedral bell began to ring loudly, shaking the cathedral with each clang it made.

The empty altar that stood at the end of the cathedral began to be clouded by a bluish fog. The fog wrapped across the entirety of the room, alarming the trio. They began to unsheathe their weapons, fearful of being attacked at any moment.

The fog continued to cover the cathedral, before quickly hovering towards the ceiling. A blue light illuminated the room as a mysterious figure floated above the altar. The figure was wrapped in a bright light, forcing Quinn to cover his eyes so he wouldn’t be blinded.

Once the light had begun to dim, he once again looked towards the figure that now hovered at the foot of the altar. The figure stood high above them and looked to be the size of three meters. A white cloak wrapped the figure, covering its body and its face. It showed no hostility, but Quinn still readied his sword in case of an attack.

Reaching out a pale gray hand with long black fingernails, a female voice spoke in an unfamiliar language.

Kiara and Alec looked at the figure, not understanding the words it spoke.

“What did it say?” Kiara glanced at Alec before turning her head in surprise towards Quinn.

“It said that we are the ones who entered this cathedral.” Kiara and Alec stared at him.

“How did you know what it said?” Alec asked out of curiosity.

Quinn looked at him, “It must have been something I picked up outside of the mansion.”

Alec and Kiara looked at him with wonder, questioning his past outside of the mansion. Kiara turned toward the giant figure, “Then please, translate what it says so we can understand.”

Quinn nodded before looking back at the figure. Its head tilted back in surprise, “So you can actually understand the language of Kohtu? I thought people in this mansion only spoke Feltic. Good, that makes things much easier.”

Quinn translated the figures' ethereal words to Kiara and Alec before raising a question, “Who are you?”

This figure looked at the man before smirking under its white hood, “I am the keeper of this layer. I watch for people passing through this layer, giving them the test they need to move on.”

“Are you the owner of this mansion?” Quinn asked, brandishing his silver sword.

“You can relax. I will not hurt you.” The figures pale hand motioned for the group to lower their swords. After hesitantly complying, the figure continued, “I am not the owner of this mansion. I am simply a creation from its will, neither living nor dead.”

“Neither living nor dead? Then you are not real?” After hearing Quinn’s translation, Kiara spoke up. Her head looked up with eyes furrowed into a curious look.

“I am real, but I am not living. The entire purpose of my creation is to sit in this cathedral, waiting for times like this. I am similar to an illusion, or a ghost if you would prefer.”

“Then you know the owner of the mansion? Who is it? Where is he?” Quinn hurriedly asked.

A small smirk could be seen across the figure's mostly hidden face, “As of this time, my master has wished not to be revealed, although ‘He’ does see your efforts. ‘He’ commends you for your attempt at escaping the mansion, even supports you, but encourages you to give up on your efforts. ‘He’ will not interfere negatively through your journey no matter the choice.”

So this ghost says ‘He’ instead of he? ‘He’ has been watching us? From where? For how long? Why hasn’t ‘He’ revealed himself? Why does ‘He’ want us to stay in this mansion? Quinn had many questions, none of which could currently be answered. He knew that the figure would not answer him, so he didn’t even try to ask.

The trio looked at the ghost with unwavering expressions. The ghost stared at them calmly.

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“So the three of you have made it here. By the looks on your faces, it seems you do not wish to give up, but that is fine. That just means we can continue on with the challenge for this layer.

The figure held its hand palm up, whispering something slowly beneath its breath. Quinn tried listening to it, but its words were too quiet to be heard.

Summoning above the figure's pale hand, a small glass bottle of an unknown liquid began to appear. The liquid was green in color, splashing around in the bottle as the figure shook it.

“Your name is Quinn, correct? You alone will take on this challenge. If you succeed, you and your friends can move onto the next layer. If you don’t, then all of you will be stuck here in this cathedral as my loyal servants.”

“There are no other servants in this cathedral. Would we be the first?” Quinn waved his hand around the cathedral, showing no indication of other signs of life.

“There are others, but they have not been made apparent to your eyes because I have not willed it.”

Quinn stared at the ghostly figure with furrowed brows, “How do I enter this challenge? What is it like? What do I need to do?”

The figure lowered its hand towards Quinn, clenching the potion, “You will drink this and enter into your mind. There, the key to the exit can be found. As for your other questions, you will find out once you are inside.

Quinn grabbed a potion from the figure's hand, turning it in his palm and examining the strange liquid inside. After looking towards Alex and Kiara, giving them one last look, he popped the cap off of the bottle and downed the potion in only a few gulps.

His vision began to blur and blue ghost-like figures began to appear in his eyesight as he quickly passed out.

***

Quinn awoke to the smell of fresh grass tickling his skin. He leaned up after staring at the blue skies, taking a look at his surroundings. A lush green forest surrounded him, along with a mountain with a cave embedded into its side.

What is this place supposed to be? This is supposed to be a place inside my mind? This is much different from when I first awakened my Echoes. Maybe they are different places. Quinn stood up off of the ground and dusted himself off.

“This place is different from the place you were before.” Quinn’s spine shivered in terror after hearing a familiar voice behind him. Quinn turned in shock to see a golden eyed figure standing behind him.

The figure's sharp eyes stared at Quinn, unsurprised by the reaction he had just made, “You seem to be in shock. Is something the matter?”

Quinn reached down towards his side to unsheathe his weapon, but his hand could only grab on to empty air. His sword had not been brought with him when entering his mind, leaving him defenseless.

The figure, a man with bright gold eyes and white hair, the man who also called himself Quinn, slowly took a step towards him, a menacing smile etched across his calm face.

“Stay away from me,” Quinn yelled out, but the gold eyed Quinn did not stop. He just took another step towards Quinn, not listening to his concern.

In a chance to defend himself, Quinn threw a punch towards the man in front of him, but stumbled to the ground after he phased through his opponent's body.

“Did you really think that would work?” The golden eyed Quinn stared down at him as he laid in the dirt.

“Who the hell… don't try anything.” Quinn made his way up from the ground as he watched the man, making sure he didn't attack.

“Relax, I am not going to hurt you.” Golden Quinn held his hands up, as if to indicate he would do no harm.

“I can't trust your words. You tried choking me to death before. Why would I trust you now?”

“I wasn't trying to kill you back then, I swear. I was just trying to scare you enough so you could learn how to escape that place, that is all.” He spoke clearly and calmly.

Quinn stared at himself, trying to see if he was lying or not. He couldn't tell, even though it was the mirror version of himself.

“Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already. Even in this weakened state, I could put you out of your misery before you could even take a step towards me.”

“Then why was I in chains that time before? What was that place?” Quinn asked a question he had been wanting to learn for a while now. His curiosity had gotten to him, but maybe that wasn't the best thing.

The Golden Quinn smirked, “Those chains were put on you by… a certain group. I can not say any more about that subject.” The gold eyed Quinn paused before speaking again, “As for where you were last time, that place…” he paused with a smirk, “...was inside of your soul.”

Just as Golden Quinn finished his words, Quinn had passed out on the spot, not even getting the chance to think as he fell down to the ground.

***

Quinn awoke once again, his eyes staring up towards the golden eyed figure that floated above him as he awoke. He rushed up off the ground as the figure floated backwards.

“Well, it seems you have awoken once again.” Golden Quinn looked at the startled version of himself.

“What happened to me?” Quinn looked at the man, suspicious of what he had done to him.

Golden Quinn shot a glare, “Didn't I tell you? If I wanted to, I could kill you where you stood.”

“Then you did something to me?” Quinn stared at his other version, his anger was beginning to build.

“Yes, I spoke something you shouldn't have been told in here, thus you instantly passed out.”

“Why did something like that happen?” Quinn didn't want to risk asking another question, but if he couldn't figure out what happened, it could happen again at any moment.

“There are some things you shouldn't know yet, especially since we are in your… or should I say our mind. Saying something like that outside of the body may not have done much, but since we are directly inside of your mind, the backlash of certain topics will affect you, causing you to pass out or even kill you if it is strong enough.”

“Then I learned something I shouldn't have in here? How many topics can I not learn about?”

“A lot of things. I could tell you more about your past, more about Echoes. I could even tell you who owns this mansion, but doing so would likely kill you on the spot and transform your body into a monster.”

“So you are saying that you are useless and can't give me any information?” Golden Quinn shrugged his shoulders, unfazed by Quinn's harsh words.

“If you can't tell me anything, are you at least able to tell me what this place is?”

Golden Quinn stared at him, “This place is inside of your mind as you know, but it isn't how your mind would normally be. This place was embedded into your mind as a trial. I was also able to enter, which may even be a big help for you. The illusion out there said you would be alone on this journey, but it was wrong. It didn’t know that I was in here.”

“Then what am I supposed to do to finish the trial?” Quinn looked towards his golden version. Golden Quinn pointed towards the cave embedded on the side of the mountain.

“Then I will go there. Are you going to follow me, or stay here?” Quinn asked.

His golden version tapped his chin before replying, “I think I will go.”