The waterfall in Oak Town poured out, shining blue and sparkling like crystals in the sun. It was beautiful, elegant, a perfect addition to the small quiet town. Its rushing waves were calm to the ears, relaxing those who wished to listen. The water was fresh and capable of being drunk straight out of the stream.
The town had a woody smell from all the oak trees that surrounded it, mixed with a fresh smell that emanated from the pure waterfall. Mixed together, they were relaxing, comfortable.
Quinn took in a breath, leaning against the side of the guard rail. His eyes watched the waterfall, taking in its beauty. It calmed him, helping to ease his mind from the pain he had felt a few hours before.
At first, he sat under the tree, trying to calm his mind and ease the phantom pains that ravaged his stomach. After that, he took it slowly, walking to the town at a slow pace to make sure he didn't push himself. Once he could comfortably make it to the waterfall, he had found it was the best place to ease his mind and calm his thoughts.
Holding onto a tree leaf, he blew into it, making a small whistling noise with each breath. He played a tune, although it didn't sound the best. With the infinite time he had, he tried learning to fix his tune and sound better, but the progress was slow in the short time he had played.
After it was about time for the next regression, Quinn slowly lifted his hand holding the leaf into the air. The wind picked up the leaf, sending it into the breeze, flying an unknown distance away as Quinn lost sight of it in the trees.
[Pass the eighth layer]
Quinn listened to his echoes. The whispers faded into the back of his mind as he no longer wished to hear their words.
“It's almost time, I feel I have recovered a lot.”
Golden Quinn floated above the stream on the opposite side of the guardrail, “You will need to be more careful from now on. Dying places a heavy burden on the mind.”
“I will remember that, but I will need to beat that puppet if I don't want to die again.”
Quinn sat in silence, counting the time as the regression began to get nearer. He took in one last look of the waterfall, watching its crystal-like drops fall into the never-ending stream.
“3… 2… 1…”
At that moment, Quinn's vision blurred. Then, his eyes began to grow clear as he stood right back at the beginning of the trial.
Without waiting even a second, Quinn took off with a burst of speed, running through the dark mountain tunnel. Once he made it through the tunnel, he ran down the dirt path while trying to keep a good pace. Arriving inside the town, Quinn ran beside a random building. Leaning against a few stacks of straw, a metal scythe, one used for cutting grass, had been placed. Quinn had found this scythe in one of the regressions while he was recovering, but kept it in mind for a time when he could continue the trial.
Grabbing the scythe, Quinn sprinted through the town, over the bridge, and into the woods. Quinn had been told by someone, he couldn't remember who, that he should never run when holding a sharp object. Quinn, of course, didn't care and ran with the scythe anyways.
Once he reached the cabin house, he rushed inside and pried open the trap door. He then motioned down the stairs with a cautious stance, holding the scythe in a combat ready position.
His eyes peered through the dark cold room, glancing around in search of any danger. After making it to the bottom of the stairs, Quinn was surprised. The mangle doll, the one that killed him before, had completely vanished.
Both relief and fear shook Quinn. If the puppet was gone, then where could it have gone? This was an abnormality. The mangled puppet had been the only thing that changed location without being bound by the restrictions of the time loop!
“Where did it go? Should I be worried?” Quinn looked towards Golden Quinn for advice.
“It seems like it is no longer around here, but still keep caution. It may have moved to a different spot, trying to get you now that you know it's little trick.”
Quinn nodded before walking towards the table resting at the end of the basement. He grabbed the key and note then made his way outside of the cabin. He then unwrapped the note to reread its contents.
So there seems to be something at this location that the note is speaking of. I guess I won't know what until I get there. Pocketing the note, Quinn began to follow the instructions listed on the paper.
First, one hundred meters along the dirt path, then the third tree to the left is where I should find it. After walking down the dirt path and making his way into the woods, Quinn stood in front of a tree that looked no different than the ones that surrounded it.
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This must be it.
Quinn looked around the area but found nothing abnormal about it. He felt he was missing something, but suddenly he spotted a hole in the tree. It was higher up than he could reach, so he would just have to climb the tree and hope what the note spoke about was inside.
After using his enhanced strength to climb up the tree, he had made it to the hole that looked as if it were hollowed out by some sort of animal, “Is this really it?”
Quinn was wary that it was a trap, but with no other choice he reached his hand into the hole. At first he felt nothing, but suddenly he felt something cold, something metallic.
He gripped the object, pulling it down, and with ease, it flipped downwards but it didn't come out. Quinn thought he messed up, so he reached into the tree again, but he quickly realized he hadn't made a mistake.
The ground began to shake, sending tremors through the dirt and up the tree, almost causing Quinn to slip off. Opening in the dirt not far from the tree, a secret door had been opened.
“It worked!” Quinn rushed down the tree before making his way to the secret opening. Stone steps led down into the ground, illuminated by blue candles that hung on the walls.
Quinn made his way down these stone steps with caution. This was a new discovery, one he was happy about, but it didn't mean he could let his guard down.
After making it to the bottom of the stairs, Quinn glanced around the room, spotting nothing but a stone door at the end of a hallway. Making his way to the door, Quinn eyed three key holes that could be found engraved into the stone door.
One of the keyholes was yellow, the other green, and lastly a bronze colored key hole. Quinn instantly realized what needed to be placed into the last keyhole. He pulled the bronze key out from his pocket, flipping it in his hand. Then slowly, he put the key up the bronze keyhole and inserted it. Twisting the key, a locking mechanism could be heard inside of the door.
“Seems I will need the other two keys before I can pass through this door.” Quinn stepped outside of the secret room and back into the shiny sun that was mostly covered by the leaves of the oak trees, “Now then, where do I find the two other keys?”
Quinn tried contemplating for a moment, but couldn't find any clues as to where the two other keys could be, “Do you have any…”
Quinn stopped his words, realizing what he was about to ask. He knew that he had to do this alone, so asking Golden Quinn for any sort of help to the trial would simply be answered with ‘no.’
I still have enough time to make it back to the town, maybe I can check with the bartender to see if he has any clues. Quinn ran along the dirt path before making his way back into town. He stepped into the bar and took a seat at the drink bar.
The bartender turned around, spotting the man he had never seen before, “What can I get for you?”
“I think I will take one of your famous whiskey’s.”
“That's a good choice.” The bartender made the drink and poured it into a glass, sliding it to Quinn.
Quinn downed the alcohol, then placed the glass on to the bar, “That has to be the best alcohol I have ever tasted.”
Quinn wasn't a huge fan of drinking alcohol, the taste was not to his liking, but he felt it was appropriate to compliment the whiskey in hopes of keeping the bartender's favor.
The bartender smiled as best as his wooden face could, “That is good to hear.”
Quinn wiped his mouth, getting off any water or whiskey that may have gotten on it, “Say, do you know about anything abnormal around here? I have heard about the house in the woods, but I was looking to see if there was anything else that might seem strange.”
The bartender contemplated for a moment, “The only thing abnormal I could think of at the moment is the house in the woods. Besides that, there doesn't seem to be anything strange going on.”
“Then what about…” Just before Quinn could fully put a sentence together, his eyes opened with shock as he stared past the bartender and towards the bottle rack hanging on the wall filled with different types of liquor and alcohol.
For a moment, Quinn thought he was imagining things, but the closer he looked the more he realized that what he was seeing was real. Behind the bartender, inside of a hollow glass bottle, the warped outline of a key could be seen.
It can't be… is that one of the keys to the secret door? Quinn wanted to get a closer look, but he didn't want to risk offending the bartender.
Without seeming too interested, he pointed towards the key, “If you don't mind me asking, why do you have a key in that bottle over there?”
The bartender looked towards where he was pointing. He glanced at the the bottle with the key before turning back, “I don't know how to answer that, but just know, if anyone tries to take anything from me that they shouldn't, it will not end well for them.”
Quinn gulped, “I will keep that in mind.”
If Quinn wanted the key, he would likely have to risk fighting the bartender, possibly even the other puppets that sat inside of the bar. Could he take this many? If they were all at the same level as the previous puppet, he would definitely be killed before he even got close to the bottle.
Quinn tried to figure out a way to get the key, but could only come up with one good answer. After a few minutes, Quinn looked towards his golden version with a smile. Golden Quinn looked back at him, trying to figure out what he would do, then suddenly widened his eyes after realizing.
Before Golden Quinn could interrupt him, Quinn had already burst into action. Golden Quinn was irritated after watching Quinn, but did not have any time to say anything.
Quinn burst up from his seat, jumping over the table and reached for the bottle that sat in the rack. The bartender watched him, rage in his eyes as he realized what Quinn was trying to do. Almost instantly reacting, the bartender rushed forward, grabbing Quinn's arm.
Quinn should have felt fear, but he instead felt excitement. He could have dodged the attack, but he didn't need to. In an instant, Quinn’s vision blurred and he was sent back to the start of the trial, away from any danger.