Quinn's eyes opened to a bright fire sitting beside him. The smell of roasted meat emanated across the room. Quinn’s mouth began to salivate, craving for the freshness of a good meal.
“Seems you're awake. You look hungry, I made some food, so be sure to eat your fill.” Lex whispered lightly to Quinn. Quinn looked around the room and realized that besides Lex, everyone else was asleep.
“You aren’t going to sleep as well?” Quinn looked at Lex with a curious face.
“No. With no sense of time, it’s hard for me to fall asleep. Besides, although this may be a safe room, the worry that the monsters could come at any moment keeps me from sleeping much.” Lex stared at the fire, trying to put on a smile.
Quinn made his way quietly over to the fire and sat down. He picked up the warm fresh meat that sat over the fire and bit into it. Instantly, the flavors flowed through his mouth, bringing him joy and a slight tear.
“This is amazing. Did you really cook this?”
“I did. There wasn’t much to use, but I made do with what I had. I wanted to celebrate having new companions. With you guys, I’m sure we can make it out of this place.” Lex was joyful that Quinn liked his cooking.
As Quinn ate, he decided to make small talk with Lex, who was still staring into the fire, “How did you meet the other three members of your group?”
Lex took a second before responding, “The first person I met was Winston. I found him while I was wandering the halls. At first, I was scared. I thought he would kill me. After a while, I realized that he wouldn’t. He helped me survive, and in turn, I did the same. He was the person who awakened the Echoes inside of me. He gave me the strength to continue on.
“As for Cally and Liz, I met them in one of the rooms in the mansion. It was beautiful, like an oasis. A beautiful stream, nice greenery, and a vast lake. I thought I could stay there forever. That was until the plants tried to eat us. We barely escaped with our lives. After that, they joined me and Winston. Not long after that, we fell into this Tower. Luckily, the area we fell had a map of the Tower, so it helped us to survive.”
“You guys went through some trouble yourself.”
“We did, but we were able to make it out ok.” Lex turned to smile at Quinn before looking back into the glistening fire with a calm stare.
Quinn asked another question, “How long have each of you been in here?”
Lex responded once again with the same calm voice, “Winston has been in here the longest. He has been stuck in this mansion for almost a month. As for me and the girls, it has been around a week, although it’s hard to measure time when there is no sun.”
“That explains why he’s so strong.”
“Actually, he had powers even before he entered this mansion, similar to Alec. It’s unsure as to how far he has progressed since he can only remember bits and pieces of his memory.”
Quinn’s eyes opened widely. He almost yelled out from surprise, but calmed himself down, “Did you say he can remember some of his memories before the mansion?”
Lex looked at him for a second then smiled with a dumb look on his face, “Whoops, I almost forgot to mention that. The further you advance your Echoes, the more memories you recover from before entering the mansion. That’s why Winston can remember things from his past.”
So that means if I advance my Echoes, I can figure out what happened to me, and how I ended up here!
Quinn was happy with this newfound information. He sat by the warm fire, continuing to eat the cooked meat as they sat in silence.
“Do you think…” Lex hesitated to speak, “Do you think we will ever be able to escape from this place?”
Quinn recognized through the short time he spoke that Lex was contemplating with deep thoughts. Quinn could hear hesitation and discomfort in his voice as he spoke, but did not want to pry too far into his personal life, trying not to overstep any boundaries.
Quinn gave Lex a small smile, a comforting smile, “I think we can. I don’t know what horrors lie in this mansion, or if there is even a way out, but if we don’t have hope we have nothing left.”
Lex contemplated Quinn’s answer, “Maybe you’re right.” They continued to sit in silence for quite a while, staring into the inferno that sat in front of them.
***
After everyone had awoken, they began to make preparations to escape the darkness layer of the tower. Lex rolled out the map on the floor while the others gathered around him.
“The tower is surrounded by multiple passage ways for people to enter. I, along with Cally, Liz and Winston, entered from this side of the tower.” Lex pointed to the right side of the map, “As for Quinn, Kiara and Alec, They entered from almost the complete opposite side. Inside of the tower there are four safe zones. The one we are currently in, sitting in the center of the darkness layer, along with three others that sit around it.
“Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t have found Quinn, Kiara and Alec because they started on the opposite side of the tower, but fortunately they passed the safe zone on their side of the tower. This would normally have been a bad thing, but we were able to hear their fighting and yelling, so we could attempt to locate and rescue them from the darkness before anything bad happened.”
“Then based on what we know, the open area in the top of the map is the exit to this layer?” Quinn pointed to a spacious room located at the top of the map.
“We should assume so. The only problem is we have to make our way through the darkness to get there. Monsters will be waiting for us to exit this room. Once they know we have left, there will be a fight.”
“That isn’t even mentioning what we will find once we reach the final room. There is sure to be something awaiting us there.” Cally chimed in.
“There are risks, but they are risks we have to take. If we don’t, we won’t be able to escape.”
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“If I could make a suggestion, I think we should try making it to the final room as quickly as we can. If we wander in the darkness for too long, we will lose too much of our strength.” Kiara commented.
“I am inclined to agree.” Winston sided with Kiara. Everyone else nodded.
“Then it is decided. We can sprint for the open room and pray for the best.”
***
Quinn had gathered up what little belongings he had. A beautiful silver sword with a gray hilt that was given to him by Lex and his group, along with a few supplies.
Quinn looked around the room to see the progress of the others. Lex and the rest of his group were still packing. They had the most items out of everyone.
Quinn swiveled his head to where Kiara and Alec were sitting. They sat calmly, making small talk as they waited for the adventure into the darkness.
Quinn walked over to them, giving a hint of worry in his calm voice, “Are you going to be ok when we go back in their Kiara? Has your injuries healed enough?”
Kiara’s mouth bent into a smile, she was calm, but her voice had a hint of tenseness, “I think I'll be alright. The injuries have healed a lot, and I seem to be moving fine.”
Alec leaned over towards Quinn and studied him closely, “What about you. Any pain? Discomfort? You seemed to get hurt as well.”
“Besides my leg I think I should be fine. It shouldn't cause me any trouble.” Quinn sat down besides Alec and Kiara. They continued talking until everyone finished packing.
Lex stood in the middle of the room. He looked towards Quinn, Kiara and Alec and spoke, “It's about time. Are you guys ready?”
“Yeah, we're ready.” Quinn stood up from the floor, he smiled gently towards Lex. Quinn raised his sword to his face, he looked into the shining silver before walking towards the door to exit the room.
Lex walked up beside Quinn. A backpack of supplies hung on his back and a similar sword to the one he gave Quinn was held firm in his hand. In the other hand, a torch to help light the way. His eyes had a look of determination as he looked Quinn in the eyes. Quinn returned a similar glance.
“I should go first since I know the layout of this layer the best.” Lex said as the torchlight flickered in his eyes, giving him a fierce look. Quinn gave a slight nod. The rest of the group gathered behind them, just as determined to make it through this layer.
Lex took the first step into the darkness, then the next step. His footsteps reverberated throughout the dark rooms. The rest of the group followed behind him. They followed behind Lex at a quick pace.
A few of the group members held torches, lighting the rooms as they moved. They were the only sources of light as they moved through the pitch black.
Every so often, the group would take a break to listen for incoming monsters. If none were heard, they would continue moving forward. This occurred multiple times.
Lex stopped moving and everyone else did the same. Quinn listened to the darkness, listening for any indication that the black oily monsters were near. Just before they were about to begin moving, a loud noise could be heard in the distance.
A loud grinding shriek could be heard, moving closer and closer to the room they were located.
“Get ready for a fight.” Lex warned the others as he brandished his sword. Multiple loud thumping footsteps could be heard approaching their room. A black figure appeared in the doorway they needed to get through, then another. Multiple dark creatures crawled into the room, attempting to surround them.
“Push through to the door! Don't let them block our path!” Lex ordered everyone to fight.
One of the monsters jumped at Quinn, but with the newfound strength and quickness caused by the echoes, he sliced the creature down. Its black and oily blood poured to the floor. A few drops of the blood had splattered onto Quinn's arm, burning him.
Quinn winced from the pain, but it was bearable enough to continue fighting. After wiping off the acid like blood he continued to fight, “Don't touch the blood!”
The rest of the group heard Quinn and tried avoiding the blood as much as possible. Puddles began to form on the floor, but the group was capable enough to dodge them as they fought.
Lex stood on the other side of the room, helping Kiara and Alec to destroy multiple monsters that piled up near the doorway. The monster grabbed onto Lex’s sword, trying to pull it away from him. Kiara saw this, and with swiftness sliced the monster in half, freeing Lex’s sword.
As Kiara’s guard was down, one of the monsters tried jumping onto her back. Before the monster could, Alec had impaled it. He threw the monster to the ground, watching as it let out a small shriek before dying. He let out a slight grin and giggled as he looked towards Kiara and Alec, “Don't worry, I've got your back.”
In the middle of the room, Liz and Cally were fighting another group of monsters. They tried helping the others, but their plans were thwarted as the beasts tried separating them from the group.
“Augh, how many of these guys are there?” Cally continued to cut down monsters. On her side, a monster plunged one of its arms at her, trying to impale her. Before it could reach her, she swiftly leaned forward, barely dodging the attack.
She used her right arm to lean against the ground and pivot herself, kicking the monster straight towards Liz who sliced the monster with ease. The creature fell to the ground in two separate pieces, slightly twitching before going limp.
Cally responded to Liz after making sure the monster was dead, “I'm unsure, but as long as we clear a path, we should be able to outrun the monsters and make it to the main room.”
The group continued to fight against the monsters until they were finally able to clear a path through the door. Lex motioned towards the door, yelling as he ran, “This way, while we have a chance.”
Quinn and the others began to follow behind Lex. Quinn, who ran directly behind Lex, tried speaking to Lex through ragged breaths, “How much further?”
Lex heard Quinn's question and responded after taking in a big breath, “Not much further. The entrance to the main room should be up ahead.”
After passing through a few more rooms, the group quickly stopped as they stood in front of a large door. Lex looked for the door handle, but quickly realized that the door had to be lifted to enter. He tried lifting the door, but he wasn't capable of lifting it alone.
“Alec, come help me open this door.” Alec was the closest to the door, so Lex quickly asked him.
“On it!” Alec grabbed onto the handle and together they began to lift the door just enough for each person to slide under.
“Quickly, you guys should be able to get under the door.” Quinn tried running towards the door, but before he could, a shrill shriek echoed throughout the corridors. Multiple enemies entered the room at once, looking for a fight.
Dammit, if we try making our way through the door now, Alec and Lex will be vulnerable to getting attacked! Well just have to fight until we can get an opening.
Just as Quinn thought that, Winston pushed the rest of the group members behind him.
What is he doing? Is he planning on fighting those monsters all by himself? Worry began to fill Quinn's mind as he watched the large man that stood in front of him.
The worry began to fade as an ember began to form in Winston's hand. The ember quickly sparked into a full fledged flame, illuminating Winston's hand. Quickly after, Winston motioned towards the monsters with his ignited palm, and with one motion of his arm, the flame began to scatter across all of the monsters, engulfing them in flame.
The monsters began to run in circles as they were ignited by the fire. Their grinding screams could be heard as they bounced through the hallways, quickly burning.
Using this chance that Winston had given them, they climbed under the door and the entire group slid underneath. The door shut behind them with a loud thud, and the monster's screams could be heard no more.