Misty was thoroughly enjoying herself. She was in an alternate dimension, crossing from one floating island to another floating island, she had met people and even had friends, and was finally out of her cramped apartment. Not that she didn’t enjoy painting in her apartment, as she had chosen that field of work when she had discovered her gift, but she had been dying to get out of that stuffy apartment for a while.
When that odd email had come promising adventure and a chance at super powers, Misty had practically jumped out the door at the chance. She had had enough of the vapid celebrities who only wanted her to paint a new portrait of them. It was the same thing week after week: she would get a call from some agent representing a singer or sports player or some other celebrity who wanted a new portrait of their client.
Misty would have to explain to the agent that in order to create her paintings, she would need to meet with the client in person. Cue the inevitable excuses from the agent about how busy the client was and how they didn’t have time to meet with Misty. Misty would eventually get a word in edgewise and explain that her art was only able to be made once she had a read on the person that the art was able to be made.
Misty would then be flown out to meet the client or a meeting would happen in a club or some other location that was not necessarily conducive to the artwork. Misty would get her read on the client, return to her apartment and over the course of the next few days, would create a painting based off of the client and the aura that she had seen during the meeting and then ship it off to the client. She would get paid an inordinate amount of money for the painting and would be referred to another client the next week.
Misty had saved up quite a bit of money this way and was even in the process of hiring a new scheduling coordinator to allow her some more breathing time between the chaotic celebrity clients. Not all were bad, but fame and money did something weird to their minds and they tended to be really difficult to deal with, especially in person. But Misty was hoping to be able to have some more time to work on her own artwork. She had sold her paintings fairly well before being discovered by one of the lesser known celebrities who had demanded that she paint a portrait of her.
Misty shook her head to clear the thoughts of her past life. That was in the past now. She was in the middle of a challenge that would give her superpowers and she needed to give it all of her focus. I’ve been walking on this bridge into the fog for a while now, Misty thought to herself. I thought Jason was right behind me, but I haven’t heard anything in the way of footsteps for quite a long time.
Misty found herself coming to the edge of the bridge and as she stepped onto a weathered footpath, several torches lit up along the path and provided a path through the mist that seemed to permeate the entire island. Misty hummed a little song as she followed along the path that had been lit up for her.
As she proceeded further along the path, the ever permeating mist began to dissipate and Misty found that she was standing in front of a large building. It’s art deco design made Misty think of an old museum that had been built about sixty to seventy years prior, but the rest of the island had no indication of any further civilization that Misty could see. The building stretched several stories into the air and had an imposing, ancient feel to it.
Misty couldn’t help but admire the architecture of the building and as she stared in awe of the strange building nestled in the middle of a large forest, she was joined by Buddi, the small flying robot. As he flew up, Misty greeted him with a friendly wave. Buddi had a positive vibe to it and Misty appreciated the help that the robot had offered the team so far.
“Hi Buddi!” Misty grinned at the robot.
“Hello Misty!” bubbled Buddi. “I see that you have found your way to the testing site!”
Misty gestured to the building behind her. “Is this the testing site? It’s kind of an imposing building, if you ask me.”
Buddi giggled, “Well I do see that it could be thought of as ‘imposing,’ but I think that the nature of the test required a very specific type of building, and my master had this prepared especially for the first test!”
“First test?” Misty glanced at Buddi and then back at the building that sat behind her. “What does the test entail?”
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“Excellent question!” exclaimed Buddi! “You got right to the point! Your other two friends took a little bit longer to get to that question than you did.”
Misty had to force down a smile. “That’s because I tend to see things a bit differently than either Tom or Jason. Tom is very rigid in his thinking due to his time in the Complex and Jason tends to overthink his situation. Their aura shows me quite a bit about them that most people don't realize that they are showing themselves as much as they are.
“For instance, I can tell you that you were created with quite a bit of love and that you were created to be helpful not only to your creator, but also for others whom you might interact with. Your aura is a bit different since you were previously an inanimate object, but I think enough time has passed to allow you to cultivate your personality.
“Most objects that I come across don’t exude any kind of aura, not unless they are years and years old and are of some significance. My family had a really old plate that they used to bring out for holiday celebrations and whenever it came out, I could sense the love that had gone into the dishes that had sat upon it. I always loved that plate and It was given to my parents when my grandmother passed and it’s been continued with my parents. I suspect that when they pass, it will go to one of my siblings who has kids and the tradition will continue.
“Things like the plate often get imbued with the aura of those who use them, especially if it’s over a long period of time,” Misty continued. “There was this one axe that was used by an executioner in a museum that I visited a while back. The axe had this malevolence that still was permeating the handle and head of the axe, even hundreds of years later.”
“Wow!” Buddi exclaimed. “That’s absolutely fascinating! I’m sure that your unique skills due to your synesthesia will come in handy during the test!”
Buddi gestured towards the large wooden double doors that sat at the entrance to the building. As they approached, Misty noted that there was a significant amount of filigree on the doors and lent the entire appearance a royal feeling. The steps leading up to the doors had a similar amount of prominence, being seemingly made of carved marble.
As the doors opened of their own accord, Misty was greeted by a large lobby that was filled with dark wood and gold accents. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and as the light shone through the various delicate crystals that hung from the chandelier, rainbow patterns were strewn about the floor and walls. Large portraits of well dressed men and women adorned the walls that flanked a large wooden staircase that led upwards to a set of another pair of double doors.
Misty couldn’t help herself from stopping and admiring the decadence of the building. All of the gold and wood had been carved in an art deco style and lent an air of elegance to the entire room. Her shoes tapped softly on the floor and when she looked down to see the material of the floor, she realized that the stones created a giant black and white mosaic yin yang. A sense of awe enveloped Misty as she followed Buddi to a small door set in the wall at the base of the staircase.
“The grand entrance is always enough to take my breath away,” Buddi began. “That is, it would if I had any breath. I don’t really breathe. I just have that feeling that it would take away my breath if I had some.
“If you would follow me through this doorway, I can lead you to your test!” Buddi whizzed through the doorway, leaving Misty behind to catch up to the swift little robot. As she pushed open the door that Buddi had entered, she found herself in another well-decorated hallway. Plush carpet lined the hall and the walls were made of the same dark wood that was found in the grand entrance. Sconces lined the walls with the same gold trim and a soft golden light came from the lamps contained within. Various doors were set into the hall at varying intervals but when Misty tried the nearest doorway, the door was locked, and she found that each of the doors that she attempted to open had the same response.
Misty realized that the hallway had a gentle curve to it and as she proceeded further, she could hear the soft hum of Buddi’s chassis. A quick “keep going” came from down the hallway and Misty felt the hallway subtly shift into a descent. As she walked down the hallway, it descended further and further until Misty lost all sense of direction and idea where she was.
As if on cue, a small icon appeared in her vision showing where Buddi was ahead with a small tag that read his name. His icon sped along a little further before coming to a complete halt. Misty sped up from the quick walk that she had been maintaining until she came upon an open door on the right side of the hallway.
Misty entered the doorway and found herself in a large concrete gray room. The room was square despite the curved hallway behind it leading her to believe that the room was located outside the regular bounds of physics. As she looked around the room she noted that the only things inside the room were a metal table and a metal box on the table.
“Welcome to your test!” chirped Buddi. “You just have to figure out what is inside the box! That’s all the information that I can give you, but if you need further help, there’s more information available somewhere in the room. Have fun!”
With that final statement, Buddi left via the door that she had just entered and Misty found that the door faded away to leave her in a fully concrete room with no obvious way of getting out.
“Well,” she said as she walked up to the table. “Let’s figure out what you have inside you, Mister Box.”