CROSSING

"Okay," Sofia said and pressed something in her phone. Immediately a green hologram screen appeared above the phone in mid air. She turned the device side ways as one would do when watching videos as she sent the drone forward.

As we waited, for I don't know what, Kyle walked over to me and Sid. "Why are you not wearing your shoe?" He asked. It took me a moment to realize he wasn't talking to me.

"Injured," Sid said flatly. She glanced at him then faced back forward.

"Let me see," The chubby guy stooped and studied her foot___ from beneath his helmet___ as she lifted her leg.

"Something wrong there?" Pancil questioned.

"No," Kyle straightened and stepped back. He reached into his pocket and took out a glass vial housing a red liquid. "Here," he offered.

Sid accepted, studying it with curiosity. "What's this?"

"Elixir, it will heal your wounds,"

Sid frowned. "You sure? It sounds..., valuable,"

"No worries, it's just a low grade potion. Besides, you won't survive a crossing with a bad leg."

"If you say so," Sid tilted her head and downed it in one swing. She grimaced and handed the glass back to the guy.

"I was gonna tell you to drink only half,"

"Oh," Sid said dumbly and looked down at her leg in amazement. "Fuck it's really healing; stitching itself back up."

I looked at the wound and the sheer miracle to bear. "Will it harm her?" I asked distractedly.

Kyle grunted as he hefted his backpack back to his back. "No, just wasted for a little scratch."

"Thank you," Blondie said and he nodded. She crouched down and started putting on her shoe.

After waiting for a while Sofia called for 'clear' and we finally set out through the massive space. We walked in a straight line by Pancil's instruction. The dark haired guy led the way, followed by Sofia, then Sid and me in that order, and lastly Kyle brought up the rear.

Crossing the space took sometime. I looked around as we went, nothing worth noting except nothing could be heard besides our footsteps. I still couldn't see any walls, the distance around us was shrouded in darkness. Finally we saw a door; I felt giddy with excitement at the prospect of finally leaving this place. Not the Wall, I know it couldn't be this simple, but this immerse space and its hellish heat.

We stopped before the door and Sofia sent the drone into some kind of hallway, judging by the images the camera returned. "Here, have a drink," Kyle brought out two water bottles from his backpack and handed them to me and Sid. I was very thirsty but was also suspicious of these guys.

"You'll need it, trust me," Pancil said, sensing my hesitation. I nodded, then unscrewed the cover and took two swings before handing it back.

"You sure?" Kyle questioned.

I paused for a moment then thought, what the hell, I'd already taken a drink from it, I might as well quench my thirst. I chugged down more than half the bottle this time before handing it back to the guy. "Thanks," I said. Sid handed him an empty bottle.

"Clear!" After waiting for sometime again Sofia's voice cut the silence. Pancil nodded and walked into the corridor, in the same order as earlier. Immediately I realize with horror that this corridor was hotter than that space.

"Run, run," Panic said and we picked up speed jogging forward. We took an intersection at the left into another corridor.

I finally understood why they called this a maze, doors and intersections opened every which way, as we went, leading to unknown places.

The walls were dark and grime. Writings___ and even graffiti___ covered it. The poor visibility made it hard to read what was writing but I caught some words. [Jack 9] [Dem diggers gat nothing] [Bless Ghost, the Three's crossing] [Eyes in front, keep em feet walking] [Fuck the All Power] [Home must go]. Each of these phrases or sentences gave the same sense of raw desperate emotions of longing or fear or rage, as the ones prior.

We continued down the corridor. Our footfalls falling. Just as we took another intersection Sofia called. "Wait,"

"What?" Pancil asked. His voice was very quiet. We all came to a skidding stop.

"Goblins ahead," Sofia said. "Should we avoid?"

"How strong?"

"Five? I think level tens, could be higher honestly,"

"How long is it gonna take to backtrack?"

"100 seconds,"

"How far out are they?" He asked.

"Two minutes,"

"Let's forge ahead. They must be an intersection ahead, we can evade them before contact."

"Sure.." Sofia said sounding unsure.

We raced forward faster.

We made it to the intersection but just as we rushed in I heard the sound of goblins croaking. We bounded up this new corridor, glancing back I saw nothing in pursuit which was worth it to calm my nerves even if I got chided by Kyle for doing that.

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Another corridor and we skidded to a stop in a domino effect starting from Pancil in that order. "What's it?" Kyle asked.

"A Troll," Pancil replied. His voice was suspiciously casual.

"How big?"

I squinted ahead but couldn't see anything beside a shadowy silhouette, that far in this dim corridor. A beastly grow resounded in the corridor before Pancil answered. "Very big. Level 30, ready for battle." He hunkered down, holding his shield before him.

I finally got a good look at the Creature as it walked closer. A grey giant with tusks protruding from its mouth. Its gait was slow and confident. [Troll. Lv30] floated above its head. It growled something as it readied its weapon for when it closed the distance. "Get down!" Kyle hissed. I froze for only a moment before reacting. I crouched down.

When we were all down, Kyle fired his gun. It went off with a mighty roar, spewing a red line of plasma. The Troll blocked with a sudden transparent blue dome around it like the kind the goblin had used. Yet the force of the attack pushed it backwards.

Sofia unsheathed her swords quickly. The swords silver blades glittered in the dim lightening before it disappeared as she vaulted over the kneeling Pancil with a front flip and charged the Troll.

The astral shield still surrounding it, the Troll stuck its shoulder to meet her charge.

But just as they came close to colliding, Sofia kicked off the ground, stepped on the barrier and soared over the monster, succeeding on landing at the other side completely unharmed. I could see the panic as the Troll tried to turn to her only for Pancil to chose that exact moment to act.

The team leader rose to his feet abruptly and charged the Troll, shield first. The grey giant seem conflicted for a moment only to roar and meet Pancil head on with a mighty punch. The tower shield came in handy, absorbing the blow with ease. Not even pushing the dark haired guy back an inch.

The Troll suddenly growled and staggered forward, only for Pancil to block its way with the shield. It struck the unmovable shield again only to roar and wheel around in a wide panicked swing of its fist. I couldn't see clear but I could infer a few things; Sofia was hurting it from behind, it tried to break the front first only to be met by Pancil so it decided to take her out first now.

Its wild attack met nothing. All it succeeded in doing was show Pancil its back. Which turned out to be a big mistake as Pancil quickly dropped his shield and struck down the creature with his hammer with both hands, pounding the Troll directly on the back. The blow took the monster face first down to the ground with a mighty crash and rise of dust.

Sofia stepped forward and knelt before the Troll to stabbed her swords into its neck. Blood sprouted out for a moment then the creature burst into particles of yellow light and vanished from from the world, leaving only a bright silver orb which Sofia picked. It is a surreal sight no matter how many times I see it.

After that we met no monsters. Sofia's drones always finds them first so we avoided successfully. The tunnels were too numerous, we went on and on, for hours.... Er, Kyle said only thirty minutes when I asked but it felt like more. I was sweating a pool, the heat in the tunnels really cooking me, my breaths came hard and rasping. At some point I decided___ If the forest was bad, this is hell.

"Here we are," Pancil said.

A door way appeared before us. Different from the other door ways that led to different corridors, this one is covered with a curtain of blue light. "This is our way out?"

"Way in," Kyle replied. "Into Camp," What's the difference?

I plunged in after Sid, immediately noticing the difference in temperature as everything cooled. I looked around. We were standing in a bright hall lit by fancy chandeliers above. The floor was covered in black tile and two massive staircases led elsewhere.

Behind us were three arch doors, one of which we came out from. All covered in glittering curtain of blue light. I took off my helmet after I saw the others do the same. My mouth was agape with wonder. "What is this place?" Sid asked when she removed her helmet. Her face was wet with sweat, her hair plastered on her head. "I thought you said we were getting out?"

"In," Kyle grunted. "We are in Camp now."

"Explain," I said.

"Camp is one giant box. We are in it, simple?" Sofia said condescendingly.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "I thought you were smarter than this."

I ignored her and turned to Pancil. "I thought you said we were crossing the wall?" That sounded odd.

"I did," he grinned. "Through the wall, into Camp. Aw, don't give me that stare, it's not my fault any of this is happening to you you know. Just take it in stride, you'll get used to it before long. Now, come on,"

I followed behind the three strangers quietly and resigned, like a zombie, deep in thought. Sid tapped my arm. "You alright?"

"Y... Yeah," I said. She nodded, though I doubted she really cared.

We exited the hall through a large double doors at the other end of the hall and found ourselves inside a busy hallway. The walls were silver colored like metal, florescent light shown above, the people going through the hallway were a spectacle. There were the normal dressed men and women, and some in medieval cloths, they were also those robot dudes that warned us of the Diggers the first day. Metal bodies moving with fluid grace. "Automatons," Kyle said when he caught me watching them. Pancil was ahead, ever leading.

I looked back forward. "Like robots?"

"No," he laughed. "That's like saying cartoons are people."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Robots are man made, artificial, machines. Automatons...." One of the... Automatons looked over at us, and Kyle waved at him. "Are people like us, only from another race,"

"Race?"

"Ah, you know humans are not the only sentient beings in the world right?" I paused to let that sink in. I wanted to ask more questions but we took an intersection into another hallway. Here, Kyle and Sofia separated from us. "Good luck," the chubby guy said. I waved at him.

"Come," Pancil said. "I'll lead you where you can wash up and rest. You must listen to everything I tell you if you want to survive the next few days." He stared at us till we nodded. "Good," He led us into another hallway that was suspiciously lacking traffic, then through a door into a different quarters. "This is the freshmen barracks,"

It was a long room, with bunk beds lining in four rows. The place was massive, with grey concrete floor, and the dim light above barely lightened up the place. "God how many beds are there?" I gasped.

"Each row has about fifty," Pancil shrugged. "I was just as amazed as you when I first saw it. Camp's a bitch, but a rich beautiful one still. The bathroom is over there." He pointed a finger.

The door was tucked at the wall at the other side of the room like many others spanning it. Pancil stopped here. "Go on in," he said. "I am gonna report, though they know all by now but they won't spare you the formalities.... Anyway, once you are out of the bath, you should find two strange people in white robes already waiting for you. You are to do whatever they say." His eyes were earnest as he stared at us. "Trust me when I say whatever they say, I mean whatever." He lifted his left hand and rolled his sleeve. On his wrist lay a wide silver stud. "They are gonna do this to you," he told us. "Piercings, hurts like hell but it's better than the alternative."

We walked into the bathroom in silence, a kind of terrified silence between us. The bathroom was a long hallway with stalls at one side and doors that led to the hall at the other. Beside each stall's door was a bin. I stared at the first stall and took a deep breath. "I'll take this one," I said, a kind of way to assert myself when I am feeling this vulnerable and scared

"Sure," Sid nodded and went to the other.

I pushed the door but the stall wouldn't open. I pushed harder. [Please follow instructions] I pulled back and squinted at the door. The writing had appeared in red letters on the digital screen on the surface of the door. [First disrobe and dump your dirty cloths in the bin] [Next a change of cloths and a towel will be provided; take them and proceed into the bathroom] [Thirdly wash up, change, and return to the sleeping quarters,] [The end]

"What the fuck?" I said.

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