Emily

I opened my eyes to find myself in the room directly under the stairwell. I vaguely remembered selecting to come here after trying unsuccessfully to answer the next riddle. I couldn’t even remember what it was, just that I had failed in saying the right answer.

With a groan I propped myself up and looked around. Everyone else was in a circle talking in hushed tones, not even noticing my appearance. Layton was on my right and as I looked around light coalesced into a surprised looking Drake. The others finally seemed to notice us and waved us over.

I helped Layton and Drake up and we all walked over.

Minya looked at us all over. “You guys okay? That looked painful from out here.” She told us with a slight hint of concern in her voice.

I smiled at her softly. “We're okay, just banged up mentally. Those riddles were more difficult than I was expecting.” I told them all, looking at Kent for a moment more than was probably necessary.

I quickly turned away, coughing slightly before looking at Drake. “I think we should let them all have a go at it, they are just as likely to succeed as we are, might as well give them a chance.” I said, slightly discouraged that we hadn’t gotten a single answer right. What kind of luck was that?

Brock looked at the three of us seriously. “You should let me, Minya and Kent try, I bet we might be able to get at least one right answer.” He told us confidently. I shrugged might as well. I thought it didn’t hurt anyway and that was exactly along the lines of what I was thinking so it was perfect.

Brock stood up and walked to the slab, Kent and Minya hurrying to catch up and when they got close enough, a cage materialized around them. It was made in such a way that I couldn’t see the slab, but I could see them.

As text wrote out along the slab, Brock immediately let out an answer. “Final answer - Gift.” He said it with such confidence and surety that I was immediately certain that he knew what he was doing.

There was a loud ringing sound and Brock pumped his fist, probably getting the notification he had gotten it right.

The next riddle came up and this time Minya was the one to answer immediately. “Final answer- a river.” She said, just as confident in herself as Brock had been.

As the next riddle came up Kent laughed. “That’s easy, Final answer - Darkness.” He said with a slight smirk that looked pretty good on his cute face- I mean, man they were really good at this riddle thing. With a loud *clang* The cage fell away revealing the slab of metal that had fallen down, showing a hatch that had been hidden underneath it.

We all looked at each other. Minya shook her head. “We shouldn’t go just yet. I want to explore this room, there might be secrets hidden around here somewhere. I don’t know why I just get a feeling.

I nodded my head. “I would like to do that as well, this place just feels like it has so many secrets hiding all around it.” I said, looking around the room with a slight smile.

Kent smiled at me. “That's a good idea. I wouldn’t want to miss out on any good items or potions just because we rushed the trial.” He said with his signature smirk.

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I felt my face heat up slightly. He is doing anything weird, Emily, he is just talking to his friend. We're just friends. I mentally scolded myself.

Minya stood up and stretched, walking over to one of the walls and inspecting it. “Hey Emily, what do these glyphs mean?” She asked me, pointing at the wall in front of her, which was practically covered in glyphs.

I walked over and looked at them. I couldn’t read them just yet, but I had a basic understanding of what they did, which helped me understand what they were trying to say. “It is talking about seeing without our eyes I think, or something equally as cryptic as that. It is actually really confusing.” I told her, brow furrowed in thought. Some of these glyphs looked like covering something up, which I think meant illusion, or something like that. Was something in here an illusion? I wondered idly, looking around.

I touched the wall and started to walk around, my hand dragging along the wall. I was just trying to find a secret door or a hidden passageway or even just something out of the ordinary. I paced the entire perimeter of the cave and still, nothing.

I frowned and looked around. I was sure that there was something hidden in this room, I just didn’t know how to find it. I went back to a portion of the wall that had more glyphs than most, and looked deeply at it. What was I missing?

As I continued to look around, Minya and Brock started to do what I had done, checking the walls for any sign of change. Kent was just walking around, seeming to be looking at the walls instead of touching them. I turned and looked at Kent, and just when I did something strange happened. He seemed to hit something and held his head in his hands, grunting in pain. I rushed over and quickly healed him.

“What happened?” I asked him, looking around at the air near us to try and see what he had run into.

He stood up and rubbed his head. “I don’t really know, one second I was just walking and looking at the wall, the next pain erupted in my head and I fell over. Then a few seconds later you came and helped me.” He said looking at the place where he had run into something. “This is weird…” Was all he said as he stared at the spot.

I reached up and felt at the spot. As I waved my hand around I felt nothing, but a few seconds later my hand touched something cool and slick. It felt like metal.

I continued to feel around it until I felt something out of the ordinary. It felt like… Plastic? I pressed on it softly and felt it give in. suddenly a sphere appeared in my hands, with a button on the side, my hand still pressing it.

Multiple other spheres appeared around the room, just hovering there casually. “Everyone! Go press a button and let's see if anything happens.” I yelled at them, still pressing the button.

Kent was the first to respond, jogging over to a nearby sphere and pressing its button. “Guys, listen to her! Who knows what might happen?” He said, grinning.

Minya and Brock walked over and pressed a button, with Layton, Plikt and Drake doing the same. There was still one more button that hadn’t been pressed yet though and I frowned. What to do? How would we push the button? I suddenly had an idea. “Someone sends a spell at the last button, make sure it doesn’t break it though!” I added in quickly.

Layton picked up a rock, still pressing her button and lightly tossed it at the button, hitting it square on. There was a deep rumbling sound and one of the walls folding in on itself, revealing a hallway behind itself.

I hesitantly took my hand off of the button, waiting for something to happen with bated breath. When nothing happened I walked over to the hallway and peered in, seeing only dark shadows at the end. I gulped. I hated anything horror, and a dark hallway was the very definition of something horrifying happening.

Kent walked up beside me. “What are we waiting for?” He asked me, before plunging into the dark hallway. I stared at it, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, and Kent disappeared from view. Brock and Minya followed soon after, Layton and Drake hot on their heels. I still hesitated though, terrified of what might happen.

Plikt stopped beside me offering his hand. “Don’t worry, I will help you.” He said it with such confidence that I wanted to believe him so bad. I took his hand and walked with him into the darkness.