I had never tried imagining what it would be like to be teleported, but if I had tried imagining it, my first time being teleported wouldn’t have been anything like how I would have imagined it.

One moment I was standing in the mansion, then suddenly there was a flash of white all around me. Once it faded, I was standing somewhere else entirely. No whirlwinds surrounding me, no dropping out of the sky, no other pomp and circumstance. Just a flash and a new location.

And it was indeed somewhere entirely new. We found ourselves in a field situated under a night sky – a deep, dark blue canvas glittering with starlight bright enough to light up the whole place. I wondered if we had also somehow traveled through time. After all, it had been sunny outside of the mansion.

“Greetings, Mr. Rouden and Ms. Ochre.”

The high-pitched, childish voice seemingly came out of nowhere and made me jump in surprised. I whipped around, searching for the source, before my eyes landed on the culprit.

It was white, wispy, and glowing, and it hovered off the ground, just like the orb. Unlike the orb, however, it had a humanoid shape that ended at the waist. Its only features were its face, and it was an ugly face indeed – massive black eyes with a large, spiky grin, filled with pointed teeth.

I instantly reached for my axe, my instincts kicking in at seeing a monster, albeit one I had never seen before. November quickly stopped me, holding a hand up in front of me.

“Greetings,” she replied too casually, as if she were speaking with a person and not a hideous specter.

“It knows our names, Vember!” I hissed into her ear. “It’s probably the one that put our names on our doors.”

“Indeed, I did write your names on my doors.” It grinned eerily.

“Your doors?” Vember placed her hand on my shoulder, her signal for ‘calm down and back off’. “Are you the owner of the mansion?”

“I am the mansion.” Its words sent a chill through my body. It was a nonsensical statement, and yet I believed it. It was enough to convince me to disregard my commitment of remaining for a week and to abandon the mansion as soon as I could.

“How do you know our names then?” November’s questions were light and curious, not sounding the least bit concerned.

“I know many things.” Its grin did not fade.

“Then do you know where our friend is?” She smiled authentically. “His name is Reed. We’ve come here to look for him.”

“Yes, Mr. Greenwater. He has already begun the trial.”

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“What is the trial?” November’s tone was more serious now.

The specter raised an arm and pointed at a small wooden structure behind us. “Enter the shed and retrieve the chest inside. Once you do, you may keep it, and you will all be returned to the mansion.”

“I thought you were the mansion.” I failed to stop myself from making the snide comment.

“More specifically, I am the spirit that dwells within the mansion and gives it life. I am not the physical building.”

“Right,” I muttered, looking over my shoulder at the shed. “You just want us to get inside the shed and get a chest? Then we’ll all be sent back?”

“Correct!” it replied cheerfully, in that unbearable childish voice. “The trial will be over, and the orb will disappear. But don’t worry! There will be more orbs and more trials appearing around the mansion.”

I regarded it skeptically. “Why would we want to do more trials?”

“For the treasure, of course!” It let out a loud, shrieking giggle, which felt like it was tearing my ears apart from the inside. “The treasure, just like you will find inside of the shed.”

“Okay…” I stepped back, eager to escape the conversation. “We’ll just get started on that straight away, then.” I turned away, finally giving my eyes a rest from the horrid sight.

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,” November said. “And I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you say your name?”

“It’s just as I told you – I am the mansion.”

“Ah, right. Well then, thank you, Mansion.” I glanced back to see her following my lead, turning to the shed and starting toward it.

We walked to the shed in silence. I wanted to talk to Vember, to discuss what we were witnessing, but I knew Mansion would hear us. I resolved to just speak with her when we got back, but that didn’t seem much better – it seemed to be able to hear us anywhere.

A banging sound emerged and grew louder the closer we got to the shed. Reed was nowhere in sight, but I suspected he was responsible for the noise. Indeed, once we reached our destination, I rounded the building to find a man on the other side, banging away at the wall with a rock.

“What in the world are you doing?” I asked.

Reed flinched, clearly startled as he made eye contact with me. “Oh! You’re Arrow the beast slayer!”

I tilted my head to the side. “Mm-hmm. Now answer the question.”

“Oh!” Reed was shaking. Had he been shaking the whole time? Maybe he had. “I’m trying to get inside the shed so I can get back to the rest of the guild.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And the door isn’t working?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t find a door. Did you see a door?”

I hadn’t seen a door, but his statement surprised me. “I’ll just see for myself.” I began to circle the building, while November stayed with Reed and chatted with him.

“We were so worried about you, Reed!” she exclaimed. “We were worried you were gone for good.”

“So you came after me?” He chuckled nervously. “I’m not sure that was wise.”

Their voices grew softer the further I walked from them. “Well, I was just going to send Arrow, but it turns out he was too scared.” I rolled my eyes. “I figured he’s big and strong enough to escort you back from wherever you had been sent.”

“It was kind of you both to come after me.” Reed’s voice was growing louder now as my circle approached its completion. He had been right – there was no door.

“Vember!” I called as I reached them once again. “Check the roof?”

Not needing to be asked twice, she walked away from the shed. Once she was far enough, she sprinted back toward it and leapt onto the roof.

“Whoa!” Reed shouted. “You can jump!”

“Nothing up here.” November stomped hard on the roof. “It’s quite sturdy. I don’t think we’ll get through this way.”

“That’s what I thought.” I pulled out my axe. “Thank you, Vember. You can climb down now. I’ll take care of this.”

I raised my axe and got to work.