As Urn stepped out into the dark hallway, he could see strands of energy trailing and floating around the hall, like someone had painted scribbles of blue on the air itself. It’s a trail. He realized, following the strands of energy up the polished wooden stairs and towards a prominent door at the very end of the hallway.

What the? I’ve never seen this door before. Urn felt his heart skip a beat; the door was without a knob and had the illustration of an eye engraved into it. A dark, ominous aura emanated from the door; no, from behind the door. This is it.

“Here we are! Cool, right?” The fish said, diving out of the darkness so suddenly Urn nearly shouted.

“God, stop doing that, it’s creepy,” Urn muttered, turning his attention back to the door that stood before him. The eye engraved in the door seemed to be staring at him. Whenever he flinched or moved in the slightest, the door’s eye followed him, watching his every movement intently. It was unsettling, to say the least. “Where did this door come from?”

“It’s always been there! You just never saw it. Like you could never hear my voice.” The fish said.

“Huh? What would you know, before tonight you spent every day shitting in your bowl.” Urn retorted.

“Wh-didn’t you ask me a question?” The fish asked, confused.

“No, I was talking to myself.” Urn reached out and flicked Ralph on the forehead playfully. “Why would I ask a fish for advice? You’re just the messenger, right?”

“Nope.” The fish crossed its fins as if they were arms. “I am the guardian entrusted by your grandfather to protect you at all costs. I may not look it, but I’m older than you! How about that?”

“...That’s creepy.” Urn sighed, obviously not impressed. “Alright then, so if you could always talk, and the door was always there, how come I never noticed? I mean, there’s no way I can’t see or hear better than a little fish.”

“You know what a third eye is, right?” The fish asked. “It’s like your sixth sense. You can’t see it, but it’s just behind your forehead, and it lets you sense things you wouldn’t normally be able to sense with your other senses.”

“Like those trails of energy from before.” Urn realized. “And that aura I sense from behind that door, too.”

“Exactly! Every year for your birthday, the presents your grandfather gave you weren’t just from the kindness of his heart.” The fish explained. “As you used them, they strengthened the use of your third eye, allowing you to eventually see their effects. That’s why you didn’t notice that I could talk until tonight!”

So that old bastard wasn’t just pranking me for nothing! This should speed my goal up drastically; if I were to guess, mastering one’s use of the third eye is important to learning magic. Urn thought, grinning as he walked towards the door. “Good.”

“Uhh, wait! I’m not finished though, you need to understand something!” The fish flew in front of Urn before he could take another step towards the door. “That door is the crossroads to your fate; once you go through, there’s no coming out. You need to weigh the pros and cons of each choice before going through with one!”

“Aren’t you my grandfather’s lackey? Wouldn’t it be better if you encouraged me to hurry up and go through the door like you were doing before?” Urn asked, confused.

“Not really.” The fish said unconvincingly. “I was created by him, but my ultimate priority is your protection. If you go through that door, you’ll be thrust into a cruel world, where you will be manipulated and toyed with by people you don't even know, including your grandfather.”

Urn nodded. “Yes, I know that much. I suspect there’d be a lot of people who’d want to kill me just by seeing me with the locket, but, if I stay here, I might as well die, you know?”

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“HUH? Are you insane?” The fish asked, startled, and Urn shrugged his shoulders. “Look, if you get to live a good, peaceful life with enough food, and your family and friends around you, why would you want to throw that away without a second thought?”

“You’re not gonna move till I answer you?” Urn asked, and the fish nodded, a determined gleam in its eyes. “Fine. The reason I’d throw it away without a second thought is because I don’t see a value in this kind of life.” His eyes darkened. “Trapped in this life of ordinance, unable to achieve my full potential.”

“So it's the power you want?” The fish asked. “That’s pretty shallow of you!”

Urn parted his lips, as if he were about to say something, and then paused. “I won’t know till I get it.” He said after a moment of silence, and the fish sighed.

“You’re gonna be a real handful are n'tcha kid?” The fish seemed to almost smile as it flew out of the way, pointing a fin at the door... Urn walked past the fish, towards the door, its eye dilating as Urn grew closer, and closer. Biting his quivering lip, he stared the door directly in its eye; and suddenly the door began to creak open. A great current of windswept throughout the hallway, so fierce it nearly blew Urn into the room as strands of red energy extended from the room.

The tendrils of energy wrapped around Urn’s arms, legs, and chest, and then began to pull him into the darkness of the room, Ralph following as the door swung shut.

Shortly after they entered the room, a dim orange light lit up the room. The room was narrow yet incredibly long, so long that Urn couldn’t see the end of the room; and along the cracked stone walls were torches, which illuminated the moss-covered floor. There were…strange tiles with mysterious engravings on each tile.

“Why do I get the feeling those aren’t there just to be cute?” Urn asked, gesturing to the tiled floor. He got a strange feeling from them; a sense of bone-chilling danger.

“Uh-oh,” Ralph muttered.

“UH-OH? Whaddya means ‘uh-oh’, you’re supposed to be the guardian here! What is going on in that tiny head of yours?” Urn groaned, tapping his hand against the fish’s skull numerous times.

“Stop doing that, you’re giving me a headache!” The fish patted its head. “Those weren’t here before guess is your sister would do anything to keep you from obtaining the locket; even if it means killing you.”

“...Right.” Urn closed his eyes and then opened them again. Crouching down, he picked up a small stone and tossed it down the room, watching it skip across the tiles. As it stopped moving, the symbol of the tile beneath it glowed a bright green and the tile vanished, blue flames rising from the hole in the floor and incinerating the rock in a matter of seconds before retreating into the hole.

“Ralph, tell me what I need to do to get across! Like you said, we’re going to have to hurry up before she comes back, right?” Urn said.

“R-right!” The fish flew around Urn hurriedly. “Urn, you have to grab onto that strange feeling you’re sensing and you need to concentrate and lock onto it! Once you do, you’ll be able to see the way out with your third eye!”

Urn nodded, closing his eyes as he locked onto the strange sensation he’d felt from the tiles. Focusing on the feeling of looming danger and death, he felt the presence of the auras around him become stronger as his third eye awakened. As he concentrated, he realized that not every tile had the same aura of danger as the others did; some were safe, while others held traps. It was just a matter of picking out the safe ones.

Grabbing Ralph out of the air, he dashed forward, leaping through the air, and landed on a tile with the symbol of a rabbit. Braced himself, the two tiles beside him opened up, blue flames erupting from them and licking the ceiling; yet the tile he was standing on hadn’t opened up. He was safe.

“Atta boy, keep going! Pick out the safe ones!” Ralph encouraged, and Urn ignored him, casting his gaze across the remaining tiles. Leaping from the current tile he stood on, he landed on another, and then jumped from that one to another, till the movement became as natural to him as dancing.

Grinning as he leaped from tile to tile, he felt a thrill rush throughout every vein in his body. It’s like I’m dancing with Death. He thought as he approached the end of the room; there was yet another door with an eye on it, and two statues standing guard beside the door. In a final, graceful leap he shot from the final tile to the solid, safe floor.

“Phew. That was fun!” Urn laughed as he pulled himself off the ground, shaking himself off. Ralph flew out of Urn’s grasp and stared at him, looking almost confused.

“Something wrong?” Urn asked.

“Nah! Nothing! Let’s just head to the next room; hopefully, there won’t be any more traps lying in wait for us.” The fish gestured grandly to the door and Urn nodded. Taking a step forward, he stared at the eye engraving on the door, just like he had done before.

Except, this time, as the door swung open, a great breeze passed through the room just like before, and the two statues stirred. The statues turning, they both reached out, grabbing for Urn’s shoulders, and flinging him into the next room.