A bullet whizzed, piercing through the head of a white bishop. All at once, a blaze of gunfire exploded within the stadium. Leads thudded onto the melted chocolate chess board. Cheers erupted as the Black Forest Dragon and Sachertorte Hydra breathed a stream of fire at the ceiling.

Florence dropped to the cheesecake floor, lying flat on her stomach, covering her head and neck. Then Stella squeezed the four packaging boxes inside a white candy skull, wriggling out of it. The rat squeaked on a television screen above them, holding onto his tail with a pink ribbon tied to it.

Sam sniffed, rubbing on the catnip and chewing a mouthful.

Yuze snored with chunks of waffles and candy flying in the air. Aisling crawled while dragging Yuze towards Florence.

“Pardon me, what have you done?” Florence asked.

Aisling coughed, taking a bite on the cheesecake floor. She opened her mouth to speak, but the screams, cheers, and gunfire drowned her voice.

“What?” Florence asked.

Aisling opened and closed her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Florence screamed with bullets flying over her head. “I cannot hear you.”

Aisling pinched and leaned closer to Florence’s ear. “Cheat codes… kinda,” she said.

“You got an escape plan?” Florence asked.

“This is my plan.”

“What?”

Stella jolted up, slapping Florence and Aisling in the face.

Aisling squeezed her cheeks. “Ouch, that kinda hurts,” she said. She smiled, squinting at Stella.

“I… I mean, I don’t mean it… I’m sorry,” Stella said.

Florence winced. “I do not see how we could escape this mess.”

“Look, if everyone is kinda dead, we could escape from here,” Aisling said. “It’s kinda a checkmate if you ask me about it.”

Florence, with a blank face, stared at Aisling.

“What’s the matter?” Aisling said.

“What sort of ridiculous joke is that?” Florence asked.

“Is not that bad. I’ve kinda said stuff even worse than that.”

A black rook scooped across the cheesecake floor, aiming a rifle barrel at Florence. Florence closed her eyes, and her eardrums rang.

A burning lead scathed across her skin. Her throat constricted, holding the scream in. Someone gripped her wrist. But, all at once, the shout, cheers, and banging of gunshots fell into an eerie silence.

She opened one of her eyes. A lead barreled, stopping inches away from her face. For a certain reason, all those other bullets also froze mid-flight. Sam and all of the NPCs stopped, expressing an unnatural expression. Even the streams of fire shot from those two mythical reptiles froze solid.

Out of the blue, Aisling yanked Florence, pulling them closer together.

All at once, everything kicked back to action. From the bullets splatter through the deserts and sweets to the roar of cheers. The black rook collapsed to the cheesecake floor, oozing a dark liquid from a gun wound in her head.

“Hey, you alright,” Aisling said with a strained voice.

Florence winced, covering the scratch on her cheek. “Absolutely, but what just happened.”

“Ability,” Yuze said. “Nah.”

“Nothing much.” Aisling coughed, cupping her mouth. Her face drained from any color. “If all of you’re fine, that’s fine with me.”

The black rook crumbled into dust, revealing a blue crystal with a warm glow.

“Money,” Yuze said.

“I swear I have seen this before,” Florence said, pointing at the blue crystal. “If I remember correctly, I saw this in a cafe or something.”

“Insert blue candy joke here,” Aisling said.

Florence furrowed her brow, staring at Aisling.

“You really can’t take a joke at all.” Aisling wheezed, clutching her chest. “You boomer.”

“Is boomer a type of… you know?” Florence asked.

“Never mind… you’re just hopeless.”

“Hopeless? How?”

Yuze rolled over to the blue crystal, grabbing it. Then she stuffed it into the pocket of her black leather jacket.

“Pardon me, but do you have an escape plan?” Florence asked. “By the way, please tell me that crystal will help us?”

Aisling turned towards the gates. “Nope, it’s totally useless in this situation. But we kinda need to do something else first.”

“Do not tell me you are trying to go back?”

“This place is literally haunted by a ghost. Anything is possible.”

“Pardon?”

“We wait for them to kill each other, and then we’re gonna dash for the exit.”

Florence and Aisling stared at each other in an eerie silence forming between them. The crowd of NPCs cheered. Bullets fired, whizzing through the air. Aisling squinted, tilting her head and opening her mouth wide.

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“Should we exorcize the ghost haunt this place?” Florence asked.

Aisling waved her hands. “I don’t think we should.”

“Ability,” Yuze said. “Bad.”

“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Florence blinked and scratched the back of her head. “Why should we… not do that?”

“It’s nothing much. Don’t think about it,” Aisling said. “The ghost that haunts this place is kinda none of our business.”

Stella yawned, sitting up and stretching her arms into the air. She rubbed her eyes as leads flew past her. Immediately, Aisling grabbed Stella, yanking her to rest on the ground.

“Be careful,” Aisling said.

“How about we focus on getting out of here?” Florence rubbed her forehead. “Instead of just sitting around and doing nothing,” she said.

Stella yelped, covering her head with the four packaging boxes. “What… I mean, what’s happening right now?”

“You miss,” Yuze said. “Many things.”

“Everyone, we have got to focus on the task at hand,” Florence said.

“Yup, go ahead.” Aisling waved her arm. “Crawl over there if you wanna be an insane and suicidal maniac.”

Florence pointed at herself, wondering what Aisling was talking about.

“Forget about it.” Aisling palmed her head, covering her face.

A ball of fire exploded behind the chocolate chessboard. The white king’s head whirled, landing on Florence’s palm.

“Hello,” the white king said.

Florence, Aisling, and Stella screamed. Aisling grabbed the white king, tossing him into a crossfire.

The white king yelped. “What did I do?”

“Sorry,” Aisling said.

Florence inhaled and exhaled, counting down from one to three in her brain. “Could all of you chess pieces stop shooting at each other.”

Aisling coughed. She squeezed her neck. Blood poured out of her mouth, splashing on the cheesecake.

“Aisling?” Florence asked.

“Yup, I’m fine,” Aisling said. “It’s kinda some side effects of my…”

“Of your what?”

“Nothing.”

“Honestly, I think it will be better for us to get you to the hospital.”

Aisling wiped her lips and chin, smiling at Florence.

“Look, something is wrong with your lungs, Aisling,” Florence said. “But I cannot possibly diagnose and treat you by myself. You need others’ help from the hospital for you to recover. You understand me?”

“If we could kinda avoid it first, then yup… I guess we could go there,” Aisling said.

“How about we use that crystal Yuze just got? Maybe that crystal could help you or all of us somehow?”

“Yup, we could use it. But… I think we have to use it somewhere else.”

“Where?”

The firing of guns died down. Florence carefully pushed herself off the cheesecake floor. A desolate land filled with crumbling chess pieces on the board facing her. Holes riddled across every single of the waffle wall.

One of the audience booed. “Hey, this sucks. Give me a refund right now.”

“I guess we are done here?” Florence asked.

The gates creaked. A gray king scrapped his feet across the cheesecake floor, stopping inches from the chess board.

“Is it me, or is he in a different color?” Florence asked.

The gray king scooped a handful of the crumbling black queen. “What’ve you done?”

Everyone in the enclosed stadium turned towards Florence, Aisling, Yuze, and Stella.

“I think we should be heading out soon,” Florence said. She pumped her legs, slapping her feet across the cheesecake floor, reaching the gates with Aisling, Yuze, and Stella following.

“Florence, what are you thinking about doing this time?” Aisling said, grasping Florence’s shoulder.

“I didn’t say you can leave… like at all,” the rat said. “Everyone arrest those Players.”

The entire stadium stayed eerily silent. Everyone watched the television screen hanging on the ceiling displaying the rat.

“Do I have to speak Spanish or something for all you NPCs to understand what I’m saying?” The rat pulled his ears. “The first one to catch those Players will win today’s reward, dead or alive.”

An uproar rumbled.

Sam and the crowd turned into a mob, jumping off where they once sat, screeching their lungs out. They dashed towards Florence.

Aisling and Stella screamed.

Yuze jumped into Aisling’s arms, and together, they fled from the enclosed stadium. But instead of returning to the tunnel filled with bones, they sank into something fluffy beneath them.

Before Florence knew it, the mass of cotton candy below swallowed her. A burst of sweetness and caramel popped into her mouth. Suddenly, she fell through, splashing into a river of cloudy yellow liquid. She kicked and thrashed, descending deeper into the tangy notes. Her eyes stung, closing it shut.

A hand grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the bank of a river covered in smashed biscuits.

“Pardon me, why is this different than before?” Florence asked.

Aisling sank, wiggling her body, failing to stay afloat. “I’m kinda sure you know why this is happening.”

“How is this Candy Wonderland haunted? Am I supposed to not see the ghost just like in the Wellor Tower?”

“You kinda already saw that ghost who haunted this candy land.”

“Pardon?”

Aisling shrugged, yanking Yuze and Stella out of the river.

Sam crawled to the opposing bank of the river, heaving with every single step. “Coward,” he said. “Come back here, plebs… and Stella. I’m not done yet.”

“Shut your mouth,” Aisling said.

“Why are you chasing us, Sam?” Florence asked. “Are we not on the same boat?”

“What boat? I don’t see one.” Sam extended his claws, pointing at all of them. “I’m the only one paying our debt, bills, necessities, and rent.”

Aisling unsheathed her dagger. “You wanna fight? Then get over here.”

“Pardon me, we should not fight each other now,” Florence said.

Yuze nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s kinda none of your business,” Aisling and Sam said.

The mob plummeted from the cotton candy above, splashing into the cloudy liquid. They kicked, swashing towards Florence, Aisling Yuze, and Stella.

Sam wiggled his tail. “Let the fun begin.”

A droplet trickled down Florence’s face. She pushed herself up, swooshing her fingers through the foundation made of smashed biscuits. Her hair whipped across her face. Her feet smacked across the ground, dashing away from those chasing them.

“Give us a break,” Aisling said. On her back, she carried Yuze, catching up to Florence.

Behind them, Stella held onto the four soaked packaging boxes, escaping in the same direction as them.

The lollipops sticking from the ground loomed over Florence. The smashed biscuits crunched beneath her feet as she dashed past it.

“I do… I mean, I don’t want to be here.” Stella sneezed, covering her face with the packaging boxes. Her legs trembled with every step of the way.

“Same,” Florence said. “Where is the exit any way?”

Aisling smiled, a cloudy liquid trickling down her cheeks. “I’m going to be honest; just run in a random direction.”

Both Florence and Aisling turned their heads, staring at each other.

Florence slipped, slamming her head against the stick of a lollipop with a bang.

Aisling kneeled. She grabbed Florence on the dress, dragging her to her feet. They moved forward in rapid steps as Sam and the mob of NPCs chased behind them.

Florence, Aisling, Yuze, and Stella stumbled with quickened paces upon an opening, stopping to a halt.

A shadow loomed over them.

In front of them, the rat held a microphone and stood behind a green cloth.

The rat spun away from the camera, looking down at Florence, Aisling, Yuze, and Stella.

Sam and some NPCs screeched to a stop, bumping into Florence.

“Florence, this is the ghost that haunts this place,” Aisling said.

The rat quivered his tail. “I see. So, you’re finally here.”