Dioha and the Femure looked at each other waiting for their tiles to open up and take them down also. After waiting a full thirty seconds, the Femure spoke up first.
"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?"
"I DON'T KNOW." Dioha answered.
"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" the girl asked, a squeak announcing her agitation.
"THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. AT LEAST NOT LIKE THIS. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO WALK THROUGH THAT THRESHOLD BEFORE THIS BEGINS TO HAPPEN. AND IT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STEP ON AN EMPTY TILE OR KILL THE HOST OF A TILE."
Dioha pointed to two huge pillars ahead standing erect as if they were guardians to some other realm.
As Dioha looked on he saw something strange. A large piece of rock as big as a bathtub was lying some distance beyond the two erect pillars.
"THAT'S NEVER BEEN THERE. I GUESS THAT'S WHAT TRIGGERED THE TRAPS EARLY. SO LONG AS THAT LIES BEYOND THE THRESHOLD THE TRAPS ARE CONSTANTLY ACTIVE. WE HAVE TO MOVE. STEP ONLY ON TILES THAT HAVE SPIDERS ON THEM, TRY NOT TO KILL THE SPIDERS WHILE DOING THAT. YOU HAVE TO MOVE OFF THE TILE BEFORE THE SPIDER LEAVES IT." Dioha cautioned.
"OH GOD! NOT SPIDERS!!" The Femure screeched.
"LET'S GO." Dioha said to her.
"I CAN'T!" the Femure whimpered.
"WE HAVE TO GO NOW. THE SPIDER ON YOUR TILE IS GETTING ON THE NEXT TILE." Dioha warned.
"THERE'S A SPIDER ON MY TILE?!!!
She screamed.
She looked down and yelped. She sprang into the air and landed in Dioha's arms burying her face in Dioha's chest. She was heavy and was a strain on Dioha but he was determined to get them through to the other side. This was the last part of the maze and already they'd lost two of their companions. It was hard to know if they were just separated from them or dead. Dioha decided not to dwell on such thoughts. Dioha moved across the hall jumping from tile to tile, avoiding the spiders on the tiles so as not to step on them. The girl in his arms was holding onto him so tightly her fingers dug into him drawing blood. Dioha stumbled as he got off the last tile crashing into the alcove at the end of the room. He found himself on the Femure whose eyes had flown open when Dioha stumbled, dropped her, and then landed on her. She pulled Dioha closer as Dioha tried to get up hastily. Their lips met and locked, something that took Dioha completely by surprise.
Her lips were puffy and tasted like strawberries. Dioha tried to pull away but simply couldn't. She bit his lower lip eliciting a soft groan from him. Dioha's hand reached up, searching. She adjusted, pushing herself to meet Dioha. Dioha's fingers found what they were searching for and pressed. There was a click as the hidden button Dioha's finger just pressed opened up the hidden door in the alcove. The Femure momentarily stopped kissing Dioha and looked up to see what was happening. Dioha took the opportunity to disengage from her, getting up and walking into the Keeper's office.
The office was empty unlike some few days ago when the Keeper had been on seat. The clock on the wall read 4:25am. It was still very early for the Keeper or the council to be in the Chamber of Echoes. Dioha moved out of the Keeper's office heading for the Chamber of Echoes directly. The two sentries weren't anywhere to be seen. Dioha hurriedly crossed the corridor with the Femure in tow.
Dioha pushed against the big double doors of the Chamber of Echoes. The doors swung inwards slowly.
"I CAN'T FOLLOW YOU IN THERE WITHOUT BEING SUMMONED. IT'S AGAINST NORMAL PROTOCOL." the Femure said stopping just outside the door.
"YOU SINCERELY WANT TO WORRY ABOUT PROTOCOLS RIGHT NOW? WHAT'S SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS SITUATION? STEP INTO THE CHAMBER WITH ME." Dioha said,offering his hand.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. WITHOUT A SUMMON FROM ANY OF THE WATCHERS I CAN'T GO THROUGH THIS DOORS. THE…" she complained.
"WELL, I JUST ASKED YOU TO COME WITH ME, DIDN'T I? TIME TO FIND OUT IF TRULY I'M A WATCHER."
As Dioha stepped into the meeting place of the Watchers he pulled out the big topaz ring from his pocket and put it on releasing the magic within the ring. Power flooded him as he passed seamlessly through the invisible barrier of the chamber. The Femure walked slowly through without any issues.
As Dioha crossed into the room, the scenery suddenly changed into a forest. At first Dioha was confused. He spun round and round trying to understand where he was, and what happened to the Chamber of Echoes. He was alone in this space. The Femure was not here with him. This felt like an illusion yet he felt a sudden sense of déjà vu as he looked closely at the vegetation. This place reminded him of Ogalé's nether realm. He looked up and around hoping to see the mountain but the thick foliage of the forest wouldn't let him see far. It dawned on Dioha instantly. This was his test, the special test prepared for him. But what confused him was he saw no one when entering the chamber, not Watcher, not Chiefs. No one was watching the test right this moment. He reasoned the chamber must have been prepared in the night with various spells and wards to create this illusion when he walked in today. He'd just walked in, triggering the wards and spells and starting the test ahead of time. There was no backing out of it now. He had to see it through. Thankfully he'd put the ring in his pocket as he went to bed last night. It would've been such bad luck to walk into this without his only ray of hope.
Dioha walked deeper into the forest. The blood red skies made the entire scenery creepy. Dioha kept listening as he moved. The Saber-wolves were still a big concern for Dioha. He didn't want to be caught unawares by those monsters. He walked on trying to find the entry point so he could exit the nether realm quickly and probably walk into another part of his memories the Watchers wanted to see through. Triggering the illusion before time was a blessing in disguise. Unless the council put some sort of alarm when spelling the place they had no way to know he had begun the test without them, no way to see where he went to or know what he knew. The quicker he could finish this test the better.
Dioha walked for what must have been a very long time but still couldn't find the spot or the tree that had marked the area of Ogalé's entry point. The creepy red sky made it hard to determine just how long he'd been walking. He was exhausted and hungry, the soles of his feet hurt, and he was beginning to regret putting on the ring so early. He had used the ring because without a Summon from a Watcher or acceptance from the Keeper of the Scrolls it was impossible to enter the chamber. The first time, he had the Keeper to walk him past the barrier but this second time he needed to be in his real Watcher mode to get through. He had even summoned someone through after taking out the ring. His only fear now was he couldn't tell how long the ring had been active, how many more hours before it lost its magic, and how long before anything showed up to attack him. And just like an answer to his last question, he heard two blood chilling howls coming a little further away.
Dioha instinctively broke two large branches and a much smaller and slender one effortlessly. He proceeded to whittle down the small branch into sharp pointy ends with his hands and fingers, but that wasn't easy. He found a spot he could stay hidden, out of sight while he waited for the wolves to come to him. Dioha was certain the wolves had smelled him from that distance with their heightened sense of smell. With one knee on the ground, two large branches lying side by side on the floor, and the small one in his grip Dioha kept a vigilant eye.
One Saber-wolf sauntered into view, sniffing at the air and the ground. Dioha slowly raised his crude spear and aimed. He threw the spear the precise moment the wolf looked sideways exposing one eye clearly. The force and accuracy of Dioha's throw was such that the crude spear pierced through the wolf's left eye all the way through to the right eye. The wolf was thrown back against a tree. It whined loudly in pain, raising its paws in a bid to remove the long slender wood stuck in between its head. Its cries and howls were so loud Dioha winced. Dioha waited patiently to know where the other wolf was. Dioha could sense that the second wolf was hiding, waiting for him to step out into the open before attacking. Dioha also knew wolves had maternal instincts, meaning the longer this wolf was in pain the more worried and reckless the other would become. Just like Dioha predicted, not long afterwards, the second wolf dashed into the opening. Its eyes were trained at where Dioha was hiding. It bit on the wood embedded in the other's eye sockets trying to pull it out. This caused excruciating pain to the wolf in pains as it howled madly and trashed about wildly. If the wood got pulled out this would give the wounded wolf the chance to heal and regenerate its eyes. Dioha couldn't lose his advantage in this battle, not again.
Dioha stepped out into the open carrying the two huge branches. The second Saber-wolf saw him and yanked hard at the wood in its friend's eyes trying to force it free quickly but this only hurt and infuriated the wounded wolf. It barked and tried to bite its companion. The second wolf quickly let go of the wood and dashed at Dioha. Dioha let it get very close. The wolf leapt at Dioha who immediately activated his shield. The wolf crashed into the shield. The shield flung the wolf back several meters away in retaliation. While the wolf was airborne flying backwards, Dioha used his godlike speed and raced after the wolf. He deactivated his shield when he was within striking range, and struck the wolf in the neck with such a force that if the wolf were ordinary, the neck would've snapped in two. The wolf slammed into the ground breaking several bones as it did. It tried to get up but couldn't. Dioha pummeled it to the ground with the two large sticks in his hands, concentrating on the head. When he stopped, the head of the Saber-wolf was a bloody paste on the grassy ground of the forest. Dioha decided not to take chances. He pulled out the gun he got from the human soldier, knelt and said some sort of prayer, before shooting the Saber-wolf three times in the head. He got up and went after the wounded one. He found it after some seconds. It was still in pain and trying to get the wood out of its eyes to no avail. Dioha shot it in the head as it sensed him coming and tried to run away. Dioha knelt beside it and repeated the same ritual before shooting three more times in the head.