Almost all of the students were at the hotel, eating the barbeque buffet, having the time of their lives after the whole hunt for the prize courtesy by the museum's director, Helena.
On the other hand, Leon was sitting alone at a table for two as he only ate like a chicken barbeque and a hotdog on a stick while his only beverage was a can of Pepsi. He was occupied by playing games on his phone however, his mind has been floating elsewhere even when he's playing.
'Well, there goes my chance of asking her name. Way to go, Leon,' he thought to himself. 'Although, I can't help but feel like I've seen her before. But where?...and when?'
Just then, Nicole, who was holding a plate of food, sees him and walks toward his table saying, "Is this seat taken?"
Leon looked up from his phone and seeing Nicole, he replied, "Nope,"
Nicole placed her plate down on the table as she sits down in the chair opposite him. Noticing the small meal that Leon's eating, she said "Still on that diet?"
Leon looked at her and scoffed, "Uh, no. I'm not," he replied, "Just, uh, not that hungry,"
Nicole smirks, "Why so defensive? It's only a question," she said,
Leon sighs and picks up the hotdog on a stick and begins eating it while playing his game. Nicole shrugs and begins eating her food as well. The atmosphere around the hotel became a little more lively than it did. Many of the students finished their meals and began heading outside to the park, located outside the hotel, where the bonfire will be held.
Leon and Nicole placed the plates along with the long stack of plates on one table and followed the students to the park. By the time they got there, they were surprised to see that the seats were carved logs placed on the ground, surrounding this large bonfire in the center.
As he looked around, Leon spotted the girl he paired up with during the hunt. He saw her sitting on a log alongside what appears to be two of her friends. He was about to approach her when Nicole called out to him. Leon turned around and followed Nicole to a spot in the middle, where the view of the campfire behind the moonlight is visible.
Just as soon as the rest of the students began to take their seats, Helena stood in the center, a few steps away from the bonfire, as she faced the students while holding a microphone in her hand. "Alright, everyone. This marks the first day of your overnight stay in the establishment as well as a successful first hunt" she said through her microphone, "Now we have one more thing to do before we could end the night so gather round and one section will be the outer circle while the other will be the inner circle..."
A few minutes have passed and all of the students reluctantly form the circles and are now waiting for the next instruction.
Helena a counting the students while her mic is off, "...and now the outer will move clockwise while the inner circle will move counter-clockwise." she continued, "While that's going on, you must face each other and do a handshake and quick introduction like your name or something. A-a-a-and you may begin!"
The piano-like music starts to play, and the students began to move. The ones in the outer circle walked around clockwise while the ones in the inner circle went the other way around.
Leon just smiled as he shook hands with the other section but upon seeing the girl shaking hands with the other students in the distance, he mentally prepared to introduce himself.
By the time Leon and the girl were able to meet again, they both shook hands but just as they were about to exchange a few words, Helena blew her whistle and all the students stopped as she said, "Alright, times up! That concludes the end of the first day and you may all go back to your rooms. Have a good night!"
While some of the students were headed back inside the hotel and into their rooms, Leon stayed and had a little chat with the girl he paired with earlier.
"So, uh, we meet again huh," he said,
The girl nodded, "Yep." she replied, "And your name was, Leon, right? I heard your name when we paired in the hunt,"
"Oh yeah. That's me. You were in quite the hurry back there," Leon said,
The girl chuckled "Haha! Yeah, my bad." she replied, "It's Barbara, by the way,"
Leon looked at her confused, "Huh?"
Barbara chuckled and shook his hand again, "My name's Barbara. Barbara Gonzales." she said,
Leon's eyes widen and he smiles, "Pleasure meeting you, Barbara," he said,
Barbara smiled back, "Likewise," she replied
They both let go of their hands and stood there awkwardly until Nicole was calling Leon from afar. Leon turned to go but turned back to see Barbara and waved his hand at her before heading back to his room as Barbara did the same and headed back to her room.
That night, Leon was having a sort of unusual dream. He could see himself standing on what appears to be a grassy plain and above him is a clear blue sky. Then, the whole place starts to get a little cloudy. Leon was confused as the air was swirling around him. He couldn't move except using his arms crossed in front of him, trying to block the wind off his face. Suddenly, he felt an ominous presence behind him as he noticed a giant shadow towering above. He turned around and saw a giant beast silhouette with its emerald-green eyes looking down at him.
The swirling air made it hard for Leon to see and distinguish what the beast looked like but all he could see are the emerald-green eyes and a mane around the beast's head.
"Gah! Who are you?!" Leon asked, but the beast didn't say anything.
The beast then lifts its paw and slammed it back down causing the ground to shake a bit. From where the beast slammed its paw formed a crack that then created a line all the way beneath Leon. However, just before Leon could react, the ground beneath him crumbled and a large hole formed.
As he realized that he was falling into the abyss, he managed to get a good look at the beast but his vision was blurred. The last thing he saw was a giant scaly hand with its pointy fingers reaching out to him before everything went black.
Leon immediately sat up from his bed as he woke up breathing heavily. He could feel his sweat running down his forehead. He grabbed a napkin on the table beside him and saw the time in his digital clock. It was around 5:30 in the morning to be exact.
'Just what in the world was that?' he thought to himself as he tried to recall his dream but he only remembered bits of it.
He then gets up from his bed and walked towards the bathroom sink to wash his face. By the time he was done, he lay down on his bed and turned on the TV, hoping that he could calm his mind about that dream.
About an hour had passed, Leon was just watching a video from his laptop while he was eating the breakfast that he ordered from room service. He then noticed a ping notification in his inbox. Putting his plate on the side of the table, he paused the video he was watching to check his emails.
Upon reading that it was an announcement from his adviser that all the students must meet up inside the museum at 7 AM, Leon looked at the time in his watch and it's 6:38 AM. He sighed as he took a few scoops of rice in his mouth, finishing his meal, and got changed into his light grey shirt, navy blue jeans, and topping it all with his dark green bomber jacket and his blue sneakers.
He went out of his room, locking it behind him as he heads out of the hotel. Seeing as though, many of the students were heading to the same destination, Leon just played his game on his phone while walking inside the museum.
As more students went inside the museum, they all head towards the new exhibit in the museum. Helena and her assistant, who was carrying a scissor in her hand, were standing in the entrance to it with a red ribbon blocking the entrance.
Just as all of the students were in their respective lines, Helena was standing there in front of the red ribbon, holding a tablet to check the number of students.
Leon stood beside Nicole as he wondered what the surprise was all about. Just then, the lights went out and a spotlight shined on Helena as she is now seen standing there while fixing her earpiece.
"Alright, ladies and gents! Now I know you all are confused and anxious to find out why you all are called into this." she said, "Well, during the time of the hunt yesterday, we intentionally placed the flag in this area to give you a bit of a tease and now is the time to show you what we have in store."
Helena took a step back as she sees her assistant handing a pair of scissors to her. The secretary then held the middle part of the ribbon with both hands as Helena held the scissors but just as she was about to cut the ribbon, she turned to the audience and said, "Without further ado, we present to you our new exhibit, The Pandorenian Edo Era!"
She then cut the rope to which the curtain behind them opened and revealed a room in some sort of intricate cave-like themed design with protective glass casings displaying each artifact they managed to excavate.
All of the students were shocked and in awe as they enter the exhibit. Some of them started taking pictures of themselves with some of the displayed artifacts while some got a closer look at them, reading the description of each.
As Leon looked around the exhibit with Nicole, he spots Barbara in the distance with a few of her friends. He noticed that she was wearing a green and white striped top with greyish jeans. Leon tried not to look at her but kept glancing back and he doesn't even know why he's like that. However, he snapped out of it as Nicole was snapping her fingers in front of his face saying, "Yo, you okay?"
Leon blinked and then looked at Nicole, "Uh, yeah. Just, uh, looking at the display. Seems interesting noh?" he said innocently,
Nicole raised her eyebrow in confusion but shrugged the thought out of her mind and kept walking. Leon followed her as they noticed a door leading downstairs to the second part of the exhibit. He then tapped Nicole's shoulder and said, "Hey, let's go down there. Maybe there are more artifacts."
Nicole turned to him and noticed the door as well and shrugged, "Aight. Let's go." she said,
The two of them head downstairs and only a handful of students were there. But as soon as Leon set foot on the ground, he felt like a wave just hit him and he stood there for a split second before wondering, 'Wait, what the heck was that?'
He shook his head, hoping that whatever he felt would disappear but he saw Nicole looking at the other students try the target practice in the corner. Leon walked up to her and Nicole told him, "Oh, uh, the prize would be two thousand dollars for a consecutive bullseye shot."
Leon's eyes widen as he heard that, "You're kidding, right?"
Nicole pointed to the scoreboard, "See for yourself,"
Leon looked to where she pointed for a moment and said, "Guess they only managed two each time."
Nicole nodded, "And there are only 20 minutes left 'till the challenge is over." she added,
After seeing one of the students who was a varsity jockey failed to get the second shot, Leon stepped in and realized that he has like less than 10 minutes left. He quickly typed in his initials and carefully picked up the bow with his left hand, while slinging a bag of arrows to his shoulder with his right hand. He got one arrow out and pulled the string as he aimed.
At that moment, it was as if time had slowed down. Leon took the first shot and it hit the target. the students behind him didn't seem impressed but as soon as Leon took the second shot, it hit right on the target.
Now comes the third shot. Leon controlled his breathing and aimed at the target. He exhaled deeply as he let go and the arrow flew off and hit the target just next to the other two arrows he shot.
Seeing the timer, only 60 seconds on the clock. Can he clinch a fourth? Leon took another arrow and aimed carefully. He was anxious to get the shot but at the same time, trying his best to make it before the timer runs out.
15 seconds left. The other students behind him had their eyes peeled as they too were anxious. Then one of them said, "Just take the shot already!"
This startled Leon a bit as he was sweating a bit. He then fired the arrow without looking. He and the other students were at the edge of their seats as they watch the arrow flying across as the timer reached its end. The arrow landed at the target but Leon's eyes were closed.
But when he opened them, his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the board and the arrow hit right in the middle between the three other arrows he shot. Leon then looked at the timer as it hit zero and then turned to the scoreboard and his name was on the top, declaring him the winner.
"Congratulations! You have won the challenge!" the automatic voice bot spoke. Then suddenly, confetti sprouted from the side as the black box opened revealing the prize money which is 4 stacks of 500 dollar bills. He took the money and then turned around as the other students were in awe and clapping their hands at him. Leon then walked to Nicole as he saw her clapping her hands, "That was a close one, bud." she said,
Leon chuckled, "Yeah. Oh and take this." He gave her one stack of the 500 dollar bills.
Nicole was shocked as she sees the money in her hands. She looked at Leon and said, "I can't take this. You won this fair and square."
Leon shook his head, "Nah. You keep it. At least it'll get you to stop asking me to buy you extra," he said,
Nicole nodded and smirked as she kept the money in her bag, "Aight if you say so," she said,
Then they both noticed a spotlight at the end of the hall and as they walk toward it, the other students did too. They all noticed something in the middle being covered by a large tarp. Helena approached the display and held the tarp before looking back at the students, "And here is the exhibit's latest artifact." she said, then removing the tarp revealing it to be a stone, double-edged wide sword.
"Now I know what you're thinking. This sword doesn't seem unique but look" Helena pointed to the sword handle. "The line in the middle looks like it was made with two blades combined into one."
A student raised his hand and said, "Like a very very old anime buster sword?"
The rest of the students chuckled and so did Helena, "Yes, yes. You could say that," she said,
As Helena continued to explain the many different artifacts and where they managed to locate each, Leon felt like he's hit with another invisible wave but it didn't do much to make him budge however, it left him on high alert.
'What's going on? Why am I feeling this way?' Leon thought to himself
All of a sudden, his eyes glowed green for a second then back to normal. He blinked twice when he noticed white mist surrounding the area he is in which only reaches his feet. He looked around but realizes that no one seems to notice that the mist is there.
Nicole tapped on his shoulder, "Leon? What's wrong?" she asked
Leon was startled as he turned to her "Are you seeing this?" he asked as he pointed at the mist on the ground,
Nicole raised her eyebrow suspiciously and looked at the ground. In her eyes, she couldn't see the mist nor what he was pointing to. She looked back at him and shook her head saying, "I have no idea what you're looking at,"
Leon just looked at her and then back at the ground. His eyes widen in shock as the mist was gone. He placed his hand on his head as he was confused. 'What is going on with me?' he thought to himself
Meanwhile, some random student jockey was looking at a tapestry with three of his friends. They then took a group photo together where one of them leaned his hand on the wall but to his surprise was actually a pressure plate. The four of them were looking at each other confused as soon as they saw the pressure plate,
"Brent! What did you do, man?!" one of them said,
Brent looked confused and raised his hand innocently, "C'mon, man! I didn't even know that there was a pressure plate!"
The pressure plate disappeared into the hole and a purple spark flashed. Then, all of a sudden, the whole room began to shake and someone yelled, "Earthquake!"
Leon, Nicole, and the rest of the students heard that and tried their best to find cover while some security guards, as well as Helena, tried their best to escort each of them out of the exhibit as it was slowly crumbling down.
Just before Leon was about to leave the exhibit, he heard someone yelling "Help! I'm stuck!" from behind. He turned around and saw Barbara in the corner underneath a boulder that was on top of her, pinning her leg on the ground.
"Hang on!" he said, rushing to Barbara's aid and for some reason, he slowly lifted the boulder on his back with ease, long enough for her to get out of the way. Barbara, on the other hand, tries to get up but her leg was badly injured.
Seeing this, Leon lifted her arm, slinging it around his shoulder as he carefully carried her towards the exit all while trying to evade the tiny rocks that were falling from the ceiling.
Nicole, who managed to get out, saw Leon carrying Barbara and yelled, "Hurry!"
"Almost there," Leon assured Barbara but they both realized that the exit is almost close to being blocked by a bunch of rocks!
Leon managed to get Barbara to one of the security guards who managed to take her to safety. She looked back and extended her hand saying, "Come on! You're almost there!"
Leon was about to reach his hand out when suddenly, he noticed that a giant rock was about to topple over them! He quickly looked back at Barbara and pushed her hand away and he staggered back just before the boulder covered the whole entrance entirely. By that point, the ground stopped shaking. A large cloud of dust covered the area. Nicole and Barbara looked back at the covered exhibit in horror and yelled, "LEON!!"