"Lorence?!" I said, putting my weapon away and hugging him. "You are way too trusting of someone you've never even seen, kid. Oh, there's your little buddy. Hi, I'm Lorence, and I'll be helping you in the fighting. As you can see from my costume, I'm a fighter, so I got these babies." Lorence said, shaking Lane's hand and unsheathing two daggers. "Also, don't worry. I'm no predator, unlike my ex-friend, I promise. He paid so well, so I just did what he said to do. Also, I'm seventeen, while that lunatic is forty-three." Lorence said, looking around for things. "U-Um, I found a clue." Lane said, bringing a bottle with a note in it and a sealed box. "Good job!" Lorence said, patting Lane's head. "W-Wha???" Lane said, clearly caught off guard by this. "Okay, let me just solve this," Lorence said, casually shattering the bottle. I picked up the note. "Huh, this has a key taped on it," I said, taking the key. "Great, this drawer has a keyhole. Give me the key," Lorence said, smiling. I nodded and gave it to him. He unlocked the drawer and then it revealed some oil.
"Let's put this on this lid. We can pry it open when it's lubed up," I said, putting the oil on the lid of the box. "Great, let's see what's in it," Lorence said, fist-bumping me and taking off the lid. There was a note that said "The highest point in this room" and I pointed to a drawer hoisted to the ceiling. "Hmm... now, how are we going to look into that..." Lorence said, looking up at it. "Oh, I know! Lane, it's time for you to work your searching magic!" Lorence said, picking Lane up and putting Lane on his shoulders. "W-What?! P-Put me down!" Lane said, trying to get away from him. "Nope! We need you to look in the cabinet first. Just take out everything." Lorence said, laughing a bit. "Well then, I'll just give them to you, Lee, okay?" Lane said, taking out a piece of paper and a metal box. "C-Can you put me down now?" Lane said, blushing. "Aww, but that was fun, let's just do the whole thing like this!" Lorence said, laughing a lot. "P-Please no! I-I don't think that this is fun at all!" Lane said, getting worried. "Okay then, since you don't want to do that I won't. But dang, Lee, I didn't know your little buddy was so stinkin' cute!" Lorence said, messing up Lane's hair as Lane questioned whether Lorence was trustworthy.
"Okay, we have a note that says I am not a thing you can see, and if you call my name you'll break me," I said, reading the note aloud. I turned the box to them so they could figure it out. "Hmm... Is it... Silence?" Lane said, typing it in. The box unlocked with a 'click' and all three of us looked inside. There was a device that had blue, yellow, orange, and pink. "Hey, doesn't that go to the fourth door?" I said, gesturing for us to go outside. "Yeah, let's go." Lane said, him and Lorence following me. There was a note on the door and Lorence took it and read it. "Fighters, get ready for a challenge!" Lorence read, ominously. I pressed the power button on the device and the colors flashed, actually pretty quickly. It was blue, orange, blue, yellow, orange, pink, blue, and orange. I put that into the door's lock as Lorance and I readied ourselves for a big battle. "Keep your guard up, because I made this test recognize the fighters and try to get rid of them first. Remember the last type of clown? It's like those except they're even more aggressive and instead of lunging, they can punch and kick you, along with the biting." Lorence said in a very serious tone.
I put my hand on the handle of the door after hearing the click and counted. "Three... Two... One." I said, opening the door and pointing my weapon at the darkness. I felt the presence of five things in there so I backed away from the door, luring them out. "It takes three hits to kill these guys, so be very careful," Lorence said, guarding Lane just in case one of them jumped out. Four of them ran out and tried attacking us, but we were prepared and we dodged and hit them as hard as we could. I killed one and looked at Lorence, and he was good at this. He was still surprisingly calm and he didn't dodge because Lane was behind him, so he kicked and sliced. I killed the other one attacking me and jogged to Lane and Lorence. "There's one more in there, so I'll go first. I said, walking to the door. Lorence grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "You're in no shape to take on an ambush like that, so let me do it," Lorence said, walking up to the door. He stood in the room, silent and still as a rock. We only saw silhouettes of him and the clown battling after the clown took him to the ground, and then we saw a figure stand up and turn to us. Lorence walked out, holding his shoulder and smiling.
"Hey, guys! Do you happen to still have the medkit? I kinda had a bit of an accident when it attacked me." Lorence said, removing his hand to reveal his shoulder covered in blood. "Oh no! Did it break any of your bones?" I asked, worried. Lane was going and grabbing the medkit near the elevators. "Not that I can tell. I think it's just a flesh wound since my arm can still move," Lorence said, turning to look at the clock. One hour and thirty minutes. "I'll add an hour to that so that it's better for us," Lorence said, sheathing his knives and taking out a gadget. Lane was back with the medkit and asked Lorence to sit down. "There sure is a lot of gauze in here," Lane said, taking out some stuff to treat the wound. "Yeah, I made sure of it, though it was in secret since that murderer told me not to. Said it wasn't fair or something like that. I really hate when he does this, he makes the kids go through a scary game before getting to him, where he kidnaps them and does... God knows what to them. I just went along with him since I needed the money, but that doesn't excuse siding with a murderer. I must seem like a terrible person, I'm sorry," Lorence said, looking down as Lane was working on the wound.
"Well, I guess with this I could be partially forgiven, though this thing can only be used like this once," Lorence said as he used his pants to wipe the blood off his hands and did some stuff on the gadget. The timer now said two hours and thirty minutes. "I-Is that the only reason you worked with him?" Lane said, finishing up on the wound as Lorence put the gadget away. "Well, no, it's not. He had my little sister held hostage, along with my mom. If you watch the news, then you already know what happened to them. He ruined my relationship with my whole family and despite me not having anything to do with it besides him hearing about me and my inventions, I basically got disowned. Must've known I'd be angry so he cut all ties with me." Lorence said, scowling. "Did he kill them?" I asked, rather insensitively. "...I don't think you want to know what he did, now let's go finish this test," Lorence said, standing up and gesturing for us to continue the Fourth Test. I questioned his sentiment a bit, but when he stood up, he looked so... So sad and tired. He looked like he had the whole world on his shoulders, and he was shaking just a bit, but then he took a big breath, turned to us, and said: "Let's get to work!"
We were breezing through the rooms, but it was an undeniable fact that it was getting harder and harder. On our eighth door, the one that needed a weird orb thing, we got bombarded by ten of those clowns. We got beat up really badly but Lane treated our wounds. We were looking through the room and it was terrible because this room was really creepy. There were strange engravings all over the place, and there were blood splatters like someone died there or something. There were a lot of cabinets to look through, but before we did, Lorence told us something. "Guys, be really careful in the next few rooms because I constructed the bases for the rooms, but everything else was him. He might have done some things of the occult in these walls, so be on your guard." Lorence said, opening all the cabinets that budged. We looked through them and found a few clues, all of them having undertones of us not making it out of here alive. Now it was time for the room with the engravings. We found a piece of paper that decodes the strange writing on the door.
We approached it and Lorence took the decoding paper and decoded the door. It said, "Open the door, or you will contort, and your soul will be mine, not yours." The door started emitting a red hue as Lorence and I readied ourselves. "Guess demons really like getting to the point," Lorence said, watching the door. Demonic chanting started filling the room, filling our ears. It... It scared me because my teacher said to be wary of the occult. "D-Do we have to do this?" I said, shaking a bit. "Well, it's too late to turn back now," Lorence said, signaling us to back up. A whole hoard of clowns came out, but there was one that was still in the room. Lorence and I teamed up and beat the ones outside, though they were a lot stronger now, and we all looked into the room. The monster stepped out, and I... I think it was alive. "Okay, here's the game plan. We'll battle this guy and you go look for clues, alright Lane?" Lorence said, his voice very serious. "O-Okay, I will," Lane said, running into the room. The monster tried to go after him but I blocked his way with my spear. Lorence ran up to the monster and slashed it, and it started bleeding and screaming, writhing in pain. "YOU WRETCH!!! I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED YOU!!!" The monster screamed, trying to fight back to no avail as Lorence seemed to be in a trance attacking it.
We killed it and Lane walked out just in time so he didn't get trapped in the room that just closed itself. He brought a red rubber ball that we assumed is the clown's nose on the last, and most ominous, door. We all stared at it, not wanting to approach it. Lorence put his hands on our shoulders, then he nodded and patted our heads, as if he was going to do it alone, the idiot. I got really mad that he was smiling and walking to the door, so I tackled him and pinned him to the ground, angry at him. "What the heck?! You can't just treat us like kids like that!!! That's... That's not fair!!!" I said, lightly punching him and starting to tear up. I didn't want to lose him, he'd help us a lot. "Listen, I'll be fine. Also, I'll just be the decoy, you'll be the bodyguard, so you should be worrying about yourself." Lorence said, getting up and patting me on the shoulder. "Okay, listen to what I'm about to say very carefully. When I open this door, I imagine a bunch of those clowns will rush out, biting and clawing. I want you to wait until all of them leave and I believe there will still be a few more in there, so go and handle that. I'll be preoccupied but once I'm finished I'll help you because I believe there was a 'surprise' that that nutjob told me about. He used humans for this one. A lot of them." Lorence said getting in position in front of the door.
"W-Where do we go?" Lane said, holding my hand. I could feel him shaking. "Go right over there," Lorence said, pointing at a spot bit farther away. "Also, Lane, please listen to everything that Lee has to say. He's a bit of an amateur, but I can tell he's a reliable fighter. And both of you, please be careful." Lorence said, putting the red nose in the nose hole on the door. The whole room rumbled as the door opened, and I'm pretty sure Lorence noticed his mistake. 'The gift' was a giant monster and I noticed that it was a combination of a lot of the monsters like the one we encountered before and some I didn't recognize. It rushed out of the room and fixed its attention on me and Lane. I grabbed Lane and started running to the other side of the room but then I noticed that all the doors were sealed and locked. The giant monster reached over and tried to grab us, and I couldn't move. I would have dived and rolled away but all I could think of is how I'd get me and Lane out alive. Right when we were about to get grabbed, we heard Lorence scream "DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON THEM!!!" and then he just started yelling and the giant arm fell.
He turned towards us and started running at us, sheathing his blades and covered in blood. "You guys are safe!" Lorence said, about to hug us. He stopped after seeing Lane looking at him, worriedly. "I'm really sorry! I-If I had known t-that it would b-be like that, then-" Lorence said, cut off by the monster laughing maniacally. "YOU FOOLS! WORRYING ABOUT EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF THIS SITUATION. I WAS SPECIFICALLY TOLD TO MAKE YOU SUFFER, BOY. GET READY, WRETCHED ONE, BECAUSE ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU, YOU WILL WISH YOU WERE KILLED!!!" The monster said, lunging at us. Lorance lept at us and tackled us out of the way. He turned to the monster and said "Why?! I know you hate me, but why do you have to hurt them?! Why did you even listen to him?!" Lorence yelled. "HAHAHA!!! FOOLISH HUMAN! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'D WASTE MY TIME HUNTING THOSE KIDS IF I WASN'T TOLD TO? HE'S MY TICKET TO ALL THE SOULS I COULD DREAM OF!" The monster said, laughing hysterically. "Well, I guess this time you won't get your fill!" Lorence said, starting to walk towards the monster.
At that point, I got up and started walking, keeping my eyes on the monster. I was really worried about Lorence, but he wasn't scared at all. It was pretty confusing, actually. He just stared at the monster, seemingly emotionless. It was terrifying. I wanted to help him, but my body wouldn't move toward the fight. Lorence was handling it pretty well, silently swinging his blades as the monster screamed. He was crying, too, though it seemed like he didn't notice. It... It scared me. He lept at the monster to do the finishing blow, but the monster punched him and sent him flying with two clowns. I rushed the monster and stabbed it over and over again until it stopped moving. I rushed over to where Lane and Lorence were and saw Lane shaking and crying as Lorence was lying there, but he was still breathing. I ran to get the medkit and then came back with it. I handed it to Lane and said, "Work your magic." before Lorence patted my shoulder and said, "Your little friend is pretty endearing. He actually wanted to run over there with no weapon! Haha! Let me help you out, Lil bud," Lorence said, forcing himself to sit up and take off his shirt. He was covered with scars.
Lane cleaned his wounds and wrapped his torso and arms because his arms had really deep wounds sprinkled on them. The main door opened and Lorence's head shot up, looking at the timer. Fifteen seconds. He got up and yelled "RUN!" as we all started sprinting at the door and got out right before the room's ceiling came down with a boom. We all stood there in silence, surprised. Lorence hugged us and said, "Let's go save your friends!" I asked him how many more floors there are and he said, "Oh, there's three more, why?" Lane and I just stared at him as we got ready for a long journey up the Bravery Tower.
I was a bit shaken by the last test, but Lorence and Lane calmed me down. Lorence said that he'll go use the bathroom because he knows where it is, and I was so relieved that Lane was okay, so I hugged him. I could tell that we were both shaking. I wanted to keep hugging him so I just whispered "I... I'm so glad that you're alive, Lane. Please, keep living." Then, I noticed that Lane started to warm up a bit so I tried to look at his face but Lane just hugged me tighter and said "I-I promise, but it better be the same for both of us." I laughed a little and said, "Of course." We stayed like that for a bit until Lorence started laughing while walking toward us. Lorence shoved us apart and I saw that his face was bright red. "So, how was that alone time with your prince?" Lorence said, poking Lane's arm. "S-Shut up!" Lane said, blushing even more and turning away. I was still a little on edge with him because when he was fighting I felt... I felt more bloodlust from him than from the monster. Lorence went for a high-five and I instinctually grabbed my spear. "Lee?" Lane said, scooting away.
"Can I talk to him for a bit? You can stay here but we'll be over there." Lorence said as we walked to the other side of the room. Lorence then hugged me very suddenly and he grabbed my hands so I didn't hurt him. "You sensed it, right? My... Well, my bad side." Lorence said, loosening his grip. "Y-Yeah," I said, trying to stop shaking. "Well, I'm sorry. I... I kinda had a narrow mind there. Don't worry though, because the reason I did that was to protect you guys. I ask for your forgiveness." Lorence said, backing up a bit and resting a hand on the wall. I was still shaking, but it started to be lighter and lighter. "I-I was just surprised, I'm sorry. I should've had more faith." I said, my spirits dwindling. "No, you don't have to be sorry. I understand why you would be a bit concerned, and I'm grateful and thankful. Just promise me that you'll survive, Lee. That maniac has been after you for a concerning amount of time, so he probably knows your weaknesses. Stay vigilant." Lorence said, grabbing my hands. "Y-Yes, I promise. B-B-But you need to promise too." I said, my face burning up as I realized the situation I was in. "I promise, and I'm sorry," Lorence said, hugging me again and then letting me go.
I could tell that I was blushing so I tried to hide it but Lorence just laughed and motioned Lane over. "Wow, your little prince is actually a switch. I bet he thinks I'm so tall when I'm only six feet." Lorence said, laughing and patting Lane's head. "H-Hey, let's just get on with the test, okay?" I said, embarrassed by Lorence and Lane laughing at me. "Okay, let's go," Lorence said, walking to the door of the next challenge.