By the looks of it, the city looked almost like the normal towns except it was filled with monsters.
There were lights flashing in every shop and monsters bought and sold goods. As we walked, some creatures bowed down to Prochiron and some others glared at us. If it wasn't for Prochiron, we would have died even before fighting the ultimate battle.
Prochiron showed us the city and various locations we needed to see. I didn't want to see any though. Monsters misunderstood the term 'sight-seeing' for a monstrous location. Every time Prochiron guided us to new places, we would either end up with huge monsters staring at us or skeletons lying around in a dead silent area. Good sight-seeing!
After about half an hour, the city tour came to an end in front of the big palace. I assumed the palace was where we needed to go. But just then, I found the huge palace vanished for a millisecond. It was weird and I was sure that it was just my imagination. Being in such a place, I would obviously see weird things. But then Mark whispered to me, "Did the palace just vanish for a second?" His question raised the fear inside me. "You saw that too?" I asked and he nodded. We looked at each other for a few moments till Prochiron spoke up. "Let's enter the palace now. Master is waiting." Saying so, he calmly placed his left hand on my shoulder and the other on Mark.
We walked close to the gates where the two soldier bears stood. They looked at Prochiron and bowed. The gates opened and we were sent inside. As I walked in, I heard the gates behind close. Just then, Prochiron reached his hand to his sword. He unsheathed it and I got alert. I unsheathed Magnum and met with his weapon immediately. But there was no one there the next moment. The warrior had just vanished into the air. Mark was looking at me with fright. "Where they heck did he go?" He demanded.
I tried opening the gates but there was no way we would exit now. "Welcome to my palace. This is the Palace of Mirage. I am the Red One! Blaze Hunt and Mark Zacord, try meeting me quick otherwise be in this palace for your whole life. Just a notice: your lives would be very short here. You will be killed by my men, the monsters." The voice of the Red One was heard. Phantom had a tremendously manly voice and every word of his sent shivers down my spine.
I looked at Mark and sighed. Trapped again. I had been in a maze in the Temple of Past about two weeks ago. Then I had also completed the Colloseus Trials in the unending maze. I did not need another maze. But somehow I felt that this would be scarier than the others. After all, it was a test from the Red One.
Mark and I watched our surroundings. There were a lot of places to check out. We first went to our right where we found a wolf staring at us. I slashed Magnum but then understood that it wasn't a wolf after all. It was a table which I had cracked into two pieces now. Mark was also having the same problem. We both thought of the things in front of us as hostile but they were just normal stuff.
Mark suggested that we keep calm even if we see a creature. We walked to the kitchen area where I found a bear with sharp claws growling. I decided not to attack and stood at one place. The bear came rushing to me but thinking it was an illusion like the others, I did nothing. But the animal was real. The bear's claws pierced into my stomach and before I could attack, it just vanished. The blood was real though. I could feel the pain and Mark was now aghast. Your lives would be very short here, Phantom had said. He was right.
I felt dread that I had never felt before. It was as if the palace was made to make people crazy and die. The only way to stop this was to find the Red One – something no Darknorian had succeeded yet. I looked up at the stairs in the main room. The stairways led to the same floor. Mark decided to go up. As we began climbing the stairs, behind us each row of stairs began to burn. The smoke created by the fire was toxic and I had my hand fixed to my mouth. Mark starting coughing as we made our way to the top.
When we were halfway up the stairs, the fire reaching from below increased and I saw Prochiron coming from the top. He jumped three steps at a time and made his way to me. I grabbed Magnum though I was in no condition to fight. We clashed and I was thrown back. I fell down, tumbling towards the fire which was rapidly reaching up. Somehow I got to my feet and watched as Mark took on Prochiron. He used Quester, his grappling hook and thrashed the warrior on the face. As Prochiron was falling to the ground from the stairs, he simply vanished and got saved. But by then, the fire had caught me. Flame spread throughout my body and I was getting sick of all this.
Something raged inside me, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I found Mark staring at me in awe. "Y-you are in fire but…" He couldn't finish. He didn't need to. I watched as fire burned through me. But I had got the focus I had needed. I had used my Zantai power – a power every Xorain gets after birth. I was really grateful of the Zantai at that time. The Zantai power had unlimited possibilities and the only thing was that we needed to master the art.
I looked behind and as if commanding the fire, the flames all around the room extinguished on their own. Before Mark could faint in shock by my new powers, I walked up to him. "I think I can track the Red One with the Zantai power. Just a thought but it's worth a shot." I said and Mark nodded, still in daze.
We reached the second floor and the horror didn't leave us. There were sounds of screams coming from all around us, making it difficult to track where the voice was actually coming from. I tried to concentrate and used the Zantai. I got the feeling that the right side rooms had nothing but more illusions. We needed to go left. That would lead us closer to the end. I scanned the three rooms on our left and chose the last one. We entered the room and almost immediately the scene changed. We were not in a room but in the river.
Mark freaked out and screamed but I calmed him down. "It looks real but isn't. We are still in the room. Don't panic." I comforted Mark. The water around us felt real and I could feel my shirt getting wet. It was hard not to believe that this wasn't real. To add to the fright, we saw a huge crocodile approaching us. "Whatever you wanna do, do it quick! I will die of fear soon!" Mark exclaimed. I focused and used all my power in erasing the illusion. It worked.
We were back in the room and I found a bed and wardrobe. There was nothing much. But something attracted me towards the wall in front of us. I kept walking forward and Mark asked me what the matter was. There was only an inch between me and the wall now. But there was no stopping me now. I walked forward and unimaginably, the wall disappeared and the entrance to the real room came forward. I entered the room and Mark followed.