Quinton groaned and sat up, her head pounding, she held her head and opened her eyes. "Ouch, what the hell just happened.", she thought to herself as she looked around, realizing that wherever she was, it was not home. "What is this place.", Quinton said trying to focus. She got off the ground and dusted herself off, then she looked around but couldn't recognize anything around her. "Hold up.", she said to herself and looked around quickly, that was when she realized that wherever she was, it was a giant canyon, but two walls blocked her way. And that was when she noticed another problem, everyone was gone, she was by herself.She had no idea what to do from here, trying to find them would be the issue, she didn't know where she was or if she was even on earth anymore. "I need to get out of here.", Quinton squinted, but wherever she was, it was dark, she couldn't see anything here, this confused her, back on earth, ever since she got her system she could see in the dark, but in this world she couldn't see a thing.She was so distracted by the current predicament she was in, she didn't realize that she received a message from her system, the reason she didn't notice the message was because it popped up while she was unconscious, and closed out after some time. She realized a couple of days ago that notifications she received would all end up in her inbox, and notifications that weren't open would have a red exclamation mark over them, and the inbox icon would as well, to signify that she had unread messages.The only issue was, Quinton was never the best at keeping up with her mail to begin with. she rarely ever checked it on her computer, and this would be a huge problem for her if she did that with her system.-Quinton took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing mind. She knew she needed to focus if she was going to find her way out of this canyon. But as she looked around, trying to get her bearings, she couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.She could see nothing in the dark, and she couldn't understand why her system wasn't working properly. why couldn't she see in this darkness.Quinton decided that she had to keep moving forward, even if she couldn't see anything. She placed her hand on the canyon wall, feeling the rough surface under her fingers.She took a step forward, carefully placing her feet on the rocky ground. She took another breath, trying to calm herself. She knew she had to stay calm, panicking wouldn't help her figure out what was going on. She suddenly noticed the inbox icon on the side of her system screen, flashing with a red exclamation point. She had missed a notification."Dammit", she muttered to herself. she needed to remember to check her inbox more often.She opened her inbox, her eyes scanning the notifications that had piled up over time. Among them, she found the notification that she had missed while she was unconscious. She quickly opened it, hoping for some answers."System Error: cannot active night vision, upgrade needed."The notification said. this would be another set back if she had to also upgrade her night vision to. how exactly could she find a way to do that if she couldn't see a thing in this world?Quinton felt a knot of frustration in her stomach as she read the notification. "Cannot activate night vision, upgrade needed?" she muttered under her breath. If she couldn't see in the dark, finding her way out of this place would be nearly impossible.She closed her inbox and looked around again, her heart racing. She was beginning to feel overwhelmed.Quinton walked through the darkness of the canyon, her fingers trailing along the cold stone of the walls. The silence was deafening, broken only by the sound of her own footsteps.But as she walked, she encountered an obstacle. The wall came to an end, forcing her to stop and search for another wall to follow. She had no sense of direction, no way of knowing which way she was going. She felt like she was just going in circles.-Quinton leaned against the wall of the canyon, feeling frustrated and hopeless. The silence and darkness were starting to wear on her nerves, and she had no idea how long she had been walking around.She considered her options. She could keep walking and hope she stumbled upon an exit, but that seemed like a futile endeavor. Or she could stay put and hope that someone would come along and help her, but it seemed unlikely.Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly hit whoever it was, but she stopped herself when she saw the persons face. It was Wendy. "Wendy! How did you find me?!", Quinton asked In shock, and Wendy shrugged. "I used a spell that allowed me to track you down, and I also used a spell to create a magic lamp so I could see in the dark. I tell you, it really comes in handy." Wendy explained.Quinton felt a sense of relief wash over her as she saw Wendy appear out of the darkness. "Thank goodness you're here," she breathed.
Wendy smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes. She held up the magic lamp in her hand, its soft light illuminating the area around them. "Yep, this little guy helped me find you," she said, gesturing to the lamp.
Quinton sighed. if it wasn't for Wendy she'd probably be lost forever. "We have to find Dashi Quinton, he came through the portal after you did, but I didn't see him when I woke up, we also have to find the others.", Wendy said, looking around the maze they were in. Quinton nodded, her mind racing. "Right, we need to find everyone. I have no idea how we're going to do that in this maze, though," she said, gesturing to the endless darkness around them.Wendy shrugged, she had no idea how long it was. opened her hand. A slight glow came from it and she nodded. "Guide us to our friend, one path that leads to him, the one I think of.", Wendy said, and the slight glow began to get brighter and part of the ground began to light up, creating a path of arrows that went through the maze. "Let's go." Wendy said, following the arrows.Quinton followed closely behind Wendy, her eyes fixed on the glowing arrows on the ground. "Amazing," she whispered, astonished by the spell.The maze seemed to go on forever, but they kept moving forward, guided by the arrows. Quinton was feeling more hopeful now, they were going to find Dashi."We need a plan," she said, looking over at Wendy. "Any ideas?", Wendy smiled, just like before though, it never meet her eyes. but Quinton was quite use to it, Wendy wasn't an emotional type. "I can use my spell to track down Dashi in this maze, and then use it to get out of here, it only works three times though, so I can't use it to find the others if I do this.", Wendy explained. Quinton nodded, understanding the limitations of the spell. "So we use it to find Dashi, and then get out of the maze," she repeated, trying to plan things out in her head.She glanced around the endless darkness again, feeling a sense of claustrophobia. "How long do you think this maze is?" she asked Wendy.Wendy shrugged, she had no idea how long it was. opened her hand. A slight glow came from it and she nodded. "Guide us to our friend, one path that leads to him, the one I think of.", Wendy said, and the slight glow began to get brighter and part of the ground began to light up, creating a path of arrows that went through the maze. "Let's go." Wendy said, following the arrows.Quinton followed closely behind Wendy, her eyes fixed on the glowing arrows on the ground. "Amazing," she whispered, astonished by the spell.The maze seemed to go on forever, but they kept moving forward, guided by the arrows. Quinton was feeling more hopeful now, they were going to find Dashi.They continued walking for what felt like hours, untill they arrived at a nearly destroyed castle. "This is... interesting.", Wendy said, looking at the giant Castle. Quinton stared at the ruined castle in shock. "What happened here?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.The castle looked like it had been abandoned for years, with vines and other foliage growing through the cracks in the stone. It was a stark contrast to the endless darkness of the maze.Wendy hesitantly walked up the steps to the door of the castle, she was braver than Quinton, that was for sure. "It looks like it's locked.", Wendy explained, pointing at the lock on the door. "It also looks really old, it's not like we need to unlock it though, it's already half way destroyed."Quinton nodded, eyeing the damaged lock. "Good point," she said. "Do you think we should go inside?" her voice betraying her nervousness at the idea of entering the ruined castle.Wendy shrugged, it was obvious they had to, Dashi was in their, if they didn't get him out of there, someone would surely find him. "Let's just try this.", Wendy said, looking at the lock, she grabbed a thin piece of metal off the ground, and used a transformation spell to turn it into a needle, then she attempted to pick the lock.Quinton watched as Wendy worked on the lock with the needle. For a moment, it seemed like the needle wasn't going to fit into the keyhole, but then there was a click, and the lock opened.She let out a sigh of relief. "Nice job," she said, and pushed open the creaking door. Wendy gave Quinton a thumbs up before walking into the castle, she looked down at the magical arrows that guided them to Dashi, the spell she used wouldn't save them from traps or hidden beast of any kind, it was just a normal finding spell, so they'd have to tread carefully. "Let's go, but- be careful." Wendy said, walking cautiously. Quinton followed closely behind Wendy, her eyes darting around the dimly lit castle. The shadows seemed to shift and move in the flickering torch light, and she fought back the chill that ran up her spine."This place gives me the creeps," she whispered. Wendy sighed, "it would give anyone the creeps, it's a old abandoned castle, it looks like it might be about 40 years old or more, i wonder who use to live here."Quinton nodded, taking in the details of the castle. The ruined walls and moss-covered floors did nothing to help the overall creepy atmosphere.She glanced around the dimly lit corridors. "How are we supposed to find Dashi in this place?" she asked. "It could take hours."Wendy pointed at the arrows on the floor, the finding spell was still active. "Remember? I casted the finding spell, we'll find him in no time, just as long as nothing gets in our way-", Suddenly, the two of them froze in their tracks as they heard the sound of a low growl, and a heavy Aura pressing down on them, whatever it was, it was strong. "What the-", Wendy looked around.Quinton froze, her heart beating wildly in her chest. The low growl echoed through the castle, and she felt the weight of a heavy aura pressing down on her.Wendy looked around nervously, searching for the source of the growl. Quinton gripped her weapon, which at the moment were Derek's ice katana's, they didn't have their ice effects anymore though, likely because Derek died and his power charged them up, giving them that ice perk. Quinton's palms began to sweat at the thought of having to fight again, last time was a close call, she didn't know much about fighting and was just swinging the swords just to stay Alive, she nearly died three times, she wasn't prepared for this. "What is that?" she whispered, her voice shaky.Wendy looked around, focusing on seeing through the darkness. "I don't know, but it's strong.", she said. Then suddenly, Quinton got a new notification from her system, it popped up right in front of her face."Quest: Defeat the Direwolf. Reward: 150XP"Quinton's eyes widened as the new notification popped up in front of her. She quickly scanned the information, her heart beating faster."Quest? Defeat... Direwolf? Reward... 150XP?", she whispered to herself. this was more than double the amount she received for defeating those zombies, was this Direwolf strong, or did she just level up so fast that the XP went up? or was it both.Wendy looked around and then looked back at Quinton. "Maybe, if it's sense's aren't good.", the two of them already knew the beast had good sense so that wouldn't work. "Perhaps we should leave and come back later, when the beast is sleeping.", Wendy suggested.Quinton considered Wendy's suggestion, not really wanting to fight the thing. "That could work," she said, looking around the dark castle. "it would be better not to confront the beast right now, let's leave and come back later.Wendy nodded and the two we're about to head out the destroyed castle, when it started to rumble, Wendy quickly stepped back and so did Quinton as the ceiling collapsed in, when the dust from the debris settled, the both of them found that they where split up. Wendy was near the staircase and it lead upstairs where the magic arrows were pointing to, guiding her to Dashi. But Quinton was unfortunate. as she was stuck in the room with the Direwolf, and it had noticed her. now she had no choice, but to fight it.