Chapter 7: Safe Zone!
"What's your name, sister?" Zen asked as he looked at the black-haired leader of the group.
"You can call me Diana. This here is Alex, Max, and Lisa." she replied as she pointed at the middle aged man who nodded at them, the blond who smiled, and the shy girl who hid behind Diana.
"Well, we're Zen, Sabrina, Dali, Melissa, and Big Changus right here." Zen also introduced his group.
"So, what's this place about?" Sabrina stepped up as she looked around and asked.
"As much as I know, this should be a safe zone of sorts, nothing to worry about." Diana replied with a smile.
"Aha, that's good; we can finally rest; it's been less than an hour, but I'm tired more than I ever remember being." Melissa, hearing this, stretched her arms and moved closer to Sabrina.
"Right." Sabrina said softly, her mind delving back into the unpleasant memories.
"Now now, sister. No need to get all sad again. Sooner or later, our rations will end, and we'll have to move again. Let us rest." Melissa told Sabrina as she patted her shoulders.
Zen then proceeded to move closer to the group, put up the tents he was carrying, and sit close to Diana and Alex.
"What's this map about?" He asked without caring about their reaction to him, straight away inserting himself in the middle.
"We found it in a chest; it's probably a map of the Maze." Alex said. Both he and Diana didn't mind Zen sitting close to them from how it looked; however, Lisa wasn't so calm about a stranger sitting next to them, but all she did was hide again.
"So my theory is right." Zen smiled as he thought back to when he told the group that this was a maze.
"And ours is too. It seems we've been thrown into quite a dangerous place." Diana said as she stretched her arms.
"By the way, Zen." She turned to look at Zen with squinted eyes.
"Hmm?" Zen replied absentmindedly.
"What's your trait?" She asked.
Zen got his concentration back and looked at her.
"It's trap detection; what about yours?" he asked, without too much of a reaction.
Diana looked surprised for a second before she pursed her lips and pointed with a finger.
Zen looked where she was pointing, and there, one of the tents he had just put down was slowly but surely... floating.
"Telekinesis?" He almost shouted in surprise.
"Hehe." Diana didn't reply, only cancelling her telekinetic powers and hiding her mouth with her hand.
"I didn't think we would have supernatural powers too; that's... quite worrying to be real." He said as his eyes that were surprised turned serious.
Sabrina, Melissa, and Dali, who were still closer to the entrance, approached the group, and all of them sat down, except Changus, who was for some reason walking around the big room.
"What about you?" Zen looked at Alex and asked.
"I've got the enemy detection trait." Alex replied, quite proud.
"That's quite useful, man." Zen exclaimed in amazement.
"Right." Alex smiled widely, showing his pearly white teeth.
Zen then turned to look at the others, and Max, without waiting for him to say anything, pointed at him with a smile.
"I got the Basic Magic Knowledge trait." he said, full of enthusiasm.
"Magic, huh?" Zen went into deep thought, but he was quick to regain his calm, turn, and look at the last girl who was yet to speak.
Lisa, seeing his gaze turn on her, buried her head behind Diana, and the latter just chuckled.
"She has the healing trait." She looked at Zena and said.
"Oh wow, that's so useful. Man, I'm starting to think that traits are based on one's personality." Melissa jumped into the conversation once again.
"Yeah, it's hard to think that most of us, if not all, did something crazy enough to end up in hell." Diana smiled with closed eyes.
Everybody looked at each other in silence as Big Changus, who finished his turn, came and sat next to Dali, prompting Sabrina to slide closer to Melissa and Diana.
"S- speaking of traits and personalities, one of our guys had appraisal as a trait man; that was so awesome!" Changus, fighting his embarrassment, spoke, gaining the attention of the group.
"Is that so?" Diana spoke, seizing his body up.
"Yeah, the others had sword proficiency, bow proficiency, and lastly, X-ray vision. It was such a good party; unfortunately, they all died suddenly, I don't even know how." Changus continued speaking, getting slightly shy at Diana's glaring, not noticing Dali's reaction, which was getting worse and worse by the second.
Diana, however, did, but she didn't mention it.
"Our deceased party member had special proficiency. It seems weapon proficiency is quite a common trait." Diana said.
"What about you guys? What are your traits?" She asked as she looked at Sabrina, Melissa, and Dali.
"Charm for me; animal communication for Dali; as for Sabrina... even we don't know." Melissa looked at her party members and back at Diana before she spoke.
"Let's not talk about our other party member." Zen, who had been silent for a bit, now spoke as he pointed with his eyes at Sabrina, whose mood worsened at the mention of the deceased.
"Well, that's about it. You guys are lucky you found tents. We only found food, water, and this map." Alex spoke in an attempt to lighten the mood by changing the topic.
"Yeah, well, we can have the girl share their tents. As for us guys, let's take turns. Each time, 2 or 3 of us will guard the room. We're not sure if this is a safe zone or not after all." Max the Blond said as his hands moved with him.
"Enemy!" Alex suddenly shouted as he got up from his place.
"Kuh Kuh Kuh, what do we have here? Fresh Prey~!"
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