Dakota and Henry were lying on the ground, resting as they waited for their mana to recover. The cave around them was eerily silent, save for the faint hum of magical energy emanating from the crystals they had discovered earlier.
"Feeling better?" Dakota asked, his voice calm but tired.
"Yeah," Henry replied, exhaling deeply. "Can't wait to get out of here."
"Same here," Dakota said with a small chuckle.
For the next hour, they chatted idly, trying to distract themselves from their exhaustion. Eventually, though, it was time to leave.
"Before we head out," Dakota said, sitting up, "we should mine some of these crystals. They're too valuable to leave behind."
Henry glanced at the crystals embedded in the cave walls. "You're right, but we don't have a pickaxe."
"We'll use our hands," Dakota said simply.
Henry raised an eyebrow. "With our hands? That's going to hurt."
"Yeah, it will," Dakota admitted, grinning, "but trust me, once we sell these, it'll be worth it."
Henry sighed. "Aren't you already filthy rich?"
"So what? It doesn't hurt to get even richer."
"Fine, fine," Henry relented, shaking his head. "Let's get this over with."
They began mining the crystals by hand, carefully breaking them loose from the rock. It was slow, painful work, but neither of them complained much. By the time they were done, their hands were sore and bloodied, but they had managed to collect twenty crystals—ten each.
"Okay," Dakota said, stuffing the crystals into his bag. "Now we can actually leave."
"Finally!" Henry exclaimed. "Let's get the hell out of here."
The two of them made their way toward the cave's exit. As the faint light of the outside world grew brighter, Henry's mood lifted.
"There it is!" Dakota announced. "We're out."
The cool breeze hit their faces as they stepped out of the cave. Henry stretched his arms high above his head. "Hell yeah! We made it out, and we're alive, too."
Dakota smiled. "Yep. We're alive, and we're done with that godforsaken cave. Now let's get off this mountain."
"Agreed," Henry said. "Let's go."
They began their descent, navigating the rocky paths with care. However, after two hours of walking, they still weren't anywhere near the base.
"This doesn't make any sense," Dakota muttered, stopping to catch his breath. "We should've been off this mountain by now. Why does it feel like we're not getting anywhere?"
"I don't know," Henry admitted. "But let's just keep going and see what happens."
And so, they pressed on. The hours stretched into what felt like an eternity, and the terrain seemed endless. No matter how far they walked, they couldn't make any real progress.
"Ugh, I'm so tired," Dakota groaned. "My mana's back, but I'm sick of walking."
"This is ridiculous," Henry said, shaking his head. "Four hours, and we're still stuck here. Are we trapped?"
Dakota frowned, his mind racing. "No… I don't think we're physically trapped. This feels more like an illusion trap."
"An illusion trap?" Henry repeated. "You think this is all fake?"
Dakota nodded. "It explains why we haven't been able to leave, no matter how far we walk."
"Well, great," Henry said, throwing up his hands. "How do we break out of it?"
"That," Dakota admitted, "I don't know. We need to look for clues."
"Then we'd better keep moving," Henry said. "Maybe we'll find something."
They continued their search, their eyes scanning the ground and surrounding area for anything out of the ordinary. Yet, after another hour of searching, they were no closer to finding an answer.
"This is bullshit," Dakota growled, kicking a loose rock. "Five hours in this damn illusion, and we're still no closer to escaping."
"Yeah," Henry said grimly. "We need to do something, but I don't know what."
"Neither do I," Dakota muttered. "I thought killing the djinns would've been the end of it, but no—now we're stuck on this cursed mountain in some magical illusion."
"So, what do we do now?"
"We rest," Dakota decided. "We've been at this for hours. Let's sleep and try again tomorrow."
Henry nodded. "Alright. Good idea."
They lay down on the hard ground, exhaustion weighing heavily on them. As they drifted off, a shadowy figure emerged from the trees, its glowing eyes fixed on them.
"You'll pay for what you did to my friends," the figure whispered before vanishing into the darkness.
---
The next morning, Dakota woke to the sound of chirping birds. He yawned and stretched, glancing at Henry, who was already awake and eating a piece of bread from their dwindling supplies.
"We don't have much food left," Dakota noted. "We need to find a way out of this illusion today."
"Agreed," Henry said. "We've got enough for maybe two more days, max. If we're still stuck after that…"
"Let's not think about that," Dakota said, shaking his head. "We'll figure it out. Come on, let's get moving."
As they resumed their descent, they tried to keep the conversation light to stave off their growing frustration.
"What's the first thing you'll do when we get out of here?" Dakota asked.
Henry thought for a moment. "See my family, check in with the group, and then eat a proper meal. You?"
"Same," Dakota said with a grin. "And we're eating at the same restaurant. Deal?"
"Deal," Henry agreed with a laugh.
Their laughter faded as they came across something unusual: a glowing text etched into a nearby boulder. Dakota's eyes widened.
"Finally! A clue!" he exclaimed. "Let's see what it says."
Henry leaned in to read the message:
"If you want to break out of this illusion, you must kill me."
Dakota frowned. "Kill me? Who's 'me'? How do we kill them when we don't even know where they are?"
"This just got a lot more complicated," Henry muttered.
"No kidding," Dakota said, rubbing his temples. "We're finally making progress, but now we have to find and kill some mystery person—or thing. Great."
"What's the plan?"
"We keep looking," Dakota said. "If this thing's taunting us, it can't be too far away."