"Over here," Zain signified as they all turned their heads towards the door before letting out a sigh. Zain was in front of them, close to the door that had recently appeared on the left side of the wall in the tunnel.
"Don't just go scaring and move out of the way, you are too close to the door!" Gem spoke.
"Huh?"
"Why won't I? Besides, we are gonna go in anyway, so..." Leaping into the dark room behind the door, Zain disappeared from their sight.
"Zain!!!" Dem screamed, but it was already too late. "Damn, Zain sure doesn't know when to be stupid."
*Rumble* *rumble*
No, no, no, no... It's happening again. Dem looked at Gem, and in an instant, he understood what they have to do.
Jumping into the room is their only option.
"Gem, jump!" Dem screamed. And with no other choice, they both leaped into it.
*slam!*
The door closed on its own, and the room started brightening up. Turning around, the door they had used to come in was nowhere to be seen.
"Strange, this place is starting to give me goosebumps. It's so windy, it's like it has its own climate inside."
Inside the room was a strange sight indeed. The ground itself was built with marble tiles, something the three of them had never seen in their entire lives. The place was really high and was constructed to look like a maze, with multiple smooth brown walls embellished with glowing crystals, spaced away from each other at different angles, giving multiple pathways.
"Hey kids, you are all welcome to the secret underground of mystery," a muscular man with a well-built physique and a bald head spoke calmly from a distance away. But strangely, his voice was audible enough to make it feel like it was said directly to their ears.
"Damn! So someone has been here all this while, he must be the one behind all this," Dem observed.
"You all seek to be mages, am I right?" he questioned.
They all nodded with caution because they still didn't know who was in front of them.
"He should be the one who brought us here," Dem clarified inwardly as he stared at the figure who continued talking.
"Well then, the power you seek will be what you receive," he clarified with a smile as he walked forward, allowing his face to be more visible. And at that moment, they all realized that the smile wasn't a friendly one, but a quite menacing smirk that gave them chills. "It will be what you receive if only you survive."
Reaching a bushy area, Zain's mother let out a sigh, not one of relief, just a sigh.
"Here we go."
She was currently holding onto a long stick, the same height as her. Raising it above, she then swung it downward, but the sound she wanted to hear couldn't be heard.
Walking forward, she repeated the action, but to no avail. Still walking forward not too far again, she then swung it.
"Clang!!!"
"Now that's more like it, that's what I wanted to hear." She squatted down and started separating the leaves on the ground until she found what she wanted: the door to the underground secret lab.
"I wonder what clue I'll be able to find in there." Opening the underground door, she hopped in only to be instantly captivated by the surroundings.
"Who would have believed that some teenager could do this? Who would believe that Dem, a teenager, can be so mature!?"
The whole area was filled with equipment neatly arranged where they were supposed to be. Multiple glass tubes of different colors that contained chemicals were hanging around on the shelves resting on the wall.
The room was supposed to be dark, but it wasn't. The light emitting from the chemicals was giving the room the desired lighting of different colors, even adding to the beauty of the room.
Zain's mother couldn't help but be amazed by the sight before her. She knew that Dem had always been talented and intelligent, but this was beyond anything she could have imagined. It was clear that Dem had built this underground lab with great precision and expertise without having any experience.
As she explored further, she noticed various tools and books scattered around the lab. It seemed that Dem had been conducting various experiments, trying to figure out something. She picked up a book and started flipping through its pages, trying to understand its contents.
The more she delved into the lab, the more she realized the degree of Dem's abilities. He had created his own world within this underground space, a world of science that was unheard of in their society. If Zain had been determined to be more like Dem...
"Zain had always been obsessed with the idea of becoming a mage, and with Dem's guidance, he'll find a way. In fact, it seemed like he had finally found a way to make it happen."
"That is the only reasonable conclusion on why they disappeared."
Deep in thought, Zain's mother continued to explore the lab. She hoped that amongst the equipment and books, she would find some clue or guidance that would lead her to their journey. As she moved deeper into the lab, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the beginning.
"Wait, what? If they left to discover, then that could only mean one thing," she realized, while panic was beginning to take over her as she reasoned her previous theory. "They left the village!"
"I can't let Zain find out, I can't. I need to tell him, I need to tell his father!"
The whole area was windy, and the atmosphere indeed was making the chill being given to their bodies more intense.
The bald figure standing far away in front of them had his smirk still plastered on his face.
"I'm not so obsessed with killing you guys, so I'll give you the secret treasure along with the book you seek if you pass the trial."
"The next trial will commence now. You have five minutes to brace yourself."
Where the trio were currently standing was in a wide maze that had so many roads. All the roads were leading to a dead end, some led you back to where you once started, which is here, except one that leads to the end of the room on another path.
The place was treacherous, though. It had moving walls, spikes, and so many other dangerous traps. But that wasn't the big deal.
"You are to survive and get to the end of the maze before my pets, who I'll be sending to accompany you, catch up. There's a time limit, though. I won't tell you how long, but you should know that when the time is up, you'll be killed by the maze itself, so... "
The smirk on the figure's face widened.
"Excuse me," Zain injected trying to buy some time for the others to brace themselves. "Was all this your doing? Were you the one who brought us here, who built this place?"
"Good question," the figure replied. "Yes, I singlehandedly dug this whole place and brought you in."
Dem and Gem both tried to hide their shock but couldn't. All those beastly crystals on the nearly endless wall of the maze were all his doing! This could only mean one thing... This man is powerful.
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Dear readers, I know I haven't posted many chapters from my book, but please, if you have enjoyed this book so far, I'd appreciate it so much if you vote.
This book needs your power stone; I'm hoping to make it at the top soon in the tab of novels with the highest power stones. Show some love and motivation to me with your power stone because, of course, a happy writer tries to make his readers share similar emotions.