Finally.
The elevator stopped. The door opened but no one moved. They looked at each other with clear signs of suspicion.
"Excuse me," Dot said as he wiggled past Flarion. "I'd like to get off here."
He was not concerned with where he was, but he was quite certain that he needed to leave the small metal box and the strange people inside it. Somehow, stairs sounded like the greatest invention ever, and he was not feeling sleepy anymore.
"Here?" said Crow. "And where is here?" She put her foot in front of him and blocked his way. Then, pushing him back against his will, she stepped outside alone, sniffing the air like a hunting hound.
"Look everyone, I don't know what your deal is or what you are trying to do but I need to get to work, so if you'd just let me pass it-" Dot choked for a split second. A small glimpse at the tiny screen above the door gave him an uneasy feeling he did not expect. In red, pixel letters, it said Level 0.
Level 0? Basement?
"What is that?" asked Flarion, peeking towards the wall of darkness outside the door.
The very footing in front of the elevator did not look like it belonged to an apartment building or even a garage. The round, uneven stones lay scattered around, as if they led to some old castle, but there was nothing to be seen further than a few steps out.
What is happening? Where is the rest?
"This is not a coincidence," the wizard said. She was the next to come out, making slow, careful steps to where Crow stood. "This must be the bottom." She tried touching the black curtain but quickly pulled her hand away in pain.
"What do you think? Can we lift this?" Crow insisted as the others joined in. They all felt the same discomfort upon coming close to the darkness, and eventually bounced back to the middle of the stone field.
"I believe we'll soon find out."
However, Dot had no time to hesitate. He had but one chance to get away and he intended to make the best of it. As soon as the last of them was outside he lounged at the buttons. With both hands, he tapped on them like he was playing an accordion but the door would not close.
This is a nightmare.
Still searching for a flaw in the elevator's design, Dot kept slamming the walls, finding nothing that would satisfy him.
"Get out of there, you dim-headed halfwit," Crow yelled.
Somewhere between fear and the desire to run, Dot contemplated his next steps. Part of him was hoping that the outer wall had a button and that it was all due to greedy real estate owners and poor development that he couldn't get it to move. Even if it were a prank by some internet clown with money to throw around, he would have played the role of a victim well.
The first step over the border felt like stepping into an ocean, like some heavy barrier had to be pierced, leaving him gasping for air.
"Deep breaths," he heard someone say, and it took quite a few of those to set him straight. He bent forward and then backward until he was right again. Then, just as he was able to lift his head, another unexpected thing happened.
A piece of fine paper unfurled before his eyes.
His first instinct was to wave his hand through the thing, and as a result, it flickered gently, dispersing into fine gold dust under his finger, before returning to normal. It stood freely suspended in the air, held up by no one and nothing at all.
Impossible.
Gazing at the five strangers scattered around in the dark, Dot noticed they looked quite frozen, almost like time itself had completely stopped for them. He was not sure if it was a good thing or a bad one at this point.
"Welcome to the Forge of Heroes!" a line of letters appeared on the paper. They were written with such delicate precision as if printed on with deep blue ink only seconds prior. It looked so fresh he wanted to smudge it off with his fingertips.
"What the actual hell?" he whispered, desperately trying to understand its logic.
The writing continued.
"Don't panic. I am the System."
Huh?
"Before you lies the Citadel."
"The Citadel?"
"Only the strong and the wise can rise to its challenge. The rest shall never leave it.
The rules are as follows:
One : Six is as one, in life and in death.
Two: Do not wish for what is not yours to have.
Three: Do not stray from the given path."
"Wait," he peered at the writing and did his best to come to terms with how elaborate it all appeared. "Is this a game? Is this... real?"
"Do you accept these terms?" the final words appeared on the scroll.
He backed off a few steps, knowing very well it was all quite ridiculous. Slowly, he circled around it, tracing the steps of the others and examining their faces. They were indeed stilled, like statues, both dead and alive. He tried to make them move, make them react to pinching their cheeks or poking their foreheads, but they remained as they were, without a single breath taken.
The darkness ahead was unlike anything he'd ever seen, a veil made of the blackest fog that could neither be touched nor grasped. He tried pushing past it, kicking and screaming at it, but some formidable force kept him only a few steps away, making his palms tingle with electricity and rage.
Getting back home or going anywhere else for that matter, did not seem like an option. He was, undoubtedly trapped.
Shit. Shit. SHIT! Why does stuff like this always happen to me?
"Do you accept the terms?"
The words on the paper glowed like the universe itself, dim and yet constant.
He did not accept them. He had no idea what it meant, where it led, how insane it all was. But that was the only option he was given, after all. Even if it was just a prank, at least someone would get a kick out of it all.
"What if I don't?"
"That is not an option." the paper answered, as it unfurled a bit more.
"Not an option? What is an option?" He contemplated tearing it apart had it been a bit more solid. "Why would you even ask that?"
"Do you accept the terms?"
"No. For the love of everything. No!"
"That is not an option."
'Fuck you," he cried and backed off into the elevator again. He slammed all the buttons for the sake of justice and sat on the floor. The pizza was still there, still slightly warm.
"At least you are normal."
It took him several bites to feel the olives on his tongue.
"Monsters," he mumbled with a full mouth as he plucked the black rings of his slices.
That's when it dawned on him.
Patting his pockets aggressively, he remembered that the only thing he really needed to do was call someone and have them summon the elevator back up. It was as simple as that.
But the phone had other ideas.
"No service. NO SERVICE? Come on..."
He wanted to cry, but he just kept eating, and shaking the device like it was somehow supposed to catch a signal like that.
"Will somebody please get me out of here?"
"Do you accept the terms?"
The mysterious scroll was inching closer to him, like a serial killer closing in for a kill. It just kept growing longer and asking the same thing.
"You are in charge of this place, right?" he asked as if the paper had thoughts of its own.
"Yes. I am the System."
"Then let me out."
"That is not an option."
He closed the box lid and shoved it across the floor, as he chose his next question.
"How do I get out then?"
"The way out will come to those victorious."
"And who are they?"
"Do you accept the terms?"
"No"
"That is not an option."
I'll be damned.
"I accept," Dot yelled with unfounded confidence, as his hands shook and his legs lost conformity on the cold floor. It was both fear and disdain that filled his blood and he had to choose one to lead him forward.
"Good luck."
In an instant, the darkness began to recede and the scroll dispersed into dust. The curtain slowly faded away and a path to beyond was revealed. The stones under their feet joined up into a small bridge and on the other side, a white tower rose. It had no windows, no roof that could be seen from the ground, and a single door right where the bridge ended.
It had become clear to Dot that he'd made a mistake.
"Ah, here we are," said Flarion, joyfully prancing towards the bridge. "At the bottom of the world, as it appears. I was truly afraid that dark veil was as far as we got."
"Well, this is interesting," said Crow peering at the never-ending structure up above. She did not seem to like it very much. "Oi, kitty cat, would you be so kind to see if the bridge is safe?"
"You are welcome to call me Kama," the monk answered politely and pointed to Bax. "But I would say this is better suited for an elf. I may not be too light on my feet."
"Nice way of sharing responsibility," Bax mumbled as he took the first step, and then slowly examined the stones of the bridge, ultimately concluding it was safe to cross.
"I'm not as nimble as I used to be," Kama said quietly shoving Dot with his elbow having him nearly lose balance because the sheer size of Kama was not proportional to his sense of strength.
"Onward, companions."
No matter what, Dot could not shake off the bad feeling. His mind did not want to fully accept what was happening and he stood with an open mouth, gaping at the tower that scraped against the sky. His feet could hardly lift off the ground and he struggled to connect what he was seeing with what was possible.
"It's not real," said the hooded wizard. "We're already inside the Citadel, so this is all for show. Don't be fooled by its tricks."
Slowly as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, he began to notice the landscape around them. A river flowed far underneath the bridge, flowers covered the pastures and open fields, unfurling a remarkable world before them. A light breeze came from the distant hills and forests, beyond which mountains poked their heads.
Not real? Of course, it's not real. How can it be?
Crow had already gathered a small collection of rocks in her hand and was throwing them with great prowess into the water. Every time she threw one she did not wait for it to drop into the river but turned to look at the sky. Each of the rocks fell back onto the bridge, no matter how far she threw them.
"What are you doing?" said the wizard as the sun made her eyes seem perfectly normal, with a dark gray shade and a few white lines.
"Wanna try something fun?" Crow said closing in on Dot. She had lost her piercing gaze and replaced it with a childish glee. Without a warning and with great ease, she plucked him off the ground and threw him over the edge of the bridge.
He could see her waving as he dropped into the abyss like a sack of rotten potatoes, screaming as the bright meadow folded up before him.
"And they say the Karzun are not as crazy as they look," said Flarion, glaring at Crow from the other side.
"Wait for it," Crow returned counting on her finger and looking at the sky. "Any moment now."
The next thing he knew, he was safely on the ground, right in the middle of the bridge. Though he was in one piece, the tumbling itself made him sick and he was ready to throw up everything he just ate.
"What is your problem? Why would you do that?" he roared like a wounded animal, grasping his stomach.
"Can't die here," she said. "It's the fun zone."
"Leave him alone," the wizard implored. "I've had enough of you already." The black cloak shifted as her left arm rose above her head and her fingers began a dance in curious patterns. A small thread of energy began to form around them.
"Oh, there she is. Finally. You can play dumb with them, but not me. Nean? Isn't that your name? I knew it was you the moment I saw those cursed eyes." Crow croaked.
Nean dropped her hand before the magic was unleashed, and took a small step closer. "Who I was out there doesn't matter, just like it doesn't matter for any of you. What you did, where you were, what got you here, it's all just trivia. You better find a good reason to stay alive because no one else will find it for you. No gods in the Citadel but the god of Death."
"Tsk. Well let me show you-"
"Quiet!" Bax exclaimed. His ears were twitching again, and he looked at the sky like he anticipated something. "We are not alone. Do you hear that?"
"It's coming," said Kama as the hairs on his back stood up. "Oh, it's coming."
Far beyond the walls of the tower, something cut through the air. A winged menace was flying their way, and the flapping of its wings sounded like a thunder from above.
"Move!" yelled Nean, lounging towards the door, as the wind picked up and threatened to carry her hood and robe with it.
"Wait," Dot cried, like they'd already forgotten he was there. "Just wait a minute. Is someone going to explain to me what's going on right now? What happened to the fun zone?"
"One foot in front of the other," said Flarion, almost inaudible. "And I suggest you accept your fate before we go through that door because I can't guarantee your mind won't be broken sideways and across and in every possible-"
Before he could finish, Crow stepped in between them and turned Dot's head towards the door like he was a toy. "We don't have time for any kind of lollygagging. It's either we go in now, or wait for the Kalaber to eat us alive."
The Forge of Heroes. These words echoed over and over like a catchy pop song in his head.
"Kalaber?" Dot whispered, as she picked him up and flopped him over her shoulder. He did not protest. He had no idea how.
They did not answer his question and instead marched towards the door in quickened steps.
"Are you going to stop picking me up like I'm a child?"
"No," Crow said as they entered the tower.
Am I gonna die here?