Clink!
The vintage silver lighter opened, and a flame composed of a bright yellow and orange center, blanketed by a blue-tinted edge, shadowed on a pale face. The surroundings were dimly lit up by the small fire.
The living room was the same as they had left it, but Kai was nowhere to be seen. Feeling perturbed, Xerxes tried to listen to the empty and quiet house for any signs.
Nothing.
There was only a still wind in the house. Xerxes searched downstairs briefly; he had a feeling Kai was not nearby, so he moved his investigation to the next floor. When his foot pressed on the last step of the stairs, the wood creaked loudly, and the distant sound of a baby crying came from outside.
Elise must have woken up by now.
Ignoring the cries, he carried the spark of light to the bedroom. He looked underneath the bed first, this time being met with only the wooden floor. He turned off the lighter to save the fuel and despondently got up from the ground. As a shadow passed by him on the ground, his pitch-black eyes instantly followed after the shadow to the window, but there wasn't anything in the window either.
Thinking his mind was playing tricks on him due to the darkness of the house, he shook his face slightly and called for Kai.
"KAI! KAI!" he called out in every direction. When he was done shouting the name, he heard a clear-as-day thump from above his head. He stretched his neck.
The attic!
He no longer squandered time and headed directly to the burst-out opening in the ceiling. If Kai wasn't in any danger, he would have come or called after him. Knowing Kai could be in a life-threatening situation, Xerxes didn't have the time to fetch the dining chair from the lower floor. He jumped onto the wooden railing in the corridor and caught the opening with his hands. Holding the lighter in his mouth, he pushed himself into the makeshift attic.
The thumps of hitting the wood became more intelligible after being in the attic. Xerxes took the lighter from his mouth, igniting it immediately in the direction of the sound. Behind a few large cobwebs, he saw two legs struggling and the back of a black dress that belonged to the person sitting atop a pair of legs wearing white matching socks that reached below the knees, and white shoes that kicked the air with force.
"The moon is mine! No one can take it from me..." a girl's voice reverberated.
He rapidly passed by the cobwebs that stuck to his clothes and made his way over to Kai, who was being strangled by Mary. As he came close to her, Mary shifted her glowing crimson eyes over to Xerxes. Just one look from her sent several chills down his spine, but Kai's wellbeing came first. He gripped her bony arms to break him free.
Kai's face was bright red due to being choked. He was also trying to loosen her hold on his neck. He was close to passing out when, suddenly, Xerxes snatched him away from her clenches.
"Oeugh! Oeugh!" Kai coughed in Xerxes's arms as he tried to regulate his breathing.
Xerxes was ready to fight her if he had to, but unexpectedly, she stood there without any movement, seeming hesitant for some reason.
"The moon is mine only!" Mary yelled in his face as she launched herself at Kai, who was in his hold. She didn't attack his arms, which wrapped around Kai, but instead went for the opening in his legs that were on the wood. She tugged on them to drag Kai out of his hug.
"Only I can have the moon! No one else!" she shrieked. Xerxes tried holding onto Kai's body, but the little frail girl in front of him somehow had strength like a hulk. Kai was starting to slip out from his arms slowly when Xerxes snapped.
"NO, YOU CAN'T!"
Mary paused. Afterward, tears fell down her white face as she tilted her head and asked in a soft tone, "I can't?" Her expression softened. Xerxes's heart wavered; even though she was on the dungeon's side and probably a non-playable character of this created world, he still couldn't help but pity her.
"I'm sorry," he said, before his view started pixelating, breaking everything apart like sugar mixing in water.
***
The helicopter hovered in the sky, a sleek metallic bird cutting through the morning light. Its polished body gleamed in flashes of red and white, emblazoned with the bold, unmistakable logo of the local news station. Beneath its rotating blades, the world below seemed tiny, blurred by the dizzying heights and the hum of the engine. The whir of the rotors was deafening, a constant companion to the swirl of air that churned beneath them.
Inside the cockpit, the pilot's hands moved deftly over the controls, guiding the machine with practiced ease. Beside him, a cameraman adjusted the lens, zooming in on the scene below. The road, usually filled with the pulse of everyday life, was now dominated by a vast, gaping hole. It yawned open in the asphalt like a wound, blackened and ominous, as though the ground itself had decided to swallow what was above. Yellow "Do Not Cross" tape stretched across the scene, fluttering in the wind.
A reporter, headset snug over her ears, peered at the monitor beside her, her voice calm and steady as she began her broadcast.
"Today marks the 3rd day of the dungeon closing after sucking in 7 civilians who were on the road at the time of the emergence of the dungeon. The people on the internet have been sending their well wishes and hoping for them to survive—" The reporter was still in the middle of her report when the cameraman abruptly started zooming in on the road underneath them.
The unsettling hole glowed brightly, sending a blue beacon of light into the sky, which pierced through the clouds, signaling the clearance of a dungeon.