Apparently it seemed like Arma wasn’t the only one who was still stuck with his first task as he thought he was. Zessica was just as stuck too. She had been roaming around the hallways, picking up things she felt it was important for the task and roaming around again leaving an illusionary flame for a camera to pick up; having just as much of a fruitless search as the tall lad had.

What he had undergone earlier was a symptom of a disease known as ‘Darkness’ in the game. If a player had been in the dark for too long, it causes them to hallucinate and move at a pace of a drunkard man in his thirties. It also drives one’s sanity to the edge. Their vision gets eaten away and they wouldn’t be able to move till they find a light source. It’s a definite game over when one of the corpses finds that player and kills him or her on the spot.

She also didn’t deliberately make her surveillance camera to lose sight of her. What happened was she, like any other player in the beginning of the game, was in a separate hallway. She advanced through the dim lit hallway cautiously and stopped at a T section. She had to either take the left hallway, or the right.

Taking her time to which hallway to turn then, she turned to the left of the T section and decided to advance forth from there. However, the lantern she was holding suddenly slipped through her fingers and crashed on the ground with a deafening sound which echoed throughout the hallway. To make her luck worse, the wretched thing’s lights went out, engulfing both the girl and the camera, into darkness.

Zessica, who had was able to see the lantern rolling away from her by its tiny orange sparks that flickered then and there, chased after the old fashioned lantern groggily with her head ducked down. Once Zessica had her hands on the lantern once more, she didn’t bother turning back. Instead, she advanced forward on the right side of the T section while the surveillance camera continued to advance through the left, having no idea it was going to the wrong direction that whole time. Only when after the camera turned on its night vision feature, did it notice that the girl was ‘nowhere in sight’.

Arma felt a vein throbbing furiously at the side of his forehead when Zessica finished her tale. He kneaded his stabbing headache gently, trying to process all the absurdity in. In logical sense, it could have happened to anybody. However, for this to occur to Zessica, that was a whole another story. She was already giving people mini heart attacks just by appearing out of nowhere. It was as if disappearing was in her nature, as if she was born with it.

That’s when another question popped into his mind.

“Are you the rumoured Phantom Dancer?” Zessica stared at him as he asked that question before fixing her attention to something else; a broken shard not too far from her. To the tall lad, it seemed she was weighing her words down carefully before she answer back, to which Arma had hit the nail once again.

“No I am not” She blurted out straightforwardly, staring at her legs that were crossed underneath her.

“Oh...I see” Arma responded, having no other words to reply back with. Somewhere in the far corners of his mind, he might have hoped she was the Phantom Dancer too. It suited her in a peculiar way. Like how she sort of danced and balanced the situation, how she had gained the upper hand and controlled the game at her will and they way she disappears, it was difficult to disregard her as the legendary player even if the other people in the world wasn’t ready to accept it.

 Zessica continued to stare at her lap her hands clasped together, resting over her legs as if in a prayer. Her thumbs fiddled with each other before she added another statement that set not only Arma, but the whole audience to hushed silence.

“But I might have met him...”

Arma felt the words poked him in the head before drawing it into his ears. It took him a moment to realise what the girl had just uttered. When it did, the tall lad couldn’t help but have his eyes almost bulging out of his sockets and his jaw hung ajar in shock. It was as if she had slapped him in the face or poured ice water on him. Whichever it was, it certainly left him stupefied.

“Y-you have?!” Arma burst out loudly without thinking. Once he realised what he had just spluttered out, he bit down on his tongue as if it could take back his words. It was too late to retreat it since Zessica had heard every single word clearly and as usual, didn’t take it to heart.

“I might...” Zessica simply answered impassively, her eyes staring at one point of the distance as she travelled back to the past through her memories.

“I recall being present at the time of the ‘Taboo’ or the ‘Phantom Dancer’ as people called it.”

“Do you...do you know how he looks like?” Arma asked eagerly, unable to suppress the curiosity that was sprouting inside of him. To that, Zessica gazed at him with such sad eyes; Arma was taken aback for a bit. She had never as much smiled at anyone, nor let anyone see her smile. However, he never seen her having such an expression too. It never occurred to him that there was a time where she was sad and in a melancholic state too.

“...So she can make that kind of expression as well...”

“I am sorry...I don’t remember.” Zessica answered, looking down once more as if in regret. She didn’t dare to look him in the eye as she said the rest with her head bowed low and her clasped hands trembling feverishly.

“The Taboo... it did something to my memories. I forgotten what happened during the Taboo...Most of it is blank. I don’t even remember my brothers and my cousin’s face anymore too...”

Arma felt his eyes widened at her last sentence and a pang of sympathy for the girl remained. She had forgotten what happened during the Taboo. It had affected her memory and given her amnesia. Now that he thinks about it, he had heard there were some cases of the players having memory losses of their time in that Taboo. So if what she said about having amnesia was true, chances are she did meet the Phantom Dancer, two years earlier.

“How old were you back then? Thirteen? Fourteen?” Arma asked gently, wary that the girl before him had her guards and walls down temporarily. Chances were she wouldn’t open up to him again but he would do his best to comfort her at present.

“Fourteen. I was accompanying someone, my former partner.” Zessica answered; the tone of her voice slightly different than earlier. It was almost as if it could shatter to a million of pieces. She herself looked like she would break. It only occurred how fragile the girl looked right then; that it was almost scary. As if one touch could shatter the life out of the tiny girl.

“What happened to her?” Arma prodded on curiously, knowing all too well she was a solo player now.

Players have the option of partnering up with anyone. Although by the age of 16, their partners become permanent. Meaning when choosing a partner at sixteen years of age, that partner would forever and eternally be the chooser’s ally. The only way to severe the ties between them was to go to a court and have long hours of time consuming signing and coming to an agreement. However, before the age of sixteen, players can choose and lose their partners at any time they wish. So if Zessica had severed her ties with her former partner, it would have been easy since she was fourteen back then.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Even if I want to, I pretty much forgotten most of it” Zessica replied flatly, though still politely. Arma could have imagined it but he noticed that Zessica’s voice trembled and she was shivering furiously. Common sense told him that it was because she just head dived into what probably could be a hundred feet deep water without a second though. Though, something inside of him told him that was not the case.

“Sorry to hear that about... your brothers and cousin...must have sucked not to remember their faces.” Arma spoke softly of what he hoped was words of comfort. Only then did Zessica glance up, her face exposed of mixture of several emotions he couldn’t distinguish. The least he could describe what she was having was probably hope.

Sensing the urge to make her feel better, Arma cleared his throat before continuing.

“But...sooner or later in the future, I am sure you will meet them again. They might be searching for you even now as we speak.” Zessica remained quiet, letting his words of encouragement to sink in. It took her probably a few seconds, maybe ten in the least, till she exhaled out a long sigh. Arma observed her as her face returned impassive and unreadable once more.

“Yea... They might. I will find them too... one way or another.” Zessica replied to which Arma gave a small smile. He couldn’t describe what he was feeling other than being relieved that she was back to her old self again. He didn’t want to see her with such a sad face again. It was heart wrenching to see her in that state. Although, he do wish that she would open up to people a bit more, not that he was any better. For now, he guessed it was alright how things were at the present.

“How long had you been... wearing that?” Arma asked pointing awkwardly at the back of his neck. He didn’t want to point out she was the Child of Misfortune, which some intelligent idiot had labelled those type of people as. Zessica lightly touched the emerald stone that was fused at the back of her neck, caressing it softly before replying.

“Ever since the day I entered in this game through that huge cylindrical transportation tube. My body had been very weak from the start; much less I couldn’t even walk without a wheel chair back then. So, every time I used a Major or Minor, my heart stops. This stone here, it keeps my heart beating back. Every time my heart stops, this stone shocks it back, which would explain why you saw electricity a little while ago.”

Arma nodded lightly, recalling that sensation as he did so. It was hard to simply forget the powerful sensation crawling through his veins at that very moment. It was definitely one of those out of body experiences people would have done once in their lifetime.

“Last question, how did you make that umbrella...float? Back... at the bridge?” Arma trailed off awkwardly, guilt settling in once more when he failed to bring the girl back to dry land after the dive. Why hadn’t he done that earlier? What made him stop?

“Float?... Ah, the umbrella. It’s a bit complicated so... listen very carefully alright?” Zessica spoke, her head leaning closer to the tall lad as if she was going to tell him a huge secret. Arma could only nod furiously in return.

“That umbrella you saw earlier, that’s an illusion, my Minor. To make it, the illusion, to float, I used my Major, telekinesis. I would have made myself float but it seems that my Major cannot possible accomplish to do that” Arma, once again, took some time to absorb it all in.

“So...you...used both Major and Minor... together?” Arma asked stupidly, for that was the only conclusion he could end up with. To his amazement, Zessica nodded.

“B-but...isn’t that sort of... impossible?” Arma stuttered, still trying hard to believe what she had just said. Using a Major and Minor together was something out of that world. For one thing, people actually tried to blend it together but landed themselves in the hospitals with a major headache instead. Zatch had concluded that for it to be possible, one person must have a supremely flexible mind.

“It is...somewhat. That’s why the umbrella disappeared a few seconds later after it floated.” Zessica answered casually, as if the subject they were at was a light thing, something that can be shrugged off. Arma pursed his lips to a thin line, his eyes still showing sparks of bewilderment. It was difficult to digest and at the same time, it didn’t surprise him either. The girl had constantly surprised him since the day they met and it seemed she had more in store for him.

“Would you mind asking what your task is?” Zessica asked suddenly, interrupting his chain of thoughts. Arma blinked twice, processing her question in before answering back.

“Something like, open a secret door using a broken key. The place I had to go was the Archives, whatever and wherever that is.”

It was Zessica’s turn to blink, to which Arma blinked back in return. He felt confusion dawning in his brain. What had just happened? Had he said something bizarre? That could be the reason since opening a door with a broken key still had him riddled.

“...Would it help you if I say ...the room we are in right now... is the Archives? There’s a sign outside the door saying it is so...” An awkward silence claimed the air and Arma would have sworn he heard cricket noises somewhere in the distance from them. The tall lad slapped his forehead roughly in disbelief. He felt as if the game was making a fool out of him, and what a fool he was deemed was. Well in reality, no one could blame him since all the rooms looked similar wherever he went and that he was affected by the Darkness. Although, he still made a fool of himself, with or without the influence of Darkness.

As he continued to scowl at none other than himself, Zessica stood up abruptly and made her way past the crushed chandelier where the monster was still alive, but immobilised. Arma watched as she walked towards a piano to which he only registered in his mind that was there in the room the whole time. It was placed opposite to the wall of axes. He inspected her actions blankly as she lifted the lid of the piano. Dusts flew out everywhere the moment she did so which was followed by the girl’s cough.

By then, Arma stood up and made his way towards the girl’s side, beating away the dust from him and blinking away the tears that formed when the dusts reached his eyes. As he stood before the old beaten down piano, he stared at the numerous keys. From the looks of it, it used to be a grand piano in its early life, but the white keys were now heavily tinted with yellow and dressed with spider webs between the gaps. It had not been maintained well enough to bring the piano back to its glory.

“Open a secret door with a broken key right?” Zessica spoke suddenly. Arma casted his eyes to where her finger was placed. It was one of the tinted keys only it was sticking out more than the rest with it slightly slanted to the left side. She then gently pressed it and as if on cue, a loud noise echoed the room, enough to shake the room vigorously. Bits and pieces of the ceiling came raining down as one of the book shelves started shaking violently. It caused all the books to fall over as it moved to a side, revealing a secret passage that led underground.

It only hit Arma then that he had misinterpreted the whole task all along. Use the broken key to unlock a secret door, as in press the broken key on the piano. Why, he felt more of an idiot than he ever felt in years. He sighed as he admitted this out loud and felt his shoulders slump at his own idiocy. He was sure he would never be able to enter another game till his pride gets restored and when he stops giving up on life.

“That’s okay. I bet even the other players would be just as much puzzled as you are right now.” Zessica spoke casually to which Arma took it as words of comfort.

“So...let’s go” Arma froze and stared the drenched girl who started making her way to the passage. She must have noticed that Arma didn’t move when she halted to a stop and glanced back. With both eyebrows raised, she stared at him with big innocent eyes, as if she had no idea what she did to make him stiffen.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just that... are you coming with me?” Arma asked hesitantly, still unable to suppress the surprise from his face. It was true that if you help another player out with them helping you back in return, the game would be somewhat easier. However, there was no one other than the three idiots that were willing to aid him when he needed someone at the most.

“Isn’t that what I am doing?” Zessica countered the question with her own. Cocking her head back and boring her bright green eyes to his own grey ones, she waited patiently for him to walk beside her and enter the secret passage. Only, he didn’t. He was left with more questions than answers.

“But why?” Arma asked bewilderedly. She was constantly surprising him more and more and he was sure that he had more than enough bombshells for the day. Even one can’t live with too many eye-opening phenomenons occurring within a single day. 

“Why not?” Zessica countered again, continuing to stare at him as if daring him to make her change her mind. Though, Arma knew too well not to mess with a girl who had made up her final decision. He will have to thank Phoenix later for teaching him that very lesson physically almost every day. However, there was also something else the girl should worry about.

“What about your task?”

“Ah...I forgot about that... There’s that too huh?” Zessica noted out loudly while placing an elegant finger under her chin. She stared at the ground with her mind deep in thoughts to which Arma felt a sweat bead trail down his temples. How can someone forget his or hers task easily just like that? Speaking of tasks...

“What’s your task by the way?” Zessica blinked, rousing out of her chain of thoughts before she fished her hands to her shorts. She then pulled out a damp piece of paper and moderately unfolded it carefully as to not tear it by accident. Once it was unfolded, she showed it to Arma to which he read it in concentration.

In an ideal realm, angels will bask in God’s warmth and assist the ugly to achieve beauty, the essence that went adrift will gain life, and the children will obtain wisdom. However, it would be fruitless to construct an ideal realm deprived of a zealous ruler to guide it from his throne.

It took Arma several moments to digest it all in since one, he was never good with poetry and two; he never understood poetry as well. However, he found himself staring at one line in particular. It rang a bell from the far corners of Arma’s memory. He will just have to figure out where though.

“Arma?” Zessica asked curiously as the tall lad placed pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tightly, surfing through the pictures of consciousness as if it were waves. Zessica simply stood before the tall lad, watching him closely without another word. She was so silent; it was almost like she wasn’t there at all. Arma knew all too well she was indeed there, standing silently like a statue.

Statue...

It was when he recalled the time where he encountered the wax doll with a gap in the middle of its chest earlier, he sorted the puzzle pieces together. Arma opened his eyes in realisation of his newfound discovery. He quickly glanced at Zessica, having a big grin etched on his face from excitement to which Zessica simply cocked her head to one side. She had no idea that Arma had already solved one of the lines of the poetry like task.

“Since you helped me with my task, it’s my turn to help with yours”

***

“Aaargh!! The bloody idiot is still stuck with his first task! How unlucky can one get?” Phoenix cried out with incredulity. It had been over fifteen minutes since they finished with their tasks, the last one being to discover the owner’s corpse. Even Titania was finished when she had slain down the monster with a weapon that was blessed with a poison at the tip of the sword. It was the sort of poison that can defeat those wretched things.

“Well, it seems he is not alone in that anymore.” Zatch noted, sort of eavesdropping the conversation Arma was having with the tiny girl from the stadium with his other two teammates. He was all the more intrigued with Zessica as she told her adventures in the game. Just who was she exactly? It was a great pity that the girl was not the Phantom Dancer, though there was still something that the girl had. It wasn’t the fact she was the Child of Misfortune, it was her style. It was unique and different, something that could be classified as raw talent.

“Um...you’ve known... Armageddon for quite a long time right?” Titania suddenly asked, her hazel eyes twinkling in curiosity. The other three simply stared at her, blinking with a blank expression in their faces. Titania could feel the absurd pressure that was peering from that to her.

“Long time? More like most of our lives.” Phoenix finally answered, scoffing out a small ball of red fire from her mouth as she did so with small brief coughs that followed after. Zatch simply smiled broadly like the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. It was his way of seconding something.

“I only known him a year though,” Stabs joined in, shrugging his shoulders with an amused smile.

“Well...is he really...not what he looks like? As in how to say...he isn’t as vicious people think he is?” Titania asked awkwardly, twiddling her fingers in discomfort to show how she didn’t mean it as a bad way. She laughed nervously after she asked the peculiar question to quickly hide her embarrassment. Phoenix simply raised one eyebrow in return.

“Obviously but hey, who believes that he is a soft, mellow and down to earth guy who is terrified with mirrors?”

“Mirrors?” Titania repeated with a question at the end, stumped at the strange phobia. It was certainly what no one had expected from the almighty ‘Lone Wolf’. A person and ferocious as Arma, was scared of mirrors? Now that was unheard of.

“Yea... Mirrors...”

***

Arma watch as one of the lines on the task paper that was given to Zessica being cut magically out of nowhere as Zessica placed a music sheet in the gap of the wax doll. It had fulfilled the part where ‘the essence that went adrift will gain life’. The two of them had ‘borrowed’ the music sheet that was stuck on the lid of the broken down piano and with Zessica’s keen memory; they managed to get in to the room with the wax dolls. For once, he was right with something.

“I see, it does fulfill that well... presuming that this wax dolls are real people” Zessica noted to no one in particular to which Arma couldn’t help but cringe at the thought. It wasn’t something pleasant to hear, especially coming from Zessica who speaks the most ludicrous things with a straight face.

“So for the time being, why don’t we work together on this?” Arma spoke suddenly to shake the thought out of his head, causing the girl’s eyes to widen by a fraction. She looked genuinely surprised, as if she had not expected him to ask her of that.

“Work...together?” She repeated slowly, weighing the words down in her mind as if she was debating whether she heard it correctly or not.

“Yea...?... As a team for now... You know... get both of us out alive... I wouldn’t have found the secret passage if it weren’t for you”

“...Nor will I had found this wax doll if it weren’t for you too” Zessica added kindly. She stood still, lost in a deep thought while she debated on how to answer. It only occurred to Arma he was curious at why she kept doing that. Thinking seriously for everything else she had to say. What made her do that? What exactly was her background?

“Okay, I accept your acquaintance... Shall we go to the secret passage first then?” Zessica looked up at the tall lad, gesturing her head forward to which Arma snickered lightly before bowing down lightly and lending an arm for her elbow to wrap around it.

“We shall.”

The two advanced through the staircase of the dark underground passage with no light source to guide their way. Arma had dunked his lantern at one dead servant and Zessica had lost hers when she jumped into the murky looking water. Already Arma feeling the symptoms of Darkness settling in as the stairs seemed to shift and stretch, loosing its shape as it waved about. The tall lad had to frequently shut his eyes and shake his head vigorously to get his vision back to par again.

“Are you alright Arma?” Zessica asked all of a sudden. Arma could feel her gaze on him even though by then he couldn’t see her clearly except her silhouette in the dark. He knew she was worried since he was lagging behind instead of her. Arma simply nodded lightly, forcing smile at what he hoped towards the girl as he continued to move.

“I am alright. No worries. How much further does this staircase go?”

“We are almost at the end. See?” He heard to distinctive footsteps of the girl came to a halt and let his eyes wander towards where he was standing. There were numerous cracks spread on the ceiling like a network of branches which let several light rays flooded the whole area. It was dim, but bearable enough for both of them to see and to clear the Darkness that was overtaking Arma’s mind.

There was a huge tomb located in the middle of the area and another door right across. To their right, several iron bars were stationed from the ceiling to the ground. Arma confirmed that area as a dungeon when he caught two to three skeletons with their slavery clothes withering away inside. There were three trays of what used to be food that was now infested with rodents and an overturned mug was scattered a long distance away which became a home for heaps of red ants.

The whole area was shaped like a circle that had one cut to represent the stairs. A second cut to where the door in front of them leads to who knows where. The walls were made out of limestones which were crumbling away slowly. Even the ceiling had bits and pieces raining down on the two lonely players. For a moment, Arma feared that they would be caved in if they lingered there any longer.

Upon closer inspection in the dungeon, Arma noticed these skeletons were chained from the neck, wrist and feet. These chains were attached to the walls which prevented the hostages or prisoners from moving further than a few feet from where they were. He shuddered when he saw one of the corpses was small, almost like a child’s with the floor underneath it dyed red. Even though this was simply graphics expertly made by the AI, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

“Why don’t you open the tomb?” Zessica’s voice that broke the eerie silence in the underground secret area made Arma almost jump out of his skin. He flinched and clutched his chest, willing his heart to be to its original rhythm before responding to the oblivious girl. He honestly needed to tell her to stop doing... whatever she was doing, even if she wasn’t doing it on purpose to scare the life out of him.

“....Excuse me?!” Arma finally asked when he realised what he was going up against.

“Well...do you see any notes, papers or a task list in sight?” Zessica asked casually, as if proving her point. Arma glanced around, trying to find the wretched paper or thing he was supposed to get as an attempt to prevent himself from opening the tomb. Nothing good can come out of doing that.

Unfortunately, try as he might, he could reluctantly see that the girl had a point. There really wasn’t anything that related to the task that he had to fulfil.

“...No...”

“Then that’s the only option we have as of now.”Zessica continued. Arma didn’t want to argue any further than that. He knew it would make him look like a cowardly immature kid if he asked why she wouldn’t open the tomb instead. After all, it was his task and he must be the one to take responsibility whether he liked it or not. Plus, she was telling the truth. There doesn’t seem to be any other option left.

Cracking his knuckles nervously, Arma walked towards the tomb and let his fingers rest on the edge of the lid. Exhaling out a long sigh, he focused all of his strength on his fingers and attempted to lift the lid, gritting his teeth furiously as he did so.

Alas, he was left with red, numb fingers and a look of disbelief. Surely lifting the lid of the tomb wouldn’t be that difficult. Had the AI damned him more than he damned his opponents? Was this some sort of punishment for him? Was he missing something?

“Try again, I’ll pitch in this time” Zessica prodded lightly, placing her right palm firmly on the lid. Arma could only feel a mixture of giving up and underestimating the girl. What could she do when even he couldn’t lift the lid himself? Though, it did let him feeling sort of grateful that she was at least trying to help.

“Count of three?”Arma asked and registered a brief nod from the short girl. Without further ado, Arma rested his fingers under the lid again, taking deep breathes while preparing himself for the worse or for the best.

“One...” Zessica counted; her voice barely above a whisper.

“Two...” Arma tagged in, gripping the lid with more force than he thought he could muster.

“Three!” The tall lad once again used most of his strength to lift the lid with his fingers and rooting his feet firmly on the ground to prevent himself from falling forwards. This time however, he perceived a great surge of power escalating from his right that was enough to make him gasp. He quickly turned to Zessica, who had her eyebrows furrowed together in concentration, her emerald green eyes glowing magnificently as her right palm was engulfed with a corona of white light that it was in a desperate blur. Its force was enough to flap her ivory hair back helplessly.

It was when he noticed a shift of the tomb’s lid, did he became aware that the girl beside him was using her Major, Telekinesis. How had he forgotten about that? Of course she could have helped him greatly with lifting the lid! He really should stop underestimating her due to her disabilities. It was certainly very cruel of him.

Soon, the lid creaked and cranked loudly beneath their fingertips. Using one last push, the two accomplished moving the lid and let it crash on the other side of the tomb. Dust spurted out everywhere again to which almost immediately Zessica sneezed vigorously. She was then surrounded with green lightening to which the tall lad assumed the stone doing its job.

When the girl stopped sneezing and the lightning continued to crackle away, she glanced at Arma, who in return smiled at her. He was more than glad that she was there to accompany and help him or he would never had made it this far. She only nodded in return, which was enough for him to take as her way of smiling. Though there was something that was nagging at in his mind for quite a while.

Didn’t Zatch say that she couldn’t even lift a chair with her Major? If that is so, how did she lift the lid with him? She did accomplish it with great difficulty but Arma could not stop wondering whether Zatch’s Minor had backfired him or not.

“Look...” Zessica suddenly spoke, pointing to what lay inside the tomb. Arma peered down, trying his best not to cringe at the sight that behold. It was another corpse only this one had clean skeletons instead. There was no rotting flesh to be distinguished and from the clothes it was wearing, he concluded it was a woman for it wore a huge maroon gown that was fit for a queen. Rubies and diamonds were garnished in a flowery pattern. Its hands were resting on the navel of the dress and Arma caught sight of something white sticking out from those very bony hands.

As if reading his mind, Zessica reached out towards the white thing much to his horror and Arma watched as she calmly lifted the ceramic white wrist bone and placed them to the corpse’s side. She then picked up the white thing, which was a paper that was yellow at the edges with age and handed it over to the mystified lad. She showed no hint of being disgusted or even crept out about it.

Hesitantly, Arma took the small piece of paper from her hands and unfolded it. He refrained himself from wiping his hands off on his shirt for that would either hurt the girl’s feelings or make the girl assume he was easily scared. Still stumped at what happened earlier, he let the words slowly fill his mind.

The key to escape is in the hands of an innocent.

“Well what do you know? It seems this is your last task.” Zessica spoke out loud which Arma gawked at her, wondering what she meant and how she deduced to something like that.

“If you think about it, it sort of makes sense. You had so much trouble finding the Archives let alone finding the broken key and now you have to find another key to make you escape from this nightmare. So with the less number of tasks, it sort of increased the difficulty for you to accomplish it. You really do have the worst luck out of everyone.” After several moments of absorbing what the girl explained, Arma wanted to slump on the floor and just sleep there. It was official. The AI has something against him. What he did to provoke it, he had no single clue.

“So...are we to presume that we should advance from what goes beyond from that door?” Zessica asked politely in a formal manner, interrupting Arma’s thoughts once more. In response, he simply shrugged his shoulders for he did not know where to advance next as well. He had to find a key from the innocent which is like finding a needle in a haystack.

“Your guess is just as good as mine...”

“Okay.” Zessica spoke, nodding to no one in particular and leisurely walking past the opened tomb. However, no sooner when she did that, Arma witnessed her left foot sinking slightly under the ground, forming a square shaped hole in the process. Even Zessica seemed to notice it from the slight shift of the ground beneath her and instinctively glanced down to find the source of it.

Abruptly, the ceiling above them started raining larger debris of varying shapes and throat congesting dust poured all over them. The whole room seemed to rattle violently as if the room itself was disturbed from its slumber and woke up in a really bad mood. The two players could only root their feet firmly on the ground to balance themselves and shield their heads futilely with their arms overhead.

One large chunk of the ceiling in particular missed the tall lad by an inch. If it was any closer to him he would have fractured his skull for the second time in a row. It only dawned on him that his worst nightmare was coming fabricating into reality. At this rate, they were going to be caved in, alive.

“Zessica! To the door!” Arma cried out loudly over the loud growl of the quakes of fury. The girl didn’t have to be told twice as she immediately approached to the door with the tall lad hot on her heels. Once she reached the dark black door, Arma saw the girl pulling the doorknob vigorously from a distance, shaking it furiously with impatience. The door didn’t as much even budge with her strength and by then, an even larger chunk of the ceiling missed her by a hair to the left.

Arma soon caught up to the girl and attempted to open the door as well. Even with him, who was a whole lot stronger than the girl beside him, couldn’t find the door to co operate. The stubborn thing was locked tight. A sudden thought struck him like a lightning bolt. Was this the door to escape?

All of a sudden, he heard a loud creak from above that sent shivers down his spine. Naturally, he looked up only to witness the sight of the ceiling with a size of a boulder aiming straight down towards the two. His eyes widened tremendously as the boulder eventually lose its grip from the ceiling and fell, slowly closing the distance between them.

Having no intention to die right then and there, Arma felt the adrenaline rushing through his bloodstream as he quickly grabbed Zessica’s small wrist and yanked her towards him. This had caught the girl by surprise as she practically smacked right into him as if she was pulled like a rag doll.

Wrapping his arms around her in a secured and protective manner, he both leaped and carried her back, landing safely from the boulder by a few meters. However, when the boulder made impact on the ground, the force was enough to knock his sense of balance and he fell back. Arma then felt his head struck at something hard and everything went dark.

By the time he woke up, Arma felt his head throbbing furiously in pain. Wincing slightly against his new injury to be dealt with, he groggily opened his eyes and observed his surroundings. At first he was dazed, his mind gone blank, wondering why he was not resting back at home and not on his luxurious bed. Though, once he felt the rough surface of the ground from the palm of his hands, his fingers briefly touching several hard odd shapes that gave him the impression of small rocks, everything came back in a flash, like a key locked into place.

Arma looked around him worriedly and sighed in relief to find the short girl was not too far with her back against his view. Had she stayed this whole time for him this whole time? As he propped his elbows and sat up straight, he was about to call out the girl, question her injuries when something caught his attention at the corner of his eyes. His relief changed to a mixture of fear and dread in a matter of seconds. Zessica seemed to be focused on that very thing too for she continued to stare at it as if she was caught in a spell.

Not too far from them, was the corpse that was supposed to be sleeping in her tomb in peace, staring its vacant eye sockets back towards the two players.

Author's note: As usual I didn't recheck this properly so if there is any mistakes please let me know. I also notice that some of your read but not vote (Not that I am forcing you to)

So please vote this book if you find it interesting =)