My first steps into the place are cautious yet determined. Knowing Tymos, I wouldn't put it past him to rig the place for our arrival.

But as we slowly enter the vast space, nothing happens- the only sound that can be heard is the hollow echo of our footsteps.

Inspecting this place, I'm actually surprised by the design, this isn't what I envisioned when I think a palace, especially one for Tymos. Open and big but not much in it. In fact, it reminds me a little of a Chinese palace that I saw once when my teacher showed this documentary about ancient China. Except, there's not much in this joint aside from the complex wrought iron craftsmanship and oddly obsessive amount of strange, vivid color plants. I mean, if there's one thing that's too present here, it's the plants. Tymos never struck me as one to have a green thumb, yet there are varying unknown species of different sizes, colors, and whatnot hanging from the ceiling and laced throughout the high-vaulted lattice ceiling like this is the Hanging Gardens or something. Don't know why he needs all of these overgrown plants when he lives in a freakin' jungle.

"What's his thing with plants?" I ask Nimu, keeping my voice low- hell, the echo of this place might just alert him to our presence.

Her eyes are darting all over the place as if this is her first time here and she expects a jumpscare.

"I don't really know...he never explained it to me and I never really inquired about it, it wasn't my business."

Rings a little odd to me that Nimu- Ms. Mom herself- never asked a thousand incessant questions about something so bizarre.

"Do you think they're alive?" Lan wonders aloud, studying a bright pink bulb one closely.

"Well, they're plants," I reply with a "duh" tone.

"I meant do you think they eat intruders?"

I'm about to make a smart remark when Nimu unexpectedly replies, distracted by the plants.

"No, they're dormant."

I make a face at her. "So you do know what's up with these things."

She pauses, breaking out of her trance to stare at me in confusion. "What?"

"You just said they're dormant."

She blinks then arches an eyebrow at me. "Well, they are."

"And how would you know that if you never asked questions about these things?"

I suspect I caught her in a trap, but she simply rolls her eyes at me, shakes her head, and starts back up as she briskly replies.

"I can assume things as well. But I am telling the truth, I never asked about the plants."

She's definitely a lot more defensive than usual. I know I shouldn't prod, I mean, it makes sense why she's on edge. No firsthand experience here, but I can understand how awkward it must be sneaking around your ex's house with four extra people- one of which has a bone to pick with said ex- and hoping you don't run into any embarrassing moments. I'll give her this and not push the issue.

"So where are we heading?" Lan asks Nimu.

She's leading the pack since she's familiar with the layout, but Tymos never gave specific directions on where he wanted me to meet him at.

"Into the heart of the palace," She answers, not glancing back. "The main chamber."

I'm assuming the main chamber is the throne room, it would only make sense why it'd be in the heart of the palace.

The journey there is quick and quiet, but that's not what stands out to me as we stand before the foreboding doors.

This has been easy...too easy, and as my grandma says "If it's too good to be true then it probably is". But my judgment is overshadowed by the eagerness of confronting Tymos and getting my brother again.

The others, though, have more of a brain on their shoulders.

"We can't go in yet," Lan says quickly. "He might be in there."

"Um, yeah," I reply, one hand on the golden doorknob. "Did you miss the memo? We want to run into him."

Chasan begins to sigh. "I know I'm going to be bringing up horrid memories for you- and you might even break out in hives- but do you have a plan for this?"

I don't want to tell them that my get-into-the-palace-and-infiltrate-it plan was the only plan I had so far (and frankly, planned on having).

As I'm starting to make up some BS plan to satisfy them, Dhisnaek comes to my defense.

"Although I am one for careful planning, Tymos is not one you can easily plan for. My words of advice are simply to plan for the unexpected- but even then, don't plan too hard for that."

Surprisingly, Nimu jumps abroad this train. "He's right. Tymos cannot be kept in a box. He has ways of getting to you and making you forget yourself."

"There we have it," I say victoriously to Chasan before glancing at the rest of them. "Now, anybody else have any comments, concerns, or questions before we enter? There are no more potty breaks after this."

I give them a moment to think of anything before I face the doors again, grip both doorknobs- that are cold to the touch- and push open the doors. I want to make as grand an entrance as possible.

But my edgy game face quickly drops as I pause in confusion at the scene before me. I opened the doors, not to the throne room but rather the same pair of doors, as if I'd never opened them. I glance in bewilderment at the others to see if I'm crazy or not. It's good to see I'm not the only confused soul here.

Without speaking, I go and push open the next pair of doors, expecting to walk through like I'd anticipated the first time. But again, we're met with the same mirrored situation.

"Okay...?"

It seems Tymos is starting early with his fuckary.

Getting a tad bit frustrated, I push open the next set of doors, stepping through in hopes of somehow escaping this endless continuum, but we arrive at the same doors as before, the cycle continuing.

"This is definitely Tymos' doing," Nimu grumbles.

"Maybe we should turn back and try a different way," Lan suggests.

"No," I grunt, throwing open the next doors, my irritation growing. "We have to keep going- he can't keep this up forever."

I mean, he could, but why is he playing so many games when it's clear he wants this showdown. I can find some consolation in the fact that it might be because he's scared of me kicking his ass.

After wildly pushing through two more doors, Lan pipes up, his question causing me to stop.

"Where's Nimu?"

Freezing with one hand on the door, I glance back at them to see what he's talking about. And sure enough, the blue-haired feline is gone.

"She must have become separated from us at some point," Dhisnaek says, his brow furrowing deeply.

I was kinda storming through these doors like a madwoman. Knowing that we've left Nimu behind, though, we can't abandon her now. So we turn back, and with Chasan being the closest to the previous doors, he opens them and steps through first. I enter last, hoping this works and we're able to reconnect with her.

But as I cross the threshold, things don't improve.

The first thing I hear is a cry of dismay from Lan-

"Where's Chasan!?"

Blinking to collect myself, I look around and sure enough, Chasan too is gone. It's like he just vanished into thin air like Nimu. While Lan wildly glances around in vain, I exchange a concerning look with Dhisnaek.

"Perhaps it would be wise to find another entrance," He says.

"Yeah," I slowly agree, my mind already trying to figure out a new way in- which is going to be hard seeing as our guide, Nimu, is gone. "We should."

I finally get Lan's attention, which is something seeing as he's seemingly flipping out over this.

"Look, we have to find a new way in because this isn't working," I explain.

"But what about Chasan and Nimu?" He asks desperately.

"If we find a new way in then we might find them. Tymos is playing with us so I'm sure they're still alive, just hidden somewhere."

He's still looking like he's on the verge of a heart attack, but as Dhisnaek adds his own encouragement, he starts to calm down and gets on board.

"You good?" I ask him.

He nods. "Yeah. Let's not waste any time, though."

And so we head off away from the trippy doors, down the hall we first came down. I really do hope wherever we go we're able to find the other two- if not, Tymos is going to have twice the hell to pay.

I never knew Lan could lose his cool so quickly. I might even tease him about it more if it weren't for the fact that he's still on edge, but I can't help and genuinely ask him.

"You got all worked up back there," I begin. "If we're going to get through this, we're gonna have to keep our heads. Just know we'll find them, okay."

He nods, staring at the ground for a bit as we walk through the sinister Garden of Eden.

"You're right, sorry about that. I'm just really worried. Nimu means a lot to me and I know she's uneasy being here. And then Chasan..."

He sighs, rubbing his face. Now I'm no detective, but this catches my interest and I gently press him.

"What about Chasan? I'm sure whatever he's in he can get himself out of."

He offers a brief, fleeting smile before replying. "You're right, but still..."

Me being the absolute queen of knowing whenever someone's hiding something or holding back has to dig into whatever Lan's keeping hush-hush.

"Still what?"

Lan's like a shallow, surface whitehead, the kind where you don't have to put much effort or pressure before it pops. It's great cause it makes sniffing out secrets much easier.

Doing his classic hands-shoved-in-pockets move, I notice a faint tinge of pink burning on the tips of his ears as he looks at me and lowers his voice.

"Well, I still care about him so..."

Now I'm piqued. "So?"

Bashfully, he digs his hands deeper.

"So I care about him, a lot. A lot more than maybe I'm supposed to."

Though his face gets even redder at the sight of my goofy grin, I can't help but notice his own small, suppressed smile.

"When you say 'a lot', how much 'a lot' are we talking about?" I ask tongue-in-cheek.

I'mma be a hundred percent, I never thought Chasan was lovable- really didn't- he can be annoying as fuck (thinking about it, though, maybe it's just to me). But I guess the saying stands: there's someone out there for everyone. And, honestly, this doesn't blow me away completely. I mean, they've been acting all buddy-buddy for the past few days, always talking to one another like they have a secret, getting all concerned about each other, you know, the icky falling-in-love syndrome people suffer from when Cupid hits.

He manages to look up at me briefly as he answers. "A lot...kind of ridiculous to say considering we've only known each other for a little bit, but more like...love."

"Eh, to be fair, this has felt more like an eternity than a few days."

He rubs his neck again. "I just don't want him to get hurt or for something to happen to him before I'm able to tell him that I love him."

Although it's getting too Hallmark-y for my taste, I swallow the vomit and grin at him, giving him a playfully nudge in the side.

"Don't worry about it. You'll definitely see him again."

I can tell my words encourage him as he straightens up a bit.

"You're right."

As I continue to grin at that, I happen to glance ahead to see if we're getting anywhere we need to be when I do a startled double-take.

"Where'd Dhisnaek go?" I ask, stopping suddenly to look around in a tizzy.

Lan stops as well, nearly running into me. "Huh? Isn't he up ahead?"

"That's where he's supposed to be, but he's not there."

I could have sworn I saw him out of the corner of my eye while I was talking to Lan, but sometime between when I briefly took my eyes off him and now I've lost sight of him. As the pit in the middle of my stomach tightens, I know that he's disappeared just like the other two- without a sound or trace. This is starting to become unsettling.

Lan's picking up on the creepy vibe too and gives me a wary look.

"Where do you think they all are and how do we keep getting separated so easily?"Those are great questions, but I have no answers for them. Instead, I continue to glance around, wondering what to do next.

Already, I can see what this is. Tymos is trying to intimidate me, getting under my skin, isolate me, but I'm not backing down- he's going to have to come a lot harder than that if he wants to rattle me.

We're wasting time standing around and so I decide to start this train back up. "We should keep going, try to find another way in. I'm sure he has them hidden somewhere- remember, he's all 

about games. Just try and stay as close as super glue to me."

"Okay."

And so even though I'm still not sure where we're going or if it leads to where we want to go, we press on, making sure to keep extra close to each other. Although the threat around us isn't physical, I still keep my hand close to the hilt of my sword for easy access just in case.

Nothing happens for a while as we cautiously shuffle through the wide, empty halls, keeping close together like conjoined twins.

"I've figured it out," Lan says as we finally come up on a corner.

"Figured what out?"

"What's so odd about this place."

"Aside from the obsessive indoor garden?"

"There aren't any guards or servants or anything. Don't you think an emperor would have people around?"

"Well, Tymos wins the award for being unique, that's for sure. He's the quirk bucket he wanted to be. Besides, he doesn't strike me as the type to need protecting- I think he has that under control with his magic and all."

"That's true," He agrees. "Still, it feels so empty in here; it would be too lonely for me."

He has a point, it's kinda like a hollow shell here with all this space and no people to fill it, but maybe that's what these plants are for.

As we near the corner, we're greeted by a wall. It's kinda jarring seeing as there's supposed to be a hall to turn down yet it's a dead end.

"Odd place to put a wall," Lan says as we stare up at it.

Scratching my chin, I narrow my eyes. "Yeah, sure is. We're gonna have to find ano-"

Bam! As we turn back around to try and find a different way, we're met with yet another wall, one I know was not there before- we'd just finished coming that way.

The devil works hard, but Tymos works harder.

Now blocked in, we exchange a look with each other- Lan's more fearful than me, I'm just annoyed- then glance back at the wall behind us. We're met with yet another surprise when coming face-to-face with the same wall, only closer than before.

"Um..." Now this is starting to get serious.

"What do we do?" Lan asks, his worry dripping off his words.

That's a good question, but I don't know if I have a good answer for it.

"Uh, don't turn around, it only makes the walls get-"

"Oops."I glance at him staring at the opposite wall, which causes me to look back at the wall behind us as well. Of course, that one's closer as well.

Splendid.

"We're going to get crushed if we don't do something," He frets.

I hadn't really thought about that- more concerned with getting boxed in- but he's right. I can't believe Tymos would drag me all the way out here just to crush me like a grape, but I need to keep remembering to expect the unexpected from him.

With this new, startling information, I have to think quick to get us out of this mess. Thankfully, 

I'm practically a Ph.D. in getting out of messy situations since it's what I do for a living.

"Go forward," I tell him, already pushing him to run through the tightening hall space.

It's like in those movies or shows where the characters have to run to get out to the other side before the walls close in on them, except I'm not even sure if where we're running is a safe escape. At first, it doesn't feel like the walls are moving closer, but it doesn't take long to feel how tight things are becoming. With Lan in front of me, I keep pushing him along, trying to get him to speed up to my level, which is hard for someone not designed to run like me.

With a glimmer of bright, natural light at the end of the hall, hope starts to fill me. I know we can't stop now and so I keep pushing Lan forward despite the walls pressing against me now.

"Almost there, keep going."

The walls feel like they're closing in faster now. With a few more bounds and leaps, we're just 

about out of-

Without warning, Lan disappears with nothing more than a gasp. I mean, one second he's there about to burst into the outside and the next he's just gone. Instinctively, out of confusion, I stop to connect the dots. All it takes is one glance down to figure out what happened. An endless hole in the polished marble floor is enough to rid me of any confusion.

I don't know what game Tymos is playing, but I hope he knows that his fun is about over. If he'd only stop being a wuss then maybe we could settle this once and for all.

Remembering the pressing (pun intended) danger around me, I start back up, leaping over the hole and breaking through the ending with a tumble onto the soft ground.

Recovering, I get up and brush myself off. It doesn't even matter where I am, I'm alive. I finish catching my breath and look back on my now sealed off entrance- God only knows where Lan fell to. It seems now this has turned into a bigger rescue mission than before.

With the stakes higher than before, I'm going to need a lot more than luck to get me through this. Tymos wants a game? I'mma give him the time of his life.