Lincoln awoke to find his entire body on fire. Well, it wasn't on fire in the literal sense, but with the burning feeling coursing through his body, it might as well be. He groaned in pain as he rolled onto his side, holding himself as his eyes fluttered open. Lincoln looked around and saw that he was in a cage, hanging above a pit of green, bubbling liquid that hissed as a bubble popped every once and a while. Looking across from him, he saw Clyde in another cage, just above him, and he was wide awake, trying to bust the lock open.

"Come on! Open!" Clyde grunted as he tried to use his brute strength to bust the lock. Lincoln tried to laugh, but only pain shot through his lungs as he struggled to get up. As he did so, he saw a weird sight. It looked like a window from a video game, an objective checklist. It shined a strange golden glow as black writing was written on it.

'Objective: Escape From Your Cage'

It was weird seeing such a thing appear in front of him, but he would have to ask about it later. Right now, he wanted to get out and he wanted to get Clyde's attention, signaling to his friend that he was alive.

"Ow..." He groaned out, catching Clyde's attention.

"Lincoln! Man, you're up!" Clyde stopped what he was doing to check up on him. Lowering himself, he tried to get a better look at Lincoln through the bars of the cage. "How do you feel, dude? Can you get up?"

"Clyde... my body is on fire... I can barely breathe!" Lincoln struggled as he rolled over, trying to push himself up as he reached out and grabbed the bars, pulling himself up to his feet and leaning against the cage. While hanging, the cage provided some support as he managed to get on his own two feet, yet still struggled to breathe.

"Well, at least you can stand. Also, don't try busting the lock, I already tried and it's not working." Clyde explained, pointing to the lock on his own cage.

"Have you tried... picking the lock? You've got a lock-picking set... right?" Lincoln gasped, trying to breathe as he looked up and saw Clyde face-palm himself.

Clyde reached into his dimensional pocket, a void that appears for all adventurers to help store items and whatever they can't carry themselves, and pulled out his lock-picking kit. Taking out what he needed, he went over to his lock and started to pick it , moving around inside the cylinder and pushing up the drivers. He tried to listen to the springs, but the bubbling, boiling liquid below made it hard to hear.

After a few minutes, Clyde managed to pick the lock to his cage, opening it as the cage door slowly swung out to the side. Bending forward, Clyde hugged the cage's bars as he climbed out of the side, shuffling on the little ledge, he positioned himself directly across from Lincoln's cage and started to make the cage swing. Pushing his back against the cage, he made the cage swing back and forth before he leaped across and landed on the outside of Lincoln's cell.

"Alright, now to get you out," Clyde said as he shuffled to the lock, "hopefully... I won't fall." he joked, taking a quick glance at the bottom, gulping before he looked back at the cage, nearing the lock.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Lincoln said, commenting on Clyde's escape and jump.

"Eh, it's nothing. You can do it too if you try, it's just easier for me because of my rank." Clyde explained as he got to the lock and started picking it. Moving to the cage door, Lincoln reached out of the bars and grabbed Clyde's vest, pulling on it to help him not fall over.

Another couple of minutes went by before the cage was unlocked. Pushing it open, Clyde found himself hanging on the door over a free-fall drop into the boiling ooze below. Clyde's eyes went wide as he saw what was below him and started to shake the cage in a panic. Lincoln, seeing this, reached out and pulled the cage door shut.

"Okay, how about you jump off, safely, first?" Lincoln suggested as Clyde nodded.

"Yeah, good idea," Clyde said as he saw land behind him. Jumping off the cage, he managed to get on solid ground, creating a large cloud of dust as he landed. "Okay! The ground is safe!"

Lincoln, seeing that his friend was still alive, opened the cage door and jumped from it. Barely managing to land on the ground, he stumbled back a bit, almost falling into the ooze behind him. But thankfully, Clyde managed to reach out and grab his shirt, pulling him away from the ledge.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Lincoln gave his thanks as Clyde nodded, patting him on the back.

"No problem... no problem... now let's ge-"

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

A scream echoed through the air as Clyde and Lincoln looked around, trying to find out where the scream came from.

"That sounded like Ronnie!" Lincoln said as suddenly, that golden window popped up.

'Objective Updated: Save Ronnie Ann'

'Optional: Save Chandler McCann'

Lincoln stared at the pop-up and blinked, trying to make sure that it was real. He reached out and actually touched it, feeling the words across his fingers as he looked over to see if Clyde could see it, but to his surprise... he saw that Clyde had one too! Clyde also looked over with a surprised look, seeing that his friend had one exactly like how own.

"You've got one too?!" They shouted at each other, pointing at the other pop-up window. They then smirked at each other, bringing their hands to their chins while looking at the window.

"You know..." Lincoln started.

"I've seen this particular thing happen before..." Clyde said.

"Maybe we're destined for greatness?"

"Or maybe we'll get super OP skills?"

"Maybe we got reincarnated?"

"I prefer to think that we got teleported into a system." Clyde began to explain. "Maybe it's like Solo Leveling?"

"How about Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint? Or maybe Hardcore Leveling Warrior?" Lincoln replied as they began to think, snowballing ideas off one another. But their thoughts were soon interrupted by another scream.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Maybe we should get going," Clyde suggested, seeing Lincoln nod in agreement. As they looked around for a way to get out, they saw a ramp, leading in the direction of the scream and they began to run. But they were soon stopped by a small, red creature with horns and large teeth. It was covered in a cloak, a pile of books on its back, and a pair of lit candles on top of those books.

Clyde began to pull his fist back, charging ahead as he didn't know how powerful this demonic-looking creature was. But when the demon saw Clyde, he raised its hands... and cowered.

"WAIT! CALYDUS NOT YOUR ENEMY! PLEASE!" It begged, much to Clyde's surprise. He froze, stopping his punch from connecting as Calydus, the name of the demon, looked up at Clyde and thanked him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for not killing Calydus!" Calydus bowed, putting his hands together almost in prayer. "Calydus is a servant to the cruel, cruel Shaginoth! He abuses and mocks poor Calydus. But you! Both of you could be his undoing!"

Calydus looked behind Clyde, pointing at Lincoln. "You can help Calydus! In return, Calydus help new friends!"

"Uh... why should we trust you?" Lincoln asked, walking up to Calydus as the demon nodded.

"Trust must be earned, yes? Calydus earn trust! Know where others are being held! Calydus help you! Calydus serve you!" the red demon explained.

Clyde and Lincoln looked at each other, both of them raising an eyebrow. They then turned away, trying to talk about what to do with the little demon. But they didn't get far before Calydus snapped his fingers and in a puff of green smoke, Calydus was a human child!

"Calydus distract guards! Friends help other friends! Less words! More do!" Calydus said as he ran off, screaming and hollering as what sounded like a horde of demons chased after him.

"A PRISONER HAS ESCAPED! AFTER HIM!"

The duo looked in surprise as they blinked in surprise as they saw Calydus run, distracting a whole bunch of demons just for them to help their friends.

"How do we know that this isn't a trap?" Clyde asked.

"Well, damned if we do, damned if we don't." Lincoln replied, making the other sigh.

"Well, let's go find Ronnie and Chandler." Clyde stated, not really wanting to try and find Chandler. They both ran up the ramp, making sure that no one was looking before they made a break for it.

[Yeah, I just ripped Calydus straight out of WoW. What can I say? I like the little Wyrmtongue.]