After three hours, Lihua was able to free her people along with Prince Haneul. The group had shrunken in size. Before they entered the castle, there were 15 Devil's Soldiers, now there were only 10. Meaning something must have happened to four of them, since Xin was with Takeshi and Chiyo. Thorin and her grandchildren were together and safe at the moment.

The group sat in a circle and cultivated. Gathering qi into their bodies so the would feel refreshed and revive their energy.

"What happened?" Lihua asked Thorin. "How did everyone get trapped inside the crystal?"

"I'm not too sure. One moment, we were inside the room, searching through the drawers, the next, it was blurry and we showed up inside the garden outside of this room. There was a voice, it spoke to us." Thorin said. "It told us we have a chance to save ourselves. We had to pass a test and once we pass, we could leave. But if we lost, we would stay here forever."

"Did you ever see his face?" Lihua asked. "The man that spoke to you, did you ever see how he looked like?"

"No." Thorin said shaking his head no.

"And the test? What was the test he put you through?"

"It was a maze filled with traps. I fell into a trap and ended up here."

"I think we all fell into a trap and ended up coming here." Dai said.

"Rest now and cultivate. We must find a way out before the man comes back and notices that you're all gone." Lihua said.

"What about the others?" Takao asked.

"Hopefully we'll run into them later. Hopefully they'll know to leave the castle and we can meet them at the entrance of the portal and leave this gods forsaken place once and for all. But first we must find a way out." Lihua tells them.

"Takeshi would never leave this place if he can't find you." Ethan tells her.

Lihua didn't say anything as she stared at Ethan. She knew he spoke the truth. He wouldn't leave her behind. He would stay here until he found her or her body before he would leave this dimension.

"Lets try to find a way out first." Lihua tells them. "We'll worry about other things later."

-------------

The full moonlight still shined through brightly when they all cultivated enough qi back into their bodies. The crystals took their qi at night, while they cultivated qi during the day. Over and over again, the people trapped within the crystals were being used as an energy source. For who and what for, Lihua did not know, but at the moment, she couldn't save everyone there.

"We have to try to save them." Sora interjected.

Thorin looked at Lihua to see what she had to say.

"If on the way out, we see a way to save them. Lets do it. But I'm not going to go out of my way to find a way to save them. We're short on time, have no way out, and separated from Takeshi, Chiyo and Xin." Lihua tells them. "We don't even know who our enemy is. I don't like our odds at the moment. If we can save them on the way, okay, lets do it. But finding a way out of this place is my first priority."

"But--" Sora wanted to argue.

"If we were not in the Phantom Mirage, if we knew how we got here and who was behind it, if we weren't on a time crunch to get to the entrance portal. I would say sure, lets do it." Lihua tells him. "But right now, in the situation we're in. I can't sacrifice us for them."

Sora looked mad. He was trying to understand Lihua, but his heart wanted to save everyone trapped there as well. He wanted to free them and kill the man who put them there. But with Lihua leading the group, he couldn't argue with her. She was his grandmother after all and she valued their lives more than strangers. But he couldn't help the way he felt.

Just his short time, being trapped in the crystal felt like hell. He couldn't imagine being trapped there for days, months and years.

"Lets go." Thorin ordered as the group started moving towards the glass walls. Lihua's animals scouted ahead of them, ensuring that there weren't any traps and making sure there was no one watching them.

The group made their way to the glass wall and as they spread out to search for a door, Lihua felt a sinister presence fall over them. Her family came back quickly to her side as the Devil's Soldiers surrounded them, protecting them from any danger. Lihua pressed her back to the glass wall and turned around to see a dark cloud float down from the ceiling. The moonlight highlighting it's way. The crystals moved away from the dark cloud as it made its way towards Lihua and her group.

Her animals came in front of the group, guarding them from the dark cloud. An evil laugh could be heard as the dark could floated in front of them.

"Did you think that you could escape me?" He said as the dark cloud spread. "We had a deal. If you escaped the maze, you would be free. But if you failed, you will stay here forever."

No one spoke as they watched the dark cloud hover.

"You people come here and steal from me thinking that it's okay to take things that don't belong to you. The only thing I can do is take from you as you have taken from me." He said. "It only makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I suggest you let us go." Lihua said clearly. "Or you'll pay for it with your life. It only makes sense, doesn't it?"