as we enter the room the door disappeared behind us, blending into the wall. before us was many large pillars of stone, each erupting from a square in the checkered floor. the room felt odd but i didn't question it and followed the others to the edge of our platform. right in front of the checkers and first pillar

"well Jayne?" what do we do?" Eris asks looking at the speedster expectantly.

jayne jumps back slightly, surprised by the sudden speech direction.

"Me! what do you mean 'what do we do?' how should i know?"

Eris rolls her eyes.

"did you listen to the riddle at all? the one who can open the door is to lead us through this first test! thats you ya goof."

Jayne gulps slightly realizing that it's up to her to keep us safe in this level.

" well, we seem to need to get to the blue door over there!" She points to a huge blue double door on the opposite wall, high above our head on a ledge .

"The only way to get their is to climb all the pillars."

We all nod. Obviously she could make it across but that wouldn't help the rest of us much. Speedster are gifted with natural flexibility and agility. This shouldn't be hard for her.

" alright. I'll go first, then I want Shard to follow. Once she makes it up then everyone else can follow. If you fall reach to one of us. Okay?"

Surprisingly, her plan might work if shard is able to jump far enough.

With everyone's agreement Jayne turns and easily leaps onto the first pillar. Share get a running start before jumping after her, using the pillar side to pull herself up safely.

Those of us remaining on the first ledge look to one another. Who should go?

"Nikki! Morph into a bird or something! You can just get to the ledge and wait if you want."

The morpher think for a sec before attempting a change, unfortunately and to everyone's surprise, it didn't work.

"Something's prohibiting my power. I can't change. I'll just go next, better catch me stenith.!"

Nikki backs up and runs for it before springing off the platform and barreling into shard who was waiting to catch him.

They both take a glance at one another while standing up. Jayne taking a running jump to the 2nd pillar in hope to give Eris and I more space to jump on.

Shard repositions herself and waits for one of us to go. Reluctantly, I step forward and with a huff jump out. I didn't notice the checkers below me lighting up as I flung myself over them.

I panicked mid-air, shard reaching out trying to grab me. I wanted so badly to be on ground once more. I reached up towards the red eyed stenith, but luck didn't have faith in me that moment. My powers started flickering rapidly.visible one minute, clear the next.

This causes shard to miss my hand the second I went invisible once again. I fell the 10 feet it took to hit the tiles and landed on a white one.

I lay there for a second writhing in pain as something starts burning beneath me. I let out a screech of pain as I slowly become visible once more. The lights.

The tiles have lights rigged beneath them. Realization hits me as I accept my fate. Closing my eyes slowly whimpering in pain.

I hear indistinguishable yelling around me. A loud thump supposedly from whoever is now beside. My eyes open slightly to reveal Eris panicking as she tries to get me off the tiles. I'm still gonna be heavy for her but my weight is extremely small because of how little I was fed in the containment centre.

The steniths, and Telikans( tho they were more dangerous than the invisia's) were fed enough to keep healthy. The invisia's were on the far end of the centre, meaning they got whatever was left from feeding the others. That often meant none.

with great difficulty, Eris lugs me off of the lights tiles, allowing them to turn off. Jayne, tho it was hard to hear through the pounding of my skull, tells Shard and Nikki to stay where they are before they rushed back off the platform to me.

The two grudgingly continue their way across the pillars, eventually reaching the platform with the door. taking deep breaths i attempt to sit up from my sitting position. jayne and Eris worried at my side.

"What was that! what the hell were those lights! are you okay? "

groaning slightly i answer jaynes frantic question as i start to stand.

"Th-the checkers must be rigged with the lights f-from the Invisia cells." seeing the confused expressions i continue to explain. "the invisia's were held chained to walls as you know. lights were set up on their cell floors to prevent power usage. that meant draining our stability and causing enough pain to stop us from straining ourselves from using our invisibility powers."

they tried to help me up but i pushed them off harshly, giving them a glare in the progress.

"you can stop babying me. i may be the smallest here but i'll be fine."

they look top one another before letting me go and speeding off to meet Nikki and Shard (who are both either rolling their eyes at how long that took or are getting over the shock of my injuries.)

taking a deep breath i jump to the first pillar. satisfied with my feet on the ground this time i leap to another then another till i'm on the last one before the platform. the others are standing ready to catch me and cheering me on in the process.

i take a leap, before my feet contact only air. i look down to see myself falling fast. panicking i squeal slightly and close my eyes shut.

"Samantha!!" hear the other scream extremely loud. like they're right next to me. i open my eyes to slits, realizing i'm being shaken by my shoulders and am leaning against a cold wall. i look upward, greeting 4 pairs of frightened and amazed eyes staring back at me. Shard the one who had been shaking me.

"how did you do that?"

nikki asked breathlessly.

"what?"

wait a sec. i was falling a second ago, what happened?

"you started disintegrating into a rainbow of particles mid-air and then you were here! Almost like a-" Eris cut herself off mid-sentence, eyes wide with excitement and wonder. "a telethia."

"a what?"

what is a telethia? surly something i should have heard of.

"a telethia is an ancient type of superhuman. one of the few that were eliminated from the earth. long ago. they wielded teleportation, exactly what you just did!"

i thought for a second. if i'm a descendant of a 'telethia' then why haven't i heard of them? my head aches as i try to remember something, anything that could give me reason to understand who i am better.

"don't worry about it. You're obviously not fully telethia anyways. Your a fusion. maybe we can help you find out more once we free our people. now, Jayne could you read the next riddle?" i use the wall to sturdy myself. as i stand i smile at Eris and whisper a thank you to her.

"brutal honestly is one key. courage is a factor of determination. a warrior without a shield. or a shield without a sword. an oblivious protector linked to freedom. choose your champion for the oncoming test."

we all groan. of course this one was longer. Eris think for a second before ushering a slightly surprised and grumpy Shard to the door. hesitantly the stenith hold the door handle tightly and flings it open.

level two complete. can we beat the next one?