When we came back down, the first thing I noticed was that the banquet hall felt… Strange, it was harder to breath, in a way? And did the room get… Smaller?

I squinted, trying to see the change in the room, it wasn't just the way the firelight flickered off the stone walls, but more or less the air itself had changed, almost like it had thickened…

I took a long inhale, but felt a sharp pain when trying to exhale.

The long tables were still there, the broken plates, the half-cracked candelabras. The little fireplace on the far wall was still burning, faintly, like someone had left it just a minute ago.

I think that's how the room layout was… Wait, what? Why am I doubting my own memories?

Everything looked the same, except for the fact that the door, the big archway we'd walked through earlier, was now closed, completely shut, seeping a little bit of orange sunlight underneath.

I stoop down the stairs and widened my eyes.

"Uh… Rina?"

"I see…" She followed my gaze and froze, nodding as she approached the door, "...That door wasn't closed when we last left it."

"No no no, what?" I said immediately. "It wasn't, there wasn't even a door before."

"What do you mean?" Rina blinked, frowning.

"I mean, when we came in, it was just an archway, maybe there could be hinges? But definitely nothing attached to either side of the frame, just open air."

I walked toward it, half-expecting it to vanish if I stared long enough, but nope, it was solid wood.

I reached for the handle, but it was stuck shut, couldn't even move it an inch, and that said a lot considering I must've had one of the best attack stats in the whole game right now.

The thick and heavy door was reinforced by black iron bands, ever the more terrifying.

"Maybe you didn't notice," Rina said, staring at the door with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Oh yeah, sure," I said. "I just didn't notice a six-foot medieval death plank materializing in the middle of our only exit. Happens all the time."

I pressed my palm against the wood.

It was cold, that kind of damp cold, wet basement chill that give goosebumps. The tiny gap beneath the door glowed faintly orange as the evening light outside barely bleeding through. Which was appropriate, since the sun was about to set, as far as I remembered.

"Let me try." Rina came over, grabbing the handle with both hands. "Step back."

She yanked hard, yet nothing came. She put a foot on the wall to gain more weight leverage and pulled even harder… But still nothing.

I joined in, kicking the bottom, ramming my shoulder against it.

I took out my sword and cut at it… But my sword bounced back like it made contact with diamond.

A sharp blade bounced back from fucking wood.

It was supposed to at least sink in and gets stuck, that's its purpose.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I panted, stepping back. "What kind of material is this? No way it's a kind of mimic because like… Like… We're not in a dungeon, right? And a mimic can bleed, so when I attacked it, it should've bleed! Doors aren't supposed to be unbreakable unless… unless it's intentional."

"Intentional?" Rina asked.

"Yeah. Like… Uh scripted lock-in sequence. You know, there is a kind of boss in the Eastern continent that does this, once you entered, you can not leave or log out, it was scary… But I think the devs doesn't stop player from logging out anymore, that'll be a can of worms of unconsensual stuff happening."

I should know… I should know.

I know very well.

Rina stared blankly at me without a word, and I have to take the initiative.

I cup my mouth with both hands and amplified my yelling.

"Guys! Are you out there? Answer us! Hello!"

Rina understood what I was trying to do—yelling in order to grab the team's attention—so we both started to yell, half out of frustration and half trying our best to see if they would actually hear.

"Marc!" Rina called. "Akira! Hailie! Juan!"

"Hey! You guys out there?!" I shouted, slamming my fist on the wood. "Open up! The door's stuck!"

Silence.

Not even the sound of wind.

Could we be… Cut off from the rest of the world?

Okay, Cory Jay Smith, do not get horny, I repeat, DO NOT GET HORNY being stuck in the same abandoned wizard tower as a sleeveless, extremely tall, fair skin, smooth very-light-almost-white-blonde hair archer woman. She's probably not a lesbian or even married, nothing's for sure yet, just calm down, don't try to lick her triceps, and you'll get through this just fine.

I took a really deep breath as my heartbeat picked up, we both looked at each other as our throat went dry, realizing one very simple as obvious fact…

No one out there was answering.

"Maybe they went somewhere," Rina said, though her tone wasn't confident. "Maybe they can't hear us."

"Yeah right, you think so lowly of our friends that they'll leave their post after just a few minutes of sitting around waiting for us to scout the interior?"

Rina frowned at my little outburst and clicked her tongue, to which I sighed and changed the subject.

"There's no window," I muttered, pacing along the walls. "No window, and no gaps in the stone. Who builds a dining hall with no exits?"*

"Wizards," Rina said. "You said so yourself."

"Yeah, Sherlock! Obvious, but usually the crazy ones do that to keep us out, not lock us in! GOSH!"

I kicked a chair.

"Calm down, geez." Rina rubbed her temples. "We'll figure something out."

"Yeah, thank you for reminding me, Rina," I turned on her. "Oh, I'm perfectly calm! Just, you know, trapped inside a cursed goat tower with my precious Hailie possibly dead outside and a door that shouldn't even exist is trapping us in! Totally fine!"

I didn't know why the outbursts… I just got so, angry, I forgot all my rhyme and reasons… I could've easily dealt with this situation, but something was… Keeping my lust down, and I got kind of… How do you put it, misogynist for a second, not even glancing at Rina.

And she wasn't taking my tantrum well.

"You think I wanted this? You think this is my fault?"

"You're the one who accepted this quest!" I snapped. "What even was it, Rina? Check out unusual activities? Well we've seen one! The fucking goat! We should've just left then and there!"

"Listen to yourself" Her jaw tightened. "If you're feeling dismay with the quest then walk! Get out of here! You're not the victim here, we both are! And aren't you supposed to be well-versed and so smart in the game? Or was Hailie lying?"

"Keep her name out of your hole!" I said, pushing her backwards, making her thighs slammed against a table, "I've never seen this shit before, and now I'm panicking, I'm fucking sorry okay? I don't know how to deal with stuff out of my control ever since my fucking parents- UGH, GOD! Now the entire team is out there probably battling whatever bumfuck is fighting them, god, I wonder what's happening with Marc, with Hailie, and with Akira… God, I couldn't even imagine."

"and with Juan," Rina added, "You forgot to mention him."

…

…

I stared at her for a long second.

…

Rina stared back at me, she blinked a few times, shaking her head, as if there was something boggling the back of her mind, too.

"Who's Juan?" I asked, "There's only 6 of us… Me, you, Akira, Hailie, Ignus, and Marc."

"... Cory, are you feeling okay? What do you mean Who?" She asked back, "Juan's been with us since the very start, he's your boyfriend. He's…"

She paused, I paused, then Rina opened her mouth again.

"Wait, who's Hailie?"

"Hailie's my little sister, duh!" I answered, "And Marc's your…"

"Brother" I said.

"Uncle" She said.

We finished the sentence with different things.

…

Then Rina exhaled, shaky, like she'd just realized something was wrong.

"Cory… How many people in total, including us two, came to the tower of Worsetingale? On three."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

"Seven." we said in tandem.

At least there's something we agreed on.

We both started rubbing our temples as if we're sisters… And I spoke first:

"Let's… Try to fine something to do, the five of them out there must be waiting for us."

"I suggest…" Rina straightened her back, slipping her bow over her shoulder. "We should go up to the roof. Maybe we can shout down from there, and if they're nearby, they'll hear us."

"Fine," I muttered. "But if we see that goat again, I'm logging out."

Rina got to the fifth floor/roof first first.

A sudden colder breeze rushed in, whipping against our faces. The sky was still orange, streaked with pink, but dimmer now, as the sun began dipping low behind the forest.

I took a deep breath where my five teammates—Akira, Juan, Olly, Ignus, Ava—used to sit.

And it was completely empty.

There was no one sitting there.

"...They were right there." Rina froze beside me, her words trembling.

"They were…" I swallowed hard. My heartbeat sounded too loud in my ears. "I literally saw them there, Rina…"

"Yeah," she whispered. "So did I."

We stood there for a long moment, neither of us speaking.

The wind whistled through the cracks in this structure of cobblestone. And for once for the last 30 minutes… I sat down flat on the floor.

Half-way through giving up.

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