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Footsteps abruptly halted, along with it came bodies crashing into each other.
“Why did you stop?” an annoyed voice asked.
Opal rubbed his back to soothe the pain. “Look up ahead.” He pointed forward.
In front of them was a long corridor with doors flanking both walls. From afar, the doors looked wooden, brown, and chipped on the edges.
Old , Opal thought to himself.
The doors continued down the hallway on either side of them, seemingly without end.
The sight had Opal shivering; goosebumps emerged all over. A familiar sensation overtook him. It was as though that same thought had occurred to him before. Yet, that wasn’t possible. Opal had never been here before. While the doors did give him pause, the true reason as to why he suddenly stopped was an unexpected throbbing inside his head. His hands twitched, wanting to hold his head, but he restrained himself. He wouldn’t want to worry his other teammates.
They walked for quite a while with no end in sight. Each corner they turned led to yet another set of corridors full of doors. They attempted to ignore the doors in hopes of finding an exit, but with no luck.
Opal stayed quiet as they walked throughout countless passages. With each door he passed, he couldn’t help feeling a strange sense of deja vu. It made him quite apprehensive. He knew he had never been here before, yet his sensations told him otherwise. Before he could try to ascertain his emotions, he was quickly snapped out of his reverie.
“It’s a maze,” Raemon commented.
“No shit, Captain Obvious,” Shun sarcastically comments.
With fatigue setting in and perspiration forming on his forehead, Raemon glared at Shun. His patience was wearing thin. He was on the verge of punching Shun, but held back. His hands clenched into fists, trembling to constrain himself.
Opal watched from the side, worried about Raemon’s strange behaviour. He seemed too easily provoked and not at all like his usual calm, collected self. He felt that his companion’s agitation was similar to his own, as if someone was manipulating their feelings.
He knew zilch about how he landed himself in a maze full of doors. All Opal could remember was waking up with a raging headache in a strange, empty room with only his companion, Raemon, and these two light bulbs, all tied up.
Speaking of the two light bulbs, it had been half a year since he last saw either Syd or Shun. He and Raemon had been thrown into missions one after another and working around the clock for some time. Before they knew it, they had slowly lost contact with many friends and acquaintances. So, it was quite a surprise for the four of them to have met in such a situation, even though this wasn’t exactly the kind of reunion he had in mind.
How did exploring an uninhabited planet to check if an amusement park could be built here turn into being harassed by this idiot for half an hour! I mean, who the hell goes to mine ores on an uninhabited planet! Without realising, Opal’s brows were twitching involuntarily.
*****
“Shun!”
Opal snapped awake from his memories at the sound of Syd fearfully shouting. Out of the corner of his eyes, Opal noticed Shun walking up to one of the doors, ready to reach for the doorknob. Opal opened his mouth and berated, “Shun! What if it’s a trap? You can’t just go off opening every door you see!”
Shun stopped mid-action and looked back, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips tightening in annoyance.
“Who made you captain?” Shun snapped. “Whatever. The door’s locked anyway.” Shun threw his hands up in the air in exasperation as he walked away from the door.
Although Opal condemned Shun’s earlier actions, his curiosity got the better of him. He grabbed the doorknob Shun had attempted to open earlier and twisted it from left to right, but nothing happened. “It’s locked,” he admitted.
“Oi! I just said that!” shouted Shun.
Opal opted to stay silent, refusing to admit that he acted purely because he didn’t trust the other.
Seeing that things between Opal and Shun were quickly escalating, Syd suggested, “Maybe the exit is behind one of these doors?”
Opal looked at Syd and said, “Then we just have to start figuring out which door it is.”
Shun, shocked at the suggestion, shouted, “All these doors?! Are you out of your mind?”
“Do you have a better idea, Mr. Genius?!”
“Whatever, stop wasting time and let’s get to it already.”
After the back and forth between Opal and Shun, the four agreed to split up the task, yet not venture too far, so they stayed within sight of each other.
Unfortunately, no matter how many doors they tried to open, none of them budged.
Finally, Opal had had enough. He stopped in place, and at that exact moment, his headache came back. He clutched his head, all thoughts about trying to hide it from his companions forgotten.
Raemon, noticing the action, asked in concern, “What’s wrong?”
Before Opal could brush it off, Syd cut in, “Where’s Shun?”
Realising that their surroundings were a little too quiet, Opal turned around. It was just the three of them, with no Shun in sight. Surprised and slightly frustrated, Opal groaned and said, “He's gone, he must’ve wandered off without us noticing. God dammit, Shun!”
He yelled Shun’s name in the end, listening to the way his voice bounced off the walls of the maze, until it finally dissipated. No reply came. Opal was now feeling slightly worried. He was sure that they hadn’t gotten too deep into the maze, so there was no reason for Shun not to have heard them. Unless, Shun was ignoring Opal?
“Syd, why don’t you try calling Shun’s name? He might be purposely ignoring my calls.” Opal suggested.
Before Syd could act on the suggestion, Raemon abruptly cut in, “He might’ve walked back the way we originally came from. Let’s just head back. We didn’t walk too far.”
Opal looked at Raemon, questioning the other’s proposal. He was confused. It was unlike Raemon to have made that suggestion, nor did it make sense especially when it came to Shun’s personality. However, he stayed silent and continued to observe the other.
They all turned around and began to track Shun down.
Along the way, Opal watched Raemon use his pollaxe to do something to the wall next to him. Intrigued, he asked the other, “Raemon, what are you doing?”
“Marking.” He pointed to a freshly made mark, a simple horizontal line, not too shallow nor too deep. It was visible enough for others to see when walking past it. “In case we ever got lost.”
Opal nodded in understanding and continued walking. He observed the walls intently, looking for any newly formed marks to help lead the way.
They came to a sudden stop when a crossroad appeared before them.
“This wasn’t here before,” Syd observed, his voice wavering in what Opal could identify as fear.
“Maybe we took a wrong turn?” Opal suggested. His voice carried a tinge of uncertainty.
“We didn’t. Look over here.” Raemon pointed at a door; a visible mark could be seen. But before they could discuss further, the mark slowly disappeared before their very eyes.
Opal’s eyes widened in surprise. He let out a nervous chuckle. “M-Maybe Shun’s just playing a joke on us?”
Syd shook his head furiously, rebuking the comment, “No, I know Shun. This isn’t something he would do. It’s not Shun, I just know it.”
“It’s possible that the maze is rotating without our knowledge. It might explain why a crossroad appeared just now.” Raemon suggested.
“We can’t wait any longer. Let’s take the left path and if we still can’t find Shun, we’ll just head back and try the other way,” Syd said.
Raemon stayed quiet for a bit until finally agreeing to the suggestion.
The three ventured down the left path. As they headed further down, their pace slowed and became less smooth as they travelled. The corridor was also much darker and made it harder to navigate. With his sight hindered, Opal’s other senses heightened. He captured sounds of shuffling near him, and could feel the way his body grazed against the walls beside him, as if they were closing in on him. He breathed heavily, exhaling short puffs of air as his mind whirled with images of the walls squeezing in on him. Claustrophobia slowly settled in.
Suddenly, a warm hand grabbed onto Opal’s, clutching it tightly. The unexpected act shocked Opal into yelping in fright, “Ah!”
“Opal, it’s just me!” Raemon soothed. Opal’s lips formed an ‘o’ at the realisation. He held onto Raemon’s hand as he dragged the other further down the now dim corridor.
They continued walking for what felt like ages, even though only a few minutes had passed, until they saw a light at the end of the corridor. Seeing some hope, Opal sped up while dragging Raemon along. Once they reached the end, they stopped in place and took a deep breath. Opal realised his hand was still being clutched tightly, and his cheeks began to heat up. He hastily let go of Raemon’s hand in embarrassment.
“I don’t see Syd,” Raemon mentioned, not noticing Opal’s actions.
Opal’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at the abrupt comment as he looked around them. Neither Syd nor Shun were in sight. Sweat began to form on his forehead. Strange things were happening around them and it unsettled Opal quite a bit. Thinking it was finally time, he tried accessing his Will Craft. However, before he could even try to harness it, the headache he tried hard to ignore earlier came back pounding once again. He tried hard to push forward despite the pain, but the headache prevented Opal from commanding his Will Craft. Opal’s eyes flashed open in shock, It’s blocked!
Distressed, Opal couldn’t help shouting Syd’s name, “Syd! Syd, respond if you can hear me!” He carefully listened, waited until the echoes of his voice faded, returning only silence. He looked back at Raemon, concerned.
Raemon’s gaze was fixed to the distance as he pointed forward without a word. Opal trailed Raemon’s finger with his eyes and saw a room with its door wide open at the end of the corridor. With hope in his eyes, he rushed toward it.
*****
The room was dimly lit, with the exception of a lone light that shone in the middle of the room, painting soft shadows around a figure. Opal struggled to identify the figure in the dark. Even squinting his eyes, he still couldn’t quite tell who it was, yet a nagging feeling told him that perhaps it was one of his friends he was looking for.
He carefully stepped forward to slowly examine the figure, trying to not alert the other in case his hunch was wrong.
Feeling that the back of the figure seemed familiar, Opal’s tight muscles slowly relaxed. “There you are, Syd!”
As he waited for a reply, he moved closer toward Syd. Suddenly a bright light blinded him.
He immediately covered his eyes with his hands, and only slowly opened them again when he felt it was safe to do so. Through the darkness, a spotlight appeared, its circular light was seared into his vision.
“What’s wrong?” Raemon asked from behind.
Opal shook his head, not commenting.
He was looking down at a terrifying object. His heart began to pound loudly as his shaky hands began to clam up. “Syd, a-are you okay?” he winced at how shaky his words were. Gulping, he took another step forward, his sight not once leaving the deadly weapon in Syd’s hand. A viscous liquid licked down the edge of the blade and pooled into a thick puddle by his feet.
He slowly looked away from the knife and back up. His eyes twitched upon Syd’s stilled form.
Afraid, Opal slowly followed Syd’s gaze.
His stomach sank as his mind emptied of all thoughts.
His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at the bleeding body that lay in front of him, leaning against a wall in front of them, legs stretched abnormally out with one of them bent the opposite way as well as hands stiffly lay upon covered thighs, covered in a palm full of bright red blood. At the center of his chest were deep stab wounds.
Shun! Opal screamed inside. He stared directly into Shun’s glazed, unblinking eyes.
Everything became too much for Opal. He wondered if perhaps he had stepped into an illusion of sorts, that perhaps he was just dreaming and none of it was real.
Opal was snapped awake from his trance as he was shoved to the side by a muscular arm. Stumbling to catch himself, he whipped his head up.
He saw Raemon holding Syd up by his clothes, nearly strangling the other.
“Put him down, Raemon! You’re gonna kill him.”
“He killed Shun! He’s clearly a threat to us!” Raemon’s grip on Syd’s shirt tightened as he shook the other. The knife in Syd’s hand dropped to the floor, landing in the small pool of blood.
Concerned that Raemon would kill Syd, Opal couldn’t help shouting, “Syd! Answer me! Did you kill Shun?!”
“I know what I’m doing, Opal,” Raemon said, ignoring Opal’s shouting.
“I–I didn’t —ha— do it.” Syd said weakly. He had awoken from his trance not too long ago.
“He said he didn’t do it! Put him down, Raemon!” Opal tried defending Syd. “What the hell is going on with you Raemon? You’ve been acting strange ever since we got here! This isn’t at all like you.”
Raemon continued to ignore him.
Fearing for his friend’s life, Opal rushed toward Raemon. He used all his strength to pry at Raemon’s hand, even attempting to claw at it.
Yet, not once did Raemon’s hand loosen. It held on like a death grip.
Suddenly, immense pain assaulted Raemon’s senses. Syd had managed to bite Raemon’s hand! His teeth sunk deeper into the other’s skin, enough to taste metallic on his tongue.
The pain caused Raemon to release his grip on Syd, who took the chance and made a run for it.
Shocked, Opal stood with his mouth wide open. He watched as Syd ran out of the room, heading back into the maze.
“Fuck!”
A loud shout jolted Opal, his eyes whipped toward a furious Raemon, who sped off after Syd without saying another word.
*****
Opal rushed back out into the hallway full of doors. His only goal right now was to stop a raging Raemon from committing a crime.
He tried chasing behind the others, but before he knew it, Raemon and Syd had already disappeared from sight. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, panting heavily, bending over with his hands on his knees. He attempted to take in a large breath of air to calm his racing heart.
Suddenly, a dull throbbing pain assaulted him. His headache was back. Opal lifted his hands, his palms sliding up against his ears, ready to clutch at his hair. A cold sensation hit his warm palms, giving him pause. Ignoring the headache, Opal tugged at one of his ears, his fingers wrapped around the cool ear cuff.
Opal quickly tapped his ear cuff. “Raemon, Raemon! Can you hear me? Please, respond back, it’s urgent!”
He was met with silence on the other end.
Listening to the static noise on the other end, he slowly let his hand drop down to his side. He looked down the dimly lit hallway and watched as the lights above flickered, creating long shadows.
He was all alone. His breath began to speed up as anxiety settled in.
Without any warning, a voice abruptly spoke from behind him, “How does it feel to have your friends taken away from you, young Star Knight?”
As the voice finished speaking, footsteps followed. The light tapping of heels softly echoed in the silence of the hallway.
Shocked and in disbelief at the familiar voice, Opal stood frozen on the spot. Trembling, he grabbed at his hands, attempting to stop his fear from showing. Taking in large gulps of air, he slowly turned around, his eyes settled on Klorin.
“Why are you here?” Opal asked in disbelief.
Klorin simply replied, “Let me help you remember.”
With a nonchalant wave of a hand, a powerful gust of wind blasted at an unsuspecting Opal.
He wasn’t prepared for the torturous, stampeding headache and felt as though his skull was about to split open.
Horrifying images began to surface inside his head. As he watched himself appear inside the same convoluted maze with the same companions by his side, a sense of familiarity began to sprout. More and more images flashed by, some showing the four splitting up and going down different pathways only to never return. There were other scenes that had Opal shouting in pain as he watched each of his companions be met with gruesome deaths, trying to protect one another. The images continued to zip by, but they all end in the same way - him, by himself, all alone.
Tears dripped down Opal’s face as he clutched tightly at his hair.
He tried calming himself down, even shaking his head as if it would get rid of the images. “You’re just playing tricks on me! This is just a nightmare. None of it is real!”
Before Opal could fully convince himself, he noticed Klorin gesture once again with his hand.
Opal saw something moving towards them from the shadows. His eyes settled upon the familiar figure, wide with disbelief, whilst his mouth opened and closed, his words clogged inside his throat.
Directly in front of him was none other than Raemon. He stood silently in place with a dazed look on his face. Standing next to Klorin, he looked like a robot waiting for commands.
Before Opal could process what’s happening, Klorin’s fingers curled into a fist. The next thing he knew, Raemon was clutching at his head in agony.
“ OPAL!!” Raemon shouted in desperation.
The scream snapped Opal to action. He tried to rush toward him but soon realised that his legs were pinned to the spot as if they were buried in cement. He looked back up at Raemon with trembling lips. Opal tried to speak, his lips trembling as they slowly opened, attempting to form words, yet the despairing shouts from Raemon blocked Opal from responding back.
Opal finally found his voice. “Klorin! Stop! Please, just stop! Raemon! Raemon!!” he cried desperately, his shouts echoing along with Raemon’s.
Opal could only watch as Raemon furiously grabbed at his own hair, swishing his head around violently. “Opal-” he continued to scream, his vocal cords cracking at the end from exhaustion.
With one final shout, Raemon suddenly went still. His hands dropped to his sides, his head slumped forward while he remained standing.
Opal let out a gut wrenching scream, “RAEMONNNNNNNNNN!”
The force that had kept him in place abruptly disappeared. His legs gave out and he fell on his knees, his bones crunching against the jagged concrete, but he couldn’t care one bit. His tears continued falling, blurring his vision. His ears continued ringing with the ghost of his companion’s shouting. He began to feel cold all over, his sense of touch was slowly disappearing along with his sight. As if replicating his partner, Opal’s eyes too became glazed, emptied of all emotion.
“Don’t worry. You will soon be reunited with your lover and friends, and I will take them away from you, again and again and again until you break. This is your punishment for defying me, Opal.”
Klorin watched Opal, the corner of his lips curling up in delight. Without waiting any longer, he snapped his fingers.
Darkness began to cloud Opal’s vision, as his consciousness soon went black.
*****
“Opal! Opal, get up already!”
A loud shout woke Opal up from his slumber. He shot up, his eyes opened wide. He was panting heavily, his feverish cheeks puffing with every breath while his heart was beating rapidly.
Raemon observed the other and realised his companion was tense and abnormally high-strung.
“Opal, are you okay?” Raemon asked, “what’s wrong?”
Feeling his nerves slowly settling back down, he took another shaky breath and waved his hand in dismissal. “It’s nothing. Probably just a nightmare I had. Spooked me enough that I can’t even remember what it was all about anymore, hehe.”
Raemon looked concerned, but nodded in understanding. “We’re nearing the planet.”
Opal nodded his head, and got out of bed. He quickly opened his logpad to refresh his memory of the mission once again.
[Mission: Explore planet Mareridt and identify if infrastructure of an amusement park can be made possible.]