Chapter Text
"This is the weirdest challenge I have ever seen." Corin mused to himself. He was stuck in a circular stone room. The floor was almost completely covered by a plush rug, and there was a large bed with old, but still nice silk sheets and soft blankets. A wardrobe stood opposite that, with a bookshelf next to it. The bookshelf was about half empty, with all the open space filled with knick-knacks. There was a small table with a single chair and a basket of sewing things as well, facing the single window in the room. Corin moved to the window and blinked. Then he looked down.
He was in a tower. As in, a smaller tower within the Soaring Spire. He was on the topmost floor, or maybe the only floor given that he didn't see any signs of any other windows. There was a mix of red, yellow, brown, and some green blobs below him. Trees, he thought. Well, probably. He hoped so, even if it mean he was much farther up than he preferred. He looked up and was greeted by a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. He pushed off the window sill and looked around the room. He was missing his swords, which was the first thing to fix. He checked the wardrobe. It was unlikely but it was really the only place to start with. He frowned at the clothes at look like they would fit him. He ran a hand through his hair and paused. His hair felt longer than it should have. He looked at the mirror attached to the door. Yep, it was definitely longer. Not by much, but some. He shrugged and shut the door.
"It's probably nothing. Besides, I have bigger problems to worry about." He looked under the bed and dug through the basket and knick-knacks nacks. Nothing useful. With a huff, Corin sat on the bed. He chewed his lip, thinking. Was this a test of patience? It didn't seem like it was one for creativity. But what was he supposed to wait for? Nighttime maybe? He flopped down onto the bed, pressing the heel of his hands into his eyes. Then he felt something brush his face and he jumped up. His hair fell into front of his eyes and brushed it back. He stalked to the wardrobe and yanked it open. His hair was now brushing his shoulders. He stared at it, trying to understand why his hair was growing. He pursed his lips as a fairytale he'd heard when he was younger came to his mind.
"No. No no no. I'm not doing this." Corin said stepping away. "I am not playing the damsel in distress." He marched to the sewing basket and grabbed the scissors. He went back to the mirror and raised the scissors. Then he took a deep breath to steady himself.
Snip snip snip.
Corin paused and let out a breath. It was longer than it had been but he didn't trust himself to cut it as it had been before. And he didn't want to chop it all off, because that felt like temping the tower too much. But now it was just above his shoulders. He brushed the loose hair from his clothes and then frowned at the hair nearest his face. "Okay. How to do this?" He asked himself. "Remembering that it might be permanent and you don't want to have to explain what happened to Sera." He tilted his head, thinking. There was a brush on the bookshelves, which was going to be very helpful. And he could do a decent braid. He could probably do one well enough to keep it out of his face. He raised the scissors and finished cutting.
It wasn't the best haircut, but Corin thought it looked pretty good. He grabbed the brush and trailed it through his hair, wincing as it caught on the tangles. By the time he was done with the braid, the sun had risen to noon. He was apparently a lot more out of practice than he had thought, He stood and tugged his shirt off. He shook it off, then pulled it back on as he walked to the window. He hadn't heard anything, but it was better to make sure. "Hello? Anyone down there?" He heard nothing and he pursed his lips. "Okay just so you know I am no longer waiting. I don't do the whole damsel in distress thing." Still nothing so he turned and knelt, feeling at the rug.
The details of the story were fuzzy, but if he recalled right there was that trap door under the rug. Or at least there should be. Even if it hadn't been stated the wicked witch must have been able to leave the tower when the princess was younger, without her knowing she was a witch. The plush fur underneath his hands was too thick to feel anything though. He sighed as he pushed himself up. "Okay, new plan." He muttered. He picked up the chair and used his foot to kick up the edge of the rug. He set the chair down and did the same with the table."Now the hard part." He cracked his neck as he walked to the bookshelf and braced his feet. Grabbing the bookshelves he pulled. Then he wedged himself into the crack between the shelve and the wardrobe and started to push. the shelf started to inch along. "This is going to take a long time." He breathed. The sun started to set by the time he had gotten the shelve and the wardrobe off the rug enough for him to lift it. "This would have been a lot easier if the others were here." He panted out, flopping onto the bed. "I hope the room doesn't reset." His eyes slid closed and his breath even often.
Corin groaned as he woke up, his body aching. Then he remembered where he was and he shoved himself up. The room was as he left it, and he flopped back down. "Oh thank the goddess." He breathed. He stayed there for while, letting himself rest more before he started looking for an exit that might not even be there. He sighed as the thought once more enter his head and rolled off the bed. Standing he moved the edge of the rug and pulled it up. He wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing, hoping to be rescued. No, if this didn't work he'd figure out how to cut the rug into strips and climb out the window. But he hoped it wouldn't come to that because that seemed like tempting the tower a little too much.
He folded the rug over as far as it would go and crawled under it. It was heavy and awkward but he pushed past that worming his way around the room. It was dark and he was going by feel. He swept his hands outward in between moving. Then he felt a smooth metal handle. He tried to pull it up and he felt it budge a bit. With a grain, he rolled over and pressed his hand to the rug above him, and pulled all his mana into his hand. Then he shoved it out. A burst ripped through the rug and Corin blinked at the light. "Huh." Then he wiggled backward and out from the rug. He grabbed the scissors from the basket and found the hole in the rug. He wasn't sure if they would do anything but if they did it would be much easier.
He knelt and started slowly hacking at the rug. The scissors weren't the most effective but they did still cut so e kept at it. He shot a few more mana blasts as well. The hole still wasn't the size of the door but he reached for the handle again. Grabbing it with both hands he gritted his teeth and stood up. The door creaked open and Corin let out a whoop as he kept pulling it up. Then when it was as open as much as it would go, having torn the rug as it pulled threw Corin swung a leg over it, to keep it up. Then he stepped over and squinted into the darkness. There was a glimmer and his jaw dropped. He slowly brushed his foot over the step and found the edge. He stepped down and repeated the tactic and made his way down. The stairs were a spiral and just around the very first turn was his stuff. Maybe he wasn't supposed to play damsel as he had thought. He grinned as he strapped the Selys-Lyann and all his other supplies, then pulled his pack on. And slowly he inched down the stairs.
The stairway quickly become dark and Corin slowed his steps even more. One hand rested on the hilt of the Selys-Lyann and the other trailed lightly along the wall. The sound of his footsteps echoed around the small area and Corn felt himself grow tenser and tenser. Then his foot reached solid grown. Carefully he put more weight on it. When the floor held he put his other down and stood. Nothing happened. He tried to take a step, then another. Then he hit a wall. He pulled back frowning. He raised his hands, which he couldn't even see, and felt along the wall. It felt like it was made of many loose rocks. He groaned and rested his head against the stones. "I hate you." He told them. Unsurprising they did not respond. With a sigh, he pushed away and drew his blade. The faint light of the glow didn't do much and he was tempted to wack the wall in frustration. But that might damage the sword or trigger a trap. So instead he merely squinted and tried to find a weakness within the stones, like a gap. There wasn't any. But something was casting a very faint shadow, which was a little weird. He reached a hand towards the object. It was a small thin cylindrical shape. A hinge?
He stood on his toes and felt above it. There was another one. Squatting he found a third. Licking his lips he sheathed his weapon and begun to feel along the wall. There was one rock that stuck out a little too much and was too round and smooth. He tugged on it, but nothing changed. He tried to twist it. He thought he heard a sound so he tried to do it again. The grinding sound again. He took a deep breath and twisted his arms as he threw his weight against the heavy door. And it moves. The hinges creaked and whined in protest, but turned to open the door. He threw himself again and again. And then he nearly fell as the door swung open. "Ha!" He cried as he stumbled out of the darkness and into the open air. "Resh. That was a workout." he panted. He rested his hands on his knees as breathed and bent his head. "Yeah. That was. A workout. Oh, goddess."
After sucking in several lungs full of fresh air, which felt heavenly after the stale air in the passage he straightened and rolled his shoulders. "Okay. Now where is the door to the room?" he looked around and saw only trees. "Of course, it's not that easy. Okay, that's fine. I'll either find the door or a town. Maybe whoever was supposed to save me will know where it is." And that made him pause for a moment. Was whoever was supposed to save him another climber from his group or a mana construct? He shrugged the thought off. He'd figure that out if he met them he supposed.