Chapter 12- Checkpoint

The party entered the swamp, and the luscious emerald grass became a musty dark green moss.

The ground became less stable, and Dubs feet made a squishing sound as he walked across the waterlogged surface.

"The good news about the swamp is that the empire has never been able to build stable tunnels underneath it, so its a good location for us resistance members to hold out.", Ivan explained.

The wetlands became more profound as the party continued through them, and clear basins of water and land bridges separating them appeared.

Lilith seemed to be having trouble walking properly, so Dubs held out his arm for her to lean on.

She didn't say anything, and shyly held onto it.

"Um... your name is Dubs right? Who exactly are you?" Lilith asked

"Ahaha. I wonder that myself." Dubs sarcastically responded.

Lilith was confused but didn't ask any more.

"As far as I know, I'm no more than a test subject. I am the son of a traitor who had to pay for his fathers crimes, and I've abandoned the payment." Dubs coldly stated.

"But you know, regardless of what my backstory is, none of that matters. What matters is what I do today, here and now. The same goes for you, right?"

Lilith smiled a bit and nodded. The two continued walking through the marsh.

"Well aren't y'all getting cozy over there. Eyes up, were almost at the manor." Clark remarked

Dubs looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He only saw the setting sun in the distance, and the orange tint of the sky.

"Where exactly is this manor, Ivan? Are we going to reach it before it becomes dark?" Dubs asked

Ivan laughed and condescendingly told Dubs, "What, you can't see it? Ah right. You have no magical ability yet, just a whole bunch of ridiculous resistances."

Ivan waved his hand and particles formed in his hands into the shape of a pair of glasses.

"Put these on, Dubs. You'll see"

Ivan handed the glasses to Dubs

Dubs placed them on reluctantly. "Is this guy trying to mock me? He wasn't acting like this back at the HQ."

Placing the glasses on, an enormous manor appeared in front of him. A black gate with pointed spearheads and a fence surrounded the manor, and the manor was three stories high. The brick walls contrasted the dark green surroundings.

Even above the 3 stories of the manor loomed a circular tower with a white dome. It had no windows, unlike the lower floors.

"Hm... I will warn the lot of you beforehand. The inhabitant of this manor is a bit of an ecstatic person", Ivan admitted.

A crow with beady red eyes landed on a withered tree near the gate, and Dubs felt it staring at him. "Was that my imagination?", Dubs asked himself.

He looked over at Ivan who appeared to be deep in thought. Ivan finished thinking and began to give orders.

"Everyone, stand back. Dubs, I have a certain suspicion, and it would be best if you entered ahead of us."

Dubs didn't like the sound of this. Was he being used as bait in case that this was a trap? He would be resistant to any magical attacks, but what if archers were hiding somewhere? This was a bit too risky for Dubs to just go along with.

"Ivan, I don't think it would be wise for a rookie like me to go first." Dubs stated, annoyed.

"No, I can assure you that you'll be perfectly safe. I just have a suspicion about the person who lives here. She's the type to play pranks even on her allies, to the point of injuring them. She can only use magic, though. I assure you, there will be no harm done to you.", Ivan persisted.

"Looks like I don't have a choice." Dubs sighed and touched the gate to open it.

As Dubs touched the gate, a bolt of lightning began to engulf the gate, beginning at the two sides and making its way towards Dubs.

Annoyed, Dubs continued holding onto the gate.

The lightning caught up to Dubs, and began to repel itself from his body, as if there was a rubber stopper in the middle of an electric current.

Dubs opened the gate, unfazed by the lightning that had him surrounded on two sides.

"Come on guys. Better not touch the metal though. My body has been through electrical charges of much greater potential than this, both magical and physical." Dubs walked into the manor.

Lilith's face was twisted with fear, and she slowly approached the gate and walked through slowly, avoiding the metal.

The other two followed. Ivan nudged Clark, and whispered. "I told you, didn't I? That woman is always up to something. She knows that the empire will never find her here, and yet she still lays all these traps for us. If she wasn't nuts I would give her a piece of my mind, but it won't help in her case."

Dubs walked through the yard, and a swarm of crows had gathered on the trees surrounding them. All of them had beady red eyes, and swift black feathers, and each appeared to be staring right at them.

When Dubs got close to the stairway, he held his hand back. There might have been more traps at the doorway, so he stepped up first.

When Dubs had tapped the stairs a bit with his foot until he was satisfied that there was no trap, he approached the door.

All of a sudden, the ground below him began to mold into a slimy green substance. Bubbles emerged, and Dubs began to sink lower in the substance, however his body repelled the liquid like a magnet, and so he sunk to the ground.

He could hear sizzling as drops of the substance flew out and hit the surrounding grass. The grass was consumed almost as soon as the substance had touched it.

"Stand back everyone. That's acid." Ivan stated.

"Dubs, sorry but I'm going to have to leave it to you to get in."

Dubs was extremely annoyed at this point, but there was nothing that could be done. He climbed out of the acid and reached for the door handle.

The door flew open, hitting Dubs and sending him flying to the side.

"Ehehe! What have we here today? Is that Ivan out there?? Where are you, oh Ivan?? What freak have you brought me this time that he hasn't so much as blinked an eye at any of my traps?"

A female voice, high pitched and clearly outlandish rang through Dubs' ears. "Who is this woman? She isn't in her right mind. I'm the one who went under experimentation, shouldn't I be the one going nuts here?"

She peeked her head around the door, and her messy bright red hair flipped around.

Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she stared at Dubs, and she began to monologue at him.

"Hey, hey. You there. You're an experiment right? Right? Ehehe. I love your type. You all are so intriguing. Will you let me run some test on you? Ill reward you if you want. Just a little bit, kay?"

A rock came flying at her head and stopped midair. The woman had held out her hand to stop it, and looked over at Ivan, who had his arm in the air, looked pretty angry.

The woman glared at him, and they began a fierce staring contest. The rock dropped from midair, and hit the ground with a thud, and the woman's eyes became red. "Ivan, don't tell me you've brought me such a wonderful subject and plan to prevent me from having a look at him."

"That's exactly what I plan to do, Reagan. I came all the way to visit, why don't you treat my comrades with some respect, eh? We've given you a place in the resistance so that you can continue your experiments, but we've already stipulated strictly that you aren't to experiment on humans. You don't want me to take this up with HQ, right?", Ivan lectured.

The woman began to purse her lip as if she was pouting. "Fine, fine. You're always so mean to me Ivan. I just wanted to run some tests, just this once."

"And I said that's not allowed. End of conversation. Now, are you gonna let us inside?" Ivan retorted

The woman swung around and waved her arms up and down. The acidic goop disappeared, and the electrical charged dissipated.

"You're no fun. No matter. Dubs, lets get to know each other, alright?" Reagan spoke with a gleam in her eyes.

"Yeah.." Dubs replied. The four of them walked inside to see a traditional fireplace and some old style paintings.

"Ah, Its just like back home!" Lilith exclaimed, but remembering her former home she looked down with a depressed emotion.

There was a leather couch, and Reagan jumped onto it and crossed her legs. She wore a brown leather Jacket and black pants, with a white t-shirt.

"Do what you want, just stay away from the tower." She demanded. "Guest rooms are on the second floor."

Clark headed straight for the kitchen and began to raid the fridge. Ivan made himself at home on a reclining chair, while Dubs and Lilith stood together at the entrance. Dubs shot her a glance and asked,

"Shall we go check out the rooms?"

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Lets go." Lilith replied

Dubs was wierded out by Reagan, but he pressed on. He grabbed Lilith's hand as they walked up the stairs, and they arrived at the top.

Regular bedrooms were spread across a hallway, all of them identical. Nothing out of the ordinary was to be seen.

Lilith, who's hand Dubs held firmly, began speaking quietly to him.

"Hey.. you'll be there for me if I need help right?" She turned away, her face red.

Dubs smiled, and even though he hadn't felt much emotion before, he thought "She looks cute."

He put his hand on her shoulder, and stated

"What did I tell you before. Everything is gonna be alright."

She hugged him, and tears began to flow down her face. She held tightly to his shirt and mumbled, crying. "Thank you. I still haven't fully accepted all this yet."

Dubs put his arm around her, and let her cry.

She wiped her face, and thanked him again, and they both choose a room, and headed to it.

Dubs lied down in the bed, staring at the ceiling. What on earth was going on?