Unlikely Help

"Well, here goes nothing." Devotion whispered to himself as he pulled on the door. This might be an absolutely horrible idea. What if Guff's passing of the test was just an illusion, meant to give a false hope to the others? Devotion stowed those fears away, stepping through the door into the trial.

The door swung closed behind him. He tried it, and it was locked. Looks like there was no going back now.

"Alright, show it to me. I don't even know what my greatest fear is, so I'm curious what you come up with." Devotion shouted into the empty room, to no one in particular.

"Boss?" A voice responded. It was that Guff fellow. "Why do you sound different? Can you come find me?"

Devotion carefully followed the sound of that voice. So Guff was still in there. After walking for a little bit, he saw that the room was entirely empty. It was an endless dark expanse that reminded him of his Astral Space, to an extent. In fact, it was nicer, since Ghostwhisper wasn't there to harass him.

"You're not boss!" Guff's voice suddenly shouted. He ran towards Devotion, seemingly out of thin air.

"Calm down, I don't know who your boss is. I'm trying to figure out where the hell I am and how to get out of here." Devotion quickly lied and explained.

"I was hoping you would know the way. It's pitch dark in here, you can't see more than about five feet in front of you." Guff explained. "How long have you been in here?"

"About a week." Devotion lied. Sure, this didn't add up with how long the Secret Realm was open, but Devotion didn't really think Guff would be able to wrap his head around that. "What about you?"

"Only a few minutes." Guff replied, after much thought.

"You're one of the lucky ones. I'm Devotion, and I plan to get us the hell out of here. You want to come with me?" Devotion offered. This Guff fellow seemed agreeable enough, and he'd always appreciate an extra hand.

"I'm Guff. That would be helpful." Guff accepted. "What's your plan?"

"We pick a direction and walk?" Devotion offered. "Question. Was it this dark when you first entered and did your trial, or did it just get dark a few moments ago?"

"I did the trial, had to pet a bird, and I was in this immensely large room. There looked to be a door on the other side, so I started walking towards it, then the lights went out. I've just been wandering around since." Guff explained.

"Do you remember which direction that door was in?"

"Oh yeah, it's right this way." Guff turned and started to leave. Devotion had to try his hardest not to crack up laughing. This fellow saw a door, most likely the way out, and decided not to go to it, and instead aimlessly wander around? What an incredible though process he had.

However, even though this Guff fellow didn't seem too bright, he at least actually knew where he was going. After wading through the fog for some time, Devotion saw that Guff had indeed found a door. However, when he tried to open it, nothing happened. The door was locked shut.

"Well, now what? Did you see anything else before the lights went out?" Devotion asked.

"No. I thought another trial was starting, since my boss was supposed to come in after me. Strange, I don't think I saw you when the lights were on, and you've been here for so long already. I wonder where the boss is."

"If I had to guess, he might have up and ran. Facing your fear in a trial like this is terrifying. I'm surprised I got through my own." Devotion said, changing the subject from the fact that his story wasn't lining up.

"What was your trial?" Guff asked.

"Let's not worry about that, it's not important. I think, somehow, another trial started, and we can't open this until it's finished. Maybe your boss did come in?" Devotion thought out loud. Internally, he knew that this was his own trial. Why was it just dark? Devotion wasn't afraid of the dark. There had to be something more.

"I never knew the boss was scared of the dark. Kind of funny, considering how he tends to be pretty scary." Guff thought out loud.

The two of them fumbled around in the dark for some time, until something very unexpected happened. Ysmir suddenly jumped down from Devotion's shoulders and pounced on Guff, slamming him to the ground.

"Ysmir, back off!" Devotion called, but Ysmir disobeyed, biting and clawing at Guff, who tried to throw it off.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Devotion shouted at Ysmir. Guff continued to flail on the ground, trying to get free. As he did so, Guff's left hand was pushed out from under him, and he was clutching a small knife. Ysmir wrestled it out of Guff's hand, throwing it away. Guff laid on the ground, panting. Ysmir finally backed off.

"You were going to betray me." Devotion said, partly in disbelief. As he said that, the fog in the room faded away.

"Something came over me, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to." Guff tried to explain, through panting breaths.

"Go. Leave, or I will do to you what you failed to do to me. You're lucky I'm merciful today." Devotion pointed out the door. Guff scrambled off the ground, to the entrance door, and left. Hopefully he'd be smart enough to find the exit behind the painting.

"My biggest fear is betrayal? Why was it dark, though? To throw me off? Who designed this goddamn trial?!" Devotion ranted to nothing. "Sorry about shouting at you, Ysmir. You saved my ass yet again. I was just confused, is all."

"Well, I suppose I should go see what's behind the trial door? Might as well make this worth my while." Devotion walked over to that other door. Hopefully, now that his trial was completed, it would actually open. One way to find out.

Devotion walked over and pulled on the door. It swung open.