Who are you?

Ophelia wanted to enter next but it felt cold. The entrance made her skin tingle and the hairs on her body stand. Slowly, she stood closer to Anne and nudged at her.

"Something is off.." Ophelia whispered, pulling her friend back.

Zane and Kai stood at the back, wondering why Ophelia had stopped walking and had become frozen into place.

Anne frowned and squinted, trying to see where in the world Gerald had gone. He had just stepped in but his figure had disappeared into the dark.

Even with Ophelia's fire magic lighting as brightly as ever. 

"Just go in." Anne said, walking in front first as she started a small fire of her own but it immediately extinguished itself when she stepped in. She looked back and was glad to see Ophelia following behind.

"Gerald! Where are you?" Ophelia yelled at the top of her lungs as she used her wand to feel against the wall. There were some gaps here and there but they didn't turn once.

"Walk in front straight. Don't turn any different directions." Anne said, getting more worried now. She had no idea where to go at all.

Zane entered before Kai, still putting out his hand to see whether the boy will take up on his offer. The reactions from the other members seemed negative so far, if they held hands they wouldn't get lost. 

Waiting, Kai took out the ropes from his void ring. With one hand and his mouth, he tied it onto his left hand. The other end of the rope was tied onto one of the starting branches.

Since Zane was already in the maze, he couldn't see anything that was happening on the outside. All he could hear were sounds.

"Are you there?" Zane asked.

"Mhm. Give me a moment." Kai replied, rushing to make a tighter knot.

After Kai finished, he stepped in. Everytime snap to black. He couldn't see anything, he pulled his left hand to see whether the rope was still there but it said gone.

How could it be? He made sure to tie the knot tightly on both ends.

The labyrinth seemed to be set in a completely different world. Everything that was connected to the outside world seemed to be cut off.

Kai attempted to go out of the dark forest but all he got in return was an invisible barrier that showed a blur of the river. He knocked on the barrier and punched it but nothing budged one bit.

"Kai?" Zane called out.

"We can't get out." Kai said.

It seemed like that also reached the ears of Anne and Ophelia, they both made sounds of confusion as they walked backwards, trying to find the two behind them. 

Everyone was even more scared of losing each other now.

Zane took the initiative and stepped forward in the small tight space, he took out his swords. Without a warning, he struck his sword into the trunk of the trees and attempted to tear it apart.

It seemed to work. He could feel his blade moving down and a gap being created. He heaved a sigh of relief. 

"We can break the wood. Ophelia, burn it." 

Raising her wand she created a big water shield around everyone. "The whole place?"

"As much as you can." 

"Alright." Ophelia closed her eyes and chanted a few phrases in her mind. She could feel the mana being drained out of her. "Burn." 

Fire escaped from the tip of her wand, it could be seen flickering for a few seconds before it went completely dark. But it was still there, she could hear the crackling sounds of wood being burnt.

After a while, Ophelia withdrew her fire. 

"Stay close to each other. We'll search for Gerald before continuing on." Anne said, grabbing onto Ophelia's arm.

Everyone walked forwards, they weren't sure of the end but with no other alternatives. 

Soon they saw something glimmering in the distance.

Words that were written in gold. It covered the wood walls from one end to another. It wasn't the common language of Iotux people.

"What is that?" Anne asked, not hesitating one bit to touch a peculiar shining word on the wall. 

"That doesn't look like our language. Can anyone read it?" Ophelia asked, following what Anne did as she traced the words with her fingers.

Zane froze in his spot. He read it over and over again. Shocked to find it here. "I learnt Ginesis language when I was younger. I think it's a chant." 

"Of what sort? Can you say it out loud?" Anne adjusted the bow on her back. She had a bad feeling about this.

Strange words started coming out of Zane's mouth. To the others, it sounded like gibberish and had no sort of resemblance to the Iotux language.

The gold words started to sparkle even more vigorously, shifting from a silver shine to it's prominent gold. And the top left corner is beginning to glow.

"I think we have to chant it together for it to work." Zane remarked, seeing nothing else happening. "There's 4 corners." He murmured.

Everybody followed exactly what Zane was saying, they had no confidence in what they were saying but it just had to sound similar, right?

Suddenly the wall flickered with a bright white light. Complete taking over the dark forest. 

Once they opened their eyes, the wood they had burnt earlier had now regrown. It now trapped them inside.

And in front of them, the words they chanted earlier were dark. And only imprints of it were left behind.

But what was more concerning was that Gerald was standing in front of them. 

He didn't look the same one bit.

His eyes were bleeding blood while it shined with an unfamiliar hue. His body had grown in size until his shirt ripped. His body was slouched while he swayed side to side, unbalanced.

Two large pairs of horns grew on his head. His tongue stuck out of his mouth. It had a slit in between. The papillae that once stood on his tongue now had sharp spikes growing on it. The tongue touched the ground.

"G-g-gerald?" Ophelia stumbled backwards. The monster in front of her resembled Gerald but the added features were terrifying. She wanted to scream but nothing came out of her mouth.

Anne took a few steps back and pulled out her bow, placed an arrow and held it there. "Who are you?" She questioned.

Following suit, Zane gripped his swords tighter and gulped. He couldn't believe that it was Gerald at all. No way. The real Gerald is fine and safe somewhere. He must be.

The monster didn't reply and smashed his tongue on the trunk of the trees. Leaves came raining down. It growled loudly and slowly rotated its neck back and stared at its prey. 

"Who are you?" It mimicked in a echoed voice.