Hole in the ground

Gen got up from the floor and went towards the door. He then came out of his room, knocked on Raja's and Lina's doors, and said, "Wake up! We have arrived!"

Raja then came out of his room and said, "You are late, Gen. If you wanted to wake me up, you should have come before I was thrown out of my bed onto the floor."

And Gen said, "Hey, no need to sulk. I was thrown out of bed, too."

"Hmm, sorry, I was having a good dream."

"Oh yeah? About what?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be sulking."

Lina then came out of her room and said, "Yawn! Are we there yet?"

And Gen said, "Yes. Were you asleep? The digger knocked Raja and me out of our beds when it stopped. You didn't fall out of yours?"

"Well, I just woke up on the floor, so I guess I fell too."

Raja then said, "If you fell, why didn't you wake up?"

Lina then stretched and said, "That's nothing. If I woke up with a small impact like falling out of bed, I would never have gotten past the training I had with my mother."

Gen then said, "Enough talk, you two, let's get out of here at once."

Gen then started toward the door and then heard Lina say, "Gen, where are you going?"

And Gen said, "What do you mean, Lina? We've arrived in Tólis. I want to see what the city looks like."

Raja then said, "I think he hit his head when he fell to the ground."

And Lina said, "Gen, are you going to explore the city in your pajamas?"

Gen then looked at himself and said, "That's right! Let's get changed. We'll meet at the exit."

He then went into his room and, after a few minutes, came out and went towards the exit.

He was the first to arrive, and after a few minutes, Raja appeared, and then Lina.

Gen then said, "Don't you two have better clothes to put on? You've been wearing these clothes for two days now."

And Lina said, "And whose fault do you think it is?"

"Whoops, that's true, but don't worry. I'm sure there's a good clothing store in town."

"Yes, and I hope you're ready to pay for them."

"Hahaha ..."

Raja then said, "Well, come on. All the women, beaches, and bars of Tólis await me."

He then opened the door and left the room, and Gen and Lina came right behind.

They looked around and realized that the place they were in looked a lot like the outside of Gen's house.

Raja then asked, "Where is the exit?"

And Gen said, "I don't know."

Lina then said, "We know you don't know. Ask your essence."

"Oh, that's right, I always forget."

Gen then said, 'Dehji, do you know where the exit is?'

And Dehji said, 'Well, there's no way for me to know. After all, I've never been here before, but if we follow the logic of how these places were structured in the time of the empire, I'd say it's somewhere in the ceiling.'

'So it's just like my house, hmm.'

Gen then said, "Dehji said the exit is usually in the ceiling."

And Raja said, "That's strange. I don't see any stairs around here. Where is it?"

Lina then said, "Let's split up and look for it."

And Gen and Raja said, "Ok.", and the three of them began to walk around the room they were in while looking at the ceiling for the exit.

Some time passed, and Gen said, "Did you find anything?"

And Raja said, "Unfortunately not. I've looked all over the ceiling here and haven't found anything."

Gen then said, "What about you, Lina? Have you found anything?"

And Lina said, "No, I haven't either. Gen, are you sure the exit is in the ceiling?"

"Well, that's what Dehji told me."

"Ok, I'll keep looking-, ahhh!"

"Hey Lina, what was that?! Is everything okay?!", but Lina didn't answer, and Gen then said, "Lina! Can you hear me?!"

Raja then said, "Gen! Something must have happened to her. Let's go towards her voice!"

"Ok!"

The two started to go toward where they last heard Lina's voice, but they couldn't see her anywhere.

Gen then saw Raja approaching and said, "Raja, did you find her?"

And Raja said, "No. Where did she go? I'm sure this is where I heard her voice from."

"Let's keep looking. She must be pretty close-" but Gen suddenly lost his footing and started to fall.

He then thought, 'Why is there a hole in the ground?!', and then fell for a few more seconds before hitting the ground.

He then said, "Ouch! Well, I thought it would hurt more for the time I was falling. Good thing the ground here is not so hard."

And then he heard Lina say, "The ground here is very hard! You didn't feel it because you fell on me!"

Gen then looked down and saw Lina underneath him.

He then said, "Lina! So this is where you were. You don't know how scared I was when you disappeared out of nowhere."

And Lina said, "Thanks for the concern, Gen. Now get off me before I take you by force."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Gen then started to get up, but before he could get up completely, Raja fell on top of him, making him fall on top of Lina again.

Raja then said, "Whew, that didn't hurt as much as I thought."

And Gen said, "Raja, get off me."

"Hey, Gen, thanks for cushioning my fall."

"Don't thank me, the one who cushioned your fall, and mine was Lina."

"Lina? But I don't see her. Where is she?"

Lina then said, "I'm under Gen!"

And Raja said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you guys were busy. Let me get off of you, Gen."

Lina then said, "No need, Raja. Let me get you two off of me!"

Lina then, still lying down, lifted Gen with her arms and, after getting him high enough, kicked him away, which caused him and Raja to fly a few meters until they fell to the ground.

Raja was behind Gen, so he was the first to fall to the ground, and then Gen came and fell on top of him.

Raja then said, "Hey Lina, what's that for?"

And Lina said, "Shut up! If I weren't using my essence, I'd already be passed out on the floor! You have no right to complain!"

"Well, you're right, but where are we?"

"I don't know."

Gen then heard Dehji say, 'You just fell through the exit.'

And Gen said, 'What? But you said the exit was on the ceiling.', 'Sorry, Gen. It's usually on the ceiling, but I forgot that those aquatic freaks built this place.'

Gen then said, "Dehji told me that we fell through the exit."

And Lina said, "The exit? Isn't it on the ceiling?"

"It was supposed to be, but he said that because this place was built by aquatic something, the exit was on the floor."

"I see, but what was that about? Something aquatic."

"I don't know either. Dehji didn't explain it to me."

Raja then said, "Well, whatever. The point is that we've gone through the exit. Let's concentrate on finding a way outside. It should be close by."

And Lina said, "You're right. Let's split up and look for it. Oh, and before we do anything else, are there any other holes in the ground that I should worry about, Gen?"

Gen then asked Dehji, and he said, 'Not in theory, but you never know.'

Gen then said, "He said there might be."

And Lina said, "Great, more holes."

She then pointed in a direction and said, "Okay, I'm going in that direction.", and then moved on.

Raja then said, "Well, I'm going that way."

And Gen said, "Okay, I'll go that way then.", and then the three of them began to explore the place.

After some time walking, Gen thought, 'Wow, this place is much bigger than I thought. If the side they went to is also this big, it will be hard to communicate. Maybe I'll even get lost on the way back.'

He then kept walking forward for a few more minutes, and then he saw a huge door with some symbols.

He then heard Dehji say, 'This is the main entrance to this place, or in your case, the exit.'

And Gen said, 'Really?'

'Yes. I'm sure.'

'Great, hahaha. Now the problem is how am I going to tell Lina and Raja.'

'How about using my essence?'

'Your essence?'

'Yes. Just make the sound of your voice endless. That way, no matter how long it takes, at some point, they will hear your voice.'

'That's right! What a great idea Dehji.'

'Tell me something I don't know, hahaha.'

Gen then closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply.

He did this a few times, to the point where he pulled in as much air as he could and then shouted, "RAJA, LINA, I'VE FIND THE EXIT! FOLLOW MY VOICE!"

After doing this, he then sat down by the door and said, 'I think that's good enough, isn't it?'

'Yes, but you better shout a few more times until they get here.'

'Okay.'

Gen then stood waiting for them both and, every so often, shouted again.

After a while, Raja and Lina appeared, and Gen then said, "Great, you're here."

Raja then said, "Is this the door to the exit?"

And Gen said, "Yes."

Lina then said, "Great, let's get out of here.", and then walked towards the door, with Raja right behind her. Gen then stood up, and Lina started to open the door.