In one moment, Arthur was thinking about how to hide from the beasts which were following him, and in the next moment, he had his ankle broken, and something was pulling him into the ground.
It took him by surprise, and the worst part was that he did not sense the creature before the attack. Perhaps if it was a deadly attack, then Arthur might as well be dead at that point!
The fear of the unknown took the best of him, but before he could do anything, the hand which grabbed him stopped pulling, tossing him inside a strange construction underground.
“Where am I?”
“Yo! Sorry for the ankle.”
Arthur was still getting his things back together. H was in a corridor made of cobblestone, and the skeleton who pulled him into the ground was speaking!
“Sorry for the ankle?”
He thought of teaching that skeleton a lesson, but the unknown level above its head made him think otherwise. The skeleton could break his ankle with such ease, which meant it was someone strong.
“I had to bring you here, as the beasts are following me as well. Annoying little things.”
The skeleton did not have any clothing or weapons, and looked exactly like a normal skeleton. Arthur was surprised to learn that the beasts were also following him.
“Why would the beasts follow you?” Arthur said.
He was slowly getting away from the skeleton, and even looked at the hole above his head, thinking if he should fly back up.
Would the strange bird attack him if he did that? Arthur did not know, but it was a shot he would take if that skeleton tried to attack him.
“You know, I am human, too! Or at least I was before dying inside this place a long time ago…”
“What?”
“This is an inheritance, right? It opened up many years ago, and I was one youth who came here looking to get it, and sadly died here. Well, not dead-dead, but I had to use a prohibited spell to continue living as a skeleton, unable to leave this place.”
It turned out the skeleton was a mage from 1000 years ago, when the inheritance opened up!
“But why can’t you leave? If you are ‘dead’ then the test should be over for you, no?”
“Things are more complicated than that. Look, I am not the only one that survived! Someone else from my academy did, and it also used the prohibited spell to keep his life!”
“I saw him once, but fled before it could get me. I have been hiding here ever since. That person is evil, and I believe it came here before me.”
The skeleton shared that not only he was alive, but someone else that entered the inheritance a long, long time ago. Arthur had the guess that person was trapped inside the inheritance since 2000 years ago.
“Do you know the reasons for that person to be here?” Arthur said.
“I am not sure, but when me and all the other youths entered here, that person tried his best to kill us, and that is why no one got the inheritance yet.”
“The first time I saw that man he was a skeleton, just like me, but the more he absorbed the life of the students he killed, the more human he looked.”
When hearing all of that, Arthur remembered the feeling he had when he entered inside the dimensional realm, as if someone was watching his every move.
Was it the skeleton who was in front of him, or the evil one that was trying to get all the students killed?
“Why can’t you or him leave this place?”
“The only way for us to leave is if someone gets the inheritance and allows us to do so. That is why I brought you here. I can’t leave this floor of the tower, but if you get the inheritance, could you free me?”
“I can tell you more about the other person from my academy, as he will surely try to kill you before you get the inheritance. Also, if you free me, I promise you to help you in any way I can.”
Arthur listened to all of it and entered, deep in thought. He was not fond of helping that weird skeleton, but he also had a feeling that saying no to it may cause him danger.
“I can try, but I can’t promise you anything. And why did you choose me? There are plenty of others who are exploring this inheritance.”
“That is because I believe you are the person with the most success rate in getting the inheritance.”
“That, or I am the first person you saw.”
“Hahaha! Want to hear more about that, mummy? I can tell you everything I know.”
The skeleton laughed, and then shared everything he knew about the strange person from his academy.
Arthur returned to the surface after the talking. He wanted to stay inside that place as if seemed safe, but the skeleton told him that the beasts from the underground would find him, as these beasts did not have eyes but could sense the life force of their prey, and the skeleton did not have any, so that is why it could stay safely underground.
“There are beasts in the land, beasts underground, and a gigantic bird in the skies. Is there even a safe place inside this realm?”
“Arthur, move. Look ahead!”
He looked to where George pointed, seeing a wave of beasts frenetically running toward him again.
Peace was something Arthur would not get while inside that floor, so he continues to run and teleport all over the place, trying to flee from those beasts.
As for the other youths who were uncertain if they should enter the sixth floor or not, they all did so after one day of waiting.
The moment they entered inside the floor, the beasts who were nearby were attracted to their presence, rushing toward them.
Arthur did not know they followed his actions after 24 hours passed, but he sure noticed the number of beasts chasing him diminishing, which was a good thing.
Those beasts now had more targets to go after, making his time easier. Within 24 hours, Arthur found a small cave, placing lots of magical formations around it, making him almost undetectable.
The only problem he faced was fresh water and food, as his magical pouches could not be used inside that tower floor, making his stored food useless, and any spell that conjured fresh water was also useless.
Whoever built that place wanted the mages to get out of their hiding spots and hunt for their survival, which was not something they will do after finally finding some place safe, but Arthur had to do it, anyway.
“Someone, help me!”
When Arthur left his cave, the first thing he heard was not the singing of birds or the roaring of beasts, but the scream of someone in danger.
“Not my business.”
Arthur was not feeling like losing his precious time to help someone he did not know, but the more that person screamed, the more Arthur felt it was the voice from someone he knew.
“Samantha?”
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