Once Caitlyn had joined the girls in the centre, it didn't take Oburon long to find them. They prompted him to try and open the door, yet unlike the others, he was more gentle. He rested his hand upon the door, seemingly attempting to open it with sheer will. Anwyn had tried something similar just before he'd arrived, so none of them were surprised when nothing happened. Then, unlike Anwyn, who had proceeded by banging her fists against the door until she had curled up in a corner sulking because they hurt by then, Oburon simply sat down.

"Are you even capable of standing for more than five minutes?", complained Caitlyn. Technically, she knew he was, but somehow this habit was starting to annoy her. Oburon paid little attention to her snide remark and started to scratch his elbow as he both examined their surroundings and considered possible triggers for the door. After a minute, he stood up and attempting to rotate a candle, but to no avail.

Hjalmar's arrival did nothing to aid them in escaping the network of tunnels. What he did, however, was begin quietly arguing with Yaz.

"What did you mean, 'deal's off'?", he whispered agressively. He wanted to keep the conversation private, but it was no secret that eveyone was listening in. Normally, he would have tugged off the translator amulets, but what difference would it make with a Gaspa around?

"Look, it wasn't completely off, but my plans had changed. I don't want just the two of us to go on a Lypera saving quest if either of us is chosen, I want to involve everyone. All of these people are talented and deserve a chance," said Yaz, but the fire she'd had before was missing. She was really starting to freak out, it felt as if they were never going to get out. Sure, she was doing her best to hide it, but her body language was starting to betray her.

"Are you alright?", asked Oburon, glancing up from the floor where he was sat once more. Yaz gulped and nodded. She feared they'd judge her for her fear of enclosed spaces and seeming weak would not help her convince them in the least. Then again, if being the chosen one just meant situations like this, she didn't want it. She wanted to go back home.

< | ■ | >

Up above ground, Libros seemed empty. The thing was, he'd seemed empty this whole time. Initially, Kosa had been worried, but Hazhil had identified him as magically observing what was going on in the maze. She had then reassured Kosa that it was a common mistake to make, prompting Junior to joke that last time Hazhil had made it, she'd added to her body count. Kosa had assumed this was just a joke because Hazhil would never hurt anyone - though she was kinda creepy, the Vila girl couldn't deny that.

"Uuuurgh, why are they taking so long," moaned Kosa. It had been ages since they had heard anything from inside, the last thing having been Anwyn's cry for her friend an hour ago. This whole chosen one's sidekick thing was really turning out to be quite the let down.

Nokia was also growing anxious, he kept getting up to run back and forth, before dropping back down at Kosa's feet - something that had prompted Hazhil to gradually slide further and further away from Kosa and Junior. She didn't really like dogs.

Once again, Nokia plopped down at Kosa's feet and the girl bent over to pet him. Reassuringly, though in part trying to comfort herself too, she mumbled, "I'm sure she'll be out any minute now, fluff king."

Just as she sat up, Hazhil frowned and the air around her grew cold. Junior and Kosa's attention was immediately drawn towards her.

"What's wrong?", inquired Junior, his hand subconsciously reaching for his dagger. Blushing slightly, she confessed, "I feel like I'm being watched."

That was enough for Junior. He rose to his feet and began to walk around. Kosa rolled her eyes, "Can't you see? There's no one there! Where'd they hide? Behind Libros? Uh, sorry, sir."

Junior still wasn't satisfied. He paced around, then suddenly stopped. But if he'd stopped, why could Kosa still hear footsteps? Were they coming from the maze?

Smugly, Junior reached one hand out and tugged. Moments later, there was a cloak in his hand and a puppy dog like boy on the floor infront of him. The boy glimpsed up at Junior sheepishly, his eyes framed by eyelashes. He seemed perfectly harmless, but this didn't satisfy Junior, who pressed one foot into his chest, slamming the boy's head into the ground, and held his dagger ready.

"Who are you?", the arrogant soldier snarled, not even permitting himself to blink. This boy could be a threat. He was not letting down his guard for even a second.

The boy raised his hands towards his ears, an awkward gesture on the floor, but an attempted show of surrender. "I'm harmless, I swear!"

That wasn't enough to satisfy Junior. His foot dug into the teenager's chest harder as he said, "Then why are you here, huh? Are you one of the sand mage's minions, huh? Are you here to interfere!?"

In the meantime, Hazhil had made her way over to her friend and the stranger. Carefully, she placed a hand on Junior's shoulder and spoke, "Let him stand. He doesn't seem like a threat."

"What, like an eight year old boy doesn't seem like a threat? Spare me your talk, Hazhil. You're not exactly known for being a great judge of character."

Hazhil couldn't hide that those words had genuinely hurt her. With a pang of guilt, Junior returned his focus to the boy, only to find the boy had leapt to his feet in the meantime. Before Junior could take action, the boy held his hands infront of his face, "Please, I mean no harm! I'm an ally, a mage from the order. The name's Dale. Dale Silverbrook."

Desperate to make a good impression, Hazhil smiled widely, her teeth pointed, "It's a pleasure." Junior didn't soften as quickly. He gripped his dagger tightly and wanted to speak, but Dale cried out first, "Oh, come on! The green eyes are like, my thing! And then you just had to go and have exactly the same eye colour! Now that's what I call rude!"

Kosa snorted and began to make her way over. In contrast, Hazhil was offended at this insult aimed at her physical appearance and Junior snarled, "No more games. Why are you here and how did you find us?"

"Oh, come on, J-boy, don't be so quick to attack. It's probably the same as with Libros. Just another magical guy sent to help the chosen one," said Kosa with a relaxed tone and dismissive hand gesture. What were the odds this boy had a malicious bone in his body? Probably one to thirty-seven.

"Well, if you let me explain, I'm sure you'll find my tale to be perfectly satisfactory. As satisfactory as it would be if you let me magically change her eye colour." Already, Dale was lifting his hand, but Junior slapped away his hand, unfortunately with the one that contained the knife, leaving a nasty gash. Dale yelped and clutched his hand. Hazhil shifted her head to one side, her stare cool and calculating.

"I'll heal that in a bit," Kosa thought to herself, but Hazhil knelt down first, placing her hands on the wound. The blood that ended up on her hands as a result didn't bother her, she had more urgent things on her mind. As she stared at the wound, green vines seemed to swirl all around it, knitting the skin back together. A wisp of the green energy also travelled up Dale's body, dancing across his skin, in particular travelling down his veins and nerves.

Soon, Hazhil sat back, placing her hands on the ground next to her. Dale was panting slightly, having grown warm as the Rindea's healing magic had mended his wound. In fact, they'd fixed more than that. Now that he thought about it, Dale was pretty sure he hadn't felt this good in years.

"Wow, thanks! I think you just healed some chronic disease or something," he joked, but not entirely. Before Junior could initiate another verbal attack, there was a cry from inside the maze.

"KOOOOOSAAAAAA, WE CAN'T GET OOUUUUUUT!"

All of them nervously exchanged glances. It became clear that Libros wasn't paying attention, so the light haired girl ran towards the floor which was also the ceiling of the maze, almost tripping on her dress. Without wasting any time, the girl seated herself and leaned forward so that she could shout at the tunnels. "Where are you!?"

"All of us are here in the centre and we can't get out! The door won't open!"

While Junior and Hazhil were discussing whether this was fair, Dale had crept towards Libros. He looked up at the gigantic man and poked him in the round belly. No response. It was like nudging a cardboard cut-out. So he decided to just take the risk. He raised his hand, grabbed ahold of the staff in the Guardian of Words' hand and tugged with all his might.

The moment he managed to pull it out of the mage's hand, Libros changed. His eyes grew livelier and he looked around in confusion, "Where are we located at this current moment in time?"

"I think you were being controlled. Your staff seems to have had a spell on it," explained Dale. He'd already been able to sense that the Libros' staff had been enchanted, but that could have just been because Libros had needed it to do something special. But clearly not. Somebody had been tampering with it.

"That simultaneously seems probable and improbable. By this, I intend on bringing across that my amnesia concerning how I ended up located in this great sample of Eastern architecture suggests that I have not been in control of my actions for many hours and that somebody else had been utilising my body for purposes of their own. What makes this rather incredible without the word's common positive associations is the fact that I didn't believe myself to have any enemies who would even con-"

"Right, yeah, we get it, now help us get our friends out please!", yelled Kosa, missing back when Libros was possessed. Sure, he was the Guardian of Words but she'd prefer the Guardian of Utilising Words Sensibly.

The guardian shook his head without even pausing to consider, "No. If someone has been possessing me, it must be reported to some of the orders immediately! Who knows what danger Lypera is in? I must go!"

Before Kosa could argue that their friends were in more danger, Libros vanished just as he had initially appeared: with a gust of wind. This resulted in Kosa letting out a frustrated cry. How could they help their friends now? They couldn't remain stuck in there forever.

Not bothering to ask who was trapped where, Dale strolled towards the centre of the room and placed his hand upon the ground. Beneath his fingers he could feel the mechanisms of the maze, he could feel the magic within it. But he could also feel that the magic of it was beyond him. He was more adept at people bound magic, not at manipulating substances. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't remove the door for them.

"How do you get in there and what is "there"?", asked Dale, now requiring that information to create a fleshed out plan. Junior immediately made a salty remark, but Kosa didn't. Her gut told her this boy could help Anwyn and Nokia seemed to trust him too. So she explained, "It's a maze. There were five enterances and our friends were meant to reach the centre of the labyrinth. Just head down those stairs."

Dale started to head off, but Junior grabbed him by the back of the cloak. When the brown haired boy turned around to look at his new enemy, Junior snarled, "I still don't trust you not to just to try to kill them all down there. I'm coming with you."

At this point, Junior pulled out his sword rather than his dagger, making sure he was ready to strike anytime.

"Let's go."

< | ■ | >

"Come on, Yaz, we're going to get out of here."

Yaz was curled up in the corner, shaking. This was too much for her, especially now that everyone was gathered round. They hadn't heard anything from Kosa for a while and they were still no closer to getting out of here. Not to mention the fact that in the mean time, an ister had attacked, but fortunately Hjalmar had just swiftly killed it, recycling his strategy from earlier.

Every so often Oburon had stood up and attempted to coax the door into opening with weird methods, such as by drumming on the walls, yet they were still stuck inside. They must have already been within the maze for at least two hours, Yaz was sure of that.

Suddenly, a blue orb appeared, floating by them. Immediately, Hjalmar sliced through it and it slowly faded out of existence.

"That could've been our way out and you just sliced through it!", cried Anwyn, huffing and puffing at the soldier, "Now we might be stuck here forever and it'll all be your fault!"

"It may well have been a trap," Caitlyn defended Hjalmar, "And what does it matter now? It's gone."

Out of nowhere, Oburon said, "Maybe this was never about escaping. Maybe it was about how well we could cope with hopelessness."

"Or maybe how open we are to magic," Anwyn chimed in, trying her best to murder Hjalmar with her eyes. He rolled his own, briefly breaking the eye contact, then said, "Our enemy is a mage and you're saying to trust magic? Do you want to get killed?"

"No but I can also see that just sitting around here isn't helping. And besides, it's not like anyone's going to be telling us what to do as the chosen one! We'll need to rely on destiny. Sometimes that means falling into a trap but sometimes that's just necessary. That's how you get information and see what you're up against. That's how you-"

Hjalmar broke Anwyn off, "That's how you die! Imagine if they just told every soldier to follow their gut? How many of them would end up being tortured by the Southeners? How many of them would end up dying because they tried to infiltrate their enemies' base? Huh? Huh?!"

Anwyn couldn't argue back because of the mention of war. Until now she hadn't known about any of them having connections with a war and hearing that Hjalmar did was a little wake-up call for her. From time to time she'd heard about a couple of wars in Lypera but they always seemed so far away, so unreal. They just felt like stories rather than really being a kind of reality. But here was someone who had come from a warring nation. Meanwhile on the floor, Yaz's breathing became less controlled and Oburon sat with her, trying to aid her to breathe in and out.

Since they weren't exactly getting any further, Caitlyn saw her chance and seized it, "Say, what is it like in the army?" She faked a sort of frightened and intimidated curiosity, giving the impression of a girl who was afraid of the answer she was about to get.

Hjalnar sighed and collapsed against the wall, "It's hard. You spend hours training only knowing it'll get worse once you're deemed fit to actually be sent to the front. Those in charge limit your information and tell you the fighting is going well to motivate you when you know it just can't be true because otherwise the war would surely be over. Nobody's there to make friends and it's isolated - I couldn't tell you anybody's name."

Caitlyn nodded as she listened intently. It was crucial she remembered everything, for if Hjalmar was this willing to reminisce about his time in the northern army, she might be able to gather information that would help Soustren win the war. All she needed was to get that information home.

Around then was when another orb appeared. Hjalmar raised his weapon to destroy it, but Caitlyn interfered, "I know it's hard to trust our guts but we're not getting any further by sitting here. I don't like this at all either, but with all of us together we can hopefully get through any danger we might come to face."

Surprisingly, this worked. Hjalmar lowered his sword and after letting out a big breath, he slowly began to follow the orb. Caitlyn soon did too, but Oburon and Anwyn quickly took a moment to check in with Yaz.

"Can you manage this?", Anwyn asked and Yaz shakily nodded and stood up. Now there was hope again and she could get a better grip on herself. Maybe they'd be out soon.

The five chosen ones marched in solitude, silent and on edge. They all hoped this would be their way out, but it was hard to quench the doubt that was telling them this could be a trap. But it was not.

Eventually they reached one of the enterances and found Junior and a boy they did not know. He gave the impression of being pretty laid back when he caught the blue orb in his right hand and let it fade away with a small smile. Immediately, Caitlyn frowned, "Who are you?"

Dale grinned, "I'm your new companion."

< | ■ | >

A/N: Dale's here, Dale's here! Now let's chant it all together! Dale's here, Dale's-

Anyway, I'm keeping this author's note short because I've got to go and meditate now, but what did you guys think? Did you like it? Have you got a favourite character yet?