The darkness dissipated as fast as it devoured my surroundings. I was on a very small island with nothing but sand and a palm tree, encircled by a seemingly endless ocean. I blinked. This surely wasn’t a perfect place to find myself at.

A voice rang from somewhere above my head, “Welcome to your first door of truth.”

An especially big wave crashed next to me, splashing me with salty water, “This is a special place that varies from person to person.”

I waited, but the sound of waves hitting the shore was disrupted no more by the bodiless voice. I looked at the palm tree. It didn’t look like it was going to provide me with an answer. So I jumped into the raging waves.

Immediately the scenery distorted, waters gave way to a tunnel I was in a long time ago. Next to me was standing angel Sophie Rantala. Her eyes were normal, I noted. Right now, aside from her wings and unusual holy aura, she looked rather human. She didn’t seem to notice me, staring at her hands immovably.

Something akin to a muffled scream full of pain and grief disrupted the silence. Sophie dropped down to her knees. I sidled over to her in order to help her if needed, but my hand went through her. She wasn’t real, just an illusion.

At that moment her eyes caught my attention once again. They became dull and inhuman, similar to the ones she usually had. What happened for her to change so much? She was pretty lively when she was human.

I looked around, but only silent tunnels surrounded us. What did she see? What caused her pain? Too many questions, too little answers – a pattern I got used to, but still was reluctant to accept.

I felt dizzy and blinked. The moment I opened my eyes, I was standing in front of a door named ‘Sophie’. The writing however faded out in just a few seconds and the door molded into a tunnel’s dead end.

So I went in the only unexplored direction – to the right tunnel. Went however would be an overstatement. Halfway through the floor it failed to support my weight and I found myself in the air, falling.

Thump. My fall concluded with me relatively unharmed. I didn’t immediately search for a new host and I even could move my limbs. Lucky!

I looked around. Terrain here was different from where I was before. The walls had carvings of some creatures on them, parts of their bizarre forms hidden by torches that lit my way. There were no fluorescent stones. And on the auditory part I could hear something slithering towards me from behind.

And so, I ran. On the first intersection I turned right, on the second… Where did I turn, again? After the umpteenth intersection I came to a conclusion that this place undoubtedly has a lot of intersections and I am, by all evidence, lost.

Whatever was slithering towards me, it was left behind. I couldn’t hear that sound anymore. On the other hand, my ears caught another sound, even more distinct this time. Clip-clop. Something was nearing me, and pretty fast at that.

It was too late to turn back now. In front of me appeared a black horse of a powerful frame. On its back towered a rider, muffled in cloak. He, beside everything else, lacked a head. It appeared that among my classmates, I wasn’t the only one to set out towards the unknown.

“Looking at his classmate, being pursued by a terrifying monstrosity, Hugh didn’t hesitate and came to help!” a familiar loud voice praised Hugh once again.

I looked behind. Something definitely was there but it was too far away for me to see clearly. Hugh however didn’t stay idle. At once, his horse rushed towards the beast. That thing, whatever it was, hissed loud enough for me to hear and pounced towards Hugh.

“Be careful! It doesn’t look friendly nor weak!” being a hero is good, but it will only matter if you stay alive. Could it be that the voice intoxicated him, blinded him to dangers of this world?

When Hugh was about to collide with the beast, the part of the dungeon he was in plunged into darkness, rendering me unable to see the result.

Did I want to run into darkness? Not the slightest bit. However, be it for my wish to protect Hugh, or my natural fear of death that dulled, but I found myself running towards the beast and Hugh.

Before I reached the darkness, a change came again. The darkness dissipated, revealing the outline of my classmate and the fallen beast. At the same time some of the torches were extinguished, while others changed their light to green, highlighting a certain path eerily.

“Using his unparalleled powers, Hugh defeated the beast that threatened his classmate. But, what is this! A path was revealed. Could it be that the beast was guarding a treasure?” the voice didn’t skip an opportunity to boast.

“How did you defeat it?” I asked Hugh.

His horse bared a grin in response, “I have a few abilities of my own. So if it’s just a fight, there’s no need to worry as long as I’m around. Let’s go, this path is calling me.”

I inwardly shook my head while looking at the eerily green pathway. Surely, it would lead us to something good and not dangerous, right?

My concerns were unfounded. It really was just a nice eerie pathway that contained no danger whatsoever. At the end of a pathway was a fork with one of the tunnels leading to a door, while the other led, well, somewhere.

The door on the left was named ‘Reina’. Will it have any important clues inside? I tried to open the door but was stopped by Hugh’s hand. I furrowed my brow, “Let’s go inside?”

But my decapitated classmate’s grip became even firmer, “We won’t. Everyone has their share of things they don’t want others to know. We should focus on getting to the truth of this place, not peeping at classmates’ secrets. Don’t give in to your inner demons.”

Hugh let go of me and went to the remaining tunnel. I glanced back at the door. It was calling to me, promising things untold. I sighed and followed Hugh. Sophia’s door had a hint, not an answer. Reina’s might be the same. Hopefully I won’t miss too much.

A thought appeared that if I were to sprint towards the door, Hugh wouldn’t be able to stop me. But there was no need. It’s just a door, for now we can look for another one. And then, if Hugh continued to disturb my exploration, we would simply part ways and I would get answers on my own.

“How noble! Even in front of a powerful temptation, Hugh’s determination didn’t waver!” the voice was never absent when there was a chance to praise Hugh.

Suddenly a bright flash of light blinded me while Hugh and I were walking through the tunnel. When I was able to see again, me, my headless classmate and the horse – all three of us were standing outside of the caves.

I tried to enter a cave only to be stopped by some kind of invisible barrier.

“We can enter the caves only once a day,” Hugh piped in, seeing my failed attempt. I grunted in affirmation. There was nothing to do, unless… I looked at the caves on the right. Inexplicable dread filled me the moment I did. No, I still wasn’t ready to explore that direction.

Unable to proceed, I returned to the settlement. Few of my classmates were there, probably most of them weren’t too eager to set foot into ominous caves. My eyes caught Reina, who was looking at a certain spot intently. I looked in that direction, but there was nothing. Is there something wrong with her? The secret hidden behind the door will probably haunt me for a while.

“Hey, are you free?” a familiar voice interrupted my contemplation. Goblin Polly was standing with two wooden caskets in her hands.

“I don’t have any fixed plans right now. What’s the matter and where did you find the caskets?” I asked.

“Can you accompany me to gather some fruits? I don’t really want to disturb you, but there’s not so many of us, who still have a pair of hands to carry things. And those caskets, I made them myself, please don’t mind the poor quality.”

“Sure,” I nodded while taking a casket from her hand. It was firmly woven without any imperfections. I knew that Polly was good with her hands, but I didn’t expect that she was that good.

“Isabella, you wanted to come with me? Now is the time.” Polly called to dragon Isabella who was frolicking in our vicinity. The latter cried happily and soared high, circling above us.

“Do you know where to go?” I broke the silence while we were walking, guided by Polly.

“I can sense the right direction with my nose,” Polly grunted. Runes, nose, her proficiency with basket weaving – maybe becoming a goblin isn’t such a bad deal after all.

“How is your rune creation going?” I asked. Even if I wasn’t close to her brother, I would feel better if he was safe.

“It’s almost finished. I think I’ll be done by tomorrow morning.” was the answer. We conversed throughout our trip but to my chagrin she didn’t have much information to share. Our dialogue was seldom interrupted by Isabella who evidently didn’t find our situation threatening or just didn’t care enough.

Me and Polly gathered fruits without any complications thanks to her sharp sense of smell. Soon the baskets were filled to a brim and we went back to the settlement. As we returned it started to get darker.

Tired, I plodded to my bed and slumped on it. I quickly found myself in the dreamland, hovering in the void next to Sheep. Tomorrow was the day we voted.