Quin looked left, right, above and in every direction but he couldn’t see a thing, only pitch black darkness. He even tried to feel the ground but he could only sense a smooth surface everywhere.

Should I shout something, so that maybe the others can hear me? He wondered. No, there’s no guarantee that they’re anywhere close, but it may attract the attention of someone hostile. Then what about the spell? Was it cast by someone or just a simple trap? I’ve seen spells which can be embedded on different items and then make them so that they’ll only trigger on a set condition, so that’s definitely plausible. The whole pyramid and the town on top of it looked quite ancient and something long abandoned, so that also hints toward that it was only a trap.

Alright, so I probably won’t have to be afraid of enemies coming after me, but it’s always best to be careful. He remembered briefly the time he fought against Mang and how his failure was due to his negligence. And I still have to look out for traps, but how? Hmm, maybe my lightnings can lit up the way.

He shot out a couple of Bolts in different directions, however the only thing he could see was the lightning itself. So that’s out the question. Though I doubt it, maybe by merging with lightning I’ll be able to see something. He did so and his whole body was glowing brightly, but everything else, except his body remained the same pitch black, as before. Something’s strange... What I feel from the Lightning Qi leaving my body is not normal, it’s like in some places it freezes in space, while in others it goes way farther than usually. What could be the reason for it? He touched the areas where his qi could not get through and then the others as well, but there was nothing different, what he perceived was the same everywhere.

So nothing useful again... But I think this phenomenon should be important, as it’s the only thing so far which could be observed, even without much effort. Wait, could it be that this place maybe just a simple death trap? He walked around for an hour or so, observing anything he could. So no matter where I go it’s the same dark and empty place. The are no traps or anything like that, which means that if it’s not meant to make us die of either starvation or thirst, it probably isn’t a death trap. Well, let’s hope it’s the right assumption and there’s an exit out.

Alright, so what is my current goal? To get out of this place and for that I have to find a path first. What do I know currently? The place I’m in is filled with darkness, and no matter the method I use, I can’t see a thing... If my sight is not useful then I have to use one of my other senses. Hearing is also out of question, not just because I can barely hear anything, but I wouldn’t be able to use that for finding my way. Well, maybe if there was a constant sound or voice and I knew that I’d have to go toward there, but that’s not the case. Then my touch? That’s at least useable but then I’d have to crawl all on all fours and that wouldn’t just be humiliating, but really time-consuming as well. Smell? Nope, that’s not gonna help.

The last option is to use my Qi Sense. Although that didn’t tell me much about this place’s layout and I can only get a quite fuzzy image of my surroundings when I use it, it’s at least something. My only clue is that strange phenomenon I noticed before and that’s also connected to my Qi Sense. There must be something don’t realize here! He sat down to meditate and to reorganize his thoughts. Then, after an unknown period of time something clicked inside his mind. Wait a second... If I’ll use my Qi Sense instead of my eyesight, than maybe it will all makes sense! If something’s blocking your sight then that’s usually something you can’t go through, like a wall or a tree. So that means I should regard the areas which my qi can’t penetrate as walls and use the ones, which doesn’t stop it, as my path.

Haha, it still sounds kinda stupid, but not that much as walking on all fours for hours. He started to pour his Lightning Qi into the surroundings and followed the path where his qi could flow freely. After some time he decided to take breaks regularly, when his qi storage was half-empty to let his reserves fill up. He did not dare to completely empty his qi reserves, just in case an emergency happened.

Another dead end? Damn, it’s already the fifth one in past hour or so! Is this some kind of labyrinth or maze? It probably is, but then how do I get out? Oh, right! The right-hand method should work in normal mazes, let’s just hope this is like that.

The right-hand method said that when in a maze you should always stick to the right side of the wall and follow it until you have found the exit.

Minutes, and even hours passed and he was still following the right side of the wall and combined with the fact that he was completely alone there, no one to talk to, the whole situation started to get on his nerves.

What could’ve happened to them? To Alinor, to Aline or to the others? Wait, something’s not right, why is it that I first thought of Alinor, and not Aline? He’s my best friend, but she’s my girlfriend who should be a lot more important! This damned labyrinth isn’t only messing with my sight but with my mind as well! It probably dampens your emotions and confuses you in order to hinder you in finding the right path! I’ve to get out soon or I’ll really go crazy... He sighed.

Finally! It took him another couple of hours, but he has finally found the exit, or at least something that looked like that. What he saw in front of him was just a normal doorway, however the importance was on that he saw it, with his very own eyes. He carefully observed it, but did not find anything suspicious, thus he entered it.

What received him was a momentarily blinding flash and then he felt a similar sensation that he had when he was transported here from the basement of the tower previously. This time he did not resist it though, as he thought that wherever he went would be certainly better than this place.

Just like the last time he blacked out due to the spell and when he came to, he was in a huge hall. Strangely enough, it had only three walls -- the top and the bottom one excluded -- and in the middle of each one stood a door.

The first one was snow white, while the second one was pitch black. Both of them was highly decorated with various kinds of high quality ornaments, although of different kinds. The main theme used for the white door was delicate feathery wings -- shining in a golden light -- and crimson red spikes for the black door.

Needless to say that it was the white one which Quin preferred. That third door is the strangest though, he thought. It was a simple old, wooden door, lacking any kind of decorations. Under normal circumstances there’d be nothing weird to it, but standing next to those two doors, it’s just way too suspicious. He also inspected the three walls carefully. The walls of the white and black doors was similar: filled with carved texts -- written with the same characters he had seen before. The third one was entirely simple in design, made out of gray stone bricks. If one were to look at only that wall, they would not doubt that it was just a common house somewhere in the capital.

He tried to decipher the meaning of the characters on both walls, but he did not get too far. ‘White’ and ‘path’ above the white door and ‘black’ and ‘path’ above the other one, yeah that’s definitely helpful. Not like I could’ve guessed that. He shook his head. I’m starting to wonder if there’s any meaning of me trying to understand these texts... Knowing a couple of them doesn’t amount to much at all. Anyways, what should I do now? I guess I should enter one of the doors, but it looks like a test of some sorts, so I should search for a clue or something first.

“Arg! What the heck? How the hell am I supposed to do it?” Quin vexed. Although he spent the last few hours by trying to find the right choice, he was unsuccessful. “Seriously, if you hold us here against our will for some kind of stupid test, then at least you should give us some clues to work with!” he shouted to no one particular, yet just after these words left his mouth a bright light blinded him.

“So, young boy, what is that you have wished for before?” a deep, ancient voice asked him.