After Quin’s vision returned to normal what he saw in front of him, was an old man with a long white and braided hair. He wore a fine purple robe that had a sizeable circle on its chest, half of it painted light gray and the other half pale ocher. Surprisingly he seemed to be only a ghost, as you could easily see through him.

“Oh, do I really have to repeat myself?” asked the old ghost dejectedly.

“Uhm, no, sorry!” Quin has just woken up, but did not want to take his chances at angering a ghost. “I-I, only wished that there were some clues regarding how to proceed on from this room.”

“Oh, that is easy! Just read the carved texts there and you will have no trouble at deciding!” he said with a gentle tone and a smiling face.

Yeah, if it was that easy! he thought. “Senior, it’d definitely be that easy for somebody who knows these characters, but unfortunately the problem is that I can’t read them,” Quin answered.

“Haha, you have not learned how to read yet, even at this age?” the ghost asked after a hearty laugh. “These kids nowadays!” he exclaimed.

This stupid geezer! Calm down Quin, calm down! After taking a few deep breaths, he answered, “It’s not like that senior, naturally I can write and read, but in my own language and alphabet and these characters are completely alien to me.”

The old man’s expression changed to one filled with confusion. Crap! I hope that it wasn’t stupid to tell him that I didn’t come from this town.

“Oh, so that is the case!” just when Quin was thinking that maybe he would have to rush at one of the doors to escape the ghost answered. “For a moment there I wondered how could have an idiot passed the first test, but now it all makes sense. So you cannot read that? It is easy to change that!”

The two walls with the carved writings flashed, and Quin felt a strange sensation in his head, but then in an instant all the characters were replaced by ones he was familiar with, thus creating a text he could read.

Huh? It’s that easy? Quin looked at the old man flabbergasted, but he was standing there like nothing happened. Alright, now that’s one obstacle down! He read through both texts and inspected their contents thoroughly multiple times. Probably more than a half a day has passed already, and although Quin has formed some kind of understanding regarding them, he was confused, feeling that a piece was missing out of the puzzle.

The meaning of each sentence is clear, but it’s like most them are there just to fill the gaps.

“Are these text filled with only flowery words?” he asked. In truth he did not expected any kind of answers, he just thought it was worth a try.

“Haha, they indeed are!” the old man answered.

So I was right! Now the questions is what are the important parts of it? Maybe I can ask that as well? Seeing that the old ghost was friendly and quite helpful, Quin started to get bolder.

“May I ask senior to help me in finding the important parts of the text?” he asked.

“Of course, here you are,” the old man replied and the wall flashed another time, but this time only a couple of words were left behind.

“Wait, I had to just ask?” Quin was shocked that the old man did comply to his request, and now he was starting to suspect that something fishy was going on.

“That is right, if you ask something I will answer and help you,” he said.

“Why?” Quin asked.

“Because I have been instructed so,” he answered.

“By whom?”

“Sorry young boy, but that is something I may not answer to.”

“Then why am I here?”

“You are here to be tested.”

“What kind of testing is this?”

“Sorry again, but I am only allowed to answer questions regarding this test.”

What a bummer, and I hoped that maybe I’ll get some answers, but at least passing this test seems to be easy. He looked at the wall with the white door and above it stood three words: “The right path”. The second wall had also three words above its door: “The wrong path”. The last wall remained the same even now, however.

So if I enter the white door then, I’ll choose the right path, while entering the black door means selecting the wrong path. Is it really that simple? But then what’s the third door for?

“If these two are the right and wrong paths then what about the third one?” Quin asked.

“That leads to a path where the outcome is undecided, and will be determined not by fate but by your decisions,” the old man replied.

Now that sounds good, but doesn’t choosing the right path mean the best possible outcome? Then why’d you ever want to let it depend on your decisions, not to mention about choosing the wrong path? Something is still not right with this!

“Why’s that path the right one?” Quin questioned.

“It contains the choices in life, which are the right ones,” the old man answered simply.

The right choices... It sounds so simple, but this supposed to be a test, so how could it be that easy? Or the purpose of this test may have been whether you can summon that ghost and/or then ask the right questions. Then why is the third door so unique? It can signify its importance or it can just be a mere distraction. Argh, all of these tests just want to make me go crazy!

I wonder how the others are doing? Did they pass the tests? Did they have the same ones? He let out a sigh. Wait a moment, are the choices behind the doors universally right or only right for me? Are they right from my perspective or from an outside one?

“If I choose the white door, does that mean that only good thing will happen to me in the future?” he asked. He assumed that it is more of a philosophical choice than a real one, and no matter which one he selected it will not influence his life.

“No, it does not,” the ghost replied.

“And then, if I choose the black door, does that mean that mean that I’ll be plagued by misfortune and live a poor life?”

“No, it does not,” the old man told him the exact same answer as before.

Yeah, the right choice doesn’t always mean happiness for me in the end. Maybe sacrificing yourself for a total stranger would be the right thing to do. Perhaps I would even get away with only losing a limb or two, but would my life be truly enjoyable then?

And then what about killing one of my enemies? You could easily say that it’s the wrong choice, however they might come back in the future for revenge, if they’re not dealt with.

No matter how I look at that, the best option would be the third door! Yeah, that’ll be my answer, I should have no hesitation, and take my own path. Besides saying right and wrong choice one more time and I’ll go mad!

“Have you made your decision young boy?” noticing the resolution in Quin’s eye the old man asked.

“Yeah, I’m not sure if you’re really a ghost or just some kind of illusion left behind, but still, thanks for the help,” he said and walked toward the simple wooden door.

The old ghost smiled briefly and with a bright light disappeared.

Quin placed his hand on the door’s handle and pulled, but it did not even budge a bit. What the hell? He tried another time, but this time powered by his Lightning Qi. Though it did move at least, it was less than the width of his pinky finger.

After a long time and with great efforts he managed to open up the doors enough that he could fit in, but he was denied to enter. He knew that it was because he had to open it wholly. This fucking place, I’ll burn it down to the ground! I hereby promise, that if I get out alive, then when I’ll be strong enough I’ll come back and not leave a single rock behind!

It was then, when a voice resounded in his head. “Following a path already walked by many might be easy, however creating your own and sticking to it comes with great effort and endurance. People lacking these qualities will stray from their own paths, forced to walk ones which have been already decided by others, and thus they will be pulled down to mediocrity,” the unknown voice said.

It’s interesting and really does have a meaning to ponder on and all, but I just want this fucking door to open at once! He turned all of his concentration back to opening door. After spending at least a day in this hellhole he was not in the mood for philosophy lessons or for discussing the big questions of life, he simply wanted to leave this place.

When he managed to open the door, he was totally exhausted, barely having enough strength to keep his consciousness. Just as he entered the door he passed out.

He woke up in a different room this time as well. Where am I? Oh, right that damn door! Well, at least I didn’t have to experience that annoying spell again, he thought and stood up to look around. He instantly regretted he was not more careful, as the first thing that came into his view was two terrifying blood-red eyes and a smiling mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.