Walking between the thick walls of foliage and trees, Akiel stops to read a intricately carved gravestone. Bending over, he scrapes the grime and muck off of the writing and reads it, “Beware, all trespassers will be judged just meters further. Clear your heart and mind of all malice and you will make it to the other side. Fail to do so, and you will disappear.”

Smirking, he gets up and smacks his hands together, shaking off all of the dirt. Confidently walking down the path, he muses to himself, “For one, I have no heart. Secondly, I really didn’t come here to fight. I just want my book back.” Swaggering down the trail, he does his best to seem harmless. Eyeing the peculiar roots that swayed back and forth, he continues on by, looking for anything to hint at existing civilization. Stopping when he spots the walls of foliage and tree trunk open up, he frowns. Almost nothing but prairie stretches out in front of him.

Touching the rough dark tree bark, he slowly enters the prairie. Looking around, he sighs. Nothing but grassland is visible from his point of view. Gazing at the purple brick road in front of him, he shakes his head and starts treading along it. Glancing at the yellow sun above, he shields his eyes and scans the horizon line as he starts jogging forward. “At least it looks like the I’ve made it past the jungle. Let’s not waste time here either.”

After hours of constant traveling, finds a farmhouse just off the road. Standing on the edge of the purple brick road, he ruminates on the thought of it being a trap. Tapping the near spotless brick road with his feet, he shrugs and steps off. Cutting through the tall grass, he quickly approaches the house. The moment he enters the fenced-in area, he hears a dog barking inside the house. Grabbing one of the fence outposts, Akiel pulls it out and holds it like a club. Approaching the door, he checks the rest of the fenced-in area before entering the house.

Following the barking sounds, he passes a stairwell and stops in front of a door. Slowly turning the doorknob, Akiel surprisingly finds a light switch just off the door frame. Flicking it on, he descends the steps slowly. Reaching the bottom, he finds himself at the entrance of two rooms. One looks like a common room, while the other looks like a storeroom. Stopping, he listens and compares the barking sound from both rooms. The common room seems to have the louder barking, but the storage room seems to echo the barking even before the barking starts to come from the common room.

Frowning, he decides to avoid the common room and turns into the storage room. Several cardboard boxes, as well as furniture, occupy the perimeter. Moving past an obscenely large mirror, he pauses. Lightly shaking his head, he turns his head to look at the mirror. Seeing nothing but himself, he sighs and continues. Moving around an old tower clock, he approaches the entrance of yet another room. Edging into the open door frame, he finds the reflection of a Cairn Terrier in a much smaller but well-positioned mirror. Pausing, he traces the mirror angle to another mirror on the ceiling.

Tracing the angle of the mirror on the ceiling, he finds that it points to just around the door next to him. Adjusting his grip on the make-shift club, he peeks around the door. Inhaling deeply, he finds the remains of what once could have been a dog. Chained and bare to the bones, only a few patches of what could be fur remain. Checking the mirror, he finds the dog alive and well. Shaking his head, he turns around and smashes the dogs remains. Suddenly finding the barking gone, he backs out of the room.

Walking quickly back into the storage room, he glances at the mirror and finds the dog following him. Looking back, he finds nothing there. Checking the mirror, he finds it nudging his foot. Approaching the mirror, he cautiously watches as the dog starts to silently bark at him. Walking back to it, it nudges him in the direction of the stairs. Getting curious, he cautiously walks towards the mirror. Examining the frame, he finds several small scripts engraved in n unknown language. Switching his attention to the mirror, he examines every bit of the room behind him.

Stopping near the farthest end of the mirror, he spots a certain cloth cover fluttering. Looking backward, he finds the cloth covering, but it’s completely still. Checking again, he confirms the anomaly and steps away from the mirror. Slowly walking up to the cloth covering, he finds that the shadows seem to get much longer in this part of the storage room. Narrowing his eyes, he frowns. Checking on the dog, he finds it nowhere to be found. Shrugging, he slowly walks over to the cloth covering and grabs a corner. Hesitating, he looks back at the mirror. Raising his eyebrows, he watches as the cloth covering furiously flaps in an imaginary wind. Pulling the cloth off, he stares the painting behind.

It depicted a beautiful woman with blond hair. High cheekbones and a moderate nose. Shaped eyebrows as well as long eyelashes. The only thing that he finds off is that her eyes seem to be completely black and the malicious smile plastered on her face. Stroking the picture, he feels the air shift around him. Turning back to the mirror, he finds a ghastly phantom standing behind him. Frowning, he turns around and once again finds nothing. Glancing at the picture, he backs up. It no longer has a woman on it. It no longer depicts anything. All that is left in the picture is the bleached white background.

Bringing the picture frame to the mirror, he finds it empty in the mirror as well. Dropping the picture frame, he watches the phantom walk around the room. Suddenly turning to him, it walks up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. Watching it inspect him, Akiel calmly waits. Muttering to himself, he says, “What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll just stop looking at mirrors in the future.” Finding something, the phantom retracts it’s hand and circles around to in front of him. Seeing the back of the phantom, Akiel wonders what the phantom actually looks like face to face. As if enraged, he watches as the phantom dashes away out of the room. Blinking, Akiel lifts the club and shatters the mirror, “Whatever, that was just weird.”

Looking out of the small windows letting light in, he finds the sky darkening. Seeing some lightning in the distance, Akiel decides to continue exploring the house. Stepping into the common room, he finds a suit of armor lounging on the couch. Poking it with his club, he confirms it to be empty. Turning the headpiece around, he abruptly lets it go when he finds a realistic face. Reluctantly touching the face, he finds it warped in shock. Slapping it just to make sure it's fake, he looks around. Finding nothing out of the ordinary gloomy atmosphere, he lifts his club and bashes the headpiece. Making sure nothing starts to come out, he finishes the job by completely bashing its headpiece in.

Holding his head in confusion, he whispers, “I don’t know why, but I’m starting to become paranoid.” Looking back to the suit of armor, he says, “It’s just a hollow, heartless suit.” Quickly leaving the dark basement, he ascends the stairs. Closing the door behind him, he passes the door and finds himself in a kitchen. Looking through the cabinets, he comes across a shoe box. Taking it out, he turns around and places it on the counter when the cabinet slams shut behind him. Picking his club up, he wildly swings it behind him. Missing everything and anything, he looks around confused.

Turning back to the shoebox, he glances around before opening it. Raising an eyebrow, he takes out a singular ruby slipper. Putting it down on the counter, he reaches for his club. Hesitating, he muses to himself, “Do I smash it or not? I could just leave it, but if the basement is any indicator, this place is a freak show.” Gently tossing the club just centimeters up before catching it, he glares at the slippers. Suddenly seeing a shadow flash across the slippers, he glances around and raises his club. Smashing the slippers, he gathers the broken shards and puts them back into the box. Placing the box back into the cabinets, he closes it and warily looks around.

Going back to the entrance, he goes up the first set of stairs and finds himself in a hallway. Gripping his battered club tightly, he shuffles closer to the first door. Turning the doorknob, he finds an empty room. Listening, he hears the sound of running water. Slowly walking to what seems like a bathroom door, he grabs the handle. Pushing the slightly ajar door open, he finds a monkey in the bathroom. Smiling, he confidently steps inside and bashes the thing off the counter. Grabbing it by its tail, he smashes it down on the counter, breaking the cheap looking material. Whimpering weakly, the monkey seems to plead Akiel for its life.

Ignoring it's pleading, he drags it out of the room while smirking, “Finally, some noise that I can understand.” Looking around for any strange shadows, he approaches the second door. Grabbing the doorknob, he opens the door to find a singular coffin in the room. Stepping inside, he finds a thick layer of dust in the room as well as recent scuff marks and footprints. Following the footprints through another door, he finds himself in another bathroom. Following the footprints up a wall, he finds a broken vent on the ceiling. Backing away, he hurriedly drags the monkey out of the room. Closing the door, he looks around for any vents in the hallway.

Breathing out in relief, he silences the monkey for good, “I really am not alone in this house.” Slowly approaching the third and last door, he hears a gentle tick. Grabbing the handle, he finds the sound to be distinctively familiar. Thinking back to the grandfather clocks in the basement, he guesses that he’ll find a particularly large one in the room. Getting louder, the ticks ease his nerves as he turns the handle. Pushing the door open, he finds a small lion cub sleeping on a small pillow. Entering the room, he finds a large vent right next to the door he just opened. Crouching down, careful not to wake the cub, he peers into the vent. Finding nothing, he slowly makes his way to the lion cub. Reaching out, he grabs the cub by the muzzle. Clamping down hard, he suffocates it silently as it wines and whimpers, “Sorry buddy. I’ve got no time to babysit you. If you make a single sound and that thing finds me, then we’ll both probably die.”

Letting go as it loses its heartbeat, Akiel slowly makes his way around the room. Finding nothing, he glances back at the vent. Closing his eyes, he motivates himself to finish the exploration and does a small hop. Curling his fists and throwing out a few punches, he opens his eyes. Ripping off the vent cover, he crawls in, “Might as well do it. If I find that thing, I will just run the other way.”

Comforting himself, he rapidly crawls through the vents with no regard to noise. Speeding up and crawling more recklessly, he anxiously claws his way through the vents. Finally hitting an end, he peers through the vent cover. Seeing the kitchen, he backtracks and goes down another tunnel. Finding yet another ending, he peers through and finds himself in some kind of indoor garden. Shoving the cover off, he jumps out. Quickly exploring the rows of plants, he finds the corner of a trapdoor under a particularly large tomato plant. Pushing the plant away, he opens the trap door to see a shallow compartment with a single box as well as a note.

Opening the note, he reads it, “Use it to transport a being or object to your location.” Putting the note aside, he reaches for the box when something shoves him out of the way. Clenching his teeth, AKiel anxiously looks around to find a rabbit. Sighing in relief, he lunges at the rabbit, catching its paw. Taking a kick to the face, he scrambles after the rabbit. Trying his best not to lose it, he chases it between several plant pots. Diving at the rabbit, Akiel misses as the rabbit turns back and runs off to the side towards him. Jumping up onto the vent entrance, it smirks before a hand comes out and grabs its neck.

Coming out of the vent is the phantom. Dropping the box, the rabbit struggles against the hand but fails to even budge it. Looking closer, he could still see the remnants of the pretty lady in the painting. The only difference being she is now pale as well as frightening. Biting onto the rabbit's neck, she tears a good-sized chunk out, Immediately killing it. Grabbing the box, Akiel Infuses a large amount of mana and breaks out of the house straight through the wall. Not even looking back, he screams while running away, Seeing the purple brick road, he smiles giddily.

Just meters away, a hand stops him in his tracks. Seeing the pale hand on his shoulder, he panics. Turning him around, the phantom opens it’s mouth and seems to suck in the air around him. Confused, he watches in horror as the phantom visible starts to suck the mana out of him. Gathering mana from the surroundings, he infuses his fist in mana and punches the phantom away. Dashing right back, the phantom reaches for him, reluctant to lose its meal.

Madly dashing to the purple brick road, he jumps the last meter, suddenly feeling the phantom's hand impact his back. Rolling onto his back, he stares up at the dark sky. Turning his head, he could see the edge of the road just centimeters away. He could also see the phantom's face almost as close as the edge of the road. Exhaustedly distancing himself from the edge, he watches as the phantom patiently waits at the edge.