— Aster —

I found myself in an alley I had left earlier in the weak, attempting to locate an invisible door. It took me a while to remember exactly where I came out, it had been days since I’ve been here. But the alley was only so big so I quickly found the large red stone wall I had come out of.

Slowly, I examined the stones in the wall and its surroundings. Feeling for cracks, leavers, buttons, really anything that would give away the door. There wasn’t even a worn trail in the stone indicating there was a door. Everything was just...Seamless. I was starting to grow frustrated when I came across a hand-sized loose stone, finally making some progress.

I moved my hand around the stone, feeling its rough texture and mortar holding it in. Slowly working the stone back and forth, the mortar was worn away until it smoothly slid out. Examining the stone It was just the size of my palm, jagged and oddly shaped. “Yup this is a rock.” I looked inside the hole I had created only to see. Nothing. Just nothing. There was more stone behind it.

Frustrated, I threw the stone-hard at the wall behind me when something caught my eyes. “Are you kidding me?”

Right there on the wall behind me was a brick with a snapdragon on it. The stone was still bouncing away as I walked over to the other wall examining the flower. I could see the recesses around the image that indicated it would move. Instinct took over. Before I knew it I was pressing the button. The image moved in ever so slightly. With an audible click, a piece of paper flew out under the wall toward me. Curiously, it was written in crisp stylized writing. It read “Use roof. P.S. Don’t be seen.”

Looking away from the paper, I looked up at the three-story high red brick wall. With this new goal in mind, I began examining the wall for a way up. Placing my hand on the stones I found the mortar around them to be too shallow to grip. “How do I climb a three-story building without a way up?”

During my examination, I noticed something out of place. Some of the bricks seemed to be protruding out just far enough to grip, like a ladder leading to the tops. At least it's a way up. Taking one last glance around the alley to make sure I was alone, I placed my hand on the rough brick beginning my climb.

I made it only about fifteen feet before my hands began to burn, as I was forced to use only my fingers to grip the stones. Climbing heights like there was much more difficult than I realized. Still, I climbed on feeling my fingers becoming more sensitive, my grip becoming weaker, but on I climbed. When I was but five feet away, sensing the end, I pushed harder. Barely breathing, I forced myself over the ledge onto the roof. Rolling onto the flat roof I found tiny stones, like gravel, digging into my sides. I lay on my back with my arms and lungs burning.

While I lay panting I swiveled my head around looking for some sort of sign. I spotted it almost immediately… on the roof across the alley. “FUCK!”

“Language!” I heard someone yell from below.

Seriously? I couldn’t help it. I began to laugh at the absurdness of it all. I felt much of the tension built up from this whole ordeal leave me.

My body relaxed as I took stock of my options. Catching my breath I sat up to take a look at the gap between the buildings. It was about twelve feet across. A very bad idea came to me as I looked out, “I can make that jump.”

Stealing my nerve I stood backing away to get a running start. I felt my heart begin to quicken, beating a chaotic rhythm. Before I lost myself, I ran hard reaching the edge pushing off as hard as I could. I felt myself sailing through the air. I think I was about halfway to the other side when I realized I wasn't going to make it.

Whilst flying through the air my arms flailed in panic, looking for anything to grab. I was approaching the wall at speed quickly losing height. When I was about a foot away my whole body had fallen below the rooftop. With my arms reaching, grasping for anything. Suddenly, I felt something in the air and grabbed as hard as I could. Holding onto whatever it was as though it was a lifeline. Physics kicked in as the rest of my body’s momentum caught up and slammed into the wall. My whole world was shaking and somehow, I held my grip through this whole ordeal. I kicked at the wall trying to gain purchase before my grip would give out.

I felt my strength leaving my hands, my forearms burning and tight. My feet caught something giving me just enough leverage to get myself over the edge. For the second time that night, I lay on the roof out of breath. But this time I felt my body’s pulse in my left side aching with every beat of my heart. My hands were locked closed, I had to force them open. Once I was able to open it once, I found I could control them once more, although my grip was the weekend.

I lay for countless minutes slowly flexing my hands trying to get the feeling back, when my mind finally caught up with me. What did I grab? I rolled onto my uninjured side, slowly getting to my knees to peer over at what I grabbed. Suddenly, a beam of light shot over the area I was about to look over causing me to hop back. Curling myself smaller barely breathing, trying to make no sound I pushed back. Then another beam, then another. Three beams of light were now searching for me after my jump.

This was not good, my body was hurt, and bruised. There was no way I could run, especially on this slanted roof. A strange calm washed over me as I uncurled myself slowly raising my bruised and battered body. Carefully I moved toward the chimney with the flower on it.

I made it just a few feet before knocking something loose. Making a sound like rain, small stones rolled down and over the roof. Any sense of calm was gone, I felt blood rush through me causing my limbs to shake. If I got caught I bet I'll have to do it all again… or they might not even let me try again.

My shaking only became worse when the beams of light froze in their search. Ever so slowly all three beams began to focus towards me. I forced myself not to run, but the shaking of my limbs made it difficult not to stumble over myself. Somehow I made it to the chimney and curled into a tight ball next to it.

Slowly the panic began to clear, and I remembered my new ‘hat’. It was a bit of a stretch whether or not I would be able to do anything, but I had to try. What did the clerk say? Push power through it and focus on what I want?

I focused on finding the tingle of energy in my chest. I had very little practice at this, only doing this once before. I hoped I remembered how to do this, Trying not to think about the searching lights, I focused on looking for that tingle. It was elusive at first, but panic, strain, or just my need pushed me forward letting me grip that energy. Once I gripped it I pushed it through my heart to my arm, then into my hand, then focusing on the scarf I created a conduit between myself and the scarf.

I willed the scarf to absorb the light around me. The world around me turned dark as the shadows became darker. The beams continued to search as I sat like a statue curled in the darkness. Strange. I thought the darkness would feel cold, but it doesn't feel any different. A few times the beams seemed to pass over me, but it must have been working as none of the beams lingered.

I felt the power slowly fill the scarf as my body began to feel heavier. Must be a side effect of using the mana. Feeling a bit more secure and not sure how long I had before I ran out of energy. I took a chance and moved to hit the flower button. It went in slightly, but nothing happened.

The beams of light were still searching for me. Time felt like it was crawling forward when the beams began to move away from the alley. It was not long before one of them shouted. “Rotten raccoons!” The lights finally began to go back leaving me surrounded by my cloak of darkness. I felt I might pass out right there on the roof if I kept this up. I dropped the cloak surrounded only by the silent night.

The silence was broken when I heard a click from the chimney. On a hunch, I pushed the brick again. To my right where 2 roofs intersected a hole opened up. Oh! A secret door here. Maybe a secret door there. How many Secret doors were there?

I made my way over to the hole to see my next test. Peering over I could see a ladder leading down into darkness. Why not?

Slowly and carefully I proceeded to climb down the ladder expecting some other complication. After about halfway down the ladder the roof closed above me. There would have been total darkness if my scarf wasn’t pulsing with a soft colorless glow. “That’s probably not good.” I picked up my pace going down the ladder faster. The pulsing was getting faster and brighter the closer I came to the floor. Please don’t explode. I hoped I didn’t destabilize it by ‘unhatting’ it.

As my foot touched the floor, a new light came from the wall behind me, revealing another door. Framed in that doorway was Instructor who I met on my last visit. “Welcome back!” The instructor looked at me confused. “Why are you glowing?” Then the area exploded in blinding white light!”