Alphonse sprinted into the room as the sharp screams scratched at his ears. As he entered, he noticed Oskar was bent over, his hand reaching down into a hole in the floor. Alphonse looked at the tiles—one had completely shattered—creating a sharp drop into an abyss like a dark pit.

Alphonse ran over and looked down. Razor sharp spikes had completely impaled John’s thigh and shoulder. The spikes were barbed on the end. Oskar attempted to grab John’s arms, but the hole was too deep and the barbed spikes made it difficult to extract them.

“Alphonse, wh-what do we do?” Oskar said with a stutter, his hand shaking from shock.

“Do you not have any skills to free it?” Alphonse questioned, he remembered the incredible skills that the Class A had. Surely they had something.

“Not for this...no." Oskar shook his head.

“Alright, help me down. I’ll try to remove the spikes.” Alphonse said, as Oskar nodded. “Hold my legs.”

Oskar grabbed hold of Alphonse’s legs as he reached down the spiked pit head first. As Alphonse placed his hand on the spike that had impaled John’s leg, his head reached round his shoulder, then his eyes rested on Oskar.

Oskar wore a complicated expression, as if he was contemplating something.

“If you drop me, your friend dies.” Alphonse coldly reminded him he wasn’t really worried that he would drop him. He would just use John as a human shield and use his Ice Arts to lift him out of the trap if need be.

“Of course I wouldn’t…” Oskar tightened his grip–he decided as he lowered Alphonse–allowing him to get closer.

Alphonse activated his skill [ Swallowing Bite ], his shadowed teeth sunk into the metallic barbed spike. Alphonse bit the top off of the spike and slowly grabbed the leg and pushed it upwards. He grabbed his hand, making sure that John didn’t fall even further. Then the other spike was removed as Oskar pulled with all of his strength as he pulled the two young men up from the pit below.

“Thank… you.” John panted as he held his wounds.

Oskar took out what was left of some bandaging as he wrapped it around John’s wounds–it ended up running out so he wasn’t able to wrap it properly–he just ended up sticking it on with some medical tape.

“That’s all the medical supplies gone.” Oskar said as he shook his head.

“Medical supplies? How lucky.” Alphonse chuckled as he looked at the tiles in front of him. It was now clear it was a trap. Grabbing hold of the goblin, he threw it forwards onto the tile that lay next to the one that had collapsed. With a thudding noise, the goblin’s corpse slammed onto the tile. Nothing happened.

Alphonse jumped forwards onto the tile, he felt the solid stone under his foot.

He picked up the goblin once more and threw it up into the air and onto the tile in front of him. The corpse splattered onto the tile as blood leaked from the headless neck, creating a grim painting of a flower on the tile. Stepping onto the tile, he repeated, but this time, instead of hitting a solid tile, the goblin shattered the floor underneath as it fell into the pit below.

Alphonse sat on the spot as he tried to think of a plan as if a light switch went off inside his head. An idea came to him. With his hand on the tile–He stirred the blood of the goblin as a sheet of ice travelled upwards–it continued forwards, covering the tiles around halfway.

Alphonse’s head turned as he looked at Oskar. “Your turn, Oskar.” Alphonse smiled as his hand motioned towards the sheet of ice.

Oskar bit his tongue as he stood up. He walked next to Alphonse as his feet reached forwards, onto the ice sheet in front. With his foot on the ice, he shifted more weight onto it. Feeling as if it was solid, he continued. “It works.” Oskar said, as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I can see that.” Alphonse smiled, but they only covered half of the distance before the goblins' blood had run dry.

“Wait here, I’m going to get more goblins.” Alphonse said, as he turned around.

“Do you not need any help?” Oskar said as he walked back onto the solid floor of the room.

“Nah, you’ll just get in my way.” Alphonse left into the dark passageway.

***

Alphonse returned with three goblin corpses, his ice arts crept forwards as it covered all the tiles.

Oskar held onto John’s arm as he helped him cross. Without waiting, Alphonse opened up the door and his mind turned blank.

***

His mother and sister stood in the middle of the room, smiling towards him. Alphonse absentmindedly walked forwards in the room as the door slammed shut behind him. Alphonse didn’t seem to realise. His eyes never once left their bodies. Their gentle smiles that he had been longing for were right in front of him. His back seemed so small as his hand reached forward, and then the surrounding room completely changed.

It was a bedroom. Deep brown curtains were closed shut, covering the window completely, not letting a speck of light through them. The wooden floor had a soft purple rug sprawled across it, creating a nice warm feeling within the room. A young girl sat on the bed, tears fell from her red puffy eyes as she clutched onto a little fuzzy teddy-bear. Black and blue bruises covered her frail arms. Her body shivered as she heard the shouting and screaming coming from outside of her room. She held onto her legs, making her body as small as possible. Next to her was a young teenager. He had pale white skin and his long hair descended past his shoulders.

“Tehya…” Alphonse reached his hand forward as he gently stroked her hair. His touch was so light, as if she was a brittle porcelain doll. However–it was like she couldn’t see him at all–as if he was a ghost.

The screams continued to get louder, the sounds of plates and glasses smashing rang out within the house.

“Tehya, stay here. I’ll go help mum.” The young man that sat next to her gently smiled, but the worry couldn’t be hidden from his eyes.

“Mmm.” Tehya sniffled as she wiped her tears against her sleeve. Her head diving deeper within her arms.

The young teenager walked away. The shouting became louder. Alphonse’s bones trembled and his blood ran cold. He knew what was going to happen next–after all–it was him in that room.

“Patrik, don’t you da-” The woman’s voice was suddenly cut off.

“What the fuck have you done!” Alphonse’s voice rang out, and soon the shouting of the man stopped.

The door to Tehya’s room opened up as the young man entered. He held a blood covered knife in his hand.

“Tehya, you don’t need to worry anymore. I stopped it. I killed him.” Alphonse broke into tears as a light smile covered his face. His hand dropped the bloodied blade onto the floor, staining the rug red.

Tehya’s eyes looked up at him–they were void of emotion–they were empty.

“So this is your history, Alphonse. Let me help you break this illusion.” A high-pitched giggling voice entered his mind as it trailed off into nothingness. Alphonse had a blank stare, his eyes never leaving Tehya’s tear stricken face. Then Tehya and the room vanished.

***

A monster stood within the room. A large antenna that had a glowing yellow light at the end of it poked out from its forehead. Its oversized head had a jaw that opened wide with shark-like teeth. Its eyes opened as it looked at Alphonse in shock.

Alphonse’s eyes turned manic as he rushed forward. He cut open a gash on his palm as ice shot forwards. The icicle landed at its foot, encasing them within ice. Alphonse swiped his cleaver across the monster's throat. The oversized head thudding to the floor.

"AhH!" Alphonse's scream turned into a frenzied laugh, veins popped out from his forehead as he crazily hacked away at the body of the monster, blood splashed all over him as he carved the monster into a mushy pile of blood and bone.

Oskar and John woke up from their dream-like state, their distraught eyes wandering around in confusion. Tears fell from their eyes as their hands trembled. They watched Alphonse mindlessly butcher the creature in front of them.

“We need to keep moving. I'm going to fucking end this nightmare.” Alphonse said. His lips turned upwards as his back disappeared through the door as the duo chased after him.