-- Aster --

The world changed. The battlefield was gone. Replaced by a silvery storm of power, flickering and fluttering out of existence, the churning of energy calmed and dissipated until it resembled small motes of dust. Revealing an incredibly dark room with little particles swirling around. A completely black room revealed itself. Little particles swirled and winked in and out of existence, the only things visible aside from me and my friends.

The darkness was strange with no light present, though my friends and I were still fully lit. Why was no one was moving? We were all just fighting those wolves...no that wasn't real.' The memories came slowly, as I parsed out where the illusion started and real life began. 'The rooms.'

I was able to piece everything together, and I looked at everyone again. Every one of them was standing in place not moving. Their eyes were open, just staring at nothing, eyes completely out of focus.

I moved tentatively towards James while calmly calling out. "James."

"James? Can you hear me?"

A shiver went through me looking at them all. "I still don't even know if you can hear me, but James you should know this is pretty creepy."

I started to make silly faces in front of James. "Come on James I can do this all day." I kept contorting my face until I felt silly at his lack of response.

I leaned in close to James and whispered in his ear. "Hey, if you don't do anything. I'm gonna tell Bay you're super into her."

Moving in Bay's direction, "I'm gonna do it."

I got even closer. "I'm gonna do it."

At about halfway I stopped. "What am I doing?" Everything was just wrong.

"James, please do something. Anything" I waved my hand in front of his face. "Even just fucking blink."

My knees were wobbly as I asked "What happened to you?"

I couldn't just stare at James, I was starting to lose control barely keeping it together.

I took one last look at James before trying with Bay.

"Bay?" I waited, receiving no answer.

"Bay, I'm hoping you can hear me. I don't know what you all are going through. But you all need to move, blink, do something. Anything, even just go through whatever motions you were." I begged

I felt my eyes grow hot as I pleaded. "Please. Please. I...I can't. I can't die with you all stuck in this place. You're all supposed to be ok."

I couldn't stop I needed to keep moving. Try to get one of them to respond. I moved through each of them pleading and begging until I physically started to shake them. One by one they collapsed to the floor eyes open and unresponsive. They were all breathing thankfully but they just weren't there. Their minds had fled somewhere and I couldn't bring them out.

I had nothing left. So I dragged them all next to each other and just talked.

"You know. My last year in school was rotten." I let out a long sigh. Sitting down next to their comatose bodies.

"I'm not blaming any of you, but I wish that one of you would have reached out. Bay you tried but I don't think you understood how bad it was." I paused and thought.

"I supposed that was probably my fault. I played down how bad it was, and James you just didn't understand." Shaking my head.

"Decay, I wonder if I made that year worse on my own?"

*Snort* "Turns out the whole thing was orchestrated to test me. Somehow, I both passed and failed. I wanted to tell you all I'm a Keeper now. But I suppose none of you would believe me." I looked over each of them hoping for some type of response but nothing. I looked back into the black.

"Violet. I'm sure you knew, but I've got to ask did you know I had the biggest crush on you?" I laughed at myself.

"Yeah, I know stupid. You never really liked me at all, but I think it might have been a way to help me through the year. Deluding myself like that."

By now my eyes were watering tears not quite falling.

"And Rowan. We were never close but more like acquaintances. Don't know why we never really became friends over all these years but, you were still a good guy."

The tears broke through, and the tenuous hold I had fallen apart.

"I'm so sorry everyone. I don't know if I can save you. I don't know if I can finish this on my own." Tears flowed freely down my face for a long time before I was able to gain some semblance of control again. Looking back over them, I nearly lost it again. I somehow kept it together and smiled down at them.

"I don't want to die, but I don't think that's in the cards anymore. But I will not die without trying my damnedest to get you out of here." I said almost flippantly.

That's when a blue screen appeared.

5 of 5 have passed.

Rooms in area 1 have been cleared.

All party members have survived

Connecting to next challenge area.

Manual Override detected.

Next Area loaded.

'5 of 5. Did. Did me not being here make them fail and have to start over?' I looked back to the rest of the team horrified at the implications.

'No. It was my fault. I wasn't there. If I was there we would have passed through all these rooms like it was nothing.' Then something occurred to me. 'Why didn't they tell them?' I started to grow angry. 'They would have waited or have not bothered with it. They're smart people. Was it that asshole of a mayo? When I get back...I don't know what I'll do but I will find out if he knew.' I stopped that line of thinking, I didn't even know if I would be alive long enough to confront him. My goal now was to get my friends out before I expire.

It was with that cheery thought that I saw a white light, appear in the blackness. I turned toward the glow as it grew up from the ground like an opening portal. Looking down at my crew, all still collapsed and unresponsive on the ground, made me want to laugh. None of them were even remotely in a condition to walk let alone what was beyond that door.

The thought of dragging them through was not very appealing, especially because I didn't know what was waiting for us through that door. What new challenge or pain was waiting for us all. I didn't want to be the cause of any of that, so I moved forward on my own to scout out what was beyond. Inside the light. 'Maybe I could pull them through and handle the challenge. Whatever it was.'

I stood just beyond the door to the next area, looking in trying to see what was next. The room was similar to the other rooms, being bright white throughout. Though this room was missing a door, and in the center was a large silver circle with arcane symbols throughout it. It reminded me of the time I used a portal wizard to get my equipment back.

"If everything tracks. This will probably summon something." I looked back to the group thinking aloud. "The question is will it be safer in here or there?" I didn't know what would happen if I just left them all in the darkroom. Maybe there was a time limit or the room ceased to exist? I just didn't know. But, it did appear to require everyone to move forward. So I decided to take a risk and started to pull the group into the chamber. Pulling them inside I placed each of them near the corner in case I needed to defend them.

At least that was the plan. As soon as I pulled Rowan through the door the ring began to light up, and spin. Arcane symbols appearing disappearing, moving as though through 4 dimensions. The circle splitting into appearing like a 3-dimensional astrolabe. Moving faster and faster, until becoming a giant sphere.

'Please don't summon a dragon or something.' I pulled Rowan to the others setting him down turning toward the dome of light. I readied my dagger and waited. My heart was racing, I took one last look back at my friend's. Everyone laying behind me, listlessly looking at nothing. I had to protect them. I needed them to be free.

I crouched reading myself to lunge. I knew whatever was going to come through would be made for five people, my only chance would be to take whatever came through by surprise.

The glow from the bubble bloomed brighter, condensing and forming into something humanoid. I sprang forward to strike, only to be thrown back into the wall by a wave of energy. Hitting the floor I kept moving rolling back onto my feet to face whatever came through. Who greeted me made my jaw drop. There standing in the middle of the now inactive circle surrounded by a cloud of dissipating energy was a man I knew. A man who had helped me for years back home. A family friend. Cane. He was just as tall, and sturdy as I remember. Still wearing a big brown beard. As always he looked to be in his mid-forties, that suddenly struck me. 'How old are you really?' I had never seen him without his foresting gear, but today he wore thick leather armored and held 2 curved swords. He was smiling without it reaching his eyes.

My mind was overflowing with so many emotions my brain short-circuited then Cane spoke.

"Hello, Aster."

-- Cane --

I watched with anticipation as Aster and his team entered the room. One by one each person fell into a trance. This was the most critical part. If Aster failed then they would have to go through the whole thing again, and again until he passed. Aster didn't disappoint. I watched the screen as Aster came woke up from the mental illusion, on the first try. The others had come back as well. As much as they would. They all just stood there, eyes unfocused. Every round their condition would deteriorate to the point I no longer knew if they would even be able to come back for another run.

With them successfully finishing the room it was now my turn. I had long readied everything for them on the off chance they succeeded, redirecting the next set of rooms to a final one.

This was my chance to free them or at least give them a chance. We had stumbled on a long-forgotten protocol, the manual override. That we could use to adjust the testing. The only hitch was it couldn't be used to change an existing set of rooms, and by the time we found it. It had already been a week, with all the current rooms locked in. Still, it wasn't a likely chance but it was something.

Even with the manual override, there were still rules that even I couldn't change. It still had to be a challenge, and I couldn't just make it easy to let them through. I was hoping that if they made it this far their minds wouldn't be far gone and they would be able to fight. They were all but useless right now, and despite seeing how much Aster had grown. I don't know if he will be able to handle this on his own, but we would soon find out.

I finished putting on my armor and picked up my swords. I moved to the teleportation circle and waited. Now the only thing left to do was fight. "Let's see how you've grown."