(September 16th, 2017)

Justin

After arriving at the site location, I parked the car in the parking lot reserved for visitors since this is a tourist attraction. The temple is essentially a tower with a circular wall surrounding it. Within the circle existed the ruins of an old structure that I could not identify. The tower itself remains intact, however. Despite the passage of time, it has the look of a structure that is either recently finish or exceptionally well maintained. While the other three went to check around for any visible entry or a secret one, I continued standing at the entrance to the temple, taking in the beauty of the structure that was built by our ancestors. The group seemed unsuccessful in finding a way inside the dungeon, so I decided to stop my idling and proceeded inside the tower with my friends.

"So... we go up?" Alex asked.

"There's nothing at the top except for a beautiful view," Zack replied.

"Ooh! We should go to take a picture!" Mia suggested.

"I don't see why not," I replied to her before following her to the top of the tower, where it is revealed to us that the tower has no ceiling and has a similar circular pillar-shaped wall with arcs showing the surrounding area from above. Mia began to look around for a perfect spot to plant her camera, and after doing so, she set it up, and we all took a group photo. After that, I looked around the roof for anything that may allow us to find the entrance to the dungeon. Zack examined the pillars while Alex began examining the floor. Mia was too busy admiring the recent photo to be of any help.

"I found nothing," Zack stated.

"Same here," Alex said.

"That's weird. I can already feel something below this tower, but I don't know what," I claimed.

"It could be the dragon," Mia suggested.

We returned to the bottom of the tower and planned to exit the structure when I spotted an oddly-looking circular part of the floor at the center of the flooring. I approached it and examined it, noticing the weirdly-shaped stars around it and the horizontal hole in the center. I conjured my sword and placed it from the tip down inside the hole. Suddenly, I heard a click sound that was loud enough to reach the three companions that have already made it outside. I pushed the sword even deeper and watched as the ground shook for one second. Then, I removed my weapon, only for the far end of the ground to open like a hidden door and reveal stairs. The other three returned and were astonished by my finding.

"Good eye, Justin!" Alex exclaimed.

"Thanks."

"So this is the secret entrance? It could be unlocked by your sword, huh?" Zack asked.

I walked down the stairs, followed by my friends. As soon as I made it a few steps in, the stairs widened dramatically, enabling them to fit nearly ten people on a single step. I continued walking down the steps for a minute, and eventually, we found ourselves at a dead end. To our left was a doorway that led into a brightly lit room. The lights originated from glowing red vertical stripes on the wall. The remaining light sources were from a star shape in the ceiling glowing blue and our hands-free flashlights that are attached to our torsos. As I expected, monsters began spawning inside the room. These monsters were trolls that were a few inches taller than us and did not seem to be the friendly types. We conjured our weapons and prepared to battle them. Alex donned the mask he claimed to wear in the battle of the capital alongside summoning his gun.

The trolls began to charge at us like brainless freaks. I jumped behind one of them and slashed his neck before stabbing him in the back and kicking him away, killing him in the process. Mia used her lance to throw two of them in the air and flew after them, attacking them with her lance and claw while they were immobilized. Alex felt free to target the one out of our range with his weapons while cast a lightning spell at one before stabbing the other with his polearm. He reminded me of Ethan's daggers. I conjured them up and used them to dash around the room, slicing up trolls in the process. Before we could finish off the trolls, goblins began to spawn around the room and began attacking us. Mia grabbed one of them and sucked his blood dry before kicking him onto another goblin. Zack used a gravity spell and made an orb of magic that sucked the enemies towards them, allowing me to dash across the room towards them and slicing them off with my daggers and sword.

The remaining monsters attempted to flee, only for Alex to shoot them in the heads, killing them instantly. After the fight was finished, Alex removed his mask, and we continued towards the other doorway that led us down a staircase that it itself led us towards a spiral slope that continued down towards the dark abyss that was lit by the same stripes and stars in the previous room.

"Justin, if you notice it, this spiral begins directly under the staircase that we used to enter this place," Zack said.

"You're right!" I replied as I realized that he is correct.

We continued on our way, fighting monsters that spawned while we continued. Soon enough, we arrived at another room after we reached another dead end where the spiral had a wall blocking its way, similar to when we descended down the stairs from the surface. We entered inside the room that appeared to be the exact same as the one before with one tiny change. This time, it had ten suits of armor that were placed around the room. Two next to the doorway that we entered with one on each side, the exact same thing on the doorway we wanted to go through, three on the wall to the left, and three on the wall to the right. As soon as we stepped inside the room, the suits began to move. They came at us with their swords, having the advantage in size and number. However, we were ready to fight back, and we conjured our weapons before engaging the enemies.

I used the lightning bringers to dash around the room and attack as many of the armors as possible while Mia took to the air and began making sweep attacks, hitting every armor that stood in her flight path. Alex punched one of the suits repeatedly. He was punching it so fast that I began seeing a few arms coming out of Alex and hitting the enemy. Of course, it was only due to the speed of his punches, he did not grow a few more arms. He finally ended it with a punch from his cyber arm, destroying the moving armor. Zack used his shield to guard against an enemy, parrying his attack and countering with a shot from his sniper rifle to the head at point-blank range. He then fired at another suit, leaving it immobilized as Mia sliced the helmet off of it.

"Hey, Justin!" Alex called. "I learned that attack in an anime if you're curious. I call it the rush of fists."

"Lame name, but okay," I replied.

With three suits left, I fired an intense beam of energy from my hands, destroying them all. We then continued down the path, exiting the room, descending down some stairs and continuing through the spiral once again while fighting whatever kind of enemy spawned. Finally, we made it to the end of the spiral. We found ourselves standing in the middle of the thing looking at three doors that each lead in a different direction. One was in front of us, while the others were to our left and right. Each door had a symbol on the top of it. One was of a star was in front of us, the other was of a moon to our right, while the last was that of a tree to our left. We found the same symbols on the ground, surrounding a circle in the center of the room. Soon enough, we realized that the circle in the middle will reveal once we figure out the mystery of the doors.

The tree symbol on the door started to glow green, while the one with the moon began to glow white. The star door symbol did not glow at all. I deduced that the glowing symbol doors are unlocked while the star one was locked. We approached the doors, which slid vertically to open.

"We should split up. Alex and I will take the tree door while Mia and Zack will take the moon door," I said before we split up.

"Good luck, you guys!" Mia shouted from the moon door before it closed behind her.

"Same to you, too!" I replied.

Alex and I walked down the vast corridors of the dungeon, watching as the room was lit with the stripes and the green tree symbol. Every few feet was a room that contained either a bunch of monsters and possessed armors. Alex and I began wondering about the origins of this place and for what purpose was it created.

"And how are there possessed suits of armor everywhere?" Alex asked.

"Maybe they were created by the people who built this place to ward off invaders?" I asked.

"But the place was revealed with your sword, was it not?"

"True. Then that means these suits are here to test us. Also, do you see how that in every room where there are armors, we find no demons and vice versa?"

"Could that mean that the monsters are not placed here by the builders of this place?"

"I believe the harbinger of the darkness has something to do with this," I stated.

"I do, too."

Soon, we found ourselves inside a big room with a tree in its center. The tree had an aura around it and emitted a faint green glow from it. Suddenly, a branch swung its way towards us. Alex managed to dodge it, but I ended up getting struck by it. I grabbed the branch to prevent myself from being pushed away even further. Before realizing it, the branch yanked me off the ground and began swinging me around before smacking me against the wall.

"Justin!" Alex shouted before conjuring his launcher and firing a missile at the tree. I grabbed the branch again and started slicing it with my sword, but every time I struck it, the damage healed. Alex watched as the hole from the missile he fired began to close as the tree began to heal itself.

"My god!" Alex exclaimed, only for me to respond with a faint "Yes?"

"How do we stop this thing?!" He asked while shooting his assault rifle at it and dodging its attacks.

I was still hanging on for dear life as it swung me around. When it tried to smack me against the wall once again, I placed my feet on that wall and pushed myself away. I then climbed the branch and ran towards the tree, dodging every other branch that it sent my way. I sliced one branch off as I was leaping and landed on another branch before continuing my sprint towards the center of the tree. When I arrived at the center, I waited for Alex to conjure a bomb and throw it towards me before throwing it on the tree. When I did that, the center of the tree got exposed. As I began slicing my way into the tree, it gabbed me with its roots that it shot out of the hole I made. Alex could not see where I was and began shouting my name.

"Alex! I'm at the-" The tree cut me off by wrapping its roots around my mouth.

'Ah, so you're intelligent, huh?' I addressed the tree with the thought to myself.

I grabbed the roots and tried to pull them out of my mouth, only for it to press down even further and wrap a root around my neck. I kept hearing the sound of Alex's firearms as he fought alone against the living tree on the outside my hands were somewhat free, as it had roots wrapped around them. I grabbed one of those roots with my right hand and began pulling on it, tearing it apart and freeing more of my right arm. Then I continued freeing myself until I had enough of my arm free to conjure my sword and use it to cut the roots and free myself. As I made a run for it, a root wrapped itself around my leg and began pulling me towards the inside of the tree. As I tried to free myself, a root wrapped itself around my body and made me unable to move. When the tree finally trapped me inside itself, it used more of its living roots to wrap around my body, immobilizing me and choking me once again.

"I-I'm not the one in my group who likes to be choked!" I said before it wrapped another root around my mouth.

"Justin? Justin!" Mia spoke on the group channel. "Come in! Where are you?"

'Speak of the devil. Literally!' I thought to myself.

"Mia! Justin was swallowed by a living tree!" Said Alex, who was still fending off the tree.

I freed my hands and tried to climb outside of the tree while still being wrapped with its roots. I managed to make it to the top where I gasped for air and held on to the tree to prevent its roots from pulling me back in. Then, I began to feel the fire dragon call to me. It was asking me to unleash it. Accepting its offer, I called upon it inside my mind. Suddenly, the walls around the room broke, and we found ourselves in a vast plane of fire and lava. Next to us was a giant volcano that the fire dragon emerged from it and fired a beam of red energy at the tree, lighting it on fire before a blinding white light overwhelmed the area. After I regained my vision, I found myself back inside the room and still on top of the living tree that was now lit ablaze. The inside of the tree was then exposed. Inside of it was an object that resembled a heart. It was made of wood, stone, and a glowing blue slimy material. I watched in complete bewilderment as it was pumping like a heart with roots extending from it like arteries and veins.

"Alright, then. It was a fun time, Tree! But it's over!" I said before throwing my sword at its heart and jumping out of the tree. I watched as some branches began to break from the living tree and fall towards the ground as it died. I then noticed that another tree symbol on the ceiling was now glowing.

"Did you see that, Justin?!" Alex asked. "The walls collapsed, and the fire dragon emerged from the volcano and-and we defeated the tree!"

"That was... something else."

"That was hardcore!" Alex exclaimed.

"It was! Now this tree is dead, and we need to leave."

When we made it back to the circular room with the three doors, we noticed that the tree symbol in the ground was glowing green, signifying that this door was completed. The moon symbol on the ground was lit as well. Shortly after, Mia arrived with Zack. They looked exhausted as they both were panting and trying to catch their breaths. The sweat was pouring from their faces like a river. Looking at Alex and myself, I realized that we were better off than they were. I rushed to my friends as I was devastated with concern.

"What happened to you two?" I asked.

"Us? What happened to you?! Were you swallowed by a tree?" Mia asked, almost yelling.

"Long story short, yeah," I replied.

"I wish you saw it, guys!" Alex exclaimed. "There was this tree that we were fighting, it grabbed Justin and pulled him inside of it, then the fire dragon arrived and burned it down with his energy beam!"

"The fire dragon?" Mia asked in confusion.

"Yeah! Justin summoned it to our aid! It was awesome!"

"Apparently, I can do that now. I did not know that before today, to be quite frank. It called to me, and I allowed it to summon," I explained. "So, what happened to you two?"

"We fought a giant owl," Mia stated, much to my shock.

"A what?"

"A giant owl!" Mia yelled at me, furious about the fight and her exhaustion clearly evident by her breathing and sweating.

"Wow... you definitely are worse off than us," Alex stated.

"That's the biggest understatement of the century," Zack replied as he continued to wipe his face off with his hand.

I then noticed that the star symbol on the door was glowing, meaning that the door was ready to be opened. I tried to approach the door, only to find myself being pulled back by a furious Mia. "What's wro-" I stopped myself once I caught sight of the dry blood on her mouth. It did not take an intelligent person to discern that it was not lipstick. Her fangs were noticeably larger and have emerged outside of her mouth.

"We want to relax," She said in a monotonous yet menacing voice.

"O-Okay, then. We'll take a break," I replied.

Alex took notice of this weird exchange and swallowed his own saliva out of discomfort. Zack sat on the ground and did not seem to notice what happened. When we sat on the ground, Mia's anger did not seem to dissipate, and Zack did not care. They both sat in utter silence, not speaking a word to each other or us. They did not seem to be mad at one another, but Mia seemed mad at the fight, while Zack was very exhausted. Alex did not speak a word as he was visibly uncomfortable with Mia's bitterness, vexation, and hostility.

"Do you still have any potions left?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"We used them all," Mia replied.

"I have one. Do you want one?" I asked.

"No," She replied suddenly.

I began to wonder whether her anger is truly justified, as it could either be that the fight was very difficult or that her demonic self makes her angrier than usual. It could be believed that the latter case could be true due to her going insane the last time. However, if it weren't for the fire dragon, Alex and I would have probably been fighting the living tree and not sitting down with our friends. Either way, I feel regretful to have sent her through the moon door.

"I-I'm sorry I've sent you to through the moon door, you guys," I spoke. "I should have taken on the harder challenge."

"Maybe it would have been different if you went with me through the door, Justin!" Mia exclaimed.

"Is my company really that bad?!" Zack asked.

"You were the one who we used all our share of potions on, okay?"

"What? Are you saying that I'm weak?!" Zack asked, jumping into conclusions.

"No, you guys!" I tried to speak, but they continued arguing.

"Maybe you should have taken Alex with you instead!" Zack exclaimed.

"Alex would have struggled even more with the owl!" Mia replied.

"What?! What do you mean, Mia?!" Alex asked, getting angered by what his friend assumed.

"Guys, calm down, alright?" I said, my voice falling on deaf ears.

"I'm not saying that!" Mia replied.

"Then what are you saying, huh?!" Zack asked.

"All I'm saying is that I wanted Justin to be with me in that split," Mia stated.

"Maybe you should have fought against the tree, Mia!" Alex exclaimed.

"Oh? And why's that exactly?!" She asked, yelling.

"What about you? Did you fancy an owl fight?" Zack asked Alex.

"I'm pretty sure I would have done better than you!" Alex replied.

"If Justin and I fought against that cursed tree of yours, maybe he wouldn't have had to summon a dragon to fight it off!" Zack stated.

"Or maybe if you were strong enough, we might have even beaten that tree without spending our potions!" Mia replied.

"I'm pretty sure if you knew not to get in the way all the time, Zack could not have needed to use that many potions all at once. The same might have happened to me if I was under your companionship!" Alex exclaimed.

"Excuse me?!" Mia yelled.

"Guys! Stop this!" I said, getting ignored once again.

"Don't yell at me!" Alex replied to her.

"You lower your voice as well!" Zack shouted.

"And who gave you the right to raise yours?!" Mia asked.

"WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY?!" I yelled at the three of them, startling them, and finally getting them to shut up. "What is all of this? Why are you arguing with each other? What does it matter if who went with who, the thing is done! Look at you three! All worked up over some stupid nonsense. I don't give a damn if you were tired, or you used too many potions, or you were slightly incompetent! If I knew this would have happened, then I would have gone through the doors myself and saved you three entitled goons the trouble!" I said the last phrase to Mia, Zack, and Alex, respectively.

"This is no excuse for yelling at each other or fighting! We're on this journey together, remember?! You're supposed to be friends and support one another, not fight over this silly balderdash! If you're gonna keep fighting each other all the time like this, then I'm afraid none of you are ready to continue this trek, and I suggest you return to the city or go on your separate ways!" I made my way to the star door and watched as it opened. The three tried to follow me, but I turned around and stopped them.

"I'm gonna go through this door alone. If anyone of you decides to follow me, I will be really mad."

After the door closed behind me, I proceeded through the corridors. I finally arrived in a giant room where a big golden lion was waiting for me. It had armor around its claws, head, body, and even its tail. It roared at me, announcing itself as a hostile.

"I am not in the mood to fight a lion, so save me the trouble and let me finish you quickly," I stated before conjuring the sword.

The lion rushed at me with incredible speed. He jumped at me, immobilizing me before attempting to attack me with its claws, only for me to shield myself with my sword. It tried to bite me, only for me to kick it off of me and strike it on its right side, damaging the armor. It roared at me with a deafening sound, forcing me to cover my ears before it jumped on me. Luckily, I dodged at the perfect time and managed to land a good counter-attack, striking it in the head. After that, I used my daggers to dash around the room and try to catch it off guard. It surprised me with its speed as it managed to evade most of my attacks, only getting hit by four of them.

"You're quite the tough one, aren't ya?" I asked the lion who roared at me once again and decided to rush at me with its claws, I quickly used my daggers to move out of its way and struck its tail with them repeatedly, breaking off its tail armor. The lion turned around and tried to bite me, but I jumped out of the way and hit it in the mouth, damaging the helmet. The lion got increasingly more ferocious and vicious as it got angrier. Its attacks became faster and stronger while its roar grew louder and more painful to listen to. It managed to knock my sword right out of my hand with one sweep of its claw, rendering me unarmed. When it tried to attack me again, I dashed to my sword without conjuring the daggers and grabbed my weapon off the ground before attempting to strike it again. However, it bit my sword and started pulling on it. I conjured one dagger and used it to repeatedly stab the helmet until I managed to pierce through it, stabbing the lion in the head, as the pain ensued, it began roaring and jumping around, hitting me in the face and chest with one of its claws. I fell on the ground and watched as the blood started gushing in from its wound. I noticed that my body was injured as well and bleeding. As I waited for it to strike again, I began throwing the daggers and conjuring them back to attack it from a distance. As soon as the lion approached me, I healed enough to be able to dodge its attack, rolling out of its way at the last second. I got back to my feet and rushed at the lion, striking its left side and injuring it once again. Then I got on top of it and began repeatedly stabbing it with the daggers while holding on to dear life. When I managed to get it sprinting, I held on to the horns of its helmet and made it charge headfirst into the wall. I jumped off of the lion and waited for it to get back into the fight to hit it with the finishing blow. Rinse and repeat the entire method of dodging and striking at the most opportune moments for nearly ten minutes. I got the lion weakened enough for me to put it out of its misery.

Being weakened by the fight, the lion leaped towards me but did not manage to hit me in time as I slid under it and broke the armor straps on its belly, making the body armor useless as it fell off the lion. Then I used the sword to stab it in its side and watched as the lion fell on the ground roaring in pain and watching as I finished it off, I pulled my sword to the left side and made a massive hole in its belly before stabbing it in the head, killing it.

The star icon on the ceiling lit up, showing me that I have finally finished this trial, and I am free to return back to my group of bickering friends. As I walked out of the room, I looked back at the lion's carcass and felt pity for it. I watched as it began to slowly disintegrate into light particles and vanish into thin air. "A formidable foe," I said to myself before attempting to leave the room, finding myself unable to manage standing straight. I plodded about as I exited the room. Walking in the corridor, I began to smell the stench of my blood-soaked clothes and gagged in my mouth. My clothes definitely needed a wash, and I needed a bath as soon as possible. As the star door opened for me, I heard Mia gasp as she saw the blood on my body and how I barely managed to walk.

The group ran towards me, and she wrapped her arms around my shoulders to help me stand better on my own two feet. Alex began pulling out a potion from his pouch, but I stopped him when I grabbed his hand and shook my head. Without saying a word, I let go of Mia's grasp and plodded towards the center of the room, which now had a pillar with a dragon symbol on the top.

"What happened, Justin?" Mia asked.

"A lion. It nearly ripped my lungs out of my chest," I explained monotonously, reminding her of the way she spoke to the rest of us. "And before you say it, I don't want to take a break. If you want one, then you're welcome to stay right where you are."

She wrapped her arms around me and placed her head on my left shoulder, not saying a word. The other two accompanied her and stood beside me as I pressed on the pillar top. The ground began shaking underneath our feet, and then it started to descend. I watched in utmost shock as a giant light blueish dragon stood in the extraordinarily large room that the elevator descended to. When the elevator stopped, we found ourselves standing on a circular platform that was suspended in the middle of the room, where the dragon looked down on us. One suit of armor was the other thing that was with us inside the room. This one was quite different, however. It was slightly larger with a cape and a much bigger sword in one hand and a hammer in the other. When I realized the last striking detail about the armor, I was bewildered beyond belief. The armor was fashioned in the style of the kings, donning symbols of the kingdom and sporting the look of a bear.

"King Athelardus, the Bear. I'm sure you realized it by now, Justin. This armor belonged to him," Zack informed.

"The late king summoned his armor to challenge you, o chosen one.," The dragon spoke, making my spine freeze. "If you desire my power, then face this final challenge!"

The suit of armor came to life and began attacking us. When it moved to strike me, Zack stood in its way and parried the attack before saying: "You're right, Justin. We should not fight each other, we should fight with one another."

Alex conjured his assault rifle and fired at the armor. Then he summoned a grenade and threw it at Athelardus' armor. "We might be weak individually, but we're strong together! I hope that we grow stronger with one another and fight as one!"

Mia used her polearm to pierce through the armor and sliced it with its claw. "If I can't rely on all my comrades, then I'm the one who is at fault. My comrades complete me, and I fight for them!"

I chuckled to myself as they appeared to have learned their lesson. I walked in front of Zack and conjured my sword. "This is my fight. From now on, I'll give the orders, and you attack when prompted. With teamwork, we'll be able to fight anything!" I charged at the armor and hit it with my sword. Then I watched as it tried to attack me with its hammer. I grabbed its weapon and began to push it away. The armor itself was tremendously strong and could easily outmatch anyone else, but we were not planning on being defeated.

"Now, Alex!" I shouted. Alex fired his charged gun at the head of the armor, allowing me to push the hammer away freely and start slicing at it with my daggers. When it tried striking me with its swords, I parried its attack and jumped out of its way.

"Zack!" I shouted. He threw his polearm at his ancestor's armor, piercing it from the right. As the armor removed Zack's weapon, I charged at it and struck its head with my sword. As the armor and I began to exchange blows, I waited for the opportune moment to call on my third team attack. The armor tried to strike me with its sword, only for me to absorb the impact power with my magic and punch the sword, breaking it with its own force. With the opportunity presenting itself, I called on my last attack.

"Mia, your turn!" Mia dropped from the sky at the armor with an exploding impact. With the armor finally being on its last legs, I gathered all my reserved magic and fired it in a beam of energy at Athelardus' armor. With a crack forming in the center, I used the daggers to charge my sword with lightning and then impaled the armor with it. The armor fell on the ground and began to disintegrate into light particles before disappearing.

"You have done well, o chosen one. The light has chosen wisely such a warrior that cares for his allies and fights by them as one," The dragon spoke without moving its lips as if sending the words to our heads. "I give my soul to you, o god of dragons. May it serve you well."

The dragon began glowing in bright light with its silhouette becoming the last thing that was discernable of it. Then, that dragon silhouette morphed into a shape that I did not recognize. When it floated towards my hand and when I grabbed it, the light disintegrated and in my hand, was now a crossbow with dragon insignia all over it.

"Whoa..." Alex muttered as we basked at the power of the dragons within my hands. I began to feel even more powerful inside of me as well, as the dragon added its strength into my own. Mia had already captured photos of all her fights today, including one of the big owl, Athelardus, and now she took a picture of the weapon in my hand. Using my willpower, I conjured an arrow onto the crossbow and fired it into the distance and watched as it made a blast on impact.

"Whoahoa!" Zack exclaimed.

"So, this is what I'm after..." I said to myself.

"Justin, I want to apologize for being rude and hostile a while ago. It was not my intention to piss you off," Mia said while she held her hands in a shy position and barely managed to stare me in the eye.

"And I as well," Zack said. "I did not want to start a fight. I'm sorry, Justin."

"A-And me, too! I'm sorry for making it out like they were incompetent, Justin. We're nothing without each other."

"I vouch for Justin to be our official leader!" Zack said as he raised his hand.

Perplexed, I asked: "What? What do you mean?"

"I do, too!" Mia said, raising her hand.

"And me! Justin is the team leader! You will give us orders, and we will follow your leadership, okay?" Said Alex, who raised his hands as well.

Leaving me with no other choice, I sighed and agreed with the rest of the group.

"You are the highest when it comes to hierarchy!" Mia stated.

"What hierarchy?!"

"I'm a demon, Alex is a warrior, Zack is a king, and you're a literal god!" She replied.

"Good grief..."

We exited the dungeon and basked in the grace of the sunlight when it touched our skin. We breathed the fresh air of nature and smiled, knowing that this dungeon is complete. I gazed at the clear blue sky, and birds freely flew by. Mia hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. I noticed that her fangs have retracted back to her mouth, letting her true beauty shine through to the world, and I watched as her loving and caring nature returned to her. She then went to hug the other two guys from behind and walk with them back to the car. However, that feeling of happiness was stopped when a hooded man approached us.

When he got closer, a sense of familiarity overwhelmed me, as I felt a weird feeling that I knew the person and that he knows me as well, even more bizarre, the feeling told me that we were extremely close. That's when I realized that I felt the exact same feeling around the Astralis family, strangely enough. But with this man, the feeling was even stronger.

"Oh, look! Another mysterious man!" Zack said.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"No," He replied.

"Who are you?" Zack asked in a serious and slightly threatening voice.

"You do not need to worry about me. I am here to study the temple. There is much to be found here," He replied.

"Whatever's been found has been found, sir!" Alex affirmed.

"And I have a feeling that you already know that," Zack added.

"I am no threat to you, kids," He claimed. "But it's true. I know you entered this temple and came out with more than what you came in. I am here to warn you. The darkness is waiting for you to ascend so that it can fight you when you are at your fullest potential, so don't keep him waiting, or people will needlessly die."

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"Indeed."

"Then, at least you should tell us who you are! We deserve that, at least!" Zack exclaimed. "How can we know that you are not him or one of his followers?"

"There is no need for you to worry. I am not affiliated with that person. Isn't that right, Justin?" When he said that, the group turned around to look at me. I was speechless, standing idly, and unable to respond.

"Justin?" Mia called. "Do you know this man?"

"He doesn't, young lady, but he can feel it."

"What do you mean?" Zack asked the man.

"I... I feel like I should know him, but I don't!" I stated.

"That's natural," The man claimed. "However, I cannot feel the same feeling towards you, even though I should. I will be on my way, Justin. Watch your back."

The man then walked behind a wall. Zack ran after him but was petrified when he realized that the man completely disappeared, leaving no trace behind him. When Zack returned, all he could ask was: "Who is that man?"

"I've never talked about this to anyone because it felt weird and awkward, but I've always felt something towards the Astralis sisters," I stated.

"Huh... If you told me this before, I would have thought that you were having that kind of feeling," Alex stated. "But now, seeing this?"

"See? This is why I did not tell anyone," I replied.

"It's easy to mistake this weird feeling of yours to a crush. The Astralis sisters are remarkably pretty," Zack said.

"Then, I felt the same feeling towards the men of the family. Benjamin and Jason."

"That's weird," Zack stated. "If that man said that he doesn't feel the same feeling you feel towards the Astralis family, that means it's safe to say that none of them feel it towards you, but they should."

"I agree. They never mentioned it to me at all. But the weirdest thing is that the strongest of this weird feeling of connection is with this man," I stated.

"Does this mean he's an Astralis?" Mia asked.

"I'd say he is. Just who is he, though?"