Chapter 13: One Giant Story

The forest we had entered in, was gone...or at least we weren't in any type of forest now. Instead, after having entered the window, we were now in a small room. It reminded me of an office room from back home, white absent of design walls, a small wooden desk and a medium sized dark wood bookshelf. There were a handful of books lined up on the shelf and the desk contained a piece of paper and a pen but other than that...this room was empty. No windows, no door...just walls. 

"Great another nightmare of a place." Mateo went over to the shelf and took a random book. He flipped through the pages and then held out the book towards us. I picked it up and noticed it was empty...no words or images. Just a book with nothing in it. 

"This has to be another test." Alna went over to the shelf too and scoured through some of the other books which also turned out to be empty. I walked over to the desk with the single piece of paper and a pen on it. I picked the pen up and made a small line on the empty page, the black ink marked the corner. 

"Wonder what do we do with this?" I asked the group. They all shrugged. 

Despite our best efforts, we found nothing else in the room. No hidden passage ways or hidden switches. I pressed against the walls thinking maybe one of them would give leading to another room or exit but nothing. Even hitting them or stabbing them did nothing...in fact our weapons didn't leave a singular mark in the walls. They were unbreakable almost like a video game environment. Unsettling to say the least. 

"Are we trapped in here?" Alna said her hand going towards her face in a thinking position. 

"Nah...there has to be a solution. Every one of these stupid tests has proven that." Mateo said as he tried to light the book on fire with a lighter he had summoned. It didn't catch and the book wasn't even singed by the weak fire. 

"He's right...there's a solution here. We can't lose fate just yet." I once more looked at the paper and pen. How it was positioned on the desk as the central focus of the room...it had to be for a reason.

"Try writing there's a door." Mateo laughed but I looked at him.

"Why not?" I took the pen and wrote on the paper. 

"There's a door." 

Suddenly the wall nearest to me had a door.

"That...worked!?" Mateo laughed but when he tried to open the newly formed door, it didn't give. 

"Mizuki, try writing you can open the door." Alna said now leaning over looking at the paper. I followed her order.

"The door can be opened." Mateo now tried to open the door and it worked...however what was beyond the door wasn't another room but...nothingness. Literally an abyss of darkness behind the door. 

"Yeah, I don't think that will be like the window." Mateo summoned a small rock and threw it through the darkness. It went out but we listened to see if it hit anything...it didn't make a single noise. 

"Close the door Mateo...I don't think we want to go through there as is. Pretty sure we'd fall into oblivion forever." Mateo nodded and shut the door. 

"I think we have to write how to get out of here." I stated. 

"Why though? These tests seem so random. Mateo scratched his head but I shook my own.

"No...these tests aren't random...they are testing not our skills or fighting abilities." 

"Then what are they testing for Mizuki?" Alna looked rather perplexed. 

"Think about it. First test, was to see if we were observant. The second test..."

"Was the same right?" Mateo interrupted me. 

"No...it tested our thought process. We would have noticed that light eventually but what mattered was figuring out how to open the window and what to do next." 

"What's this test for then?" I looked at Alna and smiled proud of my own discovery.

"This test is to see if we truly are human I think..." I picked up the pen and wrote two simple sentences hopefully proving my theory. My handwriting has never been the neatest but it was legible and to the point. 

"When we opened the door it would lead us to the owner of the forest. It would also stay open till all three of us went through it." I put the pen down and motioned for Mateo to open the door. 

"I doubt this will work but sure, why not." Mateo once more opened the simple door but this time there was no endless abyss or darkness. We instead saw a very young woman smiling with her arms folded as if impressed. She had long black hair, slightly tanned skin and her outfit was akin to a scholar's outfit. 

"Good job...you must be the heroes I've been waiting for. Took you all long enough." The woman motioned for us to go through the opened path. We all looked at one another and decided to move forward.  Sure enough, the minute Alna, who went through last, stepped through, the door closed and then faded away as if never there. 

"Part of me was thinking I'd never see the heroes it claimed would come but I guess even this old fool can be wrong sometimes." despite looking like a teenager at best, this girl just referred to herself as old...maybe she was trying to act more mature. 

"Short stuff...you aren't old." Mateo went over to the girl and placed his hand on her head. She barely reached up to his stomach and he wasn't that tall to begin with, maybe 170 cm at best.

"Excuse me...I'll have you know that time in this place doesn't work according to how it works outside. My forest slows time down for those within." The girl knocked Mateo's hand away.

"Wait so you're how old then?" Mateo looked at her perplexed. Alna slapped the back of his head, rather aggressively. 

"Rude...never ask a girl her age." Alna said angrily. 

"Jeez...sorry." Mateo just rubbed his head and walked away.

"Now then...before I was so rudely attacked. You must be the heroes it told me about correct?" 

"Yes? My name is Mizuki, his name is Mateo and she is Alna." 

"Pleasure to meet you Mizuki, Alna and Mateo. My name is Thalia." The young girl, who most likely was probably older than all of us combined, bowed. We returned the favor. 

"Thalia...we were told you could make us stronger and awaken our abilities." I prayed Mr. Voice was right and this wasn't for naught. 

"Correct and that is my job. Each of you has latent power within, especially as heroes..."

"These two are heroes...I'm just a guardian in my village." Alna interjected.

"Hmmm even still, you must have some power within. My ability is as literal as it sounds, Awaken. I can control the environment to awaken its hidden abilities but that applies especially to people. That's why I had those tests made. As Mizuki surmised, they were meant to see if you were capable and intelligent. I have never let random people into my domain but equally I don't let them suffer endlessly. I remove them from the forest and then alter their mind to make them think they survived or escaped but it led to nothing but danger." 

"That explains a lot." I stated.

"Yes, and monster obviously can't survive here so I let them come in, confuse them and then release them." Thalia smiled as if proud of herself. 

"So you made this hellish place?" Mateo asked. Thalia leered at him but then looked away.

"Yes, my powers again allow me to Awaken things. I used awakening on this forest and found it had strange powers to begin with. I just shaped them using my own ability and found I could alter specific elements. I can't change the time delay or the odd weather but I could change the means of advancing to this location and what monsters appeared before you." 

"That's incredible..." Alna looked truly amazed and I wouldn't lie if I didn't agree with her. 

"Now then, enough chatting about this forest and my ability. I want to leave this place and see the world again but first I must awaken your powers." 

"How do we go about that?" 

"Hold your hand to my chest..."

"What chest..." Mateo was knocked to the floor by a now very angry Alna. Even if it felt like a cliché anime trope, I was laughing harder than I have since coming to this world. 

"AS I WAS SAYING...hold your hand to my chest so I can sense your ability and then awaken it properly. Mateo...you go last after your stupid comment. Mizuki, if you don't mind." Thalia stood in front of me as if waiting. I looked over at Alna who had a strange expression on her face. 

"Okay...here I go...I guess." I placed my hand on her chest. From this close I could see that despite looking like a teenager, Thalia had an air of maturity. 

"Close your eyes and just listen to the sound of my words..." I followed her commands, I closed my eyes tightly. 

"Good...now this will feel strange but keep your eyes closed even when you feel yourself...rise." 

"Rise?" I repeated.

"Yes...you'll understand soon...now shhh." suddenly Thalia began chanting...her words completely foreign to me. They felt soothing though and then I began to feel myself floating. I wanted to look down but I remembered Thalia said to keep my eyes closed. The feeling did eventually fade away.

"Okay, you can open your eyes." Thalia said, I did as instructed but felt...nothing.

"Did it work?" I asked puzzled. 

"Yes...but your powers are...strange. Unlike the hundreds of other heroes I've met yours isn't explainable."

"Wait!? hundreds of heroes!?" Mateo was shocked too.

"Yes? What you believed you were the first heroes to come here and try to beat Slain? There have been at least 250 heroes who I've awakened that have tried and none have succeeded..." 

"250!?" All three of us said together. That many tried to slay Slain and failed? What chances did we have!? 

"It told you nothing...wow seems like I wasn't the only one forced to wonder if it was telling the truth or not."

"Who is it?"

"Didn't you three meet the weird mist figure?" We then realized she meant Mr. Voice...