Unwanted Advances

Welp…

That was about all I could think, as Guam swung his battleaxe straight at my face. I just barely managed to dodge it. “What the hell are you doing?” I shouted, more angry than anything. I could see the others fighting in my peripheral vision.

“This is war!” Guam cried, before launching a flurry of attacks.

That familiar burst of strength overcame me. I didn’t even bother using my sword. I charged Guam and pummelled him senseless with my fists and feet. Then, I moved straight to Kelani, who had instigated a fight between Taul and Kiru. I slapped her so hard in the face, I sent her crashing into a wall.

Taul spotted Guam lying on the floor. “I knew you’d be the biggest problem,” he snarled. “You’re probably the traitor.” He leapt back from Kiru and attacked me. I disarmed him with a precise kick to the wrist, which I followed up with a critical whipping knee to the chest. Taul immediately collapsed. In that moment, I didn’t even feel concerned about whether I’d just killed him or not.

Kiru turned to me. “I was only fending him off,” he said, with his hands raised.

“Give me your sword,” I demanded.

“I think you’ll understand why I’m not going to do that-”

I leapt forward and roundhouse kicked him in the temple. “There we go,” I said, admiring my handiwork. “Now, I can think.”

***

It was nighttime. Erin sat in her chair and stared at the door, waiting. She was out of her majestic ball gown and instead wore a simple, yet chic, light green sundress.

*Knock, knock, knock!*

"It's unlocked," Erin called out.

Vivian poked her head in. "Lady Erin, the prince requests you in his chambers."

"Understood," Erin said, gracefully rising from her seat.

Vivian opened the door to the prince’s chambers. Erin walked in. The prince quickly shut his book and stood up. “Thank you, Vivian. You’re dismissed,” he said with a smile.

Vivian shrugged her eyebrows and pursed her lips, as she closed the door.

“You came,” Prince Link said, trying to sound seductive.

“Did I have a choice?” Erin asked, half-jokingly.

“Of course you did,” the prince replied, shocked.

“Then, I made my choice,” Alice replied.

The prince walked up to her and cupped her face with his hands. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. Erin caressed his throat with her fingertips. He closed his eyes and leaned in for a kiss.

***

Everyone was beginning to wake up from the blows I’d dealt them. I had stacked their weapons into a single treasure chest, which I was sitting on.

Taul sat up with a groan. He looked at me. “Why didn’t you kill us?” he asked.

“Because I understand everything, now,” I replied.

“You’re the most powerful opponent I’ve ever faced,” Guam groggily congratulated me.

“How long have I been out?” Kiru asked.

“About three minutes,” I informed him.

“I was just playing dead this whole time,” Kelani admitted, now lying on her back, with her hands behind her head. “You’re incredibly strong and smart. We would make formidable offspring,” she mused.

“Forget that. I’ve solved this puzzle,” I said. Despite none of them making eye contact with me, I could tell I had their attentions. “The same way the first room wanted us to think it was empty, this room wants us to fight. However, if you noticed the clocktowers clock, you’ll see that it’s ticking in reverse, just like the others. It’s not a real clock; it’s also a timer.”

The others were too out of it to respond, so I continued.

“I’ll get straight to the point. As soon as the doors to the first room closed behind us, we were transported to a simulated reality. None of this is real.”

“I’ve never heard of that level of magic,” Kiru said.

“It’s the king. He likely has access to powerful mages,” I replied.

“Okay, so we’re in a fictional reality. What now?” Guam asked.

“There are supposed to be sixteen doors in room four. Yet, we only see one, and it’s the one we came through. However…” I paused dramatically. “Throughout this entire trial, we have encountered sixteen doors in total, if you consider entryways. Three in room one and four in room two. When we exited room two, we went upstairs, thus having to enter room three through a whole new door. Eight in room three. For this room, we climbed up a ladder and entered through that trapdoor, which doesn’t count. That’s sixteen doors in total,” I recounted. “We need to pick which of those sixteen gets us back to the real world.”

The others blinked.

“And how do we do that?” Taul asked.

“Give me your ideas,” I encouraged.

I saw the gears in their heads start spinning.

“Since this is a simulation, maybe we need to use information or an item obtained outside of the simulation to win?” Kiru said.

“Paradoxes are reality breaking by nature. Maybe one of the two doors in room one is the answer?” Guam reasoned.

“We could just use magic,” Taul shrugged.

“You’re all wrong,” I said. The others stirred in surprise. “The answer is unbelievably simple.” I raised my sword, much to my teammates’ unease. “On the bottom of every weapons hilt is a symbol. The engraving on the wall: Get rid of the impostor to finish the second trial, is written to mislead us, as with everything else in this trial. However, what it really means, is that one of the symbols on these weapons doesn’t fit in with the others.” I hopped off the treasure chest and opened it. I took out all of the weapons and distributed them.

“Woah! What if that guy goes crazy again?” Taul asked, pointing to Guam.

“Then I’ll kill you all, next time,” I threatened with a smile. That shut them up. I watched them inspect the weapons.

The dagger had a triangle.

The cutlass had a compass, with the S for south neatly engraved into it.

The short sword had a lion.

The other short sword had a clock.

However, much to the others’ confusion, the katana had nothing at the bottom.

“Is it this one?” Guam asked, holding up the katana. “It has nothing engraved into it and it is a strange sword. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Isn’t it the clock? We’d think it fits, since we can see a giant one right there, but that’s not a door,” Taul reasoned.

“You guys are idiots,” Kelani jeered. “If the odd one out is the symbol to the door we’re supposed to go through, then it has to be one that makes sense with what we’ve seen until now,” she explained. “Therefore, it’s the cutlass’ symbol.”

I grinned. “Our children sure would be something,” I joked.

Kelani blushed profusely. “Regrettably, I must feed you to my dogs for having raised your hand against me.” She didn’t sound like she was joking.

“Kelani’s right,” I announced, unbothered by the threat. “The compass makes an obvious reference to room two, which had the North, East, South and West doors. Since the S for south is the only one engraved into the compass, one must conclude that the right door is the South door from room two,” I reasoned.

The others murmured in agreement.

“But how do we activate it? Do we have to go all the way back to room two?” Taul asked.

I shrugged. “They did say we could call out to pick a door, so…” I inhaled. “South door, Room two!”

A wooden door slowly materialised in centre of the room. I was beyond ready to end this trial, so I strode up to it and flung it open. It glowed white. Despite not being able to see the other side, I marched right through.

***

Erin drove her knife right into his jugular. Prince Link’s eyes shot open. He couldn’t make any sound other than an involuntary gurgle. Erin stared into his eyes, as she helped him down to the floor.

She took her dress off and stood naked in the room. He face began to morph. Her long, blonde hair shortened and darkened. She grew taller. Her shoulders broadened, her hips narrowed, and her breasts shrunk. Eventually, she had fully taken on the form of the prince. The real prince’s eyes were now glazed over. Erin undressed him and put on his clothes. She was now indistinguishable from the true prince.

“I hope I didn’t make too much noise. I’m sure the maids are listening,” the prince thought in Allister’s voice.