Chapter Fourteen

 

Chapter Fourteen

It was a while before Hanna finally made her way out of the maze. The maze ended in another large set of double doors. Similar to the entrance, they were wide open. As soon as Hanna stepped inside, the doors shut behind her. The new room she found herself in was circular, with lights all around the perimeter and one large light hanging from the vaulted ceiling. Hanna could barely make out another set of open double doors on the other side of the room. Hanna walked forward, but stopped at the ledge where the ground dropped into a massive pit. There was scaffolding along the sides and machinery. A mine? Hanna asked herself. She frowned, glancing from the hole to the doors and back. Hanna leaned over and stared down into the never ending abyss. The light from the room did not reach very far and Hanna doubted her little flashlight would do much better. If she had to venture into the mine, it could at least wait until the rest of the castle rooms were cleared. The fastest way would be to fly across the room directly over the bottomless pit, but she didn’t feel like doing that. Hanna enjoyed the dark, usually. The dark was quiet and peaceful. She could exist in the dark without being bothered. But looking down into this darkness made even her uncomfortable. She swallowed the fear creeping in and flew around the hole, following the lights on the wall until she reached the next set of doors. 

The castle seemed to modernize the further she went in, the rooms started to appear livable and possibly inhabited, but she still didn’t see anyone. Something felt off. Everything felt off. Nothing was guarded. Everything was creepy. She wasn’t sure what was going on, she only knew she had to keep moving forward. As expected, as soon as Hanna entered the next room, the doors closed behind her. This new room was bright. The walls were white and plain. “Oh, you found the training room,” EDJ’s voice said. He flipped a switch on the control panel and pulled a lever. “Quick, use the surge of fear and adrenaline to sharpen your decision making.” Before Hanna could react, panels in the ceiling dropped down while panels in the floor and walls popped out. Turrets in the panels locked on to her with red lasers. 

Uh oh. Instinctively, Hanna created a wall of ice between her and the turrets as she dropped to the floor. The turrets fired at her as she cowered behind the ice. Wave after wave, Hanna continually had to reinforce the ice while curled into a ball. The machine guns fired without end. How many bullets do those things have?! Hanna thought. She peeked between her arms to see another panel with a turret pop up in front of her. The nozzle of this turret looked different from the machine gun ones. Hanna’s eyes widened. Click. click. Hanna dove out of the way just as a stream of flame shot out from the turret. Hanna chucked icicles out at the turrets as she flew. Some of the icicles broke through the turrets, disabling them. Some of the turrets Hanna froze as she flew past, causing them to jam. She saw more of the flamethrower turrets and attempted to take them out with more icicles. Hanna flew, swerving and dodging, trying to avoid the turrets. She continually tried to keep a wall of ice between her and the danger. She barely made it to the other side of the room in one piece. As soon as she flew through the doorway the doors slid shut behind her. Hanna collapsed and leaned her back against the closed doors, trying to catch her breath. She was trying to mentally prepare for whatever new terror EDJ was planning to throw at her.

“Getting tired, dear?” EDJ’s voice echoed. 

“Hah!” Hanna laughed with a huff and a determined grin. “You wish.” She stood up and looked around. This room was similar to the last one, however there were two sets of doors, one to the right and one to the left. Both sets were closed. The ceiling was very high, compared to the last room. Black patches lined the walls, but Hanna ignored them. “I might be slowing down, but I will not let you escape,” Hanna said as she walked up to the doors on the right. 

“Bwahahahaha,” EDJ’s voice laughed. “This is starting to get good! I’m not going anywhere.” 

Hanna pushed and pulled the large ring on the doors, but the doors did not move. She narrowed her eyes and turned. “You’ve threatened the world once already,” Hanna said. “You’ve threatened my friends and you’ve threatened me. What else are you planning?!” A low rumble from the other side of the room caught Hanna’s attention. The ground rumbled again. And again. Footsteps? 

“Your death,” EDJ answered lightly. “You came to my home to pick a fight. I will give you war.” 

Hanna suddenly noticed the white bones on the floor swept to the corner of the walls. The black patches on the walls were scorch marks and burn shadows. It was then Hanna realized the room she was in was not another training room as before. No. This was an arena. That thought alone filled her with dread. The doors burst open as a large creature smashed through them. Black smoke billowed around the creature’s flaming body. The fiery eyes of its horned head locked on to Hanna before charging. Hanna’s eyes widened and her face paled. She squeaked as she dove out of the way. The creature smashed into the wall and turned to slice through Hanna with a large, flaming claw. Hanna barely dodged the limb as it swung at her. 

“ACK!” Hanna rolled out of the way and jumped into the air. “Where’s the door?! Where’s the door?!” Hanna uttered in sheer panic, flying out of range of the next attack. All the dark smoke from the creature was quickly filling the room. Hanna coughed and her eyes watered. She lowered to the ground. The creature snapped open two large, leathery wings and roared. Hanna crouched and held her hands to her ears, squeezing her eyes shut. As soon as the creature stopped roaring, Hanna opened her eyes and took off, scanning for an exit. There should have been a door where the creature entered, but there was only rubble now. The only doors Hanna could find was the one she came from and the one the creature was standing in front of. Hanna looked up and noticed a small rectangle in the wall near the ceiling. A window! If she could fly up to it, she might escape with her life. 

The giant creature roared again, knocking Hanna to the ground. She sat up wincing. The creature’s large wings flapped and the flames around it grew more intense. Hanna got up and flew around the creature, narrowly missing another claw swipe as the creature snapped its jaws at her head. Hanna flew to a corner of the room and shot upward, straight toward the window. Just as she thought she was going to make it, a fiery tongue wrapped around one of her boots. “What?! NO!” Hanna shrieked as she was instantly yanked back down. The tongue pulled her down with such force that it slammed Hanna into the ground. 

EDJ winced. “Ouch, that didn’t look good.” He watched the screen with pursed lips. Maybe that was a bit much. He didn’t need her dead, after all. His hand hovered over a button on the panel, but he waited when he saw the body on the screen start moving again. 

Coughing and grimacing, Hanna rolled to her side and reached for the hilt of her fallen sword. She picked up the weapon with a shaking hand. Hanna sliced off the tongue that was still wrapped around her boot and she staggered to her feet. She glared at the creature. While common sense would dictate she attempt to fly for the exit again, now that the tongue was severed, she was angry. Hanna huffed and spat blood out to the side. “I hope you’re not attached to your little pet, EDJ,” she said, wiping her mouth. “Cause I’m about to put it down.” 

Hanna’s sword glowed with blue light as she spun it backwards and dashed forward. The creature swung a claw at her. Hanna leapt over the arm and over the creature’s shoulder, slicing as she went. The creature roared, flames now bursting from its neck. With an overconfident grin, Hanna turned at dashed again, this time slicing through the creature’s side. Again, through the leg. Again through the arm. Again, through one of the wings. All the while, the light in Hanna’s sword grew. Once the sword was fully charged, Hanna yelled and ran forward. She shoved her sword through the creature’s chest and an explosion of ice magic went off, quelling all the flames bursting from the creature. The creature dropped to its knees and roared again, body smoldering, but still alive. With a boot planted against the chest, Hanna yanked the sword out of the creature and, with one swift motion, sliced the horned head clean off. She flew back and landed as the body hit the floor. 

Hanna panted with a wide grin, eyes gleaming. She suddenly dropped her sword and fell to her knees, clutching her head in her hands. When the pain subsided, Hanna blinked and looked at her hands. She looked up at the dead creature with wide blue eyes. The doors that were once locked slid open, waiting for her. Hanna took a deep breath, picked up her sword, and stood up. She walked through the doors, continuing her journey through the castle. 

EDJ stared at the screen with critical eyes. He moved to another screen and rewound the footage of the fight. Stop. Fast forward. Stop. EDJ zoomed in on a particular frame of Hanna turned to the camera. “Red eyes?” he whispered, tapping his fingers on the control panel. “Interesting… Very interesting.”