Chapter 22: Zone of Trials

By the time we reached the town of Zora, it was nighttime. We asked Zora for his Gem, which he gave us, and then we turned in for the night. We awoke early the next day to head out to Kora. Before using the Sora Gem to warp closer, we noticed something was off.

"Did you notice that the innkeeper wasn't at her desk this morning?" Marina asked.

"Or that there weren't any other people staying in the Inn?" Matt added. Looking around, we noticed the entire town was quiet. We knocked on Zora's door hoping for an answer, but all we got was silence.

"Andrew, look over there," Kyra said pointing east. We looked and saw a lone door standing in the middle of the field. We walked over to it and observed it.

"Strange," Andrew said. "This wasn't here last night." Stan decided to open it.

"Hey, everyone! Look at this!" I looked through and saw what looked like an entirely other dimension. The other side of the door, however, didn't open with the front. One at a time, we stepped inside and saw everything looked like it was defying gravity. Platforms were on the wall, ceiling, or were just floating there and villagers were walking upside-down and on the sides. We called to them, but they didn't acknowledge us.

"Come on, let's go see what's happening," Andrew said jumping down. As he did, he landed on an invisible platform next to the one we were already on. "Well, that hurt a bit. Come on." Andrew gestured us for us to walk on. However, when we tried to step on, we all fell! Andrew stayed on the platform and watched us fall. We all moved towards other sections of the dimension. We all landed with loud thuds. I sat up and looked for the others; they were all on platforms of their own. We all looked around for a way to get back to each other, but the place was so jumbled we did know where to start. "This place messes with our minds!" Andrew yelled down. "Look for a way back up!" I looked around several times, but all I saw was the platform I was on and where my friends were.

Then everything went dark. I could no longer see my hand. Then everything turned white and I was instantly blinded. Once my eyes adjusted, I instantly knew where I was: the tall, white building from my first vision. Except I could feel that this was real! Hoping for the best, I ran to the elevator. I opened it, but instead of seeing my father, I saw three children: one boy, one girl, and another boy. The oldest boy was younger than me, he looked about twelve. Then I felt a punch to my face and it knocked me back. Regaining my footing, I looked at my attacker and saw a boy my age with black hair and brown eyes wearing black and yellow armor with a white shirt and yellow headband. He must've been this group's brother. He drew his sword and I did the same. I didn't want to fight him, but he obviously had a different intention. He rushed at me, repeatedly slashing, and I kept dodging. I felt like I had a bit of a role-reversal with Andrew. The guy I was fighting was me and I was Andrew. This boy just slashed wildly with little training hoping to get a good hit in. I also felt some sort of familiarity with this boy, something close to... family. Letting out a kick, I knocked the sword out of his hand and pointed mine at him.

"Go ahead, kill me," he taunted. Not wanting to, I put my sword away. He looked somewhat confused as the surrounding vanished in a haze of smoke. A door appeared in the darkness and I walked through.

Next I found myself on top of a high place. Walking out of the door, I nearly fell from the top! Then I realized where I was: the top of Bora Building. I felt an arrow fly through my hair and I turned. There, at the other end of the building, stood Jennifer and Andrew.

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" I said walking up to them. Jennifer drew her bow back and Andrew pulled out his sword and axe. "What's wrong, guys?" Andrew ran up to me and slashed with his axe. "I don't wanna fight you guys!" I yelled about to draw my sword. An arrow flew through my hand as it was on the hilt of the sword. I screamed in pain and watched as burn marks appeared on my hand. Jennifer's arrows had her Fire properties on them! "Okay, so, you're not the real ones," I figured out. Drawing my sword and shield, I blocked and attacked my fake teammates. I decided to head for Jennifer first as she was easier for me to defeat. Andrew tried to protect her, though, so I had to fight them both regardless. When Jennifer fired an arrow and was readying a new one, that was the time to strike! I dashed at her after she had fired and swung at her. Jennifer disappeared in a cloud of smoke. All that was left was me and Andrew. Andrew had two weapons; when he swings one for me to block, he'll swing the other behind my shield. However, he himself lacks a shield. Using my sword's lightning powers, I tried to attack from long-range, but Andrew was quick and hitting him was difficult. We each exchanged a number of blows and the battle lasted for what seemed like an eternity. By the end of the battle, we were both sweating. Andrew rushed at me hoping to end the match. I pointed my sword at him and dashed as well. He knocked my sword away and I swung back with my shield. As he was recovering, I struck him! Andrew smiled and disappeared as well as the surroundings. Once again, a door appeared and I entered it wondering what my next challenge would be.

My next challenge's location was something that looked like a battle court surrounded by trees. In front of me, on the opposite side of the court, a figure materialized out of smoke. He wore red armor with a blue vest and pants and wielded two swords. This man was older than me by about five years. I heard an invisible bell ring and the man charged at me. Quickly taking out my shield, I blocked his attack and drew my sword to block his other sword. I swung my sword at him, but he blocked it while swinging his other one, which I blocked with my shield. The same pattern went on for a while. I ran back and shot out a lightning bolt that the man spun around to avoid. I shot several more, but he constantly dodged all of them! This man was quick and talented. He was probably more talented than Andrew. But I could feel something about him: he was holding back. I could tell this guy had a lot of talent, but he was hardly using any of it. I used a mixture of lightning and direct attacks to try and get an edge on him. After taking a few hits, he changed his tactic. He jumped back and threw one of his swords! I was caught off guard and it nailed me right in the head. Regaining my balance, I saw that the sword had returned to his hand and he used a jump attack with both of them. He was testing me at first, but now he's using everything he can to win! His attack pushed me back and my foot hit the edge of the court. A large shock ran through my body and I yelled at the immense pain it gave me. The man took this chance to knock me out of the court boundaries and an even bigger shock went through me, knocking me unconscious.

I woke up standing at the edge of the court where I first started and saw the man materialize again at the other end. I think I may have lost the first battle, but I will not lose this one! The invisible bell rang again, but this time, I charged first. The man blocked the attack with his swords and threw me backwards over him, making me land outside the court again. Once I woke up the second time and saw the man reappear again, I realized what I had to do to win. I waited for the bell to ring and for him to charge. I waited for him to come as close as he could then I moved out of the way and kicked him out of the court! But the man got back up. He turned to me and said,

"Good fight. I hope you put that to good use in the future," and disappeared in smoke. The court disappeared as well and I was left in complete darkness waiting for the door to appear. Instead, a figure emerged, glowing with what looked like steam coming from it. When it fully appeared, I saw that it looked like me! The only difference was its inverted color scheme and that it holds it weapons in the other hands. This must be the final test: fight myself! I charged at my doppelganger and he did the same. We both swung our swords and they collided, causing sparks. I shot out a lightning bolt, but the other me did the same and they struck in midair. This isn't just another me; this was a copy that did everything I did exactly the same way. To make sure of this, I waved my sword above my head and the copy did the same. I made us both put our weapons away and I walked toward me. I shook his hand and he shook mine.

"A true hero knows when to not fight," I said and the being said the same thing. I laughed and he laughed with me as he disappeared. A bit of a cliché fight, but I won nonetheless. Walking through the door that had appeared, I found myself back at the entrance of the dimension and I felt arms come around my neck.

"You're okay!" yelled Helen. "I really want to get out of here."

"What happened to you all?" I asked.

"I had to fight Bill," Stan said. "Then I had to fight myself."

"Yeah, I had to fight myself, too," Madi said.

"Same here," everyone else said.

"Stephan, do you know where Andrew is?" Kyra asked. "He hasn't come back yet." I looked around, but Andrew was nowhere in sight. Then a door appeared. I opened it and saw the town of Zora! But then another door appeared behind us. It opened on its own, but nothing came out other than a voice yelling

"Run! Go!" I stared at the door and saw Andrew fighting back a large monstrous demon! We readied our weapons and tried to enter, but the door was blocked. "Get out of here!" Andrew yelled again. We followed his order and left the dimension but kept the door open. We all yelled for Andrew to run to the door. Andrew shot back the monster and ran for the door. But the monster got up and grabbed Andrew by the leg! Andrew had grabbed a hold of the bottom of the door, but was being forcefully pulled back. "Stephan!" he yelled. I tried to walk back in, but the door wouldn't let me! I could get back in! I repeatedly banged on the door and slashed at it, but it wouldn't let me through! "Stephan?" Andrew asked me. I stopped and Andrew threw something at me: the Zora Gem! "Take care of everyone, alright?"

"No, hold on, Andrew!" I yelled as we all tried to break the door's barrier. We all watched as we saw Andrew lose his grip and was dragged back into his darkness. Both of the doors closed with Andrew's closing first. "Andrew!" I yelled opening the door, but the door let straight through. The portal was gone. "ANDREW!" I yelled again with tears in my eyes. He was gone. Andrew was gone and there was no way for us to get him back. I stood there for a minute before dropping to the ground, crying. Everyone else tried not to, but ended up crying anyway, most of all Kyra.

"This can't be!" Stan yelled repeatedly opening and closing the door hoping for a different result. Matt and Hamilton tried to keep Stan from breaking the door, only to find that the door was shrinking!

"No!" Kyra yelled as she ran to the door. She held on to it until it became too small to hold. She picked it up and watched it disappear... forever. We all stood there in both shock and horror, each of us with tears in our eyes. Jennifer slowly walked up to me and sat in front of me, her eyes meeting mine.

"Stephan," she said calmly. "We have to keep going. We still have a world to save."

"I'm not gonna go home until this is fixed," Stan said. "And neither will Andrew."

"Maybe when we save it, Stephan," Helen said. "We can find a way to bring him back."

"These old bones are yours to command, Stephan," Chris said.

"Andrew will come back, I know it," Sobie said. "But first he needs a world to come back to."

"I really thought he'd live to see the end of this," Kyra cried. "I... loved him..."

"He helped bring my family together," Lacey said. "Now it's our turn to bring him back to his."

"He was a good man," Matt said. "We could've done a lot together."

"I know what it's like to lose someone you knew your entire life," Octavis said. "We'll get him back."

"He helped me and a lot of others," Marina said. "Let's help him by saving this world."

"I would've shot that monster right in the head if I could," Daniel said. "If only the door let us through."

"I'm here to search for my brothers," Madi said. "But now I'll search for Andrew, too."

"He was a good leader," Alice said.

"And an even better friend," said Hamilton. "Let's keep this world save. For him."

"I've had enough people die on me already," Erica said. "I won't let more die." I stood up and looked at everyone. Though they were sad, they were all ready to fight for the world.

"Thank you, everyone," I said. "We will defeat Exitilus and bring Andrew back! Okay?"

"Okay!" everyone cheered.

"Now, let's go to Kora and learn more about Exitilus so we can do just that!" Pulling out the Sora Gem, I warped us as close to Kora as I could. Hang on, Andrew. I thought. We'll get you back home.

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