The day had worn all of them out, even though the sun had only just risen. After a dreadful night of fending off monsters and getting lost; Ami, Michael, Izzy, Charlotte, Aiden, and Luke finally found the rumoured castle in the sky, a creation of Michael and his friend, Steve. But their adventure couldn't be over yet, as one problem soon surfaced.
"So, where are the beds?" Ami asked, taking a last bite of chicken.
"Uh," Michael started, rubbing his chin. "We might have to find them. See, we thought it would be fun if we had this giant room and those hidden passageways that lead to a living room and bedroom and stuff. The idea of convenience didn't occur to us."
"Well...should we start looking?" Izzy said, her eyes full of excitement.
"Of course. If you guys see anything out of place, tell me and we can investigate, okay?" Michael stood, brushed off his hands, and set to examining the walls for anything suspicious. Izzy, who couldn't contain herself any longer, bounded around the house in great leaps, squealing and investigating everything she could lay her eyes on. Soon everyone was keeping their eyes peeled for a sign of anything mysterious.
"Hey what about over here?" Luke called, near the displays of monster heads and pictures of items. "This vine...it goes straight up, and there's no glass up there. Is that it?" The group centered around Luke, and sure enough, right in between a Zombie head and a Creeper skull, a long vine stretched all the way to the ceiling. Upon looking at the glassy windows above, a segment was missing where the vine had covered an empty spot.
"I think so," Michael grinned. "Let's find out." He took hold of the vines and climbed his way up to where the vines separated the glass, and disappeared into the gap. "Oh ho!" his voice was slightly muffled. "Come on up, you've got a lot to see." Everyone traded glances and followed suit. Ami grabbed hold of the vines last, climbing up and swinging herself into the small gap of vines, surprised to find her feet hitting the wooden floor easily. She stabilized herself, and then looked at the jungle-themed room before her.
It was significantly smaller than the main room, but that didn't mean that it was any less prepossessing than it in any way. Vines dangled from the ceiling, similar to the main room, only this tiny room was composed of seven delicately placed chests. The room was lit by torches and the daylight from outside. A set of doors sat directly to the right, leading somewhere else.
When Ami stepped up to one of the windows, she was able to see the faint outline of a mountain far below them, as well as the azure sky that stretched farther than the eye could see.
"Wow," she said breathlessly. "This is a nice view."
"It's a little blank, if you ask me." Aiden peered out the window. "There's little to nothing to see."
"Sometimes that's what makes it all the more beautiful."
He shrugged, and stepped down. "Whatever." The group continued on through the wooden doors into a small hallway, after breaking the vines that barricaded it, where more glass and a bench was present. Two blue orchids sat in hazel pots around the bench; and as well with all the other rooms, vines dangled down over every wall.
They came to another small set of doors after breaking more vines, and opened them to find a comfortable seating area. The room was filled with wooden benches and chairs, as well as a table that sat in the middle of the room, a blue orchid sitting in a pot atop it. There were paintings in this room, too, one depicting a skull nest to a crimson rose, and there were Jack-o-Lanterns illuminating the space.
"You guys really went all out, didn't ya?" Charlotte blew a low whistle.
"What can I say? It's our magnum opus." He smiled as he looked around the room, as if recalling memories.
"Well, we certainly found this nice spot - but not the beds. I'm not sure if I'm happy, disheartened, or both." Ami laughed, letting her eyes rest on a painting of a tall man.
"Yeah," Michael agreed. "I think the beds and gallery are a bit of a doozy to find."
"Wait," Izzy stopped him. "Gallery?"
"Oh yeah, we have one of those, too."
"Holy crap!" The excitement had suddenly shot back into her, and she was bouncing in place. "Can we go?!"
"What do you think?" Michael smiled, chuckling as she ran out of the room and most likely back into the main room.
However, these last couple rooms managed to evade the group for the longest time, and Michael had no clue where they could be.
"I'm sorry that I can't be of much help. It's been a long time since I've been in here and, well, you forget things." he apologized.
Ami shook her head. "No way, this place is amazing in itself. We'll find them soon, I'm sure." Aiden scoffed in the background. "Well, if you guys are going to keep looking around for that, I'm gonna take a break outside." He crossed his arms and pushed open the door, disappearing out of sight. Ami sighed.
"You know, I'm not a big fan of Aiden and all, and I really don't know why we still keep him here. I mean, the extra manpower is great, but he's just so..." her words trailed off, as she struggled to find the appropriate word.
"Crude?" Charlotte offered. "Vulgar?"
"Something like that. I don't know why he still hasn't opened up at all with us."
"Who knows." Luke flipped his hair. "I still think we should just boot him out."
Ami rested her head on her shoulder. "But we can't. I can't. It urks me to just throw someone out and leave them defenseless."
"I don't see the problem, really." Luke shrugged. "But whatever. I'll go with the majority. If we need the manpower, we need the manpower. Just don't be surprised if he suddenly turns on us."
"What?" Ami turned to face him, a shocked expression on her face. Before anyone could say anything, the door burst open, and Aiden stood in the doorway. He wore an emotion that none of them had seen before - excitement.
"You guys won't believe what I just found." he said, motioning for them to come out.
Michael made eye contact with Ami, and then went out, followed by Charlotte and Izzy, leaving Luke and Ami alone.
"We'll talk about that later." she said, going out the doors, not bothering to look at Luke's response. Aiden had already started going on about something concerning the outside of the house.
"...So then I thought it would be neat to climb the house and see what was on top. And wouldn't you know it - there's a whole bunch of stuff up there! Come on, I'll show you!" He jumped on the vines, zooming up them at an unnatural speed. Interest had sparked them all, and they each climbed up the sturdy vines to the roof of the house.
A small set of stairs led to a flat surface, where a stone tub of sorts could be seen, as well as a bigger building further away. As they got closer, it was easy to see that the stone tub was scattered with vines as well, and had steps leading up to something orange and bubbling.
"Careful!" Michael warned. "That's straight up lava."
"Seriously?" Izzy made an 'ooh' sound, stepping closer and peering into the fiery depths. "Could we roast marshmallows or something?"
"There are no marshmallows here." Michael informed her. A devastated look appeared on her face, as she stared back into the lava with less enthusiasm than before. "Hot tub, maybe?"
"What's this over here?" Charlotte pointed to a trapdoor in the roof surrounded by four torches.
"That," Michael walked over. "is just what we've been looking for." He opened the trapdoor, falling in and shimmying himself down with the help of a vine ladder.
Everyone followed him down, and were greeted by a very welcome sight. Seven beds circled around a central pillar, which was the same pillar that the vine ladder was located.
Each bed had an assortment of flowers sitting beside it, ranging from vibrant tulips to basic azure bluets. The vines had overgrown massively in this small area, almost concealing the beds from visibility. The room itself had a sort of attic feel to it, and was rather cozy for such a petite place.
Directly below the vines that they had came from, was another trapdoor that lead to something unseen.
"We've found it!" Ami cheered, relief soaking into her body.
"There's one too many though..." Izzy noted.
"Better to have more than less, I always say." Michael shrugged his shoulders, gazing at the trapdoor below them. "You know, I can't remember where this one leads to either."
"So open it and see for yourself." Luke was looking at some aliums that sat in a pot, but then turned to face Michael.
"Okay." He reached down and opened the door, and fell. His yell was loud, and startled everyone. There was a terrifying thud, in which Charlotte ran to the trapdoor, looking through it.
"Michael?!" she called, a touch of fear in her voice. "What happened? Are ya alright?!" Laughter came from below.
"That was a stupid idea." he said, lying on the wooden table in the main room. "I can't believe I agreed to make that part. Ow, that really hurt." He lifted himself slowly, giggling the whole way. "You're free to come down this way, but be warned, it can hurt." Charlotte breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and jumped down after him.
"Ya gave me a bloody heart attack!" she said, landing firmly beside him. "Ah, yer right. That does buckle the knees a bit." Everyone had inevitably decided to take the shortcut to the main room, each landing on the table and enduring the pain of the fall.
"Well," Michael started after most had recovered. "I think we've had a good exploration today. We should discuss what our next move should be though, that would be wise."
"First can we check out the gallery?" Izzy nudged his shoulder.930Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDr1p3DJWn
Michael paused. "Well...I suppose. But I think we should break for a bit. I promise we'll go there in a bit, okay?"
"Okay." Izzy nodded.
"Besides, I still haven't fully recovered the use of my legs." he laughed, wiggling his left leg. Izzy smiled and giggled.
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