Memory Lane

27. Pure madness

27. Pure madness

"there's nothing around but grass, the odd tree, and that building over there, wait!" Anima thought aloud before returning her attention to a tall black building, separated by white bricks several feet thick. The walls rose three floors to a tall spike of a spire that made the building look more like a church.

"what do you think is in there?" Silhouette asked as the group walked towards the building.

"not sure, but if anything, something that could help us when we finally meet this Superego you've been talking about" Fred said as he opened the front door, revealing a dark interior lit only by natural sunlight from the outside.

"what is it with the mindscape and lighting problems?" Anima became perturbed at only seeing a single flaming torch hanging on the western wall of the building. The sound of creaking floorboards scratched its way through to the group.

"what was that?" Fred called out as the front door slammed shut and large black curtains darkened the room.

"welcome players to the House of Raging Migraines. I am the keeper, guardian of the house and master of your fate" a devious disembodied voice spoke from in front of the three travellers, each illuminated with a spotlight.

"we don't want to play. We just want to leave. Try the doors!!" Fred ordered the others.

"they're locked!!" Silhouette tried pulling on the front door, but to no avail.

"sorry, but the only way any of you are going to leave here is to face my little games. If you succeed, your life shall be spared, but if you fail, your head will explode from a barrage of sensory overload, just like the last ones who dared to enter here." The voice encircled around the group.

"how about I do this?" Fred rushed over to the solitary torch and attempted to set the house on fire, but a large gust blew out the flames.

"naughty boy. you can't destroy the house that easily. Only if you survive my game will the house be your prey. do you accept?" the voice continued.

"fine, let's get this over with" Fred became annoyed.

"good" the voice snarled, before the sound of snapping fingers grabbed each contender and dragged them off to different areas of the house in total darkness.

"hello?!. Anima?!. Silhouette?!" Fred shouted as he got to his feet.

"you have found the Room of Intensive Eyesores. Here you shall find just one door out. You just have to find it around these blinding illusions I have in store" the voice from before explained the rules, then illuminated the room with multiple swerving lines, curls, and optical brain-teasers that made Fred briefly shield his eyes. He came around and started feeling the walls of the room for anything resembling the coldness of a brass doorhandle, eventually crawling along the floor while the illusions continued to confuse him. Finally, he got up and was ready to admit defeat, only to trip over a small circle in the center of the room. He got down and twisted it to see if it would move or was just a figment of his imagination.

"got it!!" Fred heard a lock turn and a door on the floor open to reveal the red plains outside the house.

"congrats" the voice spoke as Fred closed the door behind him.

"Guys?!" Anima yelled as the space around her lit up with a circle of raging embers.

"welcome to the Room of the Chessboard of Doom. Complete the knight's tour puzzle to escape or be incinerated by the oncoming circle of fire slowly enveloping the space around you" the voice of the house illuminated a chessboard in the center of the circle.

"what's the knight's tour again?" Anima asked the voice.

"take the knight and move him so he visits every square on the chessboard once. If you move wrong, the circle of fire shall move in even faster" the voice explained. Anima saw the flames slowly move towards her as she moved the chess piece across rapidly. She missed out twice but was able to correct her mistakes just when the fire was about to set her long brown hair alight.

"there, happy?" Anima hollered into the room while the circle of fire diminished and a door to the outside opened on the far side.

"excellent" the voice congratulated Anima as she walked out. The last to face a trial was Silhouette, who restabilized himself after hitting into the edge of a wall in the darkness. Around him, two lines of wooden doors became lit by candlelight.

"dear lord!" Silhouette expressed his horror.

"not even a shadow creature can escape my fun. This is the Room of Dastardly Doors. Each of these doors on either side has been padlocked. Find the right one to escape, but be warned, the others contain a new and nasty surprise" the voice of the house bellowed. Silhouette then began to turn the dials for each door, ultimately opening eleven doors in his search for the right one. Along the way, he encountered a tunnel of fire, a cyclops, bats, flying knives, cannonballs and even an angry bull.

"finally," Silhouette sighed with relief as he slithered around the eleventh door to find the red plains of the outside world.

"exceptional" the voice of the house closed the door behind Silhouette as he re-joined the group waiting for him.

"hey, you made it out" Silhouette was happy to see Fred and Anima alive.

"how were your little games?" Anima asked.

"I think the house lived up to its name. Now we can do whatever we want to it" Fred looked back to the house, then took a ball of mental energy in his hand.

"I won't give you the satisfaction of bringing me down, human" the voice of the house opened a back door and told Fred as he walked up.

"what?!" Fred objected.

"your talents are needed elsewhere." The house responded. Within seconds, the entire building came crashing down, leaving a lingering raspy last laugh from the house amid the dust.

"goddammit!!!. So close, yet so far!!" Fred emerged from the ruins and trudged off in a huff at not getting satisfaction from seeing the house destroyed. He was followed by Silhouette and Anima to continue their quest to the Frontal Barrier.