Margana: To Seek The Truth

13. The Call of Words

"They" came into the room with his charismatic aura once again. Has an hour passed by? That's news to me. Time went by too fast... Well, it doesn't matter now. Why is the guy in front just glaring at every participant? Did we do something wrong? Have we been tricked?!

"Margana, please, quiet down your inner thoughts. I'm just here, with not a single drop of malicious intent in mind."

M-me?! Fine. I just gave out a nod as a response, I quieted down my fury of thoughts. Hopefully it's worth it or something, I don't wanna waste my time thinking on how to get out of this place, and fast.

"Perfect, everything is as peaceful as can be. Now, if you please, kindly check the color of your wristbands."

I quickly looked down at mine, I didn't realize that it changed from red to blue. I looked at Lino's bracelet, it stayed blue. Doesn't that mean...? If the sequence of activities were the same the last— One of us have to?!

"None of you have heard of the rules. I'm certain that these respective pairs have a close connection with each other. I am simply making the activity easier for all of you to cooperate with one another. Now, please proceed to the door of your wristband color."

I didn't want to commit anything to Lino, only after the rules and objectives are clear to us. "They" didn't shed much light on the rules, only that we were paired together to make life easier for the both of us. There's no guarantee that it will be, it's just his own interpretation of things.

For some reason, I intertwined my own hand with his, I didn't know what would happen. Maybe for a sense of security or something? I would rather spend brain cells on what's about to take place. Lino's eyes glinted with desire to get out of here, yet it had a touch of fear to it.

We arrived at the venue past the door. The room didn't look like anything, just two chairs in the middle. There were a bunch of... Flashcards? They were faced down, something had to be written under. However, the pen on the side of the table bothered me. After some time observing, I was able to count two cards, and a single pen.

"They" himself came through the door, it looks like he was the one who would mediate the final activity for this place. The game materials looked awfully simple, I wouldn't want to underestimate anything though.

"Now that everyone is settled, it's about time I explain the rules! We're going to play an easy game of Hangman! The rules are simple, guess the word, you have 10 attempts to stop you from ending the game. Margana, Lino, both of you have usage of the ten attempts. If distributed equally, each of you has five attempts to make mistakes. For each failed attempt, small cuts will be done to the person opposite to you until it reaches the neck. That's all, have fun and press 'Play' to start!"

My fate and Lino's fate are in our hands right now, we decide for it through a game of Hangman. This used to be my favorite childhood game, not so much now.

"Lino, should we start Hangman now?"

"There's no other choice, let's go."

Lino and I pressed the 'start' option hesitantly. The room went dark, and some kind of tape was right on my mouth. We couldn't speak since it was the same for Lino. We found some cards on the side to communicate. We both drew a Hangaroo, we both shared the same word so it would be easier somehow. Ten squares, five for me and five for Lino. "They" looked at us with the most amused expression, it genuinely frightened me to the bone.

I started with the vowel "O". It was on the fourth and seventh spot, the word had 9 letters. Lino made a guess with "A", since it was the most basic letter ever, it was bound to have one, right? I was wrong in all ways. I heard a soft grunt coming from him, it wasn't included in the word.

We kept on guessing, we only got - - l o - - o n - so far. I had two tries left, and Lino was down to one. We had to guess these four letters, the word made no sense to me. We tried communicating through the cards given, but it was running out, we couldn't waste anything else. What could it be?!?! I gave my turn, I was risking it all for a single letter, "Y". It was correct?! I couldn't bear this anymore, the cuts were getting one step closer to my neck every time I got something wrong, I'm not going to sit here and wait until I'm done for.

So far, - y l o - - o n is what we've got on the table. I was terrified, it was Lino's turn. If he got it wrong then— Let's not hope for anything. We didn't choose vowels I, E, and U, I'm pretty sure he would go for one of those. He chose "E", I closed my eyes and... To my surprise, it was correct.

After some time, we were both down to a single try. We had - y l o - h o n e, Lino frantically wrote something on the paper. The paper disintegrated before he could pass it onto me, he tried signaling things with his hands. He knew the answer, I couldn't think of anything. It was his try, we locked in "P"? Why out of all letters? Hold on... It was right! Wait!

Y... L... O... P... H... O... N... E...! I know what it is now, Xylophone! I locked in "X" with eyes full of confidence and glee, I couldn't wait to get out of this. It was right!

The room was filled with light once again, the tape disintegrated, everything made for the game did. "They" came down the stairs laughing in amusement as he clapped.

"A truly amazing display of suspense, trust, and courage! You deserve to be free from my fine tower for your awe-inspiring performance in the previous activities."

He snapped his fingers and there came two portals. Something bothered me... Why did it look way too intimidating and ominous? It felt way too familiar, I didn't want to go through it.

"I see, you two have taken the longer way as well. Not to worry, it all leads back to somewhere in this verse. Shorter isn't always better, you two have grown up amidst all of these challenges. I'm quite assured that you can handle the next activity. Also, a word of advice from me as a thank you. Listen carefully, everything in the Esse-ver is connected. It may seem of much difference, but this is truly a single dimension, just with a lot of sub-branches to the one that Lino here calls home. Another one, simply watch your surroundings. That's all, till we meet again!"

We swiftly left the room, and we had to jump through the portal once more. With the newfound information, we don't actually warp from one realm to another, we warp from one sector to another.

It was written all over Lino's face that he seemed to dislike the ominous feeling of the portal right before us, I had to just jump through it with him or we'll never make it out.

"Hey, Lino, I know it seems odd but, there's no other way out of here. Listen, no matter what we go through in the following activities to come... we've got each other's backs, alright?"

He doesn't really like giving opinions on things like these, so I took silence as a yes from him. I quickly caught Lino off guard, grabbed his hand, then just simply pulled him into the portal along with me.

This portal was pitch black, I could barely see Lino! I tried searching for him through this warp-bridge thing. Hold on... I feel... Dizzy? Is this how it's supposed to be...?

Right there, I blacked out in the middle of the void between two worlds.