Staring at Dongyue with her eyes dazzling in the luminance of the room, Xiyu hesitated. Dongyue just held her close to him.
“We shouldn’t spend too much time here,” he advised. “The creatures may still be at large, and we have yet to find our way around the temple.”
She nodded and fastened her garments, cloaking herself and pulling on her snow boots. Dongyue watched each little action of hers; admiring how her dark straight hair swished beautifully as she stood. No words could have described how much he felt for her, and neither was he able to impress on her the weight of his feelings, had it not for the soul-bond that united them.
He took her hand tenderly and together; they stood before the ice door. Since they had practically fallen through the roof, Dongyue was unsure if the door was locked. However, a light push opened the door.
Warily, he scanned the surroundings for the presence of any enemy. They needed to be vigilant at all times. Seeing none, he gathered Xiyu, and they dashed to a corner of the hall outside, picking another room to enter. Such rooms were bountiful in the lower floor of the maze, and Xiyu wondered if there was a way to travel between the rooms. Perhaps one such room could take them to the locked room they had passed by earlier.
Hearing footsteps, they braced themselves for a brawl as a few evil-looking priests and priestesses in white made a dramatic appearance, accompanied by a few polar bears and white wolves. Glancing at Dongyue, she gave him her green light to take them down with melee, explaining that she would blast them with fire spells. To her surprise, instead of initiating a battle, the group began pointing at her and running away in fear. Xiyu and Dongyue exchanged stares. What was up with these fellows?
They charged ahead. After running into the group, the temple now appeared deserted. Despite how they ransacked one room after another for any leads, they failed to find anything of interest. “Surely… there is a significant room around?” Xiyu said to Dongyue. The labyrinth was extensive, although rather empty. The fate of their companions was unknown, and the chances they had of survival was scarce. No matter what, they had to get out alive.
They trod on for what seemed like hours, stopping before a bizarre room that seemed to be made of glass. Xiyu focused on her fireball spell, splintering the mirror with her magic. The man inside the room was shaken. She realised this man looked out of the ordinary. His skin was extremely pale, much paler than anyone in Muxue, and he had blond curls that extended to the back of his neck. His facial features did not seem to be like anyone from the East.
“Who are you, and what business did you have in the temple?” She pointed her dagger at him. The man did not appear in the least afraid of her.
“My name is Hoko,” he said in a confident but poor Chinese accent. “I am an explorer from the kingdom of Luiterra when a strange man presented an artefact to me. I only touched the object, and I was transported here!”
“When did you get here, Hoko?” Dongyue snarled, putting on his fiercest look. The man remained calm and said in a relaxed tone, “I’ve lost count, but going by my manual counts, one month.”
A month! How could he have stayed alive? Dongyue found it unbelievable. But rather than ask unnecessary questions, he wanted to know if there was a way they could get out and rescue their friends, if it was still possible.
“Hoko, I am sure you have seen things and places here. Tell us, how can we leave this place?” Xiyu uttered powerfully, her dagger not leaving the man’s neck. The man smiled, knowing in his mind that Xiyu would not murder him since she needed to know the way out. At the same time, he had to keep them satiated since he needed their help to escape the maze himself.
Hoko led the couple on a long ride, moving about the floor in circles to stop outside an astonishing room. From his pocket, he produced a white key, which he had earned from battles with the Ice Priests and Priestesses, and turned it in the lock. The door opened with ease, allowing the trio to enter.
The room was somewhat cramped, only being able to accommodate the three of them. Unlike the previous rooms, the room appeared rather dark while slightly misty, bringing attention to a teleportation platform in the room.
“The door has a self-locking mechanism, so after the door is left idle for a few minutes, it will automatically close and whoever is in the room will be locked in,” he said. Xiyu shivered at the mention of ‘locked-in’, and Dongyue consoled her with his warm arm around her shoulder. She relaxed as she heard his masculine voice.
“There’s a way to teleport using the platform, but there are a few puzzles in the east of the room that need to be solved to deactivate the ancient magic that defends the platform,” Hoko said. “After that is done, the platform needs a very unique component to operate.”
“How do you know this, Hoko?”
Hoko’s calmness left his face as he was reminded of the harrowing pain he had encountered not long ago. “I did not come alone. I spent weeks trying to figure out the combinations after the death of my crew members. I was the only survivor. After trying out the different combinations behind the puzzles, I found the manuals explaining the components required. And that component, I do not have.”
“So it means we can’t leave this place?”
“The manuals said the platform requires the blood of someone with noble birth, and another with great power. I am neither, being a mere commoner from the kingdom I hail from.” He held his hands up as he spoke, revealing the scars from the incisions he had made on his arms.
“Dongyue,” Xiyu whispered, signalling to him with her eyes. He vaulted over to the east and observed the metal structures on the ground that formed the puzzles. The man cleverly moved the puzzle pieces over the invisible imaginary board on the floor to solve the puzzles in a few strokes. Hoko smirked. Whether it was an expert at problem-solving or a strong fighter, the final challenge was whether their blood met the requirement of activating the teleportation platform. And even if they did manage to teleport, where would teleportation bring them?
“Xiyu, do you want to do this?” Dongyue asked as the platform now glittered a deep purple. A round and mystical hole existed on the platform. Hoko identified that this was where the blood should be poured down in the way of a sacrifice.
“It’s worth a try. Maybe my blood is worthy. After all, it did unlock Muxue Yan’s bonds.”
Hoko’s face turned white as a sheet upon hearing Xiyu’s words, and he clenched his fist behind his back, shivering as the couple faced each other. Using Xiyu’s ice dagger, Dongyue made a sharp cut on his hand and Xiyu’s, allowing the blood to trickle down the hole of the platform.
Xiyu heard his prayers loud and clear. “Bodhisattva, grant me strength.”
She heard the sound a chilly wind emerge from somewhere in the room, gradually getting louder and closer as the lights surrounding the platform lit up in a myriad of varying colours. No longer purple, she counted seven different colours.
Everything began spinning around them in an instant, and she found herself sucked in the platform with Dongyue, along with Hoko who had grabbed onto Dongyue’s leg in the last second.
Closing her eyes, she prayed to Minami, to bless them all to survive what was in stock of them.