Mythical Shadows

Chapter 17: Calamity

We stepped out of the crypt, and headed down the hill to the center area—to the others.

In a final room beyond the tightrope paths, we had found a lever, which we assumed would open the mansion—and that it had, we could tell. Michael, Melon, and Ferbooper were already killing the zombies that were steadily coming out of the mansion.

We reunited with our friends, and talked about what had happened.

We started explaining what had happened in the crypt, and specifically what happened in the void room. They knew the outcome just by looking around . . . but they, nonetheless, listened closely.

"I knew I couldn't open the portal," I said. "I knew I couldn't save him."

"But she . . . she did the smartest thing," said Octo, referring to Kiqy. "She handed me The Sword, pretty much! And it gave me so much energy . . . but . . . but my brother's hand was still slipping."

"It was close," said Duk. He smiled weakly. "But I'm still here."

We continued chatting. It was good that we were all okay . . . but to me, it wasn't very encouraging: if Duk had only barely survived against two zombies, how would we stand a chance inside the mansion? There was no void in there, but there were two other powerful threats—threats that wanted us dead.

But then . . . then again . . . I felt guilty. I felt like what happened was my fault. Everything ended up fine, but I should've . . . done better. I should've saved Duk. Because what if Kiqy and Octo hadn't been able to? There would have been death . . . death on my hands.

I didn't stop to consider how such thoughts were affecting me. But they were. They were twisting how I evaluated our chances of future success; they were making me afraid.

We fought against the swarms of zombies, slowly making our way into the mansion. We could still kill everything with only a few scratches, because we were stronger and smarter, but . . . the undead had better armor and swords than they did in the crypt. I wondered just how hard they would become.

I knew that the spiraling staircase in the mansion lobby was the only way to the "window room," where Sercher and Herobrine would be—so we began to progress up it, not wanting to waste any time. Luckily Michael was heading the battle with his Mythical Artifact, which clearly made everything easier. Somewhere in me . . . I wished that I could be the one with such a powerful weapon . . . but I reminded myself that he was just as capable as I.

It was a long, long push of endless fighting, and it took a long time to reach the upstairs. And just as time progresses steadily, so did we, and we soon turned right and made our way into the enormous lobby room. It was a familiar room, only that this time, it was filled with monsters to slay. But by then, any undead on the first floor were no longer interested in us—and oddly enough, there was hardly anything coming from the third floor—so the fighting in this room was lighter and easier. And soon we conquered it.

But then we realized why nothing was coming from the third floor: the staircase up to it was blocked.

As far as any of us knew, it was the only way to the third floor, and now it was blocked by collapsed rubble. There was still the staircase that led to the balcony, but what good would that do? "Well this is good," I said sarcastically. "Might as well check the balcony, I guess."

"Have fun," said Typo. He, and many others, sat down to rest—and I also wanted to, but someone had to check the balcony.

"I'll come with you," said Dia—which surprised me. She almost even sounded eager. Maybe she just wanted to get away from everyone, though.