VESSELS: RUN:PROGRAM

  “So that’s the ability you were talking about, right?” Isaac asked; he was unable to hide his subtle excitement at the display of Bel’s ability. “Nice one, although I might be wrong with the whole creation thing being your ability. That looked a lot different than your sword; it looked more like an astral projection of you.”

  Bel was still in shock; it was the same feeling as last night. He simply played out a mental video of himself stopping the fireballs, as he did with the hook last night, and it actually happened. He was starting to understand how to trigger his ability.

  “Yeah, this was what happened last night. I don’t know; I just thought really hard about deflecting those three fireballs, and it just happened.” Bel nervously mumbled, unsure of how to articulate his point.

  “Why don’t you try it again? Try to picture yourself running to the end of the hall.” Rita chipped in. Bel’s brief explanation piqued her interest in his ability. Although she knew nothing of Limbo, the Mind’s Eye, or soul energy, she was the intuitive type and enjoyed solving mysteries even when the details were sparse.

  Bel did as she asked; he played a clear image in his own head of himself running to the end of a hall. He closed his eyes and focused on his own soul energy; then he opened them back, and he saw a projection of himself dash out into the hallway. When it reached the end of the hallway, it looked to the left and to right before disappearing.

  The act was something Bel had added himself to test out the theory, and surely enough, the projection had acted exactly as what Bel envisioned. Rita seemed proud of herself for being able to help Bel test out his powers.

  “Did you add the head turns at the end? If you did, then my original hypothesis might’ve been correct. I believe it’s akin to running a program on a computer rather than summoning a clone with its own will to fight, maybe perhaps even–” Rita seemed to prattle on endlessly, but something was distracting Bel, and her words couldn’t help but get drowned out.

  After the projection disappeared, there were memories that flooded into his brain of events that he hadn’t seen before, but he knew exactly what they were. It was the end of the hallway. He had memories of what his projection would’ve seen, but this was entirely new to him. It hadn’t happened before, and Bel wondered if it was because he put in more focus with his soul energy, or if the true potential of his abilities are slowly starting to unravel.

  “–and that’s why I think that your ability should be aptly titled: RUN:PROGRAM!” Rita finally finished her long-winded explanations and stood proudly with her chest puffed, index finger lifted, and completely breathless.

  “You really are a nerd…” Bel mocked. She put her finger down, embarrassed, and looked away. “But thanks, you’re pretty smart.”

  Bel couldn’t see her face, but she had a soft smile imprinted on her face.

  They pressed on further into the labyrinth of the floor, but this time, however, there were no longer any doors. The classrooms didn’t disappear; some of them had clear windows where the inside of the class could be seen from hallways. Tables and desks were neatly arranged in front of whiteboards, and colorful posters highlighting campus events could be seen.

  The dates on the poster brought them closer to uncovering the mystery behind the event. Most posters were too damaged by burn marks to be readable, but the few that were legible all had dates that pointed to 1982. As they pressed further, less and less were seen, and the fire damage to the floor became more prominent.

  “We’re getting closer,” spoke Isaac. “These marks aren’t caused by that P.W. It’s tamer, more chaotic than controlled. We must be nearing the site of death.” He told the other two to stop, and he pulled out the white marker again. The symbol on his hand was faint, almost entirely faded.

  “You better be drawing water,” Rita commanded. She had inferred a general idea of how Isaac’s ability worked based on their previous bickering in the hallway.

  “Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? Nobody beats me at my own game. I was caught off-guard, is all.” Isaac confidently replied. The symbol he drew was much more detailed than the previous times Bel had seen it. Not only that, but he unzipped his hoodie to take it off, revealing a black tank top underneath; he revealed a rather lean figure, but not nearly as muscular as Alexzander. He then proceeded to draw markings that nearly covered his entire forearm, and then he repeated the process on his other arm.

  “Our abilities are the manifestation of our will, so the more we display it, the stronger and more effective it gets.” Isaac tied the sleeves of his hoodie around his waist and continued his lecture, “The less-detailed and less-noticeable my markings are, the weaker their power, and the faster they fade. This should be good for at least an hour; now let’s find Hayley and get rid of whatever the hell is causing this mess!”

  Isaac stood tall and set both of his fists ablaze. The flames were steady, but the powerful heat and light made both Bel and Rita shield their faces. Seeing Isaac through his own finger tips, Bel couldn’t help but admire how cool Isaac’s determination was.

  Shortly afterwards, they came across a flickering exit sign on the ceiling. Exposed wiring could be seen hanging from above, and tiny sparks occasionally showered down. The sign pointed to the left of the hallway, but there was a separate path on the right as well. Bel gave a light tap on Isaac’s shoulder, telling him to stop. Afterwards, he closed his eyes and began to focus.

  A projection of himself shot out again and walked to the end of the hallway, looked both ways, and disappeared as it walked to the left. After a few seconds, Bel finally spoke, “It doesn’t look like a trap. There really is an exit door, but I don’t know what’s behind it. I didn’t have a clear image in my mind to test it out, but I can try it again.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  At first, Isaac and Rita looked at Bel with puzzled expressions, unsure of how he knew. Eventually, both of them shrugged it off, seeing as there was no reason for Bel to lie.

  “What about the right side then?” Isaac finally replied.

  “It’s burnt to a crisp.”

  “We’ll go to the right side then; that must be where the Floor-Manipulator P.W. is. The closer we get, the less freedom it has in altering the hallways to mislead us. It can’t just fashion a room to hide in, unconnected from the rest of the floor. More and more paths will converge at the source, like a labyrinth.”

  “How come?” Rita asked.

  “Remember how I mentioned earlier that abilities are more effective the more they’re displayed?” Isaac waited for Rita to nod before continuing, “The gradually damaged halls we’ve been seeing are just that. Eventually, as we get closer to the source, it’ll be much more obvious to find out where it's hiding.”

  Right as Isaac finished his sentence, they all saw a faint orange glow leaking from around the corner, and they started to feel a slight spike in temperature. Isaac looked at Bel and nodded, silently telling him to use his ability to check further.

  Bel focused, and let out another projection. At this point, he felt the slightest hint of fatigue both physically and mentally. He wasn’t used to the feeling of a wave of new memories suddenly entering his brain, and repeatedly expending soul energy seemed to have its own drawbacks.

  “I saw a classroom, I think. It’s hard to tell; there’s clear glass that you can see through, but the only thing behind it is fire.” Bel said.

  They made their way around the corner, and sure enough, Bel was right. By this point, the halls were completely blackened, and the only source of light came from the raging inferno within the classroom.

  The room stuck out like a sore thumb. The architecture was unlike anything they had seen before. A cuboid roughly sized 800 to 1000 square feet was placed right in the middle of the room, surrounded by four walls; each wall had a wide rectangular window to watch the fire from. It had six different pathways connected to it and was without a doubt the center of the labyrinth known as the 4th floor.

  “If I’ve been right so far, the Floor-Manipulator is inside that room. Now we just have to figure out how to get in there and destroy it.” Isaac said.

  However, the Charred P.W. appeared around the corner of the wall of the room, willingly displaying itself before the three. This time, however, it looked angrier than ever. Its eyes glowed red instead of the white they saw from their previous battle, and horns could be seen protruding from its forehead. There were also glowing, orange cracks that ran across its body, making it look like it was made out of magma.

  Crimson tears streamed from its eyes as it let out a powerful roar before releasing a breath of red hot flames on all of them. Isaac was prepared, but his face wasn’t as confident as before. He screamed as the white markings on his hand and forearms glowed brightly, and he countered the wave of fire with his own.

  This time, the streams of flames they both let out were never-ending. Isaac attacked with two large columns of fire and pushed back the Charred P.W.’s blast. They were locked in another battle of attrition.

  However, the situation was even more dire than the one before. Bel could not see and form the clear mental image he needed to assist Isaac. He let out a few projections into the infernal storm, but they all disappeared before they could make it all the way through.

  The memories he received back were simply a bright flash of red and orange. He realized that his projections also weren’t invincible; if they took enough damage, they would disappear. Rita could do nothing but watch from behind the corner; this was not her battle to fight.

  “Nngh! I didn’t anticipate that it could change its form!” Isaac grunted. His feet were slowly getting pushed back as the Charred P.W.’s flames grew fiercer by the second.

  The Charred P.W.'s magma form further displayed its will to burn everything around it; it was no surprise that Isaac’s markings paled in comparison. Only one of them had the true will to burn.

  Bel racked his brain at the situation in front of him. He noticed that an empty space, although tiny, still existed in the room. He was still unable to see the opponent, but a stroke of genius blessed his mind.

  He threw out a projection and sent it to the left-hand side of the room and around the center room, where it was free from the hellish firefight between Isaac and the Charred P.W. Sure enough, the projection made it, but it wasn’t unscathed.

  To make it to the area, Bel would have to walk through the flames momentarily, which he did not want to risk himself. He understood the durability of his projections after sending them multiple times to doom in the raging fire and decided it could handle just enough to make it to the safe zone.

  The projection stood still, looked around, and disappeared. Bel then knew exactly where the Charred P.W. was. He saw how its mouth was agape, focusing all of its power on Isaac.

  He then let out another projection, and his nose started to bleed. This time however, he had a clear mental image of where it was so that he could attack it. The projection dashed to the other side of the room before turning its body and aiming straight for its target.

  However, Bel’s hope was soon crushed, as memories suddenly flooded in of the Charred P.W. lifting up its palm to the side, aiming it straight to the projection, and unleashing a devastating ball of fire, completely obliterating it.

  “Watch out!” Bel yelled out, but it was too late. The fireball curved the corner of the center room and hit Bel and Isaac dead on. An explosion followed, and the two were now sprawled on the ground. Parts of their clothing were burnt and on fire, ash covered their faces, and pain enveloped their bodies.

  Rita started to tear up. She couldn’t bear to touch them; they were only knocked unconscious, but to her, they already looked like lifeless corpses. She could hear the Charred P.W. slowly make its way to her. Every coarse footstep shook her to the core, and she began to imagine all the different ways she could burn. There was nothing she could do, and her fate was sealed.

  But the funny thing about fate is that it’s never truly in anyone’s own hands. A booming voice suddenly filled the air, and a familiar tune started to play: “Are you ready, everyone?! We are: Hayley and The Ghoul Party!”