That's Aeith's voice. It looks like she's rushing me to get out of my bedroom. I immediately opened the door, and she pulled me.
I saw Sevenzen on the girls' floor. "Open up, get out. Author is in the living area." Him and Aeith knocked on the door of some girls' rooms to let us know that Author is here. As we descended, everyone gathered in the living area, where Author would often show up.
"Greetings to all of you! You have stayed in this castle for a long period. I hope you enjoyed your cozy living here."
"What are you talking about? Tell us what your purpose is," Thirtwen is obviously irritated whenever he sees Author. He doesn't have the time for a long talk with Author that may result in an insult.
"Okay, going further to my point. Wealth Level: Stage 3 will begin any moment."
"What? We're going to play again?" Sixzen asked with furrowed brows. We will play because level 3 is still a long way away. We are currently in level 1, nowhere halfway to level 3.
"Your happy days and nights living here are about to end. Be ready for the next stage."
And Author is gone. That was a short visit. It was a simple instruction and announcement to alert us of the next incoming game.
"We're not going to live here anymore? What a pity," Seventh commented with a tone of regret.
"What do you mean? We should be happy because we can be freed from here," Aeizen countered.
I don't know if I will be glad or not. It's a good thing to finally get out from this castle trap, but a new challenge is about to come across us.
***
It is now morning, and I just woke up. Yesterday, Author announced that we are about to leave this castle at any time and that stage 3 will start at any time.
As I was walking down the stairs, I saw the others, and I was the last to wake up today. A routine such as playing and chatting with each other, as they always do. When I stepped on the last stair, everyone was surprised by what happened. I felt something on my head and face. I touched my face. There was an unknown gray substance. I itched because it was rough on the skin. I looked up to where it came from and saw the castle slowly sinking as if it were melting. We were startled by the sudden fall of small and large chunks of materials on which the castle was made.
"What are we going to do? We can be trapped in here!" Forzen panicked.
"Let's go there!" Sevenzen guided us to a safer space.
"Everyone, duck, cover, and hold!" Third commanded us.
Everyone is panicking, but we try to calm ourselves down. They protected their heads from ash, concrete, and metal falling. Curiously, I remained standing in my last position with my hands on my head.
"Second!" Someone is calling me, but I can't figure out who.
I looked up at the falling of the large iron bars that if will fell on me, would surely injure me or worse, I'd die.
"Get out of there!"
I ignored their concern, but just looked up, and the iron bars finally fell into my head. I closed my eyes and ducked.
"Ahhh!" I screamed.
I close my eyes and wait for the result of my discovery.
"What just happened here?" Thirtwen wondered.
"How the heck?" Fifzen muttered.
I opened my eyes to check myself out. No scratches or wounds. The iron bars continued to fall from the collapsed roof and ceiling of the castle.
"Magic!" Seventh exclaimed in amazement at what he saw.
I don't know if it's magic, but it can be considered one. Large metals and concrete chunks are falling. They are melting like ice but turn into ashes. The ground did not shake. The surroundings are still smoky. The miracle is that we are not hit by any of these. It appears that there is some barrier that protects us to deviate from the direction of the falling debris. When the metal debris fell before it set foot on the ground, it automatically turned to ashes, rendering it non-fatal.
After a few minutes of collapsing, everything calmed down. No one was hurt. The former river that became a castle is now just land and ashes. We waited to get out of this castle and breathe natural air. It has been a long time since I last saw the sun and the beautiful view of this paradise.
"Where are we going to live now?" Forzen's mumbled concern while brushing off her cute bangs from the ashes.
Everyone shrugged because we also didn't know where we were going to live and what was going to happen next.
Ninezen waved his hands. "Author! Are you there? Answer us!" He yelled into the air.
We waited for an answer, but no signs of Author hinted. It only means one thing. We must find a new place to live.
"Check this out," we all turned to the one who had just spoken, it was Ninth.
We approached him and he pointed to something on his left foot. There is an engraved circle on the ground. It looks like someone drew a perfect circle on the soil using a twig.
"There's more here," Fifth reported. He pointed to some more circles carved into the ground.
"Here also. Quite a lot." Twentieth added.
We counted how many circles we saw, 18 in all.
"Aren't these circles for all of us?" Thirtwen wondered that gave us an idea and a possibility that he is right. There are 18 drawn circles on the ground, and there are also 18 of us.
"What are we going to do with the circles?" Fifth questioned.
"No one knows yet but it's probable," Third speculated this probability Thirtwen mentioned.
"Can we dig?" Seventh suggested. Since it is soil, we can dig in it. But what's in there for us to dig into?
"Um, maybe, we have to step on the circles, because there are 18 of it and we're also 18." Fourth's vague recommendation but it makes sense. It may be strange, but we shoot a shot.
"Sure," Sixth agreed. "I mean, we can try." I hope she's feeling better after the passing of Firstwen.
"Alright, let's try it." Forzen concurred.
We agreed to try what Fourth suggested. We're not certain if this will work, but it's not bad to try. We positioned ourselves in carved circles randomly scattered on the ground. We slowly stepped on it and placed ourselves in the middle.
"Nothing's happening," Fifzen noted
"This is foolish. It is not working," Ninth complained.
"How can I-"
What Fifth wanted to say didn't go through because we all screamed over what happened next. About ten seconds later, when we stepped on the circles, the ground automatically opened, and we all fell to the ground.