Footsteps could be heard in the maze of halls. Two figures were running, with one being chased and the other chasing. Both of them were faster than they would've normally been, since they were both scared of each other, for different reasons.
Dirin ran like a madman away from the puppeteer as he looked for a way to get out of the maze. Thankfully, the guy had to focus on controlling countless puppets while chasing him. Every time he looked back, he saw the guy nearly avoiding a wall or having a hard time with a turn as he clutched his head and ran.
As he ran, Dirin noticed that the halls were slowly closing in, and the turns were happening less frequently. The hall was slowly transforming into a long, winding corridor. He had to think of something quickly.
The guy once again ran into another wall and almost dropped to the floor. He stumbled as he started to sprint towards Dirin again, but there was so much space that Dirin slowed down a bit to catch his breath.
If this keeps up, the maze will just be a straight corridor... The exit should be findable after that. He then started to run again. That is... is there an exit? Is he the one controlling this place? What rank is he?
The chase kept on going with Dirin checking every door he could, but those were becoming scarce the longer he ran. Some were even locked now, and he cursed under his breath each time.
When I see Vale again...
He didn't have time to finish that thought. The maze started to lose more and more turns, and the puppeteer was now catching up. Apparently, he was a lot faster than Dirin at going straight than he was.
How does he turn people into puppets? It can't be at a distance, because he would've got me. Unless it was a close distance.
Thoughts raced in his mind as he kept on running. He didn't want to test any of his theories at all. He just wanted to find a way out of here. There had to be one, right?
The next four doors were locked. He spent a mere moment on each knob, but that was enough for the puppeteer to catch up to him.
The puppeteer lunged forward with his hand outstretched, but Dirin, at this point, was quick enough to react fast enough to dodge. He jumped to the side and heard a small smack as the palm made contact with the wall.
It has to be through contact. He wouldn't spend any additional trouble putting on an act at this point.
Dirin turned around and started to run again. Now that he knew about the condition to become a puppet, he was going to ensure he didn't meet that. Space was something he was going to put between them quickly.
It was only after the maze started to show up again did he realized where he had gone wrong. The guy stopped chasing him to focus back on the puppets.
Now, Dirin didn't know if he should coax him again to hinder his control on the puppets again, or if he should just back off and try to find an exit. There is no guarantee of an exit. If I somehow put that guy out of commission, then the teachers and staff, or whoever will find me, will find me quicker.
Dirin stood still. The situation didn't favor him at all. Leaving was impossible, but becoming a puppet seemed even worse. Ritchard was a Rank 1 with a very potent aura, and he was unconscious after breaking free. If you took out the fact that he had to get beaten up by Mr. Till, then that was scary!
After taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, he looked over his situation again. He was stuck with no way. He caused the puppeteer to focus on him for a good while. And if he didn't do something, he wouldn't know what to do.
His only option was to find something in the empty maze to hope to use as a sort of weapon to defend himself. He took a couple of steps back to where he thought the puppeteer was. He was hoping to find something, maybe a long stick to use as a polearm, to use as a weapon.
After all of the training he had done, he was accustomed to any form of weapon, so he figured he could use anything, but he liked polearms better. Or a whip. He remembered all the things he did to Ritchard with those whips. He also remembered all the things Ritchard did to him with those whips.
There was nothing in the maze to be found, not to be used as a weapon, at least. There were a couple of pieces of paper string, which Dirin did collect in hopes of finding some use for them, but none of them would make a good replacement for a weapon.
***
Keith was patiently waiting in the living room of his dorm. There were a couple of unconscious puppets at his side. When they came to him, they suddenly turned sluggish and were quickly taken out. The door was wide open.
He had an anxious look on his face as he looked out the door. His heart was beating fast, but not for more puppets. He hadn't heard from Dirin since he left this morning for his plans with Ritchard and Markus.
He was worried.
If it wasn't for the orders of multiple staff members, he would've left a long time ago to go looking for him. The loud sounds in the distance also weren't easing his worries either.
The shadows were off of him. He was keeping himself slightly sluggish to make his worries seem less important. He knew Dirin was fine, in a sense. It was just becoming a puppet. After all the training he went through, Keith knew Dirin would be able to escape a few puppets with no problem.
You good-for-nothing fool! Keith's thoughts were directed at himself as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He should've gone with Dirin to those stupid plans! If it weren't for him feeling lazy and wanting to take a day off with "Personal Study," then some of this wouldn't have happened; at least he would've known what happened to Dirin.
"He'll be fine." Tillie, in the corner of the room, said, but she didn't sound so sure either.
She was over simply to wait for Dirin to get back. Keith would've made fun of this, but he knew it would've amounted to nothing now. She was sitting down on what was left of the sofa with a lighter in hand.
Unlike him, she couldn't just easily access her element whenever she needed, so she kept a lighter or something similar as well.
Another puppet walked in. Small amounts of flames were sent on it instantly. They both knew it was a real person, but at this point, they couldn't take any chances. They did make sure to apply first aid when it dropped to the ground.
"I know." Keith ground his teeth as he said that. He didn't believe it at all. Not when Dirin was still a completely normal person, he wouldn't.