We're all in this virtual space together.
Al Haud

You nod slowly, allowing the girl to raise her modest scepter. Thesorceress chanted a few words and the coding slowly peeled and flaked away likeit was old paint being removed with a scraper.

After a few moments, a new pathway has opened before thesorceress. Taking a second look, you notice that though the doorway has opened,the sorceress is no longer there. The only that remains of her is the basicstaff with which she allowed the rest of the party to continue on. The sombertwin is the first to move, picking up the object and holding it out to you. Youshake your head, and the scepter dissolves into coding and disappears much likethe wall had.

Is this the only way to move forward now, you ponder with a heavyheart. You look at the companions you gained, and sigh. The swordswoman makes ashrugging gesture, as if the inevitability is fine with her. The somber twinand the shielded man stay taciturn.

What do you do?

After following the semivisible girl in a direction all of them swore they had gone, they found themselvesin a completely new area with multi colored tiles scattered across the floor.Shades of green, blue, red, pink, and every other color decorated the floorlike a child had spilled their paint set. “Okay, Amaya, we’re here now what?”Myos called, cautiously eyeing the ground before them.

“Okay, don’t step on anyof the colors yet! If you step on the wrong ones, I don’t know what’ll happenbut it most likely probably won’t be very good,” She warned, stopping Achernarin her tracks. The tall woman took a step away from the blue panel, wringingher hands as if she had just been caught with them in a cookie jar.

“So what colors aresafe?” Razzy asked, pursing her lips and looking at the room before them withher leather gloved left hand on her slim hip.

“Just step on any of thepink ones,” Amaya instructed. “But there’s biochemical software in the room andit can detect the presence of heat, so it knows how many people are in the roomand all of you have to step on the right colors or nothing will happen. Butyeah, if you all step on the pink ones it’ll be fine no problem,” she explainedwith a small giggle.

“Sounds easy enough tome,” Myos grinned, walking over to a pink panel before his wrist was grabbed ina strong grip.

“What if she’s lying tous, Myos,” Zeke warned, narrowing his dark eyes. “She could work for theEmpress for all we know. Pink is probably the wrong color.”

“What other fuckingcolor would it be, dumbass? There’s so much fucking pink around this ship. Imean the bitch probably bathes in pink water,” Achernar snorted at the audacityof the other, taking her place on a colored tile. Adjusting the turtleneck ofher midriff baring red sweater she shifted her weight from one foot to another,even jumping up and down a few times. “Nothing’s happened, pink must be safe.”

Razzy nodded inagreement, stepping carefully over a baby blue tile to reach a rose colored onenot far from Achernar.

“Dude, let go,” Myossaid, shaking his arm out once he got to his own pink tile. “You’re the lastone, it’s not gonna work unless we all stand on one of these tiles, man,” hesaid, creating a quiet moment between himself and his best friend.

“What if I’m the onesaving all of you from being captured by the Empress, hm?” Zeke asked, raisinghis chin in entitlement and tensing his body.

“Please trust me,” Amayapleaded again, looking at the tall, muscular man through the wall in front ofthem. “You have to work as a team, we have to from here on out or we don’t haveany hope of defeating her.”

Zeke steeled his gaze,looking around at the unlikely group he had gathered before him. Taking a deepbreath, he trusted his life to the word of a girl he barely knew and gave hisheart to a team that formed by circumstance to take down an enemy that may ormay not actually exist. Holding the breath he had taken, all his weight wasplaced on the small pink square in front of him.

An affirmative beepingnoise sounded, and the semi transparent, white concave walls around them openedup to reveal a silvery hallway.