Black And White

Beta was completely stumped when he suddenly stood somewhere entirely else while still holding his hand forward as if he had a key in his hand. He looked behind him only to discover that he was on his own in this strange place. He carefully looked at his surroundings without moving a single step and saw that the place mainly has many high and thick pillars. It seemed like he was in a giant hall with torches placed strangely on the bottom level of the pillars. This in turn made it hard to see the rest of its length. No matter how good Beta's eyes were, he couldn't see the end of the pillars at all. Due to the torches hanging on the pillars, his body threw many shadows that easily covered up a distance of several meters.

"So, it was a teleportation door? I didn't even notice... Hmm... Did the person who set it up place a layer of concealing runes over the normal ones and formed completely different runes on top to further confuse people and entrap them? That's the only thing I can currently come up with for now... A truly interesting idea... I wonder if the others came with me too and got teleported to a different location...", Beta thought while walking around in the hall, searching for anyone or anything that would give him a lead on where to find the key.

Endless pillars and darkness came from all sides, making his vision limited as he scouted forward. So, instead of moving faster, he moved slowly since he didn't have any idea of where to go. But then suddenly, an idea came to his mind. He pulled out a compass and looked at it with a smile.

"It doesn't seem to work here, but I wonder..."

Beta turned the compass around and carved a rune called "Swerte" onto the back, meaning luck. He wasn't sure if something as simple as this would work but it definitely was better than just aimlessly walking around in an area where he can't even identify if he had been there before. Surprisingly, the compass really had the needle in a certain direction now.

"This is working so well that it's already suspicious...Well, it's not like I have any choice, right? Might as well follow the only lead I have.", Beta quietly murmured as he followed the needle's direction.

After going straight ahead for hours, Beta still didn't find anything new and he slowly got bored as he walked and walked without any changes in scenery.

"Just how big is this place? Oh... Please don't tell me... Am I really that stupid?", Beta said while hitting his forehead in disbelief.

Beta quickly wrote the reveal rune on several pillars and then exactly what he thought would happen happened. A thin white screen appeared in between some of the pillars, looking like a kind of cage.

"Ugh, how stupid of me… I've been walking in a loop this whole time, huh? These white screens send me back to the opposite side and I simply walk on the same path over and over again... Why didn't I think of that sooner? I should've known that this place is not that simple and yet I just blindly went forward, completely forgetting to use my head. Really… I've become too complacent and careless. Oh well, it's too late for regrets now. Seems like I won't be able to solve this issue with runes seeing how high leveled it is, so what exactly should I do? Hmm... Will that work?", Beta thought, directly testing out his idea.

Although he knew that his current capability about using runes won't work, what about his soulpower? The teleportation runes fold space in order to send him back from the starting point, but what happens if he interferes with his own soulpower? Would it be like ripping open the tunnel, letting it collapse? Beta wasn't exactly sure if his theory was right, but he definitely wanted to give it a shot.

He walked right next to the white screen which the compass pointed to and called forth his soulpower as he slowly guided it into the direction of the screen. When it finally reached the screen which blocked his way, it seemed to fold space in a weird way as a loud screeching noise was heard that almost ruptured Beta's eardrums. He noticed the changes on the screen as if a sign that his assumption was right so, he didn't hesitate to form a ring with his soulpower and quickly went through the gap that appeared. Right after he stabilized himself outside of the trap, he looked behind him and noticed the ring he made was pressured to the point where it imploded and the screen went back to normal.

"You actually found the weakest link and even forced your way through it. Very commendable."

"Indeed. I did not expect him to be able to do it, but it looks like he's quite special."

"I would say he's average. If he was truly skilled, he would've been able to break free by the use of runes. These things are so old that they barely have any energy left after all."

"Technically, he did use runes."

"Maybe, but it wasn't how it was intended to be solved."

"Even if he solved it by cheating, that's part of his skills and shows creativity."

"Even so, he doesn't yet qualify."

"I guess I can't completely refute that since he's just not strong enough."

Beta was still recovering from the shock of the implosion when he heard two people conversing. He looked around carefully and finally saw two old men inside what seemed to be an arena, one wearing black and one wearing white. They both had a very long beard and just as long hair. They were sitting opposite each other while looking at Beta, analyzing him thoroughly.

"Black and white... These old men must be the people from the pictures in the houses. I wonder what they want...", Beta thought, inspecting them as well.

He didn't show any reaction on his face but deep inside, he was shocked by this random encounter. First, the night time attack of night shadows and the obliteration of white lights. Now, another character from the paintings showed up again, the two majestic beings whom Beta thought of as the reason why the ruins became the ruins in the first place. But what baffled him was that both seemed to be just two old people hanging out rather than dangerous powerhouses that would kill off anyone. Noticing Beta's calm demeanor, one of the old men couldn't help but speak out again.

"What did you come here for, boy? How did you even find the key to this place?", the old man in white asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I found it in a big hall above and followed the direction it led to, hoping to retrieve another key. After using the key, I arrived here. Do you happen to have the key to the rune prison up there? My headmaster is in there and I'd like to free him.", Beta answered without hiding anything. He was pretty sure anyway that it would be suicidal to lie in front of these two.

"A rune prison? I don't know anything about that. How about you, old geezer?", the old man in white said, looking at the man in black.

"Don't call me an old geezer, you old geezer! I don't know anything about a rune prison!", the man in black answered angrily.

Beta didn't know what to think about this. Seeing the two bickering nonstop as if they'd chop off the other's head any second and yet not really doing anything except for spouting rude words against each other, it was such an amusing sight. Like two young kids fighting over who's got better snacks and better mom. He tried his best not to show a smile so his face now looked like it was twitching and awkward. The two were still at it though as if they completely forgot about him. Good thing the old guy in white seemed to have relented and just patted the old man in black to calm him down. After that, the black guy also let it go and just gave a subtle "hmpf" before turning his face away.

It was such a sight that confused Beta. Were they really enemies or not? They seemed a bit like old friends, yet they were at guard for each other the whole time. Noticing Beta rudely staring at them amusedly, both old guys gave a cough to clear their throat and paid attention to him again.

"So, boy, do you want anything else?", the man in white asked once again.

Beta was shocked at the old man in white's proposition. But then he stopped himself before he could utter ridiculous requests, he thought about the situation on the surface and asked for something.

"Within the ruins above, I saw many depictions of you two fighting. May I ask why that all happened?", Beta asked without holding back. He had been asking himself this question over and over again but didn't achieve any results so far. He was curious to know the truth behind the ruins as well as expected to know some truths and knowledge about the world.

"Oh? That's it? And I thought you'd ask for something great. Well, if you really want to know then prepare to worship me. The sole reason as to why I attacked this city was because its leader is a god damn tinkerer!", the old man in white said while looking at the old man in black with disgust, as if he remembered something unpleasant.