The Castle (V)

Snow woke up, trapped, and alone in the white room. Her head slightly throbbed, and her body ached. It was strange, almost out of place. She couldn't wrap her head around what went wrong.

For the next couple of hours, her hand outstretched, touching the wall for anything that could give her a clue. When she found something, she leaned forward, putting her ears onto the wall. Carefully, she tapped a few times, trying to make sure that she didn't miss anything.

The dark tendril of energy wrapped her in took her deep into the castle walls, twisting and turning, making it impossible to follow. She thought that most of the trap was on the ground, but she was wrong.

Why she didn't think others on the wall made her want to smack herself for being naive. Even if she wanted to complain and kick herself for her stupidity, she didn't waste a single minute moping around.

She needed to get out, but the question bothered her throughout the whole time, was why?

Why trap her in a single room, and for what purpose? From her understanding, most traps were dangerous to the point where it was directed to harm her. Was this room the same?

With a sigh, she pushed herself away.

"Nothing." Snow frowned. It hasn't been long since she fell into a trap. It was as if the castle was toying with her just because she found numerous clues about it.

She thought she had found everything about the traps in the first room but was rewarded with a special trap. Frustrated on how easily she fell into the second one, she gripped her hand tightly.

Snow wondered how the others were doing as both Mike and Dairen had seen her get ferried away into the wall as if it was some kind of horror movie. She couldn't help but worry if the others would jump in after her, even though she had specifically told them to find the boss.

Hopefully, they listened.

Squatting down, she tapped the ground a few times. Her magic stretched outwards, checking out every single side, trying to find a way out.

Nothing.

It was as if the magical energy that she was spreading out to feel was becoming dense with dark foul energy that she had never felt before. It wasn't like Dairen's dark energy, where it felt cold, lonely, but strangely welcoming and warm at times.

Instead, it had a heavy stink of pervasive evil that she felt a chill running up and down her spine just being near it.

Snow still lingered around, using her magic to scout out for a different source of magic that she could possibly fiddle with. It took awhile for her to scan the whole room, but each search she stopped. She was welcomed with the same pervasive magic that she disliked.

It was getting frustrating to be blocked every which way, almost as if whatever it was calculating her movement.

Suddenly, as if it was heaven-sent, a faint magical response could be felt, ringing in her body. Realizing what this meant, she excitedly stood up.

"I can get out of here." Snow gripped her hands together tightly. She was waiting for this chance, and she wasn't going to squander it.

Closing her eyes, she started to stir her vast deep magic inside her stomach. It poured out of her fingers and onto the ground like a pool. She opened her eyes, glowing brightly gold. Magic started to pour out of her faster and faster, raising the magical energy level.

At first, it was uncomfortable as the magical force keeping her contained was fighting back against her. Squeezing her mentally to put her in submission. A static electricity zap ran down her arms and legs, crawling around her body and trying to keep her in check.

Snow increased the output of the magic even further, trying to burst through with pure strength. Her tattoo that had grown a bit larger, which now came down to her neck, appeared, summoning up her white armor, helmet, claws, tails, and even horns that slicked beautifully backward, giving her a holy Knightley aura around her.

The power became stronger and more durable. Even the room had violently reacted with and against Snow in a clash for dominance.

Static electricity spewed out from the room, smashing against her armor.

Snow cringed, her forehead, pushing away the power that seemed to want to swallow her alive.

Even still, she fought. Her power increased erratically to the point where she knew that she could give more. Her light energy became burdensome to the very room. The walls groaned, and even spiders cracked. Even the magical device that was trying to keep her in place broke from the outside.

The energy around her finally released. A rush of adrenaline spiked through her body, giving her a euphoric feel. Her energy lashed out, destroying everything inside the room and the room itself, leaving behind rubbles as she was able to quickly pull back her power to not completely bury herself in.

Finally, the energy that was suppressing her released, allowing her to calm back down and reel back the rampaging magical energy. Snow let out a sigh of relief. She glanced around, seeing broken and disintegrated walls. In awe at the sheer destruction she could cause, she felt proud of her ability.

"That's more like it." Snow smiled, wiping her hand. Looking around, she walked over towards a big opening on the side.

Reaching out, she pulled a large part of the wall to the side, ripping it open a bit more. Wiggling through, she stepped out of a damp room. For some reason she felt a bit out of place.

Scanning around, Snow looked for any hints that told her where she was. She sent out her magical energy, feeling for any extra presence.

It wasn't until she passed a door not too far away from her that she felt a living presence. It wasn't just one or two, but over ten, all huddled together in one room. What was worse was that their magical power was trickling away from their body as if it was sucked away by something.

Snow turned towards the door, placing her hand on it she felt around. Trying to find a source that she can exploit. This time, it didn't take so long as she understood the prison system.

Power quickly accumulated into her hand, becoming stronger. Her emotions became elated with the strength that was coming into her palm. She compressed even more and more to the point where it was a ball of white light.

A smile crept on her lips, she shoved the energy ball into the lock that kept the door in place. Loud groaning sounds of angry metal clashing among each other resounded.

With a loud clunk, the metal crunched up, breaking apart the lock. With a loud creak, the door opened, welcoming Snow in.

Her right hand reached out, pushing the door open.

At first, she thought she stepped into a dark room with nothing inside it, thinking they were some kind of spiritual entity. But instead, what she saw baffled her.

Over twenty Players with tattered clothes, long hair, and sunken expression was present. Their skin was pale white, almost as if they were vampires themselves.

"Who?" One of the Players asked, shading his eyes from the bright light. Nobody expected to be rescued or understood what was happening.

All of them counted down the days when they would be used as food to the monster that ruled the very castle.

"Snow," Snow said, taking a step in. A foul odor hit her. Raising up her hand, she tried to stifle the smell as much as she could, but it made it worse.

"You got two choices." Holding up her hand, she motioned her fingers. "You either follow me and go kill the boss monster and get out of this dungeon alive or stay here, rotting and wasting your life away. So choose." She said bluntly, she didn't want to bring anyone who didn't want to follow her.

"You can't win." One of them said with a shaky voice. "They killed a large number of our people, what can you do?"

"Yea, it would be safer in here." Another said, agreeing with the first.

Snow snorted at their answer, "Like I said. You will only have one opportunity in your hand, and this could be the opportunity to get out of here alive. If you follow me, I'll work with you and protect you." She said again. "If you stay here, I assure you you will die. From either magical reduction, hunger, or eaten. I don't care which one, but death is assured."

Snow felt that these groups of Players weren't understanding the dire situation that they were in. With a flick of her fingers, a large amount of magical water erupted from her fingertips as it hovered over their heads.

Her fingers snapped, dropping the large swirl of water onto their heads, completely drenching them.

They all bolted up, confused, and wet by her sudden action. Some even shouted at her in anger for dousing them in water.

"Quit your complaining. I just speed up your process of wanting to stay or not." Snow turned around, "I'm leaving."

She left the door open for the others to decide if they wanted to come or not. Snow didn't care if they followed, she felt as if they were a lot weaker than before, but she knew the constitution of the Player's body was a bit different than a Natives.

The Players, who were once lost and mentally dead, woke up with the reality that they were given.

"Do you think it's a trap?" One of them asked.

"No, but if it is, what other choice do we have?" The man, who was horribly skinny and shaggy with long hair, spoke. He was the first one to take a step out through the door.

Every one of them took the chance to step out and follow Snow as they did not want to stay behind in the darkness any longer.