Hidden room

Nyra made her way through the deserted hallways. She was surrounded by silence, a sound so strange and foreign to her hearing.

After passing several rooms and rooms filled with guards, she stopped by a door.

Standing near the entrance, she listened carefully and waited patiently.

When there was no signs of anyone coming from within the room she slipped inside undetected. She relaxed when she saw the room was filled with maps. There were a couple of shelves filled with books, mostly leather bound and with titles written in a language she couldn't recognize, and the walls were decorated with weapons.

Some looked familiar yet different.

One of the walls was lined with a huge collection of armour, shields and spears; almost as if there were hundreds of them there.

She noticed that there weren't any other entrances leading into the room.

Taking a look around, she walked over to an old map, placed under the shelf next to her. On top of it there were three words:

'Preliminary Analysis'.

Scanning the rest of the room further she spotted a table with a pile of maps and other things scattered over the table in the corner of the room.

Just to be sure, she took her dagger out examining it. Satisfied that it was still in working condition, she put it away and headed for the first map that caught her eye.

Each had multiple areas marked on it. They looked very dangerous, which meant they weren't actually safe places.

Nyra picked up one at random and right when her hand made contact with the map.

It started moving.

Nyra quickly pulled her hand away surprised, staring at the map with wide eyes.

What's with this? Was she imagining things? She rubbed her eyes looking again only to find the same thing happening again.

It kept moving until her hand touched the next object in the map.

This time, however, nothing happened.

She felt annoyed as she tried again, watching curiously as the map moved its way around the room.

It went from table to wall and finally landed near a table with a bunch of objects on it, all of which she recognized instantly.

Her dagger appeared in her hand as she reached out to grab the map and examine what it contained.

Nyra looked up at the sky before sighing. She looked around for anyone that looked like they could help her but there were none, meaning that she had to figure something else out.

She closed her eyes and focused on her surroundings. Her ears picking up the sounds of distant voices, people talking, animals running, birds singing. And in the distance she could hear what sounded like laughter.

Slowly, she walked forward towards the noise, trying hard to follow it.

Once she reached the source, Nyra realized that the sounds were coming from a village. Or maybe from the city? Who knows.

She entered the village cautiously, her eyes scanning the crowd for any signs of danger. After a while, she noticed the villagers had started to stop paying attention to what they were talking about and was instead looking directly at Nyra.

When she looked up to the people that were looking at her, Nyra felt her heart rate rise and she quickly took a step backwards. They were all staring right at her.

Before her eyes, they disappeared. The ground beneath her feet shifted, rising and moving forward until it came to rest back into place.

She slowly looked around, seeing the same thing happen throughout the rest of the village. She then heard laughter once more and looked around, noticing that everyone was suddenly laughing and having fun.

Nyra was still frozen to the spot, scared to move or even breathe.

After a while, she noticed that everyone had returned to their previous position. Some were sitting down, some were dancing, some were eating food, some were talking, some were laughing...it seemed like the majority of the villagers had returned to their original positions.

Nyra took in a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke up, her voice echoing around the silent town.

The town became eveloped in flames

immediately after her voice pierced the air and smoke rose into the atmosphere.

Everyone ran for cover and began to scream loudly in fear.

Noticing that the entire population had decided not to leave their homes, Nyra assumed she wouldn't be attacked.

She glanced down at the ground before deciding to start searching for an exit.

She looked around for a second, scanning the area for any possible routes of escape.

There was just one door, a single wooden frame covered in rust. As soon as Nyra looked closer, she was awoken by a loud crashing noise, followed immediately by a shout.

**********

Groaning, she opened her eyes to find the herself back in the map room. Shaking, she sat up slightly, leaning against the wall behind her.

"I thought I was dreaming...." She whispered, feeling weak from what had just happened.

She glanced down, seeing the dagger laying beside her.

Looking at it made her realize that it wasn't just a dream.

She shook her head, telling herself not to believe in such ridiculous ideas.

"I'm fine. Whatever this place is. It won't last forever. And when I find out what exactly is going on, I'll come back and fix it."

Nyra stood up, taking the map in hand and walking out of the room.

It was early afternoon by now.

She wandered aimlessly through the village for a while.

She needed information, not answers, to find what was going on. She needed to know how to defeat the King of Serana and why the council had turned against her.

After wandering for what felt like hours, she found herself at a large wooden gate that led to what seemed to be the main street of the village.

She frowned in confusion, thinking what she might possibly need in a small village like this, as the gate was locked from the outside.

She decided to knock and wait for whoever might answer, only to realise that no one would.

She stepped away from the gate, deciding to walk around the small village a little longer until she eventually decided to find somewhere to sit down and eat lunch.

As she did so, she spotted a small wooden hut not too far from where she was standing.

She continued to walk towards it until she got close enough for her to see the sign above the door reading 'Restaurant' written in black paint with red lettering.

Curiosity getting the best of her, she walked towards the building and pushed the door open quietly.