Topic: MAZE

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

"Hmm.", Margaret nods, "Thank you, Elenore. You're right, it's... just a game. I have to remember that."
"Well, I'm not scared of bugs anyways.", Doon chimes in, "Girls can be so squeamish, am I right Tsukasa?"
Tsukasa sighs deeply and rolls his eyes but remains silent, not willing to indulge Doon's incendiary remarks.

You all continue following Margaret through the Maze. She turns right on the first intersection, then reaches another.
"Oh, this looks familiar! Yes, the pink key is...", she turns left, "Over there!", she walks down the hallway to the left.

You find yourselves at a dead end. Margaret walks up to the wall, touching it lightly.
The wall flashes brightly for a second, momentarily blinding you all. There's not a sound.
When you can see again, Margaret's chain has obtained another tag. The pink key. The last key!

[Pulsen]

*Out of habit I do the Au Ra emote for joy.* "Now that we have all the keys where do we go? Does Mr.Tsukasa or do you know the way out?" I ask Margaret hoping that she does.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

Margaret admires the key for a second. "I got it. I finally got it. I can go home now.", she says to herself and sighs in relief.
She turns to Elenore, answering her question. "Yes! It's that way!", she points enthusiastically towards the opposite direction.
Margaret grabs Elenore's hand and rushes down the long hallway. Doon follows closely, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore]

Upon listening to Margaret's guidance, your mind can't help but to briefly go back to the last time you were in this part of the Maze.
The other Elenore, the entity who tried to take Margaret away from you, she directed you towards the same exit, you realize.
It seems she spoke the truth after all. You could have left the Maze alone. But you're together again. You regret nothing.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

Margaret reaches the end of the hallway and, as she turns the corner, she's pushed back by a violent gale.
You look over the corner, trying to assess the situation. You come across a truly bizarre predicament: a snow blizzard.
In an unprecedented way, the Maze is now manifesting severe climate conditions. The wind blows cold, chilling you to the bones.
The path ahead of you is covered four feet deep in snow. You can turn back and gather yourselves or push through and weather the storm.

[Kapenguin]

"What the?!"

I reel back from the sudden biting cold. The sheer abruptness of this blizzard appearing in the hallway throws me off my mental equilibrium, and for a brief second, I completely forget where I am.

I pull myself together so I can process this...bizarre development.

"Okay, so...WHAT?!"

[Pulsen]

"We're almost there! We can't give up! I won't let this place defeat us!" I yell to be heard and raise morale.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

"Elenore is right!", Margaret gathers herself and rejoins Elenore in the front, despite visibly shaking from the cold.
"We're almost there, I can feel it... Let's all leave together, please!", she pleads with the rest of the group.
Tsukasa is also strongly affected by the cold, but he steps up. "Gather around everyone, I'll cast a spell!"

[Pulsen]

Though both of us are suffering from the cold Margaret taking the worse of it we gather around Tsukasa wondering what kind of magic he will cast. I help those who also need it even Mr. Doon.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

"Hey ladies, I know a great way to keep warm during a blizzard if you're interested!", Doon joins in, but he can't help making a pickup line.
Margaret hides behind Elenore, trying her best to ignore him. Doon chuckles, amused. "Well, I'm sure Tsukasa's spell will work just fine..."
Mimiru joins the huddle aswell. Tsukasa raises his staff and casts his spell. You're all surrounded by a bright light. You feel warm again.
It's a powerful spell, leaving Tsukasa somewhat drained, but you're all unaffected by the cold of the elements for the time being.

[Pulsen]

I make a mental note to break Mr.Doon's kneecaps when we get out here. "Thank you, Mr.Tsukasa. Are you alright?" I inquire. "Now that we're warm let's keep moving, Margaret, Mr.Tsukasa please lead the way."

[Kapenguin]

"Thanks, Tsukasa. Take it easy with your magic from here on. We'll handle anything that comes until you're feeling recharged."

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

"I'm alright.", Tsukasa replies, "I don't know if I have much magic left in me.", he informs you in a concerned tone.
"It will be ok, we can make it now, thank you!", Margaret confirms, as she starts guiding the group once again.
Though the cold doesn't affect you, you find it's still physically exerting walking through such tall snow.
You walk in a line, following on each others tracks, effectively digging a trench through the snow.

You turn a corner and feel somewhat disheartened to see another long stretch of hallway completely covered in snow. You power through.
The blizzard continues, with no end in sight. The wind and snow continue blowing around you violently, but you don't feel the cold.
You reach another corner at the end of this hallway. You turn, suspensefully. The blizzard stops, as abruptly as it started.

You all make it out of the snow, some more tired than others, but all unharmed. You shake the loose snow off your clothes.
You find yourselves at another long hallway. The same white floor, walls and ceiling you've gotten so used to since you got here.
Margaret looks particularly exhausted, after digging and walking through all that snow, but the pull of the Maze compels her to keep walking.

At the end of this hallway, on the right, she finally finds a door. A black door. She stops and looks at it in awe.
"This is it... we made it...", she informs you, in-between short breaths, "This is the exit!", she declares with certainty.

[Pulsen]

I'm a bit tired but I'm glad we finally made it. Now to open the door and leave. "How do we open this? I don't see a place to put the keys in." I ask looking at the door.

[MartAnimE]

[Elenore] [Mimiru]

"Hmm, I think it goes... here?" Margaret steps aside, allowing everyone to take a better look. She points to a small slot in the center of the black door.
On closer inspection, the slot appears to have the exact shape and size to accommodate the tags you've been collecting. But something alarms you.
The inside of the slot is coloured, as you'd expect, given the wide variety of coloured keys you have found, but this one is red, a colour you lack.

"Red!?", Doon angrily interjects, "You got the wrong door, Margaret! We have yellow, green, purple, pink, orange, lavender, and brown. Try again!", he insists.
"I'm not wrong, this is the exit!", Margaret reacts defensively, "This is the only exit, I'm sorry...", she looks down in shame, wondering what went wrong.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me...", Doon sighs loudly, rubbing his temples, trying to think, quietly falling into a deep state of annoyance and despair.

"I don't think she's wrong.", Tsukasa chimes in, sympathetically, "There were other rooms in the Maze, other people. What if... they got the red key?"
You all take Tsukasa's theory into consideration but, before anyone can put together another sentence, you're interrupted by voices coming from behind you.
You turn around, alarmed. On the opposite side of the black door there's another hallway, from which a new party emerges. They stop when they notice your group.

"See, Kirika? I told you we'd run into other people sooner or later...", says an attractive young woman with long blond hair, with a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
"Hmm.", the young Japanese girl next to her nods subtly, "You were right, Mireille.", she replies softly. She holds a cute white kitten with blue eyes in her arms.
Looking closely at them you can confirm, from the familiar white outfits, that they must be real people, other players brought into the Maze just like you.

The wear and tear, aswell as the blood stains in their white clothing, also suggest that they must have gone through their own personal ordeals to get to this point.
The kitten, however, seems like an anomaly. Could a cat be one of the players? Obviously, he's not wearing clothes, but something about him catches your eye.
He has a link chain around his neck, same as Margaret and Tsukasa. And, more importantly, he has acquired the red, blue, and indigo tags. The missing keys!