Map of Obsidian Castle

On the first floor, the prince was after the map in the dungeon. He demanded the map from Cherry, who hid it behind her back. He said without emotion, “You must give me that map, and none of you can escape from me.”

“We do not want to stay here anymore,” Cherry said confidently.

“Plus, we are not your prisoners,” explained Roger. “I meant we are normal people who love the discovery of new things in new adventures.”

The prince looked at him while the mud still stained Roger's face. The prince was disgusted and said, “Filthy liars!”

“We are not liars!” said Cherry.

“You just have not wanted to learn since childhood,” Roger said.

The prince stayed silent. Then, he extended his arm to strangle the man to death. Cherry dropped the map into the mud as the ghost took it and put it on the prince’s shoulder. But the prince was still engaged and noticed that Cherry was releasing his hand with her soft hand. He removed his arm and held onto the map. He studied quietly.

The ghost whispered in his ear, “Leave them alone.”

The prince turned to him and said, “You are the culprit. You are trying to free them. You are gone!”

“I am already gone from my corpse.”

“You--”

Prince Flame found him and said, “Younger brother, thank you.”

The boy turned to his older brother and tilted his head. “What are you thanking me for?”

“That you care for Ruby.”

An awkward silence filled Flame and himself. He never earned thanks from anyone, but this moment just now. He was alone for years since his parents disappeared. He looked up at Flame and Ruby. Ruby was smiling with excitement. While his hand clenched the map, he walked past them and went to his room.

Meanwhile, Cherry was helping her friend Roger to take the medicine for breathing. The ghost heard the dying gasps and went to help Roger in the dungeon. Both siblings were aware of the gasps and the heartbeats of the man. They went to look, and the man survived.

Cherry said, “Thanks for helping me.”

“That is my duty to care for humanity,” the ghost said.

And Roger saw the blurring face of a ghost. “I was about to die, but you saved me.”

Flame and Ruby exchanged looks. Ruby walked away first, but Flame took her arm. He looked, “Do not go to him, and he was endangering the man’s life.”

Her face gave him, “I still want to see him and thank him for saving me.”

She walked away from him and went to look for her younger brother. Prince Flame was left in the hallway and thought hard. “Sister, you will regret this. He is the troublemaker I disliked for so long. Also, I do not want to see him again.”

The prince just looked at the hallway quietly on floor 6. He was still holding the map, which folded many times. “If the ghost was not in my bedroom before, he might have released my prisoners and found the hidden exits. And then, they were gone by now. I might have lost the chance to get them back to my castle. What do I want with them?

“Knowledge. Their knowledge about adventures and discovering new things. Why did I not ask them? Am I slow like a tiny snail in this abandoned castle?” His hands were shaking in mid-air as the footsteps were stomping behind him.

He felt the walls turning pink and warmth radiating from his sister, Ruby. She appeared at the end of the hallway, looking at him with concern. He turned around and entered his room and locked the door behind him. She rushed to knock on his door and said, “Please, open the door.”

He stayed silent and knew it was nothing to talk about. Despite this, she knocked again. He shouted this time, “Leave the castle at once!”

“Younger brother, I want to thank you.”

“Leave now.”

“But--”

“Leave… or else…”

“Or else what?” She wanted to know more.

He grinned wickedly without noticing his smile. In his mind, I want you to… help me get their knowledge from them. That would be great, or else… die!

“Younger brother? Are you still here?” she said behind the door.

He appeared behind her back and closed her mouth. He whispered to her ears, “Do not try to scream, Ruby. I need your help with a task.”

She wondered what task.

He pushed her to his room, and she faced him with questions. “Younger brother, what are you thinking?”

“Ruby, do you want to help me?”

“Yes!”

“Then, try to gain knowledge from them.”

“You mean the prisoners you captured from yesterday?”

“Stop questioning me, Ruby. You are annoyed by my presence and this castle. You should be helping me out here.”

“What if my older brother knew I helped you? Would he discovers?” She asked that important question for him to consider.

He slammed the map on her chest. “You will always know where he goes on this map. And you know yourself in this map. You know every character in this castle will be on the map. You have to get the knowledge from them.”

“Yes, younger brother.”

“Call me the obsidian prince instead.”

“Yes, obsidian prince.”

“I am counting on you.”

In the sixth hallway, Princess Ruby studied the map he gave her earlier. She was awed by the graphics and colors that her younger brother organized into. From west to east, it reads Floors 1-6. Each hallway had a purple wall and gray tiles mixed with obsidian. Plus, the staircases were in between the hallways. In the upper left corner, the bridge and the infected water were. At the end of the first floor was a dungeon with orange and brown colors and mud. At the bottom of the map was a legend saying things that colors indicate. Hidden exits were not together but were separated by their distance. At the upper right corner end of the sixth hallway was the obsidian prince’s bedroom at the top. Next to the last staircase, it read “Lead you to no rails” which meant just a staircase without a safety rail or not safe to walk there from floor 6 to the very first floor.

This was so cool, younger brother. I mean obsidian prince. He has been such a cute brother since we were little. And I must help him find their knowledge. What does he mean by knowledge? The book, I guess. She looked up at the hairy guard with the armor and carried a mace weapon. She dashed away as she thought she was getting eaten. Instead, the guard just shrugged and knocked on the door. The prince opened the door. His eyes narrowed.

The guard said, “There was a new visitor at your door.”

“She was my sister, Ruby.”

“And she was holding your map.”

“I allowed her to get them and their knowledge.”

“So what am I supposed to do now?”

“Prevent the escape from the prisoners.”

“Got it, sir!”

“Plus, take care of my sister during the night only.”

“Sure do.”

The door closed in front of the guard, who turned around and thought. “No sleeping tonight.”

The moon was in the first quarter above the Obsidian Castle and the bridge. While Amber Castle was asleep, the guards were still awake at night to prevent the chaos in and around the castle. Nobody can talk about the missing brother, the camera, and the stolen dress. “None of that stuff!” Said one elderly peasant, who was trying to sleep on the streets with the guards roaming around and poking people with their swords to sleep inside for safety.

Back to the dungeon of the Obsidian Castle, where the ghost gave tips about the hidden exits. Roger drank the medicine and talked slowly while Cherry assured him not to talk. She did all the talking to the ghost, who explained about the hairy guards and the traps around the castle. “So beware of the guards and the hidden traps within the hidden exits. Some exits can be good, and some are not.”

“Which exit is good?” Cherry asked.

Flame was in the background eavesdropping on their escape plan while standing by the wall. He cared none of it all. He remembered that his sister went away to see their younger brother. “She cared so much for him more than me. In Amber Castle, she was confused and looked at me for handling the small things. No wonder she cannot do this alone, she needed help like her mother. Our mother always needed help from our father when we were kids. But my sister never reveals her feelings about things that went wrong. Just talking about her younger brother. I still remember that he disliked the word “brother” when I said that to him. He seemed to hate visitors knocking on his door. He was a lonely person in the entire Lava Valley. More lonely than me, or I was just talking to myself like a ghost.

“He hurt the new people in the dungeon. I cannot or will not allow him to do that if he was in my castle. But he did it anyway in his castle. Why did my sister still love him as if he was harmless? To me, he was the opposite. He was against humanity.”

The gate to the dungeon was finally opened. Prince Flame turned to see Cherry carry Roger out of the mud puddle. The ghost was giving them towels to clean up their messes. Prince Flame approached them without questions.

Cherry finally met the eyes of a fire prince. She stammered to say to him. Roger spoke out, “Hey! Can you help us at least?”

“Roger, no!” Cherry said. “Do not talk, you need to breathe.”

That made Prince Flame laugh a little. He stopped when Cherry glared at him. He said, “I can help, sure.”

“Good,” Roger said breathlessly.

With the help of the prince, Roger can move quicker on his feet. He noticed warmth from the prince’s hands. However, Roger was still feeling pain in his neck and stomach. While Cherry was behind them with the dirty towels and notebooks, the ghost led the Mineralogists to the first exit, which was on the second floor of the castle. Luckily, they were not spotted by the hairy guards or traps.

Princess Ruby missed it by a minute when she was on the fifth floor. On the map, it reads that Prince Flame was helping Roger to get to the first hidden exit door along with Cherry, who was holding things, and the ghost was at the door opening it with his hand. Princess Ruby screamed, “I found them on the second floor!”

Before she reaches the second floor, she had to run from floor 5 to floor 2, which was three hallways to cross through. She stopped and thought, “What about my younger brother, he can be there in a second!”

But that would be a cheat for her. What if he refused to do that? So she had to run along and make her younger brother proud. When she reached floor 4 by herself, two giant guards were waiting by the next staircase. Both have the mace weapons like the first one from floor 6. She swallowed hard and ran past them. They noticed her and ran after her.

As she struggled to be free, the other group checked the first exit. That was no exit but a decoy. The ghost led Roger, Cherry, and Flame to the next floor. They heard footsteps and claws from the ceiling. They hid themselves in one of the unlocked doors. Cherry closed the door slowly as the guards ran past them.

“It was so close,” Cherry whispered to Roger.

In the dark, she cannot see but breathes louder. She flipped the switch on. There was a large chandelier filled with skulls and bones. She covered her mouth with her hand. The smell was awful. The ghost explained, “That room belonged to the most powerful in the Lava Valley, who used to live here peacefully until one day, three people were asleep. The obsidian prince ripped them apart. Bones became a decoration above our heads. He did it when nobody was around the castle.”

Prince Flame was disgusted by his younger brother’s attitude towards humans. “Cruel,” he thought angrily.

Titles from the articles and newspapers appeared in Cherry’s and Roger’s eyes. Cherry spoke first, “One mentioned that he could control people, and he kills them.”

Roger said, “Plus, the community avoided coming here and facing him. We are just ignorants.”

“Roger, do not talk! Just breathe.”

“I will be okay,” Roger reassured her while he felt his stomach a little ease as if the force went out of it slowly. Slowly and less painful, he thought quietly.

And then, Princess Ruby was cornered on the same floor as the group. She was sweating hard as her dress clung to her body like a wet towel. She was holding the map. Her other hand paused their weapons. “I am looking for them, the prisoners. The obsidian prince wants their knowledge.”

“Hmmm?” one of the guards raised their brows.

“Anything more to say before we can kill you!” the second guard said impatiently.

“If you were his obedient guards, he would be angry. When he found his sister dead on the floor helplessly, he would kill you.”

“He killed so many of us!” the guard raised his arms in the air. “He killed so many.”

“For his decorations,” said the second guard.

She narrowed her eyes on them. “You are wrong! I can prove to him that I helped him capture them.”

The door opened after a short silence. Then, the ghost felt a warm presence in the hallway. He closed the door slowly. Ruby found the door open and checked on the map. The middle door was on the left, where the ghost, Roger, Cherry, and even her older brother were among them. She raised her brow. My older brother must leave them alone so I can catch them myself!

“Excuse me!” she demanded.

“Wait, you cannot excuse us!” one of the guards shouted.

“And you are not from here,” the second guard said.

“Very disobedient guards,” she said quietly. “He might be capturing you instead.”

“Wait!” the guard came from floor 6 to the floor where the guards and Princess Ruby were. “We had to work together to capture the prisoners before they could escape the castle.”

“Hmmm?”

“I got the order from the obsidian prince.”

“What about her,” one finger pointed at her face.

“Have manners!” she shouted.

“She followed the same order as well.”

“I did not hear from him,” she said. “Plus, I can do this alone.”

The door opened quickly. The ghost came out first and led the group to the next floor. Bubbles hoped that no one in the hallway noticed them. He was wrong for one thing. The door slammed shut after Cherry, who said, “Oops.”

Then, the guards faced Cherry, who ran upstairs to follow the group into the second hidden exit. This time, the exit was the real one to leave the castle!

The guards rushed to the fourth floor, and Ruby was left alone on the third floor. She thought clearly, “I will never work with these disobedient people.”

She went to the room and found nothing, except her older brother was moving the curtain to hide the tunnel. She approached him and said, “Brother!”

He did not look at her. She said, “You helped them escape.”

No answer.

She found the handwritten notebook “Mineralogy Guide” on the floor beside his right shoe. She grabbed it and opened it to read. She schemed through it quickly and ran out the door. Prince Flame turned around and said, “One of them forgot their writing materials. I should get it back.”

The guards roasted on the floor like ready-to-go meat. Earlier, Prince Flame attacked them while the ghost helped the prisoners to the exit and out of the castle safely. Suddenly, Cherry forgot the notebook.

Prince Flame snatched the notebook before the last staircase that Princess Ruby would enter. She turned around and demanded the book returned to her. He grabbed it and ran off to floor 4. She followed him there, and he dropped the notebook in the tunnel.

She said, “No!”

He closed the curtain to cover the tunnel and faced his angry sister. She said, “You are the worst brother I ever had since the beginning.”

Then, she stormed out to find the obsidian prince. Prince Flame said, “You do not see whose fault is it, sister?”

Princess Ruby does not want to knock on the door in the morning. She worried about his madness and thought about how useless she was to him. She walked away from the door, which opened slowly. As she walked further away, the book dropped onto the floor. She stopped and turned around to see the same notebook on the floor. She ran to pick it up and gave it to the obsidian prince, who smiled at her.

Her face was in total confusion and speechless. He said calmly, “At least you gave me the notebook, Ruby.”

Her mouth dropped an o shape. Still, she was speechless.

He looked around her and said, “Ruby, you can go back to your castle.”

She saw the door closed in front of her. Then, her face turned normal, and she knocked on the door hurriedly. “Obsidian prince! How can you get that notebook? I thought I lost it.”

“No need to explain, Ruby. I got everything under control.”

“Okay.” With that, she left the Obsidian Castle. She found Prince Flame by the bridge, his back to her. She walked so as not to make a sound. He said, “Brother took the notebook from the tunnel.”

“How?”

“He teleports.”

“Ah, he did it.”

Flame turned to face his sister for the first time in the morning. “Sister, why did he need that book?”

“Knowledge, he always wanted knowledge.” she raised her index finger to the air.

The chariot came suddenly. Both went inside to leave the Obsidian Castle while the prince was on the balcony on the highest floor. He smiled with an intention in mind. “So you knew, Flame. I can count on you to help her out. In the end, I got answers right to my hands.”

The pet vulture Cobalt came flying towards him and landed on his arm. It called for “Prisoners, escape!”

“I do not need them. Finally, I have the book of knowledge that can help me solve the rock’s issue.”