Everyone was struggling and thrashing about, unable to escape the grasp of the vines, when everything had gone quiet. This was it, his plan was almost complete, there was just one last obstacle in his way. Torben turned around to face Azzy, who hadn’t moved an inch, frozen in fear. His hair was overgrown, covering most of his disfigured face, with crooked fangs in a mouth so melted, it nearly separated his jaw from the rest of his head. That form, combined with the tattered cloak tied around his neck, Kokoro recognized it all too well, the same one Torben took the day they both died. They hadn’t been listening to what he said, still in shock from seeing their brother after countless years, maybe even centuries. So much so, they almost hadn’t noticed the large set of mishapen claws barreling down towards Azzy. Eyes shut tightly, anticipating some kind of impact or loud sound (Game shuts off here), there came a faint, yet familiar
Kokoro, confused, cautiously opened their eyes to see they were back at where their own grave, the same place their journey with Azzy began. Azzy was sitting in the river, same as she’d done the first time she fell into the Underground.
K: “We have to go back!”
Azzy sat there, staring into space.
K: “Please, we can’t just leave them like that… Your friends, my family…”
Azzy stood up, concentrating hard, until everything went dark again.
. . . (Game shuts off here)
Nothing changed, they were still at the river. That’s when the panic set in.
K: “NonoNoNoNONONONO”
K: “If we can’t go back, what are we supposed to do?! That flower could be here at any moment, andandand- And…”
Kokoro sank to the ground
K: “That flower… was Torben. Torben was that flower…?”
The lack of vines blocking the way was weird Kokoro: “Something feels wrong, that fl- sigh”
K: “Torben isn’t here this time.”
Kokoro pauses for a moment
K: “We should warn them, because if I know what my brother’s become, and he hasn’t just been erased or something, there’s no way he wouldn’t try a new plan.”
Without needing to endure poison this time around, the trek through the maze was genuinely enjoyable. The lack of inhabitants or other monsters usually found there, however, quickly sucked the fun out of it back into creepy territory.