Val pov(first person point of view)

  "Sooooo.....Val?" Eclipsara asked, her expression deadpan.

  I sighed. "Yes, Eclipsara?"

  Still deadpan, she asked, "How long have we been walking?"

  "A lot... like three and a half hours."

  "So why does it seem like we're walking in circles instead of actually getting anywhere?"

  "Because we are," I said casually.

  "AHHHH HEEECCKKK NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Eclipsara let out a dramatic scream of pure despair.

  I sighed again, contempting whether I should scream alongside her, but I realized I was already too exhausted to even bother. That’s how long I had been thinking and walking, trying to figure out where exactly we were supposed to be going.

  See, after heading to town, we ran into a few... difficulties. Eclipsara and I have been glued to this map, trying to pinpoint where the X mark is. But get this-everyone we've asked along the way doesn’t even know where this spot is. They all said the same thing: "That pce doesn’t exist."

  But of course, Eclipsara and I are stubborn.

  Unfortunately, we are now....probabaly....no, actually...losing our minds.

  And our grudge? It’s on this stupid map, because the person who sent it to us is nowhere in sight.

  "VAL! LET ME BURN THE MAP OR-BETTER YET-LET ME PUNCH IT!" Eclipsara shouted, gring daggers at the crumpled map in my hand.

  "I feel the same way. I, too, want to beat the absolute hell out of this non-living map, but if we burn it, how are we ever going to find the location? We’ll forget the directions."

  Eclipsara took a deep breath, as if physically holding back her wrath. "Fine. But if we can’t find it after another hour, I’m punching it. I won’t tear it apart, but I will punch it. Even if it’s an inanimate object, it deserves my wrath for leading us on this wild goose chase."

  "Agreed."

  At this point, we had checked alleyways, side streets, and even hidden paths. Now? We were desperate enough to check the sewers—our st option.

  Oh, and let me tell you-it stinks.

  Eclipsara scanned the dimly lit tunnels, her expression bnk.

  "Val... can I punch it now?" she said in a deadpan tone.

  "Ten more minutes," I replied, equally deadpan. Even if this map is just an object, I can’t keep defending it forever. Please, please be correct for once. I beg of you.

  Eclipsara turned to me, csping her hands together and giving me the ultimate puppy-dog eyes. "Can we make an exception? Pretty please?"

  It was tempting. She was adorable. But rules were rules.

  "No."

  Eclipsara clicked her tongue, looking away, clearly disappointed but still brimming with wrath. "Tch. Dang it. The map lives ten minutes longer." She sighed, resigned. "Fine. But only ten more minutes."

  And so, we searched the sewers a little longer. Ten minutes ter?

  Nothing.

  "Val. Give me the map."

  I sighed and held it out. Eclipsara grinned, took a stance, and readied her punch.

  "Finally, this stupid map is gonna ge-"

  Then-something shifted.

  Right between us.

  It was subtle at first, a flicker in the air-like heat waves distorting the space between us. But then, it intensified.

  I really don’t know how to describe it, but… imagine dipping your hand into water and swirling it around. The way the water distorts, ripples outward, forming a slow vortex. Its like that.

  Except-this wasn’t water.

  This was reality itself. The air rippled like a liquid, reality bending as if it was a portal forming.

  Between Eclipsara and me, space began to twist, stretch, spiral-as if something unseen was stirring the very fabric of existence. Eclipsara noticed it instantly, and in that split second, we both instinctively reached out-desperately grabbing onto each other so we wouldn’t be separated.

  Eclipsara and I managed to hold each others hands quickly before being sucked into a portal that seems to swallow us.

  I woke up groggily, my mind still hazy, and turned to see Eclipsara stirring awake beside me.

  "What... the-" I mumbled, my voice thick with sleep.

  A deep voice, with a strange, almost unnatural undertone, filled the dimly lit room.

  "So, you’re awake..."

  The air in the room felt heavy, almost oppressive, like the kind of setting you’d find in a horror novel. But oddly enough, there was no actual danger-not that we could see, anyway. There were no chains, no locked doors, no eerie whispers in the dark. And yet, the dim lighting, the unsettling silence, and the sheer strangeness of the situation made my skin crawl.

  Eclipsara and I quickly got a hold of ourselves and turned toward the source of the voice. A figure in a grey hooded cloak stood before us, his back turned as he worked intently at something on a cluttered table. His face was completely hidden beneath the hood’s shadow, and his hands-gloved in the same grey color scheme-moved methodically.

  His robes, which looked medical in nature but oddly in a grey color, only added to the feeling that we had somehow wandered into the ir of a mad scientist. The way he muttered to himself and tinkered with objects on the table, seemingly lost in his own world, made him seem even more unhinged and crazy.

  Were we in some kind of abandoned boratory? A hidden workshop? The pce wasn’t weak in its structure, but it had that off-putting bndness, like a pce that should have been clean but still carried an eerie, unnatural stillness instead. You know, the one like in horror settings?

  As soon as Eclipsara fully woke up and realized where we were, her confusion was quickly repced by pure rage.

  She sat bolt upright, her expression darkening as she processed what the man had just said.

  "So, you’re the one who sent that map..."

  Her voice was low, controlled-but I could feel the pure frustration bubbling beneath her tone.

  The hooded man, still facing away from us, continued speaking, his voice carrying that strange mechanical undertone.

  "I was hoping you'd wake up. Honestly, I thought you would arrive tomorrow, or even two days ter, with the map I sent."

  Eclipsara and I took a moment to process his words.

  This was the guy who sent us the map.

  The very same map that had led us in circles for hours. The one that had nearly driven us insane. Oh heck no.

  Eclipsara’s expression twitched. Her eye twitched. Her whole soul twitched. Heck, I felt that.

  "IT WAS YOU WHO GAVE US THAT MAP?!"

  Her voice erupted like an explosion of sheer exasperation. She shot up from where she was sitting, fists clenched, her body practically vibrating with the urge to throw hands.

  "VAL AND I WALKED AROUND FOR HOURS! HOURS! THAT MAP SENT US AROUND IN CIRCLES! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU PUT US THROUGH?!"

  At this point, she looked like she was barely restraining herself from lunging at him. I could almost see the storm cloud of pure wrath forming above her head.

  The man, however, remained unfazed. He didn’t even turn around. He just kept working, as if Eclipsara wasn’t moments away from committing a full-scale assault or first degree murder.

  I, on the other hand, sat there, still half-dazed from waking up, thinking about how utterly done Eclipsara looked.

  Honestly? Same. I truly do feel your pain Eclipsara.

  Eclipsara, having reached her absolute limit, marched forward, fully intent on grabbing the man-who, judging by the situation, was presumably Dr. Trauss’s teacher and mentor because who would send us the map and wear a grey doctors coat-and forcefully turning him around.

  But just as her hands were about to make contact, the man turned around on his own.

  Eclipsara took one look at him and immediately froze, her mouth falling open in pure, unfiltered shock.

  "VAL?! HE HAS NO FACE?!"

  I blinked. "What-?"

  I turned my gaze toward the man…

  And yep. No face.

  Like, literally no face.

  His head was smooth, featureless, and completely gray. No eyes, no mouth, no nose-just a bnk, expressionless surface, as if someone had forgotten to finish designing him.

  Instinctively, Eclipsara and I clutched onto each other, our survival instincts kicking in at the same time.

  And then-

  "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

  Our combined scream echoed through the room.