[To Be Named] - Chapter 6

[To Be Named] - by Ho-Oh16
A QuizUp fantasy adventure story.

(Note: to save confusion, anything said by the voice talking to a character via telepathy starts with '//')

Chapter 6.

   "Oh my gosh, we forgot to tell everyone!" I randomly blurted out, remembering what had not long taken place.
   "What?!" I heard several voices yell.
   "There was another clone in the house," I started to explain, "but this time it wasn't of one of us.".
   "So, who was it?"
   "I think it was someone who has something to do with all of this." I answered, wildly gesturing to the house. "It sounds crazy, but there's no other explanation for it. I mean, he was just standing there, in my room.". I wasn't really sure what else to say.
   "Ooooh?" was the first reaction. I ignored it, for their sake.
   "Oh... Well... Do you suppose there could be others in the house? As in, more clones of these people?". DD was very good at asking questions that I didn't know the answer to.
   "There's always a possibility. Perhaps we ought to check." Shadow suggested, grabbing his scythe that was resting against the sofa.
   "I agree. And if there are more of them, perhaps we could capture one and find out what's really going on!" Ozy said excitedly. He stood up and took out his katana. "It's worth a shot!"
   "I like this plan." Anton said. His nunchucks were still in his bag, ready for action.
   "So do I!". I could tell that DD was ready to turn into a dragon, but I hoped she wouldn't, purely because we would all be squished and the room demolished. It was one of the smallest rooms, after all.
   "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go catch us a clone!" Rashaun cheered, gripping his sword and leading everyone out of the room.
   I watched everyone leave and groaned.
   "We don't actually know if there are any clones out there!" I called after them. Unfortunately, they were all out of earshot, so I was left on my own.
   Brilliant.

   "So, if you were a clone of some evil mastermind, where would you hide?" DD asked Rashaun.
   "Uh... I couldn't really say... It depends on the current situation, I guess." he replied. "Somewhere secretive, of course."
   "Well, obviously. But where?"
   "There's the study. Perhaps there's some secret door in the bookcase." Rashaun joked. Nevertheless, he walked into the study and began to search the room for signs of a secret door.
   "It's worth a shot, I suppose."
DD thought carefully about the floor plan of the house. The ground floor consisted of sixteen rooms, not including the corridors. The first floor had eight bedrooms - each with an en suite - a library and a locked room that no one could get into.
   I wonder if there are actually any clones to find...
   //Maybe there are.
   "Ow!" DD winced. Her head felt like it had just been cracked open like a coconut.
   "Hey hey hey, is everything alright?" Rashaun asked. He got her to sit down on a chair.
   "Yeah, I just...". She told herself that what she heard was nothing. Just the wind. "It's just a headache. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure."
   "If you say so... Just stay there for a moment and I'll carry on looking.". Rashaun walked over to a series of bookcases and started to fiddle with the books.
   "That was odd... I wasn't expecting that at all..." she whispered to herself, checking that Rashaun was far enough away. "I'm sure it was just the wind. The wind, in a room with closed windows and draft-excluders."
   //Not likely.
   DD almost fell off of her chair. The sound of the chair knocking the ground as it stood back on four legs caused Rashaun to peer round the bookshelf. "Still good?"
   "Fine! All fine here!"
   What is happening to me? I think... I think I'm going insane!
   //You're not insane.
   DD coughed to clear her throat and kept an eye on where Rashaun was scanning the shelves.
   Who are you? Please tell me.
   //I'm a friend.
   And I'm Mickey Mouse. Who are you, and why are you in my head?
   The voice didn't answer her, so she was left alone in her thoughts. She took a moment to think about the prospect of hearing voices. It wasn't a good thing, that's for sure. She ignored it, stood up and began to help the search.

   "How much do you want to bet that there aren't anymore of these clones?" Anton asked Shadow.
   "A lot." was the response. "I'm starting to believe that there would be no need for more. It'd be a waste of resources."
   "So why are we looking? If there aren't any, what's the point in searching?"
   "There's a room I want to check out. I think it's upstairs and to the right. Want to come along?" Shadow asked, starting to make his way up the staircase.
   "Beats going on a wild goose chase. What's in it?" Anton questioned, joining Shadow on the stairs. They began to climb up the steps together.
   "I don't know. The room's locked as far as I'm aware, but it could be useful to know its contents.". They reached the top of the staircase, and heard a smash. It came from the left hallway.
   "Uh... What was that?". Anton gripped his nunchucks tighter, preparing himself for a fight with the unknown. A pile of smashed china was visible on the carpet. It was jade green with gold embellishments - no doubt rather dear.
   "I guess someone didn't like the décor." Shadow responded. They ignored the pile of fragments, and made their way to the locked door.
   Shadow knocked melodically on the door, just as he had done at the end of the first gruelling trial, but there was no response. He tried a different rhythm, but again to no avail.
   "Maybe this door doesn't care much for manners." Anton suggested.
   "OUTTA MY WAY!" called a voice from behind.
   Obeying the instructions, Shadow and Anton moved out of the way and a figure swung an axe downwards onto the door. It repeated this motion, each strike more powerful than the last.
   "Heeeeeere's Ozyyy!". Ozy had created a hole in the door so he was able to reach the lock from the outside. "I've always wanted to use that line." he finished with a chuckle.
   "If anyone was in that room, I'm sure they just leapt out of the window without hesitation." Anton replied, wondering where Ozy had found the axe.
   With a clank, the door was unlocked and the trio were able to enter the room.
   "Holy cannoli..."
   "This is pretty cool..."
   "This is the ideal place to practice torturing and slaughtering my enemies."
   Ozy and Anton stared at Shadow with concern and confusion, but only a pinch of shock. Shadow looked at them, wondering what they were staring at.
   "What?"

   "Hello?" I called up the stairs.
I'd continued to sit in the drawing room on my own thinking about the events of the past couple of days, before leaving to join the aimless search.
   I sighed. "Don't you love it when you're placed in an unimaginable situation, have to fight monsters, have conversations with a voice, have a spontaneous pillow fight, and start talking to yourself?" I asked my reflection. "I didn't think so."

   "Hang on..."
   "What? What is it?"
   "Upstairs... There's a room but I think it's locked. What if there's something in it?" DD proposed. "I mean, it's worth a shot, right?"
   "Absolutely!" Rashaun replied, placing books back onto the shelves hurriedly. "Let's go and find the others and see if they've found anything first."
   "Nice plan."
   DD and Rashaun left the study slightly messier than when they'd started their investigation, but figured they'd return later to finish the job.
   Rashaun stepped out into the corridor and I almost walked right into him.
   "Flaming Nora...! What is it with people and popping out of nowhere these days?" I moaned. "Nevermind. Did you find anything of interest?"
   "No, but we're heading upstairs to investigate a certain room." Rashaun answered.
   "Yeah! I think there could be something important in it." DD added with complete enthusiasm.
   "Have you seen the others at all? I think they ought to come along with us too.". I shook my head at Rashaun and tried to determine which room they were talking about.
   A crashing noise echoed through the house.
   "That came from upstairs..."
  "Quickly! Let's go!". DD raced ahead of us. Her determination and general drive was astounding given the situation, but it was definitely a good thing. Rashaun and I chased after her, and the three of us made our way to the sealed room.
   "OZY!"
   "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR!"
   "That's the last time we let you use shurikens. This time, it was a window. Next time... Well...Next time it could be someone's head." Anton scolded.
   "I said it was an accident..."
   Ozy had attempted to try out a new weapon, but had missed the target.   The silver shuriken had smashed one of the window's glass panes and exited the room. He had watched it land in the grass.
   "A blade among blades."
   "Very poetic." Rashaun said, walking into the room.
   "I try." Shadow responded.
   "Oh.. Uh... Please divert your eyes from the window... Someone broke it... Not sure who, though..." Ozy said, though it was rather obvious who had smashed the window.
    "Right, OK then.". I stepped into the room, followed by DD. "This place is interesting..."
    "This is a good training area. Fully equipped. Ideal for practicing close-combat strategies." Shadow commented.
   Yes, the room was ideal. It was a decent size and contained practice dummies and new weapons to try out. Moreover, rather than continuing the more Renaissance periodicity of the rest of the house, the room appeared as more of a dojo. However, there was an issue.
    "Yeah, for you four, maybe." I said, referring to the males in the room. "But I can't use this room, and neither can DD. We can't all just fight close-combat style - someone has to be able to fight from a further distance. It's why I use a bow. And this room may be big, but not big enough to house us, and a dragon."
   "How about your dagger? Surely you'll need to know how to use it more effectively." Anton suggested.
   "It's a dagger. You stab people with it. I don't think it gets much more complicated than that.". I sighed.
   "So why doesn't DD try using a handheld weapon? Like a sword, or something?"
   "But I can turn into a dragon. Why would I need a sword, or a bow, or something like that?" DD responded. Like me, she was thinking of how we would hone our fighting skills.
   "Perhaps there's another training room." Shadow proposed. "One specified to your combat styles."
   Before anyone could react to his idea, someone we'd all grown to hate more and more decided to say 'hello'.
   "There is another place to train," he cleared his throat, "though... It has no room, but four walls protect it. That was a riddle, so now you can have fun finding it."
   "What the heck is that supposed to mean?!"
   "It has no room... So, there's no space to train? Or... Uh..." Anton said, rattling his brain.
   "It has no room..." I mumbled, starting to pace.
   "OK, well, it has four walls so we can assume it's a room in the house."
   "It'd have to be very big though. It'd need targets at a far distance and room for a dragon." Rashaun added.
   "No room... Four walls.. ". I stopped pacing at the smashed window. I started at the nature that had been dragged into the sky with us. "What if...?"
   Silence filled the room as everyone began to think. I continued to look outwards. It became apparent that a chunk of the forest had been forced into the air along with the house.
   "What about the basement? The tunnels could lead somewhere." DD helpfully suggested.
   "Perhaps, but it's a maze down there." was the much less helpful response.
   "I am NOT going into another maze anytime soon."
   "That's it..." I mumbled, still gazing at the tree tops.
   "What? The tunnels?" Ozy queried.
   "No!" I huffed. I peered through the smashed window pane and saw an area with less foliage. It was not noticeable at a quick glance, but if you looked for long enough, a space presented itself.
   "What then?"
   "The trees." I replied. I was still looking out into the woods, when a pigeon flew at the window.
   The pigeon - it's feathers somewhat ruffled - flapped a bit before flying off over the house.
   Wondering what on earth the pigeon had been on, I turned my focus back onto the trees. What I saw caused me to evacuate the room and race outside of the house.

   "Wait... Where are you going?!" Rashaun asked as I ran past. Unfortunately, there was no time to waste.
   "STOP TALKING AND HURRY UP!!" I yelled being me, picking up my pace as I left the final steps.
   "What's gotten her all excited?" Ozy asked as he looked towards the trees, just as I had. "Oh... I see... We should probably go with her...". He nodded towards the large column of smoke that had begun to form.
   "But why is she going out there?!" Anton questioned.
   They could see me on the grass below, catching my breath, before heading into the woods.
   "Ah, I understand." Shadow announced. Everyone looked at him, waiting for more information.
   "WELL?!" screamed four voices.
   "Just think about it. 'There is no room, but four walls protect it'. This other place he was on about doesn't have a room. It's outside. The four walls that protect it," he points towards the smoke, "are the trees that surround it."
   A moment of silence ensued.
   "...I think that now is a a good time to go after her..."
   "...Yeaaaaaah."

   The flames were bright and fierce. They roared. Crackled.
   "It's just... A bonfire?" I uttered.   Before me was a large pile of chopped wood which had been lit with something and by someone. "Well, at least I know I was right."
   The bonfire stood in the corner of a large rectangular clearing. I assumed it was of human design, as it just looked too-
   "Neat."
   "How interesting..."
   "Oh, this is cool!" DD added to the comments.
   "You didn't say we were having a barbecue!"
   "That's because we aren't, Ozy."
   "I thought... I thought someone had set the place on fire. I panicked." I shrugged. "I saw a gap in the trees and assumed this was the place that Mr a Guy in the Sky was on about."
   "Is that what you're calling him?" Shadow asked.
   "Yessss?". I smirked and rolled my eyes. "Bob isn't a very good name for him in my opinion."
   "How about Dave?" Ozy suggested.
   "Ew, no! Mr Guy in the Sky. It rolls off the tongue nicely."
   "We can decide on a name later... For now, let's focus on the important bit. What is this place?".
   "This is the other training area Mr G... I mean.. he was on about. This is where I can train with DD. There are targets set up at different distances and angles."
   "I guess that's that solved then." Ozy remarked.
   "But why is it here? Why would they feel the need to create a room and open area for us to use?".
   Again, with the questions I cannot answer, DD?
   "Wrong question.". Shadow stated before frowning. "Who lit the fire?"
   A rustling could be heard in the bushes at the far end of the rectangular clearing, behind the targets.
   Like the hunted, everyone was on edge. Weapons were grabbed and drawn ready for a fight, and everyone got ready to either run or take a stand.
   The rustling was occasionally split by a noise - one we couldn't recognise. Slowly, we walked closer, taking a single step as one big motion.
   A twig snapped.
   "Let me handle this."
   I pulled my bow off of my back and loaded one of my arrows. Quickly, I positioned myself perpendicularly to the target, facing the left. I drew back the string to my face and steadied my arm. It was aching still, but that was completely irrelevant. For all I knew, whatever was in the woods could've been more dangerous than any dragon.
   I took a deep breath.
   "Time for a bit of target practice." I muttered. I closed my eyes and pictured the Sun. I didn't know why, but it was good enough for me.
   I released the arrow and it glided through the air effortlessly.