“I really wish whoever this guy is had more to say than just ‘you’re welcome’.” I commented.

“Honestly, this is the most confusing villain we’ve dealt with so far.” said Lucas.

“How much power does he even have and WHY has he chosen to do things this way!?” I said.

“First he makes a mess and kills my sister… just what the hell does he want!?” exclaimed Lucas, sounding very upset.

“It’ll be okay.” I said.

“… I’m just tired of losing things.” responded Lucas, after letting out a sigh.

“Me too.” I said, “Although, I kind of mean it in a different way.”

“I understand completely.” replied Lucas, “Growing up, I never really had that many friends. Anyone I knew, they’d just end up leaving after some time. I was happy that Lilith was around, but I really was sad when she left for Dovacath. After that, I felt alone.”

“…And you used to blame Erica for what happened, right?” I said.

“Yeah,” Lucas continued, seeming sad, “she and Lilith would fight all the time. I never wanted to get caught up in their arguments. I didn’t speak to Erica much after that. I found out about the thing that happened in Mirai a couple years back and I really wanted to see Lilith again. When each world was falling apart seemed like a good opportunity, but I got kidnapped somehow. After that adventure was over, things were fine and I started to tolerate Erica. While Lilith was gone, I never really made that many friends and any I did make are now gone. It just hurts when how I think of Erica has changed, she just ends up getting killed.”

“Honestly,” I said, “you have to get a point where you accept that things happen: boring or interesting, good or bad. A lot of people were my friends are gone- a lot of people that I called my BEST friends are gone.”

“I don’t know if-” started Lucas.

“It may take time, but you’ll most likely be able to do it in the end. Just accept that people will come and go in your life. You will end up losing things. Sometimes, you will lose a friend. It could even be your best friend. You may grow apart, you might get into a fight, they might somehow die. These things happen. It’s just a sad part of life. But you know, I think the very best thing about friends, is that no matter how many friends you do lose, you can always make more.”

“…How long did it take you to think of that?” asked Lucas.

“I’ve heard it somewhere before.” I answered.

“Really?” responded Lucas.

“Yes and continuing off what I said earlier, as long as you’re alive, you’re most likely not going to stop meeting new people and the only things you’re not going to know are how important these people are going to be to you and what roles they will play in your life. Every few years, I seem to have a different group of friends.”

“…Well… you’re probably right.” said Lucas.

“Anyways, Now that we have that out of the way, we should probably continue with our search.” I suggested.

“Yes.” Matthias cut in, “We need to locate the first key.”

“So is that why all of you are here?” asked Charles.

“Yes.” I answered, “The first key is likely in this building.”

“What do we know about these keys, anyways?” asked James.

“Yeah, what do they look like?” asked Mikaela.

“They look like keys, duh.” answered Stuart.

“Please don’t be a smartass.” I said.

“I can make HIM kick the bucket, if you want.” suggested Isaac.

“No, we’re not killing each other!” I exclaimed.

“Those keys,” said Matthias, “each of them has a specific item on one end. I know that Mihr'hai’s has a penguin.”

“Oh, god no,” I responded, “not more penguins.”

“You don’t like penguins?” asked Catherine.

“There was a bit of an ‘issue’ last fall,” I replied, “which involved a lot of penguins. I can’t say I want to look at one after that.”

“Well,” said Matthias, “let’s search this place- we’ll split up if we have to.”

“Okay,” I said, walking off, “I’ll search over here.”

It was at that moment that we all split up and searched and eventually, I found something interesting: a grid full of numbers.

“I think I found something.” I said out loud.

“What is it?” asked Lucas, walking over.

“I think this might lead us to what we’re looking for.” I answered.

“Really? A bunch of numbers?” responded Isaac, walking over.

“Look,” I said, “all I need to do is put these numbers in the right places so that they form a couple of equations, using each number once and they must be equal.”

“How do you know this?” I heard Simon say as he walked over to me.

“I’ve seen something like it before in a video game.” I answered, playing around with the numbers on the grid.

Before I knew it, the eyes of everyone involved in the quest were on me. I felt a bit uncomfortable with everyone watching, their eyes pinned on me like a million really sharp needles. After a few minutes, I finished and a bunch of bricks fell off of the wall, causing me to back up to avoid getting hurt.

“We’re not done,” I said, “looks like there’s a sliding puzzle.”

I looked at the wall, noticing a bunch of blocks that had to be moved to get a ball from point A to B. After several minutes, I began to sweat, because I knew everyone else was watching me and I was a bit stuck. Then, Matthias stepped in, placing his hands on some blocks and moved them around extremely fast. He solved it in less than a few seconds.

“…Are you a witch?” I asked.

“Nope.” answered Matthias.

A spot had opened up on the wall, so I reached in and pulled out a key that had a penguin on one end.

“This has to be it.” said Matthias.

“Well,” I said, “where next?”

“Hey, ‘This Guy’…?” said Isaac.

“What is it?” I responded.

“What was it you said about penguins earlier?” he asked.