Once Huntar and his companions stepped into the dark hallway, the doors closed with a bang. Basju jumped and swung around. “Ah! Ah!”

Torag growled and charged toward the door. He banged his fists on it. “Torag! Torag!”

Zena rushed to him and padded his back. “Calm down, big boy. Calm down.”

Huntar grumbled. “It appears we can’t leave until we defeat the sorcerer.”

“What if we can never get out?” Basju cried. “Even if we kill the freak here?”

Huntar glared at the monkey. “Trying is better than doing nothing. Come on!”

The lion strolled through the darkness first, keeping his board sword out. He moved in a slow pace in case a trap might spring out.

Through the next doorway at the end, Huntar and his friends entered what appeared to be an empty space with stars. But high above, strange crystal cubes floated around like snowflakes.

“What is this place?” Basju shouted. “The night sky?”

Huntar touched the black floor around with his foot. It was solid and cold, like a stone buried in snow.

Huntar slightly smiled at the floor. “This must be an illusion. Typical sorcerer treats.”

Zena glared around. “I hate sorcerer treats!”

Once they stepped forward into the gigantic chamber, a giant elephant head appeared above the center mid air. “Greetings!”

Everyone stopped with their weapons out. Huntar’s heart jumped.

“Welcome to my infinite storage chamber,” the elephant head announced. “It will be your tomb, or your eternal imprisonment. Ho! Ho! Ho!”

“Where is Jenny!?” Zena shouted at the head.

Nagendra grinned. “If you want her, you must accept my challenge.”

“What challenge?” Rani asked.

Nagendra raised his trunk, pointing at the cubes. “Your human is among my collection up there. If you can reach her, I will release her, and you may my lair. However…”

Torag roared when he appeared inside a large glass cube in a flash! The cube levitated up as the rhino pounded the glass.

“Torag!” Huntar charged and swung his sword toward the cube, but he missed.

Torag’s cube floated higher and higher toward the other cubes. He was now unreachable.

Huntar roared and pointed his sword at Nagendra’s head. “Release him!”

The bodyless elephant laughed. “I will, if you can find your human. There will be tiny containers flying among my collection. If one of them touches you, you will face the same fate as your companion. You will all become part of my collection forever if you fail. Ho! Ho! Ho!”

Huntar snored in anger, but he turned toward his friends. “We have no choice. We must do this.”

Zena, Basju, and Rani nodded their heads. The sorcerer will trap all of them if they don’t accept the his challenge.

Nagendra nodded with a grin. “You may begin now. This should entertain me all night. Ho! Ho! Ho!”

The head faded away like a vaporing ghost. Then the cubes hovered down at a reachable level for the Beastman.

Close enough, Huntar could see what was inside each cube. Plants, living creatures, treasure, and strange looking artifacts that might be from the human age. So far, Huntar couldn’t see Jenny in the cubes. She must be further up.

“Let’s go now!” Zena leaped to the first cube with a palm tree inside.

She clambered on top of the cube and looked around. When the next cube hovered toward her direction, she smiled and bended her knees to jump.

“Be cautious, Zena!” Huntar shouted.

The zebra charged and jumped off the cube. Before she reached the next one, a small clear cube zoomed toward her. It hit her back and grew into a bigger cube, trapping her inside. First Torag, and now Zena got caught.

While she drifted to the heights, Huntar grimaced and turned toward the others. “It appears we are the last ones to save Jenny.”