I nodded as I stretched and yawned once more, before getting out of bed and throwing on a pair of shorts and a tank top, pulling my hair into a messy ponytail. I gave her a chaste goodbye kiss as I sauntered out of her room, the horny frustration evident in her growl.

         I giggled as I ran through the throne room at top speed, out the big double doors, and into the castle proper, only slowing once I realized she’s not actively chasing me. “Now, where was one of those locked doors?” I mutter to myself, wandering through what I thought were familiar hallways, but it seems this castle has ways to change its layout.

         As I passed by windows, I caught glimpses of the sun’s travel across the sky, and after what seemed to be a couple—probably three or four—hours of wandering the halls, giving those who passed me polite greetings, I finally found one of them, only this time, the door was open and waiting.

         “Curious,” I said aloud as I stepped over the threshold, after making sure nobody else was in the hall with me.

         As soon as I was completely in the room, the door slammed shut, echoing loudly throughout the small chamber.

         “Hello?” I called out, a little louder than I’d like, in hopes of not attracting unwanted attention.

         “HELLO, HALFLING!” a booming voice called out, though which direction, I couldn’t begin to guess; this room echoed.

         I winced at the sudden noise, and started turning in circles, to figure out where their voice was coming from.

         “THERE IS ONE OBJECT SOMEWHERE IN THIS ROOM, MEANT FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE!” they continued to yell after a few minutes of silence, “YOU ONLY HAVE A COUPLE OF HOURS TO FIND IT BEFORE THE ROOM GETS RESET TO THE BEGINNING.”

         I winced again, the echo grating against my eardrums like the screech of metal grinding against metal.

         ‘Alright, then’ I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if I can get away with asking the Guardian where it might be hiding… though, the lack of piles of stuff makes that seem… difficult, to say the least.’ I thought as I looked around the room.

         Everything seemed to be neat, orderly; a place for everything and everything in its place. Pristine white, marble pedestals with equipment from God knows when throughout the years. I saw sabers that looked to be from the earlier 18^th century, spear and arrowheads from… earlier than that, most likely.

         “Guardian?” I ask loudly, “Can you give me a hint, a sign of some sort? Everything’s so… clean, and organized…” I trail off with a sigh.

         Somewhere in the room, a timer starts ticking down; as I look around, I notice an hourglass that most definitely wasn’t there before. Only, underneath it, there’s a plaque that says, ‘Time Remaining Until Reset,’ at which I sigh in frustration.

         I wandered up and down the aisles of pedestals, everything interesting and gleaming, as if they’ve been frozen in the time in which they were made; the condition the objects were in was extremely pristine; so pristine that, I believe any museum would pay thousands, if not millions, to obtain this collection.I glanced at the hourglass and sighed; half my time had disappeared in my wonderings. I took a turn at the end of the aisle I was in, having been overly fascinated with the swords and daggers in that row, when something caught my eye. In the center of… well, I think the room? I’m not sure, this room was proving to be a thousand times bigger inside than it looked when I first stepped in.

         Incoherent ramblings aside, there, in the center, the only items not in a glass case, were a wakizashi and tantō pairing. The wakizashi was gleaming red, with a gold hilt, and the tantō was gleaming gold, with a red hilt. Somewhere in the room, a timer buzzed, and then the clapping started. Extremely loud, as if I were in a packed stadium with hundreds of thousands of people, “WELL DONE, HALFLING!” the Guardian started, “YOU HAVE FOUND THE OBJECTS THAT WERE HIDDEN HERE. GOODBYE, NOW!” they finished, with an imaginary flourish.

         With that, I moved in the direction I thought the door was in, however that proved to be unnecessary as, much like after I found the daggers, I found myself facing a familiar bed; only it wasn’t purple. No, this time I found myself in Mai’s bedchamber, and thankfully she was absent, at least for now.