After Haldore left, Christol got dressed as quickly as he could, struggling to put his tunic on as he stumbled out of the door. A guard that stood just outside his room simply pointed an armored finger to Christol’s left. Christol thanked the guard and as he went to follow the direction, the guard spoke.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, boy. Because if you don’t, you’re about to meet Tjornne earlier than you’d like.”

The guard’s gruff voice caught Christol off guard. He found himself nodding again and thanking the guard again before heading off.

Christol wandered the halls of the castle, meandering from one large room to another, one bedroom to another, to a washroom, to a kitchen. Guards were stationed everywhere, and each pointed in a single direction, and after the fifth guard, Christol realized that they were simply pointing in random directions, perhaps to throw off Christol’s sense of navigation.

The halls were tall, possibly able to hold a dragon in them, sunlight pouring into the halls through masterpieces of stained glass art, mostly depicting Haldore’s victories. The ceiling a beautiful sculpture carved in pristine marble, the sculpted snake seeming almost real, as if it was slithering across the ceiling with Christol’s movements.

Christol stopped wandering and attempted to gather his thoughts.

Which way have I gone? I started to the left, took a few right turns, and went through a couple rooms. Sheesh, how big is this place? It shouldn’t really be called the Invincible Fortress; rather, it should be called the Impossible Labyrinth. I can’t seem to get my bearings in this place. The guards don’t seem to be much help, and I seem to keep finding myself in all these hallways. I won’t give up though. I still need to find a way out of this place, and I’d rather become acquainted with this place for when we’re finally strong enough to fight Haldore than to wander aimlessly like I’m doing now. Time to study, I guess. 

Christol began to study each room he went into, memorizing the path he had taken to reach that room.

Kitchen is two lefts, a right, and through a bedroom.

He grabbed an empty journal in one of the bedrooms he passed and an ink well in another, and began to write down the information he’d memorized before he forgot it.

Soon he’d had pathways written to numerous bedrooms, multiple kitchens, several washrooms, and he still hadn’t found the Great Hall.

C’mon, I have to be getting closer! It feels like it's been forever at this point.

As he rounded another corner, he came face to face with an extremely tall and ornate door, very different to the simple doors he had seen earlier.

Cautiously, Christol opened the door, and took in the contents of the room. In the far corner sat a desk, full of books and parchments of all kinds, and a simple wooden chair sat in front of it. In the other far corner sat a contraption Christol had never seen before. It resembled something from an alchemist’s kit, but he wasn’t certain.

Metal bars lay on the table next to the tall machine, glimmering in the somewhat dim light of the room, and others shining from the light coming from the hall through the open door.

Christol opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside, where he gently closed the door.

In front of him was a small table, resembling that of an end table. On it rested a purple tablecloth and a crystal ball that levitated just above the cloth. On the floor under the table sat an ornate rug, reds and purples and golds running all the way down the carpet, and stopped at Christol’s feet.

Christol began to approach the Christol ball before he began to hear soft voices, some sounding like his friends, others were voices he did not recognize.

“Christol, we need to hurry! This whole place is coming down!” 

Christol took a step closer.

“Get away from me! Ahh–!”

Another step.

“Run, Christol! Take… the artifact… and save Artuck!”

Christol’s legs began to feel heavy.

“You took my life from me! You bastard, I’ll never forgive you! They were your playthings, and I will not allow you to control me any longer!”

Christol began to lift his arms as he approached.

“My… son. I hope you remember your name. Remembrance.”

Christol’s hands were now a mere inch away from the ball.

“From this day forth, Alteran is the people’s! Long live her people!”

As the distant, soft cheering faded, Christol grabbed the ball.

Suddenly, the world around him became a mixture of lights and colors. Shrill sounds and loud booms filled Christol’s mind. He began to feel his head throb, and he became a little dizzy. Christol closed his eyes in an attempt to steady himself, but the bright lights penetrated his eyelids and assaulted his mind. Instinctively, Christol went to reach for his pointed ears to cover them, and realized that he no longer held the crystal ball.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and steadied Christol. He slowly opened his eyes to see Haldore, smiling again, with his hand rested upon his shoulder.

“You may want this,” Haldore said, offering Christol the ball. Seeing Christol not move his hands from his ears, Haldore placed a hand on his head, and the noises and headaches stopped. Christol removed his hands and looked around.

Colors of all kinds swam around them, forming a tunnel a little taller than Haldore. The colors emitted a beautiful light, and Christol found himself in awe of the space he was in.

“Here,” Haldore said, passing the ball into Christol’s now vacant arms. He then took a step back, and held up his hands as if showing him this tunnel.

“Majestic, isn’t it? The flow of time and space converging in one point, right where we are.” 

Haldore began to wave his hands around, accentuating his words.

“Of course, it has to have two points, or else we’d be crushed. That’s what’s at the other end,” Haldore remarked, pointing in the direction in front of them.

“I’ve spent years perfecting this magic, and once I finished it, I placed that magic in the ball you now hold. I placed it there so my heir could use my magic, even long after I’m gone. Sad part is, though, that though it’s perfected, it’s still incomplete. I figured out a way to move from one place to another, and to any normal person, it’d seem as if I’d moved there in the blink of an eye. But in reality, it would be within these tubes that I would move. I step in here, move to the other end, and step out, all within a moment to the normal person. Interesting, isn’t it?” 

Christol simply watched the dark elf boast, unmoving. He wanted to find a way out of here, and here he was, holding it.

“Now, I say incomplete because I haven’t been able to master the whole ‘passage through time’ thing, so at present I’m only able to move from one place to another at that same moment in time. Now c’mon, let’s get to the other side. Careful, though, you don’t want to slip and fall here. It tends to have… undesirable outcomes.” 

Haldore began to trudge his way to the other end of this tunnel, and as Christol went to move, he could see why it was so difficult. It was as if he was attempting to walk upstream through rapids, all while he’s knee deep in the water.

After what felt like forever, Christol crossed the short tunnel to the other side, where Haldore was waiting for him. He stopped just in front of him, catching his breath.

“Well, you made it. Step on through, Christol.”

Christol looked up at Haldore, who was beaming with pride. No, ego. He was using this as both a moment to teach and a moment to gloat about his achievements. Christol stepped through the shining light and set foot in the bedroom Haldore had given him. As soon as his feet met the floor, however, Christol tumbled forward and fell face first into the ground. A brief second later, Haldore stepped through and stood next to the fallen Christol.

“Oh yeah, I must’ve forgotten. The flow of time catches up to you as you step out, which is why you fell over. Laws of physics still work, after all.”

Christol rolled onto his back and looked up at Haldore, who stood over him. Christol’s whole body ached, and he felt as though he needed some sleep.

“Rest well, Christol. That will be all for today. Oh, you might want to get in the bed before you sleep. I don’t want you to wake up already hurt, after all.” 

With that, Haldore smiled a small smile before turning and leaving the room dramatically, his cloak fluttering all the way.

Christol clawed his way to his feet, using the bedposts to support him, and sat on the bed. Something nudged him in the side, and Christol dug in his pockets until he found what it was. Pulling it out, he saw that he still held the crystal ball.

Time to get the hell out of here.