The Player's System

Missing

"What is it?" Ahram asked. He looked around to spot the young boy. "We need to call all the team members to get together at one place. I want to fire up some grenades and fireworks. It is way too risky when they are scattered like this." He was able to locate him through the dark only when he replied otherwise the darkness was so pitch black that it seemed like nothing existed around them.

He slowly paced towards him. "Sure I will call them all."

Ahram started calling their names. None of them answered from the same spot. It meant they were not in pairs or working together.

"Why is everyone scattered? These ogres are playing with us. Let's kill them all with the grenades. Follow my voice." Ahram communicated his plan with the team.

Junan pulled out the last thorn and answered, "Sure we need some fireworks. It is dark in here." He called Orin and they both strumbled toward the expected spot. They constantly called out to make sure that they were all headed in the right direction.

Albert growled with pain because an ogre caught him in the dark. He was surrounded by them and was battling fiercely. He sounded off loudly to the rest of the team that he was currently in action. Junan thought about moving in his direction and catch sight of the sly ogres and butcher them to pieces.

Sashi and Clark were saving each other by keeping away the ogres. These were near another trap. Because of the dull surroundings, they were unable to make it. The ogres compelled them and they fell into the trap.

This trap was similar to a tunnel. They were no more on the surface where others were calling them to gather at a single spot.

Junan finally reached near Albert. He made a final call before firing to make sure that his weapon would not fall on his team members.

He probably hurt the feelings of Junan this time. Orin was helpless to regain his initial exterior. The team head was getting annoyed. He initially did not mind it, nonetheless, it was more than once that he reminded him to read the book of detection.

The curiosity should have forced him to open the book up but he was slacking till now. Junan did not like it. He had committed another blunder. Orin could tell that Junan suffered because of thorns and he added in his hardship.

He was standing silently and listening as the other two were working in collaboration. It was a bit difficult because the ogres were changing positions taking advantage of the darkness.

The sly ogres made the situation worse so many times. Albert was ready to attack and there was a team head in front. Fortunately, before the attack they had shouted their location, they were also using their vivid senses but the ogres were working even harder.

Junan attacked and shouted. In response, Albert conveyed his location only to make Junan worry more. They were right in front of each other weapons ready to attack.

The ogres flickered their eyes then moved aside. They were playing hide and seek with already blinded team members.

"Hell off these ogres else I will get mad seriously," Junan was extremely annoyed. He gritted his teeth as he spoke.

Orin called out to get answers from Sashi and Clark. It had been some time that they did not call back. And again this time there was no answer in return. Orin called again. There was complete silence. Junan also heard Orin call their names.

This brought another round of worry. Both of them were missing. "Orin call Ahram and reach there. We will join soon. First of all, make fireworks and see what is this surface like and have a look at the environment." Junan ordered Orin.

The ogres were keeping their eyes on their new tactics. They wanted to know what these team members wanted to do beforehand. Jake was also worried because two team members were now missing.

Albert and Junan finally got rid of the last ogre. They walked back to reach the rest of the team members. The clouds in the sky were still the same. There was not a sliver of change in the surrounding only that two team members were missing.

"Where are they?" Junan said earnestly.

No one was aware so silence was the answer to his question. "They are missing but I did not hear anything strange. They did not call for help." Albert spoke.

"Shall we fire grenade to see our surroundings?" Ahram asked the team head.

Junan shook his head, "First of all call them more than once then follow with a grenade. If they are not answering that means they are not here." He said intelligently.

Orin and Albert called them many times. They did not get an answer in return. Now they were sure that both of them were in trouble. Jake fired a grenade. There was a bust of light along with the blast.

The light allowed them to watch the surrounding. The horrific site that surrounded them looked straight out of a murder scene. There was blood splattered in many places. Some of the blood was dried and some of it looked fresh. There were holes in the ground. It was clear that both of them fell in one of the holes.

The light flickered out leaving them in the dark again. They were clueless about in which hole could both the team members be. And as there was no more light they couldn't see if they were about to fall in a hole or not.

"This has increased our burn. We cannot split up and search for them." Fortunately or tragically both of them fell in the right ground hole. It was a straight path toward the first seal. The first seal was a large hall that was built for the slaves. Since most of the slaves were dead now, the ogres secured the first part of the Python's shredded skin.

This was half of the skin and they wanted to make sure that the team won't reach there. "We can walk forward, stand near the ground hole and call them. Maybe they will answer back if they are there." Albert gave a suggestion. The rest of the players were too perplexed to put forward a different plan. Junan agreed with Albert since it seemed the most efficient way to locate the players.. Though it would waste an ample amount of time without the two team members they were not ready to plan anything further.