When Astaroth reopened his eyes, he lay on his back, in a white space so bright that he could barely keep them open. And he wasn't alone.
Waking at the same time as him, all eleven players of his party grumbled in pain.
"Urgh… My head hurts like a motherfucker… What happened?" Galtion asked, taking his head in his hands.
The last thing he remembered, he was diving towards an enemy as a wave of something passed through him. Then a searing pain in the head, followed by nothing.
And now he woke up here, his head still hurting, but surrounded by his friends.
"Did we all die to that wave?" he asked.
But some of them shook their heads.
"Not me. I died to a certain someone nuking the shit out of the whole battlefield… Burning alive is much more painful than I had ever thought…" Jaxx complained, his skin still crawling.
He had felt his skin melt, his blood boil, and the flesh sear off his bones in an instant before the pain shut down his brain. It was a very unpleasant feeling.
Astaroth rose to his feet.
"You're lucky you died from that. I felt the whole thing, and it didn't kill me…" he added, giving a wink toward Phoenix.
She shrugged with a half smile, with a 'Not my fault' face.
"Wait, if we all died at distinct moments, then why did we all wake up here at the same time?" RedWing asked.
"We are in a time stop," Chronos stated, looking around.
He couldn't access the time web, which was strange, but he could see that the flow was interrupted.
Phoenix spun around, trying to see an exit of some sort. But her action yielded no result.
Everyone started looking around, wondering what the next step from there would be. But every time they separated, more than fifty meters apart, they reappeared in their initial spot.
After half an hour of pointless searching, most of the party had already given up, sitting in place, their faces masks of boredom. Even Chronos had given up.
Astaroth sat in the middle of the space they were trapped in, his eyes fixed on a single spot.
Every time someone flashed back to their place, that exact point flared up in mana. It was either the activator of their teleportation shenanigans or it was the source of the magic effect.
In either case, he guessed observing it couldn't do him any wrong.
Phoenix was still trying to see if there was a place from which they could keep going further, so she kept walking away from the group, each time in a slightly different direction.
Violette had been walking at the edge of the teleportation range, her eyes closed, trying to sense a change in the mana near her.
Just as Phoenix reached the fiftieth step, Violette tripped on her feet, walking over the edge of the distance in the other direction.
Astaroth suddenly frowned, as both of them teleported back to their positions.
Chronos was now looking at the center of the room as well.
Astaroth noticed the Fey player had turned his head and looked at him.
"Did you see something too?"
Chronos looked at Astaroth, his face exhibiting little emotion.
"I did. The ebb of time. It moved ever so slightly, right there…" he said, pointing at the spot Astaroth had been staring at.
Astaroth grinned.
Phoenix looked at both of them, wondering what they were talking about.
"Phoenix. Walk to the edge again."
…
"I've been doing this… For half an hour…"
"Just do it," he replied, getting up from his butt.
As she walked to the fifty-meter mark, so did he, in the opposite direction. Astaroth spun around to look at the spot as he backed up over the fifty-meter mark.
And as he crossed it, perfectly timed with Phoenix, he saw it again.
The flash. It was bigger.
"Violette, you go that way. Let's cross it all at the same time."
Violette nodded her head, leaving in the direction Astaroth pointed. He and Phoenix walked away again.
Once all three were in position, Astaroth nodded his head, signalling them to walk over, and he did too, looking at the center of the room.
As he reappeared in his original position, he grinned even wider.
The flash had been even bigger this time.
Phoenix was now looking at the center of the room as well, her eyes wide.
"I felt something… Like a jolt of mana."
Astaroth smiled at her.
"I think we just found our exit point."
He gazed over at everyone and walked back toward the center of the room.
"Let's do it all at the same time, this time," he said, inviting them to join him.
Everyone got up, wondering what they were raving about. They did as asked, and walked to the fifty-meter mark, before looking at Astaroth.
When Astaroth gave the signal, they stepped forward again and vanished.
But this time, they didn't reappear in the white room. Instead, they teleported directly outside at the entrance of the dungeon.
Notifications assaulted their ears, catching up for all the skills, spells, or changes to their bodies they had gained during the dungeon. And one notification, above all the others, caught their attention.
**
Time Capsule Dungeon complete! Congratulations, players! Your rewards will now be calculated following your performances. Please wait.
**
Astaroth looked at the timer that appeared and frowned lightly.
*59:59*
'An hour to calculate the rewards? Since when is it not instant?'
It was a strange occurrence, but he didn't mind the wait. This would give them time to go rest a bit.
The dungeon had played them dirty, by not allowing them a full night's rest on either stage three or four. They were tired, and an hour to wind down didn't sound so bad.
"Alright, people. Log off, and let's come back here in an hour. Whoever is late gets no reward. Got it?" Astaroth said, clapping his hands together to get their attention.
No one needed to be told twice, and they immediately logged out of the game as the sun rose above the forest in New Eden.
Astaroth logged, glancing at the timer one last time, his excitement rising.
'I wonder what we will get for lasting till the end, like that?'
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