Theo slowly opened his eyes and sat up, looking completely confused, with saliva still dripping from his mouth.
He turned to look at Valt and Ace.
Ace was completely asleep.
Theo tried shaking him.
"No... Give me five more minutes..." Ace mumbled in his sleep.
Realizing that Ace wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, Theo turned to Valt and tried shaking him instead.
"I'm more than old enough to be your wife!" Valt yelled drowsily.
Theo stared at him for a moment.
Then he sighed.
Giving up on both of them, Theo stood up from the bed and opened the door leading outside.
He peeked to the left.
Then to the right.
Nothing.
"Hello?!" he yelled.
Still receiving no answer, Theo decided to take a walk around.
He turned right.
The first thing he did after leaving the room was...
Pee on the side of a wall.
After that, he continued looking around.
And he kept going deeper.
And deeper.
And deeper.
After wandering around for a while, Theo began to realize just how strange the facility was.
The structure was incredibly confusing.
There were random pillars scattered throughout the place. Long corridors stretched in different directions, sometimes leading to absolutely nowhere.
Eventually, Theo stumbled upon a giant square-shaped room.
He slowly walked inside, his eyes widening with awe.
The walls were completely bare.
Theo placed his hand against one of them and slowly walked forward, examining the strange room.
"Why is this the only place without any moss or vegetation?" he wondered.
Suddenly, he stopped.
He had felt something.
A tiny bump.
Theo looked at the wall with confusion.
He pressed it.
The tile slowly moved inward.
And in its place...
A small button appeared.
Alongside it was a note.
DO NOT PRESS!
Theo stared at the note.
Then, without paying any attention to it whatsoever, he pressed the button.
A strange sound echoed throughout the room.
Theo's eyes widened.
"Is that... the orb?"
A tall pillar suddenly rose from the ground beside him.
It was a magnificent work of art.
Two angelic statues stood on either side of a bright, glowing orb, their arms wrapped around it as if they were protecting it.
A strange aura emanated from the orb.
Theo stared at it.
Something about it felt...
Familiar.
He slowly extended his arm towards it.
A strange sense of attraction pulled him closer.
His eyes began glowing with a faint pinkish light.
He continued moving forward.
Suddenly—
The tiny blue winged creature appeared beside him.
It looked worried.
Panicked, even.
The creature grabbed Theo by the collar and tried pulling him back.
But it was no use.
Theo continued moving forward.
He reached the orb.
However, the angel statues were holding onto it tightly.
Theo grabbed the orb.
He pulled.
Nothing.
He pulled harder.
Still nothing.
So he pulled even harder.
The statue suddenly cracked.
A small crack appeared across the angels' bodies.
Then another.
And another.
Until—
CRACK!
The entire statue shattered.
Theo was sent tumbling backward.
The tiny creature immediately began panicking.
It flew around wildly before grabbing Theo by the collar and shaking him as if demanding to know what the hell he had just done.
Then—
The creature suddenly froze.
It looked back at the orb.
The orb had begun glowing.
Brighter.
And brighter.
And brighter.
It started pulsing.
The tiny creature's jaw dropped.
It immediately flew away as fast as it could.
Theo, meanwhile, remained standing there.
His eyes were still locked onto the orb.
He was smiling.
He looked like the happiest man alive.
Then—
BOOM!
The orb suddenly exploded into pure mana.
The blast sent Theo flying backward.
He slammed into the wall.
The tiny creature immediately flew back and began checking his body frantically.
After a moment, Theo slowly opened his eyes.
His senses returned.
He looked around.
The tiny creature was staring directly at him.
Theo blinked.
"Aren't you that creature that I sa—"
Suddenly—
A massive shadow appeared on the opposite side of the room.
Theo slowly turned around.
And froze.
A gigantic creature was attempting to squeeze through the enormous hallway.
It had the face of a baby...
And the body of a massive, bubbly jellyfish.
It was so wide that it barely managed to fit through the hallway, which stretched so far into the distance that it seemed to reach the clouds.
Theo and the tiny blue creature stared at it.
Their expressions slowly turned into pure dread.
Theo looked at the creature beside him.
"When I say go, we run, okay?"
The tiny creature nodded.
Theo took a deep breath.
"Okay..."
He raised his hand.
"One..."
The creature behind them continued squeezing its massive body through the hallway.
"Two..."
The walls began shaking.
"Three!"
"GO!"
Theo turned around.
But the tiny creature had already flown away.
Theo stared at it in disbelief.
"AHHHHHHH! YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WAIT FOR ME!"
He immediately began running after it.
But when the tiny creature reached the place where they had entered the room—
It suddenly disappeared.
Theo didn't notice.
He continued running.
And ran straight into the wall.
THUD!
Theo slowly took a few steps back.
He stared at the wall.
Then his eyes widened.
"AHHHHHHH! THE WAY BACK?! IT'S GONE!"
The tiny creature looked back at him.
Its expression clearly said:
Seriously?
Behind them—
The giant creature finally squeezed its way into the room.
Theo and the tiny creature looked around frantically.
Then they spotted another exit.
They immediately ran for it.
The giant baby-faced creature began crying and screaming as it crawled after them, its massive tentacles dragging across the ground.
A Few Minutes Earlier...
Valt woke up.
He looked around the room.
Then he noticed something.
Theo was gone.
Valt's eyes widened.
He immediately turned toward Ace and began shaking him.
"Ace! Wake up, dude! Theo is missing!"
Ace didn't move.
"Hmmhhm... Five more minutes..."
Valt stared at him.
Then he leaned closer.
And yelled directly into Ace's ear with all his strength.
"THEO IS MISSING!!!"
Ace immediately jumped awake.
His body entered full fight-or-flight mode.
His eyes were still puffy from sleep as he stood on the bed in a fighting stance, staring into absolutely nothing.
Valt stared at him.
"Ace."
Ace slowly turned his head.
Valt repeated himself.
"Theo is missing."
Ace's eyes widened.
"WHAT?!"
The two of them immediately left the room.
They turned right.
After walking only a few steps—
They saw Theo.
He was running at full speed around the corner.
The tiny blue winged creature was flying beside him.
Both of them had expressions of pure terror.
Valt and Ace stared at them.
Their worried expressions quickly turned into relief.
At least Theo had gotten the orb Aqua wanted.
"Hey! Where the hell did you run off to?!" Valt shouted.
Theo didn't answer.
Instead, Valt noticed something behind him.
A gigantic baby-faced monster came crashing around the corner.
It was moving so fast that it slammed straight into the wall behind Theo.
Theo looked back at them.
"RUNNNN!!!"
Valt and Ace immediately turned around and sprinted back towards the room.
But instead of entering it—
They ran straight into a wall.
"OW!"
Suddenly, the entire hallway began shifting.
Every single tile began moving on its own.
The walls twisted.
The floor shifted.
The structure of the hallway completely changed.
By the time they realized what was happening, Theo had already run past them.
"NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO BE SURPRISED!" Theo yelled.
Valt and Ace stared at him.
Then they quickly began running after him.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Valt shouted.