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@joelle-stone @rusted-knight

Zanar: 

Zanar was starting to wish he had stayed out of those drainage tunnels. Then, he’d probably be at home right now, safe and sound.

But nope.

He’d been an idiot. And now he was paying the price in some weird, twisted, talking castle.

He watched helplessly as Drone Destroying Dude–hadn’t he said his name was Klein?–pleaded with Zanar to help him. Zanar, eyes wide, nodded so hard his neck hurt and tried to yell through the glass, “I’ll get you out!”

Before he knew what was happening, his feet flew out from beneath him. He slammed down into a chair–none too gently. “Ow,” he muttered, as a small cry escaped Riure’s own lips. A table, with a strange board sprawled across it, sat in front of him, Riure on the opposite side. It almost resembled a map, but it was nothing like Zanar had ever seen. Odd names marked even odder cities and places, and his head was spinning just from looking at it.

“Do you know what to do, Zanar?” Riure asked, sounding like she was fighting off panic.

Zanar hesitated before admitting, “Nope.”

“Oh.”

He started to tell her he wished he did know, and was about to explain what the board looked like, when a funny-sounding voice interrupted, “Did I forget to mention that you are being timed? If you lose the game or if you fail to finish in the appointed time limit, there will be, shall we say, consequences.”

“Fail at what?” Zanar demanded. “This weird game thingy? That is so unfair, you stupid, talking, evil pile of rocks!” That’s what castles were, right? Glorified piles of rocks.

“Watch yourself, boy,” the castle warned. “You don’t want to be responsible if little Blind Girly or Klein here get hurt, do you?”

Zanar bit his lip, cheeks burning. “No,” he whispered. “I don’t.”

“Good,” the castle snickered.

Rage flared in Zanar at the castle’s smug words, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. He was not going to let innocent people get hurt because of his big mouth.

“Okay,” Riure said, taking the much more mature, reasonable reaction to this. “Let’s play. Master Klein, what do I do?”

Zanar stared at poor Klein, wondering how clearly he could hear them through the barrier. “Is this China the thing we’re supposed to defeat?” he shouted at the soldier.