​Dailia Cassini Point Of View:

Dailia, Dale and Julia walked to an alleyway.
“So, is this Hejpasz Wires?” Julia asked.
Dailia looked around. “It must be somewhere,” she said.
“Let’s go deeper,” Dale said and he went behind the building on the left.
Dailia and Julia followed
“Look, there’s a manhole!” Dale exclaimed. Dailia looked at where Dale was staring. There was a manhole there.
“We should go enter, shouldn’t we?” Julia said, her eyes curious. She gazed at the manhole as if staring at a heart-shaped cloud.
“Let me... just... open it...” Dale kneeled and pulled the manhole opening. It opened with a Bang!
“Whoa,” Dailia and Julia said. There was a ladder leading down to the sewer.
Dale said, “It smells like—”
Julia cut in, “Garlic juice—”
Dailia cut her off, “Mixed with rotten broccolis—”
Dale said, “And coconut—”
“Oil,” Julia completed.
They all laughed.
“Really, I told you guys!” Dailia exclaimed, giggling.
They all climbed down the ladder and saw what was most unexpected. There was a white polythene bag near a wooden plank and a big zigzag crack was visible near the contaminated water.
“Someone’s already here!” Julia whispered.
They all got closer and walked to the polythene, their shoulders touching each other’s.

Crestic Point Of View:

Crestic had jumped down the crack and he landed in a blue pool of water on one leg. He stumbled and fell into the water on his stomach, face-first.
“Urgh,” he growled.
He looked around and his first thought was: What the hell.
There was a big circular room with a marble spiral staircase in the middle. There was a big granite boundary surrounding the staircase. There were tiny glass bottles the size of a finger layed on each step.
Crestic frowned—he had only wanted to escape the prison, what in the world was this?
He dropped an F-bomb and approached the marble boundary. He stepped on something small and hard with an echoing Ping! He looked down and saw a pressure plate.
He dropped another F-bomb and groaned.
There was a sudden voice from nowhere. “So you made it! Tell me, what is your name?” it echoed.
Crestic grimaced. He tried to be as quiet as he could. He breathed softly and stayed motionless.
After a moment, the man’s voice said, “Another mouse. Why did we have to arrange this in a sewer?”
Crestic sighed of relief. He put his right leg (that had his foot) on the boundary tip. His footless leg, that had a big, white bandage around the ankle, stepped on an small rock. He put his footless leg on the boundary tip, too, and stopped his head from touching the dungeon ceiling. He ducked and slowly put his right leg down over the boundary. Then his footless one.
He sighed silently.
What now? He thought.
He started to gradually and soundlessly climb the staircase.

Dailia Cassini Point Of View:

“There are some... er... stuff here,” Dale said. He didn’t sound scared, he just sounded curious; wanting to know more.
“What’s this thing?” Julia said from somewhere on Dailia’s left.
Julia pointed at a small rift near the dirty water. It was a crack, a small one, but a teenager could go through it. It had a faint glow coming through it.
“Hey. Guys. I just wanted to ask—are we sure this is the place we should be at right now?” Julia asked clumsily, stumbling on a pebble.
“Maybe,” Dailia answered, “I’m not sure though. But doesn’t hurt to explore, does it?”
Dale and Julia smirked at this. They nodded.
Dale said, “Then let’s go deeper.”
So they all jumped into the rift.
When they landed, they didn’t land on ground. They landed in a big pool of water.
“Someone cares for us,” Dailia commented.
“It has to be the place,” Julia mused.
They exited the pool and entered dungeon. The dungeon was circle-shaped, with a big granite boundary surrounding a marble spiral staircase. There were very tiny bottles on each step of the staircase.
“Yes!” The three of them squeeled. They walked towards the granite boundary and there was a sudden Ping! beneath Julia’s leg.
“Huh?” Julia hummed curiously.
There was a sudden voice from an invisible loudspeaker: “Welcome! Welcome! You all finally made it! You aren’t a mouse, right? Right? Please?”
“No! We aren’t mice! We’re here from Equity Academy!” Dailia shouted.
“Finally!” The speaker man sighed on his mic. “You all are very sharp-minded. Tell me, a team of 2?”
“No, we’re 3!” Julia shouted.
“You may remember us; Dailia, Dale and Julia!” Dailia added.
“Seems familiar. Can you tell us your last names?” the man inquired.
“Dale Cyneonic!” Dale called out.
“Dailia Cassini,” Dailia said.
“Julia Aphrodite,” Julia said.
“Julia—excuse me, what?” the man said.
“Julia Aphrodite. Pronounced like ‘Af-ro-die-tee’. A-P-H-R-O-D-I-T-E. Named after the love lady and all. Happy?” Julia sounded agitated and sarcastic.
The man giggled. “Okay, Julia Aphrodite. And the third one? Dahlia? Or Dollia? Dolly?”
“Dailia. Dailia. Dailia Cassini,” Dailia said.
“I’ve heard Dahlia. Dahlia is a flower, of course. You know. But Dailia. Seriously? You just replaced the ‘H’ with an ‘I’.”
“Go to hell,” Dailia shouted. She was always getting told that.
“Yeah, we’re only here for the quest,” Dale joined.
“Dahlia Dailia. To hell with arguing over names!” said the speaker man.
“For your kind information: Dailia is a name that several people in my family have had. Our family, millions of years ago, decided the name would mean ‘The Strongest Heir’. Therefore, it’s The Strongest Heir you’re talking to, so watch your tongue.”
Julia and Dale looked at each other as if now scared of Dailia.
Dailia smirked. She was happy that they now respected her.
“Well... Nice name, Dailia.” The speaker man now sounded concerned but continued. “Okay. So Julia, Dailia and Dale. Since you kids have passed the first challenge—”
But then there were loud THUDS! and a man no older than 19 came falling down the spiral staircase.







• • •
Thank you SO much for the awesome response on the last episode! Have a great day ❤️
© Arshi