by Leona Jarnefeldt 17th February 2021, 12:33 am
"A game? What kind of game?" Leona blurted out a question as the lanterns continued to shift between blood red and emerald green. The voice giggled at her as if making fun of her for asking the question. Leona frowned. Leona did not have the best childhood while growing up, so she had very little knowledge of popular childhood games and how they worked.
"You funny old lady! It's an old game called Red Light, Green Light! An adult like you should know what that game is!" The voice answered while Leona bristled at being called an "old lady." She was not that old. She was only twenty years old, for Ishgar's sake!
Once Leona calmed down she remembered that she had never heard of that game before. She looked at Amberlin for an explanation. The pink-haired mage gave a pained smile to the blonde and then gave her a summary of how the game worked.
"Red Light, Green Light's a game where you move towards a person when the light's green, kinda like you do at traffic lights. When the light's green you move as fast as you can towards the person, but don't go too fast because they can call for a red light at any time. If you're caught moving on a red light you're out of the game." Amberlin explained how the game worked to Leona. The voice giggled again.
"The small girl's right! Only in this game you guys want to get to the third floor of the manor! When the light's green run for it as fast as you can, but don't get caught moving on a red light or you'll be sorry!" The voice told them. Leona did not like the sound of that. It sounded like the stakes for getting caught moving during a red light were much higher than just being unable to play a game any longer.
Amberlin turned to the Wizard Saint and made a suggestion.
"OK, let's try the hallway to our left first. I've been here before, but it's been almost two years ago since I was last here, so I might get us turned around. I think left is the way we need to go." Amberlin suggested to Leona. Lacking any better ideas of her own, the blonde agreed to the cleric's idea. The lights began to flicker faster and that put the two mages on edge.
"Watching you two talk is soooooo boring! The game's about to start, so you'd better get ready to run if you know what's good for you!" The young girl warned them. The lights flickered faster and faster until they stopped on green.
"GO NOW!" Amberlin shouted to Leona. Both mages sprinted forward as fast as they could go to cover ground before the light turned red and they had to stop. However, Leona was taller and had longer legs than Amberlin, so the former covered more ground than the latter. Both of them kept running until the light began to flicker red, than screeched to a halt with mere seconds to spare; Leona stopped at the corner while Amberlin was about six meters behind her
"Hey Amberlin, are you sure we're going the right way? I'm not seeing anything but more hallway up ahead!" Leona shouted a question to Amberlin, who was standing six meters away.
"I don't know, Leona. Like I said, it's been awhile since I was last here!" Amberlin shouted back. Leona blushed a little when she heard that. Open mouth, insert foot. She quickly recovered from the mishap and called back her plan to Amberlin.
"The next light I'm gonna walk so that you can catch up with me because I don't know where I'm going!" Leona called back. Amberlin nodded. Leona turned back around and once the lights flashed green she began to walk slowly around the corner while Amberlin scrambled to catch up with the taller blonde. The scene would be kind of funny if it were not for the unknown consequences of being caught in motion on a red light.
Amberlin caught up to Leona just before the lanterns turned red. The pair stopped where they were and took a deep breath, then looked at each other. They were doing well so far, but they should not get complacent. The Wizard Saint doubted that the second floor would be so easy to traverse.
"I might be wrong, but I think that this hall bends to the right and leads to a staircase that'll take us to the second floor. If I'm right we just took the long way around, but we'll get to the staircase as long as we pay attention to the color of the lanterns." Amberlin chimed in. Leona gave a thumbs-up.
"I don't know the way around, so your guess is as good as mine." Leona replied calmly. The Wizard Saint of Courage had learned long ago to swallow her pride and defer to others when she did not know something. Now she was deferring to the Order cleric who had been to this place once before. Even though Amberlin was unsure of which way to go, being able to borrow her knowledge of the manor was better than having no knowledge at all.
"OK then. Once the light turns green, follow me." Amberlin instructed Leona. The blonde nodded and waited for the lanterns to turn green before moving again. She did not want to find out the consequences of moving on a red light, so she would wait right where she was until it was safe for them to move.
[Post Word Count: 932]
[Total Word Count: 1,804/11,000]