"Run for it!"

Whirling around, eighteen-year-old Lea barreled down the castle hallway back toward Isa, motioning wildly. "They found us, let's go!"

Isa groaned and began running as well. "Why did I let you talk me into this?"

"Come on, this is fun!" Lea puffed as they skidded around a corner. "Just like the old days!"

"I'm glad you're having fun," Isa replied sarcastically. They could hear the heavy footsteps of one of the castle guards behind them, but they seemed to be growing a bit fainter.

"I think we're losing him," said Lea. "Good ole Aeleus is getting slow these days," he laughed gleefully.

His laughter was cut short, however, when they rounded another corner and came face to face with another guard, Dilan. He was dressed in a long black coat, as Aeleus had been, and six giant lances hovered in the air around him.

"What the..." Lea blinked in surprise. This couldn't be the same man he remembered from their earlier days of sneaking into – and being thrown out of – the castle. Lea had never seen anyone with weapons like these before.

"You two brats have intruded here for the last time," Dilan growled.

"Um, yeah, we were...just leaving..." Isa stammered. He seemed just as taken aback as Lea was.

Without a word of warning, one of the lances came flying down the hall directly toward Isa's head. He leaped sideways to try and avoid the blow, but the tip of the lance still managed to slice right between his eyes. Isa cried out in pain and stumbled back against the wall, his hand to his face. Blood seeped out from between his fingers.

"Isa!" Lea yelled in horror. He tried to run to his friend, but a strong pair of hands grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. Struggling only caused his shoulders to be wrenched even further backwards until they felt like they would break out of their sockets.

"Xaldin, the Superior wants these two in one piece," the man behind Lea said, his voice condescending.

"And in one piece they will be, Lexaeus," Xaldin replied irritably, crossing to Isa and yanking him upright by his arm. "Let's go."

As they were herded along the long hallways, deeper and further down into the castle, Lea began berating himself inwardly. After all, sneaking into the castle "one more time" had been his stupid idea. When they were kids, it had been a prank that had always just gotten them thrown unceremoniously out the front doors. This time, it had started as a conversation about how no one had seen Ansem the Wise, the leader of Radiant Garden, in a very long time, and discussing the rumors about what might be going on inside the old castle. Then Lea had suggested that they check it out for themselves.

From what little he had seen, there was certainly something weird going on here. There had been no sign of Ansem so far, and the upper portions of the castle were dingy and dusty, like they were hardly even in use. The two men who held them now were the same...or were they? Not only had they called each other by different names, but suddenly at least one of them was wielding some kind of magic powers.

Craning his neck, Lea tried to catch a glimpse of Isa behind him, but was only shoved forward by his captor. He hoped his friend was alright. Where were these men taking them, anyway? Why hadn't they just kicked them out like usual? Who did they mean by "the Superior"? The questions were swirling through his mind as they began to descend another set of stairs into what looked to be a basement.

"Ah, you've brought our visitors!" called a man with an eye patch as they entered the room. He crossed to them with a crooked smirk, his one good eye glinting gold above a severely scarred cheek. "So nice of you to join us."

"Like we had much of a choice," Lea spat, sick of this madness. "What is going on here?" He glanced to his right and finally was able to see Isa again. His face was dripping with blood, but he was standing firmly on his own two feet, at least. Isa caught Lea looking at him and gave a nod, as if to reassure his friend that he was alright.

"Calm yourself," a cool voice answered. Two more men, dressed in black coats identical to the rest, were standing at a laboratory table nearby, poring over books. The shortest of them turned, peering through his silvery-blue hair. "The Superior will be here any moment."

"Who...?" Lea began, but he was interrupted by a sudden burst of dark energy a few feet in front of him. A figure materialized in the midst of the darkness, also wearing the long black coat, but this one had his face completely shrouded by the hood. Everyone came to attention when the man appeared, so Lea could only surmise that this must be the mysterious Superior.

"The intruders, as you ordered," Xaldin spoke up as the dark energy dissipated.

"Our volunteers," came a deep, commanding voice from the black void of the hood. "Well done, Number Three; Number Five."

"We didn't volunteer for anything," sneered Isa. The hooded man seemed to turn and look at him, though his features remained completely hidden, and he said nothing in reply. Lea glanced nervously at Isa. Something about this faceless man set him on edge, but Isa merely stared unflinchingly into the blackness, as if he was challenging him.

"Number Four," the Superior spoke again momentarily, turning his attention to the other side of the room. "What say you?"

The second man from the laboratory table walked over to join them. "Well," he began in a nasally voice, his blonde locks brushing the pages of his book, "This would be the perfect opportunity to test physical versus emotional, as we had discussed."

"Yes," the Superior replied. "Very good." He turned back to the teens, and raised a gloved hand to point at Isa. "Begin with this one," he ordered, then disappeared into another wave of dark energy as quickly as he had come.

Though he would never have admitted it, Lea was becoming more frightened by the minute. "What are you people doing?" he demanded, as Xaldin and Lexaeus began to wrestle their captives forward once more. "What did he mean by volunteers? What kind of test is he talking about?"

"I guess you'll find out, won't you?" Lexaeus answered flatly. They had moved out of the laboratory and down another hallway, and their surroundings were growing darker and colder. Down another short set of steps, they entered a large room that could not be mistaken for anything but a dungeon.

Lea tried to put up a fight as he was pushed into a cell, but was easily overpowered by the huge, burly man. Shoving him up against the back wall, Lexaeus clapped an iron shackle onto each of Lea's wrists before he even knew what was happening.

"You can't just lock us up in here!" he protested loudly as the cell doors clanged shut. His captor only grunted a laugh, and vanished into the darkness just like the Superior had a few moments before.

As silence fell, Lea tried to catch his breath. His heart was pounding and his head was swimming. It couldn't have been more than a hour ago that he and Isa had been out in the sunshine of Radiant Garden, laughing and goofing off, and...free. Now they were chained up in a castle dungeon at the hands of a bunch of maniacs. What on earth had he gotten them into? How had this all gone so very wrong?

"Lea?" came Isa's voice, bouncing around the empty stone room. "Are you okay?"

"Isa!" Lea breathed. "Where are you?"

"I think I'm in the cell right next to you," Isa replied. Lea could hear chains rattling as his friend moved around.

"I don't know what to say." Lea shook his head, wishing he could wake up out of this nightmare. "I'm so sorry I got us into this mess." He was always the one who got them into messes, but none of them had ever been quite this bad. Never before had they gotten into a scrape that he couldn't also get them back out of, but this was starting to look like it might be the exception.

"Stop it," Isa ordered. "You can't blame yourself. I didn't have to agree to come, but I did."

Lea sighed. "Well, at least we know that some of the rumors are true," he said sarcastically. "There is definitely something strange going on in this castle."

"I'd say," Isa grunted. "And I'm pretty sure that 'Superior' was not Ansem the Wise."

"I don't know who that guy was," Lea answered with a shudder. "How is your face, by the way? That looked pretty nasty."

Before Isa could reply, they heard the echo of footsteps coming down the stairs. Lea tensed, not sure what to prepare himself for. Two hooded figures walked past his cell door without a glance inside, and he heard the key grate into the lock of Isa's cell. He may not have been able to guess their plans at that moment, but it was not going to take him long to find out.