There was a strange, soft feeling of warmth on his face, as well as the sounds of stressed murmuring, and the gentle rustling of wind past his fluffy ears and mane. Apto was not in his bed, he could tell that much, but how did he move? He opened his dark amber eyes, seeing both Rivvis and Chaser standing up straight. There was a vast stretch of bright blue sky above them, as well as an overly eager sun casting its warm rays across his face. He sat up, gaining a glance from his two awake friends who looked just as confused as he felt. Mal was there too, though he was still fast asleep in the yellow-tinted grass that surrounded them all. Apto stood up, trying to remember how he got here, or even where ‘here’ was. It almost felt oddly familiar. He could see some dark trees dotting the golden field in the distance, and even further than that, a large grey castle that stretched up high towards the swath of blue sky. Not a single cloud could be spotted in the sky, making the landscape feel eerily empty and plain. There was an uneasy silence Apto couldn’t help but notice. No chirping songs from any birds could be heard, just the gentle breeze through the grass, and the quiet breaths of him and his friends. “Where are we? How did we get here?” He asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth quickly. There was a slight hesitation, alerting him that they didn’t know either before either said anything. “I do not know... we just awoke here with zero explanation,” Rivvis responded, his smooth voice carrying a slight concerned sounding tone. Before either of them could say anything else in response, the tranquil silence was broken by what sounded like the heavy wingbeats of multiple large flying animals getting louder with each second. The three of them froze, looking up and around at the open blue sky. Overhead, three griffins flew past, Orcish boys riding on their backs. They didn’t seem to notice the group amidst the grass, or they didn’t care as they flew past. As quickly as they came, they left without looking back, leaving the group to stare after them in confused silence. “Who were they?” Chaser questioned, then immediately fell silent as more wing beats could be heard, getting louder. A gruff, hostile, booming voice yelled, “Over here, there are intruders!”

Apto turned, his face painted with an expression of surprise. Behind them were two orcs, each riding a griffin, their feathers a creamy white color, as well as a brown color mixed in. They had saddles, as well as leather harnesses to match. One of the orcs was adorned with shiny chainmail that glinted brightly in the blinding sun, as well as a large battle-axe in his left hand. The other orc was wearing leather armor, and a javelin clutched tightly in his right hand. The griffin that the chainmail orc was riding let out a high pitched screech, swooping down and landing on the grassy ground, letting the orc hop off, and charge full speed at Apto and his friends. Rivvis wasted no time, and jumped into action, whipping out his flintlock pistol and beginning to load it. The other griffin and its rider swooped down to land as well, the leather armored orc climbing off of his stead. As Chaser pulled out his long sword, Apto quickly grabbed the sleeping Mal, holding him protectively with his left arm, and pulling out a javelin as well. He was worried that the orcs would try and hurt his friend while he was sleeping, or attempt to take him hostage. However, this motion abruptly woke up the pink-haired halfling, who upon waking, looked bewildered at the scene around him. Mal tensed for a split second and then wiggled his way out of Apto’s arm like a stubborn cat would. Mal took a few steps away from Apto, staring at the enemies ahead, then looked back up at Apto. The lion-man glanced down at Mal, flashing a quick, apologetic smile, before looking back up at the charging enemy. Gauging the distance, Apto hurled the javelin at the orc in one quick, fluid motion, feeling energy sizzle through his body, flowing through the weapon as it left his hand. It sailed through the air and landed in the orc’s shoulder. The charging orc let out an infuriated yell, but his running pace stayed steady. Mal seemed to instantly click the situation they were in, readying a spell of his. Chaser and Apto both advanced on the charging, chainmail wearing orc together, Apto switching back to his battle-axe. Meanwhile, Rivvis had finally loaded his pistol, and pointed it at the orc adorned in leather, firing. Apto could hear the gun crack, and a grunt of frustration from Rivvis shortly afterwards which signaled to him that the Triton had missed. In range now, Apto raised his battle-axe up high, the metal shining in the sun, and swung down hard towards the orc, but unfortunately missing as he moved just out of the way of his razor-like blade. Chaser took a swing as well, landing his blow on the side of the orc’s arm, which earned a low, irritated growl from the orc in response as he prepared to swing his weapon. The blow was aimed at Apto while he was pulling back his battle-axe from the ground, which struck him hard in the shoulder. He flinched, pain surging through his arm, and took a half step backwards away from the armored orc so he could focus and swing again, but paused as he heard a sort of choking gasp from Rivvis. He glanced over in time to see his friend pass out, dropping the short bow he had switched to after he missed with the pistol, collapse to the grass below, and promptly disappear from his sight, with the leather-wearing orc standing above where he just was. There was no blood, and no passed out form of Rivvis amidst the long, golden fronds. He’d just vanished with no trace or explanation.

Normally, Apto could wake his friends up by using his healing powers, and patch up wounds so they could carry on as usual, however, he had to have an actual target to do that. Seeing as his friend was gone, and was potentially gravely hurt, sent him into a panic. “Rivvis?! Guys Rivvis is gone, he vanished!” Apto exclaimed, his amber eyes scanning the grass for any sign of the blue-tinted man, but there was nothing. “What do you mean he vanished?! He was just here!” Mal responded, looking over to find that, yes, Rivvis had indeed vanished. One of the griffins lunged forward at the short, pink-haired man with a deafening screech, and Mal narrowly avoided getting sliced in the face by its razor-sharp claws, but it did catch him in the side, a fresh set of claw marks appearing from where the hit landed, but strangely, there was still no blood. Mal winced and quickly moved so the griffin couldn’t attack once again, icy blue magic bubbling around his hands as he concentrated on his target. Apto flipped his focus back to the metal-wearing orc, who was very distracted by Chaser at the moment as the robot aimed a few swings at his armor. The orc managed to land a hit back on him, causing Chaser to take a surprised step back. Something wasn’t right, these orcs seemed so strong, and unphased by the group’s attacks, while whenever Mal, Chaser, or Apto himself got hit, it seemed to hurt like nothing they've felt before. It was strange they woke up here as well, with no memory of getting here. Plus, this strange landscape had felt rather familiar, like he had seen it before, it was just on the tip of his tongue. Apto could hear off to his left, Mal hiss, “Mind Whip.”, and see a bright flash of blue shot out at the griffin nearest to him, making a sharp snap noise as it made contact with the winged beast. In response, it let out an angry howl, lowering itself down towards the yellow tinted grass and crouching. Like a tightly coiled spring, the griffin suddenly launched forward, barreling into Mal before he could react. A sharp yelp of surprise could be heard before Mal was promptly slammed hard into the ground, then vanished immediately after like Rivvis did. There was no blood, and no form of the passed out halfling in the grass. There wasn’t a single trace of him that Apto could see. “Mal is gone too!” Apto shouted out, scanning the grass a final time before returning his gaze to the enemies. “They just vanished?” Chaser asked back in response, heavy confusion in his tone. “Yeah, they both passed out then just disappeared!” He confirmed, voice strained. Where would they have gone? There was no blood, and no passed out bodies of Mal or Rivvis, so maybe this was a dream, or some kind of magic was involved. The pain felt very real, so he doubted this was some sort of dream, but how was this possible? Then it finally clicked, the painting. This was the scene depicted in the painting, the careful brushstrokes depicted a yellow field, a grey castle, and a few trees lurking in the background, a clear blue sky... They were in the painting itself. Then another thought occurred;  Maybe they were meant to pass out, that might be the way to get out of here. The orcs and griffins were so powerful, maybe this was just meant to happen. They might have a way out of here.

The griffins both turned and eyed Chaser and Apto angrily, and the leather-wearing orc was pointing his battle-axe at the two of them, spewing insults while Chaser was busy fighting the other orc. “Chaser! I think we’re in a painting and the only way to get out is to let these guys knock us out!” Apto shouted urgently to his robotic friend, hardly taking a breath as he spoke. Chaser gave a surprised look to Apto, paused, then nodded. “I suppose that would make sense. Would it work if I stabbed you? That might make it less painful.” He asked, and Apto hesitated. The lion-man wasn’t entirely sure. It could work, but if it didn’t... what would happen? Apto shook his head quickly. “I don’t know, it feels a bit risky, Mal and Rivvis both disappeared when attacked by one of them, so we know that definitely does something. We don’t know what stabbing each other could do.” He responded, trying to play it safe. Chaser nodded in understanding. “Okay... I trust you.” He said, watching Apto to see what he would do. It felt odd, trying to let something hurt him like this on purpose, just laying his life down without a fight. So Apto decided that if he did go out, he would do it with a bang. He strode over to the griffins with a sense of purpose, dropping his battle-axe to the ground with a soft thud. They had saddles on, and Apto had never ridden one, so his plan was to at least attempt to hop on one. Maybe it would be fun, as long as he didn’t think too hard about what would happen after. He reached out to grab onto one of the beasts but was immediately shut down with a screech as the griffin tried to slash at him, missing, and then resorting to just pecking him instead. He hissed in pain, trying one more time to reach out and get on. A different, shrill call was heard from behind him, as he was unexpectedly pounced on from behind. The wind was immediately knocked out of him, and he felt a sharp pain dig in and radiate through his back for a second before it vanished, and there was nothing.

Apto awoke with a jolt and a sharp gasp, his eyes flying open. He sat up, looking around, suddenly realizing he wasn’t hurt at all, in fact, there wasn’t a single scratch on him. He was in a square-shaped room, the walls made of dark grey stone. There was a blocked stairwell leading to where Apto assumed was down to some sort of basement to the far left of the room, and a closed-door to the right of the room. There was a painting hung on the wall, and around it were his friends, Mal and Rivvis who were looking at him. “Hello again, I am quite glad to see you here.” Rivvis greeted pleasantly, though there was clearly something bothering him. Mal waved, and turned back to the painting, watching it intently. There were four beds in the room, all evenly spread apart, and on one of them, Chaser laid peacefully. “What happened?” Apto questioned, standing up and walking over to the painting. “Well our dear... ‘friend’ V decided he wanted to test our wits, and he trapped us in this painting. Apparently, there are more puzzles in store for us after this as well. It was quite uncalled for if you ask me...” Rivvis replied, returning his gaze back to the painting his look hardened into a look of annoyance. “Yeah. I hate him.” Mal chimed in unhappily. V was sort of like their mysterious boss they didn’t know much about. They were helping him gather people for a revolution against his brother, so it sort of made sense why he would test them like this, yet this was still pretty cruel in his opinion. Looking at the painting, he could see the same scene they were in before, golden fields, bright blue sky, a grey castle, now with added people. Apto watched as Chaser put down his weapon and calmly walked towards the orcs with his arms outstretched as a form of submission. He immediately was slashed across the chest by the orc wearing chainmail, and then sliced in the face immediately after by the orc wearing leather. His legs buckled under him, and Chaser fell to the grass below, disappearing from Aptos sight after. As soon as he vanished, Apto could hear his friend power on behind him, so he turned to look, seeing a surprised looking robot looking around the room. “Welcome to the other side.” Apto greeted, smiling a little. Chaser grunted a “Thanks,” standing up and walking over to the group. Rivvis gave Chaser a quick run-down of the situation, then pulled out a pocket mirror from his bag. They acted like communication devices, only after some activation words were spoken, allowing the group to see and talk to their ‘boss’.  After a few moments, the hooded figure of V materialized in the mirror, his image rippling ever so slightly like the water in a lake. “Ah, I see you made it out of the puzzle, I’m quite pleased to see that. How was it? It’s quite wonderful, isn’t it?” V said calmly, a faint smile on his face. “No, it’s stupid,” Mal responded bitterly, glaring at the image of V in the mirror. There was a quiet huff of annoyance from V on the end, as his smile turned into a straight line, but nothing more about Mal’s comment. “I hope you’ll be able to solve my next puzzles, I’m very eager to see how you guys do. Good luck.” With that, the mirror rippled violently, and V’s image disappeared, leaving the group staring at their reflections as the mirror went still once more. There was a brief moment of silence before Chaser broke it. “So... puzzles again?” Apto sighed, nodding a little. “Seems that would be the case. We should just get them over with, hopefully, they won’t take long,” he responded optimistically. The rest of the group mumbled their agreeance, Mal taking the lead as they walked to the door in the room, opened it cautiously, and walked through, staying on edge.