Coming clean.

As he made his way down to the next level the haunting voice faded away as if it was a figment of his imagination. Either way he knew he had seen something truly dangerous. Whatever that was far exceeded his and the others capability. The danger of this place became more apparent. Consulting the map in his mind Ares was grateful that there was only one more level before he arrived at the Time pagoda.

The map unfortunately was now beginning to be lacking in detail; where the first and second level included a basic overview of each area the third and fourth levels were largely blank. Only the layout of the floors were imprinted within his mind.

The secret staircase led to a small room adjacent from more corridors; they were similar in design to the first floor only now Ares could see that rooms behind each door varied in their design. One of them had a deep drop right behind the door and another was very narrow. There were even doors which led literally to no-where just a blank space behind their entry.

Ares thanked his luck that he had been given a map as it was clear that any of those doors were deadly and likely to be traps.

Whilst on the stairs Ares was stopped as both Jason and Sky had stopped in their tracks and turned to confront him.

"So Jason… who areyou really." Sky said. His hand on his weapon.

Whist he thought about attempting to lie his way out of the situation he knew that with Skys already wary eye he would end up digging himself a bigger hole.

"Ares, space guild." He replied. This time Ares grabbed his face morphing his mask into his real face.

Sky looked slightly dissatisfied by the revelation.

"Why do you know where we are? and how the hell did you survive that mental attack?" Despite his wariness towards Ares he was also grateful for his help in evading the spider; this feeling meant Sky felt quite conflicted towards him.

"Firstly I didn't know where we were; I was given a map by the grey face in that room. And as to why I survived a mental attack. I honestly don't really understand that myself." Ares explained. Despite knowing he had a Saints Token he didn't really understand how it worked so he figured this couldn't really be called lying, instead he omitted certain facts about himself.

"Look Sky I don't really care too much about that; this lad here is the only reason we are still breathing."

Sky huffed but it was clear that the interrogation was over.

"At least tell us what the hell those things were and where abouts you have led us." He said looking back at Ares.

"I have no idea what those things are, only that they appear to have been experimental subjects of some sort. The one we bumped into was probably one of the weakest around. The map can tell me about the first levels and you would not imagine the danger of each and every room. For us to bump into that spider we were lucky." Ares told the two.

"Lucky! That thing almost had us; I was seconds away from passing out." Jason said a frightened look flashing over his face.

"I would have used rock armour to protect you." Sky said smiling at Jason.

"And where would that have left us just now! You cant use that magic more then once a day." Jason said. Ares face flashed with realisation. That was the reason Sky hadn't acted before then; it was clear despite its great power that rock armour had great limitations too.

"Don't look so happy. I have other spells." Sky added as he caught Ares look.

"Whatever" Ares said ignoring the jab by Sky.

"Anyway, im leading you to the fourth level." Ares explained once more.

"Whats there? And why do you need us?" Sky asked.

"Well to be honest I don't really know much about the fourth level, I wasn't joking when I said there was an artefact, but I don't know too much else. It could be a complete trap for all I know; or it could be the entire knowledge of this base. All I can tell you is it is the most restricted area and it will more then likely have numerous deadly safety measures. And secondly….." Ares paused for effect.

"I needed some cannon fodder." He finished a playful smile on his face.

"I knew it…" Sky began as he momentarily lost his words.

Jason on the other hand immediately picked up on the tone. After a second of hesitation he started laughing deeply his whole body convulsing as he did. His laugh after was infectious and Sky soon broke also laughing and Ares laughed too. All three men were stood laughing together on the stairs. For anyone outside it would have looked like a group of old friends sharing a joke.

After a couple of minutes all three of them regained a level of calm. The joke had broken any tense atmosphere between them before.

"So what do you want to do now you know how dangerous it is?" Ares asked the two seriously this time.

"Screw it, no risk no reward." Jason said once more cutting Sky off.

"I guess" Sky said not raising any real objection.

"Well if that's the case let me lead you on; the next level looks similar to the labyrinth only there are lots more traps. You better follow me closely." Ares said stepping infront and leading the group onwards. They could have stopped to recover a bit longer but all three knew their time was limited in this place and it wasn't worth wasting any.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs and arrived in the small room Ares knew this was going to be the most dangerous floor yet.

The small room was large enough for the other two to stand next to him but there was no space otherwise. Only the staircase leading upwards and the door in front of them were of note. The door however was covered in thousands of magic circles which were moving continuously. As Ares stared at them, he strangely could understand a message left. It simply resounded in his mind in a monotone voice.

"Level three. Living quarters, proceed with extreme caution. They are loose." He thought to himself. What was living here?