Young Writers Society

A gentle melody floats throughout the seemingly endless ballroom, rousing you from your slumber. You open your eyes to find that you are standing among countless other people. These people are all dressed in elaborate gowns and suits. Adorned to each of their faces is a mask of some sort, effectively concealing their identity at the briefest of glances. You quickly realize that you are dressed in a similar way. When you attempt to remove your mask, you find that you are unable to. You will have to play along with this strange masquerade to find the answers you seek.

But there is more to this masquerade than meets the eye. People have been brought here from an endless number of realities, and the mastermind behind this ball wishes to play a game. After you have figured out how to leave the ballroom, you must solve a series of puzzles and riddles in order to return to your home.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of an enormous ballroom. This was alarming for multiple reasons. Perhaps most frightening of all was that the last thing he remembered was sliding, exhausted, into one of the chairs of The Lotus after escaping from Kek's ship. He had no recollection of what had happened between then and now.

The second startling fact was that his guise was the same as he last remembered it being - he could feel the braid down on his neck. Seeing that all he ever wanted to be was Leonardo Cartwright now, he was horrified that he would have to pretend to be the Scarlet Lord for even longer. He spun around in search of someone who could give him some sort of answer, only to discover the third alarming part of this situation: everyone was dressed in elaborate outfits, masks adorning their faces and concealing their identities.

He could feel one pressing up against his skin right now.

A quick glance down made it clear that he was dressed just as as fancily as the others present in the room. Though he was terrified by the whole situation, he had to admit that the outfit was something he might have chosen if he had willing gone to a masquerade.

He felt someone tap his shoulder.

He spun around, eyes wide behind his mask as his hand shot towards were his zat'nik'tel would have been in a normal situation. It unsurprisingly wasn't there; whoever had brought him here had wanted him to be alarmed.

The woman behind him held up her hands in mock surrender. "Well aren't you excited to see me, Maahes," Vala Mal Doran said, a joking tone to her voice. She was hard to recognize with the outfit she was wearing, but her voice revealed her identity.

He had never been more happy to see her.

"You're alright," he said, sighing in relief.

"That I am," she replied. She took a step towards to him, grabbed onto his arm and leaned in close. He was more than a little flustered by the action, but he didn't try to pull away. "The last thing I remember before ending up here was being in the back of your ship. Someone must have taken us and put us in these outfits." She looked down, then back up. "Although I do have to say this dress makes me look good."

He nodded, not quite sure which part he was agreeing with. "We should talk to other people here," he suggested. "We can see if anyone else went through the same thing. If they have, we can learn who they are and figure out the connection."

"Wonderful plan," Vala agreed. "Just let's skip the part where we tell them our names. We might attract some...unwanted attention."

Music rang clearly in Eremia's ears. It gently pulled her out of her sleep, reminding her of the gardens and ballrooms of her home. Her father had loved to bring in musicians to charm guests or sweep away the oppressive silence in the cold halls of the palace. It took her a minute before she realized that something was wrong. She didn't remember any musicians in the last place she'd been, and she was fairly sure she hadn't had something stuck to her face when she'd gone to bed last night.

Eremia opened her eyes to find herself in a ballroom. It stretched around her in marble columns and multicolored drapes. The wooden floors gleamed despite the countless footsteps walking over them. A strange spinning orb over her head cast lights in all directions. And, no matter how much she turned her head, she couldn't seem to find the musicians. Only crowds and crowds of people in masks and elaborate costumes.

And yes, something certainly was stuck to her face. It appeared to be a mask. Was this a masquerade ball? Had her friends decided to pull a prank on her and have her wake up here? It would explain her outfit, which was much too bright for her tastes. Still, she couldn't recognize anyone, nor were any of the voices floating around familiar. Hopefully taking off her mask would let them know that -

She couldn't take off the mask.

She pulled on it with one hand, but it refused to budge. It was like it was glued on. Beginning to panic, Eremia reached up with the other hand and yanked at the mask. No luck. A second later, a loud clattering noise rang out right next to her. She looked down to see a long scepter lying on the ground. Oops. Why hadn't she noticed she'd been holding it?

Realizing that all the others were staring at her - at least, their masks were turned in her direction - she picked the scepter back up and waved it slowly to dismiss them. The partygoers went back to their business, and her mask hid the blush on her face.

None of this made sense. She wanted to believe this was a dream. But, if it was, she would've been able to rip the mask off with ease. This meant it either wasn't a normal dream, or she'd been whisked off to some strange place. In any case, she needed to find someone she recognized, and fast.



Taber stood by the punch bowl and fidgeted. He didn't like any of this. His clothes felt too hot and stuffy, he couldn't breathe through his mask very well, and he didn't recognize a single person around him. The wolf didn't trust people in masks; they weren't being honest. Which was why he was bothered by his inability to pull off his own.

As he wrung his hands together, he focused on the two people closest to him. A boy with a red and gold color scheme and a girl with a green and black one. Their hair colors and appearances matched nobody he knew, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to them. He approached, waving. "Hello!" he said, "I'm Ta-". Taber stopped and frowned. Was it a good idea to use his actual name here? If everything else about him was fake, having a fake name wouldn't hurt too much more. It just had to be clever enough. One came to mind immediately. "Rebat!" he continued. "How're you guys doing?"

The woman pushed herself off the ground with a grunt, her long cloak falling in folds around her as she stood and brushed herself off. She was wearing all black and a hood was draped over her coppery hair. Between this and the dark brownish mask that covered her face, any identifying features were hidden. The mask itself was reminiscent made of serpent skin. It was mostly matte black or maybe even brown, with the edges of a diamondback pattern outlined faintly with paler beige.

Her attire consisted entirely of shades of ebony and deep maroon, complementing the slight reddish sheen of her mask and the mahogany hue of her eyes and hair, and was an odd, if suiting, style. Her long cloak extended into a hood over her head and was lined with the same dark maroon as the rest of the highlights on her clothing - her belt, dagger sheathes, and gloves. Around her neck she found a choker of brilliant rubies. This was startlingly formal wear that she didn't remember putting on.

"You alright there, fraulein?" a German voice inquired from behind. She spun around and came face-to-face with another masked figure. His own mask was silvery, worn and burnished from years of use, with a slight green tinge to the metal. It was in the shape of a fox's face. His clothing was formal but also old-fashioned: a black shirt, pants, and boots were complemented by a dark gray, silver-buttoned doublet and a decorative green-and-silver cape that hung off one shoulder. His shoulder-length blond hair was tied back neatly.

"F***, Silberfuchs, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she snapped as she released the hilts of the twin daggers at her hips. He smiled under the mask.

"Sorry," he apologised. "But my question stands."

"Yes, fine," she said, glancing towards the party. "Looks like we stumbled in on a fun time."

Maahes looked over at Vala. It had been one thing to suggest that they talk to someone else; it was another for someone to come up and initiate the conversation. But Rebat - or whoever he really was, because the hesitation before the name made it clear he was using an alias - seemed like a decent person, and they were desperately in need of answers.

"We're doing quite well," Vala said, her lips turning up into a smile that likely didn't reach her eyes. She took a step towards him. Dropping her voice down to a whisper, she asked, "Now, Taber, do you know how we ended up here?"

Maahes stared at her. How had she-Oh. She must have gone off the sound he had started to say before the alias. He had just been using his name backwards, hadn't he? Going off of what Vala had done, though he didn't exactly support the threat, he added, "If you tell us everything you know about what's going on, we won't tell anyone your real name."

Vala gave him a thumbs up behind her back.


He opened his eyes.

Music floated in one ear and out the other, a hauntingly beautiful melody that seemed to be coming from everywhere around him. He was standing in an absolutely enormous room. He had never seen anything like it before. He would have normally taken it all in with wonder, but that feeling was quickly dashed when he realized he had no idea how he had arrived here, and that the room was filled with people in a variety of costumes and masks.

He immediately backed up in a poor attempt to get away from all of them. In the process, he bumped into the man behind him. The man grumbled at the action, but neither him nor the man made any attempt to address each other. They just each went their own ways, the man to go over to the punch bowl, and he to a mostly empty part of the room.

He didn't feel right. His entire outfit was bizarre, and he felt like something was pressing up against his face. He slowly raised a hand up to touch the thing in question, and was absolutely horrified to realize that it had to be one of the masks the other people in the room were wearing. He went to take it off, but quickly stopped when he realized why no one in the room had started screaming when they saw him: it completely covered his face.

And it therefore covered his fangs.

If he was right about his mask, it went right up to his horns. A perfect way to pretend to be human, even if his ears and eyes would give him away to anyway who looked too closely at him. Easing into the outfit - and the persona of a completely normal human - he rejoined the group of people lingering in the center of the room.

Which was when the girl dropped her scepter.

(At least, that's what he thought it was called. He had never really seen something like it before, except on one of those documentaries he had seen on TV a little while back.)

He wasted no time in heading over to her. She looked like she was roughly his age from the little he could see of her face, which was all that he needed. Adults were more difficult to trust. Teenagers, on the other hand, were like his friends and therefore were far better with noticing and then dealing with the bizarre things going on around them.

He came to a stop beside her.

"Hello," he said.

Taber gasped, causing his mask to make something like a whistling noise. "How did you guys know?" he whispered, leaning closer. "I was very clever! You must be psychic or something! But yeah, I just woke up here. I dunno where I am, or what's going on, or why I can't take off my mask. I'm kind of hot and confused and tired right now. Is that an okay answer? I don't want anybody knowing my name right now." He looked at the floor and shoved his hands into his small pants pockets.



Eremia looked up. For a brief and blissful second, she thought she was staring at Taber. Then she realized this person didn't have the right height or size, and there was no way that mask could fit Taber's face. She frowned, taking in the eerie red-and-black patterns and the horns. He (the voice suggested as much) had the exact opposite aesthetic she did. And if she wasn't comfortable looking like a beautiful princess, there was no way he liked being a horrible monster.

She relaxed, taking a deep breath. "Hello," she said. "I imagine you must be having a wonderful time here. Could you please tell me whether not being able to remove my mask is normal?"

James came to with a start, feeling the horrible sensation of alarm at waking up in a place completely unfamiliar to him and a place that he had definitely never been to before. He found himself sitting in a plush chair on the outer edge of what looked like... a masked ball. The ballroom was full of people - all strangers to him, though he couldn't very well tell, since everyone was dressed up and masked. It only took him a second to realize that he was just as dressed up, which only caused his sense of panic to arise because that meant that someone had to have dressed him, or coerced him to while not entirely coherent. But he couldn't remember getting drunk, and he didn't feel hungover.

He leaned forward in the seat slowly - as if one wrong move would draw too much attention to himself, or even, if he moved too quickly, the clarity of the dream would fade.

It... had to be a dream, right? He wished it was. But he knew what it felt like to be grounded in flesh and bone, no matter how real a dream could feel. He never had such clarity of mind in a dream. So this had to be real.

As he stood up he finally gave himself a good look, honestly taken aback by... how much he loved the outfit he was wearing. It was something he would never get a chance to wear in any logical world where he existed, but the shimmering gold floral patterns that danced around on his suit against the dark black made him stare in wonder at himself, if for but a moment, before the panic set in once again when he touched the mask on his face only to realize that he couldn't take it off.

He tried again. And again. But it didn't work.

In any other situation, he wouldn't complain about having a mask. If anything, it was a mercy that people wouldn't be able to recognize him and figure out who he was, but the fact that somehow it was stuck to his face was disconcerting, to say the least. It was then that he also noticed the cleanliness of his hair and beard, and that somehow, they'd been... trimmed and managed and done up in a way that he'd again, never had any reasonable reason to since he would never be caught dead in a place like this. Or he would be caught dead somewhere like this. He would definitely be dead if he were. Except he wasn't. Because he was here.

He turned around to the crowd, caught off guard at the feeling of the cape hanging off his shoulder catch air for just a moment. Okay. That was new too.

He had to figure out how he got there, and how he was going to get home. So he departed into the crowd, slowly weaving through people and searching the room for exits. If he could get a look outside, maybe he could figure out where he was.

Vala looked over at Maahes - or, at least, she looked over at the area he should have been in. But he was gone, weaving his way through the crowd of people towards someone else. Considering that talking to Taber had been a joint effort, she suspected that he wasn't just trying to get information. She turned her attention back to Taber. The name was unfamiliar, but the situation was the same. Interesting. At least she could rule out the possibility of them being surrounded by Goa'ulds.

"It's perfectly fine," she said. She thought a moment, then added with a whisper, "Me and my...partner are in the same boat."


The whole point of a masquerade was to conceal the identities of the others there, but Maahes knew he recognized the man the moment he rose from the plush chair he had been sitting in. The hairstyle was unfamiliar, and his face was concealed behind a mask. But he didn't need that to recognize him. The build was familiar enough, and the hair color belonged to someone he knew. Add in the strange way they kept running into each other, and how recent their last meeting had been, and he knew exactly which face was behind the mask.

He should have said something to Vala, but he didn't want Taber to learn anything about them. Even more so, he didn't want to lose the man he was following in the crowd. So here he was, chasing a man who would likely be very disturbed if he saw he was being followed without knowing who his follower was. He sighed. He wished he could do this in another way, but this was the only option.

He hurried up ahead and grabbed onto his wrist.


Relief flooded him when she started talking to him. He had been hoping that the mask would prevent anyone from learning the truth about him, but he had seriously doubted that it would work. Then the relief was immediately dashed, because the second part of what she had said sunk in.

She couldn't remove her mask.

Didn't that mean he couldn't remove his? He didn't want to try it, because then the question of why he was keeping his on would come up. But he needed to see if she was right, so trying to remove his mask was the only way he was going to get the answers he needed. He raised a hand up, grasped the side of his mask, and gave it a sharp tug. Nothing happened. He tried again, this time on the other side. The results repeated themselves.

His mask was stuck to his face.

He let himself panic for a moment before addressing the girl. He didn't have time to panic. He needed to figure out what he was going on, and he needed to figure out soon. "I'd normally say no," he started, slipping his hands into his pockets, "but my mask isn't coming off either."

Taber watched as one of the two walked off, vanishing into the crowd. He held his hands to his mask. Had he said something wrong? After the other person explained that they were in the same situation, he was sure of it. He must've bothered the other person by talking about his own confusion and frustration. Taber tapped a foot against the ground; he'd offended people in the past by being himself, and it wasn't something he wanted to repeat. "Oh no!" said Taber. "Do you need a hug or something?"



"Wonderful," Eremia grumbled. This couldn't be a dream; the other person was both too unfamiliar and too real to be the product of her subconscious. If that person were it, she would've known by now - it wasn't exactly subtle. She briefly clenched her fists, feeling her blood boil. This being a dream still happened to be the best explanation, but it was wrong. She hated being wrong.

Taking a deep breath and standing up straight, Eremia extended a hand. She looked like a princess; she was a princess. Might as well start acting like one. "Then I suppose we are stuck here together. I am Eremia Renatus, the heir to the throne of Exedor. Who might you be?" She hoped he wouldn't recognize her. But, given how strange this place was, she imagined nobody here would know her identity.

James instinctively ripped his hand from the man's grip and whirled around to face him. He was frustrated. In an event like this he would've hoped to have some sort of weapon on him as a last resort, but he knew that he didn't have anything. If he did he would've felt it or seen it by now.

"Don't touch me," he commanded sharply.

The German nodded in agreement to the woman. "Indeed we have, love." As he spoke he offered her his arm, which she took.

They slipped into the crowd with confidence, as though they belonged, scanning the crowd for others who didn't fit, though this proved somewhat difficult due to the masks.

"Er, no?" Vala said, taking a step back from Taber. His personality was a bit...unusual compared to the other people she had run into in recent days, but it was the eagerness for a hug that threw her off the most. "What I could really use is some answers, but it appears that you're just as lost as we are."


There was no doubt that the man was exactly who he thought he was. The attitude was one good indicator, but perhaps what was most telling of all was the voice. He had paid extra attention to the sound of it the last time they had met in case something like this happened, and the extra step had paid off.

Of course, James was mad at him because he didn't recognize him - again - and Maahes had just come to the not-so-good realization that he couldn't just go announcing their names here.

He really should have thought this through more.

"I'm sorry," he hurriedly apologized. "But I just had to talk to you. It's been awhile since we last saw each other. Not as long as the times before that, but, uh...You know, we have the tendency to meet in really weird places, don't we? I can't think of a single time we've met somewhere normal."


Both the girl's name and the name of the kingdom she was apparently the princess of were unfamiliar, but that didn't mean that her kingdom didn't exist. His technically didn't exist to the people of Earth, and there was nothing to say that Eremia hadn't come from the world his kingdom was a part of.

So that meant he was at a crossroads.

Say his real name, and he'd risk revealing the truth about what he was and where he had disappeared to all those years ago. Say an alias, and he'd be missing the opportunity to connect with the girl - who was also royalty - right in front of him. He thought through the two options for a good minute before he decided which one to go with.

"I'm Aaron," he said, the alias rolling off his tongue. "I haven't heard of your kingdom, but meeting royalty is always cool."

James furrowed his brows together underneath his mask, giving the man a scrutinizing look as he took apart his words. He could tell the man was being intentionally vague, as if trying to communicate an underlying message behind his words - or to simply hint at a specific event or memory.

"I've never -" he was about to finish saying, but then he stopped himself. He'd had a moment like this once before. Where an old friend proved himself to be the one he'd met three times up 'til then, each at an odd and inconvenient time, but he'd been happy to see him nonetheless.

He had to be sure it was him though. Just because Maahes could shift forms, didn't mean he'd take this man at his word right away.

"Fine," he said, this time his voice less harsh in tone than before. "Name the first instance where we met."

Exactly what she'd expected. She quietly breathed in relief. Better yet, he sounded genuine. She'd had the idea that this had been some kind of trick, one to pull her here and get her to reveal her identity in order to either assassinate or control her. However, with absolutely no one else approaching the two, and the other person making no moves against her, she could put that idea to rest. Not to say there weren't other ideas, or other questions she couldn't answer. Hopefully, he could.

"Having met so many royals this past year," Eremia said, "I find it almost mundane. An honor to meet you, Aaron. Do you know who has been hosting this marvelous party? I would love to see them." She gripped her scepter tighter as she imagined striking the party's host with it.



"I have lots of answers!" Taber said, perking up. "But nothing for this." He slumped and sighed. "Maybe we should go find your friend? And maybe I'll find someone I know as well?"

He smiled. Though the tone was still harsh, it was noticeably less so. James must have had some idea of who he was talking to, even though he looked and sounded completely different. It was something both of them were used to, so it made sense that he would be a bit more lenient than if it had been someone else.

"It was that cabin in the woods," he said, "when we were running away. I was...smaller than you back then. Then we ran into each other at, um, your place, and the next time it was that weird cave."


Taber was definitely one of the oddest people she had met, but his suggestion did hold some merit. She need Maahes here. Not just because he had thousands of years on her and therefore more experience, but because she needed at least one thing she was familiar with. This entire situation was too bizarre for her to handle without some sort of constant.

"That sounds like a splendid idea," she said. She raised a finger and pointed in the direction she caught a glimpse of scarlet in. "I think I saw him head that way."



It took him a moment to realize that what she was talking about was how his own life could have played out if that ill-fated experiment had never happened. Meeting with other royalty? That sounded horrible, especially when he thought of what the high-tier gods had to go through when meeting others in their ranking.

This conversation was weird, to say the least.

"I'm just as clueless as you are," he said, noting how her grip on the scepter tightened.