The Kingdom of Khura'in, a small Himalayan nation famed for the nation's many spirit mediums and the religious faith that was tied to that ability. And for Maya Fey, it had been where she had been learning to improve her own spirit channelling abilities.

Or had been, until she was reported missing. Soon enough, Ema Skye had made her way to the country to help search, and then.... She too had been silent for a week. And so, three others now arrived to search for two missing friends.

Athena Cykes, Trucy Wright, and Pearl Fey. A skilled junior lawyer, a young magician, and the younger cousin of the missing Maya and herself a spirit medium. They had only just managed to make it into the country themselves.  Snowstorms had closed the airport shortly after Ema's arrival, as well as blocking roads from neighbouring nations like Nepal. On top of that, another ally in the region was presently out of town.

"Apollo's not able to return to the country for another two weeks at least, but he says we can use the Justice Law Offices and anything there if we need it," Athena said to her companions as they finally got off the plane and had signals on their phones.

"And so it falls to us to save the day while he's off helping fix some international incident for the Khuar'in government..." Trucy replied.

"I think 'their ambassador to Saudi Arabia is accused of murder' is a little more complicated than 'some international incident', Trucy," Pearl noted.

"Okay, yeah, it is kind of a mess but it's just pretty bad timing isn't it. We're pretty obviously from out of town and none of us really know this place all that well do we?"

Athena nodded. The trio stood out quite a bit in their attire, marked rather clearly as foreigners. Athena in bright yellow, Trucy wearing her blue top hat and cloak, and Pearl... Well, okay, she actually almost blended in with her Kimono. The airport was hardly bustling, and the majority of other passengers had been Khura'in citizens returning home after being delayed themselves.

"Yeah, Trucy and I have been here but I don't really know the way around great. Ema's last message was that Maya had been seen in the mountains, towards the Inner Sanctum. We'll need permission to visit since it's a holy site, which is why our first stop is the Royal Residence to speak to Princess Rayfa."

"Ema had permission, right?" Pearl realised.

"Yes, a sort of passport document to let her look around at least. But I think we're better off asking for a guide."

The two younger females paused.

"Wait, we're going to visit a royal palace right off the plane?"

"Well, no, we probably should go to a hotel or Apollo's offices first but I mean when we're actually investigating it's our first stop," Athena clarified.

"Oh. Well, about a guide, maybe Rayfa could help?" Trucy wondered.

"I doubt a princess would just drop everything to act as our guide, but she's probably able to get us one, I guess," Pearl said.

"Well, I think that's what Trucy meant, ask her if she knows a guide, but either way it probably won't hurt to let you take the lead here, since, y'know, distant cousin, spirit medium, and not a defence lawyer or the daughter of one... And also you aren't wearing bright yellow like me," Athena pointed out, wondering if maybe packing her whole suitcase with identical clothes had been a good plan after all....

***

"You will need a guide of course, but I don't really have anything important needing done today so why don't I just come with you all?" Rayfa said.

Trucy looked as surprised as Pearl at this, but neither mentioned their earlier conversation as the latter.

"Er, that would be wonderful, Your Benevolence..." Pearl said.

The Princess of Khura'in soon led the way, the four taking the relatively short walk towards the Inner Sanctum.

"Maya was last sighted heading up here a while ago, and when your colleague Ema arrived, she was soon led towards this place. But of course, we haven't seen her since..." Rayfa explained, as they walked.

"Have there been any other reports of missing persons?" Athena asked.

"Yes, but they don't seem connected. I should also say, we attempted to speak to the spirits of the missing, but there was no response. This normally means they still live, but even that is not for certain."

"It's a good sign at least. Though there are stories of ways to trap a spirit from passing on...." Pearl noted nervously.

"Many of them are legendary and possibly even mythological, though, and few are simple tasks. It requires a considerable amount of spiritual power to perform the few known to be real. Power that would be like a signal flare in Khura'in."

"In other words every medium for miles would know that one of those rituals had been used?" Trucy wondered.

"Yes. And to perform it close to the Sanctum would be even worse, for this holy place enhances and reflects any powers used," Rayfa said as the building neared.

The four looked over the holy place, the three Americans impressed by the splendour of the area. Rayfa however was examining the site for anything unusual.

"So... I know there was supposed to have been some hidden tunnel here, and presumably if there was any more known you'd have investigated them?" Athena wondered.

"Yes, but, the holy nature of the Sanctum and the age of it does mean that it's a complicated task, spiritually. Many of the secret routes may only be known to our ancestors...."

"Right, so, we'll stick to the known passages for now rather than fumble about looking for other ones," Pearl said.

"Yeah, probably not very polite to go tapping ancient walls to try find hidden buttons or whatever. But what if someone else had found one and was using it?" Trucy wondered.

"Well... I think someone might have," Rayfa frowned, looking at a passageway, dark and unlit.

"Oh. That's not supposed to be there?"

"It's not a passageway I knew of, at least. I didn't notice it until now."

Athena peered into it, pulling her phone out to use the light.

"Well, it... goes deep, it seems," Athena noted.

"Either way, it's my duty to investigate this... and it may shed light on the disappearances."

 "We'll follow, Your Benevolence," Pearl nodded, as did Athena.

"Um, maybe someone should stay outside in case? Girls? Hey, wait up!" Trucy said, following as the other three went down the dark corridor.

She caught up to them as they examined something, a shape in the glow of the phone light.

"A statue?" Athena wondered.

"Something is very strange about this," Pearl said nervously.

Rayfa frowned looking at the humanoid shape in stone before them.

"I can feel a strange energy from this... It looks somewhat like a maid that went missing some time ago as well..." She said in confusion.

It had a serene expression of a gentle smile, and stood in a kimono that was a rocky pale grey, the same as the rest of the feminine statue. It seemingly depicted a nondescript woman, with short hair as marble-carved as the rest of her. It had no pedestal and stood on bare stone feet, on the darker slate floor.

"It seems extremely detailed," Athena noted.

"Quite... Wait, Pearl, do you sense that too?"

There was a rumbling noise from back up the corridor, and Trucy yelped.

"I can sense it, it's called a bad feeling!" The magician said, pointing back the way they had came.

The four began moving to try and outrun the closing door, only for there to be a sudden bright flash, four cries... and then silence bar the final slam of the door closing, and four forms falling softly onto the floor with groans. Athena's phone clattered away, the light turning off as it bounced off the stone, leaving four unconscious shapes in the darkness beside the odd statue.

***

Trucy groaned as she awoke, a vague sensation of having been proven right hovering around her mind before full consciousness returned.

And then she gasped, as two more voices groaned. Athena and Pearl, waking up beside her on the hard stone floor of a strange chamber. It was decorated in the ornate stylings of Khura'in's royal palaces and holy sites. Silken drapes, oil lamps, stone pillars with carved symbols, the stone floor a set of mirror-shine marble slabs. One large golden door lay at the far end of the chamber. A pair of  dressers sat against one wall. But in the middle of it all, lay three pedestals of grey granite, with gold inlaid carvings.

The left and right pedestals were empty, but standing on the central one, was Rayfa, completely still, blank-eyed... And standing as if in mid-dance. One arm raised over her head, her face expressionlessly solemn, and one leg raised behind her. She didn't even wobble, holding balance perfectly on the one leg... and didn't even blink.

"Wh-what? Rayfa?!" Athena gasped, seeing the Princess standing so oddly still.

"She can't hear us, she's in a deep trance," Pearl noted, as she stood up.

"But... how? And why?"

"Fair questions. Quite simply, you have all been invited to take part in my puzzle..." A male voice said, electronic and distorted.

"Oh, good, creepy disembodied voice. At least we're not chained to a radiator with a hacksaw..." Trucy sighed.

"There is one true exit to this chamber. The Golden Door only opens with spiritual energy, and you have sixty minutes. Normally, I only invite one player, but the four of you accepted..."

"You mean you zonked the four of us with your big flashy knockout bomb," Athena corrected.

"A matter of perspective. But the rules are simple, as I say. Open the door, in sixty minutes. All that opens it can be gathered in this room. Though, as three being present alters the gameplay, I am adding some... difficulty. But also a little hint making things easier in other ways. Observe..."

The three tensed, and then, the pedestal below Rayfa glowed, as did she, as did the Magatama hanging from her neck. And slowly, her pale skin began to turn grey under the faint glow. She seemed to blink for a moment, blank eyes waking from the trance for a fraction of a section before her puzzled expression seemed to freeze in place, eyes starting to turn grey too. And before the eyes of the watching trio, her hair began shifting from brown to the dark grey of her skin as she turned to stone before their eyes, the statue glowing as it seemed her whole body was now petrified....

"Th-that's.... That should be impossible!" Pearl squeaked in fear.

"If it's a trick I can't figure it out. Is this real spiritual energy, Pearl?" Trucy said.

Athena however just stared at the scene of the petrifying princess, stunned silent.

The glow intensified around her eyes and the Magatama as to the shock of the three watching, her clothing began to smoulder and also turn grey, slowly petrifying but developing some small cracks as it did so. Her skin seemed unharmed, but the petrifying cloth appeared to be brittle even as it transmuted.

"A curious side effect of petrification like this. The spirit energy coalesces around the statue, rendering anything close into stone as well, such as clothes. But being unliving, the energy can overload the materials, making cracks."

"Is she still alive?" Athena spoke up.

"Of course. And yet not. She of course does not breathe, or speak, and is just stone, but could theoretically return to flesh and blood. And she certainly has not seen her soul pass on to the Twilight Realm..."

"Maya and Ema... They couldn't be reached because this happened to them!" Trucy realised.

"Very astute, Miss Wright."

"So... how? How do we save people you petrified?" Athena demanded.

"The same way you save yourselves, and now, the clock is ticking. Fifty nine minutes, fifty five seconds..." the voice said.

"Hey, what? You mean we escape you turn them all back?"

There was no reply.

"I guess we need to look for clues, since he said it was in the room. I doubt my energy alone can open the door... So there must be some boost... Wait, look! Rayfa's Magatama didn't petrify!"

Sure enough, the green charm lay unchanged, contrasting the grey of the statue she had become.

"And it's glowing, so... it's got power?" Trucy realised.

"Yes, but that's not enough. There are three pedestals..."

"So, hidden things. Let's search," Athena said.

The three examined the room, and after some looking, Trucy noted something odd.

"Hmm, there's wind blowing here, between these two pillars. I think this wall is hollow...."

"Another chamber behind it?" Pearl wondered.

"Look, this carving, it's like a button..." Athena said, examining one of the pillars.

"Well, press it!" Trucy urged.

"Wait, what if it's..."

The rumble of machinery and the sudden movement of the wall and floor, plus a surprised yelp from Trucy, saw the suspected hidden chamber revealed to be a revolving gate. She was taken away before she could react, replaced almost in an instant by....

"Ema!" Athena gasped.

"Wait, Ema's there? Is she..." Trucy shouted from behind the wall.

"Yes. She's stone too," Pearl replied.

The petrified forensic scientist was kneeling, a shocked expression on her stone face. Her clothing, her labcoat, vest, and capri pants riddled with small cracks, but as grey as her blank eyes, and her rigid hair.

"Wait, look, the pocket of her labcoat... There's a piece of paper unpetrified?" Athena noted.

"No, it's parchment. Animal skin... It seems to have some energy coming from it!" Pearl noted, carefully plucking it out, but wincing as the stone pocket cracked a little in the process..

"It was enchanted or something?" Trucy shouted through the wall.

"It's also a clue. Ema was writing notes!"

"Her handwriting is awful..." Athena said.

"It's upside down."

"Oh. Right."

"What's it say?" Trucy shouted.

"She found a hidden button in the top left corner, but didn't know what it did. I think she must have petrified before she pressed it..."

"Or pressing it petrified her!" Pearl worried.

"I doubt that. I just pressed it and I'm not a statue," Trucy shouted.

"You're also not out here. But I heard something in this room," Athena realised, as something clicked.

"Look, the dresser, one of the drawers has opened," Pearl said.

The two outside looked over at the change, finding that a remote control and a small magatama lay inside, the latter glowing.

"A Magatama, like Rayfa’s... It's charged too?" Pearl wondered aloud, only for the male voice to come over the speaker again.

"Twenty minutes have passed. It is time you face the added difficulty. One of you will become stone now, and another in twenty minutes. The last of you has the full sixty minutes to escape... assuming she is not stuck in an alcove," He said.

"What?! That's not fair!" Athena yelled, but then gasped, as she realised, she was glowing.

She tried to resist the power somehow, almost instinctively trying to defend herself, but it was pointless. She wasn't versed in any spiritual methods, and the energy was too much for her to counter even if she had any such skills. She froze, in her defensive stance, and her body began petrifying. Pearl stared in dismay as Trucy shouted from behind the wall.

"What's happening?! Pearl? Athena?"

"Athena's turning to stone," Pearl said, fighting back a panicked sob.

The lawyer's petrification was almost complete, and her clothing soon began petrifying too, yellow dress greying and cracking, her stockings turning completely invisible so skintight against her legs apart from the faint cracks. Even Widget petrified, the AI device turned into just a rocky bauble hanging off the statue's neck.

Pearl stared at the new statue for a second, then shook her head.

"Okay, Trucy.... We found another Magatama, and a remote. I'll see what the remote does..."

It turned out to operate the wall, and Trucy replaced Ema.

"...Okay, does it still work with me off the thing?" Trucy wondered, and it did.

Ema returned, still petrified. The two flesh and blood women surveyed the three stone friends, and tried to figure out their options.

"The Magatama... I'll try see what it does," Pearl decided, and drew forth her abilities.

She blinked, and found herself... seeing through a pair of eyes that could only be Maya. The other Fey's moment of petrification. She felt her (Maya's) heart pounding and then slowing as it petrified, felt the sensation of energy flowing in and out, the coldness, numbness... And saw from a certain angle in the room as blackness was taking over, that the room span, like her statue was being taken into another alcove.

"...Here, there's another alcove. I saw Maya's petrification. I think she's behind it."

"Yeah, there's something here. Let's stand back..."

The button this time trapped no one, but freed a statue. Maya's posture was trying to resist the petrification much like Athena, but rather than being shocked, she had a grimace of determination on her petrified face. Her robes were criss-crossed with cracks, but her magatama was missing... or rather, in Pearl's hands.

"I think... we need to put Maya on the other pedestal, with her Magatama," Pearl realised.

Trucy blinked.

"Well... we're gonna have to be careful. Statues aren't light, and she's kinda fragile too..."

Carefully, the two lifted the petrified woman, getting her onto the pedestal with only a few cracks and broken chunks added to her clothes, but no visible damage to her actual body.

And as soon as she was on, the Magatama on Rayfa's statue glowed brighter, and the one in Pearl's pocket dimmed, but still glowed. Pearl placed it down in front of Maya's statue..

"Okay... it charged the main one? So...I guess we need more power though, the door's still closed," Trucy wondered.

Pearl thought for a moment, and then sighed.

"We're half an hour in now though. One of us is going to petrify in ten minutes..."

"W-well, we hurry up!" Trucy said, and then had a sudden idea.

She did not realise Pearl was having an idea of her own.

The trouble was, who would manage to speak or act first. Trucy, or Pearl....

Pearl Acts First....

Pearl shook her head, and climbed onto the remaining pedestal.

"No, we don't, but you get thirty minutes to rescue us all... Whoever's behind this, can you petrify me?"

"Pearl! No!" Trucy protested, but the voice replied.

"Certainly."

As Trucy watched in dismay, Pearl's transformation began. Like those before her, her skin greyed. Her eyes went blank. Her motion stilled, and she was caught with a surprised expression - for her change was near instant. Having been volunteering, being willing, she accidentally allowed the change to come rapidly.

Her clothing also petrified quickly, so quickly it cracked rapidly in many spots, in fact. The Magatama on Rayfa glowed ever brighter as she finished petrifying, her own glowing faintly too

Trucy fought back her panic as she became the sole unpetrified person in the chambers.

"Okay... so, the door opens now, right?" She figured.

It did not.

"W-what?! But, there're three mediums! Did Pearl need to be unpetrified to open the door?!" Trucy realised.

She searched the room more. She examined everything she could, tried to see if maybe there was some other charger of spiritual energy - but she had no idea what to look for. She even found a third hidden dresser behind the other two, managing to move them aside with some effort, but the drawers refused to budge.

And eventually, her time ran out.

The last statue stood by the dressers, tugging pointlessly on a drawer, the third down at the very bottom. It held an expression of anger and fear, and a few petrified tears flowed down her face. Her clothing was as cracked as the others. Her skin was as stone as the others. And her motion was as utterly still as the others.

But ultimately, Trucy Wright's last moments in flesh and blood were now frozen, like her five friends. They now stood and knelt as monuments to their failure in this game, bodies locked in place forever, and spirits frozen within their stony forms too....

Bad Ending...

Trucy Acts First....

"The door needs spiritual energy, right? And you're the only one here with the right skillset to open it! And both Maya and Rayfa have charged Magatama right? So I ask to be petrified early and give you more time?" Trucy said.

Pearl blinked, having been thinking of standing on it herself to allow her spirit energy to join Maya and Rayfa's, but Trucy had spoken first. And her strange idea had caused Pearl to notice an odd symbol on the pedestal that bore Rayfa, one that seemed to have only glowed after Maya had been put in place.

"Um... I don't think we need to do that, actually...."

She knelt down, letting her power flow slightly into the carvings. They glowed, and different symbols appeared like invisible ink revealing itself. Pearl realised it was Khura'inese script.

"...Can you read that?" Trucy wondered.

"Sort of. I can read them but it seems to be upside down? It's confusing me a little, it makes it seem like Japanese Hiragana. But I think it says only a medium can open the door. The middle statue, Rayfa... that one is marked with 'spiritual', but the other two, I think it doesn't matter who is there so long as they have the Magatama on, and it's charging Rayfa's."

"So I-"

"Um, no, Trucy, I'd rather have some help. Maybe... we could put it on Ema or Athena..."

The two looked at their petrified friends, and noted Ema was a little closer. Plus, as she was kneeling, not standing, she was perhaps a little less cumbersome to move.

"...I vote Ema," Trucy said.

Carefully, they moved the kneeling statue, placing her onto the pedestal, and then placing the Magatama on her stone neck. It glowed, as did Rayfa's, and something clicked in the dressers. Trucy went over to inspect.

"They've moved forward a little, and up. I think they move on rails..."

She pushed one, revealing a third dresser hidden behind them, three drawers on it. Pearl came over. Each drawer had a symbol, a number in Khura'inese, but the third bore another mark, the same mark that had been on the pedestal.

"Three drawers... And that symbol on the third!"

She let her power flow into it, and with a click, it revealed... a small box,bearing another set of symbols in Khura'inese.

"Does that mean anything?" Trucy wondered

"It says something like revert or return. Is it a key?"

Pearl picked it up, and the inside of the drawer glowed. More script appeared, and Pearl translated for Trucy.

"The needles of the box revert. But ensure the mind of the centre is clear."

"Okay. What the heck does that mean? Rayfa's in the centre...."

Pearl wondered for a moment, looking at the box, knowing that time was running out. Soon, one of them would petrify. Maybe a minute at most. She looked inside, finding that the box was filled with many needles, far more than five. The needles were long and thin silver points, and Pearl had an idea how to use them.

But clearing the mind of the centre... Did that mean making sure Rayfa wasn't hypnotised? How? The second drawer... Second pedestal? Was there an answer in there?

She decided...

Use the Needles....

"Try and stick them into someone petrified," She said, handing a bundle to Trucy.

"Um, okay...."

As Trucy began jabbing silver into Maya, Pearl moved to Ema... and the silvery needles seemed to melt into the grey stone. And as they vanished, the statues glowed, and the grey began retreating. After a few moments, Maya and Ema both sat there, flesh.... But not moving until after a moment, Maya gasped, and Ema coughed.

"Great! It works!" Trucy cheered.

"W-what works? Trucy?" Maya said in confusion.

"Ugh, what's going on...." Ema blinked.

"No time to explain right now sorry!" Pearl said, rushing over to Athena as Trucy moved on Rayfa.

Maya and Ema, still a little dazed, looked on as the other two statues reverted. But Rayfa's response was different. The Princess of Khura'in stood there in her pose a few seconds longer, and when she moved, her eyes seemed distant. And when she looked at the others, the distorted voice laughed.

"Oh, so close, but the Princess, alas, is still under my spell...."

"W-what?!" Athena blurted, only for Rayfa to speak up in a flat tone.

"Koraseru."

That single phrase in Khura'inese struck deeply into the minds of the five others, each of them freezing in place, each of them halting their movements, each of them rendered silent, and each of them now staring as vacantly as Rayfa.

"...And so are the rest of you. Do you all understand?"

"I understand," each of the six said in harmony, still stiff as if petrified, but remaining flesh, for the moment.

"Now... Sekka suru," The distorted voice said, and the women, frozen in place in flesh, obeyed as spirit energies flooded their bodies.

They started their final change. Frozen stiff, blank eyed, in the final poses they would ever have, Maya, Ema, Rayfa, Athena, Trucy, and Pearl began their changes, their entranced minds heedless of the chill, the sensation of numbness spreading up their flesh as it turned grey. And when it all ended, there were half a dozen statues now rendered as eternal artworks, eternal legacies of the six transformed women....

Bad Ending...

Check the Drawer....

Pearl tugged the second drawer, finding it locked, but in the process, a little energy flowed across, and it clicked. The drawer slid open slowly, revealing a fourth Magatama, bearing a symbol upon itself, one that said 'clarity'...

Pearl realised what it meant, pulling it out, as she also handed needles to Trucy.

"Jab those into the others, I'll put this on Rayfa!" Pearl said.

Trucy nodded, not bothering to seek explanation.

As the fourth Magatama was placed over the neck of the statuefied Princess, her stone eyes glowed for a second.

"It's working, Athena's turning back to normal!" Trucy announced in delight as she moved to Ema.

"Good... I was right. The needles revert petrification!"

"Like a videogame?"

"Um, no, I was thinking acupuncture really, but... never mind, keep doing it!"

"...Keep doing what?" Athena coughed, confused.

***

About an hour later, the six had freed themselves, finding that the hidden room had lain deeper in the hidden tunnels. They found the entrance reopened, but no sign of the odd statue... And no clue as to who had been behind the strange puzzle. They'd alerted others, and tried to clear up events, Trucy and Pearl explaining everything having been the only two evading a spell as statues.

"And now we have an even greater mystery. Who was behind this?" Rayfa sighed.

She had checked into historical reports. Many missing women over the years had been untraceable in a seance, so the assumption was they had simply fled the country for whatever reason. The disappearances also seemed to have large gaps, only Maya and Ema's two cases close to each other, and likely only because the perpetrator sought to silence Ema. The previous missing person had been a maid at the Royal Residence... matching the description of the odd statue the four had found earlier.

"They knew a lot of secrets of the Inner Sanctum, as well as having their powers. Whoever they are, they've been hiding a long time, probably making statues for years" Maya sighed.

"Perhaps, but we know very little about this person or those powers. I would have said it was all impossible myself if you'd asked this morning, but it seems that for many years these abilities and the person or people with them have maybe relied on the fact it all seems so implausible...."

"And they'll probably be even deeper hidden now we escaped. We found at least one of their hidden rooms, so there might be even more nestled away," Pearl added.

"I've asked that a search be conducted, but... I am unsure who we can trust. They were bold enough to go after a large group, one with myself in it no less. I fear there may be a group behind this, not an individual. After all, you said their voice was distorted. It may not even be a male..."

"Great, so, it could be some ancient conspiracy that's lurked under the radar here for centuries, and all we know is they have mystic hypnosis and statue powers," Athena groaned.

As the six kept talking, a servant hid a smirk as she listened. The American was almost correct with that guess ... apart from underestimating just how far their group reached....

Good Ending... for now?