The sisters waited, eyes darting about the room. What manner of trap had they set off this time? A loud scraping noise filled the room, like stone moving against stone. They turned to see a section of the wall raising up, revealing a doorway.
"... No trap then?" Catria quizzed.
"I see," mused Palla, "this is all part of a sequence we must follow."
Catria was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the whole time we've been here, there has only been one way forward," Palla explained. "It's as if we're being guided to something."
"I suppose that makes some kind of sense," Catria agreed. "But who made this place? And why are we being brought into it?"
"Maybe we'll find out if we keep going," Palla suggested, stepping through the doorway.
"Yeah, I guess..." Catria followed.
Yet another chamber. Still no sign of a way out. A pyramid-shaped pile of stone blocks dominated the room, its peak far above the heads of the tiny ladies. Each fragment was roughly waist height to the sisters. At the top was a glass cube. Curious, Palla took to the air. Inside, she could see a tiny pink object. She flew closer to see that it was indeed the sleeping form of Est, shrunken down to about half of Palla's size.
"Est!" she called out. The tiny girl moved in response, rousing from her slumber. She peered out at her sister.
"Palla...?" she queried, still groggy from sleep.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're safe! Let me get you out of there!" Palla said, reaching for the glass...
"Palla! Look out!" the middle sister shouted.
In her haste to check on her sister, Palla hadn't noticed the door slamming shut behind them, nor had she heard the hissing noise as a strange pink gas was released into the room. She fell, landing on one of the bricks below. Getting up quickly, she reached up for her trapped sister only to find her out of reach. Momentarily puzzled, she realized she was rapidly shrinking in size! She jumped for the ledge above, climbing up the block as she dwindled smaller, but by the time she got up she was too small to reach the next ledge. Frustrated, she stomped her tiny foot. She was so close to reaching Est! Her shrinking stopped when she was roughly half as tall as a single brick.
Palla tried to fly again, but found she was grounded. Was this an effect of that gas? She tried growing herself, but that didn't work either. Even a fire spell wouldn't work. Robbed of magic, she had no way of getting back to her sister.
"Palla!" Catria called up from below. Palla peered over the edge to see her sister in the distance, on the ground below.
"Catria! Est's up here, but I can't reach her!" Palla shouted down.
"That weird gas shrank me!" Catria yelled, "can you grow me back?"
"No, my magic's not working! We can't get up there!" Palla said, angry at their predicament.
Catria was quiet for a moment. "Come down here!" she shouted up.
Palla was puzzled. What good would that do? "What?"
"I think we can boost each other up!" Shouted Catria. Palla glanced back at the block behind her. Catria had a point.
"All right, I'm coming down!" Palla yelled.
Sitting on the edge, Palla lowered herself down. The drop was nearly twice her height, but landing wasn't painful so long as she was prepared. It was taking her a while to get down, she was really missing her flight abilities. But she was proud of Catria for keeping a cool head and coming up with a solution to their current puzzle. Eventually she reached the lowest block, her sister waiting below.
"I counted eleven of these things," she informed Catria, "so we've got at least eleven ledges to climb."
"Great..." Catria sighed, "I guess we had better get started then."
Palla leaned over the edge, extending a hand down to Catria. Jumping, Catria was able to reach her sister's hand. With all of her strength, Palla was able to pull Catria up to the edge.
"I'm glad you went on that diet," Palla panted.
"P-Palla!" Catria blushed. She didn't think anyone had noticed and didn't appreciate comments about her weight.
"Relax, it's just us here. Shall we?" Palla crouched down near the ledge above them.
Catria sighed. "I guess it's my turn..."
Boosted by her sister, Catria was able to reach the edge. Climbing over it, she held out a hand for Palla. The elder sister jumped and grabbed the hand, Catria pulling her up easily.
"You're so light!" Catria marveled as she brought her sister up.
"Really? Maybe it's because I'm not wearing armor," Palla suggested.
"That makes sense," Catria agreed, heading to their next climb.
Some time later, they finally reached the end. Catria went up first.
"Est!" she called out. Est stood up, towering over her elder sister. She must have been twice the size of Catria.
"Catria!" She shouted, running to the wall of her prison. She put a hand against the glass, as if reaching out for her sister.
"Catria, a hand please?" Palla asked from below. Turning, the blue-haired girl helped her sister up the ledge. Climbing up, she quickly approached her youngest sister.
"Est! Are you all right?" she asked in worry.
"Yes, I'm fine! But I can't get out of here!" she told Palla, banging on the glass.
"My, you're such a big girl now." Palla commented, looking up.
"Palla, look at this!" Catria called out. She was standing to the side, where a metal rod was wedged in Est's prison. It seemed to go through a loop in the glass, keeping the door shut.
"Well spotted, Catria. It seems like we just have to take this out." Standing on tiptoes, the sisters could barely reach the metal object. They tried to pull it out, but it seemed to be stuck.
"This doesn't seem to be working!" Catria said.
"Keep trying!" Palla shouted, not wanting to give up on their one hope of freeing their sister. With renewed persistence, they pulled again, the rod slowly starting to give ground. Eventually they were successful, the object sliding out. Before they could celebrate, the two sisters were knocked backwards by the glass wall forced towards them.
"Oh, whoops. Sorry!" Said the culprit. Carefully stepping out of the opening and round the door, Est rejoined her small sisters.
"Oh, Est..." Catria sighed, getting up from the ground.
"At least we're all together again," Palla smiled.
"And I'm the big sister now!" Est crouched down and pulled her half-sized sisters in for a hug.
"Est, you're crushing me!" Catria wheezed.
"Not so hard, Est!" Palla complained.
Est relaxed her grip, and the sisters enjoyed their reunion.
"That mist seems to have gone," Palla noted, looking around the room.
"Can you use magic again?" Catria asked.
"Let's see..." Palla said, casting a spell at Est. She shrank her sister down until she was small enough to fit in Palla's palm.
"Hey!" Est protested, "I was enjoying being big sister for once!"
"Sorry, Est," Palla smiled. She then shrank Catria down to the same size.
"Palla! What's gotten into you?" Catria squeaked.
Palla laughed. "Now we're back as we should be." She picked up the little women and flew into the air. Feeling mischievous, she did a quick loop to the screams of her sisters. Laughing, she landed on the ground. Placing her sisters down, she grew them, and herself, back to an inch tall.
"Where now?" Catria asked.
Palla pointed. "It seems a new door opened when we were reunited."
"Let's go!" Est cheered, leading the way with enthusiasm.
Catria shrugged, shaking her head.
The three sisters headed into the next room...
