************************************

Jack sighs, squares his shoulders, and makes his way back through the upper level muttering under his breath.

Once through the Warp Portal and back in the lower level of the castle, he steels himself for a potentially fruitless search for the missing Lorikeets. At least, he consoles himself, there will likely be fewer enemies to fight. He stops, realization dawning. In fact, there are hardly any enemies around at all – only a few lingering Slimes.

Not far from the Warp Portal yawns a pit in the floor that was definitely not there before. Jack peers at it through the gloom and realizes from the appearance of the mechanism that this must be a secret door. Someone or something has found a hidden chamber of the Cloud Castle!

Sincerely hoping it is the missing Lorikeets and not some horror, Jack does the only thing he can – he leaps!

Turn to 17.