There were nearly 30 spears jutting out of both of the walls in front of me. Aureus, thankfully, had only gotten hit by one. He had gotten his wings impaled on a spike that was coming out of the right wall. His body shook lightly as he used his front legs to hold himself up on a spike beneath him. They barely reached it and he was basically standing on his toes, it was a precarious balance.

“Oh my god, Aureus! You said you were okay!”

I am okay. It didn’t hit anything vital and the bleeding is minimal. I just need to avoid tearing my wings if possible.

“Why didn’t you ask me for help first thing?! How were you planning to get out of this yourself?” I whined as I slowly approached him, trying to not activate any more traps.

I don’t know, I was going to start with building up a spot to stand for myself, but it was difficult to focus so I didn’t get far.

I glanced down at the floor beneath him, sure enough there was a small raised platform. He hadn’t gotten it very close to him as it was only a few inches off the ground and he was above me. Why hadn’t he called me right away? Did he also lose trust in me after my failures lately?

“Aureus, next time you’re in trouble like this you need to tell me.”

I didn’t want to worry you, I can get out of this on my own. Dragons can easily manage simple traps.

“I’m sure you can,” I said despite the fact that I wasn’t really sure if he could – well not without mangling his wings at least, “but there’s no need to struggle in silence when I can help you with these kinds of things!”

Understood… Master…

I could tell he was disappointed, he wanted to solve this on his own. I couldn’t blame him. I also really wanted to be able to do everything on my own. It wasn’t surprising he took that trait from me. Either way it was an important lesson to learn that we both needed to rely on others sometimes.

I furrowed my brows as I examined the trap he’d gotten himself into. There were several spears of various angles protruding from both walls around him. He managed to only get hit by one, but the angle of it raised as it got closer to the spearhead. I considered trying to push him up so that we could get his wings off of it, but the rest of the spears were in the way. The spears were in position to make it hard to fit much of anything between them and the other spearheads. The gaps were mostly noticeable in the middle where the spears crossed each other. Even if I wanted to go the route of pulling him along the spear to the edge, I wasn’t tall enough. I could make it worse if I went about this without a proper plan.

“Aureus, do you want me to hold you up for a moment so you can make a platform for yourself? I’m still not sure how to resolve this yet, but it’d be better than barely being able to hold yourself up.”

Yes, please do so.

I carefully maneuvered my way through a couple spears, ensuring that I didn’t touch any of them just in case. I didn’t think that anything would happen if I did touch them, but I wasn’t about to test it and find out. After a couple minutes of back breakingly slow movement, I finally arrived at Aureus. Gently I raised my hands to his chest and stomach and slowly lifted him up. I was leaning forward at an awkward angle since he needed to make the platform directly underneath himself.

After what felt like forever and a decent workout for my core, finally he had carefully made a platform to lay on. Again, slowly I lowered him to the pedestal. He had whimpered a few times throughout the process, but kept it together pretty well. I imagine an injury to the wings of a dragon was a pretty significant issue. After he laid down on the pedestal I pet his head as I thought.

The only solution I could think of was a mana emission, I had been considering alternate names to mana emission for a couple days. I couldn't settle on one; there were options like mana cutter since I was copying Aureus’ water cutter, or maybe mana blade since it was basically a blade of mana I threw out. I wasn’t sure. The main problem I had with the only solution I was able to muster up was that the vibration and motion from the mana emission would likely injure Aureus more. I didn’t want that to happen. If I could only just hold the spear while I cast it then there wouldn’t be a problem – or at least it would reduce the burden on him – but I already had a hard time just casting it. It took nearly all of my focus.

Reid. I should go get Reid.

What? Master, we don’t need him. You can break this spear on your own.

Yes, I can but I don’t want to. It’s more dangerous that way.

I’ll be fine.

Yes, you will but I won’t. I don’t want you to get hurt for no reason. I’ll try to convince him to come help.

He hit you… I don’t trust him.

It’s not his fault, didn’t you see that thing? Why didn’t you tell me about it?

That thing? Oh the thing that tried to look like him? It died.

Yes, I know but he didn’t know that it died. He probably thinks that I’m that thing.

What?! That thing was gross, and all scaly and green and it looked like him. How could he mistake you for such a nasty thing?

Because he got attacked by it before you got here. There wasn’t any light, it probably tried to imitate someone in the group so now he’s scared and doesn’t want to trust anyone.

I waited for a moment for his response, and then left the same way I came. When I rounded the corner I saw Reid, he was trying to pull the grappling hook out of the wall where I’d left it.

“So you’re stealing from me now. I guess you didn’t want to follow me over.” I said casually as I walked up to my arrow that was still attached to the rope on the other side. I tied it around my waist again as he looked back at me. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the rope around my waist.

“So where’s Aureus?”

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“Did you think I rushed over here for no reason? I needed to get him out of a trap.” I started, then backed up and took a running jump to where Reid was. “And to get him out of it I need your help.”

“My help? You’re stronger than I am, why would you need my help?” His eyes widened for a moment before narrowing at me, clearly still distrusting me.

“I just need you to hold something is all.” I said as I scooped him up in a princess carry. It was awkward, he was all elbows while he flailed around trying to escape me. A futile attempt, as he said – I was stronger than him.

“Let me down! Let go of me you freaa – AAAAHHH!” He screamed as I made the jump over the pit.

He was latched on to me, which while preferable to him flailing was also uncomfortable. I could barely see over his large body so we ended up with a moderately rough landing. I stumbled a few times and landed on one of my knees before getting up and remarking, “See, now that wasn’t so bad Princess.”

I set the trembling Reid down as I walked towards the hall towards Aureus. Without looking back I made my way back to my familiar. I got into position to cut through the spear that was trapping him. A gasp echoed through the silence as Reid finally saw the two of us. His face contorted through the various emotions that I guessed meant he found out that the person he was treating so harshly was actually me. I wondered if he was too naive, what if there were two of those shape shifting monsters? He could easily walk into a trap like that.

“Mia… Aureus… you guys!” He looked like he was going to cry again, I wasn’t quite ready to forgive him so I cut him off.

“No time for that, I need your help now. Come over here and hold this spear so I can cut it.” I gestured to Aureus next to me.

With a nod he quickly ran over to help, he was much less careful about touching the spears than I was. Though I suppose I had just asked him to grab one of them so if touching them was an issue then that would come with a whole host of other problems. He glanced at me with a confusing emotion on his face as he turned to hold tightly on the spear that was impaling Aureus. I couldn’t tell if it was pity or regret or what.

“Alright, keep a hold of it. I’m about to cut it.” I said, I didn’t wait for a confirmation before closing my eyes and focusing on that feeling I had just over a week ago.

There wasn’t a pain in my chest this time. My chest heated up, as electricity spread around my body. It was much easier to direct it this time as I focused on the image of slicing through the spear in front of me. I took in my surroundings, I thought about the air between me and that metal. I breathed in slowly as I pushed the mana through my limbs and into my staff, and finally through the air and into the spear.

I opened my eyes to find that all of the spears in front of me had been destroyed along with a portion of the floor in front of me. It wasn’t a deep gash, just a few inches deep and several feet long. With a deep breath in I looked back to Aureus and Reid. Their faces were serious as Reid was very carefully sliding the spear through the holes in Aureus’ wings. He winced and then stopped just as he was about to be done.

“What is it? Why don’t you finish removing it?” I asked as I leaned up against the wall to rest a bit.

“Oh… Well the end of this spear is a bit… hot. We should probably give it a moment to cool down.” He said looking down at Aureus with pity.

Aureus of course was outraged by that, roaring in my mind about how dragons don’t fear heat. I, however, disagreed there was no way to know for sure that it wouldn’t affect him in the long run if we pulled a mana heated rod through his injured wings. They were likely the most delicate portion of his body.

“Okay, then Aureus, can you help us cool it down. Just a bit of ice would probably do.” I asked gently. He grumbled a bit, but complied.Once we had gotten the spear removed we walked through the path I created.

“Alright, well I’m going to retrieve my stuff. Can you heal him?” I asked Reid.

“Your stuff? Oh… yeah. Okay I’ll take care of him, hurry back.”

I just nodded and took off back the way we came for the third time. I grabbed the arrow and with a quick hop over the hole I grabbed the hook out of the wall and made my way back. Aureus was bathing in Reid’s golden light. That name the god chose really suited him, Golden Light Priest… or was it Priest of Golden Light. Whatever, either way it was perfect. Reid was kneeling before Aureus, his head bowed and eyes closed as a bright yet soft golden light healed his wings. Aureus’ more rose gold tint glinted as the light bounced off of his scales. Reid had the aura of a saint.

“Do you think we should make marks as we travel? So we know where we came from or so that Caroline and Noel can follow us?” I asked Reid as the light dimmed.

“Um sure. Did that door really disappear? How will they follow us?” He asked, he seemed a little worried. I couldn't blame him, they all probably thought each other had died or gotten seriously injured.

“I’m not sure either, my main guesses are that there’s a limit on how many people can go through any given door and that the door sends people to different places given certain conditions.” I shrugged.

Master, we haven’t marked any of the passages on the way here though.

“I guess that makes sense.” Reid commented after a moment before asking, “Should we go back the way we came to mark things or?”

“Ugh I guess so.”

Master I can go on my own you-

“Absolutely not. No more separating.”

We set off, we marked the location where the door was with a large X and then put the same mark but smaller on the corners we turned each time. It didn’t take long until we were back to exploring the labyrinth. The next several lefts were mostly uneventful, consisting of basic traps like poison darts, swinging logs, spiky walls attempting to crush us. Nothing that we couldn’t handle, plus a lot of them were already decommissioned by Aureus his first time through.

[“Collector of Gems and Stones” complains that you’re too high level for this labyrinth.]

[“Traveling Spring Painter” disagrees stating that the traps are just too simple.]

[“Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” argues that you have abilities that counter the traps well.]

[“Collector of Gems and Stones” sighs.]

“Hey, don’t worry! It has been an interesting time, plus I’m sure there are other people who are here or will come here eventually.” When Reid looked at me questioningly I added, “Cheer up Collector of Gems and Stones!”

The last half hour had been so awkward, Reid felt bad for what had transpired between us and I felt upset about what he said. I knew that he wasn’t talking to me, but it was difficult to reconcile that with how I felt. Plus he still hadn’t worked up the nerve to apologize. I knew he wanted to, it was plain on his face. He was moping.

We rounded another corner, there were monsters here. They were turned the other direction and about thirty feet from us, but they looked like furry goblins? They had big bags on their backs with various stones and gems packed into them. They held small pickaxes in one hand. They didn’t have a tail which was almost strange since they were so furry, but at the same time it felt like it would’ve been even stranger to look at if they did have a tail. Their ears were large and protruded from high on the sides of their heads, the fur on their ears was occasionally tipped white. The rest of the fur on their bodies were mostly blacks and browns while a couple of them were a lighter tan color.

Well it's about time!

Master we finally have monsters to fight~ Aureus was licking his lips as he stared at the furry little creatures. I glanced over at Reid who looked a bit anxious and just wordlessly put a hand on his shoulder. I tried to give him a reassuring smile and nod, he attempted the same back but it was clear he was still nervous. It was understandable, he had just nearly died.

I’ll have to be patient with him. It took me a while to get myself back to… Well actually have I even processed everything that’s happened to me properly? Probably not. It doesn’t matter, I just gotta do what I gotta do.

A shrill screech sounded from the group of about ten monsters. Well it looked like ten from there, but they were standing in the spot where the paths diverged so there could've been more past the walls. A huge grin emerged on my face, I really wanted to fight for some reason. I wanted to turn my brain off and kill these monsters. I wanted to level up and take their loot. That place was changing me, only time would tell if it was for the better.