The energy came fast and strong, barring down on Emilia like the weight of the ocean, or at least what she had imagined the weight of the ocean would feel like during an unfortunate, underwater fight during the war. Her skills had been strong, holding the weight of all that water at bay while she fought. Her skills had never wavered, even as the monsters came for her and her allies, striking them down one after another. Too many monsters and their allies from other units wielding {Air Pocket} without the finesse she and other members of their unit could.

The water had still come for one of them, though. One moment they were there, the next, they were crushed, their body reduced to a red mark through the darkness.

This felt like Emilia had imagined that weight would feel, in the moment before their teammate imploded. This weight went on and on, however, pressing her down so hard she didn’t realize she couldn’t even scream until the weight—the energy that had caused it—was suddenly gone. Snuffed out, just as fast as it came.

⸂Fucking stars,⸃ she groaned, flipping onto her back and mourning the food she had dropped when the energy hit. ⸂I’m going to kill that bastard.⸃

✮ ✮ ✮ Three Days Earlier ✮ ✮ ✮

⸂On the plus side, at least neither of you rolled into the lake?⸃

The group was painfully silent as they walked through the corridor the labyrinth exit had led them into, no one but Emilia replying to Caro’s attempts at lessening the tension.

“I think Gale might have preferred it if we both had died,” she said, including signs out of resurrected habit and ignoring the glare Gale sent her, having obviously noticed her name sign. “Death might have been better than this.”

Gale mumbled something, although it was so quiet Emilia couldn’t make it out. A teenager being a teenager, purposefully excluding everyone from their thoughts while still making it known they had thoughts. Normally, Emilia was pretty good at figuring out why someone was upset, even when they wouldn’t admit the reason themself, and in Gale’s case…

Well, she had a few theories, but none of them seemed quite right. Something having to do with Astra, clearly, the local girl having barely glanced at the visitor since they had returned from touching the heartcore.

Astra had attained the ability to speak, while Emilia—once again—had no idea what ability the heartcore had given her! It really was unfair. Astra apparently knew every gift the heartcores had given her. A physical augmentation ability, the ability to understand locals, the ability to read and write the local tongue—given to her by the Livery labyrinth in what seemed way too much of a coincidence to actually be one—and finally, the ability to speak.

Emilia, on the other hand, knew what neither this labyrinth nor what the one in Livery had bestowed upon her. She had tried experimenting while in the Risen Guard compound, poking at the children and Honey for tales about the labyrinths, looking for hints of the sorts of powers they could bestow.

A more powerful connection to a branch of magic.

The ability to see spells weaving their way through the world.

A connection to the universe itself.

Many attempts at doing anything later, and Emilia wasn’t fully convinced there had been a system error, and she’d gotten nothing. The way this raid was going, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

⸂How is your leg?⸃

Emilia glanced between Astra—who had taken to using only her aethervoice to speak—and her scarred leg. It looked grotesque, with its skin too tight in some places, too loose in others. The muscle under the blotchy skin was uneven, pieces of it missing—burned or cut away. It didn’t hurt anymore, though, and as much as it looked like she shouldn’t be capable of walking on it—not without practice, anyways—Emilia suspected her {Blood Armour} was supporting her, the bindings pulling tightly over her entire leg.

Helpful, although given how sensitive this body was, she was concerned that eventually the strange pull on her muscles would result in pain radiating through her hips and back. Considering how terrible the back pain she’d experienced from too much climbing and sleeping on the ground had been, Emilia wasn’t completely convinced that death wouldn’t have been the better option.

Not that she still couldn’t just off herself—force her consciousness back into her real body. If she did that, however, she couldn’t get Caro and Gale somewhere safe, couldn’t try to see this world righted or find answers to the million questions burning through her—

“Uh…” Emilia sighed, pulling to a stop and squinting.

⸂What is it?⸃ Astra asked, tugging gently on the hand she had been holding almost constantly since their heart-to-heart.

Gale and Caro stopped as well, although Gale continued staring down the corridor at the light emanating from far in the distance.

“I think I have access to the Risen Guard system again?”

Boundary had restricted her access to the system after their parting with Carne and the homeless children. He had promised to keep her updated, if Benny contacted them, but aside from a message informing them that he wasn’t sure where Carne had taken them, the child had been quiet.

What covered her vision now was the Risen Guard system—and more of it that she’d seen so far. There was once again a map of the area in the corner, indicating they were—shockingly—in the middle of a very long corridor that led to a room, blacked out as though the system—or perhaps she herself—had no information on it. In another corner, there lay a complicated interface that appeared to be related to magic, although without examining it further, it was unclear what it was for. Most important, in another corner sat three names: Boundary, Honey and Benny.

At first, she thought that perhaps Benny had messaged again and Boundary had temporarily returned access to her. However, where Boundary and Honey’s names were a mild red, Benny’s was grey. It took a long moment of concentration—of quietly, and then very loudly, encouraging the system to do what she wanted—before their last messages with Benny popped up.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Benny: I don’t know where Carne took us, but we’re safe. I think.]

[Boundary: Let us know if you learn anything more.]

[Emilia: Caro says hello.]

[Benny: Hello back.]

That was the last message, sent only a few hours after their parting. There had been many moments where Emilia had wanted to message the boy, but without the system, she would have been forced to track down Boundary to do so. Plus, the man had warned them that sending and receiving too many messages would likely result in a headache.

Another long moment of concentration later, Benny’s messages closed and Honey’s popped up, a blinding stream of messages over Emilia’s vision, and she had to agree: doing virtually anything with the Risen Guard system hurt.

[Honey: Hey! I noticed you somehow have access to the message system?]

[Honey: Totally weird.]

[Honey: Did Boundary give it to you?]

[Honey: Oh, never mind.]

[Honey: I asked Caro, and they said he did when you were protecting the kids in the city.]

[Honey: I’m surprised he didn’t take it away, but I guess since you aren’t answering, maybe he did?]

[Honey: Or you just can’t use the system well.]

[Honey: Don’t take it too hard! Sometimes it takes recruits years to learn how to use the system.]

[Honey: Sucks for them!]

[Honey: Oh yeah, have you met Caro’s new babysitter?]

[Honey: Word to the wise, that bitch is cold-hearted.]

[Honey: I tried to tell Caro to listen to her, but I don’t think they heard me.]

[Honey: Or they just didn’t care, but you should care!]

[Honey: That lady takes her job SERIOUSLY.]

Nearly two dozen more messages followed, Honey apparently uncaring that her messages weren’t being read, let alone responded to. If anything, perhaps her lack of response had opened a floodgate into the trainee’s soul because she was messaging Emilia seemingly ever thought she had through the day! The most recent messages had arrived since they’d left the compound.

[Honey: Did you seriously take Caro with you? Ugh! Why does no one listen to me!]

[Honey: Their babysitter is PISSED! She’s ripping the compound apart looking for you.]

Several minutes later, Honey had sent another message, informing Emilia that she’d covered for them.

[Honey: I convinced her you actually left through the secret entrance that guy probably used and not the labyrinth entrance.]

[Honey: I can’t believe she actually believed me.]

[Honey: She’s not exactly the smartest.]

[Honey: Which, seriously? Who assigned her to watch Caro?]

[Honey: That kid is smart and slippery, and it doesn’t surprise me that they got away.]

[Honey: The labyrinth was a pretty good escape route, by the way.]

[Honey: Ten out of ten for bravery, and eleven out of ten for stupidity.]

⸂She wasn’t even that hard to ditch,⸃ Caro said when Emilia relayed the messages to them. ⸂And! And! That lady was just no fun! She just wanted me to sit and be quiet and behave while she stared into space!⸃

⸂She was probably doing something with the system,⸃ Gale offered, although she still hadn’t turned back towards them.

At least she was engaging with them again, as they discussed Honey’s messages—her warning about this mysterious Risen Guard who was apparently chasing them now. Thankfully chasing them in the wrong direction, but chasing them nonetheless.

Boundary’s messages had been less interesting, simply an acknowledgement that—against his better judgment—he was returning access to the Risen Guard system to her.

[Boundary: You will have to figure out how to use it yourself.]

[Boundary: Unless I die, or you do something egregious, I doubt I will revoke your access.]

There was a long gap between messages, before Boundary seemed to come to a decision and warned her that his other half might revoke her access.

[Boundary: I do not always have control over when he comes out.]

[Boundary: I will try to hide information about your access from him, but I do not guarantee it will work.]

[Boundary: I suggest you work on gaining access to the normal system.]

[Boundary: You may be able to access more of my system’s features; however, you will have to work at it.]

[Boundary: Good luck, and... and thank you, for not killing Villy.]

Emilia had no idea who Villy was, but she assumed it must have been one of the Risen Guards they incapacitated on their way out.

“Thanks. See you again, maybe,” she messaged back, brain burning as she closed the chats down, but not before making note of the time Boundary had sent his messages.

Overall, the time was useless to her without any clock on her display—although she assumed that if she focused hard enough, one would appear. It was rather rude that her own message hadn’t had a timestamp—unreasonable, even, and she honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if it were the system or platform maintainer fucking with her.

What the lapse between timestamps did tell her, however, was that Boundary had given her access while they were inside the labyrinth—the gap far longer than the time they’d been outside it so far—yet it hadn’t been until nearly ten minutes after they emerged that she had actually been given it.

It was strange.

Had they been entering a labyrinth, she would have assumed the labyrinth was messing with it, the same way it had messed with the area and their perception outside the library and Livery labyrinths. There had been nothing like that while exiting either, however, even when they’d exited near doors. The world, which had felt strange and other, even if just subtly, in the beginning moments of the labyrinth, felt normal at its end.

This exit hadn’t felt normal, but Emilia had mostly chalked it up to the tension between their group—not to mention the strange corridor with its grotesque, patchwork of materials.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

“I think we should go back.”

⸂Go back?⸃ Gale didn’t quite yell as she swivelled back towards them. ⸂Go back where?⸃

“Back down the tunnel,” Emilia said, explaining her thoughts as quickly as Astra could translate.

⸂What does it matter if there’s… what? Another labyrinth back there? Is that what you’re thinking?⸃

That was precisely what Emilia was thinking—that there was another labyrinth down here. It could be nothing, it could just be another entrance to the labyrinth they just escaped.

Emilia didn’t think so, and when she examined the map, finding a symbol drawn over the location of the door they had exited, she spotted another mark a short distance away—a question mark of sorts. The fact that it wasn’t the same was the one marking the labyrinth… it could be nothing.

It could be something.

“Caro,” she started, turning towards the small, increasing antsy child. If they hadn’t been in a potentially dangerous tunnel, with one if not two labyrinths in the vicinity, she might have told them to run some of that energy off. That’s what she had done as a child: run and run and run until her body and brain finally gave her a break. Caro needed a break, their little body vibrating with energy they needed to expel.

Unfortunately, it was too dangerous for them to expel it through such simple means, so Emilia settled for the next best thing: giving them a mission.