My heart was racing and it wasn't because of the thrill of battle. However, I needed to focus now. Because the fight was just getting heated.

Arrows from Kaya's bow whizzed through the air, striking foes hidden in the shadows of the labyrinth. We rushed through the maze, bulldozing our way through the bastards.

"You are spreading the fire too thin. Try to focus in," Kaya said.

Atop the giant wall sat a wooden platform. Three goblins hid in it's shadows firing small but painful arrows at us. Most of the strikes from these creatures were minuscule in damage but they were chipping away at my health over time. With just one health bar, I felt like I was living on the edge fighting these creatures. Every now and then, I thought I should take a sip of the heath potion, but I pulled back fearing what more was in store for us.

I clapped my hands together and aimed them at the platform. Channeling the heat through the palm of my hands, a stream of fire shot out from between the palms and struck the platform like an arrow. The platform shattered on impact, sending the three archers flying into the air, screaming in terror.

"Nice one!" Kaya said with a wide smile.

"Thanks!" I replied with an equally bright smile.

We kept moving ahead, through the winding path of the labyrinth. Every now and then we ran into a marked spot and a few dead ends. The goblins continued to rain down on us like rats.

"This maze just doesn't end!" I shouted.

"Don't lose hope. I have a feeling we are getting close to the end," Kaya replied.

We came upon more wooden platforms decorated the maze walls, from something or rather things were flung into the air. I had a gut feeling they were bombs, so I cast a blanket of fire in their direction. As expected, the debri exploded on contact with the fire, close to the platform, destroying much of them.

When the smoke cleared up, charred remains of the beasts scattered the floor.

"Well done," Kaya complimented, her low pitch raspy voice tugged at my heart.

I turned around and said, "your compliments are always welcome."

Her smile suddenty faded as her eyes shifted towards something above me. In an instant, her bow was up and the arrow cut through the air and into the shadows. A loud, screeching scream echoed through the empty air before a dead goblin fell to the ground with a dull thud. His satchel crashed on to the ground before my feet and from it spheres scattered all over the ground.

I bent down and picked one up. They were rusty brown with a paper like material encasing them while a short white thread stuck out of the encasing. A bomb.

Kaya looked over my shoulder curiously. "These will be of good use to use," I commented.

We stopped for a moment to take a breath. I checked my health one more time. It was about 85%. While only one third of my mana pool was left. As for Kaya, I had no clue. I pulled out two blue bottles from the inventory, drowning them both. They tasted by bitter cough syrup but they brought my mana pool close to half. I grabbed another two green bottles but held one out for Kaya.

"There is no need," Kaya said politely, shaking her hands.

"You took just as many hits as me. It would help to have you have at full health," I replied.

She looked at the bottle nervously. "Is it okay if I took it?"

"Xanthia said it fine for NP... huh... others to consume potions and antidotes."

"Well... If mother said it is okay..." She took the bottle cautiously, making one final observation of it before taking a sip.

I did the same, it tasted like the forest, by that I mean like wet leaves and mud covered roots.

Kaya exhaled before looking down at the bottle. "This is like magic!"

I snorted. "It is."

We continued on our path. The goblin activity appeared to have ceased for the past few minutes. "Do you think we are no right path?" I asked.

"There is only one way out. So, either we heading back to the entrance or towards the heart," Kaya explained.

"Still... this silence is making me nervous."

"I agree."

Suddenly a loud roar filled the dead air followed thundering footsteps. "An orc?" I asked out loud. My question was answered almost immediately when a massive orc stepped out of the thick mist holding a giant wooden club on its left shoulder.

It let out another massive roar, causing my bones to shiver, before putting the club down. It began to charge towards us while sweeping the ground with its wooden club.

"Run!" I screamed as we turned around and bolted.

The orc was fast and we felt it breathing down our necks. We needed to do something fast, or else it will wipe the floor with us.

"Karna!" Kaya shouted. "The bombs!"

Of course! I quickly reached into my inventory and pulled out four of them before tossing them behind me. Not more than a second had passed before the bombs exploded, its shockwave throwing us onto the ground.

The ground had stopped shaking, which meant the orc was at least not moving. I got on my feet quickly and looked to see that Kaya too had recovered. The orc formed a dark silhouette in the cloud of smoke and fog. It didn't appear to have taken any damage, but I didn't wait to find out.

I quickly cast a decimation spell, sending the destructive ball in its path. Just as the ball seemed to reach it, the Orc lifted its club and smashed the ball into the ground.

"Wait! We are allowed to do that?" I blurted out in shock.

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It walked towards us taking one slow step at a time, pretending to be intimidating. However, when its third step met the ground, it was greeted by a loud explosion. The orc was put off balance, leaning back and swinging its club as it tried to regain its balance.

Seeing a window of oppurtunity, I immediately charged up my decimation spell. Putting a good amount of omph into it, I let it fly. The ball crashed into the Orc's face sending it crashing into ground below. The whole valley appeared to shake at its fall.

"Is it dead?" Kaya asked.

I saw my xp band grow. "Yup. Hi-fi!" I said and raised my palm.

Kaya looked offended, but her cheeks burnt red. “What? No. I am not holding you hand!”

“What? No. No. Hi-fi. We just clap our hands,” I imitated an embarrassing self hi-fi to demonstrate it. “See, like this.”

“Why?”

“Because we did something… awesome.” My voice almost turned into a squeal.

“Oh…” She raised her palm and clapped mine rather cautiously.

“Nice.”

Walking through the milk like fog, I could see silhouettes of goblins scampering away from us. The walls faded into the background and the fog appeared to dissipate. The cool drizzle stopped which made look up and stare at a moss covered stone ceiling. It was still quite far away, but it looked like we made our way into a cavern.

"Is this the heart?" I asked.

"Almost. The heart is said to be a massive cavern with a lake at the center," she explained.

"What can we expect to find in there?"

"A lake and the Goblin or Shaman King"

The cavern was overflowing with vegetation. Unique plants of various shapes and colors filled my peripheral vision. I was curious to know if these plants had any actual use for us players or where just set dressing.

The path narrowed until we came upon a door like cavity in the stone wall. I took a deep breath and stepped through. The stone room expanded massively and very suddenly. It was a giant hole in solid rock and at the center was a small pond whose water was crystal blue. White crystals protruded from the cavern's ceiling, emitting white light which filled the otherwise dark space.

The goblins seemed to have vanished into thin air, as I couldn't spot even one of them. "It seems like the goblins have abandoned their king," I said.

Kaya tightened the grip on her bow as her hawk like eys scanned the room. "No. Don't underestimate them."

Right. Good advice.

The ground broke into a series of large steps, descending into the pond. At the center of the pond was a small piece of land and on it was just another goblin. He looked painfully bland. He was short, bald, with ragged knickers and nothing more to show for. Suffice to saw, he was disappointing.

As we reached the bank of the pond, I expected the king to react. Except he didn't. His eyes were fixed on us, and his head bobbled with every breath. I couldn't read his expression but it didn't matter.

"Alright. Let's end this," I said pointing my hand towards the king. I casted a decimation ball towards the goblin, naively believing that was enough. The ball passed right through the king and exploded as it met the bank on the other side. "What the? Is he an illusion?" I asked.

"I... I don't know," Kaya replied.

The smile on the goblin sharpened. It raised its arms and with it, lands of rock rose from the pond, drifiting into the air. The island the king was rose higher and higher, while the water beneath it swirled into a weak whirlpool.

"What kind magic is that?" I asked as I watched the events unfold with a dropped jaw.

"Spacial magic! I didn't know goblins were capable of casting such magic," Kaya replied.

The lands of rock spun around the Shaman King's island in a pattern, a pattern all too recognizable for anyone who has played enough video games.

"Quick! We need to hop onto those platforms!" I said.

"Are you serious?" Kaya asked.

"Trust me!" I replied as bolted towards an approaching rock platform before leaping off the bank of the lake. I smashed my chesh onto the edge of the rock, planting my hands into it. Meanwhile, Kaya made a clean landing, her two feet appearing before my two hands.

"Here," she said and quickly pulled me up.

We looked up at the island in the center. "That is a long way up," Kaya said.

"No wasting time then," I replied.

The rocks rotated in circles, each one going in the opposite direction to the one adjacent it. We timed our jumps as well as could. While Kaya landed on her two feet on almost all of them, I smashed my face or chest into most of them.

We paused for a moment, trying to regain our breath. I looked up to see the King looking down on us with an arrogant smile. "Cocky bastard," I cursed. "Let's..."

Out of the blue, three spherical objects flew over us and onto our platform. "Bombs!" I shouted.

The fuse was still on fire, giving us just enough to make a run for it. We leapt into the air and onto the next platform, just before the bombs exploded.

Two goblins were waiting for us on the other platform and charged at us with their clubs. I grabbed my dragged and set the blade blazing. The firey spell stunned the two freaks just long enough for me to pounce on them. I drove the blade right down one of the Goblin's head, killing it instantly. While other got its head shot through by a well aimed arrow.

"Guess they didn't abandon their after all," Kaya commented.

I looked toward the inside of the vortex and saw an island moving out of trajectory. It was approaching us at a frightening speed.

"Let's go!" I shouted.

Kaya didn't even bother to look, she followed my command and leapt onto the next platform.

The fight was only going to get tougher. More Goblins hid upon the platforms waiting to ambush us all the while the king continuously threw the islands at us.

"Kaya, can you take a shot?" I asked after clearing one of the islands of the Goblins.

She shot an arrow but it passed right through the King just like my spell before. "Yeah. But I can't hit him either. What's his play?"

My mind raced through all the possibilities. One was an illusion, another was that he was just intangible, or... "He is bending the space around him."

"What? How?" Kaya asked.

"You said he is using Spacial Magic, right? If he is powerful enough to lift these islands around him, bending the space around him to save his ass shouldn't be a problem."

"If that is the case, how do we hit him?"

"Any enemy who is good at range, is weak at melee Or at least that is the common thinking. But we have been jumping on these platforms for a while now and we are nowhere near the center," I explained.

"More magic?" Kaya asked.

"More magic."

Kaya stood silent for a moment. "Then let's try this. Do you have any bombs left?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do." I passed one of them from from the satchel I was still carrying.

She tied the bomb to the head of an arrow and prepared to shoot. "Let's hope this works," she said and lowered her aim and released the arrow.

The arrow smashed into the King's island, rocking it with an explosion. But it wasn't nearly enough to destroy it. No problem.

The very next second, I cast a powerful decimation spell, aiming at the crack the bomb had opened. The king, who was trying to gain his footing back, tried to move his island away from the path of the ball, but was too late.

The rock cracked and split in two, before exploding and sending debris of rock flying everywhere. The Shaman king free falled towards the lake before.

I ran off the island and dove after him. With my blade in hand, burning hot from the spell that enchanted, I caught the sneaky bastard and thrust the blade through his chest, making his scream in pain.

We crashed into the water underneath, making me lose consciousness for a moment. By the time I became aware of my surroundings, large rocks smashed into the lake surface above me.

The dead corpse of the shaman king vanished from my hand, leaving me alone to face the threat of the falling rocks.

My lungs were already on the brink of burning from the lack of oxygen, but I nonetheless pushed myself to waddle to the edge of the pond. A giant piece of rock scrapped past me, cutting me on my back. The burn stunned me for a moment, making my heart shudder, but I regained control just quickly and reached the bank.

Bursting through the surface of the water, fresh air flooded my lungs and I felt euphoric for the moment as I escaped death. My blurry vision cleared up and I found myself looking at Kaya who was squatting over the bank with a broad smirk on her face.

She lent me her hand and said, "well done player. Brave of you to leap after him and challenge death."

I grabbed on her hand and replied, "it was the only way to make sure he was dead."