My mother once told me the path to greatness is just as arduous as climbing an endless cliff without any safety ropes whatsoever. It is arduous, indeed, but I had no idea it could be like this...

I've walked for whole days, I can't even remember how many; I lost count. I couldn't remember even trying my best and putting all my efforts into it. My mind was just too exhausted. Not that it mattered, the destination was far more important than the journey. Especially if this was the journey in question...

I felt like my legs didn't belong to me anymore. My hands stained with blood, the sweat mingling with the dirt on my skin. A horrible sensation... The blood was not mine, at least; it belonged to the monsters I sliced.

Perhaps it was really due; the path to greatness had to be arduous, after all. Luckily, I was able to ignore the pain and move forward.

"Another door..." My best friend was there, too. A nice fella. His hands were clean, unlike mine, attacking from the distance. He touched the door right in front of us, before turning his gaze to the sky. "It looks like it may rain. What do we do? Should we rest?"

Just rain? It looked like the sky could fall apart at any moment. Last time I checked, sky was supposed to be blue, but it was of the grimiest gray I've ever seen in my entire life, with hints of green, too.

Yet, he kept silently looking at me, waiting for an answer.

"If we have to, we better do it fast. The more we wait, the more the labyrinth will close behind us. If we don't get out of here soon, we might get crushed along with it," I told him; perhaps I was too harsh. He looked at me with his usual puzzled yet serious expression, probably wondering how I knew that.

Bold of him to assume I knew the right answer. Simple 'hunch' couldn't even get close to the reality of the situation.

"I really wonder how you can be so calm..." he told me with a tone lower than usual.

I tilted my head. Should I've been agitated? Looking at him, I realized he was. His whole expression was worried, it seemed like he could've started to cry at any moment. "Joey, are you scared?" I asked him.

"Of course I am! I'm frightened! Are you even looking at where we are?!" His answer was more forceful than before. Perhaps I should've assessed the situation before asking that.

I looked around, on the ground many skulls were scattered, alongside with bones and some slimy liquids. A clear sign that many lost their lives in this exact same area, not that I needed confirmation of that. A soft wind whispered through the air, gently caressing the grass that had taken root in the cracks of the weathered stone, partially covering the skulls. Just the sound of the wind could send someone shivers down the spine, and not from cold, but from fear.

Yes, I really should've assessed the situation before asking something like that...

But my friend has always been a wimp, perhaps I shouldn't have brought him with me, but I sought company, and despite everything, it was good to have him around.

Maybe I was the problem. After all, I really couldn't feel fear. I was not ignorant of the concept; I just never experienced it. Or if I did, I guess I just got used to it. I've been seeing the unknown for as long as I can remember. Dark, transparent anthropomorphic figures; perhaps the shadows of the dead. I call them demons, I don't really know what they are, but I'm the only one who can see them. And this place was no different from the others.

No, this place was far worse. It was full of them. Many were aimlessly roaming around, while others sat on the ground, apparently leaning their back to the cold stone walls. Either way, it was packed full.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"It gets worse the further we go," I replied. "But we really should get moving. Can you do it?"

For a moment, he glanced back in the direction we had come from. His eyes looked extremely weary, with the skin beneath them hollowed and ringed with dark circles. He let out a sigh. "I can hardly remember how it feels to sleep. But this might be the last room," he then gazed at the door in front of us. "Yes, let's get a move on," he said with a faint and encouraging smile on his lips.

I nodded. I shared the exact same sentiment. Rest was tempting, but I would've dared anyone to sleep in that place.

He opened the creaking wooden door, and we moved on to the next room.

As we set foot in the following room, my view got saturated with even more demons.

Well, if we wanted to rest, that room was not an option either...

Just another part of the labyrinth. Stone walls blocked left and right, leaving the road ahead of us the only option. With a fast glance, we both agreed to move further. Yet, before we could take a single step, a thunderous roar froze us in place.

For a moment I thought my ears could give up on me, I had never heard such a loud noise.

A sudden wave of panic surged through my entire body. Well, a futile one, as I regained composure just as fast.

A composure that was shed to pieces a moment later from a massive gust of wind coming from the sky. It was so fierce that I had to shield my eyes with my arms.

"A dragon?!" I could hear Joey shout.

A sudden shock wave sent both me and my friend flying against the stone wall; it was a painful crash.

I fell on my knees, and raised my gaze to grasp the situation. A giant black dragon was right in front of us. His crimson eyes fixated on my friend.

I immediately understood its intention. "Joey, use your codex!" I shouted at him, but as soon as I turned my eyes on him, I realized he was petrified by fear.

"Curse him! This is not the place nor the time to be a wimp!" As this thought rushed through my mind, I quickly got up and ran toward him. "Joey, move!" I lunged to close the distance, pushing him away.

The following seconds were not pleasant. It felt as if giant stalactites had pierced through my entire body, tearing through flesh and bone and leaving of my insides nothing but a mush. Except for the fact that it was not a sensation, nor a feeling. It was reality.

The dragon's craw sent me flying against the wall once again, this time I fell to the ground. I could see a pool of blood expanding right beneath me. It was my blood. Soon after, my consciousness faded away, leaving only darkness...

... I heard a voice calling out for me, I couldn't distinguish whose. I felt that time had passed, but I wasn't able to tell how much.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, I lay face down on the ground and I could hear Joey crying. Using both my arms, I pushed myself away from that cold and blood-stained floor, trying to sit up. Joey watched me, his mouth agape, as if he had seen a ghost.

He hugged me in tears. "Thank goodness! You're alive!" he cried even more, looking like a fountain. I was utterly confused.

I gently pushed him away. I couldn't figure out the situation with him crying all over me. "What happened?" I asked him.

"The dragon... I-I thought you died..." he stuttered.

At that moment, his clothes suddenly caught my attention; his cloak was stained with blood. "Are you injured?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "This is not my blood..." he slowly pointed at me with a finger.

I looked down at my own clothes. They were torn and colored a bright red. It was blood, my own blood. Now I remembered. Yes, I was definitely killed by that dragon. "Wait... the dragon, where is it?" I let out in confusion.

I turned around, on my left, the giant black dragon sprawled on the ground, lifeless. "You killed him... Good job," I praised my friend, surely with the most perplexed look on my face as I was still trying to process what had happened.

"Eh? Ah, n-not really..." He still looked agitated; couldn't really blame him.

In that exact moment, my brain caught more information. I was slow, incredibly slow. Perhaps death caused it, but I wasn't thinking as fast as my eyes were absorbing information.

While Joey was still drying his eyes, my brain slowly began to work as intended and myriad of questions flowed through it.

"How am I alive...?"

"The pain is gone and I'm not injured?"

"My heart is still beating..."

"It's as if I never got hit in the first place..."

"Did I die or did I just lose consciousness?"

"No, no... I definitely died..."

"Does that count as catching up on sleep?"

"That's not important!"

"Should I even worry about what has already happened?"

"It seems important though..."

As I quickly examined and processed all the information, I suddenly realized something far more disconcerting.

My own eyes had betrayed me. I trusted them, I relied on them to make sense of this fog, but I shouldn't have, because I was forgetting the most important matter, one that the eyes were not showing me.

"... Where are the demons?"