We stepped forward, and the world lurched sideways.

The cavern walls that once surrounded us, gone.

In their place stood steel walls, smooth and seamless, stretching into an endless corridor. A dull metallic sheen reflected the faint glow of unseen lights, casting long shadows that twisted unnaturally along the passage. Somewhere deep within the labyrinth, something shifted, a distant, grinding movement like stone scraping against stone.

I turned, expecting to see the entrance we had come through.

It was gone.

Where the passage behind us had been, there was now a sharp corner, leading into another unknown hallway. The path forward had sealed itself.

The silence was unnerving. Even the usual ambient hum of a cavern was absent. No dripping water. No rustling air. Just an endless stillness, waiting.

Leo shuffled carefully past Mel, squinting into the dimly lit corridor ahead. “I can’t see a damn thing in here.” His voice carried a wary edge as he extended a hand toward the steel walls. “At least your new glowing form helps.” He said glancing at Mel.

With a small flick of his wrist, an orb of fire ignited above us, its warm glow stretching further into the tunnel, casting flickering light against the metallic surfaces.

It was only then that I realized…

I hadn’t noticed the darkness at all.

To me, the passage was clear as day, the details crisp even in the deepest shadows. The labyrinth’s unnatural gloom hadn’t hindered me in the slightest. I had forgotten that I could see through the dark as though it wasn’t there at all.

I turned to the Drow woman. “Where do we go?”

She didn’t answer immediately, only tilting her head in a silent motion for us to follow.

As we walked, the only sound was the soft tread of our footsteps against the metallic floor. No echoes. Not even the faintest reverberation against the cold steel walls. It was as if the space absorbed sound rather than reflected it. Even when one of us spoke, our voices carried with unsettling clarity, like we were speaking in an open field rather than a closed hallway.

Something about it made my skin crawl.

Trish’s voice finally broke the stillness. “Why are you allowed to help us?” she asked. “What’s different between us and Max?”

The Drow woman didn’t answer immediately. She continued forward, unhurried, her midnight-dark hair shifting around her shoulders like it was catching an unseen breeze.

Seconds passed. Then minutes.

A flicker of discomfort rippled through the group. I glanced at the others, finding Mel frowning, Leo’s fingers twitching slightly, either from nerves or impatience.

Finally, she spoke.

“I do not know.”

Her voice was calm, too calm.

Leo let out a quiet breath, eyeing her warily. “You don’t know?” he echoed. “Yet, you’re still helping?”

“Yes.”

That was it. No hesitation. No further explanation.

The sheer simplicity of her response sent a chill down my spine.

“But why?” Mel asked, her voice laced with skepticism.

The Drow woman stopped walking but didn’t turn. “Because Max is a good person, and he doesn’t deserve to be trapped within these walls.”

Mel frowned the confusion evident in her eyes. “And you know that just from watching him? Observing him?” There was an edge to her tone, sharper than she likely intended. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes, the worry twisting her expression. Gently, I placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

That was when the woman turned to face us. Her dark eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Because he sacrificed himself to save me when he had a chance to escape,” she whispered.

I held her gaze, waiting for her to continue.

“When he first arrived here, he tricked the warden. He had a way out.” Her voice wavered, like she was struggling to hold herself together. “I was… curious about him. I got too close, careless. One of the guards grabbed me. If I had been smarter, if I had just kept my distance, he would be free right now. And I’d still be wandering these halls like I always have.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers clenching at her sides. “But he didn’t hesitate. He attacked the guard instantly. Told me to run.” A single sob slipped through, her body trembling as she tried to push it down. “He knew the others would catch him. But it didn’t stop him.”

Tears spilled freely now, running down her face.

Trish stepped forward, gently wrapping her arms around the woman in quiet comfort. For a long moment, none of us spoke.

Then, barely above a whisper, the woman said, “Not even my own family stepped in when I was first taken into this place… centuries ago.”

The weight of those words settled over us like a suffocating fog.

Max had done in moments what no one in her entire life had ever done for her.

Mel’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, the soft turquoise glow dimming slightly. Without a word, she stepped forward and placed a massive, yet gentle hand on the Drow woman’s shoulder before pulling her into a hug.

Mel knew all too well what it was like to be abandoned by family. Max had been the one to bring her into our fold, refusing to let her slip away into loneliness. I remembered the day she admitted that, if not for Max, she might have fallen into the streets, into a life of crime or addiction. Max saved me from myself, she had once told us. And now, he had saved this woman, too.

Leo and I stayed back, letting Trish and Mel comfort her. When she finally steadied herself, she stood a little taller, her expression shifting from sorrow to determination.

We began walking again, the halls stretching endlessly before us. After a moment, I broke the silence. “If I may…, how did you know we were friends of Max?”

She glanced at me, hesitant. “I overheard you speaking about him… back in the cavern with the village,” she admitted. “I heard how you were searching for him.”

Before I could ask why she hadn’t approached us then, she continued, “At the time, I knew you were his friends, but I didn’t think you were strong enough to help him. And I couldn’t ask his friends to die trying to save him.” Her voice wavered, but she took a steadying breath. “Then, as if in answer to my doubts, I watched you both” she gestured toward Trish and me, “Ascend before my very eyes. And when you spoke of ascending the others as well, I realized… if you could achieve that, then maybe, just maybe, you would have a real chance to save him.”

A heavy silence settled between us.

Then, her voice lowered, filled with regret. “I didn’t expect what happened next. I am sorry for the loss of your friend. I wish I could have helped, but… I only know how to do one thing, hide. Stay unnoticed.”

I shook my head, stepping forward. “That skill is what has kept Max alive,” I said firmly. “Don’t discredit your own power.”

She lifted her gaze to meet mine. Her deep violet eyes shimmered like a night sky, tiny stars dancing within them.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Then, in an unexpected motion, she wrapped her arms around my neck.

I froze at first, caught off guard, but then I smiled and returned the embrace, holding her for a brief moment before stepping back.

“Now,” I said, determination ringing in my voice, “let’s go save Max.”

A small smile touched her lips as she nodded. She turned to continue walking, but then paused, glancing back at us.

“You may call me Myrida,” she said simply, before turning again to lead the way.

The moment she spoke her name, a strange sensation surged through me, Virellia’s presence flaring within my soul.

Virellia? I reached out to her, my mind brushing against hers. Everything okay?

For a moment, there was only silence. Then, a whisper echoed in my thoughts, soft and uncertain.

"I… there is something familiar about that name…"

Her voice carried a note of hesitation, as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear.

I was about to ask if that was a bad thing, but before I could, a warm, reassuring feeling flooded through me. She didn’t seem threatened, just… contemplative.

And then, I remembered, she was the first to trust Myrida when we first encountered her.

We walked in silence for what felt like an eternity, the distant sound of grinding metal echoing through the corridors. Though the walls never visibly moved, I couldn't shake the feeling that they were, shifting in ways unseen, bending reality itself.

Myrida guided us with quiet confidence, navigating the labyrinth’s endless twists and turns as though she had walked this path a thousand times before. Every decision she made was instinctual, precise.

After nearly an hour, she stopped abruptly, raising her hand for silence. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“This next area is the first room you will encounter. Within these rooms are fragments, sections of worlds that have been copied into the labyrinth,” she explained. “They are inhabited by creatures the labyrinth creates to ‘bring life’ to its ever-changing world. But make no mistake, they are twisted… and evil.”

A cold chill ran down my spine.

Myrida’s expression darkened. “These areas also house the prison guards, the ones meant to keep prisoners in check… or simply torment them when they grow bored.” There was a venom in her voice that startled me.

Leo furrowed his brow. “There are other prisoners here?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Myrida nodded solemnly. “Not many. And when they do arrive, they don’t usually last long. This place breaks them. The fear eats away at them, and that fear… it feeds the core of the labyrinth… and the warden.”

A new, gut-wrenching worry for Max hit me. If this place could drive people to madness, how had he held on for so long?

Mel voiced my thoughts before I could. “Then why hasn’t it affected us?”

Myrida’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Because this labyrinth is only meant for those who have not ascended. There are… other labyrinths, far worse, designed for those of higher ascension.” A shiver ran through her, as if she were recalling something dreadful.

Trish frowned. “If that’s the case, how is Max in danger?”

“The guards,” Myrida answered grimly. “They must be ascended as well. Max may be able to hide from the core briefly, but if the guards catch him again…” she hesitated. “He may not escape. If he hasn’t already been caught.”

The idea of Max trapped in this nightmare, always running, always hunted, made my stomach twist.

I tried to ground myself in logic. “What exactly are the laws of this labyrinth?”

Myrida exhaled, her shoulders tense. “The laws that bind me here have no hold over any of you. Max, however, was taken before he ascended. That means the labyrinth and its warden have already tasted his essence. They can always track him. The core constantly shifts the labyrinth to keep him from finding an exit, while the warden sends guards to hunt him down.”

She hesitated before continuing. “As for me… the labyrinth mostly ignores me. I don’t fear it, so it has little power over me. But it does stop me from interfering directly.” Her expression softened slightly. “I’ve learned to trick the core, leaving behind notes, small treasures, anything to give prisoners a moment of hope. Even a sliver of hope weakens the core and the warden.”

Trish narrowed her eyes. “So, we’re invisible to the core and the warden?”

“Yes and no,” Myrida admitted. “The core knows you’re here. It’s actively trying to push you toward the nearest exit, because your presence alone weakens it. But the warden doesn’t know about you… yet.”

Mel crossed her arms. “What if we tried to free the other prisoners?”

Myrida’s expression turned pained. “You can’t,” she said quietly. “I know you mean well, but… it would kill them if you tried. And that death is far worse than the one they suffer here.”

Her voice became bitter, strained. “There’s a reason higher ascended beings haven’t simply torn these labyrinths apart or rescued those trapped within. Destroying a labyrinth would tear a hole between the realms. And through that tear, she can send more of her soldiers into this world.”

She swallowed hard. “It’s what happened to my home. One of our elders, one of the most powerful among us, ripped apart a labyrinth she created. The tear it left behind allowed her soldiers to pour in. The others tried to close it, but it was too late. Her army tore through my people.”

A heavy silence fell as she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “After that… another labyrinth was created in its place. My people… they began sacrificing their children to the labyrinth, thinking it would appease it, thinking it would save them.”

Her words trailed off, her hands trembling as she fought against the tide of grief threatening to consume her.

Then, a voice rang out, Virellia’s voice.

“That is not the truth of that story… sister.”

A sudden, electric shock ran through the air.

Myrida stiffened. Her violet eyes widened in disbelief. “What?” she breathed, her voice barely audible.

Leo, Mel, and Trish all tensed, looking between Myrida and me in stunned silence.

Virellia continued, her presence surging through me like a tidal wave. “Mother and Father did not sacrifice you.” There was no anger in her voice, only sorrow. “They pushed you into the labyrinth in hopes of saving you from what happened next…”

Myrida staggered back a step, her breath caught in her throat.

“…Virellia?” she whispered, her voice breaking.

“Just know there is more to that story than you realize. We do not have the time to discuss this right now,” Virellia said, her voice firm but laced with something softer, regret, perhaps.

Myrida stood frozen, her breath shaky, tears welling in her eyes. Her gaze flickered between me and the haft of my weapon, realization and confusion battling for dominance in her expression.

I met her eyes and offered a small, sad smile. “I swear, once we get Max and get out of here, I’ll give you two as much time as you need to talk. But right now, we have to focus on finding him.”

For a moment, she simply stared at me, emotions warring beneath the surface. Then, slowly, she nodded. Her eyes lingered on the haft at my side one last time before she turned back toward the room ahead, her resolve hardening.

“Max is close, I can sense him,” Myrida whispered. “I think he’s in this room. If not, he’s in one of the halls attached to it.”

Leo exhaled sharply. “So, do we go in guns blazing, or do we try to be sneaky?”

“I’ll scout ahead,” Myrida offered. “I can move unnoticed and get a read on the situation. But you all need to step into this room first, if you don’t, it will shift away when I leave.”

We exchanged brief nods before quietly slipping into the room. The moment we crossed the threshold, the space around us seemed to expand, quadrupling in size. It no longer felt like a room at all.

We had stepped into an entirely new world.

A vast, eerie night sky stretched above us, unnatural in its hues. The stars were black, yet they bled a dim, violet glow, casting an unearthly twilight over the landscape. The air hummed with an almost imperceptible energy, the distant horizon flickering like a mirage.

Before I could process more, Myrida simply vanished, her presence slipping away as though she had never been there.

With nothing to do but wait, I took the opportunity to check in on Virellia.

Are you okay? I asked, sending warmth and comfort through our connection.

She was quiet for a moment before answering. “I am sad… but overjoyed that my little sister is alive.” There was a deep ache in her words. “Sad that I cannot embrace her. Sad that our parents will never know their choice… in the end, it saved her life.”

I didn’t push her to say more. This wasn’t the time.

The silence stretched between us as we sat unmoving, waiting. Then, just as swiftly as she had left, Myrida reappeared, her face torn between fear and sorrow.

“Max is just ahead…” she started, her voice uneven.

“But?” Leo pressed, urging her to continue.

She swallowed hard. “He’s surrounded. There are at least twenty men guarding him. I fear…”

She never got to finish.

Her voice became distant, an afterthought. A whisper lost in the storm that had already begun.

The moment the words left her lips, our bodies moved.

There was no hesitation. No need for a plan.

Instinct took over.

I summoned my shield, its celestial glow pulsing as it solidified in my grip. Trish’s wings unfurled, chakrams spinning around her in a storm of radiant energy. Mel’s entire body shimmered, her ethereal turquoise glow illuminating the darkness. Leo hovered, his hands crackling with volatile magic, orbs of swirling elemental energy orbiting him, his gaze burning with unbridled fury.

Virellia’s presence surged, her ethereal form shifting as she expanded into her true weapon state. Chains of celestial energy wrapped around the haft of the flail, casting ghostly light in every direction.

Myrida gasped audibly, her breath hitching.

For the first time, she wasn’t watching from the shadows. She wasn’t observing from a distance.

She was inside the storm.

She could feel it.

The labyrinth groaned, a guttural, unnatural sound, as though recoiling from the sheer force of energy exuding from us. The air thickened, the very foundation of this world shifting uneasily beneath our presence.

I locked eyes with Myrida, wordlessly commanding her to tell us where. She lifted a trembling hand, pointing in the direction of the fight.

We moved as one.

Trish and I surged forward, tearing through the trees like twin meteors, our steps shaking the earth. Leo glided behind us. His floating form, almost spectral in the unnatural twilight. Mel flashed from treetop to treetop, a streak of turquoise light cutting through the darkness.

The sound of battle reached us, metal clashing, shouts echoing, boots skidding across hardened ground.

We burst through the trees.

Mel was already in the fight.

She stood beside Max, her massive frame blocking an incoming strike, parrying a blow meant for him. Sparks flew as steel clashed, the shockwave rattling the air.

We charged in, and the guards immediately shifted their focus to me.

But something changed.

The raw anger and brutality they had been fighting Max and Mel with only moments ago diminished, not out of fear, but hesitation. They weren’t just fighting two warriors anymore.

I launched myself high into the air, feeling the weightless moment before impact. Then, with all my force, I slammed down into a group of five guards attempting to flank Max and Mel, my shield striking the ground like a hammer of divine wrath. The shockwave rippled outward, sending them sprawling.

Before they could even recover, three chakrams zipped through the air, slicing through them with deadly precision.

The twenty or so guards that had surrounded Max were quickly thinning, but more were charging in from the halls, a relentless tide of reinforcements.

“’Bout damn time you guys got here,” Max grunted, gripping the wrist of a guard mid-swing, twisting it sharply. The man's blade turned inward, and Max drove it straight into his chest.

The guard’s eyes widened in shock as Max wrenched the weapon free, letting the body collapse to the ground.

“Better late than never, right?” Leo quipped, hovering beside me as he launched fireballs into the advancing wave of enemies.

Trish narrowed her eyes at Max, her chakrams still whirling through the battlefield. “Myrida said you ascended, but you don’t look any different.”

Max laughed, dodging an incoming strike before shooting an arrow point-blank into an enemy’s chest. “Yeah, because I’ve got this annoying error message saying, ‘Something is missing.’ Whatever the hells that means.” He shifted, parrying a blow meant for Mel before swiftly cutting the attacker down. “I feel stronger, but my ascension is incomplete. I don’t have the full gains yet.”

I gritted my teeth, blocking an incoming blade with my shield before bashing his skull in with Virellia. “We’ll figure it out later,” I said.

But something felt off.

I had expected a brutal fight. These guards were ascended, yet they were dropping like flies.

It was too easy.

I exhaled sharply, scanning the battlefield as another wave of enemies poured in. “Anyone else think this is…”

I never got to finish the sentence.

The labyrinth answered.

The walls groaned, the sound of shifting metal grinding through the air like a living beast awakening.

The ground beneath us rumbled.

The floor beneath us collapsed.

Gravity seized us, yanking us into the void as the battlefield above vanished.

We hit the ground hard, the impact jarring, knocking the wind from my lungs. But even as we groaned from the fall, something far more unnatural unfolded before us.

The bodies of the fallen guards did not crash down with us. Instead, they drifted gently, their lifeless forms lowering gracefully to the ground as if some unseen force guided them.

And then, we saw him.

A man stood before us, his very presence commanding the space, demanding attention. The air around him felt heavier, oppressive, wrong.

In his grasp, he held a woman, his clawed fingers digging into her throat.

“Finally,” he hissed, his voice sharp and grating, inhuman. “I have found you, you pesky little vermin.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

His tentacle-lined chin writhed like a grotesque beard, his abyssal-black eyes bottomless voids that seemed to devour light itself.

Then, his gaze shifted to us.

His lips curled back into a grin, revealing rows of fangs. “It would seem,” he mused, voice dripping with delight, “that you’ve brought me even more food to…”

He never got to finish.

We sprang to our feet, our power surging outward like a detonation.

A guard beside him hesitated. “Sir, these…”

He never finished either.

Mel blinked behind him, her greatsword driving through his chest from behind before he could react. His body went rigid, his mouth forming a silent scream as she wrenched the blade free. A savage grin spread across her face as she flashed toward another target, already seeking her next kill.

“Let. Her. Go!”

Max’s voice was a growl, raw and dangerous.

His form flickered, shifting between the shadows as he cut down three more guards in the span of a breath. Each strike was precise, merciless, unstoppable. He was already moving toward the monster before us, driven by pure fury.

For a split second, shock flashed across the man’s face. Then, it was gone.

His grin widened, his expression twisting with sadistic glee.

“Finally,” he whispered, his voice laced with psychotic excitement. “Some real fun.”

And then…

He did what we feared most.

With a single, effortless motion, he cut Myrida down.

Her lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

Virellia screamed.

It was not a sound, it was an eruption, a choir of millions screaming in unison, each voice laced with raw, unfiltered rage. The very essence of the darkness around us shattered, cracks forming in the air itself as if reality could not contain her fury.

The guards around us fell to their knees, hands clamping desperately over their ears. It did nothing.

Their heads exploded, blood splattering across the blackened stone. Some, in their madness, drove their own weapons through their ears, desperate to end the sound, though it did not save them.

The labyrinth shuddered.

The man reeled back, clutching his head in agony. His abyssal eyes widened, his smug expression crumbling into terror. Without a word, he vanished, blinking out of existence along with any guards still standing. The very walls of the labyrinth groaned, as though reality itself was on the verge of collapse.

“Virellia! You have to stop!”

Trish’s voice was raw, desperate, but her words were lost beneath the unrelenting wail that poured from the flail.

Tears streaked down my face. Her rage filled me. It was all-consuming, a fire so intense it could have reduced this entire place to nothingness.

I gritted my teeth, forcing it back, pushing against her grief, pulling her away from the brink before she could tear this labyrinth apart and unleash something far worse.

The scream finally ended.

A crushing wave of sorrow followed; a sadness so profound it left me breathless. Through our bond, I could feel her shaking, sobbing, broken.

And then…

Max collapsed to his knees beside Myrida’s body.

His hands trembled as he reached for her, his deep purple skin streaked with tears. “I never got to thank you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “You protected me… watched over me… and I never got to say it.”

His shoulders shook.

“I promised so many others that I would tell you thank you,” he choked out. “For the brief moments you gave them from the madness.”

A single tear fell from his cheek, landing against her still, lifeless form.

And then… she began to glow.

A strange violet light enveloped her, flickering, pulsing, growing stronger.

Her body rose into the air, weightless, the glow intensifying around her.

Then, Max was overtaken by the same power.

We all staggered back, exchanging glances.

I had a feeling I knew what was happening.

Virellia was watching through my eyes, her presence pressing against me, filled with raw intensity.

Something was changing.