The earth quaked beneath us, then the floor split open into a dozen cracks, then two dozen cracks…. Water then shot out of the cracks like blood from a wounded artery.

The illusory man disappeared once again as the chamber began to flood. I hissed as the cold water soaked through my boots and pant legs.

“What do we do?” I hollered to Drayek over the sound of gushing water.

“Find an exit!” he hollered back.

I pushed through the water, the level now at my shoulders. Drayek and the others still stood with the water only at their hips, Korin at her mid-torso, but I, of course, was the shortest. We all searched every nook and cranny of the walls, searching for an exit. The opening to the maze had long since disappeared. Maran was the only one who withheld from the search. She stood near me, mouth distorted as a near-voiceless, breathy scream tore from her lips.

“I’m so sorry!” she continued to hoarsely recite in between each of her horrific screams.

“Maran!” I slowly made my way over to her, the current of the rising level of water growing stronger. “Maran, We have to get out of here! Come on, help us look for an exit!”

She looked at me, her eyes glazed over and blood-shot. “Marya’s death was my fault!” her voice was hoarse. “She died because of me!”

I vaguely remembered a past member of Drayek’s hunting team, Marya–Maran’s older sister. She had died in a nasty fight against a Rockcrawler, a giant serpent that lived among the craggy rock desert of Edrona.

I shook my head vehemently. “No. No, Maran! I’m sure it wasn’t your fault. Come on, you have to start swimming!”

I suddenly felt extremely grateful for the time the Water Mages’ oasis had overflowed, resulting in a freak flooding of Edrona. After that had happened, the Priests had insisted that all Edronans take turns learning to swim in the oasis. Just in case another freak event involving water occurred. At the time, we’d all thought the fear was unwarranted and ridiculous since we lived in a rock desert. But if we hadn’t been encouraged to learn to swim, the Hunters and I would have all drowned by now.

I dropped the spear I’d retrieved from the maze, the cumbersome length making traversing the water difficult. I then found Maran’s arm in the dark depths of the water. I was already paddling, and the level was getting dangerously close to submerging Maran.

“Let me be!” she screeched, yanking her arm out of my hand.

I fought her, trying to help her rise above the water and swim, but she was stronger and wrestled against me the entire time. But I didn’t stop–I wouldn’t stop. Even when I lost her in the murky current, I dove and dove again, searching.

I came up for a third time, lungs burning as I tried to catch my breath and prepared to dive a fourth time.

“Rayden!” Drayek hollered from the other end of the chamber. “Leave her! You must preserve your strength!”

I didn’t want to give up on Maran. It was wrong! But my lungs screamed for air, forcing me to float on my back and catch my breath.

I slammed a fist into the water but suppressed the urge to scream in frustration. I had just watched someone drown and couldn’t do anything about it!

I could hear Korin whimpering about three feet away from me and noticed Krato carrying her weight as he treaded water. She must have still been weak from using all of her stamina to heal me, let alone having to fight through her own maze.

I watched as Krato dropped his longsword into the water to keep the two of them afloat. The look of pain on his face as his sword sank away sent a pang through my chest. Good weapons, especially at higher Tiers, were hard to come by.

Unless you were someone like Drayek, whose Skill allowed him to create new weapons when he needed them, as long as he didn’t surpass the limit of having 10 weapons or pieces of armor at once. Drayek released his sword and shield just as Krato had with his, but Drayek let the equipment go with much less sadness in his expression.

I took a moment more on my back and tried to steady my breathing.

Resilience, I thought as I floated, careful to stay above the waves of water that threatened to crash over my face. We’re being tested on our resilience.

Could the illusory man want to see who could float the longest? Or maybe who could swim the hardest? Thoughts of Maran drowning echoed in my mind, making it hard to think. She had just given up. And who knew where Marcus and Carissa had gone? Maybe they had failed their individual mazes.

Resilience. Withstanding…. Are we being tested on our abilities to overcome? To endure what we’ve been through?

“We’re still being tested on what happened in the labyrinth!” I shouted, rolling off my back and returning to a full swim.

“Just keep swimming, floating, whatever you have to do–just don’t give up!” I finished.

Krato scoffed. “Do you see that, Rayden?” He pointed briefly above our heads, then caught himself and Korin before they sank. “The water level is close to the ceiling. We’re all going to drown.”

“Just trust me,” I said. “My test in the maze was similar. Something–someone is trying to convince me to not surrender. I’m sure it’s the same for all of us.”

Krato squeezed his eyes shut but didn’t argue with me. Korin continued to cling to him, and Drayek eyed me with a hint of a smile scoring his lips.

The four of us continued swimming, occasionally transitioning to our backs to keep from getting tired. But the water kept rising. I shared nervous glances with everyone in turn, and then my eyes landed on Drayek. He nodded reassuringly just as the water closed in on the ceiling and submerged us completely.

One, two, three… I found myself counting slowly in my head as I held my breath.

Was I counting the seconds to my death? Honestly, I didn’t know what I was counting to. Counting just kept me from thinking too much about an impending death by drowning.

Twenty, Twenty-one…

I gasped a breath of air as the water receded back past my head and then past my shoulders. The four of us floated safely to the bottom of the chamber as the water drained back to where it had come from.

I searched for one thing as the water disappeared: Maran’s body. I paled once I found her. I rushed over but hesitated to bend down and touch her. She was completely lifeless; her skin had a sickly pallor both from the cold of the water and lack of life. Her lips had turned almost purple, and her arms and legs were bent underneath her torso unnaturally.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I pushed her body over to give her limbs freedom, then placed her hands over her chest. Her eyes were closed, making her look almost peaceful.

“Thank Euridice we’re alright,” Krato muttered. He released the shivering Korin and retrieved his longsword from the ground with a happy look of reunion.

Not all of us are alright, I thought, staring at Maran’s lifeless face. But I held my tongue.

Drayek looked over at Maran’s body and lowered his head in grief. But he didn’t allow himself much time to grieve as he then quickly shook his head.

“You were right, Rayden,” Drayek said as he pulled off a boot and shook out the water. “Well done.”

I had not a single second to revel in his praise before the golden man shimmered into existence once again.

“You have shown great resilience,” he said. And, just as I had before, I felt like the illusion was speaking only to me. “Test three: Reason.”

That was it. Not even a word of explanation before the illusion whisked away to be seen again who knew when?

“You are offered two choices.” The voice reverberated through the entire chamber and rattled the stray pebbles at my feet.

The voice sounded the same as the deep, booming voice of the illusory man, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The screeching sound of an invisible tool cutting into rock hurt my ears as two stone slabs magically carved themselves into the wall before us.

“Two doors stand,” the voice said. “The left is a dash from this place, a swift respite. The right is a journey of eternal strides, where talents will ignite. Choose wisely, for your choice will also decide your fate.”

Without allowing anyone time to think, Krato spoke up, “It’s obvious, right? We take the door on the left; ‘The left is a dash from this place.’ That must be our escape.”

Drayek and Korin nodded their agreement, but I wasn’t so sure. The man also said the left door would offer a “swift respite,” meaning just a short break–a moment’s relief.

I was beginning to feel grateful for all the books Drayek had made me read as part of my training. Knowing the meaning of words such as “resilience” and “respite” had proved helpful in this situation.

And then the right door offered a “journey of eternal strides, where talents will ignite.” I chewed over those words before voicing any opinion, the others staring at me in wait for a response.

“Rayden,” Drayek finally said, “we are going through the left door.”

I still didn’t reply, rubbing my chin as I thought.

“Where talents will ignite,” I whispered under my breath.

“Well, I’m getting out of here,” Krato said.

He pulled Korin with him, who went willingly. Without hesitation, Krato pushed on the stone slab. As it swung open into the wall, it let in a whoosh of cool air.

Krato turned his head back to Drayek and me and smiled. “It’s leading outside, right into the gulch. And I don’t see any Nagari!”

Drayek excitedly shoved a fist on my arm. “That’s excellent news! Then we will indeed take the left door. The sooner we get out of here, the better. I will go first and make sure there are no Nagari about, and then I will give the all clear.”

Drayek looked at me. “Make sure you follow after Krato, alright?”

I nodded mindlessly, but Drayek wouldn’t leave my side until I met eyes with him and offered my reassurance. I did so with a small smile, and he gave a curt nod and headed out the door.

More than a few seconds passed before we heard Drayek shout, “It’s clear!”

Korin hugged Krato with tears of relief spilling down her cheeks, then exited next, Krato right after her with a skip in his step. I moved to stand before the open door, but my eyes remained glued to the door on the right.

“A journey of eternal strides, where talents will ignite,” I whispered again.

“Rayden, come on!” Drayek moved in front of the door and gestured for me to join them.

“Drayek, do you think the right door might give me what I’ve been searching for? I’m UnMarked; I can’t cultivate or receive Skills. What if…” I took a step toward the right door. “What if the answer to my ‘Test of Reason’ is through the right door?”

Drayek frowned. “No, boy. You will come to me now. We don’t know what’s beyond the other door. Over here, we can get home safely.” He tried walking over the threshold to retrieve me but bounced off an invisible barrier.

“What the…?” he muttered.

He tried again and again to reach for me, but it seemed the door was a one-way trip.

“The man said ‘where talents will ignite,’” I said. “This might be my only chance.”

I moved another step toward the right door. Blood rushed to Drayek’s face as he grew angry with me.

“Rayden, I command you to come through this door now. We must get home!”

I shook my head and stepped directly in front of the right door. I couldn’t see Drayek anymore, but I could hear his frustrated grunts as he tried to push himself through the invisible barrier.

“I’m going to take the risk.” I didn’t know if Drayek or the others could hear me, but I didn’t wait around to make sure.

With a slow exhale through my nose, I heaved on the slab in front of me until it gave way. Another burst of cold wind caressed my skin, but instead of meeting with the gulch where the others stood, I saw yet another round corridor. It curved at a sharp right about ten steps ahead.

The corridor revealed no hint as to what lay beyond, but I had already made up my mind. I stepped through and proceeded down the corridor, ignoring Drayek’s distant hollering. And then, the door slammed shut behind me, and his shouts went from distant to nothing.

***

The corridor seemed to twist its way further into the earth. The incline grew steeper as I traveled, and I had to balance myself by clinging to the wall with both hands. The smell grew mustier as I descended, but the farther I went, the darker it seemed to get.

That is, until I reached a turn that opened into a more expansive hall. I glanced up at the dim light that had suddenly appeared. The stone ceiling glistened with bits of sparkly rock that glowed silver–it looked similar to the stars in Edrona’s night sky.

As I walked, the starry hall was quickly replaced by a brightly lit cavern. I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the warm light. Finally, my vision returned to normal, and I took in my surroundings with a gasp.

The ceiling was high, decorated with even more star-like stones and swirls of gold and blue veins embedded in the rock. The walls were the same and led to a polished floor, the stone so shiny I could see every detail of my reflection in its surface. And, by the goddess, did I look terrible.

At the front of the cavern, a tall dais loomed before me with a black stone chair atop it. The chair was so oversized, it could only fit a giant. If I sat in the chair, it would engulf me, and I would look nothing more than an insect on the seat.

I stepped closer to further study the throne and admired the detailed carvings of birds, snakes, and other beasts on the arms and legs of the chair. Strips of the chair radiated a strange white light that came from an unseen magical source. I outstretched a finger to touch the light emitting from one of the armrests but was stopped by that annoying voice in my head:

“You did it, Master! You have been granted an audience with Lord Solomon!”

“Nice of you to show up,” I thought back to the voice. “I could’ve used you much sooner.”

“Lord Solomon forbade me from helping you with the tests. That was something you had to do on your own.”

“Who is this Lord Solomon?”

As if in answer to my inner question, an ample blue light flashed in front of the throne, then faded away to reveal the golden man from the tests. I retreated away from the throne by about four feet. The man’s ornate helm and golden armor glowed so bright I had to squint my eyes into crescent shapes.

“Well done. You have passed the third and final test. You showed great reasoning skills and determined a longer path toward eternity’s embrace as your best option.”

The man sat on the throne, then slid his helm off. And his face…

I rubbed at my eyes, convinced I had seen something wrong, but no… The man looked just like me. Exactly like me. Of course, he was a man: fully grown, well-built, and a few lines creased into his forehead and adorned his eyes. But his hair was the same–same, save for the one streak of silver–dark and short but sticking up in perfectly coiffed, loose curls. And his eyes burned into me like a bad-tempered ocean storm. I suddenly realized why people often remarked on the strangeness of my blue eyes. Yes, I knew that man’s face from anywhere– it was my face.

“I am Lord Solomon. Welcome, Number 52.”