TWELVE HOURS AGO. LABYRINTH 53.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Edris stared at the morning dew trickling off a broad leaf, the tiny drops cascading in rhythm, soaking into the damp ground below. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, and the sky was veiled in muted blues and purples. But for him, time seemed inconsequential now.
He floated, watching, waiting.
He could still remember vividly the moment it happened. The second he had taken in the mirror in his drawer—he knew something was wrong. His instincts flared, but it was too late. The Shadow had already emerged from the reflective surface, its inky tentacle shooting through his abdomen before he could even react.
He’d been stabbed. By a Shadow.
The pain had been sharp, immediate, but the last thing he remembered was the cold, detached mechanical voice echoing in his mind:
— Would you like to give a part of yourself to the world?
Edris blinked, mind reeling back to the present. His gaze was flat as he continued to stare at the leaf.
Yes, he wasn't even given the chance to use the Sacrificial Hourglass. Given the situation, though, he would have if he could. Being there and then, he truly thought that what awaited him was [ROLE] assimilation.
The Labyrinth had now entered a stochastic phase—unpredictable, volatile, and infinitely more dangerous than before. He had suspected that the chaos in the Labyrinth was growing, becoming erratic, but he didn’t expect the first victim to be no other than himself.
Edris sighed.
He tried manipulating his [PROFILE], but it was no use. The interface was greyed out, every feature inaccessible in his current state akin to a non-player. Even the [AFFINITY] section was filled with symbols he didn’t recognize, and besides his [STATUS] bar were crimson, bold letters that spelt [ABNORMAL]. The only feature still active was the impeding countdown that was decreasing by the second.
MAIN QUEST:
Complete your final journey as a student of MW Academy!
TIME LIMIT: 00:35:23:00
NOTE: To optimise [PLAYER] experience, in the final hour, all Labyrinth restrictions, including mana usage, will be lifted!
All other abnormalities aside, his current status definitely would not qualify for the [MAIN QUEST]. But again, Edris wasn't even sure he'd be able to hold on until the final hour without being assimilated. With these thoughts in mind, he let out another sign.
Quite typical of his luck.
As Edris floated through the campus, his gaze cold and detached, he couldn’t help but think about the one who had placed that mirror in his drawer and forced him into this state.
Whoever it was, he’d find them.
Not if, but when.
Unfortunately, Edris was practically invisible as a Shadow. He had no control over his original body, and—to his dismay—the Shadow that had taken his form walked the campus, imitating him flawlessly, down to the way he spoke, his habits, and his interactions with the group.
No one suspected a thing. To everyone else, it was Edris they were talking to.
Yet, from his perspective, they were speaking to a silhouette of darkness, a blank figure with only two glowing eyes. And sometimes, [EDRIS] would turn and stare directly at him for a long, unsettling moment, as if taunting him, as if saying: Who's the replaced one now?
Edris tried calling out to the others, warning them, but none could hear him. His voice, even his presence, was reduced to the simple form of a patrolling Shadow. If he strayed from his path or attempted anything out of the ordinary, his [AFFINITY] would flicker in warning.
The system was rigged against him, and communication between Shadows was also mutually unintelligible.
So, Edris decided to bide his time. He was technically on his “shift” right now, but with the situation already playing out, he might as well head around campus and use his newly gained body and freedom to his full advantage.
He floated silently down familiar paths, his thoughts calculating. He tested the Sacrificial Hourglass, and it responded.
In a way, it was good news. It meant that if things truly spiralled out of control, he still had a last resort.
Not that it was a risk he wanted to take again.
Aside from this form, no other mental side effects from last night had yet to manifest, and he had no clue as to whether there'd be more consequences awaiting him in the final hours. He wasn’t eager to find out, either.
His wandering led him to the Principal’s Office. Getting there was almost too easy, a byproduct of his new Shadow instincts. Clearly, the original Shadow had been here many times.
He slipped into the office quietly. Moss was there, buried under piles of work, as expected. The man barely paid attention to him, probably just seeing him as another aimless patrol.
Edris took the opportunity to observe the space. The office had changed since the first fake Principal’s time. It was now more orderly, efficient—a reflection of Moss’s workaholic nature. Stacks of neatly arranged papers, a polished desk, no extraneous decorations.
Edris opened his [PROFILE] again, checking for any messages or notifications about [HIDDEN LOCATIONS].
Nothing.
Was that just a one-time gain? He’d been hoping to unlock some cards like last time, but it seemed like the Labyrinth was withholding them this time around.
His thoughts shifted to the second of the two [HIDDEN LOCATION], concealed within the student dormitory. Wouldn’t hurt checking that one out as well.
Just as Edris was about to leave the office and head back to the dormitory, he felt a sudden frigidness in the air.
“Hold on,” Moss’s voice cut through the silence, stopping him in his tracks.
Edris froze, mind racing. The tension in the air thickened as Moss’s eyes shifted, narrowing slightly in suspicion.
Edris remained motionless, waiting for him to make the next move.
Just as he thought the man had caught on to something, Moss’s voice cut through the tension.
"Hold on," he said, his voice calm yet tinged with frustration. "Any updates on what the [SECRET ORGANIZATION] has been up to lately?"
Edris froze.
The Secret Organization?
His mind raced for an answer, trying to mask his confusion. His first thought was that Moss had found out about his true identity within the Shadow but quickly decided against it. There was no way Moss could detect the switch, given the restrictions and rules of the Labyrinth. In other words, he was asking him as a higher-up to his subordinate.
Edris turned around, his expression controlled (in case Moss could see them). The man tipped his glasses upwards and squinted at him for a moment. With a sigh, Moss then pulled open a drawer and tossed a document package onto the desk. Edris’s eyes caught the label:
[RECENT ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRET ORGANISATION]
“...”
For a brief second, his mind was yanked back to the organization Ives had created. His eyes settled on the emblem drawn on the front—a hastily sketched mascot that Edris himself had designed as a placeholder in under a minute, never intending it to last.
Ever since he’d re-entered the campus from their last covert meeting, the [SECRET ORGANISATION] had made no other attempts to contact him. As a Shadow, he’d already scouted the areas on the map during his patrol time, but he noticed no abnormalities.
From what it seemed like so far, the Labyrinth was set on sustaining a certain level of superficial tranquillity before releasing chaos upon all towards the end of the time limit.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Controlling the shadowy form, Edris picked up the file and started flipping through it with a professional facade. The file was filled with masked faces—the same face over and over, just like his current form. He looked up at Moss, wondering how in the world the man could distinguish between the masks and real faces.
Or maybe he couldn't? Perhaps, the file was just a formality on behalf of the Labyrinth to keep the setup going. Edris couldn't be sure.
"Pass this along to the department," Moss instructed, not even looking up from the papers on his desk. "Make sure to check the secluded areas of the campus. We don’t want them infiltrating again."
Again.
From the way he phrased his words, the conflict between the Academy and the organisation had been a recurring issue. Edris's mind flashed back to the exasperation surging among the members of the [SECRET ORGANISATION] back at the meeting. He controlled the Shadow to give a slight nod before leaving the office, allowing the door to close softly behind him.
As he floated down the hallway, Edris couldn’t help but catch onto the irony of the situation. He’d designed the mascot on a whim, never expecting it to evolve into something real. Now, not only was it real, but it seemed to be causing problems Moss had to clean up.
Edris wasn’t exactly one to feel remorse, but he didn’t know how to feel about yet another layer of complexity stacked upon the Labyrinth.
***
Inside the office, Moss punched in a series of characters on his message board, forwarding a report to the administration.
After the first-year players’ disaster three years ago, Labyrinth 53 had spiralled into chaos. It’d been a tumultuous time, for sure. Severe to the point where Magenta had been dispatched to deal with another Labyrinth, leaving Moss to clean up the mess on his own.
“Riot groups, rule changes…”
Moss rubbed his temples. He missed the days when the biggest issues involved students sneaking around in improper uniforms, getting physical with one another, or cheating on the [FINAL EXAM]. At least back then, he could enforce order with a clear set of rules.
Now? He was just trying to keep everything from falling apart.
“One day…” He said bitterly, his mind flashing to a dark-haired man with a smug grin who still visited his dreams time after time.
He’d never forget that plater—the start of all his misery.
Although their recognition of the players reset every Labyrinth, Moss had never forgotten that player. Unlike with players, Labyrinth didn’t completely erase the memories of the staff, but they blurred them enough to avoid favouritism.
Regardless, it didn’t stop Moss from recalling the trauma. He could still feel the sting of that first batch of troublemakers as if it was yesterday.
Moss buried his face in his hands with a groan.
“One day…”
Meanwhile, Edris, now back in his Shadow form, moved towards a familiar location on the seventh floor of the student dorm. He hadn’t been able to access it as a student, but as a Shadow, he slipped through the door easily. The moment he entered, a message popped up:
Congratulations! A hidden location has been unlocked!
You have been rewarded [MEDICAL PACK] for your discovery!
The card has been added to your card slot.
You have entered [WEISHA'S WARD]!
The reward had appeared once again—a [MEDICAL PACK] card, identical to the one he’d found before.
The haze around him dissolved, and Edris found himself back in his original body form, confirming what he suspected.
"Weisha’s Ward, huh..." He said, relieved to be able to hear his own voice again. "As expected. This space seems to exist outside the Labyrinth’s control."
Edris glanced around. The room was untouched from the last time, as if frozen in time. Dust hadn’t settled on any of the surfaces, and the shelves of books were as pristine as they had been the first time he visited. He could still make out his clear-cut fingerprints on the dust-filled books from the last time he picked them up.
Upon entering the hidden space, his [PROFILE] chimed, as the [HIDDEN LOCATION] label popped up in his view. However, this time, no hint of other locations appeared. Either this was the only space outside the Labyrinth's control or that there used to be others, like the Principal's Office, but the Labyrinth was gradually regaining its grip on these anomalies.
How interesting.
Ever since entering this Labyrinth, he seemed to be gambling with time in more ways than one.
Edris moved to the shelf where the same books lay in unreadable languages, and his gaze fell upon the vintage-looking photo, whose figures he now recognised as Eins Everlund and Meng Weisha.
The books were written in symbols he didn’t recognize, but his curiosity hadn’t faded. He briefly wondered whether there was a way to decipher them without understanding the language, but only stored the thought at the back of his head. This wasn't exactly the time for abstract hypotheses.
Edris continued to scan the room, his eyes settling on a desk drawer. He crouched and saw another book, but this one was locked. His fingers brushed the surface, and as he did, a holographic screen appeared:
Congratulations! You have discovered [THE ARCHIVIST’S TREASURE].
Please input the passcode to unlock this item.
NOTE: After three incorrect attempts, [THE ARCHIVIST’S TREASURE] will self-destruct.
“A treasure from The Archivist?”
Sounded important.
Edris’s eyes focused on the row of words that rolled onto the screen.
QUESTION: What do I like the most about Meng Weisha?
Please verbally state your answer.
“...”
Edris blinked twice.
Who was “I”?
Also, what kind of question was that?
He couldn’t help but feel speechless, offended even, at the intimate question that was utterly unfitting for the current predicament he found himself in.
Unyieldingly, Edris stared intently at the question on the holographic screen—What do I like most about Meng Weisha?—as if sheer concentration would summon the answer. But nothing came. He let out a frustrated sigh, glancing up at the time. His eyes widened. It was almost curfew.
Shadows were expected to patrol the dorms soon. If he didn’t get back to his assigned route, Moss and the other professors might notice something was off. Things would possibly become hasslesome if they found out.
As Edris approached the student halls, which were inundated with stillness. Taking on an outsider's view this time around, he could rewitness the events that unfolded the night before—but this time, on the side of the culprits.
One of the doors towards the left end of the hallway creaked, indicating that someone had taken the bait. It was a tall, skinny boy. The moment he opened the door, a Shadow drifted toward him, and in one swift, horrible motion, stabbed its inky arm into his stomach.
The Shadow bled into the boy, merging with his form. The student’s body convulsed for a moment, and then... they stood perfectly still, eyes hollow and lifeless. The Shadow had taken over.
Edris felt a cold chill run down his spine, witnessing firsthand what had happened to him.
Last night, he had blacked out after encountering the mirror, and when he woke, he’d already become a Shadow. He had tried to reclaim his body by re-entering his room, but it had been futile. There seemed to be certain conditions that had to be met to break the cycle—conditions he was determined to figure out by tomorrow, the final day.
His eyes flicked to his [PROFILE] interface, focusing on the [MAIN QUEST].
MAIN QUEST:
Complete your final journey as a student of MW Academy!
TIME LIMIT: 00:23:53:22
NOTE: To optimise [PLAYER] experience, in the final hour, all Labyrinth restrictions, including mana usage, will be lifted!
The timer read just under 24 hours. Time was running out.
As curfew began, Edris felt the familiar pull of the Shadows taking over, dragging him back to the dorms for his night shift.
Despite his physical loss of control, his mind was clear as day. In fact, the fog of mystery surrounding the Labyrinth's concept was finally beginning to clear up.
Edris reorganised the clues in his head. The Shadows' instinctive programming was clear—they aimed for survival, and to do that, they had to steal the students' identities. The only way the students could "survive" until the end of the Labyrinth was to keep their identities intact.
However, if he kept up his current state as a Shadow, survival would be out of the question.
In other words, he had to somehow regain access to his own identity to avoid assimilation.
As he pieced together his next steps, Edris found himself returning to his own dorm room, instinctively banging on the door. The action was pointless, to say the least; [EDRIS] would never open the door. However, Edris couldn't stop the action as he pounded on the door incessantly. Although Shadows weren’t mindless, they followed patterns and routines. Unfortunately, this must’ve been part of the routine, despite how ineffective it seemed.
He observed other Shadows doing the same thing—mindlessly knocking on doors, clawing at them, as if their only directive was to try and break in. For a moment, he wondered if they felt as trapped as he did.
After some time passed, Edris felt a subtle shift within him—slowly but surely, he was regaining more control over his own body. His movements became more flexible, more fluid. And though he still couldn’t leave the dorm, he regained enough control to leave the door and wander the hallways.
And so, Edris did exactly that. He floated about the empty hallway, past the other Shadows, slacking off his assigned duties like a bored guard.
As he passed by Owein’s door, Edris spotted the man’s corresponding Shadow attempting to break through the barrier.
With his regained autonomy, Edris gave the Shadow a swift kick in the back. The creature tumbled forward in utter confusion, looking around like it couldn’t believe what had just happened. The sight would’ve been laughable if the situation weren’t so dire.
Edris sneered lightly, quickly moving on. When he passed Ace’s door, though, he noticed something strange—there were no Shadows. Not even one.
It was as if the entire hallway had been explicitly cleared to avoid that section.
"Just what is this man made out of?" Edris couldn't help but be impressed. “Even Shadows are scared of him.”
But something drew him closer to Ace’s door. As he neared, he noticed the force controlling him as a Shadow weakening even further. He paused, then instinctively reached out. Just as his hand was about to knock, the door handle turned.
The door creaked open, and Ace stood there, staring right into his eyes. The crimson moon shone behind them through his window.
Edris froze on the spot. For a moment, he couldn't tell which of them two was the Shadow. Two consecutive thoughts surfaced in his head:
First, how would he open the door just like that?
Second, didn’t he know the dangers of acting rashly during curfew?
Before Edris could react, though, Ace's deep voice—the only audible voice—echoed through the hallway.
“Edris,” he said, almost in a sigh. “I can see you.”