“To walk the road alone, are you really alone”

I could feel some sort of feeling returning to my body. Slightly moving my arm I could feel it moving a little. It did not seem there was much time left in this instance dungeon, four hours till we returned, if nothing changed. Relaxing my mind I could not help but sigh thinking about the events leading up to now. Fortunate. There was no other word to describe it, in some ways I had been lucky, but that did not mean I would be lucky everytime. Meeting Baihe or even falling into here, the fact I was still alive was testament to how lucky I’d been so far. Thinking back I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed with that group at the start instead of making the choice to explore these caves myself. Would I still’ve been struggling till the end or lost and forgotten, a name no one would remember or know.

Inside me my will to survive flared as I tried to make sense of why I had been chosen or even why I had ended up here. There was not much time left, I had to judge my own feelings, this was the best opportunity: I needed an ally. At this time I could see the figure beside me waking up. Seeing this I opened my mouth, following a few incoherent sounds I finally managed to say ‘we… need to… talk…’. It was true, instead of just following the herd, while I was a wolf, I still needed to find my own pack. This was my only chance.

“You’re awake”. Her voice if anything gave me a clearer feeling compared to before, I think she understood we had to clear the air whether we made it alive here or not, although we had been put together by circumstances, we both had made our choices in the time which is how we ended up here. Now would be the best chance to decide our next step, we finally arrived. Hesitating slightly, I decided to open up “I’m a player”. A short silence followed, it seemed like my heart sped up at the edge of a precipice.

“I know, I was wondering when you would admit it”, I could feel myself tense, the parts that could move. There was no room for doubt, I knew now by the tone of her voice if she had wanted to make a move earlier she would have done it already. Placing my trust in the open that was all I could do.

“Actually if you hadn’t decided to admit before we teleported out, I was ready to end this partnership of ours”. From her tone I could tell I sorely underestimated her, unlike her small frame it seemed her mind was indeed vast, holding numerous schemes hidden behind the veil of that smile at her lips. “Relax, let me be frank, I think we have many opportunities to work together”.

Like so, my mind steadied itself among the eddies of her charm. “When did you figure it out?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Was there any other conclusion, you don’t even have a basic knowledge of the things you should know”. Indeed I could see that simple truth explode in my mind, what was I, in all those reincarnation novels I have read, all those ‘young masters’ with their countless expertise and endless knowledge. Heck the only thing that I could say I had an advantage in was eating and enduring, from young till now I had always been someone who could eat, an ability that surely misrepresented me here.

“I think we should start again” her voice tailed off, despite the dark I knew she was looking at me now. Unconsciously I slowly nodded my head, “thank you”, those were the only words that came to mind. Whether I owed her my life or bringing up how I had done the same for her, these words we left unsaid, we could only cooperate at this moment.

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“Do you remember what I had said to you before, you should put it all to the back of your mind, what I told you before is not the complete story.” Frowning while keeping my calm I could only continue to listen. Indeed you can’t ever trust someone so easily, as she narrated her story I could only feel the disbelief and shock gather at my eyes as I looked to her direction. From what she said this Labyrinth was a dimension formed by some power, the reason even she did not know. To describe it clearly it was like a beginner’s area in a dungeon game, a way to separate participants into groups and give them abilities to head further. From what I could tell, she was a participant unlike me, however participants if they could be put into words could only be said to be a few steps away from the existence of players. Participants if they represented anything could be likened as the long term residents of an apartment flat, as entity they were souls which were send out to this realm. Taking in this analogy I could only compare her status and mine, wouldn’t players then be similar to new residents.

According to what she said although each time the realm they would be sent out in might not be the same but in the end it would consist of people like me and her. I was gasped by a deep shock, it felt like I had only just touched on the fringes of a vast ocean. Still thinking to this point I could not help but think back when I had first been teleported here. When we were in the white room it did not seem anyone had stood out. The way they were dressed in most cases were similar to what I had been wearing. So if what she had said now was indeed true, did that not mean in fact that they were the aliens in this realm?

A thousand horses were running in my mind each heading in different directions, jumbled together I could only grasp at one thing. “If what you said was true, how come when we first teleported here, I did not notice anything different between the people there?” I could hear her laugh, it seemed the question I had asked was funny to her. “I’m glad you still have the intelligence to ask these questions, I wasn’t wrong to share with you”. Of course, who else would believe everything a stranger says, I started to roll my eyes only to realise that person was also me: didn’t I believe every word she had said earlier.

“Actually I am not sure the reason myself, it has always been like this but you don’t need to trust me soon you will know, if I am right after this beginner’s trial ends: this Labyrinth will answer your questions!”.

Keeping these thoughts to myself I could only keep silent. The silence felt suffocating, a heavy curtain draping over my whole body. The frustrations boiling in mind I could only roar out at this point. “ARGHHHHGHH”. Better, I felt better. However it seemed this was not the best choice of action at this time, I could feel a hand quickly clamping my mouth even as I did. The sound of a lion in my mind became muffled like a cat’s hiss. “You need to control yourself”. Soon I could hear her voice entering like a whisper clear but soft in my ear surprising myself. It seemed my hearing still hadn’t quite gone yet, missing one ear, the damage seemed to be superficial: her tone remained clear in my mind, imposing.

“There is still more things you need to know…” And so as the time passed and my body began to recover its ability to move, albeit with some pain wracking my frame I came to know a certain amount of things. But even as I did, I knew I had to keep my guard up against this woman, things were far from simple. Labyrinth. This was only the beginning, it was named well, I will not lose myself here, I needed to survive. For now I could only follow her and act as her shadow.

Checking the time I could see that only a short moment remained before this instance dungeon would end. Even before the timer began to count down in my mind again, I could only keep In mind what I had discovered. This dimension was only to be a short stop.