I couldn’t tell how much time passed while I was unconscious, but eventually, a flicker of light disturbed the endless darkness. It started at a single point and expanded with widening rays until I couldn’t see except a bright white image. After a while, colors began to appear like blotches of paint spilled on a canvas. They filled the void between the abysmal darkness and celestial light and restored the brilliant continuum—the palette of my world.

Faint voices reached my ears.

“Can he hear us?”

“It’s hard to tell.”

“Maybe we should shake him a little.”

“It’s best to wait.”

My hazy surroundings gained forms and outlines. I saw a girl with pale-blue eyes and silky golden hair. Her slender fingers rested on her knees as she leaned forward to check my face. She wore a top with cap sleeves, shorts that had several small pockets, and long leather boots. All her clothes were black, and two daggers were hidden along the curves of her calves.

It’s her again… Why does she appear wherever I go?

“He’s waking up,” she said, backing out of my sight, “but he’s taking too long.”

“The transition can be shocking,” an elderly man’s voice replied.

I raised my head and sat upright.

The sky was a mixture of dark magenta and leaden gray. Red cracks divided it into pieces, just as borders separate countries on a map. The ground was similarly cracked, but for a different reason: I was in the middle of a vast wasteland.

Although I was still dizzy, I searched for the two who had been talking. I found the girl on my left and then the elderly man next to her. They were standing a few steps away from me. It seemed that I had scared them when I sat up without warning.

“Why do you always jump in fright?” the girl said. “He’s just another victim.”

“I know, but he might attack us while he’s confused.”

“Did that happen before?”

“Oh, many times.”

I looked more carefully at the elderly man.

“Wilhelm? Is that you?” Although I asked, I was sure that it was him. The short man in front of me was an exact copy of Faust’s librarian. Does this mean that Faust killed him too?

“Do I know you, son?” Wilhelm said in confusion.

“Yes, it’s me, the adventurer.” I was surprised that he couldn’t remember me. “You told me about the Cult of Belphegor. We met today. Or was it yesterday?”

“Wilhelm is my name, but I’ve never met you before; you must be mistaken.”

“We met in the castle’s library. You brought the old volumes and told me about Valentine Faust and Zeke Yuchi.”

“I-I’ve been trapped in this wasteland for two months, son.” Wilhelm turned and started walking away, leaving my mouth agape. “I will head to the camp. Bring him back with you, Erica.”

“Be careful on your way.” Erica showed Wilhelm an innocent smile, but when she turned her attention to me, the smile became a scowl. “You had to remind him of his library.”

“I’m sorry. I was confused; I thought we had met.”

“Get up, and let’s go.”

As she tapped her foot on the crumbling ground, I gathered my strength and raised myself. On my feet, I looked around me again. Is this wasteland part of the Seventh Labyrinth? It’s nothing like what I imagined. I was now stuck in an unknown world, but luckily, I wasn’t alone. Wilhelm is here, and the blond thief who stole my belongings… Erica…

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Somewhere safe.”

“Safe?”

“Yeah, this isn’t exactly heaven.” She exhaled impatiently. “If I had a choice, I’d leave a burden like you behind. But Wilhelm butted in.”

“Could you give me a hand?”

“No, you’ll walk on your own.”

What’s her problem? I sighed.

My first steps were clumsy, but then I was able to follow her without a problem. Looking down as I walked, I noticed that I had my shoes on. The black cape was still on my back. Even my sword and throwing knives were restored to my belt as if the fight against Faust had never happened.

“Everything went downhill after I met you,” Erica said. “I thought I’d make a fortune by selling your stuff, but I got tangled in this instead.”

“So, you admit you’re the thief who tricked me.”

“Yeah, I saw the look you gave me. You already knew.” She gave me a self-satisfied smirk. “Do you want an apology or something?”

She seemed devoid of sympathy or guilt, but I wasn’t surprised. Her personal morality must’ve had no room for these feelings. After all, hadn’t she pretended to be the victim of a Laikos attack? Hadn’t she screamed and struggled like a helpless amateur? She was a wolf in sheepskin.

“The things you stole from me… I could’ve sold them to pay my debts; I could’ve kept my promise to the guild master. But I know this means nothing to you.”

She shrugged her shoulders and continued walking.

It was useless to ask her to understand, so I gave up and said, “How did you end up here? Was it Faust?”

“Who?” she asked.

“The Lord of Ashenbrook.”

“Was he the one who sent you here?”

I nodded.

“For me, it was an accident.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She kicked a small pebble, and it skittered ahead. I followed its erratic jumps with my eyes until I saw wooden barricades in the distance. An area of land was enclosed by boards, stakes, logs, and branches. Humans had created this structure, and I suspected that I would be meeting more people soon.

While I was watching the barricades, Wilhelm walked into view. His tiny legs took efficient, energetic steps. Seeing the distance that he had covered, I realized how slowly I was walking. I had the speed of a toddler, and despite her remorseless reactions and acerbic style, Erica was adjusting her pace to match mine.

An accident brought her here.

“What kind of accident?” I said.

“Do you really want to know?”

“It won’t hurt.”

“I was on my way to Ashenbrook—to sell your stuff to a fence—when I spotted an abandoned wagon on the road. I thought I should check it, you know, to make sure no one forgot anything valuable.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“When I got close, I found myself surrounded by ghosts and passed out.”

Her earthly body must be at the Hall of the Mountain King—in the playroom that I entered by mistake.

“I got unlucky.” She flicked her earring, which was a dangling blue gem. “But at least I didn’t get arrested by the guards.”

She meant the last comment as a joke but then sighed without laughing.

The guards… I remembered Reinfried and said, “More people are being sent here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Was there a knight among them?”

“A knight?” She took a moment to think, perhaps only to get on my nerves. “I’ve seen a lot of town guards, but I haven’t seen any knights.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. There was still a chance that Reinfried was safe, and that possibility was enough to keep me going.

***

Erica and I arrived at the wooden barricades. She pushed a small gate open, and after avoiding prickly branches and splintered wood, we walked into a busy camp. Stitched fabric stretched across wooden poles to create small tents, and a fire burned in the center like the guiding flame of a lighthouse. People began to gather around me as soon as I entered the settlement.

Little girls pulled my cape.

“Who are you? Erica, who is he?”

“Why does he have all these knives? Is he a bad guy?”

“His cape is so long! It’s longer than my hair.”

“Girls, he’ll fall if you pull any harder,” Erica said, disappearing inside a tent.

“Hey, I’m not that weak,” I objected.

“We’re all weak when we wake up,” a man said. “It’s been a while, Azurian boy.”

“It’s tough luck to end up here, adventurer,” another man shouted.

“But be proud of yourself for defeating that Aberration,” a third added.

I realized that I was surrounded by Reinfried’s men. The Ashenbrook guards made up a third of the crowd that had gathered. They wore their armor and had their weapons. If they had been on horseback, they would’ve looked the same way they did in the foggy grasslands. I was happy to see them, but I wished we had met in a different setting under better circumstances.

“I’m Alex Rosenberg.” A tall man stepped forward from among the crowd. “I’m second in command to Sir Reinfried—or I was, anyway. We’ve never had the chance to talk before, but I’ve always appreciated your support.”

“I don’t know what happened to Reinfried,” I said.

“Sir Reinfried is smart and capable. He’ll survive.”

“I hope so.”

Alex smiled with a tint of sadness, which reminded me more of Reinfried. The two men were similar in many aspects—their confident gait, their firmly upright posture, their clear and charismatic speech. The only difference between them was in appearance: Alex had hazel eyes and light-brown hair, which was slicked back with oil.

“Are all the town guards in this camp?” I asked.

“Yes, Wilhelm took us in,” Alex said. “The missing people are here too. But more importantly, did you warn Lord Faust against the threat? Did you tell him about the ghosts?”

They still don’t know Faust’s secret… But that’s for the best. If I tell them the truth now, they’ll be disillusioned; they might think they died for no reason. I replied, “Yes, Reinfried and I explained everything, and Lord Faust vowed to defeat the lawless mages.”

“And did Lord Faust punish Sir Reinfried for our deaths?” Alex said, and several guards leaned closer to listen.

“No, the two are cooperating to defend the town and end the Blight.”

“I’m relieved,” Alex smiled. “The law requires that Sir Reinfried be punished. But he was the bravest of us all, so it seemed unfair.”

“Life can be surprising.”

“You’re right. And this is a good surprise.”

The guards cheered after they heard this news. Then they started to boast about their courage and strength. They were proud to have served their lord and town. It seemed to them that they had helped Reinfried survive and relay a critical message to Faust. I smiled with a pang of conscience, said as many compliments as I could conjure up, and tried my best to hide my true feelings.

When the crowd began to disperse, I took Alex aside and said, “The situation in Ashenbrook isn’t good.”

“That figures,” he said. “Why else would you be here with us?”

“Is there a way to leave this place? Are we stuck here forever, or can we return to Ashenbrook?”

“Look, Lance, I know very little. But I don’t think the dead can revive.”

“I want to talk with Wilhelm,” I said. “He might know something.”

“Wilhelm doesn’t say much. I…” Alex trailed off.

“I’ll make him talk.”

“You’ll have to wait. It’s almost night.”

“Night?”

Alex pointed at the sky and said, “When the red cracks disappear, it becomes dark. Then the creatures appear and attack us.”

“What creatures?”

Alex didn’t answer. He turned his attention to the little girls who were playing near the campfire and said, “Girls, it’s night-time. Get inside the tents, and stay with your parents.”

“But Alex!” the girls protested.

“Go, now,” he said before he turned back to me and added, “Excuse me. I need to go too. Rest in any of the tents, and don’t step outside until I say you can.”

He headed to the barricades and left me standing in confusion. His authoritative tone meant that danger was imminent. But what was the threat like? What on earth were the creatures that he mentioned? I was about to search for answers on my own, but Erica’s voice stopped me: “You should shelter in this tent. You’re still weak, aren’t you?”

I turned around and saw her holding a pair of stilettos—slender, pointed daggers that I had seen before in books.

“I can fight.” I drew my sword.

“Do you even know what’s happening?” she scoffed and walked away like Alex.

I followed her and said, “I’ll know once you tell me.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Come on, I said I can fight.”

She stopped and said, “Do you know about the ghosts?”

“Yeah, they attacked me more than once.”

“That makes it easier to explain. Listen, their siblings or friends or whatever—”

“Demons?” I was surprised.

“Yeah, you can call them that,” she laughed. “They feed on us. If they get you, you disappear from existence. You lose your eternal afterlife. That’s what Wilhelm told us.”

We continued to walk. Looking behind me, I saw the little girls scurrying into the tents. Meanwhile, the town guards and other adults were raising their weapons, gathering near the gates of the camp, and positioning themselves behind the barricades. Erica and I joined the fighters, and Alex, who was organizing their ranks, was not happy to see me.

“Why did you bring him here?” he said. “He arrived today, by the Heart of Mana!”

“He said he can fight,” Erica said nonchalantly and lay down on the ground. “Let me know when the battle starts.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” Alex sighed. Then he turned to me and said, “Don’t push yourself. Can you really fight?”

“Yeah, I’ve recovered enough to swing my sword.”

“Support those around you, and don’t let the enemies inside the camp.”

“That’s simple.” I nodded.

After this brief exchange, Alex returned to giving orders and watching the horizon. The fighters were waiting for a specific moment—an inevitable disaster. The world was turning dark as the red cracks disappeared from the sky. When the last tint of red vanished, many dots lit up on the horizon. They approached us slowly, and it took me several minutes to see them for what they were: will-o’-the-wisps floating in the air like the lanterns of a distant city. And behind these eerie flames, in the deep darkness of the wasteland, hundreds of crimson eyes opened and shone with malice.