The evening sun hovered just over the lip of the valley, near where the waterfall cascaded down the rocky cliff to pour into the cerulean lagoon. Mist wafted skyward, tinted orange by the last rays of a dying day. Jade sat on the thin strip of sand that formed the boundary between lake and jungle, soaking her bare feet in the warm water. She was in her human form, hair free from her usual ponytail, and was taking a much needed moment to relax.

The party had returned to the library sanctuary and were settling in for the night. Tomorrow, they would set their sights inward towards the stairways to the second level. Jade gazed out across the shimmering water, wondering how such beauty could exist in a world filled with bloodshed. Then again, another part of her pondered, was Earth so different in that respect? She had lived a privileged life in a developed country. Just because she had been isolated from the cruelties that plagued her world didn't mean that they weren't there.

The Labyrinth was different, though. On Earth, violence and conflict were byproducts of other disputes. Political, economic, ideologic, they all had underlying causes. The Labyrinth seemed to function on violence. It was a fundamental aspect of this world. When you killed something, you got stronger. On a larger scale even the Labyrinth itself appeared to operate that way, consuming worlds as it continued to grow.

What force birthed an environment like this? Why did it even exist? And why could she see such wonder in it, despite the terrors?

Jade sighed, putting on her shoes, standing up and stretching. Philosophy wasn't going to save Earth.

"Well, not in the short term…" Jade finished her thought aloud.

Introspection was all well and good, but it was time to get back to the business of being a wayfarer. Jade opened her status page, an action that had already become second nature, and started reviewing her updated character sheet.

Everyone in the party had leveled up, although Jade was the only one to have done so twice. That made her level 7, Luis level 6, and Naomi and Siora both level 5. Jade and Luis had both received new class features to choose from, and they'd discussed their selections at length when they'd first returned to the sanctuary. With each new feature level reached more and more options were becoming available, which meant more time reading through them. Jade wasn't about to complain about having too many choices, though. The more control they had over their development, the better.

For her part, she was quite happy with her new talent.

* Mirage Step:

* Rating: D Level talent

* Cost: Medium mana

* Duration: Instant

* Cooldown: 20 seconds

* Effect: Shift a distance of up to ten feet at great speed. You may choose to leave behind a brief afterimage of yourself for a very low mana cost. There must be a clear and straight path between you and the destination, and you must be on solid ground to activate this talent. You may use 'Mirage Step' before the cooldown has elapsed at a higher mana cost. This is a dimension and illusion effect.

She finally had a good defensive option for close combat, something Jade had been wanting more and more as she gained practical fighting experience. A dash effect could have utility outside of a fight as well. Also, the ability just sounded cool. That wasn't why she had chosen it, but it was a nice bonus.

Now that she was level seven, the features would start being a little more spaced out. Between questions asked to Damos and searching through her system help menus, Jade had learned more about how progression worked in the Labyrinth. Starting at level six, class features came once every four levels, and beginning at eight, racial features came once every eight levels. That meant that she was about to get another succubus power the next time she leveled up. Jade was already preparing herself to face whatever weird options she was presented with this time.

She tabbed over to her stat screen next, glancing over the revised summary.

* Base Stat Scores (Human Form)

* Strength: 6

* Agility: 13

* Fortitude: 9

* Intelligence: 10

* Willpower: 8

Two points had gone into to agility, one point to fortitude, and one point to willpower. As she gained more class features and fighting experience, Jade was starting to develop a distinct fighting style that fit the nature of her abilities. She fought with a mixture of debuff spells and precision strikes, darting in and out of combat to alternate between disrupting the enemy and dealing damage. That necessitated a high enough intelligence score to supply her with mana and bolster spell strength as well as fast enough reflexes to avoid incoming attacks. Everything else, while still important, was secondary.

The door to the sanctuary opened behind her and Luis stepped outside, carrying a small plate of food. None of them had possessed the energy to try and cook with any of the provided supplies, so dinner was just another serving of canned vegetables and chicken. They still didn't know where the Labyrinth was getting any of it, and all Siora had to say on the matter was: 'That's just how sanctuaries work.'

"You should eat somethin'." Luis said, proffering the plate to her. "We had a crazy day."

Luis was looking a lot better after a second round of healing magic and a quick rinse in the lagoon. He wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, having removed his armor to perform some makeshift repairs.

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Jade closed her windows and accepted the plate, setting it on a nearby tree stump.

"I will." She assured him. "Just want to try my new talent first. Want to watch?"

"Sure thing." He grinned at her. His hair was still damp from his dip in the lake which, combined with his casual clothes, made him look more like a tourist on vacation than an adventuring warrior. He actually looked pretty cute, and…

And why am I thinking about this? Jade blinked, glancing away from her friend. What was getting into her?

"Ahh… great." she said a little awkwardly, stepping away to give herself some room. "Siora, Naomi, want to see my new talent in action?" She called out.

The two women joined them, Naomi coming through the still-open door to the sanctuary and Siora from where she had been meditating between a cluster of trees a short distance away. Jade had noticed the elf doing that every evening near sunset, and she was curious if it was a cultural practice of Siora's people, or just something that she did for herself.

"Ok…" Jade said to herself, looking around for a good spot. "How does this work…?"

She felt a new series of arcane circuits embedded within her. Unlike spells, whose paths she could primarily sense within her mind, the channels that formed talents were more distributed throughout her body. Jade focused on a nearby open patch of ground willing herself to move, but nothing happened. There was no incantation to serve as a catalyst for releasing the magic. This was different than her other talent, 'Vital Sight'. That one only changed her perception, not what her body was doing, and activating it was rather intuitive. All Jade had to do was look harder at her target.

"Jade?" Naomi asked. "Everything alright?"

"Give me a moment."

Was that the difference? 'Mirage Step' was a movement ability. When you moved you didn't 'think' about moving, you just did. Jade changed her approach, leaving the new magical pathways at the periphery of her perception and instead flexing her limbs. She started with her wrists, then her arms before shifting down to her quads and calves. As an athlete, she was intimately familiar with how the many parts of her body moved and felt. Jade knew every muscle, every reflex, every…

One of them was new.

Something felt subtly different. There was a new power residing in her body, concentrated primarily in her legs. She flexed them, as she would a muscle, and…-

WHOOSH.

Air rushed by her in a thunderous stream and, for a split second, everything around her blurred. When the world snapped back into focus, Jade found herself standing a few yards away from where she'd started, with no sign of her having travelled the intervening distance.

"Holy…" She whispered, stumbling back a step. The experience of suddenly being somewhere else was a little disorienting.

"Woah." Luis said, blinking in surprise and looking back and forth between where she'd been and where she now stood. He wasn't the only one.

"The system seriously undersold this ability." Jade said, awed. "That was practically teleportation…"

"No kidding." Naomi said. "But the strangest thing for me is that wasn't the craziest thing I've seen today. What happened to my life…?"

"We got magic powers!" Luis said, slapping her on the back. "That's what. And they're awesome."

"Can't argue with that…" Naomi shook her head in wonder.

Jade felt a smile growing on her face.

"I have to try that again."

Her dinner forgotten, Jade spent the next half hour gleefully warping around the lagoon's shoreline. She quickly figured out how to leave the illusion of herself in the space she vacated, although it only lasted for about half a second before winking out of existence. That was fine by her. Freedom of motion was one of the most joyous sensations Jade had ever known, and she had never felt it more clearly than now. A single impulse was all it took to leap anywhere nearby with impossible speed, without even breaking stride.

Jade ran along the narrow beach as her friends watched, leaping up to land atop a small rock formation. Her feet had barely touched the ground when she blasted forward in a blur of motion, deftly reappearing suspended in the air just under a low hanging tree branch. She grabbed it as her momentum carried her forward, swinging under the bough and launching herself into an arcing backflip. She landed right in front of her spectators, sticking the landing without so much as stumble.

Luis and Naomi clapped, with Siora joining them a moment later as she tried to mimic the gesture. Jade gave them a small bow, breathing hard and wiping away a streak of sweat from her forehead.

"Phew… That takes it out of you." She said, retrieving her water bottle and taking a drink. "But it's worth it."

"You move so gracefully…" Siora looked impressed. "Like a mantha beast on the prowl."

"A what?" Jade asked.

"It is a creature native to the forests near Lysara. Not Labyrinth-born of the spirits of this world, but a creature that migrated there. They are small and fierce and very quick on their feet."

"Thank you?"

"It is meant as a compliment." Siora reassured her with a light laugh.

"You looked like you were having fun." Naomi said, smiling at her.

"I… was." Jade paused, considering that. "Is that wrong? With everything that's happening, should I really be taking the time to run around and play like a kid?"

"Of course you should." Luis declared. "We can't be at our best if we don't relax some. You want to get strong enough to help our home? Then you gotta take care of this." He tapped his head. "Just as much as this." He tapped his chest.

"Is that something one of your uncles told you?"

"Nope. I came up with that one myself."

"That explains why it made sense." Naomi snorted. "He's right, Jade. If we're wound up tight, we'll snap like a guitar string that's been plucked one too many times."

"You're probably right." Jade admitted.

She wanted them to be right. Joy was in short supply in the Labyrinth, the past few days had been filled with violence and death. Just this afternoon they had found two of their fallen kin, slain by the very monster they hunted. She could feel herself fraying at the edges, and nightmares plagued her dreams. She needed something other than anger to keep her going. A part of her rebelled against that idea. Jade recognized those feelings for what they were, new demonic instincts that favored violence over all else. She wasn't going to give in to them, not unless they suited her needs.

Her stomach growled, and Jade suddenly realized that she was famished. She moved to pick up the plate of food Luis had brought her, then frowned when she saw it was empty.

"Sorry…" The big man said, chagrined. "I got hungry again."

"Just how much can you eat…?" Jade asked.

"We had a busy day."

"We all did the same activities today." Siora pointed out. "But you are the only one of us who ate three times this evening."

"I'm a big guy." Luis said with a modest shrug.

"At first, I thought that was a human thing." Siora continued in her airy voice. "But now I have learned it is just a Luis thing."

"I'll go get you some more." Naomi offered, moving to re-enter the sanctuary.

"It's fine, I'm coming in for the night." Jade said, following her.

The last of the sun's evening rays had just faded beneath the horizon, plunging the valley into a rapidly darkening twilight. Moonlight sparkled on the still surface of the lake, the only sounds were the distant crash of the waterfall and the chirps of unseen insects stirring from their slumber.

"We should get some rest. Tomorrow, we're setting out for the second floor."