The next few days were an emotional whirlwind. During her battles for survival across the first two floors of the Labyrinth, Jade's mind hadn't allowed itself to process much of the trauma she'd been put through. Numerous near-death experiences, killing for the first time, and the general shock of being torn away from home were just some of the pressures building up inside her. Even in the relative safety of Lysara, Jade had kept herself too busy to really think things through. Back in her childhood home with no real obligations, and much less danger, her inner walls began to crack.

Since she was separated from the only people who could relate to what she'd been through, Jade didn't open up to anyone about her inner turmoil. Being with her brother and father again was a soothing experience that gave her a much-needed sense of normalcy. It was obvious that she had a lot to work through, but no one pressed her for explanations. In typical Callian family fashion Jade's father simply told her he was willing to listen to anything she felt she had to share and left it at that. For her part, Jade tried her best to enjoy what short time she had with them.

After this is over, I'm going to come home and work things through properly. She told herself, laying back on Alan's bed and watching him play a puzzle game she vaguely recognized. We can fix this. Become a proper family again.

If Jade used whatever influence being a wayfarer gave her properly, she could ensure her family didn't have money issues ever again. That alone would go a long way towards easing the strain that had been hanging over them for years. First, though, she had to make sure there was a stable world to come back to.

Outside of recuperating at home and reconnecting with family, Jade saw to a handful of other matters while in town. One of the first things she did was check in on Ally, the friend she'd shared an apartment with before her bedroom had been eaten by a dimensional rift. To her immense relief her friend was perfectly fine, other than having developed a minor anxiety issue.

"Jade! I'm so glad you're okay!" Ally exclaimed, flinging her arms around Jade in a wild hug in the coffee shop they'd decided to meet up in. "I thought the building was coming down on us! And then I stepped out into the hallway and… and… your room was just gone! Literally, I could see into our neighbor's apartment!"

"I was worried about you, too." Jade said softly while patting her on the back, cognizant of the fact that they were starting to draw attention from other customers. She guided the shorter woman to a corner table, away from potential eavesdroppers. "What happened afterwards?"

"The police made everyone leave the building." Ally said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Then they questioned me for hours, even though I had no idea what was going on. We still haven't been allowed back in. I've been staying with my sister so I'm doing okay, but not everyone had a place to go. And now all these people are coming into the city…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

Jade was just glad the whole floor hadn't collapsed, seeing as buildings weren't designed to have giant holes scooped out of them.

"Glad you're doing okay." she said, and then she cocked her head. "Hey, I saw my car was in the garage at my dad's house. Did you have something to do with that?"

"Oh!" Ally bobbed her head, bouncing her brown curls. "Well, it was like the thing at our place kicked it all off. Similar things started happening all over the world, and then it came out the people caught in them were just being moved somewhere else and not, you know…" she swallowed, taking a moment to compose herself. "Anyway, I wanted to do what I could for you. Remember my cousin Jeff? The one who works at a repo center? He taught me a couple of things a while back. I managed to get your car running and drove it over the other week. It wasn't safe in the lot, not with all the unrest…"

Jade just stared at her friend. She'd always viewed Ally as strait-laced, even a little timid. But apparently she'd… what? Hotwired her car and taken it across town?

First the housekeeper who turned out to be a demon, now this… Am I just terrible at reading people?

She added that to the list of things she planned to work on, right after 'stop the Labyrinth cores from destroying the world' and 'find a way to cure her brother'. Yeah, she probably wasn't getting to that anytime soon.

True to Ally's words, the area was much more crowded than Jade remembered. Even a good forty-five minutes away from the actual city, the suburbs were crowded with refugees from rural areas. Everyone was fleeing the remote parts of the country, heading towards the perceived safety of more densely populated areas that were less affected by the Labyrinth's translocation events. The fact that no such events had happened within three hundred miles since Jade's apartment was taken didn't seem to deter anyone from assuming the worst. The general atmosphere was tense, a feeling that wasn't helped by the presence of law enforcement and the national guard patrolling the streets in force. While the mood was grim, the situation wasn't as bad as Jade had feared it would be. For the moment, order prevailed.

She just hoped it would last.

Other than connecting with Ally, Jade also had brief conversations with some of her other friends and classmates. All of them were relieved to hear that she'd returned safely, and all of them bombarded her with questions about what the other world was like. She avoided giving anything more than vague answers, falling back on some lines provided by L-ReF officials about how information on the Labyrinth was confidential.

Another piece of news she received came in the form of a letter from the University of Michigan. It informed Jade that, due to certain 'extenuating circumstances of ambiguous duration', she had been placed on an indefinite leave of absence from her studies. The letter informed her that she could notify the University staff whenever she was ready to resume classes. Jade tried to imagine what returning to school to finish her marketing degree would be like with the otherworldly, superhuman abilities she now possessed. It was an amusing mental image.

"Maybe Naomi will let me join her magic pop group when this is done…" she muttered, sliding the letter into a desk drawer in her room. At least one good thing had come from the Labyrinth. She didn't have to deal with group projects anymore.

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After a couple of days of rest, Jade was feeling physically and mentally refreshed. With her injuries fully healed and the fabric of society visibly fraying around the edges, she was ready to get back to work. The hardest part was leaving Alan, but she promised she'd speak to him again before returning to the Labyrinth. Knowing that they'd now be able to visit Earth periodically also helped, although she suspected they'd be far too busy to do so with any regularity.

"I'll be back soon." Jade said, giving her brother a hug.

"Promise safe, not soon."

She opened her mouth to reply, but the words died in her throat. Her heart clenched as images of blood, pain, and death flashed through her mind. Any such promise would be a lie, and Jade couldn't bring herself to tell it.

The flight from Detroit to DC took a little over two hours, and Jade arrived to find that she was the first of her group back in L-ReF territory. It was the evening of her fourth day back on Earth, and she was growing increasingly aware of the timer ticking down in the submenu of her interface. She was assigned a hotel room and asked, well, more like politely instructed, to report to the headquarters first thing in the morning.

After that, Jade was left alone in her room. It felt odd to not be around anyone. The last time she had truly been alone was immediately following her summoning into the Labyrinth. Those memories rose unbidden from the depths of her mind as she sat on the bed, staring out the window at the empty streets below. Her desperate flight, the brutal conflict, and the shroud of fear. That fear had never gone away. She'd just gotten better at bottling it up.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Jade spent the rest of the night practicing some of Aylin and Serrethis's meditation techniques, focusing on calming her aura. She combined them with some of the old methods she'd used to combat nerves in her competitions. It helped, at least a little, and she woke the next morning feeling, if not calm, then well enough to project the aura of confidence that she needed.

She arrived at L-ReF headquarters just after sunrise and was greeted by an aide who escorted her to a conference room. This wasn't the same one they'd met with the director in, but a larger, grander space that was more of a ballroom with some scattered tables and chairs. Luis and Naomi were already there, seated at one of the tables and speaking quietly with each other. There were a few other small groups clustered about the room, although Jade didn't recognize anyone else. Their wayfarer status was immediately apparent, however, both from the glowing sigils on the backs of their hands, and due to the presence of a couple of non-humans in their mix.

"What is this?" Jade asked the aide, pausing at the threshold of the room.

"We're facilitating meetings between wayfarers." he explained, noting something on a clipboard. "Part of our effort to pool resources and information. Please, feel free to mingle."

Her gaze lingered on the armed guards stationed in the corners of the room. Were they just being cautious? Or had some of their previous guests proved to be rowdy? No doubt part of their purpose was to observe their interactions in case they could glean any useful nuggets of information about the Labyrinth as well.

That was fine by Jade. She wasn't sure she trusted this organization yet, but she was glad that someone was trying to organize a response to this crisis. She'd give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. After another moment of hesitation, she moved to join her friends.

"Welcome back." Luis said, waving her over and patting the seat beside him. Jade took it, exchanging greetings with her friends.

"What a cheerful group they've got here." Jade murmured, glancing around the room. Everyone was clustered in small, isolated groups like they were, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"It's high school cliques all over again." Naomi said, crossing her arms.

They'd all been messaging each other over the past few days, so Jade knew that Naomi and Luis's families were safe. Her friends looked refreshed and recharged and were wearing fresh clothes. If nothing else, coming back to Earth had been excellent for restocking their wardrobes.

"Everyone's tense." Jade said. She could taste the mingling apprehension and suspicion in the air. "Maybe we weren't the only ones to meet some rogue wayfarers in the wilderness."

"Well, someone has to start this off." Luis said, getting to his feet. He made his way over to the closest group of people, which was comprised of two men and a woman. "Yo." he raised his hand in greeting. "So, how'd you end up in this mess?"

As usual, Luis's disarming attitude was effective at defusing tension. With his help they circled the room, introducing themselves and making connections. Jade let Luis and Naomi do most of the talking, more interested in listening for any useful information than in making new friends. According to her interface, most of these people were under level ten. However, a few stood out from the rest.

"I thought I'd lost my mind when I woke up to find a giant snake slithering towards me." A large, muscular man said. He'd introduced himself as Parker, and he was the only person in the room other than the L-ReF members wearing a military uniform. "And by big, I mean the bastard was twenty feet long."

"I found him bashing its head in with a rock." A slender woman said with a snort. "It was an… interesting… first impression."

These two, Parker and Ellie, were the most noteworthy to Jade. The man was level 17, the highest she'd seen, and had led his group to the second floor around the same time Jade had gotten there. Unlike the vast majority of people who had suddenly found themselves stranded in the Labyrinth, both of them had previous combat experience. Parker was a US army ranger and Ellie, who was level 14, had worked in law enforcement for over a decade.

If we'd gotten to choose our wayfarers like we were supposed to, they're probably the kind of people who would have been picked. Jade realized.

Certainly, neither she nor any of her friends would have been considered. As much as she wished things had worked out differently, though, a part of her couldn't deny that she was glad she had been granted the power to control her own fate in this mess. Waiting helplessly at home while the world collapsed around her sounded even worse than being the one tasked with fixing it.

Another group had not one, but two members who had opted to change their race upon receiving their wayfarer marks.

"I was dropped in this mountainy area with lots of sheer cliffs and giant trees." A fellian woman said, her cat-like tail swishing back and forth as she spoke. "I would've never made it out without the climbing skills this race gives me."

It was the first time Jade had seen a female fellian, and she suspected that anime fans around the world would go crazy upon learning that 'cat-girls' were a reality. Jade almost felt bad for her, until she remembered that, as a literal succubus, she'd probably have it even worse.

At least I can pretend to be human, still. She reminded herself. I got lucky.

"Are there any downsides?" Naomi asked curiously.

"As far as I can tell? Not really!" The woman, whose name was Lyn, said with a grin. "I'm faster, can see in the dark, and can climb just about anything. It was weird at first, but I'm used to it now. Having a tail is pretty fun!"

That must be nice.

Her companion, a man named Ian, had chosen the half-elven race. Just like Jade and Lyn, the decision had been for purely practical reasons. Extremely near-sighted and caught without his glasses when the transition had occurred, picking a race with superior vision was an obvious choice.

"I'm not sure my change even counts, really." he said sheepishly. "It doesn't feel different. The spell affinity pairs well with the mage class I picked, though."

No one in the room had much information that was new to Jade. Unlike them, few others had found their way to a settlement. Siora, and later Aylin and the inhabitants of Lysara, had imparted a vast wealth of knowledge about the Labyrinth in general, and magic in particular. They weren't the only ones who had met at least some locals, however, and many of the other Earth wayfarers had heard of the cities of Estelhelm and, on the third floor, Illysport. The latter was something of a target destination for several of the groups, as it was known to be a hub for trade and goods of all kinds.

The information confirmed something Jade had already suspected: That the Earth wayfarers had all been dropped in a relatively small region of the Labyrinth, the part that bordered their home. It seemed likely, then, that the Labyrinth cores would be similarly grouped together on their various floors. Tentative plans were already being made for the various frontrunner groups to meet in Illysport with the goal of teaming up to find the first of the magical constructs. L-ReF had made it clear that they wanted the wayfarers to wait for backup before attempting to destroy a core, but Jade was inclined to agree with the others. Waiting would be a mistake. The longer they took to do this, the worse the damage would be.

With that in mind, they began to devise some rough plans.

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The exciting part came later that day. It was late afternoon, and Jade was feeling drained from hours of forced socialization. She was slowly getting better at blocking out the ambient emotions of crowded environments, but a room filled with newly returned wayfarers was an especially charged environment.

To make matters worse, her hunger was starting to stir again. Her rendezvous with Nythis and Travay had more than kept it sated while they trained in Lysara, but now it had been several days since she'd last fed. Every time she felt a strong emotion coming from someone nearby Jade had to resist the urge to stare. There was no shortage of monsters to drain in the Labyrinth, but Earth was another matter. This was a problem she hadn't anticipated, and solving it was yet another headache she didn't have time for. If she wanted to stay on Earth for more than a few days at a time, though, she'd have to come up with something.

"Welcome to the armory." The quartermaster said, drawing Jade's attention back to the present. She, Luis, and Naomi were in the basement of L-ReF headquarters. They'd finally completed the stacks of forms that had been issued to them and were now clear to requisition gear from the organization. Jade was a little suspicious about the legality of Naomi working as a defense contractor for a foreign country but, given the crisis, no one seemed to be worrying about details like that.

"Here, you'll find all the equipment we've determined might be useful to wayfarers in the Labyrinth. Survival gear, communications equipment, a variety of weapons-" The officer gestured around to the fully stocked shelves filling the warehouse-sized room. "Is there anything you're looking for?"

"Radios." Jade said immediately. Thanks to Naomi's spellbook they now had access to simple messaging magic, but its range was very limited. Access to communication technology was something they'd been sorely missing.

The magical weapons they'd acquired in the Labyrinth were superior to anything they could find on Earth, at least for the close quarters conflicts they usually found themselves in, but there were plenty of other useful gadgets to add to their equipment pool. They were just wrapping up when Jade found a crate in the back of the room covered in red warning labels.

"What's in there?" she asked, bending over to read the text.

"Ah, that's been a popular pick." The quartermaster said, lifting the lid of the box to reveal stacks of small grey bricks wrapped in a tape-like material. "We have a supply of plastic explosives we're authorized to distribute, although you'll have to complete a training course before we can release any."

Jade was hardly listening. Her face had broken out into a wide grin.

"Now we're talking."

"Oh no." Naomi was shaking her head. "You've got that crazy look in your eyes again, Jade."

"How much can you carry?" the officer asked.

"The better question is: How many crates do you have?" Jade asked, reaching for her dimensional pouch.

This, she could work with.