“Dan, do you at least know the way back?”

“Even you?” Dan grimaced good naturedly. He had expected it after the latest confusing direction seemed to frustratingly turn them back on themselves. Still, Hyun Soon had been the last hold out, and hearing Hyun question his abilities put the final nail in the coffin for Dan’s confidence.

“Why even go back? Just find something.” Fa Lian’s frustration had turned into outright aggression now and, to Dan’s horror, Xiaomei was tentatively on the side of this belligerent bullying. Dan had been trying to just find something different for over an hour at this point. Without saying it outloud, he had abandoned Shazaar’s instructions and would take any of the labyrinth’s strange rooms at this point.

It seemed as though the current spiralling mesh of tunnels was moving, even to Dan who knew it wasn’t. The grey stone of the labyrinth turned each hallway into the last and because Dan’s mana couldn’t cling to the rock like it would elsewhere, his mapping prowess was hindered greatly.

“I’m sure that we’re close…” Dan bit his lip as he felt his words bring the tension to a bubble all the more. He knew that he had repeated the same phrase at least three times in the last hour. It would be high amongst the things that Fa Lian did not want to hear.

“I swear if you say that one more time, I’ll-” Lian was cut off by a sharp laugh from further up the hall. Like lightning had shot through the group, all of their hairs stood on end and a shock of adrenaline focused their weary minds.

“You didn’t think it would work?” A familiar voice asked the one who laughed. Dan’s mana fizzled as the Ashes walked into view, their energy cancelling and destroying his own. Dan took a small portion of his concentration and set it to work trying to gauge the distance he needed to keep away from them. Before they came into eyesight, Dan had managed to figure out a vague outline.

“They’re naïve, yes?” Endun’s voice was much more sinister in the dimly lit tunnels, bouncing erratically following his laughter. “Quick to trust strangers, mmm?”

“Dan, what’s happening?” Xiaomei’s whisper was edged with a shaky fear.

“He’s walked us into a trap.” Fa Lian hissed. Dan had no time for a retort or apology as Shazaar had rounded the final corner and locked eyes with Dan. As the white of the majaal’s eyes looked straight into the silver of his own, Dan shivered. He had only seen a hunger like that one before and he had believed it defeated.

“Walked you in circles.” Came Grier’s deep, growling voice, correcting Fa Lian sardonically. It was true, and Dan was going to curse himself to his last day for falling for something so obvious. He just hoped that was not today. “You’ll be wanting to be nice and calm.”

Fa Lian jabbed her staff against the wall, creating a loud echoing crack and smiling as it caused the dwarf to flinch. The lump in Dan’s throat had become bladed, an agonising bulb of indecision causing him to freeze. Behind him, however, came a clang of heavy metal being smacked together as Hyun Soon cracked his neck and beat his fists together.

No. Dan wished he could speak but angst stole his breath. The only member of the Ashes who didn’t speak was Calliope, who was standing in the back looking sullen. Of the group, she burned the mana around her the most. Dan wasn’t sure whether that was because she was more powerful than the others, or if she was more capable in that skill specifically, but it gave him an idea. Sensing a weak point, Dan snapped out of his stupor at the same time as Shazaar drew his blade. With a whispered promise of bloodshed, it slid from the leather easily.

“Wh-,” Dan coughed and cleared his throat, fear still trying its best to keep him quiet, “what do you want?”

“The fancy and expensive items.” Shazaar was as blunt as his weapon was sharp. Jovial nature gone, his dark eyes were now doing an obvious sizing up of the group. It wasn’t necessary, all of them had shown or discussed their abilities in some way except for Dan. The Ashes were experienced enough to gauge them from what was shown and would easily overpower them if Dan’s estimate of their strength was correct. Shazaar tapped his foot impatiently. “Now.”

“Never,” growled Fa Lian, stating the obvious. She moved next to Dan and for the first time he saw her hands, which he had jokingly thought fused to the Dragon Bo. It was no laughing matter, the skin of her hands red and black as it had charred away with the heat. Instinctively, Dan reached out to touch her and heal the pain away, but she hit his hand away with a flick of the staff. “Secret.” She chastised.

Dan was both disturbed and grateful. He should hide his healing capability for as long as he can. He assumed his scouting ability was either obvious to them or they just didn’t care. Dan’s mind asking how long had the dragon been eating away at Lian? The staff itself was so cold that the skin on Dan’s knuckle had ruptured, as though he had taken his fist to a rock. Now, the shivering made sense. Dan’s worry for Fa Lian increased, but more pressing matters were becoming increasingly impatient.

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“Is that the final answer?” As Shazaar spoke, Endun moved to the side slightly and moved to the full height he could manage in the (for him) cramped space. Grier stepped behind him, hiding himself from view. His energy swelled and pushed Dan’s mana away, suggesting he was preparing something. Dan still couldn’t take his eyes off of Shazaar and the now glittering blade held before him.

“Why?” Dan repeated. “We’re just trying to find her brother. Calliope you-”

“Yes, yes, sad story, plea for help, all that good stuff.” Shazaar’s voice was back to his standard setting of pompous pride now that the threat had been made and landed. The elf looked undecided, and made it known.

“Shaz, we can just go.” It seemed to take a lot for her to speak up. In their group dynamic, Shazaar was a clear leader and going against that must not be common. Her rough voice was shaky and uncertain.

“Rich enough to miss a trove, are you?” Endun chittered, turning on her and standing over her. “Are you paying for dinner? Extravagance?”

“No,” Shazaar answered, never taking his eyes off Dan and Lian. “No, she doesn’t. It’s debts you have, isn’t it, Ms. Unaar?” Like a whipped tiger, brutality beaten into an act, Calliope shrank backwards.

Well. Hopefully, Dan prayed, she at least won’t get involved.

With a twitch in his upper lip, Shazaar turned his white pupils back to Dan. He rolled his neck, an apparent shaking off of tension, and then squared his shoulders. “No hard feelings.” He said, closing his eyes slowly before throwing them open and launching himself forward. “Your items were just so on show. What were you thinking coming to the labyrinth with no shell little Guanlings?”

Dan was so tense that he was able to be prepared, but if an attack like that came from a direction he didn’t expect he would have been obliterated. The sword seemed to have an afterimage, but the trick was that the afterimage was also real. The slash remained in the air after he sliced for a moment, right where Dan’s neck had been. Dan threw himself back, eyes and mana frantically looking for the next attack.

The attack came from below, and it was aimed at Shazaar. The man grunted and jumped a step back before the swift spike of rock could pierce him. Hyun Soon rose from a kneeling position, fists ready to swing again. There was no other choice to make.

“Run.” He shouted with all his might. As he did, he amplified his voice though the mana that hovered around the Ashes. The sudden booming roar of Dan’s yell set his friends into action and caused a moment of indecision and confusion within the would-be bandits. Dan had banked on that, and the glance that Shazaar would take backwards, to launch himself forward and land a punch on the majaal’s chest.

It all happened in an instant, and it worked exactly as Dan had hoped. The man bucked back, off balance from the force and volume of the call to flee. As he did, Dan grabbed for whatever mana he could. As though the man were surrounded by millions of tiny fireflies, Dan’s hand punched through his “shell” and connected. There would be a healing effect, but Dan hoped Shazaar wouldn’t notice. Mana transfer was a prickly feeling the first few times, according to Hyun Soon.

The blow knocked Shazaar to his rear and Dan wasted no time escaping. Inspecting the mana he had grasped could wait. He turned and bolted after his friends. “Hyun!” Xiaomei shouted. “Make some walls.”

Going into a boxing stance, Hyun Soon started pummeling the wall with Rise as fast as he could. Like the mouth of a strange eel, the walls of the labyrinth started to erupt with teeth like spikes. As it was the wall of the labyrinth, they were nearly unbreakable and quickly formed a barrier stopping the Ashes from approaching.

Before they could even whoop with joy, Endun and Shazaar disappeared down a tunnel. Dan hurried to scatter mana around and figure out where they were attacking from, but met with resistance. Still sprinting with his friends, now directionless, Dan needed to move the heavy mana that was sitting within his core. It felt as though he had absorbed a second soul stone in terms of the density of the mana.

That would be fantastic, but it was acting as a blockage to the rest of Dan’s energy. It weighed him down like a boulder tied to his neck, and he needed to expel it. Could he? Without the time to figure out what technique to safely channel the mana through, it may even be impossible.

With gargantuan force, Dan shoved on the heavy mana of Shazaar’s. The concentration needed to do so was causing Dan to break out in sweat long before exertion did. The delicate balancing act came to a literal fall as Dan’s foot caught the wall and the resulting sprawl was spectacular and painful. Gritting his teeth at the frustration, Dan clambered to his feet and began catching up to his allies.

A flash of red appeared before his mana even had time to register it. Like a coiled spring, Endun waited for Dan to pass the waiting point he had sped ahead to. They crashed into the wall with such ferocity that Dan wasn’t sure if it was his shoulder or the wall exploding. A moment of shock later, it was clearly his shoulder.

As the pain exploded in his arm, so too did the mana within his core. Even as bile threatened to jump out of Dan’s throat, a different feeling rose. As though in answer to the agony, the thick and cloying mana of Shazaar spewed forth from Dan like a mist. Invisible, but heavy. Unlike the floating sparks that Dan connected to normally, this mana stuck together and dropped slowly to the floor. As it passed over Endun’s foot, the single horned majaal stumbled.

“Wha-?” The quickest of them, Endun had no back up and as he stumbled, Fa Lian capitalised. The Dragon Bo seemed to whistle happily as is swung through the air, catching Endun’s jaw with a solid thwack. Dan thought the scream of pain that he loosed was surprising until the man tried to rise.

The mist of mana which Dan had belched onto Endun was acting as a paralysing agent. Each part of him that touched it lost all feeling and the long limbed demon could not rise from the floor. At the same time, the Dragon Bo must have been absolutely frigid, and had torn away the cheek which it had hit. Fa Lian smirked and turned away, explosive speed sending her careening down the hall.

Dan followed. Endun continued moaning pitifully until the other members of the Ashes found him. At that point, Dan’s mana was scattered away and he lost sight. The group did not drop their pace for another hour, until all four were heaving and begging to stop. Caring for their fallen comrade had clearly taken precedence and they had managed to escape, but it was close. Too close.

They stopped in a small room, no bigger than Dan's during his stay at the Jiaoduo. Though they could not say with confidence they wouldn’t be found, they had to stop and catch their breath. As the others panted and gasped, Dan leaned against the wall. He pressed his eyes into his forearm, wishing desperately that he hadn’t seen and that he could avoid the coming confrontation.

As he looked at Fa Lian and the shivering stoicism she was facing, Dan could not bring himself to say anything at all.

Feeling like a coward, Dan stayed quiet and pretended to sleep.