Ember emerged back from the portal right to the Labyrinths of Nightmares' sealed room in an emotional turmoil as many feelings conflicted and struggled for domination. First was the pure grief and agony of losing her pack, and second time. Then came the pure rage and hatred. Last came the feeling of something breaking hard inside hard, a ruptured barrage causing the floodgate of unfiltered emotions to ram down at her mind, demanding to be acknowledged.

The labyrinth of greed had been nothing. Retrospectively, Ember had it too easy, never encountering a dead end, never falling down hard to the deadly traps after that first one, as if the labyrinth itself let her off the hook after that first death. Though it went so much against what she assumed the labyrinth design should be, feeding on her nonexistent greed to torture her.

The same has also been confirmed about the Labyrinth of Madness. She never really cared what that labyrinth tried to throw at her, and so she felt she had too easy a time there and that her success had her been unearned. The second experience had been, at best forgettable.

But the Labyrinth of Burden has done a real number on her. Cause she cared a lot this time around and could not give a shit it had been all a dream and that the pack had been nothing but a figment of her imagination. For her, it had been all too real, and she did not think she could bear any more than this.

The Labyrinths of Nightmares suddenly felt like a vast scam designed to prey on anyone's weaknesses and maximize their pain while also trying to manipulate them into thinking they had to complete the challenge for whatever reason. For her, so far, it had been misplaced pride. But she could completely picture someone falling hard for it out of greed and turning the labyrinth of Greed into their personal hell hole. And so she eyed the two remaining portals.

The red Labyrinth of Resentment was obviously waiting for her to hop back in to score some self-inflicted torture bonus point, as she would have to throw herself willingly at an unbeatable enemy, learn to care about them so she could learn whatever grudge the two armies had for each other and find a way to stop it, as a dog. Fat chance she could achieve that. While the probability this labyrinth would introduce her to a whole new kind of torture was 100%.

As for the Labyrinth of Grieve, they literally used her late owner against her, bringing her from the dead as a more joyful version of herself than she had ever been at any point of their lives together, except maybe the week they first met. In comparison, the Labyrinth of Burden took her most fondest fantasy and turned it into a nightmare. She fully expected the labyrinth of Grieve to explore what could have been in excruciating detail before asking her to leave. Of course, she would be devastated upon realizing that something she probably never realized she wanted but now felt like she needed would be taken from her, willingly or not, upon leaving or waking up.

So she now had a better idea of what to expect. Or at least, she thought she had, and her hurt feelings were telling her only one thing:

'Stop torturing yourself, Ember. It ain't worth it.'

And so she found herself passing through the Purple portal instead.

She felt that no amount of pride, knowledge, or power was possibly worth going through all that pain.

She was simply done, finally ready and fully committed to give it all up and tell the man in his giant log cabin to go fuck himself.

★☆★

Yet, the purple portal asked her to confirm her choice of abandoning the challenge as a whole three times before letting her through. But she was not that weak-willed that she could willingly go through more pain just because it felt uncomfortable to answer the exact same question thrice. She had no doubt in her mind that whatever consequences her choice might have, if any, she could live with it, while she wasn't sure the alternative might be true. She had reached her breaking point already, and leaving this place was nothing but self-preservation at this point.

What she did not expect, however, had been the cheering welcoming party waiting for her on the other side, screaming:

"You did it!"

And the man was waiting on her with a somewhat sheepish grandfatherly smile.

'What the fuck?'

★☆★

Ember did not know what was worse. That's the man had immediately come clean and apologized or that his explanation sounded truly heartfelt and sensible. However, she had been stunned from the moment the man first talked to her and let him guide her to a more private location to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her. Although, to be honest, he was doing all the talking.

Dream Magic was infamously unpredictable and borderline unreliable, so even among those who had a strong affinity for it, very few were pursuing it at all, let alone trying to get it as their second magic at the novice tier. So it had become an extremely niche magic that only ascendants trying to shed their mortal coil and become immortals or even gods were pursuing. Therefore, Dream Magic Challenge had been shaped and corrupted away from its original design over time by the billions of challengers trying to ascend to godhood.

That dream challenge had turned into literal Nightmares feeding on whatever material flaws, vulnerabilities, and traumas the candidates had left. The testing of one's suitability for dream magic, however, still played a good part in overcoming this challenge as all magic at the Crossroads was turned to nothing but dream magic, making it the only available magic.

And it turned out that Ember had used a lot of it on an unconscious level.

The system notification within the challenge? They were not a thing and were a complete construct of Ember wishing for it. The ability to scout the tests before committing to them? It was also not a standard feature. Every little detail that made her experience in the labyrinth less of a living hell, shaping the nightmares as she underwent it? It was her dream magic acting out, revealing a talent that was way beyond what it should be at Ember's current tier.

And though it was definitely good news, this unusual talent, paired with her surprising lack of greed and lack of interest in the abstract pursuit of knowledge, explained why Ember lasted that long in the challenge. And the nightmares had lashed out so violently in response to the existential threat she represented that Ember had unfortunately nearly reached her breaking point as a result.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

And the man assured her that even though she had cleared most of those tests in an "unorthodox" manner, clearing three out of five as a beginner-tier magic practitioner was nothing short of exceptional. It was actually even rarer than a full-fledged magician beating the challenge, something that did not happen in millennia. Which actually explained a lot of the reception she got for her attempt, right after giving up, no less.

Still, the man warned her that though very praise-worthy, her performance had got her quite a lot of unwanted scrutiny and fame that she would have to learn how to deal with.

And yet, it was not the most shocking of the man's revelation as the Ruler of the Realm himself wanted to teach her about magic personally, offering her an apprenticeship, among other things she never ever knew or considered, right before she got pulled out of the dream.

Yet, while the man had been cut mid-sentence, she did not know what to think about it as she had the distinct impression that, while potentially amazing, the offer came with a lot of ulterior motives and strings attached that creeped the hell out of her.

★☆★

Ember!!!

"Ember"

The voice and notifications got through Ember as she woke up from the thunderclap headache, pounding, stabbing, burning with fever, and exploding at her head all at once.

Submerged by the discomfort in her lungs, the taste and smell of bile and vomit in her mouth and all around her, she tried to cough, but it only made her headache feel worse. And so she tried to get up but found that her entire body, but especially her spine, was feeling stiff, making her feel dizzy and confused. It felt like she had been bitten everywhere by a pack of angry pups and passed out several times from the pain before she finally got enough of a grip to stay conscious long enough to respond to Merida's persistent anxious calls.

"It's okay, Merida." She first tried and failed to reassure her companion before adding. "I'm feeling like crap, and it hurt like hell. I can tell that those bad mushrooms were a bit more than just mildly toxic. But I will live."

Thanks, gods, you are finally responding! Sorry. It turned out the dosage wasn't right for canines. I had to heal you eighteen times from the side effects and three times for the aftereffects since you first woke up. I was afraid that you were unresponsive cause of permanent brain damage, and I was freaking out.

'Sorry I couldn't reply earlier,' Ember replied apologetically, 'Thinking freaking hurts right now.'

It's okay. I understand. You are going to rest. Then we will talk

And then, Ember went back to sleep through the pain.

★☆★

It turned out that the mushroom-induced dreams had only lasted sixteen hours. But Ember had laid unconscious for thirty-two hours after that and slept for an extra three days taking breaks only to eat, drink, and relieve herself before she was back to her former self. And so she had lost five days of her life to the poison.

And so, when Merida suggested that checking back on the townspeople was the utmost priority, Ember did not argue. And she told about Merida of what happened in her dreams as she got reacquainted with the feeling of pulling her cart, which she surprisingly found was helping her recover after all those days of inactivity. Merida proved a great listener and did not say a thing, even once she was done, which also helped a lot.

And so was the sight of the city, which proved very distracting, as the humans had been very industrious in their absence.

The temporary barricades had been fully converted to makeshift walls and gates and were about to be replaced with more sturdy ones that were currently under construction. And the militias were now staring them down with their guns from their elevated position, allowing them to see their arrival from afar. Yet, it still took the humans half a minute to open the gates before they got surrounded by humans anxiously asking Merida what happened, to which the doll responded with white lies.

Many people had died while waiting for a visit from Merida that never came, and humans had further banded together as a result, as the city was now roughly divided in three. The five suburbs districts closest to Ember's home unanimously decided to take Ember's mission and band together under a united neighborhood council. The rest of the city center had calmed down, and the city council and police had somewhat recovered a semblance of legitimacy and authority. Then were other suburbs districts which were still controlled by Gangs, which had united in the last few days under a local crime lord calling themselves but their former gang name: the Red Fists

News of the outside world was downright worse as the most of the broadcast had either gone silent or fallen under some factions control, spouting out non-stop propaganda about the illegitimacy of other factions and promoting their own efficient governing through the crisis, making it especially difficult to figure out what was truly going on apart from the sheer amount of disinformation.

What was certain was that the democratic and military factions were tearing each other apart while other third parties had taken the opportunity to claim independence. The first had been the Mormon state of Deseret, which made an incredible deal with the elves to ensure their independence, which caused the rise of the Aztlán faction as a reaction to the white supremacists. Then the New Confederate States of America also declared independence under the claim they could not choose between a militaristic dictatorship or the brainwashed politicians of the White House. It, in turn, immediately prompted the Republic of New Africa, Texas, and Florida to say no and declare their own independence, quickly followed by California for being too isolated with the crazy bullshit going on between the Deseret and Aztlán faction. Although they were other minor factions being mentioned, they were the only ones being vocal about it.

And so, just like that, the United States was no more and split into nine different self-proclaimed states with many disputed and gore borders. However, it also meant no one cared for Montana or other unclaimed states. So, interstate trades had been indefinitely halted thanks to the new war zone and the local surviving politicians' unwillingness to take sides.

That also did not account for the fact that every city had undergone similar chaos and that every new government control over their alleged territory had been, so far, nothing but wishful abstract thinking.

International news reported that the 44 European countries had already fractured into 73 nations, not accounting for "silent claimers" and civil wars, each side claiming complete sovereignty over their former homelands. And that was, again, only accounting for the disinformation that had made it to Great Falls so far.

But the humans were unafraid to talk out loud about the assumed end of their world and where they thought they should stand in that overwhelming mess. As for Ember, she did not know about those states and countries before the humans mentioned that they fell, so she had even less idea of where she should stand. And so did Merida, though she kept advocating for her own system-sanctioned local faction.

What was evident to Ember, however, was that more conflict only called for more blood and that, to Merida's agreement, she was not ready for that kind of challenge.