“Well, that’s not something you see every day,” I said, letting out a whistle.

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Aerion replied. “What is this place?”

The maze stretched on for as far as our eyes could see, all the way to the horizon, and off to the sides as well. Considering we stood on a ledge about fifty feet above it… that was quite far indeed. Above us, the ice cavern finally ended, giving way to a cloudy gray sky, and for the first time since we’d entered the core, our old friend the freezing wind reared its ugly head.

Aerion shivered, pulling her coat a little tighter.

“The maze ought to protect us from the elements,” I said, looking down at the incomprehensible maze. “Assuming we want to attempt it in the first place.”

“What do you mean?” Aerion replied. “We have to, do we not?”

“I mean… we could try climbing on top of its walls maybe?” I said, scratching my chin. “Guessing there’s something that would prevent us from doing that, though.”

“There has to be,” Aerion replied. “Or else, what’s the point of this place? It’s clearly built to make it as difficult as possible for any invaders to progress.”

“Yeah… Which means it’s probably full of mines, monsters, and booby traps.”

Traps were as old as warfare itself, but were still in use today, even on modern battlefields. I supposed it was no different here, in a world where high rank Blessed could shoot the equivalent of long-range missiles.

A complex maze full of dangers was actually not a bad way of dealing with people. It reminded me of ancient castles, which forced invaders through convoluted routes and multiple sets of gates. All while the defenders rained arrows and molten tar down upon their assailants.

Huh. Maybe we ought to give cheating the maze another look… Diving headlong into this thing did not sound like a great idea if we could avoid it.

“Ugh,” Richard groaned, massaging his forehead as he sat up. “What did I miss? I feel like dead dog.”

“You were injured by a shard of ice,” Aerion said, lending Richard a hand, which he took. “We then fought a great serpent made of ice, that used the voices of the dead to trick us.”

“Lovely,” Richard said. “Yes, I remember. Thought you were goners the moment it took you under the ice. I don’t quite recall what happened after, though.”

I cleared my throat. “It uh… swallowed you. But don’t worry, we killed it, entered its belly, and got you out,” I said, patting his shoulders. “What are friends for, eh?”

Richard just stared at me like I’d grown another set of eyes.

“It swallowed me…” he said.

Aerion nodded. “It did.”

“Good god man, how am I still alive?”

“Well, you’re lucky the thing was made of ice. Seems instead of digestive fluid, it froze its prey, which it then somehow absorbed,” I said. “Sounds like it absorbed more than their bodies, though. Their voices… Maybe even their memories.”

“God… That’s vile.”

“Yeah… Well, you’re lucky it’s a slow process. Biggest danger was the cold, but we got you out and heated you up with my sword. Took forever, though. We really need a better way to get warm.”

“We stitched your wound as best we could while you were out,” Aerion said. “Best not to make any sudden movements for the time being.”

Richard touched his stomach and winced. “I reckon I’ll take your advice on that. Don’t think I’ll be winning any golds anytime soon.”

Aerion turned her head. “Golds?”

“Gold medals. There’s this competition where I’m from, the Olympics. For the world’s best athletes who—ah, nevermind. Point is, I won’t be moving much. Not to worry, however. My Blessing does not require my mobility, thankfully. I’m as fit to fight as ever, I assure you.”

“I’d say we got off lucky. You’re the only one among us whose powers aren’t physical in nature,” I said, giving him a warm smile. “We’ll be relying on you in our upcoming fights.”

Relief flashed across Richard’s face, and he slouched slightly. “Of course, Greg. You can count on me. Have to make amends for that poor showing, after all.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Was he just ashamed he didn’t pull his weight in that last fight? Or was he worried we’d ditch him? Either way, he was wrong.

“You’re an integral part of the team. Sure, so that serpent was a bad matchup for your ability, but you absolutely destroy weaker foes. Especially when there’s a lot of them, which is something Aerion and I struggle with. We’ve each got our strengths. Aerion’s great against powerful monsters, and I’m kind of an all-rounder,” I said, thinking of how very much I didn’t want to be an all-rounder.

Soon. With just a bit more Essence and a bunch of experimentation at the forge, I’d be able to craft armor that gave me very specific bonuses, optimized for one particular goal. It’d certainly help if I had an ability that aided with that, but for now, I was on my own.

“Now, what’s this about a maze?” Richard said, gingerly rising to his feet. “Don’t tell me there’s—bloody hell!”

Richard was so stunned he nearly fell, and would have had Aerion not been there to support him.

“What is this?” he asked in wonder as he took in the scene.

“Best guess? The dungeon’s final line of defense,” I explained. “A trap-ridden maze that we have to pass through to get to the core, which I assume is that miniature sun floating above everything.”

At least there was no lack of light here. While the core didn’t generate the sort of heat you’d expect from a sun, it illuminated the area just fine. No more dark tunnels for us.

“Guess it’s time I make some stairs. Let’s head down and see what we’re up against,” I said, dreading the idea of digging another few hundred steps. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and bypass this thing entirely.”

Fat chance of that. But we had to at least try, didn’t we?

----------------------------------------

We did, as a matter of fact, get lucky. Just not in a way I could ever have predicted.

“Don’t those… look a little large for steps?” Aerion asked, hopping down to the roughly cut block of ice.

Imagine my surprise when I picked the best possible route down and headed over, all prepared to start hacking, only to find that steps had already been made.

Big ones, and very roughly done. In fact, calling them steps was a disservice to the flat, level things everyone was used to. These were more like ledges. Some deep, others shallow, and most of them precarious.

Whoever had hacked these out had been big, strong, and in a rush.

“You don’t think…” Aerion said, trailing off.

“Eskil Magnusson,” Richard said, speaking the name on all our minds.

“I don’t,” I said dryly. “I mean, there’s no way, right? We entered first, and we haven’t seen a soul until now…”

And yet, the oversized steps, the rough, heavy slashes that could very well have been the result of a giant swinging an equally big ax… I had to admit, the chances were good. Especially given his proximity to the core.

“Could be that he took another route,” I said. “Or, maybe it works similarly to the outer dungeon, flinging people to different areas.” If that was the case, Richard ought to have disappeared, but he didn’t.

“Perhaps it depends on where you enter the core from?” Aerion asked.

“Or when,” Richard said. “Maybe the location changes based on timing. Just to trip people up?”

I shrugged. “Could be. Whatever the case, he’s beating us right now.”

“That’s a bad thing?” Richard asked as he dropped down another step. “Let him clear out the monsters, I say. Let him deal with all the danger. We’ll aid him as and when we’re able, but if he can clear this dungeon all on his lonesome, I say more power to him.”

“Sure, safer for us,” I said. “Also less reward.”

It was something that had weighed on my mind more as of late. We’d entered this dungeon to help Basecrest, and to do our part saving lives. That was still the foremost reason.

But now that we had multiple delvers, and now that it looked increasingly likely that we’d actually get through this dungeon… I had to wonder if we were missing out.

“The first person to clear the dungeon gets to take the core, thereby collapsing the dungeon,” Aerion said. “All other delvers get thrown out.”

“And, more to the point, get nothing,” I said. “The delver that gets the core gets a Blessing from whichever god of the domain the dungeon is in, yeah?”

Aerion nodded. “The Blessing is, of course, well and good, but it is by far the lesser of the rewards.”

“Right, Passion mentioned something like that,” Richard said. “Soul Expansion, yeah? Sounds handy, that.”

“The barrier from Divergence to Convergence is no small hurdle to overcome,” Aerion said. “Those living in an era without Cataclysms sometimes toil and slog for decades to overcome it.”

“And clearing a Cataclysm Dungeon gets you a shortcut,” I said. Aerion had mentioned this to me in our downtime one day in Basecrest.

“Yes. The Dungeon Core is useless aside from being a high-value curiosity, similar to a soul stone. Like normal soulstones, it, too, contains a soul, but no one has ever managed to forge it into anything useful. Far better to offer it to the gods in return for expanding one’s soul, paving the way for a smooth and seamless soul evolution.”

I was not looking forward to this. On the one hand, it was the perfect chance for me to prove to Aerion that I was not, in fact, the god of Order. That I could accept the Blessing for myself. Doing so, however, meant cheating Aerion out of a bonus she could absolutely use. All to prove a stupid point.

Not that I didn’t want that power for myself. But how was I supposed to hog the Soul Expansion without permanently crippling our relationship? And what about Richard, who’d contributed equally? Would Dominion be so kind as to recognize all of our efforts and bless everyone with expanded souls?

“It’s all moot, anyway,” I said. “If we don’t beat Eskil—or whoever cut these steps—there won’t be a reward. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast, and be sure we’re the ones to end this dungeon.”

This wasn’t just a fight for survival, anymore. It wasn’t just a mercy mission to protect the lives of thousands.

No, it was now a race. One that happened to involve three Champions, all vying for supremacy.