Our part in the Skeelien festival should have ended right there, but the final puzzle remained unsolved.

As I stood facing the inert Traveler’s Map with its imitation of the dungeon heart, an elusive answer tugged at my soul.

Nicola groaned. “Damien, you're amazing and all, but you didn’t pay attention during Ezin’s opening speech, did you? The exit portals stay open for one hour and one hour only. If we miss the window—a window that began while we were trading blows with Red Wyrm, mind you—we’d be stuck in the Labyrinth forever!”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want that,” Paz said with laughter. He returned to studying the Traveler’s Map which had captured his attention since he entered the room.

“I know,” I said. “It’s just . . . there’s something I need to do.”

Nicola’s expression softened. “Does this have anything to do with your secrets?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Then, you should probably get to it. We don't have much longer.”

“You’re not going to try harder to dissuade me?”

“Damien, my friend,” Paz chimed in with a laugh. “I think we can all agree by now that you are not normal. Whatever task you must accomplish might as well be an act of fate. Now, show me how this thing works.”

I placed a hand on the fake dungeon heart. It came alive with a hum. [Map] expanded until it crowded out my vision.

“Exit portals,” I said.

Blue pinpricks dotted the region around the center of the Labyrinth, signifying the location of portals. We could jump to any one of them at our discretion as long as they stayed open.

Aman chose that moment to groan on Paz’s shoulder.

“What should we do with this bastard?” Paz asked.

“We’ll drop him off,” I said. “I just need to find an area that’s safe enough . . . hold on.”

I activated teleport. The entire room traveled to a corridor that contained an exit portal in its center.

Paz opened the door to reveal a vortex of swirling blue magic right in front of it. He whistled.

“Here’s your stop,” I told the groggy Aman as Paz lowered him to his feet. “There are a few monsters, but you shouldn’t encounter any problems with a distance this short. The rest of us aren’t ready to leave yet.”

Aman looked at me with an expression of pure hate. He spat at my feet and limped out of the room.

“Ungrateful bastard,” Paz hissed.

I glanced at Nicola. “I probably owe you an apology too.”

“No, Damien,” she said. “You don’t. Nalum isn’t special to me. I appreciate his help and kindness, but everything else he intended was all in his head.”

Cold but reasonable. Nalum had practically forced his proposal on Nicola, a deed she chafed at, considering her experiences and the situation with her family.

“Wait,” Paz said, “what did he intend?”

I steered the discussion away from that line of inquiry. “You never told us how you managed to reach the final chamber.”

Paz waved nonchalantly. “By doing what I do best. I got teleported onto a team of adventurers. Scared them shitless, what with being a disembodied head and all. Which reminds me, I still owe you a punch for that.”

I chuckled.

“It didn’t take long,” he said, “to figure out a course of action after that. Mathideus had been coordinating efforts before the dungeon run started in a bid to form a coalition. All surviving rankers pressed forward with that goal in mind.”

“Yeah. I met Mathideus. He eventually joined up with Byron’s group. But, I don’t think he made it to the final chamber. The Mist Enenra wouldn't have been able to beat him that easily.”

“Damien . . .” Paz frowned. “Mathideus is dead. My own group rescued his companion—the one called Allen?—just outside the barrier. He warned us of Byron’s betrayal.”

“Oh . . .”

“Anyway, it came down to a vote, and four members of my group agreed to flee via the exit portals. Three of us dissented. . . And, well, you know what happened.”

I nodded in response. Relief filled me on one hand that Mathideus had not been in cahoots with Byron. But, an intense sadness weighed down on me because he had died for the cause, despite my warnings.

Paz noticed the change in my mood. “Hey, if anything, meeting Allen convinced me that you were also at the final chamber. There was no way you would miss a chance to fight Byron. Glad I was right.” He patted my shoulder. “Now, how long do you intend to keep us waiting? I didn’t want to mention it while we had company and all. But, isn’t there something you need to reveal?”

The answer that eluded me finally hit home.

“Paz, you fucking genius!” I said and retrieved the treasure from my inventory.

Every locked secret needed to be unlocked. And, every lock needed a key . . . an imitation of which stared at me in the face.

My teammates gathered around the glowing orb in my palm.

The Egg of the Labyrinth [Greater]

A dungeon heart. Whoever holds this holds the full power of the Labyrinth in their hands.

The Egg is a potent alchemical ingredient for its tier. You will not find much better.

Nice.

Nicola swooned at that moment, only to be caught by Paz.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“By the Heralds,” she said. “You found it. You really did. I know you promised to do so, but I didn’t dare to dream.” She struggled to her feet. “Damien, do you know what you have done? You’re the first person to recover the Skeelien treasure in over a thousand years . . .”

“We,” I said. “We are the first. We did this together.” And, now, a riddle needed to be solved.

I held the dungeon heart up to Traveler’s Map. It lined up perfectly with its simulacrum on the wall. “I know time is sparse, but I can’t leave the Labyrinth until this mystery has been solved.” I lowered my gaze. “If you both wish to leave now, I’ll understand. I also promise to return in one piece.”

Nicola glanced in the direction of the exit portal. She sighed and shook her head. “We’re with you, Damien.”

Paz grinned. “Do you even need to ask?”

I beamed at their words. Trust like theirs hadn’t been easy to build. I couldn’t afford to disappoint. Besides, I had a good feeling about my decision. The item description confirmed as much.

The Egg of the Labyrinth granted its owner power over the dungeon. And, what kind of power would it be if it lay at the mercy of its domain?

Numerous rankers had died in the madness Byron had orchestrated. But, he wouldn’t have gone that far if the Labyrinth didn’t demand it. I had to know why . . . to make sense of all the slaughter.

I slotted the dungeon heart into place.

Expanding Traveler’s Map.

Please, select a destination.

I took a deep breath. “Show me the secret.”

The Traveler’s Map hesitated.

Destination selected.

Preparing transfer . . .

Oh. My. Gosh.

Transfer completed. You may disengage.

The wall containing the Traveler’s Map crumbled with a deafening roar. Brick and mortar zipped off into the void, pulled away by an invisible vortex.

Paz whistled again.

A dark passageway unraveled where the Traveler’s Map had been. Steeling myself, I stepped through it.

For someone attuned to Fear, I hated the dark just as much as I reveled in it.

The corridor here lacked the natural lighting that permeated the rest of the dungeon. An impermeable darkness stretched as far as the eye could see. Even with my sight perk active, each step forward felt like a tumble through the abyss.

Nicola huddled up to me. “Damien, you don’t think the dungeon heart is gone forever, do you?”

“I-I don’t know,” I said. “I’m sure we can retrieve it. Somehow.”

The light from the Traveler’s room winked out behind us as if daring my statement.

Paz dug a gem-powered lamp out of his inventory. “What?” he said at my pointed look. “I have a vision perk too, but I’m not going to risk falling into a trap. Whatever’s in here is probably aware of our presence anyway.”

I gulped at his words.

We continued through the darkness, giving up all pretense of stealth. [Silhouette] had turned reserved since we entered, so much so that I couldn’t tell if it still existed in my shadow. The lamplight barely helped. At some point, the walls seemed to fall away, leaving tall pillars of gloom standing in their place. Even the ground turned to pitch beneath us, as though we walked atop a long stretch of nothing.

My heart thumped erratically in my chest. What did I hope to find here in the deepest recess of the Labyrinth? Wasn’t I content enough with winning the dungeon heart?

Regardless, we continued against all hope and reason into the void. A small breeze picked up as we traveled, bearing a stench. The breeze soon turned to a gust, then to a steady wind, and then to an actual wall of air we had to struggle across.

Through all this, the stench intensified until it became unbearable, dissuading us from speaking lest we should inhale a mouthful. My eyes watered with each step, and just when I’d had enough, the wind and darkness stopped.

The bars of a large cage towered in front of us. Not just large—humongous—which made me wonder about the size of its prisoner. Red mist wafted through the bars of the cage, and I recalled now why the stench had seemed so familiar.

It was the same odious smell that effused from the pit back at the final chamber. I had finally found the source.

Or more precisely, the source had found me.

The red mist was so overpowering that it brightened the gloom. And yet, the interior of the cage remained dark and inviting, as though urging us to walk through the gaps.

Paz spoke with a stutter for the first time since I’d known him. “C-can we talk now? I feel we should talk now. Because what the fuck is this?”

Nicola simply shivered by my side. Her hand had slipped into mine at some point, frigid despite the muggy air.

I couldn’t tell how far we had traveled or how long. The exit portals had probably closed. It would suck to bring my party this far only to kill them at the end.

“Let’s turn back,” I said.

And then, I sensed it. The rousing of a great entity within the cage. It moved from its resting spot to the perimeter of the bars, quicker than I could scream.

A suffocating pressure bore down on my lungs. My very skin melted into a puddle, ridding me of all senses and presence of mind. I could no longer feel Nicola’s hand in mine or smell the foul wind that issued from the cage. My sight ended in darkness, and my ears became like vacuums.

A morbid face appeared in my mind’s eye, burning like the sun. Nothing about the face looked human, bestial, or even monstrous in appearance. It was merely unnatural, like a phenomenon that shouldn't exist. Facial organs blended together in a sickening potpourri.

An eerie wrongness filled me as I gazed at the apparition which stood attached to a colossal body that occupied the void. Even in my formless state, the creature seemed capable of perceiving all of me at once.

And, I could also perceive it. That part scared me the most.

This is the Hero? It chuckled in a guttural voice. Hero. Hero. Hero.

Or merely a fake? A fake. A fake. A fake.

Real or not. Your soul is known to us.

We will meet at the end. The end. The end. The end.

The grotesque creature vanished alongside the rest of the darkness. Brick and mortar flew past my face. A powerful force tugged me back into the Traveler’s Room . . . or, maybe, I willed it myself. I wasn’t exactly sure.

The force threw me against the ground, amid a tangle of Paz and Nicola. The dungeon heart resumed its position on the wall. A blue screen appeared:

You have uncovered the truth of the Skeelien Labyrinth.

Quest: [Damien the Explorer].

Dungeons Explored: 1/5.

Time remaining: 347 days.

Objective complete!

Reward: [20] spirit orbs.

Nicola shuddered and threw up on the floor, right beside my head. “What the hell just happened?”

I didn't know what to say.

Paz glanced at me with a strange expression. Then, he grimaced and closed his eyes.

Ezin had concluded the dungeon run.

He stood with his back to us, covered in lamplight as he gave the final speech. Only four hours had passed in real time since we had entered the dungeon, yet the fanfare remained, despite the late hour of the night.

A large number of spectators had begun making their way out of the arena, however. They trickled out of the stands and staircases, reeking disappointment.

Even the royal party seemed to share in their disgruntlement. The Queen Regent was nowhere in sight. The governor had transformed his alcove into an informal meeting for his political allies.

Over half the rankers who had entered the portals did not return, but the majority of the spectators didn’t care. All that mattered to them was that the dungeon heart had not been found.

A young specialist—one of Ezin’s aides—dropped his slate in shock as we exited the Labyrinth through what should have been a defunct portal. A few members of the audience gasped.

Ezin turned to inspect the source of the commotion and stiffened as our trio made its way out of the locked dungeon.

A deathly silence engulfed the rest of the piazza.

My teammates stood quietly at my side, battling demons of their own. Neither could comprehend the apparition they had seen within the darkness. I couldn’t either, but at least, I had context to draw from. My awakening at the Pyramid had involved much worse.

The spire of the Labyrinth glowed one final time behind us. The silence worsened, taking a nosedive into awkwardness.

I raised my hand. “Um, we found the dungeon heart.” A miniature star burned in my palm.

The people of Skeelie watched in silent wonder.

And then, they erupted into cheers.