Arthur took a stroll around the penthouse floor to get familiarized with the layout before leaving his number with Janis his secretary just in case there was a need for him to make decisions.

He drove the two women home and Valkyrie told him that Jethro had called. She told him to show up at the Camelot estate that was being built.

Arthur stayed long enough to get his gear from Valkyrie's trunk and went to the Morlock Labyrinth. The outer wall was nearly done and the foreman handed him a remote control for the gate. He saw Jethro sitting on a pile of cinderblocks looking lost.

"Jethro, get in," he called out.

The man looked visibly relieved and entered the car carefully. "Thank you, I didn't know if I was supposed to work with the construction workers or not."

"No, you will be working in an office close to our labyrinth," he said as the Ferarri arrived at a small gathering of tents.

Bjorn came out and waved when they arrived. They walked up and the big man made a gesture towards the tents, "Temporary accommodations until we get proper buildings set up. I also got a text from Valkyrie, she and Danistrae are heading to meet the Morlocks tonight to start their migration over. I've already arranged for a couple of vans but not sure how many we will need."

"May I suggest school buses? I know someone who can let us use up to ten buses. We can put temporary curtains to cover the windows so no one can see in even if we were to bring them earlier," weakly interjected Jethro.

Arthur nodded, "Normal time will be ok. We would have to close a subway station down if we bring them out any earlier. At least late night, we only need to deal with surveillance feeds which the Sentinel will take care of."

"Jethro, go with Bjorn. He will be your superior for the time being as you familiarize yourself with the operation. And Bjorn, give him the standard contract with NDA. I want him to keep our secrets."

"Yes your highness," grinned the Viking.

"Your Highness?" asked Jethro as he followed behind Bjorn.

"We are in Camelot. Arthur is the leader. So he's like our king, get it?"

"Ohhhh," replied the man as he finally understood the joke.

Arthur walked slowly to the archway and watched the people around. He knew that Shane sent some of the Sentinels here to help out.

He looked at the small statue that acted as a pedestal and placed his hand on it. "I know you were not supposed to be able to talk but I need to know if there is a way to safeguard another labyrinth that I own."

The statue opened its eyes and looked up, "You are correct. Normally we follow our orders to the letter, but you have been an exception. What were you hoping to accomplish?"

"So far from what I have observed. There is a pedestal at each archway that controls the gateway into the labyrinth. If I remove the pedestal and move it here, would that safeguard the archway to not be tampered with? I heard that the GM can open and close the labyrinth with a ritual."

The statue removed his hand from the top of its head, "The ritual would still work without the pedestal. You could move the gateway to use the same archway. When it is moved, the ritual would not be able to open because it is no longer tied to that archway."

"Are you telling me that I could merge the two portals and use the same archway that is right here?"

"No, as the portals exist in a separate realm, they could be tied to a singular archway. It would be similar to your Earth's radio. One device controlling which station to hear."

"I think I understand, do I just tell you that I want to do it?"

"You need to move it yourself. You have the capability. If you are unsure, ask your giant friend." The statue settled back to where it stood and solidified.

Arthur frowned and stared at the statue. He sat down beside the non-commutative stone and tapped his left upper arm. "Vex, you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake. I know it taxes your body when I am so let's try to keep my activity short so I don't harm you."

"I own another labyrinth, how do I move the portal to tie it to the archway here?"

"Do you have the key for the other portal?"

"Yeah, I am wearing it on my left wrist."

"Can you lift your sleeve so I can use my eye?"

Arthur pulled up his shirt sleeve and saw the eye move around.

"I need to see it without the leather."

Arthur sighed and took out a knife to remove the stitches and peel off the leather covering. The key was a metal-looking bracer that had markings on it.

"The key was made by a dragon but based on the markings. It would be a relatively simple thing for me to move it, but for you, I believe it would be a challenging task. Especially when you haven't even read anything from the book."

"I did get through some of the pages and I know how to use a framework. I tested it by doing a stronger healing spell on Danistrae which is why she is back to normal."

"Well, that would change it to a moderately hard task then. Let me walk you through it and you can ask questions so you can understand. When you attempt it, your mind should not have any distractions."

"Ok, I'm listening."

"The key hides the framework within it. When you can see the framework, you should see the energy that is anchored to it. This anchor links the key to the labyrinth but you only see one part of it and the rest appears to be invisible. This is because that thread doesn't travel through your world but through a different plane. Everyone has different ways to interpret what they see, so follow your gut. Among the giants, it would normally be a giant hand with its fingers inside the framework and holding it. The dragons would use claws."

"Is there any other race that can do this?"

"Arthur, I don't think you understand. You shouldn't be able to even attempt this but for some reason, the labyrinth broke protocol to talk to you. That means it believes that you can even if the chance of success is small."

"Wait, break protocol? Is it a living being that is talking or is this some sort of programmed reaction?"

"Even I wouldn't know that answer. Whoever created the labyrinth system made it so that the giants and dragons could not tamper with it. I haven't even heard of using a ritual to open or close the gate. I hope to one day observe that so I can find out what they are doing."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Can you keep your eye open and warn me if I am doing something wrong?"

"I can't do that, it would distract you from your task and that can be catastrophic. The best outcome is that you succeed. The second best is that if you fail, the backlash only destroys you. The worse outcome is the energy from the gate that you are moving gets released and it could destroy everything within 100 miles."

"Ok, I need to focus and think on this. Go and rest, I need to make sure no one disturbs me."

Vex closed his eyes and Arthur pulled down his sleeve. The young man texted Bjorn to come to him.

"Need anything?" came the deep voice.

"I need you to maintain a perimeter while I do something dangerous. Don't let anyone get close to me, don't let anyone talk to me. I can't afford a distraction."

The red-bearded man pondered asking a question but chose to not ask. "As you command my king," he acquiesced instead. He stepped back and grabbed his great axe. He slammed it into the ground dragging a groove that formed an arc and stood in front of it. He shooed people away when they came close.

Arthur sat cross-legged in front of the statue. He peered at the bracer and decided that the only way to deal with this was his way. He released a steady stream of mana as he formed a web around him, locking his legs to the floor. He worked on a web cocoon around the statue with an opening to the statue's head.

He reached up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He noticed that a few people went up to Bjorn but he forced himself to ignore them.

Arthur looked at the key and touched it lightly. "Ok, show me the money." He closed his eyes sending a small amount of mana into his eyes and reopened them. He gazed at the key and sought out the framework that he needed to see. One layer at a time until he reached the core and saw a complex framework. Admiring the work, he found the anchor at the center of the pattern, it looked like a grappling hook with a rope that extended about a centimeter before it extended into nothing.

He reached over and held the grappling hook. He shifted it but it didn't move. He could feel the power that flowed from the rope that should be connected to the gate. He focused on the grappling hook and imagined the prongs straightening to pull it away from the framework. Seeing that it worked, he took a deep breath and brought the anchor towards the statue. He placed it in the opening of the cocoon and brought back the hooks. He was about to seal the cocoon and looked at the original key. It would be foolish of him to waste what was already made, he released more mana and tried to manipulate the framework from the key. It took a bit before the framework shifted to his will.

He brought it over to the statue and put the anchor back into the original framework. He looked at the statue and peered through the layers to find the other framework. He thought about the possibility of future keys and grinned. He created a giant key chain and reworked the original frameworks to look like a key with the teeth of the key linking back towards the gates and the other end stacked in the keyring. He also decided to move from the head and shifted the keys to the heart region of the statue.

Arthur was feeling lightheaded but he felt the two keys were pulling mana from him. He reached in and noticed the Doll's Heart was still there. He released mana from it until the keys were satisfied before the draining stopped.

He took deep breaths and looked at the statue and was surprised to see that it was bigger. It now stood about six feet tall and the statue had its hand on the archway.

The statue opened its eyes, "It will be easier if you name the labyrinths and you can access them by that name."

"Designate the original labyrinth here as the Morlock labyrinth."

"Name accepted."

"Does this mean you will come out when I open the gates?"

"I am not powered by two labyrinths now. The rules that I follow are to be followed."

"Bjorn," yelled Arthur. "I'm going to go test visit the first labyrinth. I'll be back soon. You can go back to whatever you were doing. Thanks for guarding me."

Bjorn raised his axe to indicate he heard Arthur and walked back to the tents.

"Am I allowed to give conditions?"

"Depends on what you want me to do."

"I want you to open automatically to the Morlock labyrinth if a Morlock approaches the gate. Outside of me, I want to allow Valkyrie to open to any of the labyrinths that I can access."

"That is allowable."

"Thank you, please open the gate to the first labyrinth. I want to explore it a little more and try to designate a name when I get back."

The gate opened. "Thank you," he told the statue as he crossed.

Arthur walked over to the dungeon in the labyrinth. The double doors had markings of weapons and armor designs. Arthur looked at the metal bracer on his arm and tapped it against the door.

The door opened up. Arthur remembered the first time he crossed into the Morlock's dungeon and got attacked. "My name is Arthur, I am the owner of this labyrinth. Can you present yourself?"

The silence gets interrupted by the sound of a suit of armor walking to the opening. The armor didn't say anything as there was no one in it, but it motioned for Arthur to follow.

Arthur walked up without pulling a weapon. He kept his awareness up but followed the armor.

The armor led him downwards and he could feel the temperature rise. There were three forges and all of them were lit. Three stout fellows looked up. The tallest among them shoved a glowing rod back into the forge. The other two began to hammer on the red hot rods they had to flatten it for the start of a sword.

The dwarf-looking man moved a distance from the hammering and eyed Arthur up and down. "Owner you say, you don't look like you could survive getting hit by my hammer one time."

"Be that as it may, the labyrinth acknowledges me as its owner. I am also the owner of a second labyrinth that the Morlocks originally came from."

The bearded dwarf stroked the hair on his chin, "You don't say. You are just a human. Why would us dwarves heed you nor respect you?"

Arthur stood his ground against the gruff dwarf, "You know if you had spoken to me three weeks ago, I would stand here and get bullied by you. Listen up dwarf, there has been no owner of a labyrinth as far as I know, so if you don't believe it. I can lock you up in your dungeon as my right as the owner of this labyrinth and you will never see the outside of your forge ever again. I am intending to form a collaborative group that will work together for the betterment of all races. I have the Morlocks on my side, I am friendly with an orc tribe, and I have a couple of elves and even a giant. So excuse me if I am not going to quiver in fear of a bearded asshole who thinks that I have to bow to him just because I don't fit his view of what an owner would look like."

"Giant, yeah right. Like you would have the service of a giant. You prove that and we'll serve you without complaint."

Arthur yanked his sleeve so hard he ripped it off. "Vex wake up and put this asshole in his place."

The dwarf looked at the eye and saw it move, still unimpressed.

"What kind of proof do you require little fat rat?" said the hitchhiking giant, his eye staring directly at the dwarf.

The dwarf was still unconvinced and pointed at the rod that he had in his forge. "It's said a giant can make a weapon without the need of a hammer."

"Arthur, may I?" asked Vex.

Arthur felt the pull on mana and nodded, "Go ahead."

The mana surge rose around Arthur then it raced towards the red hot rod and lifted it out of the forge. The metal screeched as if being stretched and folded a few times into itself while still red hot. In a few minutes, the metal cooled while being manipulated by the giant, and a sword blade with a rod as a handle lay on the dwarf's anvil.

"Arthur, use the blade on the dwarf's anvil. Show him who we are."

Arthur strode to the anvil. He picked up the sword by the rod hilt and sliced down at the anvil. It split the thick metal block in half like it was made of paper.

The gruff dwarf's jaw dropped. The other two dwarves who were watching quickly knelt and pressed their foreheads to the ground. The remaining dwarf finally knelt and spoke with his forehead to the ground. "Forgive me for my impertinence, We did not know that the giants had returned."

"The giants have not returned. Arthur the owner of your labyrinth saved me from the void where I was trapped for eons. I want you to understand this, you can have your prejudice against humans, but do not underestimate this young man. If you make him your enemy, you will have many as your enemy and that doesn't even count the fact that I side with him. Know your place rat."

"Why do you call them rats?"

"They are small and furry and used to tunnel and infest our homes within the walls. What would you call vermin like that?"

"I see, but for the future can you refrain from calling them that? Consider it a favor to me."

"Very well, I will rest before you tire."

Arthur pats the dwarf's shoulder, "I'll let this go this time. Treat me with respect and don't look down on me or anyone that is part of my group. What can you provide me?"

"We can make armor and weapons. We have been making them for a long time."

"Are there more of you?"

"There are probably less than a hundred of us within the dungeon and labyrinth. Outside of the labyrinth, I wouldn't know. We have lost contact with them for several hundred years."

"What's your name?"

"Khoron."

"Khoron, continue making weapons and armor. I will have my people come and see what you need. They can supply you with raw materials, food, and other things."

"Thank you, Lord Arthur, we are in your service."

Arthur walked back up to the surface and crossed the gate back to Camelot. "Gatekeeper, designate the first labyrinth as the armory labyrinth."