Christopher opened his eyes and saw a tall cavern similar to the one on the 1st floor but without any runes carved into the walls.

Not far away, a path of clay pavement stretched out, lined with burning torches mounted atop black iron stands. It was darker than the 1st floor but still hundreds of times better than the interior of the maze.

No one was nearby, but he could hear some murmurs deep inside the cave. He looked around, searching for the pristine onyx steps and the dark, gaping maw, but couldn’t find it.

Maybe it’s at the end of the clay path, he thought.

He looked back and noticed Jules lying on his back atop an elevated plateau on the wall, using his backpack as a pillow.

“What are you doing?” He asked. This definitely didn’t seem like a good place to rest.

“Taking a nap,” Jules replied. “Lisa was right when she warned us. Traveling the maze is exhausting.”

“Aren’t you worried about the ghouls or other monsters appearing?”

“Relax,” Jules smirked. “We don’t have to worry about terrors outside the maze. At most, we need to look for other authors, but this is the 2nd floor. No one is going to risk a trip to Aeymenchuk because of two rag tags like us.”

Christopher nervously walked in circles, long enough for Jules to lose his patience.

“Look, this could be a dead end for all we know,” he said, not bothering to open his eyes. “Rest first, we can figure it out later.”

“There’s a clay path and torches ahead,” Christopher replied.

“Good, then it’s probably not a dead end. Now rest!”

“Shouldn’t we be going to the Crossroad right away?” Christopher insisted.

“No,” Jules replied. “And it might not even be the Crossroad.”

“What do you mean?”

“We might be near the Apex instead. It’s impossible to know where the maze takes us.”

“Aren’t they connected?” Christopher asked with a bad feeling.

“No. They are only connected on the 1st floor,” Jules revealed. “This means we might have to return to the maze in a few hours. So unless you plan to advance to the 3rd floor without clearing the 2nd first, I would enjoy a few hours of sleep.”

Christopher frowned, annoyed.

“Come,” Jules patted down on the floor by his side. “We can cuddle if you want,” he joked.

Defeated, Christopher climbed to the stone plateau and lay down near the edge, probably a bit further away from Jules than he needed. It didn’t take long for Jules to fall asleep. The boy breathed loudly, his snoring amplified by the echo inside the cave.

Christopher didn’t expect to get any rest. They were too close to the maze for comfort, and the stone floor was even less comfortable than his makeshift mattress in the swamp. Despite his exhaustion, he found it difficult to fall into slumber–or so he thought.

Christopher was gently shaken awake, and as he opened his eyes, he saw Jules's face plastered with a big, white smile.

“Did you sleep well, princess?” He mocked with a youthful laugh.

Christopher yawned, not bothering to answer Jules. He patted down his clothes, stood up, and climbed down the ledge. His body was sore, and his arms were heavy, but he seemed to have recovered most of his energy.

“Good news,” Jules announced. “We’ve found the Crossroad.”

“We did?”

“Yeah. I checked before waking you up. Let’s go. It's just around the corner.”

Christopher followed Jules through the clay path, deep into the cavern.

A torch was placed down every hundred meters, slowly burning–Christopher wondered who kept them ablaze.

The path soon merged with a larger clay pathway, and for the first time since Christopher entered the 2nd floor, he saw other people.

Unlike Christopher and Jules, who looked like rag-tag adventurers covered in gunk, blood, and sweat, there were three tall women further away down the path.

They wore light, white robes beneath finely crafted silver armor. Beautiful silver helmets adorned with flowing crests shaped like eagles rested on their heads.

There was something “else” about them, but Christopher couldn’t quite put the finger on it.

“Ladies of Silk. Let them go ahead,” Jules said, raising a hand and stopping Christopher.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Is there a problem?”

“Not necessarily, but the Labyrinth is dangerous, and not just because of terrors.” He warned. “The fewer people we have to interact with, the better. And we should be extra careful until we go through the Prelude.”

Christopher nodded in understanding.

They resumed their march, frequently stopping when large groups of people passed by–none as impressive as the Ladies of Silk, but still enough to make an impression.

Finally, a pristine set of onyx steps appeared in the distance, surrounded by large, burning pires with a dark, gaping maw on top.

Four men watched over the steps, dressed in similar uniforms and wearing long spears. They didn’t bother to stop the Authors who appeared at the top of the stairs but made sure to stop every single one that tried to go up, causing a long queue to form.

“What are they doing?” Christopher asked.

“Checking for dwellers,” Jules replied. “Only Authors are allowed to go up.”

“They don’t let dwellers leave the Labyrinth?” Christopher asked with surprise.

“No. Now, go ahead and hurry up. Choose one of your pages and fixate it to the 2nd floor. The better if it's a Generic page.”

“Are you not coming?”

“Better not,” Jules whispered. “I don’t have a Tale yet. I’m not an Author. Lisa gave me a token to prove my identity as an outsider, but it’s best if I don’t have to use it.”

Christopher nodded and walked towards the onyx steps, leaving Jules behind. He hesitated whether to wait in the queue, but given that he wasn’t planning on returning to the 1st floor, he walked around it, earning some judgmental gazes from the other Authors.

He awkwardly took his Tale out of his waist and took his new Lazarus page out. He thought about fixating the first, but he had gotten used to seeing it secured with duct tape to the inside of his cover every time he opened the Tale.

Ignoring some of the blazing stares, he kneeled and touched the page against the side of the onyx steps.

Do you wish to fixate [Lazarus] to the 2nd floor?

Bright runes suddenly floated in his vision, almost causing Christopher to lose his balance. To the side, a toothless old man threw him a mocking smirk.

Yes.

Christopher agreed mentally, and the page magically disappeared from his hand.

You’ve fixated [Lazarus] to the 2nd Floor.

Congratulations! You’ve cleared a new floor. 1 Free Stat Point was awarded.

That was easy, he told himself, making his way back to Jules. On the way, he opened the Tale and confirmed that the Lazarus page was now bound to it with the brown thread.

“What now?” Christopher asked.

“Now we return to the maze,” Jules replied.

“You want to go to the 3rd floor?”

Christopher knew that the whole point of entering the Labyrinth before his Prelude was to get stronger. But after their experience inside the 2nd-floor maze, he wasn’t sure if they could survive the 3rd.

“We can decide that later. Our first goal is to make it to the Apex of this floor.”

“Do you want to go right away?”

He still felt tired, and sleeping on the floor didn’t help. Besides, the idea of faring so long in the darkness was almost as scary as returning to the swap. He would like to have at least another round of sleep and rest.

“No, not right away,” Jules said. “Come with me!”

Christopher followed Jules along the main trail until it branched onto the clay path, leading them back to where they had slept. Once there, Jules shoved his backpack aside and ordered Christopher to do the same.

“What’s the core of your synopsis?” The boy asked.

Christopher hesitated, unsure if he should reveal the true nature of his synopsis.

“You don’t have to tell me what it is,” Jules continued upon seeing the look on his face. “Just give me a general idea of your Burdens and general stat distribution.”

That doesn’t make things much easier, Christopher thought. The combination of Resilient Soul and Breathless Touch was more harmful than beneficial. The only upside was the vague words stating his soul wouldn’t shatter easily, whatever that might be.

“My highest stat is Blood, followed by Tome, Zeal, and Enigma,” he said, refusing to share more information.

“Increases in four stats are quite rare,” Jules commented. “I guess you don’t have a Breathing Art?”

Christopher nodded.

“I see. That changes things a bit.”

Jules looked around and picked up three small pebbles. He carefully placed them on the ground, evenly spaced to form a perfect triangle.

“How much time do you think we spent inside that maze?” Jules asked once he was finished.

“One and a half, maybe two days at most,” Christopher replied. It was hard to be sure, but he couldn’t see himself staying awake for more than two days.

“Yeah, my guess is around the same,” Jules agreed. “That makes it four days until the Prelude.”

“What are the stones for?” Christopher asked.

“I want you to cast Triangulation Beam.”

“Now? It’s useless inside the maze.”

“Yes, that’s true. But it might not be so during the Prelude,” Jules explained. “Anyway, I’m trying to find something out, so just go ahead and use it.”

Christopher nodded and stepped forward.

“Start slow. Focus on marking the pebble on the right first,” Jules advised.

Christopher scratched his yellow gloves. He couldn’t help but be excited at the idea of casting a spell.