7.

Traversing the maze was a straightforward process. In a bad sense. Time proved that the twins were indeed the ones creating portals, which initially made us hopeful for saved time. But our dreams were soon crushed. With the number of great hedges blocking our way, forcing our way through wasn’t possible. Doing so would just land us on another path with another set of hedges and no idea if we were going in the right direction. But the real killer was our group size. Every person who took the portal required more maura. Transporting eight people through what could be dozens of paths wasn’t feasible for the twins. That left us no choice but to traverse the maze the old-fashioned way—like it was meant to be done. There were advantages and disadvantages to that approach, I found out when we came face to face with another group of worker ants with a leader among them.

Disadvantage:

‘Watch out!’ I screamed.

The looming, eight-legged [Name: Soldier Ant — Rank: D- — Nature: Earth], which had come out due to the commotion our group made, swiped a massive limb at Boris’s jaw. At the same time, its smaller version, one of the worker ants, lunged for the boy’s feet. Boris chose the more important part of his body to defend, which left his foot undefended except for his hardened skin. But the worker ant’s mandibles were glowing. There was no telling who would win when it was enhancement versus enhancement. Boris realised the danger, too, and would’ve shouted an expletive if not for his weak voice.

But then here was the advantage:

Below, a layer of ice so dense it could’ve been brick formed in the path of the worker ant. The beast smashed into it, cracking its skull on the hard surface but not breaking through.

Above, the soldier ant’s limb slammed into Boris’s shield—

But a portal opened right where the two hard surfaces would clash, and the ant’s foot displaced a meter behind Boris into the floor. Blood showered when the portal snapped shut, bisecting the limb of the beast. It didn’t feel any hurt because the soldier ant swivelled immediately, facing its rear, where Kate and I aimed for its back legs. It wasn’t quick enough. Ice shaped and glued one of its feet to the floor. Kate’s flail flung around instead of straight, smashing one of the front legs all the way from the rear. The soldier ant didn’t fall outright but leaned awkwardly to one side. Which was when May dashed forward from the flank, where she had been waiting for an opportunity, and her flaming blade disabled another appendage. I picked the closest target to me. My cursed spear parted it with ease, and from there, it was all she wrote. The D- ranked beast simply couldn’t stand up against our numbers and the wide variety of our abilities. The soldier ant clattered to the floor, its enormous body nothing more than an empty skeleton after my spear penetrated its skull.

‘Easy going,’ Kate said, wiping the sweat from her brow with her sleeve as we cleaned up the rest of the monsters. She looked over the spoils. We’d slain fifteen worker ants and the D- ranked beast for a total of thirty credits. The system, recognising when two parties were working together, split the points equally between our teams.

‘I wouldn’t mind continuing like this,’ May said. Her eyes were glued to the large beast, and I knew for a fact she was considering gutting it for a potential core.

‘Don’t waste your time,’ one of the twins said, walking past May and the corpse. ‘They’re constructs, not real beasts.’

‘Constructs?’ May said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Who’s making them?’

‘The dungeon, obviously,’ the other half of the brotherly pair said, chuckling to himself at her stupidity.

May rolled her eyes. ‘Gee, thanks, Twin B.’

Twin B grinned, not even commenting on the improvised name. ‘Who cares who’s making them? We just have to kill them.’

May stuck out her tongue at his back, then began moving away and further down the path. I followed.

8.

There were no more side roads in the hedges, so we continued straight for a while. We saw the gate before we reached it. The hedges curved inwards to make way for what was to come, and their bend bled into a circular area reminiscent of an arena. Two pillars and an open centre formed the gate, whose colour had faded over time. The pillars were covered in dirt and grime so thick there was no guessing what the primary colour had once been.

‘That’s a triumphal arch,’ Dale said.

We were still at a distance from the artwork.

‘Looks like it,’ Hero agreed. ‘What is it celebrating?’

‘Probably the boy sitting below it,’ May gave the practical answer.

On the floor below the arch, sitting on the edge of a reflecting pool that decorated the road, was indeed a boy. How should I describe him? Contrary…conflicting…Yes, he was conflicting. He wore yellow trousers and laced brown boots that almost reached his knee. This was nothing special. Ordinary even. But he was bare-chested. Only his fully red, wild hair that fell to his butt covered any part of his upper body. He was like Taran but more sophisticated.

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‘He’s armed,’ Kate commented. ‘And not alone.’

I searched for other mimics but found none. Then, a shape behind the boy caught my eye—he was sitting up against the side of a golden-furred tiger, a shape I had thought a trick of the light until now.

‘A spirit companion,’ Hero whispered. ‘Seriously?’

‘Is that impressive?’ I asked.

‘We don’t know if they’re bonded,’ Dale said. ‘So no.’

‘But we’re in trouble if they are,’ Hero added. ‘True spirit companions aren’t possible until you figure out your alignment…and that’s not possible until your core fully reaches D rank.’

I uncorked my waterskin and shaped my spear. ‘That would definitely spell trouble.’

‘It’s not confirmed,’ Dale said again. But he took on a lighter step and kept his muscles primed.

We crossed the remaining distance in silence, everyone armed and ready. I took a closer look at the boy when we stood right outside the arena. He was handsome. Noble features and good proportions. But it was in a masculine way and not in that girly manner nobles could get. He was seated with one leg up and the other flat on the floor. Cutting across them was a sword with a wholly black hilt and guard that had been engraved. I couldn’t tell what the engravings were depicting, but the dark lines on the boy’s chest resembled them. These lines extended past his shoulders and went down his arm. They sizzled red on the inside—like they were tunnels dug by lava. Yet, two other things struck me the most. One: boy and tiger raised and titled their head in complete unison like one’s thoughts had led to the actions of the other. The weight behind their gaze was eerie, as if they had seen the rise and fall of a million suns.

But more importantly: the boy had May’s eyes.

The weight in the air disappeared as the boy and his laid-back tiger companion dismissed us as unimportant.

‘He a lost relative of yours?’ Kate spoke up, her brow raised.

‘No,’ May said. Her voice was strained, though. ‘Not that I know of,’ she added.

Inspecting the boy revealed a blank screen, which was strange, to say the least.

Boris grabbed our attention by pointing up. I followed his finger before realising he meant the system notifications. I pulled them up.

New area discovered!

You have reached the central bastion, The Gate of Gwgon Black Flame. Objective: Survive five minutes in direct combat with the Black Flame. Maximum party size: 4. Reward: Sun token. If the group is split equally between two parties, gain another moon token.

Warning: the ember that guards this gate is powerful. Other entry points are advised.

As if programmed, a bubble burst forth from the gate once we finished reading the notifications. It was an expanding barrier that fell in place right in front of us. Boris touched the surface and found he could not get his hands to pass through. The others found the same. Instead, a pop-up appeared asking us to list the members of our group that would go in and if they were sure of their decision.

May snorted.

‘A triumphal arch, an arena and a barrier. Who does this guy think he is?’

‘They are making him out to be a big deal,’ I said. I side-eyed Gwgon. ‘Where is his name even from?’

‘No idea,’ Hero said. ‘It’s not a naming I’m familiar with.’

I looked around. No one had an answer for me—not even Dale, who seemed well-versed in his history and general knowledge. That was disconcerting. We may have been able to glean some information from his background. Weaknesses, strengths, anything, but now we had to enter the fight blind, except for the guess that he would use fire. It was a severe gamble to take. Especially, since we had to spend three days in this place with whatever wounds we received—if those wounds were not lethal in the first place.

I noticed the others didn’t like the forming picture either. Boris and Hero shuffled in place. May was biting her lip, her arms crossed as she stared hard at Gwgon, who wasn’t humouring her with so much as a look. Kate, too, looked unsure. The twins were as unaffected as ever, though. Swallowing, I prepared to ask a question I hadn’t thought I ever would after entering the dungeon. ‘Are we going to fight him? Should we? The warning wasn’t for nothing.’

‘The system also didn’t mention if we could leave the battle,’ Hero added. ‘If you get injured, you may not be able to get out.’

My brows touched each other. Yeah. There was that, too.

‘I didn’t see any other roads out of here,’ May said tentatively.

Dale nodded. ‘Unless we plan on jumping through the hedges randomly, we’re out of luck.’

That’s when a silence took hold. Four people had to go in, and no one knew if they could get out…who would go? I wet my lips as the unease increased. Do I want to do this? I had the elemental advantage. But if that were enough, the system wouldn’t have warned us. This could be life or death. If I died, May and the others would have a way harder time—

‘I’ll go.’

My breath hitched as Dale’s words registered in my head.

Kate was surprised, too. ‘We had an agreement.’ She tilted her head. ‘Certain death was not a part of it.’

Dale laughed. ‘I’m confident in my ice. Besides, two of us will have a direct advantage; how can we lose?’ He turned, sneering at me. ‘The daughter of the Tidal is coming, too, isn’t she?’

I wanted to curse. He’s baiting me, damned dickhead that he is.

‘Djina?’ May’s nails were biting into her bicep through the sleeves of her robe. She was serious—as she always was when she said my real name.

‘If the others agree I’m the best option,’ I said, refraining from clicking my tongue. It was whatever. Allowing Dale to get a one-up on me irked me too much. I would do this.

‘Then I’ll go, too,’ May said. Her worrisome face quickly adopted a grin. ‘Black Flame. I want to see what he’s all about. He better not disappoint.’

‘Jealous he took your limelight?’ I said.

Her grin turned into a cheeky smirk. ‘A ballroom only needs one centrepiece.’

I scoffed. It didn’t pass me by that Gwgon was essentially what May’s father wanted her to be: a boy, who was a formidable fire user. May would be rearing to go for more than just the token.

‘Guess that leaves me.’ Kate stepped up. She glanced over our would-be team. ‘Not too much utility. But we’ve got firepower. We’ll take a break and top up before we go.’

My head tipped up and down absentmindedly as I flicked another gaze to the side. Something had moved. Had the hedge released a stalking predator? No, this had looked like a shadow. My eyes went up. It had just been a bird, I realised. I couldn’t see what kind because the sun was overhead, but it was a bird nonetheless.

‘What you looking at?’

I shook my head, waving May away. ‘Nothing. I just need a nap.’ Even bird shadows were starting to put me on edge. Picking a spot on the floor that looked clean enough, I closed my eyes, waiting until the time was right.

image [https://i.imgur.com/VbDtJqQ.jpeg]