The office was nearly empty, leaving Simon Harris alone with the local Warden in charge, Eileen Davis. Davis leaned back in the chair behind her desk, shaking her head and letting out a sigh.

“Wasn’t that something?” Davis asked with an amused look.

“It was…something,” Simon agreed, thinking over the meeting that had just ended. He shook his head. “So, that Maggie was the new player you called me about.”

“The potential candidate,” Davis agreed. “I’m sure you can see why I suggested her.”

Simon considered that for a moment before admitting, “She was far more knowledgeable than any new player has a right to be, and some of the things she knew…”

“Yeah,” Davis agreed. “It really makes you wonder who she used to be.”

Davis paused at that to shake her head and open the humidor which sat on her desk. She removed a cigar then held the box open for Simon, who hesitated for only a second before accepting a cigar.

“Unfortunately,” Davis said a minute later as she blew out a stream of thick smoke, “background checks are impossible for players. Most of them never talk about who they used to be…”

“For good reason,” Simon added as he drew on his own cigar.

“And Maggie is no different,” Davis told him with a thoughtful look. “She’s let a few things slip, though I’m not sure if that was intentional or not…nor about how honest she’s been with it. Honestly, I have my suspicions about her, but I’m not ready to share them just yet. I wanted to let you and Ramirez make up your own minds first.”

“I’ll have Ramirez keep an eye on her while they’re in the Labyrinth,” Simon said with a faint smile. “That is why we’re here rather than at one of the other entrances.”

“There are plenty of teams out there who are willing to take Wardens on a run,” Davis mused. “A couple of them even make a living off it.”

“We’ll see how well this group does,” Simon said. “And just how trustworthy they are.”

Simon stared down at the lit end of his cigar, hoping that he hadn’t made a mistake by entrusting his partner to a group of strangers. Still, he could trust in Maya’s training and experience. If nothing else, that would see her through the challenge that was to come.

----------

Maya Ramirez couldn’t sleep. She knew that she should, that she would need all the rest she could get, because in the morning she would be heading into the Labyrinth. Unfortunately, she was too tired to sleep, so she crouched down in front of her open footlocker instead.

The footlocker contained all of Maya’s gear, all of the arms and armor that she’d trained with for the last few years. This was the equipment she’d used to hunt monsters that had escaped from the Labyrinth, and it was the same gear that she would carry into the Labyrinth itself.

Piece by piece, everything came out of the footlocker and was placed on the floor around her. Maya carefully inspected every little bit, not that she needed to. She’d already cleaned, sharpened, and inspected everything before she’d packed it. However, going over everything one more time helped to make her feel prepared.

“I can’t believe I’m finally going in,” Maya whispered with a giddy smile.

Maya paused and shook her head, reminding herself that she was going to go into the Labyrinth with a group of strangers, that she’d be trusting her life to people she didn’t know. That was what really made her nervous, not the monsters. Monsters were predictable, people were not.

Then Maya came to her last piece of gear, the one that was most important to her. It was a simple ka-bar style combat knife, one which had seen a lot of use over the years. Simon had given that knife to her as a present, when she’d finished his training. As far as she was concerned, it was far better than any diploma could possibly be, and far more practical.

“For luck,” Simon had told her at the time. “My old trainer gave me this knife when he was satisfied that I was good enough to take care of myself, and now, I give it to you.”

“Maybe one day,” Maya whispered to herself as she stared at the blade, “I’ll be able to pass you down to someone else.”

With that, Maya stood and stepped back, looking over all of her gear one more time. It was all laid out and ready to go. A few seconds later, she nodded in satisfaction, finally feeling ready.

“I’d better hit the sack,” she announced with a yawn. “Morning will come soon enough.”

----------

The large man stood atop a pile of monster bodies, gore dripping from his axe. Raze let out a howl of triumph and then began laughing. This… THIS was what he lived for. Destroying anything and everything in his path. This was the reason he’d chosen Raze as his name.

Of course, his name hadn’t always been Raze. Once, a long time ago, he’d been a very different man. He’d been weak and powerless, with a job he hated, a wife he’d grown to despise, and children who did nothing but whine and complain. Every moment of that life had been one of drawn out misery, and the car accident which ended it, had turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Raze looked around and then lowered his axe. There were no more enemies to slay. He scowled at that while silently cursing how much he had to turn around just to see his surroundings. Unfortunately, his depth perception had been crap ever since that decrepit old bastard had taken his eye.

“Hey, Mike,” Raze called out to his partner.

The player called Mad Mike casually stepped around the monster bodies as he came closer, absently whistling to himself as he did so. He held a scepter in one hand, ready to use it at a moment’s notice, while a familiar amulet dangled from the other hand.

Raze smiled faintly at the sight of that amulet, a small treasure that he’d been hunting for years, ever since he’d first heard about it as a rookie player. One of the older players had told him about the amulet, a player who’d been part of the team that had found it inside the Labyrinth. Unfortunately, some drunk idiot had lost it at a poker table many years earlier.

“But I found it,” Raze whispered, ignoring the fact that it had actually been Mad Mike who’d tracked it down.

Mike stopped and held up the amulet, which glowed from the red gem that was set in it. As Mike moved the amulet around, the glow dimmed and then brightened.

“This way,” Mike announced. “I think we’re almost there.”

“We’d damn well better be,” Raze said as he marched ahead, readying his axe for the next threat.

“I still think we should have gone back for Zeke’s replacement first,” Mike muttered. “I’m surprised we made it this far with just the two of us.”

“Shut it,” Raze responded impatiently.

Mike shrugged at that. “Just saying. I mean, we’ll probably need more people for the next part anyway.”

“I said, shut it,” Raze snarled, glaring at Mike who shrugged again and continued leading the way.

A short distance later, they found themselves facing a featureless stone building that was shaped like a cube. As they stood in front of the sealed doorway, the only opening that they could see in the structure, the amulet glowed ever brighter.

“Both map and key,” Mike said as he held the amulet up to the doorway. Suddenly, the stone doorway slid aside, revealing a new opening. “Looks like that works.”

“Finally,” Raze exclaimed, grinning with a hungry expression as he stepped inside.

“For now,” Mike pointed out. “Remember, this is only the first step.”

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Raze assured him.

They walked deeper into the building, finding that there were no side passages or turns, merely a straight path into the very center of the building. A short time later, they stepped into a large room, one that immediately reminded Raze of an old funhouse. Every surface was covered with mirrors, including the floor that they walked on.

“This has got to be the place,” Mike said as he grinned excitedly. “I don’t see any other doors, so this HAS to be it…”

“It had better be,” Raze said as he began to look around.

Raze carefully looked over the entire room but didn’t see anything besides the mirrors. There was no sign of what he was looking for, the guide who was supposed to direct them to their real goal. With each passing minute, he grew more frustrated.

“I’m about to smash every fucking mirror,” Raze snarled.

Mike shrugged, then pointed out, “That might make the guide show his face, or it just might piss him off.”

“I’ll take that risk,” Raze snarled as he slammed his axe into the floor, shattering the mirror.

The mirror shattered and spiderweb cracks spread out for several feet in every direction. But a moment later, the cracks all shrank back and vanished, as did the damage where he’d first hit the glass. In mere seconds, the mirror looked exactly the same as it had before Raze had struck it. This infuriated Raze who lashed out and began destroying other mirrors, only to have them repair themselves immediately afterwards.

“I think I’ve figured it out,” Mike said with a deep scowl. “I think I know what we need to get that damn guide to show up.”

“What?” Raze demanded, glaring at Mike with his one remaining eye.

Mike sneered before answering. “I think we need an invoker.”