Interlude:

“They’re gone,” Bunny exclaimed tearfully. “They’re both gone.”

Maya Ramirez winced at those words. She’d seen it happen too, Ace getting buried by a collapsing wall while Maggie had fallen into a gaping hole that had suddenly opened beneath her.

The Warden looked around, taking in the wreckage that surrounded her. That explosion had devastated the local area of the maze, destroying walls and floors alike. Severl nearby porcubombs had gone off in the chaos, which only added to the mess.

Her eyes locked onto the pile of wreckage and rubble which blocked the corridor, though she knew it would be pointless to try climbing over it. She’d alread seen the other side, where walls and floor had completely crumbled away. That was where they’d lost Ace and Maggie, before they’d been separated from them even further.

This wasn’t the first time that Maya had lost friends and teammates while on a mission. That was always a risk for Wardens, even those who had relatively safe desk jobs. Theirs was a dangerous business, as this latest disaster reminded her.

“I can’t believe they’re both dead,” Turtle whispered. “Like that…without any warning.”

“Maggie isn’t dead,” Maya snapped back. She glared at Turtle, then took a deep breath to steady herself. “Maggie isn’t the kind of person who’d die by falling into a hole.” She spat those last words bitterly. “She’s still alive. She has to be.”

“Maybe,” Olivia offered doubtfully. “But I don’t know how we can find her with THAT…”

Olivia pointed to the pile of rubble which blocked the corridor. All the stone blocks from the wall were melting, just like monsters did after they were slain. However, this was MUCH faster. The sight might have made Maya smile since it was clearing the path, if not for the fact that a new wall was forming in its place.

“What the…?” Turtle gasped.

“It’s making a new wall,” Bunny exclaimed.

Maya could only stare at the newly formed wall, realizing exactly what this meant. The Labyrinth was repairing all the damage, but it was also changing things up at the same time. It was changing the maze so that they couldn’t even go back to where they’d lost their friends. They couldn’t even go back and look for bodies.

“What are we going to do now?” Bunny asked with a defeated sigh. “I mean, we can’t continue.”

“Why not?” Turtle asked.

Olivia snorted. “Because Maggie had our magic compass. And even if we do find those other players…”

“We’re down two people,” Maya quietly admitted, hating the idea of having to abandon their mission but not seeing any other choice. “We won’t have the power to deal with the rogues now.”

“So, what now?” Bunny repeated.

They looked back and forth for several seconds before Olivia admitted, “I don’t know the way forward, but I do remember the route we took through the maze…” She tapped her head and wryly added, “High focus. I have a photographic memory now.”

“That might help us go back,” Turtle responded with a shake of his head. “IF the Labyrinth hadn’t just changed things on us…and IF the way back hadn’t just been blocked off.”

“They we focus on finding our way out of the maze,” Olivia pointed out. “We can decide on our next step after that.”

“We need to look for Maggie,” Maya said. “She has the magic compass which can lead us out of here.”

And of course, once they found Maggie, they’d be in a better position to continue the mission. Not that this was her main reason for wanting to find the invoker, just an added benefit, and one that she felt much more comfortable admitting.

Bunny gave Maya a sad look. “Either way, we have no idea of where we’re going, so it won’t hurt to look for Maggie while we’re trying to find our way out.”

“But if we see another one of those giant porcubombs,” Turtle announced as he began walking, “I am running the other way immediately.”

“No argument there,” Maya agreed. “None at all.”

----------

Ace grimaced as he staggered down the corridor, wincing with each painful step. He’d twisted his ankle, a fact that he felt with each and every step he took. He wanted to stop and rest, but he couldn’t do so.

“I’m just lucky to be alive,” Ace reminded himself.

A wall had fallen on him, and he’d barely managed to get back in time to avoid the worst of it. Still, he’d come away with a twisted ankle and a lot of bruises. It was a miracle that he’d been able to get away at all.

The artificer firmly clutched his remaining scepter, not wanting to lose it like he’d done the other one. The other one was buried beneath the collapsed wall, just as he’d nearly been.

He looked ahead, keeping his scepter ready to fire at a moments notice. So far, he hadn’t seen any more of those monsters, nor even any traps. Well, he had seen several traps, but all the shaking from the explosion had already set them off. Still, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Labyrinth reset all those traps, so he couldn’t take their absence for granted.

“I need to find the others,” Ace muttered to himself. “I do NOT want to be stuck in this damn maze by myself. I am NOT suicidal.”

Ace scowled at those words, trying not to think about how he’d died the first time. It hadn’t been suicide, in spite of what his old friends had probably thought. No, it hadn’t been suicide…just reckless stupidity. It had just been a drunken attempt to impress a girl. A girl who’d already dumped him in the most public and humiliating way possible.

“Talk about a backfire,” Ace muttered to himself. “But forget about her. That’s the past. That was a whole different life.”

He took a deep breath and tried to clear his head, to focus on where he was now and what he was doing. If he wanted to survive until he could find his friends, he would have to pay attention. He would have to stay focused.

Up ahead of him, one of the bricks on the floor looked just a little different than the others. Was that another booby trap? Ace wasn’t sure, but he carefully avoided it anyway.

Ace let out a sigh of relief when he was well away from the possible trap, only to hear a soft ‘click’ from beneath him. Suddenly, the ground started to drop, and he leapt forward as fast as he could, just barely making it in time.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Ace gasped as his heart raced.

He looked back to where he’d been standing and saw that there was now an open trap door in the floor. He carefully peaked over the edge and saw a pit full of spikes.

“Another pit trap,” he muttered, relieved that he’d avoided it. This seemed to be one of the more common types of traps the maze. “I guess the traps are working again.”

Ace stood up and brushed himself off, then carefully looked around trying to see if he could spot any more traps. He didn’t see any traps, but what he did see was a porcubomb, walking along the top of a nearby wall.

“I guess walking on top of the walls might not be safe either,” he mused. Until that moment, he had been wondering how he could get to the top of the walls, since he’d assumed that would be safer than walking through the inside of the maze. “Too bad.”

And then, he saw something else on the other side of the wall. Off to the side, there were a couple of large buildings, ones that seemed to be at least twice as tall as the maze walls were. He couldn’t make out many details, only the fact that he was fairly close.

“Now,” Ace muttered, “if I can only figure out how to get there from here.”

Ace tried making his way toward the buildings but hit one dead end and then another. He muttered a few choice curses as he backtracked again, avoiding several suspicious spots on the ground each time. Then, he finally found the right path.

“YES!” Ace exclaimed as he stepped out of the corridor and into an open space.

There were buildings present, seven of them that he could count. Three of those were the tall buildings that he’d seen from the other side of the wall, while four of them were much shorter, barely even reaching the height of the walls. The taller buildings were largely made of stone blocks, the same kind that made up the rest of the maze, but the rest were made out of wood.

Ace looked around at what seemed to be the town square of some medieval village, an open area which was surrounded by these buildings. Other paths went off to the sides, leading right back into the maze. Whether they’d actually go through the maze or just led to dead ends, he had absolutely no idea.

“This has to be the center of the maze,” Ace whispered in amazement and relief.

If this was the center of the maze, then it might very well be a safe zone. That would be ideal, and would make it the perfect spot to wait for his friends. However, he couldn’t help but worry that it might also be a spot with more monsters, like the giant porcubomb that they’d run into earlier.

“I don’t see any monsters,” Ace told himself, though he didn’t lower his scepter.

A moment later, Ace suddenly noticed movement from the corner of his eye. He snapped around and pointed his scepter at one of the buildings, right as someone stepped out the door. It took him a moment to realize that he knew this person. It was Wolf.

“Damn it,” Wolf exclaimed with a snarl. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” another voice said from the side.

Ace turned and saw Mad Mike coming towards him, one of his own scepters in hand and pointed straight at Ace. Before Ace could react, Mike fired. A pulse of white energy slammed into Ace, causing his muscles to go completely limp. He collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

“So,” Mike said as he approached Ace. He casually kicked Ace’s scepter, knocking it away. “I want to know who the hell you are and why you’re here…”

“I want to know that too,” Raze said as he approached, holding a large axe in his hands.

“That’s Ace,” Jace added as he joined them. “He’s from Gideon Heights, along with the rest of those losers.”

Raze fixed his one eye on Ace, making the artificer regret that he’d ever found the center of the maze. That single eye was filled with a twisted malevolence, a burning need to destroy that was now focused entirely on Ace. Ace felt his bladder suddenly release.

“I think this punk just pissed himself,” Mike said with a look of disgust.

Jace burst out laughing. “I always knew you were a fucking pansy.”

Mike crouched down beside Ace and asked, “Where are those other people you were with?”

Ace clenched his mouth shut, refusing to answer. He was relieved to find that his muscle control was returning enough for him to do that much. Not that it would do much good.

“Now then,” a new voice suggested. “Perhaps I should talk to him.”

A woman slowly approached, casually strutting over as though she was walking down a red carpet. She was a tall, lithe, black woman, with silvery white hair that was tied back into the longest braid that Ace had ever seen. This was their shaper.

The shaper resembled Olivia, and not just in her skin color. They had somewhat similar features as well, which made Ace think about Maggie’s claims of them having been turned into their previous incarnations. If that was true, then this woman was probably from the same area as Olivia’s previous incarnation. Hell, they might even have been related in their past lives.

Raze looked at the woman, then nodded. “Go ahead, Godiva.”

Godiva smiled, reminding him of a cat who was about to play with a mouse. She turned her full attention to Ace, then he suddenly felt her presence slam into him, hard enough to make him gasp.

Presence was a strange trait, and one that was surprisingly versatile. It could be used as a battle aura, a challenge that triggered the fight or flight response in most people and monsters. It could be used as a weapon, causing fear and intimidation. And if someone wanted to be more subtle, presence could also be used for charm and manipulation. However, there was absolutely no subtlety in this use.

“Now then,” Godiva practically purred, “why don’t you tell me all about you and your friends.”

Ace opened his mouth to deny her, but he couldn’t resist that strong a presence. Instead, he began to tell her everything.