Pastel. Everything around me was in shades of pastel, from the ground, to the bushes, and even to the sky itself. This looked less like the real world and more like the chalk landscape drawings that one guy in prison used to draw.

Even the monsters were pastel. They were giant balls of fluff, about four or five feet across, and they bounced across the landscape towards us like a swarm of soft and colorful tumbleweeds. But in spite of their cute and harmless appearance, I knew better than to fall for it. I’d already seen these things in action.

Giles positioned his halberd, not bothering to call up his shield since it was probably still recharging from our last encounter. Lenore just raised her bow and fired a single arrow, one which split into half a dozen arrows which drove into the group and through several of the monsters without appearing to hit anything.

“I can’t believe we’re fighting balls of fucking cotton candy,” Lenore spat out, annoyed that none of her arrows had found a good target. “And that I can’t even hit the damned things.”

“Maybe you need glasses,” I suggested.

Lenore shot me a glare and then flipped me off. That brought a faint smile to my face, which I still had in place as I fired a ‘Hex’ at one of the fluff balls. My attack hit.

“These things are annoying,” Grayson agreed.

The other enchanter rushed forward with a speed that still surprised me, using his shield to stop one of the monsters. He snapped around and then drove his blade through it, though there was no indication that he actually hit anything.

One of the monsters came near me and I slashed my sword at it, slicing into the fluff but apparently missing anything more substantial. There was so much fluff that you couldn’t see where their actual bodies were inside of it.

A long and whiplike tongue suddenly shot out from the fluff and lashed out at me. It hit my arm and sliced right through my robe and the skin beneath. I yelped in pain and dropped my sword, only to realize at the same time that I’d made a bad decision.

One of Pham’s wind blades suddenly flew right through the monster, slicing it in half, or at least, cutting off half the fur. With that, I got my clearest look at the monster’s real body. Beneath all that fluff, it resembled some kind of weasel or furry snake. It lashed it’s tongue out me again, but Grayson was suddenly there, blocking the tongue with his shield.

“You may want to keep hold of that,” Grayson suggested, indicating my dropped sword.

“You think?” I spat back angrily.

“Frequently,” Grayson responded with a grin as he brought his sword down through the monster’s exposed body.

More fluffball monsters bounced towards us, their sharp tongues lashing out and slicing through armor. Pham cursed as he took an injury, though he immediately responded by blasting the monster with his scepter.

“Fuck these things,” Lenore swore as she conjured her armor and drew her short sword.

A tongue bounced off Lenore’s armor without penetrating, which let her get close enough to start chopping away at the monster. It took two swings before she connected with the body inside the fluff.

It took a couple more minutes to finish off the latest swarm, and by the time that was done, I’d been injured a second time. My robes were torn up and coated with blood, while my arm and side both had deep and painful gashes. I wasn’t the only one in this condition either.

“Hold still for a moment, Miss Donna,” Giles told me.

The invoker gently placed his hand on my arm, right near where I’d been slashed. A moment later, I felt a pleasant warmth fill the area. The pain vanished at the same time. It took a couple more seconds to realize that my second wound was feeling better as well.

“What was that?” I gasped, pulling my torn sleeve back to look at my arm. My eyes widened as I saw smooth, undamaged skin. There was no sign of the injury that I’d just taken. A look at my side confirmed that my second wound had healed as well. “Holy shit.”

“This, Miss Donna,” Giles answered just a little smugly, “is what I gained from being honest.”

“Invokers start off as pretty fucking useless,” Lenore commented as her armor faded away, “but they can pick up a lot of fancy tricks.”

“Like this healer impression,” Pham added cheerfully.

“Invokers are the most versatile of classes,” Giles announced a bit defensively. “Anything that another class can do, we are able to do as well. With the right patron, that is.” Then he turned his attention to Pham. “Now, Agent Pham, I can take care of your injury too.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Pham responded.

Once Giles had patched everyone up, we continued on our way. However, we hadn’t gone far before we found a new safe area. I immediately perked up at the sight, especially since it reminded me so much of the pond where I’d found food and safety before.

The safe area was surrounded by pastel-colored bushes, and it had a small stream running right through the middle. And then, reinforcing the similarity, there was also a wooden box containing food. But instead of only fruit and bread, this one contained nuts, sausages, and some kind of thick crackers.

“Nice,” Grayson cheerfully announced as he dug into the box. He flashed me a grin and explained, “Safe zones like this are why we don’t have to carry nearly as many supplies. Its almost like the Labyrinth wants people to delve it.”

“Convenient,” I said as I helped myself to some of the food. “Lure people into the Labyrinth with the promise of wealth and power, hand out food and water to make it easier. Then what? What does the Labyrinth get out of it?”

“Entertainment,” Lenore answered with a snort. “It gets to watch players fight and die.”

“And maybe food,” Pham added with a shrug. “With players as the food.”

“Dark thoughts,” Grayson said. “But nothing that people haven’t been asking about since the Labyrinth first appeared.”

I nodded at that as I found a comfortable spot to sit and eat. Then I began to stretch, working out a few of the kinks that had built up from all the walking and fighting.

It was about this point that I noticed Pham watching me, though he was trying to look as though he wasn’t. In fact, this wasn’t the first time that noticed him doing this. And strangely enough, I found that I kind of liked the attention.

I also felt self-conscious about it too. I was a guy…or had been. I wasn’t used to guys looking at me like that. But even more importantly, there was no doubt that I looked like crap. My hair was a mess, I was filthy, and I was dressed in little more than dirty rags by this point.

But in spite of all of that, I knew that I still looked good. I had a nice body with big tits, the kind of thing most guys would drool over. I felt oddly proud of that idea too. It was no wonder that Pham was giving me looks of appreciation.

Then I looked over at Lenore, who was sitting off to the side. She was brushing her hair and cleaning off her makeup. But just as I thought that was it, she pulled out a small compact and some fresh makeup, then began to reapply it. The idea of worrying about makeup in the Labyrinth was absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time, it also felt like it might not be that bad of an idea.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” I muttered to myself.

Ever since I’d respawned in this new body, I’d been changing. It had been slow enough that I hadn’t really noticed at first, but now, it was becoming obvious. My body, which had felt strange at first, now felt surprisingly normal. My tits no longer felt like odd globs of flesh that had been stuck on my chest. They simply felt like part of me. I was getting used to this far sooner than I would have expected.

And then, there were the things that I was starting to think and feel. Those were out of place, or at least, they would have been out of place to Mike Donovan. However, I didn’t really want to think about what this all meant.

I’d reached level five during that last fight, though I’d been too distracted to slot my extra point at the time. Now, that seemed like the perfect distraction. I slotted it into focus then brought up my stats.

CLASS: ENCHANTER
LEVEL: 5
FREE STAT POINTS: 0

FOCUS: 7
PERCEPTION: 7
PRESENCE: 9
STRENGTH: 6
VITALITY: 10
DEXTERITY: 7
AGILITY: 6

TALENTS AND AFFINITIES:
-ENCHANTMENT
--BANES

ABILITIES:
-HEX

SOULBOUND ITEMS:
-ARMOR OF THE ENCHANTRESS

I felt a sense of satisfaction as I looked over the numbers. The slowly increasing stats were proof that I was getting stronger. Getting more powerful.

My strength had even gone up by one point without my having slotted anything there. The same thing had previously happened with my perception. According to Grayson, that kind of thing was actually pretty common. He’d told me that when you’re at low levels, exercise and training can actually increase your stats, but the higher they became, the harder it was to improve them that way.

I looked at my soulbound item, the ‘Armor of the Enchantress’ which was listed at the bottom of the page. It was still there, unchanged, almost taunting me with its presence. When I mentally reached for it, it was still just out of reach. But it was close. Very close.

“Maybe one or two points away,” I thought aloud.

Then I finally turned my attention to the faint blinking at the top of the page, the one that told me that I still had a message that I needed to look at.

YOU MAY UNLOCK A NEW ABILITY. SELECT ONE OF THE CHOICES BELOW

-TOUCH OF FINESS
-CURSED GROUND
-BANE OF SILENCE

I sat up straight and grinned in excitement. Everyone else seemed to notice my sudden shift in body language.

“What is it?” Grayson asked.

“My second ability,” I answered with an eager grin. “I just got offered my second ability.”

Lenore leaned forward and demanded, “So, what did you get, Red?”

“Miss Lenore,” Giles cautioned her.

I ignored them and focused on the abilities that had been offered. The names weren’t very descriptive, but as with my first ability, I had an instinctive sense of what they were about.

‘Touch of Finess’ was a boon, and I had the impression that it was one that I could use on myself as well as other people. But as for what it did, I was a little less certain. Accuracy? Precision? Then it dawned on me. This boosted dexterity, the same way that Grayson’s ‘Dancer’s Grace’ increased his agility.

I liked the idea of getting an ability that increased my own stats, but I immediately saw two problems with this one. First was the fact that it was a boon, not a bane, so it wouldn’t get any benefit from my specialization. And second, I didn’t really have a lot of use for extra dexterity, at least, not enough to use a whole ability on it.

“That one is a pass,” I muttered to myself.

‘Cursed Ground’ was a bane, one that targeted the ground instead of a single monster. I only had a vague idea of what I did, but it still looked like it might be useful.

And then there was the final option, ‘Bane of Silence’. I had the feeling that this one was a lot more like ‘Hex,’ and that it could mess with the target’s senses. Perception? Did it only mess with hearing, like the name suggested, or did it weaken the other senses as well?

I considered these options for a good five minutes, trying to get a better idea of each one did. Then I made my decision.