Snakes. Snakes slithered around nearly everywhere I looked, from the moist jungle floor to the brick walls of the old Aztek or Mayan style ruins. The snakes were easy to see, being neon green and around two to three feet long.

Giles was reading through his book, nodding every once in awhile. Then he closed it and looked around with an almost satisfied expression on his face.

“We’re close to the exit,” Giles announced. “This location and the monsters match what was reported just inside the Northwest Territories entrance a couple months ago.”

“Snakes,” Grayson said with a smirk. “Why did it have to be snakes?”

“The question is,” Lenore asked. “Are they poisonous?”

“This is an important question,” I agreed.

Giles nodded at that. “Miss Lenore. Miss Donna. We are in a shallow area of the Labyrinth, so the monsters should be relatively weak. The last reports confirm this, though they also note that the snakes are venomous.”

“So,” I commented flatly, “we have to walk through a bunch of poisonous snakes. What are the odds of one biting us?”

“A single bite won’t kill,” Giles continued before admitting, “But four or five of them probably will.”

We all stared at the path ahead of us, nobody saying a word. We were probably all thinking the same thing though, that this would have been a great spot for Pham to shine. His wind blades would have been great for clearing out the snakes.

“Easy to kill but a lot of them,” Grayson mused. “We can manage.”

“Way too many to just fucking shoot,” Lenore grumbled. “Even when I conjure extra arrows.”

Then Lenore let out a stream of muttered curses, though I couldn’t make out everything she said. She grimaced, then conjured her armor. As soon as she was covered head to toe with that shiny metal armor, she drew her short sword and then took the lead.

As soon as Lenore stepped into the middle of the path, multiple snakes slithered towards her at once. She remained still long enough for several of them to try biting her, then she bent over and began to swing her short sword. It didn’t take long before the area around her was clear of snakes.

“Not bad,” Grayson said. “Between my boots, armor, and the boons that boost my health and reflexes, I should be able to handle this too. We can take turns.”

I nodded at that, not wanting to be completely outdone. My ‘Hex’ could easily kill one snake at a time, but if I was going to go after a lot of them, it would take forever. Still, I did have a couple tricks up my sleeve.

With that, I stepped forward and placed a ‘Cursed Ground’ to the side of the path, right in a spot where a hundred or more snakes were trying to pass through to come at us. In an instant, every snake that was caught in my bane slowed down, giving us plenty of time to simply walk past if we didn’t want to bother killing them.

“Very good, Miss Donna,” Giles told me with a faint smile. “Like fish in a barrel.”

“Better than being like snakes on a plane,” Grayson added with a self-satisfied chuckle.

Giles swung his halberd and sliced through several snakes at once. However, he was careful to stay back and out of my ‘Cursed Ground’. Grayson, however, took a deep breath then marched right into it.

“Wow,” Grayson announced with a grimace. “This sucks.” He swung his sword down and cut up a couple snakes. “It feels like my agility and dexterity both took a big hit. I’m barely able to keep hold of my sword. It’s like I’ve suddenly developed a case of butter fingers.”

“What about your agility?” I asked curiously. This was the first time that a person had gone into my ‘Cursed Ground’, so I wanted to see his perspective on the effects.

“Definitely weaker,” Grayson responded. “I’ve lost about half of what my ‘Dancer’s Grace’ gives me, so I’m still above my baseline.” Then he took a cautious step and added, “And it sort of feels like I’m walking through mud too. I’m just…slow.”

“Well, fuck,” Lenore grumbled. “Now I have to see for myself.”

With that, Lenore carefully stepped into my ‘Cursed Ground’ as well. Her movements immediately slowed and her sword slipped right out of her armored hands. She muttered a curse while Grayson chuckled, then she made do by simply stepping on a snake.

I stood back and watch, not bothering to waste a ‘Hex’ on the snakes. As it was, their attempts to kill all the snakes was a bit like watching a fight in slow motion.

Once the large group of snakes had been dealt with, Grayson said, “I am NOT doing that again. That is one hell of an annoying debuff.”

“No fucking way,” Lenore agreed emphatically.

I just chuckled at that and pointed out, “I can probably make it a little more selective with more points in focus.”

As it was, I was starting to see what a few points in focus could do for my abilities. It didn’t really make them any more powerful, at least not directly, but it did make them easier to control and modify. I could make my banes weaker, but a little quicker to recharge in the process. Or, I could concentrate the power of my ‘Cursed Ground’, making it smaller but a little stronger.

I quickly brought up my stats and looked them over, trying to decide where I wanted to focus my attention as I grew stronger.

CLASS: ENCHANTER
LEVEL: 8
FREE STAT POINTS: 0

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

TALENTS AND AFFINITIES:
-ENCHANTMENT
--BANES
-MAGE STAFF

ABILITIES:
-HEX
-CURSED GROUND

SOULBOUND ITEMS:
-ARMOR OF THE ENCHANTRESS

I definitely wanted at least one more point in focus, just so I could get it to ten. That would make it the same level as presence and vitality. And for all I knew, it might also unlock more features for my soulbound armor.

And of course, I also had Pham’s staff…my new staff. It added to my power as well, even if I hadn’t needed it against the snakes. Still, I felt a lot stronger for having it in my hand. With that staff, I could finally hold my own.

After this, we continued marching along the jungle trail, occasionally stopping to deal with the snakes. Grayson and Lenore made quick work of them, especially without my ‘Cursed Ground’ slowing them down. Eventually, we came to a large stone arch.

“This should be it,” Giles announced as he looked over the stone arch with a suspicious expression. “This should be the exit we’re looking for.”

Giles hesitated for a moment before stepping through the arch. Everyone else quickly followed after him. A moment later, we were out of the jungle and in a new place entirely.

I looked around and saw that we were standing on a rocky outcropping, surrounded in all directions by forest and mountains. A powerful river roared as it passed by only a couple hundred yards away.

“This place looks pretty nice,” Grayson mused. “Maybe a good spot for fishing.”

“This…,” Giles said slowly as he looked around. His expression was grim. “This place fits the description of the area outside the Northwest Territories entrance. It fits the description exactly.”

“So, we’re out?” I asked with relief. This was the first time that I’d stepped out of the Labyrinth since waking up in my new body, and I’d begun to think that I’d never leave. “We’re out of the Labyrinth…”

“No, Miss Donna,” Giles responded with a grim expression. He pointed to the stone arch that we’d just gone through. “That was NOT a Labyrinth exit, nor even one of the echoes…”

“Oh shit,” Lenore exclaimed.

“That was just the same kind of portal we’ve been using,” Grayson said as he stared at the stone arch. Then he snapped around and looked out at our surroundings again. “The kind that goes from one area in the Labyrinth to another.”

“We are still inside the Labyrinth,” Giles stated with a grim expression. “I think… I think the Labyrinth swallowed up the entire zone.”

----------

I crouched down and stared at a large skeleton that had been picked clean. I was pretty sure that it had once been a bear, though the bones were a little too broken and scattered for me to be sure. It wasn’t like I was any kind of expert on animal bones.

“Do you think the monsters got it?” I asked.

“Probably,” Grayson responded. “But the question is, which monsters?”

I nodded at that and looked around. It looked like we were in northern Canada, and the chill wind in the air seemed to support that. However, the normal wildlife was strangely absent. Or, that was what Giles insisted. We saw a few birds and rodents, but this was the first sign we’d seen of anything larger.

There were monsters though. Lots of them. There were some of those neon green snakes that we’d seen before, but not nearly as many as there had been in the jungle. Instead, we were faced with rabbits. Giant rabbits that were each the size of a large dog, with glowing red eyes and spikes growing out of their backs.

“Fuck,” Lenore exclaimed.

I looked over and saw that she was already in the process of firing another arrow. It hit one of the giant rabbits, which fell down dead, right beside the body of another one.

“These damn things just don’t stop coming,” Lenore grumbled. She was already conjuring another arrow in preparation for the next rabbit.

“What a hare raising problem,” Grayson said with a faint smile.

“This is just like any other area of the Labyrinth,” Giles said with a deep scowl.

We’d spent the last couple hours walking around the area, trying to figure out what had happened to the Labyrinth zone. And from what we’d seen, Giles was right. If I didn’t know that we were supposed to be in Canada, right outside of a Labyrinth entrance, I never would have known. There were monsters. There were trails leading through the area, trails that Giles said shouldn’t be there. And most importantly, we couldn’t simply step over an imaginary line and be back in the real world.

“We have five more of the furry little bastards,” Lenore said as she fired another shot.

I looked up and saw more of the rabbit emerging from behind trees and rocks. I readied myself to fire off a ‘Hex’, though I knew that ‘Cursed Ground’ would be even more useful. At the moment, the rabbits were hopping around, being deceptively slow. However, I wasn’t fooled. I’d seen how fast they could run once they decided to charge at you.

“Can you slow them, Miss Donna?” Giles asked me.

I shook my head. “My ‘Cursed Ground’ hasn’t recharged yet.”

A moment later, three of the rabbits suddenly charged towards us, moving at an almost blinding speed. Lenore’s shot missed as her target was no longer there. Giles threw up his shield and one of the rabbits slammed right into, breaking its own neck in the process. The other two rabbits got in before she shield went up.

Grayson swung his arm, knocking one of the rabbits aside just as it was about to hit Giles. Then he snapped around and drove his sword right through another rabbit that had been coming for me. That wasn’t enough to kill the rabbit, but the next swing of the blade was.

I was amazed by Grayson’s speed and made a mental note to add a point or two to my agility, when I had points to spare. For now, I still had other priorities.

My attention went to the rabbit that Grayson had knocked aside with the shield. That had slowed the rabbit down and it looked like it was taking a moment to reassess it’s next target. I took the opportunity to hit it with a ‘Hex’. It immediately staggered which left it open for Giles.

There were still a few more rabbits outside the shield, including new additions that had appeared during our little fight. Lenore kept her focus on them, shooting at one rabbit and then another. Several times, she even conjured multiple arrows to really rain the damage down on them.

The rabbits were fast and vicious, but they were also relatively weak. They were easy to kill…if we could hit them. Fortunately, they were only fast in short bursts, which gave us plenty of chances to catch them.

Once the rabbits were dead, Giles looked around and sighed. “I don’t see much benefit in hanging around here for much longer. I think we should finish sweeping the area, then head back to report what we found.”

“We found two things,” I pointed out wryly. “Jack and shit.”

Lenore smirked at that, then held out her hand for a fist bump. A few seconds later, she added, “We did find out that the Labyrinth fucking ate the whole area.”

“I’ve never heard of that happening before,” Grayson said. “Hell, I’ve never heard of any Labyrinth entrances even closing before recently.”

“You’re right, Mister Grayson,” Giles responded grimly. “Something may have changed, but I haven’t seen any indication here of what it might be. Hopefully, the other teams will have found something.”

We continued searching the area for a couple more hours, but we didn’t find anything besides more monsters. Eventually, we began heading back to where we’d entered this area from.

“Wait,” Lenore abruptly exclaimed, holding out a hand for everyone to stop. “Listen to that…”

I turned my head to listen, not sure what I should actually be listening for. Then I heard it, the sound of fighting in the distance. It didn’t sound like it was too far away. And then, I heard some voices, though I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“People,” Grayson said in surprise. “Do you think it’s other players?”

“Perhaps, Mister Grayson,” Giles answered with a thoughtful expression. “Why don’t we go find out.”