Three players stood out in the open, surrounded by a dozen dead rabbits and a couple neon green snakes. We arrived too late to see the actual fight but soon enough to catch up with the players before they moved on.

The first one was a statuesque woman with light brown skin and reddish-brown hair that was pulled back into a braid. She wore red and grey armor that seemed to be a mix of leather and metal pieces, and in her hand, she held a large double-bladed axe that was still dripping with monster blood.

Standing a short distance away from her, with a pair of knives in hand, was an almost petite black woman with short black hair and armor that seemed to be mostly black leather. She snapped around as we arrived and glared at us with suspicion and a clear readiness to fight.

And last, there was the only guy in the group. He had tanned skin, dark hair, and enough stubble to give him a look somewhere between ruggedly handsome and scruffy looking. What really surprised me though, was the fact that he was not only unarmed, but he also had one arm in a sling.

“The lady with the axe looks like a warrior type,” Grayson told us quietly. “Maybe a berzerker or straight warrior.”

“And that chick with the daggers is probably a stalker,” Lenore added. “Either that or a warrior type who focuses on speed. You don’t usually fight with knives unless you’ve got a lot of speed, accuracy, or stealth.”

Grayson nodded. “And no clue about the guy.”

“Are you done talking about us?” the petite woman demanded with a snarl.

The woman with the axe stepped forward and asked, “What do you want?” The axe was held casually in her hand, but the black blood that was still dripping from it was a clear warning.

“We mean no trouble, ma’am,” Giles said as he stepped forward. His halberd was in his hand, but he was holding it more like a staff, something to lean on rather than threaten with. But as with that woman’s axe, he would be more than ready to use it. “We merely heard the fighting and came over to see who was out here with us.”

“My name is Frank,” the woman with the axe said.

“Frank?” I blurted out in surprise.

The woman…Frank gave me an even look. “That was my name before I died, and I saw no reason to change it now.”

My eyes widened at that. I had questions. Lots of questions. Frank was clearly like me, so there was a lot I wanted to talk to her about. However, I remembered the warnings about digging into player’s pasts and bit my tongue instead.

“This is Jag and Stine,” Frank said, introducing her companions. “Now, who are you?”

“Wait,” Lenore blurted out. “Your fucking names are Frank and Stine.” She snickered at that.

Stine snorted. “Just coincidence.”

“Thank you, Miss Frank,” Giles said, somehow keeping a straight face. “I am Agent Dan Giles of the Wardens.”

“The Men in Grey,” Jag said, looking even more suspicious than before.

“The grey armor is pretty obvious,” Stine told her in a wry tone.

Giles gestured to us. “My companions are…”

“Grayson,” Grayson introduced himself before Giles could do it for him.

“Lenore,” she added.

I hesitated a moment before saying, “Donna.”

This was the first time that I’d intentionally given that as my name. By this point, it was probably too late for me to change it to something that sounded cooler.

“And what are the Men in Grey doing way out here?” Frank asked with an almost deceptive calmness.

Giles hesitated for a moment, clearly trying to decide how he should answer. His contract with the celestial meant that he couldn’t lie, but it didn’t mean that he actually had to answer, or that he had to tell everything he knew.

“I’m here to investigate what happened at the entrance,” Giles finally answered.

“I knew that something was fucked up about this place,” Jag hissed. “We haven’t been able to find that exit anywhere.”

“What is going on?” Stine asked. “We came here to try leaving the Labyrinth, but we couldn’t find the gate.”

“Then, you haven’t heard?” Giles asked.

The three of them looked at each other and all either shook their heads or just had blank looks. “Heard what?” Frank asked.

“This entrance disappeared,” Grayson announced, earning a couple looks of surprise and disbelief. “The entire Labyrinth zone disappeared. All that’s left is a huge crater.”

“My mission is to investigate the disappearance from this side,” Giles answered.

Frank had a deep scowl on her face. “And do you mind saying what you found?”

“What should be the Labyrinth zone is now part of the Labyrinth,” Giles answered. “From what I can tell, the Labyrinth seems to have absorbed it.”

“This does look like Canada,” Stine commented, gesturing around us.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Frank admitted with a thoughtful expression. “Labyrinth zones are already more Labyrinth than real world anyway.”

“No kidding,” Jag added.

“Are you injured, Mister Stine?” Giles asked, looking at the other man.

Stine looked down at his shoulder and the arm that was in a sling, then he shrugged. “I’ll heal…eventually.”

“We ran into a particularly nasty creature,” Frank explained. “One that killed two of our…companions.”

I nodded at that, suddenly understanding why they were trying to get out of the Labyrinth. It had been hard enough losing Pham, so I couldn’t imagine what losing two people would have been like. And to have someone injured as well… That would definitely make it even harder to survive the Labyrinth.

“That creature wouldn’t happen to have been a giant wolf, would it?” Grayson asked.

All three of the other players suddenly tensed up. “Shit,” I growled. “That smokey bastard gets around.”

“It killed one of us, too,” Grayson told them.

“I can help with your injury, Mister Stine,” Giles offered.

That got a look of sharp interest from Stine. “You’re a healer?”

“I have a healing ability,” Giles answered.

Stine considered this for a moment, glanced to his companions, then nodded. Giles moved closer and held out his hand to touch Stine’s arm. There was bit of a glow where they made contact, then Giles pulled his hand away.

“That feels odd,” Stine said. “But better.” He slowly pulled his arm out of the sling and then began to rotate the whole thing. “Definitely better.” With that, Stile tore off some bandages that covered his shoulder, then he examined it before nodding in satisfaction. “Thank you.”

Jag stared at Stine for a moment, then reluctantly asked Giles, “Hey. Do you think you could fix my ankle too?”

I looked at her, finally noticing that she was keeping her weight off the one foot. She hadn’t moved much since I’d first seen her, but during those few steps, she seemed to have been limping a bit.

“That will be no problem, Miss Jag,” Giles said as he bent down to touch her leg.

Frank turned and shifted her axe, looking off to the side. Several more rabbits were starting to arrive. Lenore turned and shot an arrow at one of them, hitting it in the head and killing it. The other rabbit charged, rushing straight at us. Grayson intercepted it and sliced it’s head off before it could hit anyone.

“I recommend that we move our discussion to a more secure area,” Frank suggested. “So that we won’t have to deal with as many of the annoyances.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Miss Frank,” Giles told her with a nod.

“What’s with all that miss and mister shit?” Jag grumbled.

After this, we moved locations to a different spot a short distance away. The river ran along one side while a steep stone wall blocked another. It created a space where there was only one route to get to us, which made it easier to watch for oncoming monsters. Once we were sure it was clear, most of us settled down for lunch and conversation.

I sat on a rock, eating some jerky and leftover bread from the last safe zone we’d found. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any nearby, so we might not be replacing it anytime soon.

“So,” Frank said, looking at Giles. “You have a healing ability but don’t seem to be a dedicated healer.” She left the rest of the question unsaid.

“Invoker,” Giles answered. That earned a couple nods of understanding.;

“You never quite know what invokers might have in their bag of tricks,” Frank responded with a nod. “And the rest of you?” She looked over at us.

“My companions, Miss Frank,” Giles answered, gesturing from one of us to another, “are enchanter, enchanter, and conjurer.”

“Two enchanters?” Stine asked in surprise. “That is…uncommon.”

“Real surprising,” Jag agreed.

“And my companions,” Frank said, “Are an illusionist and brawler.” I noticed that she didn’t say what class she was.

“You’re an illusionist?” Grayson asked Jag. “I would have guessed stalker or a warrior type.”

“I never would have pegged you for being an enchanter,” she responded. “How the hell does a team with an invoker and two enchanters make it through the dungeon?”

Just then, I heard movement from the opening to our little rest area. When I turned, I saw three rabbits moving towards us, slowly at first. However, I also saw them tensing up for a burst of speed. With a faint smile, I activated ‘Cursed Ground’ beneath them, keeping them from moving too fast.

Lenore raised her bow and shot an arrow, one that immediately split into six arrows. They slammed into the rabbits, killing one immediately while a second one was badly injured. She shot one more arrow, killing the rabbit she’d previously missed and leaving only the one that had two arrows sticking out of its side.

“Too bad they’re really monsters,” Stine commented. “Because that would be a lot of fresh rabbit meat.”

“True,” Grayson agreed.

Giles merely nodded, then swung his halberd, bringing the head down onto the remaining monster and finishing it off. Then he casually set the weapon down beside him, within easy reach.

“Unfortunately,” Grayson commented. “We lost one our ranged damage specialists, but we still manage all right.”

“Mister Grayson does bring up a point though,” Giles said, looking at the other team. “Both of our teams have recently lost people, so it might be a good idea for us to travel together until we’re able to reach the next exit.”

“The three of us can handle things just fine on our own,” Jag responded. “Especially now that we aren’t hurt anymore.”

“Jag is right,” Frank said. “We are quite capable of taking care of ourselves. However…” She paused at that, her eyes locking on Giles, “that shadow wolf…”

“We call it Fenrir,” Grayson offered.

She nodded. “Fenrir...is still out there, and I would prefer to have more players if we happen to run into it again.”

“We’ll do it,” Stine said with. “It looks like we’re gonna be travel companions for a bit.”