I stared down the corridor in front of me. At first glance, it was a straight and empty hall, and it looked like it would be a simple matter to just stroll right on through. However, there was also the matter of a dozen glowing red spots scattered about down the path. There were a lot of traps for one stretch of hallway, especially compared to all the other areas I’d already been through.
“I’d almost think that the Labyrinth didn’t want me to go that way,” I mused aloud.
Of course, if the Labyrinth really wanted to stop me from going that way, there were plenty of other ways it could stop me. It could flood the entire area with monsters, have a single giant porcubomb blocking the way, or even just block it entirely with a nice thick wall.
During my time inside the Labyrinth, I’d noticed a few oddities. One of them was that no matter the area, no matter how strange or dangerous, there was always a path through. In the real world, that shouldn’t have been the case. There should have been places that just came to a dead end and forced you to go back and find another way around, but I’d seen very few of those in the Labyrinth, short of inside this maze.
To my mind, this reinforced the idea that the Labyrinth had originally been created as some kind of training ground or entertainment. That would explain so much of what I’d seen inside, from the safe zones to the treasure boxes. Those things only really made sense in the context of a game.
“A damn dangerous game,” I added aloud.
My mirror ball continued to gently tug me in the direction of the trapped corridor. That was definitely the way I needed to go. Without that guiding shard, I never would have known that…nor had any idea of how to navigate the damn maze. Fortunately, I had the mirror ball to find my way and ‘Detect Trap’ to keep me out of trouble.
I took a minute to examine the corridor, taking note of each and every trap that I saw. I even made a mental route to follow so that I could avoid them as much as possible.
Step over the glowing brick in the floor, move around the large glowing spot which was probably some kind of trap door, and then avoid the walls where they glowed. I made sure to give the walls a little extra room just in case those glowing spots were motion sensitive. A minute later, I reached the end of that particular corridor.
At the end of the corridor, I found it opening up into a massive space, one comparable to the large caverns near the entrance of the Labyrinth. The chamber was dark, lit by glowing cystals scattered about the floor and covered with a low layer of mist which glowed from beneath, courtesy of those same crystals.
Off to the side, I saw a cavity in the wall that was filled with human bones. Femurs, rib cages, and skulls, all piled up and organized in an almost ghoulish artistry. This reminded me a great deal of the catacombs in Paris, where I’d gone to visit once while on vacation. They normally didn’t let just anyone wander around down there, but I’d been hooked up by a friend who was in the European equivalent of the Wardens.
“Not good,” I thought aloud, suddenly suspecting that I was about to be facing zombies or walking skeletons.
The fact that I could feel primal magic tickling my skin gave me another reason to be concerned. The energy was fairly strong, though not as strong as some of the primals I’d felt. In fact, this felt less like a single strong primal and more like multiple weaker ones. That much was a bit more comforting.
I carefully stepped forward, looking for any signs of monsters, traps, or primals. I didn’t see any of those, at least not yet. What I did see were more skeletons. There were more bone filled alcoves in the walls, as well as scattered piles of bones that had been similarly organized in the middle of the chamber. As I moved forward, I also saw numerous gravestones and other graveyard décor.
“Creepy as hell,” I grumbled.
This whole place was a giant mausoleum. A necropolis. Everywhere I looked, I saw more of the same décor. I had no idea if any of this was real, or if the Labyrinth had created it, bones and all, just to be part of the setting.
Then I saw the ghost. It was a transparent man, standing beside one of the grave markers and enthusiastically arguing with someone who wasn’t there. There was no sound, so it was almost like watching a movie on mute. In fact, this particular ghost suddenly reminded me of Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie, the part where her hologram asked for help, then kept replaying. This ghost seemed to be doing much the same.
“A primal,” I mused as I watched the ghost. I could feel the primal’s presence. “A spectral.”
This was quite a bit different from the monster ghosts that we’d fought before. This one was just going about its own business, ignoring me completely. I momentarily considered interrupting, just to see if I could talk to the thing, but quickly decided against it.
I gave the ghost a wary look, then continued on my way. Still, I clutched my hammer a little tighter and readied myself to draw my dagger if needed. Just because it didn’t seem hostile now was no reason to be careless.
It didn’t take long before I saw more ghosts. A man and woman walked across the floor, arm in arm, with romance in their eyes. They went about thirty yards, then abruptly vanished, only to reappear a moment later right back where they’d started from. They repeated this several times before I moved on.
Two women fought each other with knives, until one of them won the battle and drove her knife into the other one’s chest. After this, they both faded away and vanished entirely. I waited a couple minutes, but they didn’t make a reappearance.
There were more ghosts as well, though I quickly realized that not all of them were actually primals. Some of them seemed to just be projections of a primals power, as though a single spectral was creating multiple ghosts at one time. After awhile, the creepy factor began to fade a little and I began to feel like I was just walking through one of those haunted houses that popped up every Halloween.
While I walked through the chamber and took in all the sights, I continued to feel the primal magic tickling my skin. That constant sensation was equal parts comforting and annoying. At the same time, I was absorbing that very energy. It felt like I had some kind of battery inside me, and this energy was slowly charging it up.
“This is a good place to absorb primal energy,” I mused aloud. “Plenty of it about.” I still had no idea of what good that would do me, but I assumed that it would have some benefit.
I suddenly saw a fluttering from the corner of my eye and quickly turned to look at a decorative pile of bones. Perched on top of the bones, on top of a skull that seemed to be the cap of the pile, was a bird. A ghost bird. It looked like a crow, except that it was entirely white and transparent. And then there was the fact that its eyes glowed red. All four of the eyes, two on each side.
The ghost crow let out a silent ‘kaw’ before it abruptly flew away. It hadn’t made a single sound, though it certainly looked like it had been trying to.
I shrugged at that and continued on my way, passing a ghost dog that seemed to be sleeping, though its legs kept twitching like it was dreaming of chasing rabbits. I smiled faintly at that, wishing that I could give the dog a good scratch behind the ears.
“You look like a good boy,” I told the dog. “And you look like you’re enjoying your nap, so I’ll just let you be.”
I paused as another ghost wandered past, crossing my path but not offering any indication that it had even noticed me. This one looked like of those grey dwarves, or at least, the ghost of one. Somehow, I doubted that this was one of the ones that Raze and his people had killed.
“That bastard could probably fill a whole damn graveyard all by himself,” I muttered with a growl that didn’t sound nearly as menacing coming from my current throat as it would have from my old one.
I shook my head to shake thoughts of vengeance out of it, at least for the moment. I couldn’t afford to be distracted in a place like this, and thinking about Raze and what I wanted to do to him could be quite the distraction.
“Focus on what’s in front of you,” I reminded myself. “One step at a time.”
That advice had always worked well for me. It had served me well for my career in the Wardens, and it had worked pretty well for me in the Labyrinth as well.
Then I paused to look around, taking a closer look at my surroundings and trying to see if there were any notable details. All I really saw were more of the bones and graveyard monuments, the same ones that I’d seen since stepping into this giant chamber. But then I looked ahead of me and saw something emerging from the mist and darkness. Could it be? I carefully moved closer and the structure became clearer.
“Stairs,” I gasped in relief. “And they’re going up.”
As I got closer, I could make out more details. The stairs were stone, made of the same bricks as most of the maze, though they were decorated with the occasional bone. These didn’t seem to be carved decorations, just ‘real’ bones that had been placed on the side rails for aesthetics.
“Hopefully that will get me back up with the others,” I said, allowing myself to let out a sigh of relief.
A moment later, the ghost crow swooped down and landed on a nearby grave marker, one that was shaped like an obelisk. The spectral bird stared at me with those glowing red eyes then let out another silent ‘kaw’.
This crow was not a primal, at least not a whole one. It was more like echoes of a primal’s power, like how those imps and devils had been for the infernal. It was a little more ‘real’ than some of the previous ghosts I’d seen, which had merely been projections of some sort, but not by a whole lot.
I was pleased that I could tell so much about the bird, and about the previous ghosts. The more time I spent around these spectrals, the better I was getting at picking up the details. I suspected that if I spent enough time with them, that I might eventually be able to develop a subtype or specialization for spectral type magic.
I chuckled faintly at the idea of being able to develop a new specialization so easily. So far, it was only a theory that our experience in a past life was what led to the specializations we already had. Admittedly, I thought it was a pretty damn good theory.
Then I shook my head and started for the steps, eager to get out of here and back with my friends. However, before I could even reach the stairs, something suddenly shifted and moved in the mist. I stepped back and readied myself to charge an ‘Invocation of Spite’.
“YOU…SHALL…NOT…PASS…” a moaning voice exclaimed.
The voice seemed to be coming from all around me, not from a single spot. The mist around me was moving as well. Then I caught sight of the crow, which was now perched on the side rail of the stairs.
Something began to rise up from the mist in front of me. At first, it looked like a shapeless mass, but then it began to take form. Seconds later, a ghostly figure stood there, one that resembled a human man wearing a cloak and strange helmet. The cloak seemed to be made of feathers, and the helmet resembled a bird’s skull. A crow’s skull. The primal held a weapon, one that resembled a staff with a bird skull on the head. A curved scythe blade stuck out from the side.
Once the ghost had fully appeared, the ghost crow flew over and landed on his shoulder. It let out another silent ‘kaw’ as it stared at me from glowing red eyes.
“YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE,” the ghostly man stated.
I tensed up, ready to move in an instant. I shifted my hammer, not taking my eyes off the spectral.
“And why would you want to stop me?” I asked, almost casually.
“YOUR BONES WILL ADD TO MY COLLECTION,” the primal answered. “AND YOUR MEMORIES WILL SUSTAIN.”
With those words, the primal lunged at me, swinging its scythe. I leapt to the side, avoiding the weapon while swinging out with my own. My hammer went right through it, just like I’d expected. Still, I’d needed to test that to be sure.
The ghostly crow circled overhead, perhaps trying to distract me from the fight. I wasn’t about to fall for that. However, it did sound like a good idea, so I activated ‘Invocation of the Wisp and sent an illusion of myself running away.
I felt a mixture of relief and annoyance as the spectral pounced on the illusion. I was glad that it had worked, but annoyed by the fact that I’d had to use that invocation at all. I was running low on ‘Invocation of the Wisp,’ which made me hesitant to use it any more than necessary. It was too useful an ability to waste.
Once the spectral’s attention was locked completely on the illusion, I ran towards it’s back, charging up an ‘Invocation of Spite’ while doing so. As soon as his scythe sliced through the illusion, I fired at his back. The primal suddenly howled in pain while glowing cracks spread through his body. The ghostly figure even dropped to his knees, just like a real person would have done.
“Gotcha,” I snarled as I pounced.
A second later, I was behind the spectral with my dagger held to his throat. A couple drops of ghostly blood floated away and then vanished.
“Drop the weapon,” I ordered.
“YOU…WOUND ME,” the spectral gasped, sounding completely shocked by the very idea.
“And I’ll do more than that if you don’t drop that weapon,” I told him, putting just a little more pressure on my blade. A couple more drops of blood floated away and vanished.
The primal hesitated for a couple more seconds before dropping his scythe. As soon as it fell from his hands, it began to fade away, vanishing entirely the moment it actually hit the ground.
“Now then,” I said with an evil grin as I continued holding my dagger to the primal’s throat. “How about we make a deal?”