While an elated Idleaf stood beside me up there in the square, the spot was now empty. She didn’t come down here with us, and questions immediately started popping up in my mind. Did the Labyrinth not let her in? Was she and the elder World Trees wrong? Yet...I was here. Me, her Guardian, was let in and felt no pain.

Damn! Surely she wasn’t the only one who was hurt and suffering, was she?

As images of the young World Tree writhing in pain flooded my mind, warmth hit one of my runes, and I caught a glimpse of a familiar purple mist in the corner of my eye. There, in the midst of our ranks, Idleaf formed her spirit, her eyes bright with excitement and curiosity, with no hint of pain.

She was all right.

Relief hit me so hard that I breathed out loud. This ancient structure we were in didn’t seem to mind her or my presence. It was okay for the two of us to be here, as the elder ones said it would.

“Oh, hello. I’m Idleaf,” the spirit spoke, her eyes fixed behind me. 

I wouldn’t have paid much attention to this quirk of hers if I didn’t know that she had already introduced herself to everyone present when we were up in the square. Worse, she wasn’t looking at either of us, so I turned with a jolt, ready to face whatever was behind me, just like the others, only to stop in my tracks, mouth agape at what I saw.

There, in the grass in front of me, was the ghostly apparition of Traiana. The one I had already seen once.

Shaped by a strange white mist, she was in the same posture as her statue up there on the platform depicted her. That of a woman brought to her knees in battle, wearing armor damaged by a fight and pierced by several arrows. As above, one broken protruded from her chest, the other three from her back. Tears were streaming down her cheek, and blood gushing from her wounds ran down her armor.

Like last time, this apparition seemed more alive than the statue itself, breathing and wailing, a weak cry that echoed through my mind again. 

No!

That wasn’t true. It was in my ears. I actually heard her cry. How? That never happened to me. Yet, though baffled by that, I didn’t dare take my eyes off Traiana to seek answers from Deckard or the others and instead waited tensely to see what would come next. 

Before, when I was suffering from a hangover, she disappeared shortly after showing up. Now she showed no signs of fading away.

What was she waiting for?

Then suddenly, her crying stopped, and horror gripped me when she turned her head in our direction. Despite her form and crestfallen looks, she seemed beautiful, really beautiful, yet her gaze gave me goosebumps. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn she was looking at me.

“So, the time has neared...” she spoke low in a coarse voice, wracked by cries. Its sweet, twisted melodic tone sent shivers down my spine. “Hurry, hurry before it’s too late...” her last words fading away together with her.

What the actual fu...!

“Rude,” Idleaf huffed, snapping me out of my daze. She was annoyed that the apparition did not return her greeting. Trivial, one might say, unimportant given the situation. But her irritation meant a hell of a lot to me. This time, I wasn’t the only one who saw her; who heard those ominous words.

Not willing to jump to premature conclusions as this might have been a common occurrence like so many others, I turned to Idleaf to tell her that surely Traiana hadn’t meant to be rude, that it was just a projection, a recording, only to be met with five dumbfounded stares.

“I’ll be damned,” gushes the master guard, Dean Twofallow. That’s how he introduced himself to Idleaf earlier.

[Tellsword: lvl ??]

But that was not what was important. “Y-you saw her too? I mean Traiana, you saw her? It wasn’t just me, like last time?”

“Last time?” Lightfeather asked, a strong note of bewilderment in her voice. “You’ve seen that...her...whatever it was, before? The imperial Chief Healer didn’t mention that.”

“Because there was no reason to tell him,” Deckard replied and immediately put his hand up to stop her before she could lash out at him. “She got drunk the night before, and was hungover. Shit like that happens all the time. I’m sure you know that, major.”

“Not shit like this, Deckard.”

“And it wasn’t like this,” he argued, glancing at me. “Tell her, Little Beast.”

“Grey?”

“Well, she looked the same, but...”

“But?”

“She was just there at the time, more alive than the statue, motionless, though.”

“She didn’t speak to you?” the master guard asked, unsettled any less.

“No. If anything, her cries hammered my mind awfully hard. That was it. As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared.”

He nodded, thinking. “That’s... the usual thing hangover seekers experience.” Deckard and Lightfeather agreed with the man, thinking to themselves about what they had just witnessed.

“When I was stationed in Torzen, you could hear plenty of yarns in the taverns from drunken seekers as Nehemiah looked at them; chicks claimed he even smiled at them. Of course, none of that was true. Sober, and with a bit of an incentive, they told us they saw what the others saw...what I saw. The apparition was no different from the statue above, just more alive-like,” said one of the imperial soldiers, a woman so hulking I had to raise my head to look at her. 

[Imperial Soldier: lvl ??]

“And I was the only one who suffered under his sorrow. No one in my unit saw what I saw. It goes along with what Grey described...but what we just witnessed, I never heard of.”

Deckard’s acknowledging hum tickled my ears. “There’s more to you than I thought.”

The woman just shrugged, saying nothing, unlike her colleague. My mentor’s remark rubbed him the wrong way. “You thought the Imperial Chief Healer sent us here just as muscle?”

“Kind of,” Deckard said flatly. “Guess you’re not.”

“I’ve heard enough about you...”

“Who didn’t?”

“If I could...”

“That’s enough, Drew,” the soldier woman stopped him. “The two of us are the ones in our unit with the most labyrinth experience.”

Unsurprisingly, Deckard pasted over the soldier’s taunts and flashed her a carefree smile. “Glad to have you here, sergeant. So what do you say? Because I think my apprentice triggered...actually, I don’t know what.”

“Yeah, it was definitely a reaction to her. Or rather, to the World Tree spirit. The patron of this labyrinth appeared with her.”

“And she was pretty rude,” Idleaf said her part, still annoyed by the fact.

“You think I...that we triggered some kind of end-of-the-world event?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Korra’leigh Grey, the Bringer of Doom. “The message spoke...”

“End-of-the-world event?” the master guard wondered at my wording, making me immediately aware that I let too much of my Earth-ness out. Earth was constantly under the threat of destruction. Whether doomsday was reckoned by the dates recorded by civilizations long gone, by huge rocks flying freely through space, by the activities of humans themselves destroying the environment, by weapons capable of wiping out life as we knew it, or by many other threats that could be seen on TV screens or read in the pages of books, the end of the world always loomed in the minds of men. 

Well, that lingering thought of the end of the world, which I had learned to live with to some extent, had now bubbled to the fore of my mind. Did I really bring about the destruction of this world that was to come?

“It doesn’t matter how you put it,” Lightfeather said while biting her thumbnail. “We all know that labyrinths were built to prepare us for some ancient threat coming back or something.”

“True,” the soldier man agreed, his spat with Deckard long forgotten. “As far as we know, the labyrinths are to help us overcome the threat, not to unleash it.”

“So I guess we can all agree that neither Grey nor Idleaf triggered any of that sort,” the hulking imperial soldier woman stated what was on everybody’s mind but mine. However, to tell you the truth, I was quite relieved to hear it. Korra’leigh Grey was not a doomsday bringer.

“Yet, and tell me I’m wrong...the message gave the impression that their arrival was expected to happen,” said the master guard, cocking his head toward Idleaf and me.

“You think someone predicted I would become Idleaf’s Guardian, and I’ll come here to Fallen’s Cry?” That was simply crazy. If it was true, they must have known I was going to be kidnapped, brought to Eleaden. Did that mean their power transcended beyond this world? Worse, what if they nudged the events in such a way that I would be kidnapped? Did some outside force compel me to take that shortcut through the alley? I refused to believe that.

My ears twitched as the master guard smirked loudly, amused; the train of my thoughts easy to read. “I don’t think they predicted you specifically, Grey. Rather, they estimated that a new World Tree will awaken around this time.”

“...and that will mean that the time has neared,” Deckard added, using Traiana’s words. 

“It raises the question...whether World Trees grow at other labyrinths as well. It couldn’t just be Fallen’s Cry, right?”

They all pondered on Lightfeather’s question, the hulking soldier woman shaking her head. “Torzen may be surrounded by forests, but there are no beasts like Esudein nestled anywhere nearby. Those forests are full of low-level beasts crawling with novice adventurers. If the World Tree grew there, it would be known.”

“Hangman’s Bliss, on the other hand, is in plains surrounded by fields, no trees far and wide,” the soldier man added.

“They may have been there centuries ago; maybe they withered, or their seeds never sprouted,” Lightfeather mused aloud and looked over at Idleaf. The spirit of the young World Tree was unconcerned with what we were discussing and instead chatted with Pipsqueak, sitting on the major’s shoulder, about the adventures and mischief the little creature went through. “I-is that possible, Idleaf? For the seed of the World Tree not to sprout?”

The spirit raised her head, thinking about it briefly. “The seed always sprouts. The seedling can wither, though. Very sad; happened many times. The elder ones lost hope. Are you done talking? I want to see more...” With her arms outstretched, she spun around, putting a sad smile on my face.

As much as I’d loved to show her more of the labyrinth, I had to ask her for a little more patience. “Please bear with us a little longer.”

“That’s not necessary, Little Beast. I think we’re done here, or do you guys have something to add?”

All four of them shook their heads. 

“We didn’t come here to solve the mystery of the labyrinths but to make sure Grey here comes back safe,” said the hulking woman and looked at the back of her hand where her labyrinth mark was. “...there’s still a chance that things can go sideways.”

One terrifying thought immediately came to my mind. We could end up trapped down here forever.

“A slim chance,” remarked her fellow imperial soldier. “The biggest risk was going in.”

The master guard nodded, thinking the same. “And we have that part safely behind us. Let someone else wrack their brains about the message.”

“Major?”

At Deckard’s question, Lightfeather held up her hands. “Don’t look at me. I am with you, just threw in a little bit of my thoughts. Let’s focus on why we’re here.”

“Exploring this place,” butted in Idleaf, excited at the prospect of finally moving on. 

“I’d say making sure your Guardian can explore this place...safely,” Deckard retorted, surprising me by daring to say it to her so bluntly. So far, I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t talking to her with some degree of reserve. Did my attitude rub off on him? Or perhaps it was just his laidback nature that kicked in. Whichever way it was, Idleaf didn’t seem to mind. If anything, it was the other way around. There was no more falsehood in his manner.

“Oh, and can she?” the spirit asked with hope in her voice, her eyes beseeching him to say ‘yes’.

To her disappointment, Deckard didn’t let her puppy eyes sway him, and we teleported back up to the square. Much to my relief, without any issues. We didn’t end up trapped in the depths of Fallen’s Cry, nor did the specter of Traiana appear amidst a platform full of seekers, speaking of the impending end. In fact, she didn’t even show up when we got back to the first floor.

As it seemed, her manifesting was either a one-off occurrence or on the same cooldown as the crying effect of the statue above. Be that as it may, with that question of safe entry and return settled, we headed deeper into the floor, exploring as Idleaf was looking forward to. There were a few things to check, though.

One of them was the black blocks that littered the meadows and hills. The last time I touched one, it really messed up my fight. But despite general expectations, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I wish it did because, a bit embarrassingly, I ended up bawling loudly, screaming for the world to know my pain, Traiana’s loss, like last time.

Even though I knew what was coming, I couldn’t help it. Echoing through my mind was not just her lament for the fallen. I could hear the sounds of battle still raging in the distance and feel... her pain for those whose lives were lost, for her loved ones she will never again be able to talk to or feel the warmth of their embrace so deeply it hurt...and it hurt so much. 

“You’re one of the more perceptive ones, aren’t you?” spoke Lightfeather as we walked to the platform leading to the second floor. Pipsqueak was no longer on her shoulder but had found a place on Idleaf’s head. The two of them frolicked around together.

“Just say I’m a crybaby.”

She chuckled. “You cried because of where we are. You’d show a very different emotion if you touched the labyrinth block in Hero’s Sorrow or Hangman’s Bliss. So, don’t beat yourself up for crying a little.”

Glad she mentioned the names. I meant to ask about them earlier when the imperial soldiers mentioned them, but it didn’t seem like a good time. “Are those the other two labyrinths in Sahal?”

“You didn’t know? Well, yes. Hero’s Sorrow is in Torzen, and Hangman’s Bliss in Relhanore.”

“Labyrinth cities?”

“You guessed it right, Grey.”

“What’s with the city names? I mean, I get Granhill, but these don’t make much sense. Same with Castiana or Wagonbrei,”

She raised an eyebrow; then realization flickered through her eyes. Yeah, I wasn’t from around here, and that common knowledge was lost on me.

“These are old cities, founded in the Dawn of Men era when the ancient language was more common.”

“So, they have a meaning in an ancient language?”

“I know what you’re getting at, and I’m telling you right now, I don’t know it. My expertise is beast language, and that’s what I’m here for.”

I grinned. “To talk to the Horned Rabbits? Good luck finding one.” Ever since we got here, I haven’t seen a single one, not even an ear or a horn peeking over the hill. They may have been stupid beasts, but they weren’t stupid enough to cross the path of the people in whose company I was.

“Funny, Grey. No, I’m here for you. If you were forced into your beast form and the union rings didn’t work. There are places in the labyrinths where no tools work.”

“And we had no idea if it would send us to that kind of place. I get it, and thank you,” I said with all the sincerity I could muster. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Don’t mention it. As I said, interesting things are bound to happen around you and so far...I’m not disappointed. Plus, Pip was really annoying. Seriously, I’m dreading the day we go back to Granhill. Compared to this place, it’s a boring shithole.”

“That bad?”

Lightfeather shrugged. “It’s a small town overlooking Esulmor. No adventurers, since our army boys and girls do most of their work.” Sure, the garrison of imperial soldiers stationed there. “Not many beasts to practice my skills on, either. Talking to Esudein and translating what Zeewet, Idleaf, and you were talking about leveled up so many of my skills. What I gained there in one evening would take me weeks to earn at Granhill.”

Oh, so I wasn’t the only one? Great. “Yeah, I had quite a harvest, too.”

Lightfeather burst out laughing. “You Grey, you’re a freak. Ten levels in one night? I’ve heard of people like you, but I’ve never met one.”

Knowing she wasn’t making fun of my looks, but was putting me on the level of famous people, I grinned. “You want my autograph?”

“Why would I?” she raised an eyebrow, and I figured this wasn’t a thing here either.

“Forget it. It’s a thing where I come from...”

 

***

 

While we were chatting, we arrived at the teleportation platform hidden in the tall grass, and with everyone ready, we moved down one floor to see if Traiana would respond to that. She didn’t. Not even when we moved down one more level to the third floor where I last trained. Sure, I tested the labyrinth blocks on both floors, too, and got the same result each time. I cried like a little girl.

It sucked.