Ciara recalled an ancient memory as she enters the forty-ninth floor of the labyrinth. She recalled the day where her household was dragged to a podium. Her parents were branded with by hot steel on their foreheads, and they faced people, thrown rocks at, and begging for their daughter to be spared.

“Through the crimes of betraying the faith of our people, and helping our destroyers. The Alician Family is hereby cursed, and their child shall be burden with the dishonor of thy parents.”

She recalled her parents being given death by hanging, their heads, then chopped, displayed upon the townspeople, to be a reminder of those who take in the people that they call monsters. She recalled being taken to a place where she was branded. The left side of her body, burned, as a reminder to the family who had taken the people they call monsters. She couldn’t understand, she could demand to know for she was simply in pain, unable to speak because of her burned parts. She recalled being taken to a room alongside those who were branded.
The person who was in front of them that day said, “You are now Maiden of Throes, you shall become the blade that slays, and you shall not falter.”

She recalled being trained and being preached the same tiresome words. Once she was of proper age, she was sent to Oasis, where she was told that she was going to be the War Maiden. The thought of being the conduit of the Six Elemental Heroes made her wonder. It made her wonder she was going to use her powers for good or for evil?

She didn’t think of revenge. No, she turned her attention to those who wanted to be saved. It was her duty so she promised, that she will not allow others to experience the same path. Simply, it was a promise of a girl who saw the evil of the world, and instead of cursing it, she wanted to save it. Ciara Alician didn’t want to stoop to the same level as those who wronged her.

She wanted to help the world that was cruel to her. The world that cursed her by brand, and forever changed her. Such thoughts guided her, and her heart and mind became steel. All that was inside her head was the mission and her duty towards. Who knew that even a woman like her would attract the attention of a young man? Although she didn’t curse the world, she distrusted those who were kind to her. The young man asking for her love, and yet she cannot give it to him How could a woman who had devoted herself to become steel ever fall in love with a young man who was blinded by love?

All she could recall was the love of her parents. The young man wanted something from her, and she was not willing to give it. How can she focus when she has to protect the young man didn’t have any talents with the sword?

“Oh,” she stopped her recall. She looked at the verdant valley that had no noise other than the wind rustling the trees. Above, she could see the ceiling, the cirrus-like clouds formed above the mountains. The path leading to the upper floors were covered by fog.

“I should clear this,” she said, brandishing her sword, and wiping the fog out of her path. The fog parted into two, and she saw the path leading to the next floor. She started to that direction, passed through the heavily vegetated trees, and crossed the area while the monsters avoided her. The landscape she walked on was empty, and she saw no traces of the portal that kept suppressing her.
She ambled before the entrance of the forty-eightieth floor. She head inside covered her face and saw that the next area was covered by water. To avoid the water, she bent her knees forward, gathered strength from her legs, and took a giant leap that allowed her to cross the area filled with water in one leap.

“Looks like this place is a bit simple,” she thought, entering the next floor, which is the forty-seventh floor of the labyrinth. She placed her right hand first and took a step inside the pathway leading to the next floor. Upon arriving at the next floor, she felt her instincts steady and her eyes trained on a massive flower filed of wheat-like stalks. She trudged through the field and admired the golden hue of the field.
When she had mended her way to the entrance with ease, she saw a spot where she could rest. She looked around for sticks, and branches and stone, preparing a fire. She stayed near the fire, land warmed her hands, recovering the injuries that she sustained. While staring at the fire, she noticed that the labyrinth had stopped sending monsters after her. She also realized that it has been long since she ate a good meal.

“Ah, this is tiring,” she said. “It looks like I have to make do with what I found from the previous floors. Though it looks like I’d be facing an army above. Humans? Probably, though I feel like I did something that made this place static.

She stayed near the fire, eyes beaming at the dancing flames. Her eyes went blank, and she grabbed hold of her hair, pulling it, then screaming mildly at the thought of how the memories that pained her heart was aching. She inhaled, exhaled and thought a choice, she decided to extinguish the fire and ate food. She packed the things she needed and wended her way to the next floor where the area resembled the desert and its oasis.

“Alternate spaces that isolate each floor,” Ciara thought. “No wonder the barrier was able to defend from my attack and even produced a recoil that would have killed anyone.”

Ciara thought as she advanced to the desert, her eyes steady as she marches through the sands of this isolated landscape, She could hear rumbling, and the vibrations that were produced by the gigantic monsters below, and with her power, she was able to finish any enemy that came blocking her way.