The labyrinth - part 7

"Who are you?" I shout out to this person who is standing in the middle of the path. From just the way he is standing there, he seems confident. From what I can see from here, he seems tall. But I have seen this guy before somewhere. I don't know where but he seems familiar. That I know for sure. I just don't know where I have seen him before. The only thing I know is that he seems to be staring daggers at me.

"Why should I answer that? I'm going to be the one asking questions here, not you. So let's start with Who are you?" The guy says as he now turns around completely. Is he seriously going to question me now, while he is standing there all creepy? Like I'm kind of surprised that he did that. Since I'm not even alone right now. But just from the way he is making it clear that he's a delver. He does seem dressed for someone who knew he was going to a portal. Could he be with the people who brought Olive into the portal early? If I didn't know better I would say he looks like Vincent. Maybe that's why I think I have seen him before.

Answering his question is however not that difficult to do. "I'm one of the delvers who arrived at the correct hour. And informed the association worker that I was there. I'm not a lost civilian who needs help getting out of here. But could I ask you, could you by any chance be Vincent's older brother?" I ask him back since if I found Vincent's older brother he would probably be alright. Also if he's his older brother then he should be worried about him right? Okay, he probably brought the kid in here on purpose from what both Vincent and Olive told me. But that doesn't mean he would be worried about him right. But it seems that saying that pissed this guy off more as he seemingly grabbed something. It takes a me few seconds to realise what he's grabbing but as soon as I notice it, I take a couple of steps back. It seems he brought a knife of sorts to a labyrinth-type portal. Like the knife is clearly one for a dungeon, because those tend to look slightly different. I'm not sure what most of them look like since I haven't been part of a fighting team for years now. Why is this guy smiling while holding a knife? "Why are you holding a knife? I assume you know that those aren't even needed inside F ranked portals?" I ask him as I push Olive a few steps back too.

"How do you know my brother Vincent. Because someone random like you shouldn't know him." He says as he points his knife at me. Honestly, understandable reaction if you ask me. If someone said my siblings' names randomly I would probably be angry or disturbed too. But it seems the best option to just tell him. Like that, his brother is at the start together with the portal observer. Simply waiting for him and his friends. Before I answer I take a quick look back and notice that Olive seems confused too. The guy however keeps glaring at him and I can't help but think I have seen him somewhere before. Like not only with seeing his little brother just a bit ago.

"Don't worry, the reason I was asking was because I brought a kid back to the start earlier. And his name is Vincent and he asked me to look for his older brother and his friends. And you look a lot like him, so I assumed that he was your brother. Don't worry he's safe with the portal observer outside this labyrinth." As soon as I explain it he seems to calm down and stops pointing his knife at me. Which is good since I don't like knives being pointed at me. But I still have a question though. "Why did you bring your little brother inside a portal? Like he said his big brother brought him and his friends here. But why would you bring your younger sibling to a potentially dangerous place?" I ask as I really can't find any good reason why he thought it was a smart idea to bring kids here. But about that fact, he seems to think this is not all that of a big deal. He seems rather relaxed about the fact that his brother is still inside.

"Why did you bring your little brother here? Like this observing day doesn't even exist according to this guy." Olive asks him as I'm really surprised that she fell for the observing day thing. I am surprised anyone believed something like this since an easy Google search could've disproven it. It would've shown that there are laws in place so that kids can't become delvers. Like my powers get activated when I was pretty young and my dad gave me multiple lectures about it.

"I don't get why you would bring him back to the start." This guy suddenly says as I'm just stunned by the statement. Did he think that other delvers wouldn't bring back a scared kid to safety. Like I wouldn't force a scared sobbing kid to stay inside here. What was he thinking this would do? Make the kid tougher, because I can tell you what would happen. The kid would be absolutely traumatised. I am at least happy to hear that the kid hasn't been wandering around in here for long. Which seems to be one of the few good things about this.

"Okay, but who are you? Like I know you're Vincent's older brother but that's all I know. And I know you said you were going to ask the questions, but I would like who I'm talking to. But also why did you bring your little brother here? Like he seemed absolutely terrified." I ask him since I really want some more information here. Like I'm already getting mad at this guy, but I want to know who I'm getting mad at. The only thing I know is that I'm certain that I've seen this person before. He finally puts his knife away which is good. I just hope that he doesn't pull a stunt like that again. Since I was pretty sure that, that was his plan before. I have to make sure that I keep the knife on his hop in sight.

"Okay fine. I am Russel Bellfort and before you start judging me. I thought this would be a great learning experience for those kids. Why wait for training your powers when they are activated already. And honestly, they will learn more here than sitting behind a desk." Russel explains to both me and Olive as I am just stunned. This idea is plain dangerous and not even close to being a good one. Like I'm getting mad at him too. He brought kids inside a portal on purpose and even with some sort of thought process behind it. It's an F ranked portal that is known to be weaker but that doesn't mean that they're safe. There are still traps here that could get a kid pretty hurt. They could get lost inside a labyrinth like this too. "No need to get your panties in a twist dude without a name." He comments as I think I look pretty mad at him too. But I finally recognise him. It finally clicks where I have seen him before.

He's someone who used to hang around Lake before. And If I found Lake a bit of an asshole then this dude would be a complete one. I haven't met him a lot but I do remember him rubbing it in about how weak I am. It's true but he isn't that strong either. He's stronger than me for sure but not that much stronger. Like he's an F rank like me. I think he's one of those guys who spent all their free time in the gym, judging people. I wouldn't want to go up against him in a fight, since he would definitely beat me. He's also slightly taller than me. But the reason why I recognised him being Vincent's brother is because of his hair. He has the same curly hair as his younger brother. He seems to have the same lighter-coloured eyes as him too. But to be honest, I tried to ignore him a lot when we met before.

Normally I would tell someone my name without a second thought. However, I don't like the thought of someone who already seems pretty easy to anger would know my name. And recognising who he is now to makes me not want to tell him. "This is Azure. He clarified some of the procedures you and your friends explained to me earlier." Olive explains as she just tells Russel my name. I didn't want him to recognise me but that look on his face made it clear he remembers me. He's smiling too while making it clear what's going to happen. He even starts to laugh as he connects the dots to who I am.

"I thought I recognised you. You're the weakest dude I ever met. I am surprised that someone insignificant as you hasn't quit yet. I would think that you would get tired of getting hurt after a certain point." Russel starts to explain while he's laughing. I'm not surprised that he used to hang out around Lake. But even Lake didn't want to hang out with him anymore. I heard that Lake even asked him not to hang around him anymore. Because he's such a troublemaker but more of a rule breaker and bringing everyone in trouble. Lake might be an asshole but he still cares about safety or bringing his friends into trouble. "Olive, Do you know how many times this dude has gotten hurt before?" Russel asks as he starts to explain one of the times I got hurt and he happened to be part of the delve.

I'm not even going to listen to which story he's going to tell since I know only one story that he would tell. Which is when I got hurt really badly inside a portal. I am pretty sure that was the worst I got hurt ever. I'm pretty sure Russel has gotten hurt before too but he has seen how badly hurt I was. I'm also sure that he hasn't gotten that hurt in an E ranked portal before. I accidentally got separated from the collecting group. I don't remember how it exactly happened but I was freaking out. I had every right to freak out since I got hit with quite a few arrows in my back. If the attack group hadn't found me, I would be dead. I think my survival is mostly thanks to Emily who was the person healing me. She made sure I was able to get to the hospital. Before I bled out and died. I was hospitalised for quite a bit too. At least two weeks of bed rest.

"You can stop telling this story. Because we all know it ends with me getting hurt and landing in the hospital. I probably have the scars to prove it happened to me. But let's make one thing clear. I know that I'm weak. I'm probably the one person who realises that the most. So no need to rub it in since that fact sank in a while ago. But to very harsh here for once. It's normal for F ranked delvers to get hurt." I explain as I cut him off. I don't want to hear his spin on the story to be honest. However, my voice trembles with every word I say. And here I thought I was confident with what I was saying. But what's there to deny, I am weak and I know it. But Russel starts to laugh again.

"Azure, we might be the same letter rank. But that is only because of technicality. Because you and I aren't even close to being in the same category. I am what you F+ rank. Notice the plus behind my letter. Well, you have a minus after that. I could've been an E- ranked delver. While you will come anywhere near that." Russel starts to explain in a clear attempt to drag me down. However this attempt kind of failed. I dragged myself down quite a lot just now. I have also heard so many insults in the past already about me being weak. Especially about the fact that I'm weaker than a regular F rank delver. Even for an F- ranked delver I am pretty weak. I can't however look him in the eye. From what I can see Olive seems to be shocked.

"Wait a minute, there are different rankings within ranks themselves. No one thought to tell me this?" Olive suddenly asks both me and Russel. She seems pretty in shock about this. It also reveals her rank for being a simple F ranked delver. People without pluses or minuses in their rank would think the ranks are just letters.

"I think I said that you were stronger than me. I am pretty sure I did mention that fact clearly. But do you know who's not in trouble here? Me, I didn't do anything to get myself into trouble. You brought kids inside a portal, which is something that people know not to do. You even admitted that you brought them here. You also broke some other rules too." I start to raise my voice slightly as he seems to think that his being stronger absolves him of this. However, it is hard to make clear that I am mad by how much my voice is shaking.

"Come on, how am I supposed to take you seriously. Like do you have to sound like a scared rabbit? Like it's hilarious at this point. Also, I rather be early than late." Russel says as he begins to laugh again. He thinks I don't know this. Like I rather not sound like a scared rabbit either. Also, I was not late. He was way too early for an F ranked portal. Like they start later because they are easier to deal with. Also, this is coming from a guy who decides to take equipment to an F ranked portal. And on top of that, he only brings a knife, which is one of the most useless things to bring inside here. Like what could you do with it, carve in the walls. It would destroy the blade in five seconds.

"I think you are wrong here though. F ranked portals start later on purpose. They start later than regular portals. Which should've been clear by the fact that there was no observer here. Also, I don't know why I sound so scared." I state as I have a feeling something else is going on here. He probably went earlier because the observer wouldn't be here yet. "Also I might be weak. But I have been doing this for half a decade by now. And I have experienced firsthand why the rules are in place."

The labyrinth - Part 7

Complete

You got a character card

Name: Russel Miller

Ability: None

Class: Assassin

Date of birth: 07/29/2001

Age: 22 years old

Nationality: American

Hair style: Curly brown hair

Eye colour: Blue eyes

Likes: Planning, Woodland animals, Pokémon games

Dislikes: People who want to sabotage his plans, Sea creatures, people who are weak