Shadow Labyrinth

Iris and Flav exchanged glances before nodding, "No!" They unanimously said.

"Good, goo- wait what?" Xuan Li asked confused. "That's not what we agreed upon, help me die now!"

"As we said no," Flav replied, crossing his hands, not budging.

"Even if we wanted to, we don't have the power for that," Iris finished eliciting a nod from Flav.

Dumdum who was watching at the side couldn't keep it in, "Pfffttt. Hahaha they got you good!"

Xuan Li stared emptily at them. Even though he knew they were right he still wanted to try and convince them but seeing how stubborn they were he gave up. 'Let's go with the original plan then.'

"Let's move," Xuan Li said, surprising everyone.

He started moving but seeing no one else do the same made him tilt his head, "What are you waiting for?"

Shaking their heads Flav, Dumdum, and Iris followed. They were all going to the same location and thankfully it wasn't far from their place. Xuan Li took the lead and didn't talk to anyone, not even Dumdum, this made the latter annoyed but his pride didn't allow him to start the conversation.

Like that days passed as Dumdum, Flav, and Iris conversed and got to know each other. They tried including Xuan Li with their talks but he didn't respond, even when they stopped to rest and eat, he just sat away from them pouting and ignoring them. That made them feel bad about breaking their promise however they still didn't try killing him as they knew their limits.

On the tenth day of their march the quiet atmosphere of the group changed. The map Iris was holding which had the circled location shone with a similar light to before. When it dimmed a barrier of a sorts disappeared and they could see a small hut.

While the three who got close discussed how to approach it Xuan Li who didn't care what happened strode forward. When he reached the wooden hut door he stopped and turned the hand knob.

As they looked at his actions the three watched, checking if there was any danger. They kept observing till Xuan Li disappeared from their sight. They exchanged looks again and nodded at each other before following him inside.

Once inside, Xuan Li checked the interior. Regular reception desks with various people of different ages sitting behind them and long lines of people stood in front of him. Several doors similar to the one he entered surrounded the place and opened from time to time.

'This doesn't look like the first trial location. Is it a registration checkpoint?' He deliberated.

Seeing people quietly get in line he didn't waste more time and did the same. Not long after he heard the door behind him, Dumdum and the other two quickly looked around, understood the situation and stood behind him.

Time passed as the lines of people moved and after an unknown time, Xuan Li and the others' turn came.

"Next," a beautiful middle aged woman said in a monotonous voice. She looked at Xuan Li and said, "Show me the token."

Xuan Li looked at Flav who he had ignored for ten days and pleaded for help. The latter had been pondering on how to repay what he had done to Xuan Li and this opportunity presented itself for him. He nodded at Xuan Li and came in front of him.

The middle aged woman watched this happen with blank robot-like eyes. She only reacted after Flav handed the token.

"How many?" She asked after seeing that there might be more than one participant.

"Four," Flav answered.

"Stand behind me," she said with the same voice. "The test for four people would be four times harder than single participants. Death is also a huge possibility, do you still want to go through with it?"

Flav and the others could tell that the woman was stating formalities and wasn't warning from the goodness of her heart. Flav looked around and saw no one hesitating so he turned to the receptionist and said wearing a smile, "yes. We are sure."

They walked behind the woman and saw her fumble around her desk. She turned towards them and with empty eyes warned, "don't move unless you want to die!"

Three of the four nodded seriously while the last one's eyes shined with a happy glint. The woman ignored them and started some kind of mechanism as a magic circle appeared below them.

Flav, dumdum, and Iris stood still while Xuan Li moved around the borders of the activating circle. A bright light glowed and four people disappeared. Yet back at the receptionist checkpoint, half the body of Xuan Li, who from one of the remaining parts, appeared to have been smiling. A guard quickly moved and removed the right side of Xuan Li as if he had been preparing for that.

***

*Blerghhh*

Multiple sounds of people puking sounded. After the white light enveloped them, Iris, Dumdum, and Flav felt their stomachs lurch but held it in. Then, when they looked at Xuan Li who was cut in half, they couldn't hold it in.

"What the f*ck!" Flav exclaimed.

"This is really too gruesome," Iris said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. 'This body is still too weak.'

Dumdum was still a little better off, "That was horrific, but I have seen worse." He stared at Xuan Li and scrutinized the smiling cut half, "Could he be dead this time?" He asked no one in particular.

A golden radiance suddenly spread with Xuan Li at its center and blinded the three watching over him.

"That's a no then," Dumdum said after covering his eyes from the light.

"God damn it!" A loud curse came after the radiance disappeared. "Why didn't it work? Can I really not die?" He despondently asked looking at the ground dejected.

While Xuan Li was cursing being alive, the three recovered their sight. They decided to ignore the crazy madman and inspected their surroundings.

They appeared to be in some kind of labyrinth or maze. A path was in front of them with everywhere else being bricks of walls that they couldn't see the height of, it extended to the sky and appeared unbreakable.

While wondering what to do a voice resounded in the empty space they were in breaking them out of their stupor.

"Welcome," the voice appeared ancient and young at the same time. It was hard to discern the gender of and before they could contemplate more it continued, "Participants number 6540. This is the first trial, and you are in the Shadow Labyrinth of Ascension. To get out of here, you have to pass through the labyrinth where countless dangers and obstacles stand in your way."