Maze

Emile and Blood cautiously explored the maze for many hours. The soft glow of the green tubes lit the pathways with a beautiful fairytale glow. The walls towered to the ceiling, making it impossible to scale them.

They turned another corner and met another deadend. Blood stopped moving and stared at the wall before them.

"I'm gonna lose it." Blood said.

Emile stepped up to the wall and carved a marking into it with Blood's dagger.

"That's seven…." Emile announced dishearteningly.

"How can we run into the same deadend seven times, Spright!" Blood grabbed the collar of Emile's shirt, "Seven times!"

"I don't know either!" Emile pushed Blood away from him. "It shouldn't be possible."

Emile pulled their missions paperwork from his back pocket. On the back of the last page Emile drew a diagram of the maze; where they started and every turn they've taken thus far.

The issue, however, is if you looked at the map you would never be able to understand it. Crude lines overlapped and split, they turned around and backtracked, sometimes they returned to the start.

The deadend where they're at now was the furthest they got on their first exploration. Then they went a bit back and chose a different path and arrived at the same deadend. This marked the beginning of their downfall.

As far as Emile was aware, it was impossible to arrive at the same deadend. According to his map, there shouldn't have been any other path that led to the wall, but they arrived nevertheless.

Frustrated and lost, the duo decided to return to the mazes entrance which was the arena of their last fight. The map was able to consistently and accurately bring them back to the start, proving that the map did in fact work.

"Okay—" Emile's voice interrupted the awkward silence that permeated between the two, "we go back to the start again—"

"Again?! Spright, we've spent more time walking back to the beginning than we have exploring the actual maze!"

"I'm well aware, Blood!" Emile shouted, "We go back to the start and I run the dagger along the walls the entire time. Not a single path will be left unmarked."

"And what if that doesn't work?!" Blood asked.

"Then we die, okay? Sucks to suck. Let's go."

They returned to the stone dome and began carrying out Emile's plan. With his arm held out, the dagger barely scratched the surface of the wall, but it was enough to see it.

Along with the sound of the two of them walking, now the sound of nails on a chalkboard accompanied them. Two hours later they arrived at the dreadful deadend and Emile carved the eighth marking into the wall. Meanwhile, Blood went ballistic.

Yelling, punching, he even ran at the wall and jumped into it thinking he might just phase through. Honestly, it wasn't the worst idea he's had.

While Blood was one-sidedly attacking the wall, Emile observed it, lost in thought, trying his hardest to crack the riddle or manifest some epiphany that would get them out.

"Why couldn't that stupid sign just tell us how to get out?!" Blood yelled.

"Sign?" Emile said under his breath, "Wait!" Emile grabbed Blood's shoulder and shook him around, "That's it! Blood, you're a genius!"

"Wh—well yes, of course I am—" Blood cranked the dial of his humility to the max, "but what did I do?"

"The podium at the start! That has to be the key! Do you remember what it said?" Emile exploded.

Blood squinted his eyes and raised his eyebrows, "Podium?"

"At the start of the labyrinth! There was a podium with a message! It said something about walking, or—or not walking, I can't remember." Emile said.

"You're not suggesting we go all the way back, right?" Blood nervously laughed.

"If that really is the missing key then we don't have any other choice." After that, Emile turned and walked away. Blood had to choose to either accompany him or stay in the maze alone.

They quickly made it back to the dome. The two of them have repeated their steps so many times that they didn't even need the map anymore to know where they were going in the maze.

They stepped over the countless pieces of debris from the fight with the big blue lizard. Then they walked across the empty plains of another arena. About halfway back to the start, Emile and Blood chose to stay in one of the stone domes to sleep.

One of the biggest obstacles of the labyrinth, surprisingly, was its complete isolation from the real world. Emile didn't know what time it was or how many hours, or days, had passed. He didn't know how long the walks really were from one point to another.

And the body's natural absorption of essence to facilitate nutrition made it even harder since he couldn't rely on one of his body's natural clocks to determine the length of time. Of course he still got tired, but ever since obtaining Breath of Life he's needed less sleep and has felt far more alert in general.

With that being said, most of the time they slept for Blood's sake, this being one of those times. So, Emile laid on the cold stone floor and looked up at the curved ceiling.

He could hear the sound of Blood's heavy breaths and the beat of his heart in his chest. Although he rarely slept, Emile still appreciated the down time needing to sleep gave him. It was one of, if not the only time he had to decompress and reflect on his journey thus far.

[Soul Rank: Chosen]

[Soul Saturation: 19/1000]

[Soul Essence: 100/100

[Gift: Breath of Life]

[Description: Accelerate cell growth and division]

[Enhancement: Breath of Life is applied to self]

[Relics: Enlightened Nimbus Charm]

'Nineteen out of a thousand'

'At this rate it'll take years to enlighten'

'…'

'I wonder if Emma has more than nineteen'

'Surely she does. I mean she's made for combat, a devastating gift with an unmatched confidence'

'Actually, Blood's probably more confident'

'No, Blood's confidence is arrogance in disguise'

'How long has it been? Is boot camp over?'

'I wonder what they do after training, there has to be more than just protecting the wall'

Suddenly, sparks of essence flourished around Emile. The essence brightened and brightened until the inside of the dome screamed a radiant brilliance.

Blood quickly launched himself to his feet and called out to Emile. The overflow of essence condensed in the middle of the dome, just at the center of the ring of runes.

The essence condensed into the shape of a beast, multiple at that. Three mid-sized four-legged beasts appeared out of thin air and the runes beneath them stopped glowing.

Emile and Blood huddled at the exit of the dome and watched as the three pink wolves came to life. The wolves sniffed the air while one of them stepped forward. Ignoring Emile and Blood, the three beasts left the dome and entered the arena.

Emile slowly approached one of the exits and looked out. Standing at the opposite end of the arena, Chief Khan and five of his men prepared for battle.