Labyrinths?

2080, New Human Federation

Tyr National Hospital

In one of the wards of the hospital, a 79-year-old man was breathing his last breath. As he opened his eyes, he looked at his children arguing over who has the right to inherit his small mountain of gold he had saved working hard with his recently deceased wife.

"I have taken care of the old man through his old age so the bulk of the inheritance should be given to me!"

"What nonsense! Where did you think the money you used to take care of the old man came from? You and your wife are just parasites sucking the blood of the old man."

"You bastard! I was forced to take care of the old man because my dearest eldest brother just can't seem to take care of his own father. What right do you think you have to yell at me and my wife."

"Do you think you can accomplish anything without me? I wiped your ass constantly outside!"

Hearing the arguments, Noah Jones, the 79-year-old man, was tired, deeply tired. These arguments had not stopped since his wife passed away. He wondered if he should have just not had any children and just live a happy life with his wife until they died of old age. Maybe they would have been happier without so much regrets.

As his breath got weaker and the arguments got quieter, he seemed to see one end of a red string tying his right wrist, with the other end stretching to the void. After a while, the red string tightened and pulled a silhouette of a woman from across the void. It was clear that the other end of the red string was tied to her left wrist.

As the silhouette got closer and closer, Noah suddenly got this feeling of familiarity. As he thought about it more, his eyes glimmered with expectation and hope. Soon, the silhouette was revealed. Her face that was inked by time, her body that was burdened by her family, her hands that were filled with warmth, and her gray hair that was washed by the sands of time. And most importantly, her uniquely beautiful soul that he loved.

Seeing her, Noah's eyes gradually turned misty, his lips began to tremble and instinctively began to float towards her.

In a soft voice, he called, "Alicia."

Hearing the call, Alicia looked him and smiled sweetly. "Dummy, I waited for you for so long."

"I'm sorry to have made you wait so long. But I am really, really happy that we can be together again." Noah smiled back and floated to the side of Alicia. With his right hand, he grabbed her left hand tightly. Feeling the familiar warmth, he felt complete. The two turned to look at each other and smiled.

Hearts at ease, the two began their next journey together with many less regrets.

…

Noah opened his eyes and saw trees filled with vitality and the clear blue sky. He reached with his left hand towards the sky, but when he saw his youthful hand, he was shocked.

"What?"

Noah heard an equally confused shout from his side. He turned his head and saw Alicia sitting on the fresh grass, equally shocked as him by the sudden return of her youth. The two of them looked at each other and noticed that they were wearing clothes made of hard linen, leather pants that seemed to have been washed frequently. Most shockingly, there was a sword strapped to Noah's waist, while there was a wooden staff in Alicia's hand.

Seeing the outfits and the weapons they had, Alicia suddenly widened her eyes and said, "Dummy, do you think we have been transported to a different world? A world that has swords and magic, with our youthful bodies? Like those animes we watched together when we were young?"

Noah, after hearing her guess, was not calm, as waves of shock crashed into his heart. After taking a few deep breaths, Noah calmly said, "You may be right, but let's calm down first and check our surroundings. We may not be safe here."

Alicia nodded. The two of them then looked around and gain some understanding on where they were. They were currently in a forest with trees that shot to the sky. Moreover, their circumference of the tress were so large that anyone of the trees probably needed a few fully grown men holding each other to wrap around one of them.

"It seems like we are in the middle of nowhere. Let's see if we can find a road and a city preferably to think what are we going to do now in this world," Noah said decisively.

He couldn't afford to act recklessly in this new world like a young man, especially with his wife by his wife. Although being transported to a new world and regaining his youth was amazing, he still needed to act with caution. With a newfound lease on life, he didn't want to waste this opportunity to live a different life with his wife.

"Yes, let's find a place to rest." Alicia said seriously before she smiled and gave a peck to his cheek.

Feeling the familiar warmth on his cheek, the calm expression on Noah's face broke a little before a smile was cracked on his face.

Seeing the happy expression on Alicia's face, Noah really hoped that their lives here in this world would be filled with as little regrets as possible, and he would try his best to safeguard that smile.

With his newfound determination, Noah and Alicia walked cautiously in the forest for a while before they heard the sounds of horses trotting in the distance. Hearing this, the two of them quickly looked at each other and jogged towards the noise.

As they got closer and closer to the noise, they soon found a road and saw a small entourage of carriages accompanied by a few armed guards. However, before they could see anything more, one of the guards wearing a full-body armor raised his left hand. In an instant, the small entourage all stopped and the guards quickly took their position and held their weapons tightly in their hands.

The fully armored guard turned to looked at the direction of Noah and Alicia and said, "Come out, we have noticed you."

Seeing this, Noah's expression turned a bit dark and complained internally that this world wouldn't have people with superhuman senses, right?

With no choice, Noah and Alicia walked out together with their hands raised, in an attempt to signal that they were of no harm.

After seeing there were only two people, the fully armored guard relaxed his nerves a little. But even so, they didn't relax his vigilance. He looked at Noah and Alicia with a little wariness in his eyes as he questioned, "What are the two of you doing? Why are you spying on the carriages of the Malik Family?"

"We have no intention of spying on you. We just want to ask you the location of the nearest city or settlement. We are lost, so I apologize for the offenses I have made to the Malik Family," Noah said. 

Alicia didn't say anything because she didn't want the situation to go out of hand. She could only place her hopes on Noah that he would be able to get them out of this situation.

Hearing Noah's answer, the fully armored guard breathed a sigh of relief internally and turned to the main carriage for further instructions.

At this point, Noah could only hope that these people didn't have evil intentions towards them.

"Young Master, what should we do with these people?"

A young voice sounded from the carriage and said, "If you think they are not dangerous, then you can bring the two of them with us. The nearest major city, Mavis, is only 30 minutes away. With us so close to a major city, they shouldn't be bandits and just genuinely lost."

"Yes, Young Master." The fully armored guard placed his palm on his left chest and bowed before leaving.

He then faced Noah and Alicia and said, "Since Mavis is only 30 minutes away from here, Young Master is willing to allow the two of you to join us on our journey there."

Hearing this, Noah was hesitant at first before deciding to join them. Although these people were strangers and there were some degree of danger following them, he didn't know if there were more danger on the road. If there were, it was better to follow a larger group than hope that his lacking sword skills would be able to cope with the situation.

Noah said, "I deeply thank the kindness of the Young Master of the Malik Family for helping us."

The fully armored guard nodded and replied, "Come and stand by my side." 

Noah and Alicia breathed a sigh of relief before they joined the small entourage.

"Let's get moving." After checking that there were no more eyes spying at them, the fully armoured guard turned to his men and ordered.

As the carriages and horses started their journey again, Noah and Alicia could now calm down their nervous hearts. In their previous world, they had never been so close to danger before. With so many people staring at them with so much scrutiny, they naturally would be quite nervous.

Alicia turned to Noah and pinched his arm a little before raising her eyebrows at the fully armored guard. Seeing her signal, Noah nodded before he said, "Ugh, Sir…"

"Don't call me Sir as I am not a noble. I am Mozan Shafiq, Head Guard of the Malik Family. You can just call me Mozan," Mozan turned to Noah and Alicia and said. 

"Mozan, my name is Noah and this is my wife, Alicia. We were originally from a secluded village, but because our elders didn't approve of our marriage, we decided to elope and run away from the village. However, because our knowledge of the outside world is very backward, I wonder if you can explain the structure of the world to the two of us. If it is not possible, then I apologize for disturbing you."

Noah quickly thought up of an excuse for their shallow knowledge. He hoped that Mozan would believe in his lie and give them some facts about the world they were now in, so they would be like headless chickens.

Mozan raised his brow and said, "It seems like you were in a very secluded village. To understand this world, the most important thing you need to know is the labyrinths embedded in each major city."

"Labyrinths?"