The heat was cruel, and the wind offered no mercy. Grit clung to every exposed bit of skin. Hours had passed since they'd left Edgaris behind, and now the city was just a speck in the shimmering haze behind them.
Vaylan squinted at the horizon. "Still no sign of shade?"
"We're close," Zara muttered, leading the way across the sand. "Shut up and keep walking."
Lato, clinging lazily to Vaylan's shoulder, yawned. "You said that an hour ago."
Zara didn't respond. Her boots crunched over cracked stones jutting out of the desert like forgotten bones. Then, at last, the dunes ended.
Before them, half-buried in the sand, loomed the ruins.
Massive black stone blocks jutted from the earth like the remains of a fallen fortress. Crumbling pillars lay scattered like broken fingers, and weather-worn statues of faceless gods leaned at odd angles. At the center stood a pair of stone doors, each as tall as a house, sealed tight and covered in faded carvings.
"There," Zara said, pointing. "The Labyrinth of Darkness."
Vaylan walked closer, brushing his fingers across the dusty symbols. "Looks old."
"Everything on Floor 0 is old," Zara said. "Or dead."
With both hands, Vaylan pushed.
The stone groaned, resisting at first, then with a shudder, the doors parted just enough to let them through.
Far deep within the labyrinth, in the echoing dark of the labyrinth's heart, something stirred.
A single red eye opened.
In the pitch-black, a hulking figure rose. Horns scraped the ceiling. Hooves shifted against stone. Breath rumbled.
"Hmmmm..." the creature muttered, its voice deep and cracked like crumbling rock. "More... meat. This one... smells strange."
Then silence.
***
Near the entrance, the labyrinth was wide and uneventful. Cracked cobblestone paths stretched between crumbling walls. Faint torches moved with eerie blue light, though no one had lit them. The air smelled of mold and old blood.
They didn't walk far before the first monsters appeared.
Rats.
Huge, hissing ones, each the size of a wild dog, with patchy fur and yellow eyes.
Zara drew her daggers. "Finally."
The first rat lunged, fangs bared.
Zara shot forward, her boots barely touching the ground. Her body moved like liquid: she ducked low, rolled between two snapping maws, and slashed upward in a blur. One rat collapsed in a squeal, its throat torn open.
Two more lunged. She twisted mid-air, slashing both as she spun.
Vaylan just watched, wide-eyed. "Whoa."
Another rat tried to flank her, but she flipped over it, landed in a crouch, and drove both daggers into its back. With one last twitch, it stilled.
Vaylan clapped. "That was awesome!"
Zara smirked, flipping a dagger in her hand. "Told you I could handle myself."
"Seriously! That was like…" Vaylan mimicked her flips poorly, nearly tripping. "…boom, shing shing! You didn't even break a sweat!"
"Of course," she said, puffing out her chest a little.
Lato, still lounging on Vaylan's shoulder, licked his paw. "Not using skills. Smart. Conserve mana early. These kinds of dungeons usually get harder the deeper you go."
Zara's smile faded.
She turned away.
Didn't say anything.
Just cleaned the blood off her blades against a dead rat's fur.
Vaylan tilted his head. "You okay?"
"Fine," she muttered.
They continued onward, the moving torchlight guiding them through empty halls.
Eventually, they came to a wall that wasn't crumbling: a massive sealed door made of black stone, taller than any before. Ancient markings spiraled across it, glowing faintly.
Zara was first to reach it. "Finally. Treasure room?"
She pressed her palms to the stone and pushed.
Nothing happened.
She grunted, pushed harder. "Tch, stupid thing won't budge."
Vaylan stepped beside her, tilting his head at the script. "Oh. You need to imbue it with mana."
Zara froze. Slowly turned to face him. "What?"
"You need to push mana into it," he repeated, tracing one of the symbols. "This writing… sanskrit. I learned it from a tribe I visited before. It's basically saying, 'only the gifted may enter' or something close to that."
Zara raised a brow. "You can read this crap?"
"Yeah," Vaylan nodded. "It's Sanskrit, the symbols used by the Saraswata clan. They carved similar things on their temples."
Zara blinked. "Wait. The what clan?"
"Must be a clan from the higher floors," she thought to herself.
"Saraswata. They lived near a river with giant birds and… uh." He stopped when he noticed her expression.
Zara's face was blank. Her ears red. She took two quick steps back and practically shoved Vaylan forward. "Okay whatever! Big guy, use your fancy mana already!"
Vaylan stumbled. "Eh?"
"Just open the door, genius!"
Lato squinted at her. "Why're you yelling?"
"I'M NOT YELLING!" she snapped.
Vaylan shrugged, raised a hand, and channeled mana into the stone.
The runes lit up in a ripple.
The door trembled, then slowly creaked open, sending out a blast of cold air that washed over them like a wave.
It smelled of dampness, blood, and something older than rot.
Zara fell quiet.
Vaylan took a step forward into the darkness.
"Shall we?" he asked, smiling.
No one answered.
But they followed.
***
The heavy stone door slammed shut behind them with a deep boom.
"No going back now," Zara muttered.
They had stepped into a massive circular chamber. The air was damp, and the moving blue torches along the walls made shadows dance like ghosts. The floor was smooth and dusty, and at the far end of the room stood a towering wall, tall, ancient, and covered in carvings.
At the very center of the room was a short pedestal with a lever, and lying around it were four thick stone tiles, each carved with the image of an animal: a lion, a bull, a hawk, and a horse.
Vaylan immediately walked over to the pedestal and grinned. "Ooh, a lever!"
"Don't touch it yet," Lato warned, hopping off his shoulder.
Too late.
CLICK
CHUNK!
The floor rumbled. The four tiles slid into small grooves around the pedestal, glowing faintly. The massive wall lit up with four corners, each revealing a glowing symbol.
"Why do you never wait?" Lato groaned.
"I wanted to see what it does!" Vaylan said.
"You triggered the puzzle," Lato muttered. "Well… at least now we know what we're dealing with."
Zara stepped beside him. "So what's the deal? We put the animals in the right places?"
Lato nodded. "Four corners on the wall. Four animal tiles. Each corner has a symbol that hints which animal belongs there."
"Sounds easy enough," Zara said.
Vaylan pointed at the wall. "That one looks like the sun!"
"Lion," Lato said immediately. "Sun means power. King of beasts. Top-left slot."
Zara picked up the lion tile and slotted it into the top-left corner. A solid click echoed through the room.
The top-right symbol was a swirl, like a gust of wind.
"Hawk," Lato said. "Wings, flight, air. Top-right."
"Got it." Zara placed the hawk tile. Another satisfying click.
The bottom-right corner showed a faint shape that looked like three horns.
"Bull," Lato said. "Obvious."
"Even I got that one," Vaylan added proudly.
"Please don't brag," Lato replied.
Zara inserted the bull tile into the bottom-right. Three down.
That left the bottom-left. But this time… the symbol was completely broken. The stone had chipped away, leaving no clue.
"Guess we're stuck," Vaylan said.
Zara held up the last tile. "We've got one animal left."
"Exactly," Lato said. "It's not a trick. Just finish it."
"Really?" Vaylan asked. "That's the puzzle?"
"Yes," Lato deadpanned. "Sometimes, puzzles don't need to be clever. They just need you to stop talking."
Zara placed the horse tile into the last slot.
For a moment, nothing happened.
KRRRRNNNK!
The wall groaned as ancient gears turned. The center split open, stone grinding against stone, revealing a hidden stairway leading deeper into darkness.
A rush of cold air blew out from below, thick with the smell of damp stone and… something worse.
Zara pulled her scarf higher. "Now it feels like a dungeon."
"I was helpful," Vaylan said cheerfully.
"No, you pulled the lever without thinking," Lato said.
"But it started the puzzle!"
"You still didn't solve anything."
"I put the horse one in."
"You had no choice."
"I made the choice not to throw it like a frisbee," Vaylan argued.
Zara rolled her eyes. "Let's just move."
The trio descended into the dark.
The steps went deeper and deeper. The torches above faded to pinpricks. The silence grew heavy. The walls became rougher. There were claw marks now. Old ones. Deep.
At the bottom, they found another door.
Much larger.
Chains wrapped around it like vines. The stone was cracked from the inside.
And behind it…
A heavy breath. A stomp.
And then, a growl that turned into a low, rumbling chuckle.
Something was waiting.