The hallway suddenly feels decayed. There are missing blocks in the wall, revealing dirt and bare cave rock. What felt like a school corridor is more like a bombed out building.

  “No, this is back where I came from,” Jes points up the hall. “Before I met you. We can’t go this way.”

  I stop. “You mean back to the minotaur?”

  She nods. “Up that way.”

  I kneel and draw with my finger in the dirt. “I showed up about here, in a sort of underwater lake. Got Sadie. Went this way-ish. Had some fights in a section, kept getting looped back, came out I think this way. Lamia, snakes, and eventually somewhere around here? I’m guessing I’ve travelled in a big expanding spiral, maybe a U or something.”

  “If we’re here,” Jes points at my poor drawing and squats next to me. “I came from here, this way, got lost about here. Minotaur here. I’m not sure which way I came from. This gets a bit fuzzy, because I ran from the minotaur over here.”

  I look at our map. If the angles were tighter, it’s not impossible that we started not far from each other, went opposite directions and came back to meet. It’s also not impossible that our horseshoe map is an incomplete circle. I draw a big block, connecting what we believe to be our starting positions.

  I label the connecting portion Minotaur Lair. Traditionally, labyrinths are circular. It makes the map even more accurate in my mind and explains why I get the notification for another level in Cartography. That might mean the sketch is at least similar to the actual layout of the maze.

  Jes stands. “That’s why we’re going back that way and looking for other junctions. It has to branch off.”

  I look up at her, pointing to the lair on the map. “That’s where we have to go.”

  “You,” she announces, “Have a very, very broad definition of we. I’m not going back that way.”

  Sadie chimes in with “I’m not sure charging into a minotaur’s lair is a strong plan.”

  “Are you implying he plans?” Jes chuckles.

  “The plan remains. Exit,” I declare. “If we find evidence that people are still in the maze, maybe we become a rescue squad. Maybe the rest of the world is waiting for us outside these walls. No matter what the case may be, leaving this place is priority one. We can figure out priority two after that. For the sake of survival, humans are not meant to live in labyrinths. I wouldn’t mind sunlight. At this point, I wouldn’t mind rain. We are settled that our primary goal is getting out?”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  They both grunt agreements. Baco has snorted and fallen to his side for a nap. As much as Sadie complains about Jes resting, Baco must burn a lot of calories just guiding that bulk around.

  “It has also been established,” I announce in firm lawyer tone, “That the system throws harder tests at us to keep us in place, and after defeating a difficult test, we get to a new section, where the enemies are different and come in either greater numbers or have more elaborate tactics. Due to this fact, the path of greatest resistance is usually the path forward.”

  “You’re thinking,” Jes interrupts, “The exit is through the minotaur?”

  I nod. “Makes all the sense in the world. We each started in minotaur territory. We were then chased out and we learned our skills. I got Sadie and Baco, you learned your Slipping and fancy weapons. We’ve evolved. It is now time to bring to show him what we’ve learned. All roads lead to him. Literally. The system needs us to prove ourselves. We need to prove ourselves. I’m convinced the only way out is through him.”

  “I have difficulty expressing how much I oppose your plan,” Jes claims. “Let’s say for a moment I believe you. That the minotaur literally holds a key to unlock the exit. If we take that as true, why don’t we go back into the labyrinth, kill more and more satyrs until we skill up even further, and come back when we are confident we can beat a fifteen-foot-tall monster with a bull’s head.”

  I swipe my arms like an ump declaring a runner safe. “No way, and I’ll give you at least two reasons. Reason one. For all we know, the minotaur is also levelling up and every time we get a new skill, he gets one as well, if not more. It’s his labyrinth after all. Reason two. If your mother is somewhere out there, do you want to delay moving on just so you feel better about our chances? If she’s out there, fighting the same horrors we are, do you want to keep pushing her luck?”

  She clenches her fists and narrows her eyes. “That’s not fair.”

  “I’m right and you know it. We’re under a ticking clock every minute. The longer we’re here, the more chance that we, or that someone else, who isn’t ready, takes a wrong step or is on the other side of a lucky incoming shot. Things are steadily more dangerous, not less. It is absolutely possible that this world is levelling up around us.”

  Ding.

  You’ve gained the Persuade (Emerging, Level 1) skill.

  Couldn’t persuade my damn group to do their homework. This must be some sort of magically enhanced persuade. What happened to them? Cheryl, Frank, Hassan, the rest of the class. Are they here, travelling with Jes’ mother?

  “Stop,” she mutters. It’s not a confrontational voice. It’s quiet. She licks her lips and continues in the same hushed tones. “Dom Ahlfors, you may be an asshole. But you’re right. You might end up killing us. But if we don’t do this, there’s too much at stake. I hate everything in this place. But you’re right. That’s why there was the room of supplies. It’s to get us ready for the minotaur.”