Grabbing Richard by the collar of this shirt, Martin lifted him up like he weighed nothing. Growling the warrior said, “Understand this youngster… this isn’t earth. Acting like a little pansy is like painting a bullseye on your back. You’ll be lucky if you end up as a slave somewhere. So, straighten up and act like you’ve got a backbone!”

Finished shouting, the warrior tossed Richard off to the side before striding off. Richard landed on his feet but stumbled a bit before regaining his balance. He watched the warrior’s receding back in frustration. Being called a pansy stung a bit, but Richard couldn’t fault the warrior for saying that. However, he didn’t feel he was wrong in begging either. Survival required desperate actions sometimes, and his situation was pretty damn desperate. He was supposedly on one world of the World Labyrinth, which was composed of hundreds of worlds. As far as finding where he was on a map….. well, he didn’t think anyone would have maps that big.

On the other hand, it seemed like he was screwed any way, since the warrior was leaving him behind. “Shit… Now what?” Whispering, he the rubbed the back of his neck, lost in thought.

“Hey, youngster!” Martin calling him woke Richard up. He looked up at where the warrior stood waiting in the nearby the ruins. “Are you coming or not? I don’t have all day!”

Richard suddenly felt relief flood him. He yelled, “I’ll be there” before heading towards Martin.

A few minutes later, both of the men found themselves heading deeper into the ruins, which seemed to become more expansive the deeper they went into the widening gorge. They came across dozen of openings carved into the gorge walls, many of which were surrounded by crumbling statues and ruined carvings. Collapsed pillars were also scattered around haphazardly, creating roadblocks every few meters. It looked like something had gone through the place, purposefully wrecking anything standing. With the sun setting in the sky, the ruins in the gorge suddenly had an ominous feel to them. “What is this place?” The whispered question was rhetorical, but Martin heard it nevertheless.

“Don’t worry. The place is deserted. It used to be some kind of town gods’ knew when, but it was abandoned for one reason or another.”

The warrior’s nonchalant reply kind of worried Richard. “Some reason or other?”

Martin looked back with raised eyebrows. “You know… like some crazy monster rampaging through here or some lunatic deciding to raze a town down to the ground. Things like that. It’s pretty common in most of the World Labyrinth. Either you can defend yourself or you’ll find yourself in for a world of hurt.”

Richard winced at that barb. He knew the warrior was reminding him about ‘growing a backbone,’ but the gentle reminder still annoyed him a bit. Changing the topic, Richard asked, “You talk like you’ve seen a lot in the World Labyrinth.”

Martin snorted up ahead. “Yeah… you could say that. When you’ve been around as long as I have, done what I have, and seen what I have, believe me… things can get pretty repetitive.“

“And how long is that? That you’ve been around?”

Martin stopped and turned around with a frown. “Now that would be none of your business. Consider it one of those taboos you don’t ask adventurers. It gets into the whole skills and stats matter. However, I will tell you that many adventurers will gain… call them abilities that will affect how you age. Some things will speed up your death, and others will increase your lifespan.” With that, silence once again dominated their interaction.

Richard thought about what Martin had said. Speeding up your death sounded kind of stupid, but an increased lifespan sounded like the fountain of youth or something. If that actually existed… Martin looked at the warrior in front of him, wondering how old the fellow was. Never mind that, Richard wondered how strong the man must be to wander around this hellhole with no worries. Richard had almost died out in the desert when those two huge beasts fought each other. If Martin spent his time wandering around places like this for a living or on ‘adventures’ as he put it, Richard could only imagine how strong the warrior was.

His contemplation was cut short when Martin said out loud, “Alright we’re here.”

Richard looked around trying to figure out where ‘here’ was. There were just more ruins around him, and… “What the hell?” When Martin stepped out of the way, Richard was finally able to see what the warrior was talking about: a large circular platform, easily big enough to hold a dozen or more people. It had four talon like protrusions equally spaced around it and a small pedestal to one side.

Martin explained, “I’ll be sending you to someplace you can get a relatively safe start at. It doesn’t mean that it’ll be a safe place, just that it’s safer than most other places. You get the difference right?”

Richard, who was still trying to figure out the weird platform, replied, “Yeah… don’t let my guard down.”

Martin nodded and said, “Good. At least, you understand that much. One last piece of information: there are hundreds of languages used in the World Labyrinth. Right now, we’re speaking English. That’s part of how I figure out you’re an adventurer, because English is a relatively rare language that only a few people speak in the Labyrinth. However, there is a common trade language that most of the worlds use. When you were sent here, the ability to speak that language was placed into your mind. Once you hear it being spoken, you should be able to understand it and use it.”

When Martin had started talking about languages, Martin had initially been worried that he wouldn’t be able to understand anyone wherever he was going. However, by the end of the explanation, he felt curious about it. “Is that some kind of magic thing or something?

Martin shrugged. “Don’t know. But there are high level skills or spells that can help with language acquisition or translation. I’m just telling you this so you don’t freak out when you start hearing stuff that sounds like gibberish.”

“Yeah… got it.”

Martin walked over to the pedestal and tapped on its surface. Suddenly, a small blue screen appeared on top of the pedestal, and Martin began moving his hand up and down in front of screen like he was scrolling through something. When he stopped, he held out his left hand, and a yellow colored crystal appeared in it. Taking the crystal, Martin stuck it on the surface of the pedestal and began doing something else to the blue screen. “Alright then, get on the node, and I’ll send you to the nearest safe zone. I can’t promise what you’ll find there, but it’ll at least be better than a red zone like this place.”

Richard had seen enough science fiction movies and played enough games to realize the circular platform was a transporter of some kind and was supposedly called a ‘node.’ He gingerly stepped onto the platform, wondering how it worked. After positioning himself in the center of the node, he looked back at Martin, who gave him a thumbs up and then tapped the blue screen one last time.

Before Richard could say anything, a blue flash surrounded him, making him blink, and when he next opened his eyes, he was… somewhere else. From what he could tell, the node was in a spacious clearing filled with flowers of all kind. Large trees surrounded the clearing, and the sound of birds chirping filled the air. More importantly, it seemed like it was only late in the afternoon here… wherever here was, rather than being almost sunset. Richard walked off the node and glanced around, wondering what he should do next. There was a dirt path leading away from the node, but it seemed to cut into the woods in the distance. With it being so late in the day, he wasn’t sure he wanted to start walking through some strange woods.

SCQRREEEAAAAAEEEEEE!

The loud screeching sound made him jump, and he twisted around, trying to find its source. He didn’t see anything near the ground, but when he looked up, he made out some kind of flying creature closing in. “Oh shit... Not again!”