Part 1

"Another happy landing!" Gingerly said Lucas as I watched him bounce and bounce on his ass over the surface of one of the many spongy, humongous mushrooms filling the cavern.

"Oh shut it-" I snapped, throwing at his forehead the little stone the size of a marble I was playing with "- It's already the third time. I'm tired of falling!"

"Wouldn't it be possible that one of you is a magnet for bad luck?" Jokingly said Dino as he roughly fixed his torn clothes under the dim, green light of one of said mushrooms.

I stopped whatever I was about to do. Stuck in place. Paralyzed by his words. My mind traced back days, weeks, years, and finally past my first life.

[It can't be because of that...right?]

I shuddered at the thought, then - seeing the looks I was getting- I hurried myself to resume the task given to me: prepare dinner. A poor excuse of a dinner compared to what any of us ate before entering the labyrinth, but still food nonetheless. Something we all needed, especially after barfing anything our stomachs held right after the fall. A hot soup with chunks of dried meat, the few vegetables we were able to carry from the temple and random sprays of spices just to give it some semblance of taste. Alas, it was still bland.

When I called we sat around the fire on broken logs and square stones. We ate in almost reverent silence, the occasional slurping and loud chewing sounds were all that filled the cave. Until, of course, Lucas broke that calming silence.

"How did we survive that fall exactly?" He asked without even raising his eyes from the brownish soup in front of his face.

"The mushrooms?" Replied Dominik with a questioning look, most likely wondering what kind of question was my brother even asking given that he spent almost an hour bouncing on our saviors.

"I get that. I'm not that dumb!-" He complained "- I was just... realizing how fucked we would've been if the tunnel suddenly didn't become some kind of slide and the mushrooms didn't wait for us at its end... I'm just thankful for our luck. I even gave a prayer for that!"

"Well-" Continued Dino now sitting his bowl on his side "- considering how we've been fighting hordes of golems for days, a little luck like this was owed. Don't you think?"

"Think of it how you want-" Scoffed my brother almost in a pout "- I still have my life, all my limbs intact and a belly full. You won't see me being disgraceful to the Gods for that! For that matter I- wait, where are you going Raph?"

"I'm done eating-" I said, passing the bowl and wooden "tableware" to Dominik, who was in charge of the cleaning "- I'll need mana if we are to leave tomorrow morning, and for that I need meditation...A few hours of sleep wouldn't hurt either"

He grunted like a child, knitting curses under his breath for not keeping them company. Dino and Dominik nodded a wordless "good night" and I went straight to sit under the dim light of a little mushroom. My legs were crossed, my hands resting on my knees. I relaxed.

I forcibly slowed my breath, causing my heart to slow. With less blood being pumped around my body, a sensation of cold permeated my core but it soon disappeared as mana began to flow in harmony with it. I let my eyelids slide and my shoulders slump. Time stopped as I tapped ever so slightly into the vast sea of the corrupted energy surrounding that entire zone of the labyrinth. I breathed out that little silver of mana still lingering in my circuits and finally entered trance, leaving behind only the slight touch of a gentle wisp of wind on my skin and the burning sensation rising from a spot on my waist and circling the entirety of my torso. Then, I started.

* * *

I woke up in the morning. Or at least what we agreed to be morning. Dominik was tugging at my shirt and offering me a waterskin as I painfully opened my eyes. I was still deep in a restful trance when he came. I sleep a bit but at least I was rested enough to travel and- more importantly- my mana was almost full.

Pinching my cold and stuck legs to allow the circulation to resume and letting the nerves know that it was time to wake up, I shrugged off that placid air surrounding my meditative state and rose to my feet. The makeshift camp had been already cleared and my companions were checking their belongings and fastening the backpacks on their backs. I did the same. Once ready, we sat down in front of the ashes of last night's fire and ate a cold breakfast of jerky beef before strolling out of one of the many tunnels littering the smooth walls of the cave.

The conversation was scarce except for the sporadic comment, remark, or worried grunt. The reason being the sultriness of the air stealing breath out of our lungs. It is common knowledge that the deeper one goes the hotter it becomes. It seemed that we had gone quite deep without realizing it.

We spent an entire day and some more exploring the labyrinth-like tunnels that opened up in front of our eyes. There was no need to carry more than one torch since the underground floor glowed with its own light. Mushrooms, vines, and flowers of many kinds all seemed to glow with a dim, green light that appeared unnatural but useful all the same. To our surprise, we were even able to explore the tunnels in complete leisure since no monster seemed to live that deep underground. However, a surprise isn't always welcome. Even with their lacking knowledge of monster behavior, Dino and Dominik knew- much like Lucas and I- that the lack of their presence could mean either that the place was devoid of it due to it's harshness or that one stronger monster wiped the rest out. The latter seemed to silently instill a sense of uneasiness within us.

Around what on the surface would have been lunchtime of the second day, the tunnel, three meters high and large enough to fit just two average men side by side, suddenly gained both height and size. It was almost an explosive transition. Light was flowing in from the crystals poking out of the walls and bathing us in a bluish hue.

My curiosity spiked as I spotted, cluttered against a wall, what seemed to be squarish logs of various sizes. I approached the pile, followed by my three companions like ducklings, and realized how massive they were. Curiosity turned into fear as my eyes lingered on a spot behind the pile of logs. It looked as if the stone had been crooked, intentionally, so that something may be attached.

[Just like a column or a...] I thought silently as my pupils traced its form.

"Sustaining pole!" I finished as my eyes jutted to the other side of the wall where another similar crook had been made.

A sudden rush of blood flowed to my head and pressed painfully against my temples. I turned my head deeper into the tunnel, searching with my eyes both walls and ceiling. Once spotted what I was desperately hoping not to find, my knees grew weak and it took no small amount of willpower to stop myself from falling. On the far side of a wall, hundreds of meters away from where we were, a giant structure made of wood joined by hinges and nails stood up to support the ceiling of the immense tunnel.

"Sustaining pole? What are you saying?" Asked Dino as he poked at one of the logs with the tip of his sword.

"It's a sustaining pole...There" I replied as I pointed to the already-built structure in the distance.

Unable to see from that far without the help of mana, I walked the group forward, keeping close to the walls per my instructions. Then, upon seeing the structure I spoke of up close, the realization of my words doomed in Dino. He went as far as to test the hinges himself with the help of one of my pillars yet fell on his knees upon accepting reality.

"It was made by something intelligent...right?" He asked, the glint of hope that someone may refute his words still shining dimly in his eyes broke suddenly by Dominik's nod.

"My Lord-" Dominik continued, crunching low enough to put his hand on Dino's back in a very fatherly manner "- do not deny what is plain to see. It will only come to hurt you later"

"T-then, what could possibly do this? There is no such thing as big and intelligent enough to create this!" Dino retorted.

"What about giants?" Lucas asked.

"Unlikely-" I replied pronto "- It's said that all giants have been killed during the war"

"And even if there were some still alive, they most certainly wouldn't be here. Giants are said to love cold places" Finished Dominik.

"Could it be that those poles are the work of ancient civilization? Like the one that built that temple" Probed Dino, still hoping to evade a fight with whatever being or beings built dug the tunnel.

"Highly unlikely-" Dominik replied "- The wood hasn't rotted and there's no trace of rust on the hinges. My Lord, those poles were placed here recently. It would be wise to act with the worst-case scenario in mind...-" It took a moment for Dino to collect himself as his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, but after a deep breath he calmed down and nodded in acknowledgment to his knight, who continued "- Sir Raphael, what do you think is the worst-case scenario?"

"Worst-case scenario?-" I repeated, giving myself time to think about it, tapping into the hours I spent in the library studying dungeons and their inherent creatures "- I cannot be certain of it. This labyrinth has proven itself to be far different from what any book has ever told me... It must've been the work of a single creature since I can't see traces of machines or structures to help reach the ceiling. Such a creature would need to be both intelligent enough to understand the risks of digging a tunnel without support and strong enough to dig said tunnel. I have no memory of ever reading of something like that so either we are in the home of a giant who isn't bothered by the hot temperature or we are up against a creature never seen before. We can agree that the latter seems the most likely, knowing that we found no monster lurking in the tunnels"

"*sigh* It's exactly as I feared. Thank you for saying it so plainly-" Defeatedly replied Dominik "- What do you suggest we do?"

"Mhh, the first thing I would say is run. Against an unknown opponent like this, betting on our safety would be idiotic. However, it seems like we must be idiots this time around" I replied, followed by a long sigh.

"What do you mean by that, brother?"

"Our food reserves are running low. We could spend days and weeks exploring the tunnels in search of a way up to a place where we could hunt, but we don't have that kind of time. Lucas, the more time we waste the less likely is to find our family...unhurt. I think we should press forward, keeping our guard up at all times and sleep without fire. Whatever creature lies down here must've found it's way in from the surface. We'll use that"

"I'm with you on that. Though I'm curious of what kind of monster it is!" Merrily replied Lucas as if he was just agreeing to a trip to the zoo.

"I'll admit that your words strike true, sir Raphael. What you are suggesting is idiotic-" Retorted Dominik with a distrustful look in his eyes, most likely wondering what my true intentions were when I mentioned my family's safety "- but you haven't said a word wrong. If this place truly is devoid of any creature except the one that dug this tunnel, then we are doomed to starve to death. Pressing forward seems to be the only available option but I'll listen to my Lord's words regardless of how true yours are"

[Such blind loyalty. It pisses me off but Dino sure is a lucky man...if only he was a little brighter and maybe stronger even... bah, useless thoughts!]

"Is running away really such an impossible thing, Raphael?" Dino asked, rather pleading.

"Unfortunately, yes-" I replied plainly "- but if we are smart, there won't be any fight with the creature"

"If you say so, then I'll agree too" Concurred Dino before raising to his feet and resuming the journey with one shoulder pressed upon the wall.

The night came as we traveled, slowly and warily, through the straight tunnel. The scenery did not change. Walls of black stone still surrounded us, crystals poking out of the stone still bathed us in blue light, and sustaining poles still stuck out of the stone like sore thumbs every kilometer or so. It came the time when we had to rest. Both mind and body tired by our wary attitude.

We set camp inside a crack in the wall, big enough to fit three of us. The fourth was tasked with keeping guard with a rotation of two hours. We ate in silence and no fire was lit, so as to not leave any trace or show our presence. Meaningless to say that none of us truly slept well. The morn' came with the greetings of bone cracking and painfully grunts. We ate jerky as we walked.

Around halfway through the morning, we began hearing some sounds. The first ever since we fell down there. Excitement, fear, and curiosity all mixed furiously within our hearts, pumping adrenaline through our muscles and coercing us to forget the pains of the awful night's sleep and the fatigue that kept building up day after day.

The sounds were mere whispers at first, carried by an unseen wind. Nothing more than an itch inside our heads. Common sense prompted us to turn back, change course. But there was no course to change. We had been walking the straight tunnel. No side roads, no bifurcations, just a straight line. Turning back would have only meant starving. Thus, we walked with heavy minds toward the source of the sound.

We walked slowly, taking care that every step was carried with the maximum amount of sneakiness possible. Making the term "soundless" our creed. And the more we walked, the more those strange whispers took form. Sounds became syllables. Syllables became words. Words into phrases and phrases mashed together became a language unknown to any of us.

A maniacal laugh almost escaped Dino's lips as we reached the end of the tunnel, exactly where the sound came from. We had stepped into a room, rather, an enormous cone-shaped hole divided into a series of floors around its circumference. Going from top to bottom, each of them having many tunnels littering their walls. We were on the third-most floor from the bottom and the sound came from further down below.

"What in the name of the Heavens is this place?" Asked Dominik, shedding that aura of cold stoicism that he kept in order to not shame his lord.

"A mine" I voiced out my thoughts.

Chunks of crystals were neatly placed on ironish bracer-like items the size of two humans, shedding bluish lights in equal measure as casting dooming shadows. The place would have felt like an abandoned mine if not for the creature standing straight on its two legs and punching holes through the lowermost floor's wall.

Tall as nothing I had ever seen. A mass of skin as black as the night itself with streaks of gold like the wake of a falling star. Bundles of muscles bulged behind that rough-looking skin. I clenched my guts to suppress the fear pushing out the need to run as I recalled that beast. For it was no more beast but something far more...brutal.