‘Whenever you see yourself lost, whether in the world, your heart, or your thoughts, finding the steps you once trod, whether they pass through water, mud, or frost, might take you to the path you seek the most, whether you like what you find there or it was all for naught.’ No matter how many times I repeated Traiana’s words in my mind or how I looked at the words holding the wisdom to our way out, to me, it seemed like mere advice to retrace our steps.

But if so, what steps?

Seriously, since we found ourselves in this echo of the past, Stella just lay on the ground, doing her best to heal, and I merely rolled onto my side, then got up to face Traiana. There were not a lot of steps involved in that.

“C-could these be the steps... the steps we took to g-get here?” Trying to hold back a cough, Stella spoke her thoughts aloud. She, too, saw nothing else in the advice but following back our steps. Her suggestion was ridiculous, though.

“You mean in the maze?”

“Got a b-better idea, Korra?”

“Well...no.”

“Then...” she said and broke into a coughing fit.

“Then what? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the way through that maze, let alone how many steps I took.”

She smirked. “Neither do I.”

“Then why the stupid look?”

“Because b-before Meneur got out, he shoved this in my hand,” Stella said, showing me his notebook, the one where he recorded our way through the maze.

“That’s...” I was lost for words. Meneur, though he didn’t show it much, was a smart guy; I just didn’t expect him to have the foresight to give Stella his notes. “...so you think?”

“I don’t know how he did it, but Meneurmut is quite detailed in his notes. He recorded not only the number of his steps, which are certainly longer than mine or yours, but also estimated the width of the maze paths and the time,” Stella said, flipping through the notebook in wonder. “I underestimated the guy again.”

That happened to her a lot with Squad Four. Needless to say, I was no exception to the bad habit of judging people too early. It was Meneur who once told me that for him the first impression, the first meeting, was full of pretense and that he preferred to judge people by their actions. That was something that had a lot of truth to it but went against the way I grew up. The first impression may not have been entirely telling of a person’s character, but it played an important role.

Anyway, the notes.

For the first time since Traiana appeared in front of us, I truly took my eyes off her and looked at the pages where the maze was drawn and described. It didn’t take long for the staring problem to dawn on me.

How the hell was that maze relevant to this place?

There were no walls here, just rock and woods around. “Is the space here broken, too?” I spoke the questions on my mind out loud, looking around, ears pricked up, trying to find a hint of the misshaping.

“You’re looking for something that isn’t there, little Guardian,” Traiana’s chuckle snapped me out of my focus and thoughts. “If anything, space and time are firmer here than anywhere else.”

“What do you mean, ma’am? We were dragged through a broken... misshapen space here.”

“You are right in correcting yourself. Based on what I know and from what you two and those before you have told me, the space you encountered wasn’t broken but misshapen by the one here.”

My first thoughts were to Idleaf, and how she called what we came across a misshapen space, just like Traiana now. The woman wasn’t just repeating my words; it was what she believed the space to be, misshapen. Idleaf, regardless of how immature she appeared, must have seen more in the maze walls than she was able to convey. The truth of it stabbed at my heart. She knew where I might end up. She was afraid of not being able to reach me here, and I basically blew her off.

Swallowing my regret, I wiped the tears from the corner of my eyes and sent mana into the rune on my side again before I turned my attention back to Traiana. “Why?” What was the difference between a broken and a misshapen space?

Traiana raised an eyebrow, her gaze falling from my eyes to my side. “You’re making me question again whether you’re or not indeed a dolt. For the last time, your efforts are wasted. But maybe it’s your apparently limited knowledge of space and time that is at fault. I am not a scholar or a magus, yet this used to be knowledge held by all.”

Her comment, though not meant ill by the tone of her voice, didn’t sit well with me, my instincts, nor my pride. Nevertheless, whether it was common knowledge even now or not, I clenched my fists, swallowed back the curses, and lowered my head. “I used to be a slave, and ...” I stopped at the thought of Dungreen, my former slave master. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“No need to apologize for your ignorance when the fault is not yours, little Guardian,” Traiana said, her deep and resonant voice warm. She then looked into the distance where the battle was taking place. “We do not choose the world we live in, nor can we influence events beyond our reach. We can only do the best with what we’ve been given. Sadly, life is not fair, and that is true across the ages.”

Was I thinking too much into it, or was she really talking about me not being of this world, that I couldn’t control whether I got abducted or became a slave? It wouldn’t be strange. After all, Esudein was also able to tell that I was an otherworlder. But if she knew, there was a chance... “Do you know how to travel between worlds?” I had to ask, regardless of Stella being here with me, hearing it all. If there was a chance to get back home, I had to take it. Even a hint would be fine with me.

Traiana gave me a sympathetic smile. “I understand your yearning, little Guardian. I, too, longed to return to my home, long burned by the heat of hatred scorching the world. Alas, I must fail you; as I said, I am not a scholar or a magus. And even for them, something like that would be a feat worthy of heralding.”

There went my chance to find my way home. I simply failed to hide my disappointment, which, along with my query, only burdened Stella with more questions.

“Korra, w-what are you two talking about?”

“Can we speak about it later, please?” After the letdown, I wasn’t in the mood to talk about my home, to address the fact that I wasn’t from Eleaden. Worse, I was dreading how she’d take it. “I promise I’ll tell you, just...”

“Is it dangerous, you know...?” Stella said, not finishing her sentence. But the hint was clear. Was it dangerous to know? Was I dangerous to her?

“No, at least I don’t think so,” I said, knowing myself that it didn’t sound very convincing. “Esudein knows, Idleaf, Deckard, and Lord Wigram, too.”

“Imperial Chief Healer? Damn. And what about Captain Rayden?”

“No, not her.” Just people who figured it out on their own, or heard of the truth by accident, like Lightfeather.

Stella nodded and took a breath, thinking. “You’re holding it close to your chest, huh?”

“Please, Stella...”

“Hey, wind down; I’m not judging you...” she said and coughed. “W-who tells everyone all about themselves, right? I just h-hope I don’t regret it.”

“You won’t, I promise. Thank you, Stella.”

There were no hugs, no tears involved, yet somehow it felt that way, that we embraced each other, our eyes wet, that we came closer.

“Nice to see that trust has not vanished entirely yet; it gives me hope. Not your ignorance, though. In fact, it’s something to be concerned about. And so listen well as I’m about to enlighten you on the matter of space and time. These are entities very hard to sway. Those who know what they’re doing, and sometimes those who don’t, can bend them, twist them, or misshapen them, but to break them would require a force that would shatter this world. “

“To understand what swept you here, you have to realize that connecting the past with the present is not impossible, but doing so would quite possibly wash away the whole present into the past and give birth to a new one. The older the time and space, the heavier they are and the more firmly anchored. The light and fluid present would then be easily pulled and drawn into the past.”

“So...t-this is the past?” Stella asked, taking the question from my lips.

“Still not listening, I see. To take the true past and anchor it across time was beyond the ability of the builders. It would mean tearing the past out of the blanket of time and space, therefore breaking the time and space itself. As I said, this is merely an echo of the past, yet make no mistake, anchoring it across time was no easier a feat. As the true past grows stronger and more solid with the passage of time and expanding space, so does its echo. It’s why, from time to time, enchanting and rune lines, placed to anchor it and keep it in check, fail to separate the echo from the rest as they adjust to the changes.”

I didn’t consider myself stupid, far from it, but listening to Traiana’s explanation was damn confusing. It was almost as if she saw the world differently, or at least was just used to talking about it in a different way than I was used to. Her description of time and space was full of analogies instead of facts. Nevertheless, if I understood correctly, what the other seeker had encountered was not a weakened barrier between different versions of the floors, nor did I hear the trapped seeker, I thought. It was the copy of the true past that was leaking into the present. But knowing that begged another frightening thought.

“Is the labyrinth failing, ma’am? I mean, the runes and enchantments holding this echo here?” Going with what I had just learned, it made Fallen’s Cry a ticking bomb, and it wasn’t the only one. There were twenty-six of them across Eleaden.

Despite my hopes that I was wrong, Traiana confirmed my fears with a nod. “Runes and enchantments are indeed reaching their limits.”

“Shit!” Stella cursed, no more thrilled to hear that than I was.

“Your fears, clenching your guts and stealing your breath, are justified, little ones. Tinkering with time and space is extremely perilous. Nevertheless, to allay your fears, those runes and enchantments are centuries away from reaching the limits they were designed for.”

“But they have their limits. That’s why the leaks, right?” I argued. “They will fail one day.”

With sadness and longing in her eyes, Traiana smiled. “Should it happen, my dream, my nightmare, will end, and with it, your training while your presence should remain safe, hopefully, with you ready enough for what’s to come.”

I wasn’t sure if she intended to say as much, but my mind was taken for a spin. First of all, the labyrinths were really meant, it seemed, to prepare people, seekers, to fight whatever they were fighting at the time, this time. We were meant to train down in the labyrinths. Second, and I could be wrong, but the labyrinths weren’t bombs threatening to go off, but reactors. Or, to be more precise, a massive facility, a tool, that required so much energy to power it that the warping of time and space was necessary to generate it.

No matter how I looked at it, be it an echo of the past, a dream, or a nightmare, the thought of standing in what was essentially a reactor chamber sent shivers down my spine, from the tip of my ears to the tip of Sage.

“W-what is to come? What h-have you f-f-fought with?” Stella asked between coughs, even though she knew Traiana had already refused to tell us once. My guess was she was hoping for another slip-up, but to our mutual dismay, the woman of the past shook her head. “I have already told you that you are weak to bear the full truth. Although I must admit, you are brighter than you seem, especially you, little Guardian. If I’m not mistaken, you gleaned more from my words than you should have.”

‘Curse my body language!’ This was one of those moments when an overly nosy protagonist was killed off for knowing too much. Traiana, however, remained calm. If anything, there was a twinkle of curiosity in her eyes. “You know, yet you hold yourself. Most impressive, or you’ve gleamed far less than I assumed.”

Did I? Was there more to it? Was this more than a bloody dangerous rector? Thinking about it, who or what did that make Traiana herself? Why the need for someone like her? She professed herself a guide, yet I never heard of her guiding a soul. Not directly, at least. Was she some sort of rune-based AI tasked with operating this facility? No, that couldn’t be it. She was more than that. ‘The dreamer, the watcher, the nightmare owner, the jailer and the jailed.’ Her own words clicked in my mind.

“You are...” I should keep my mouth shut; I really should, yet I couldn’t help myself. “You are the warden of this place and the one that keeps this place going.” How exactly it all worked was beyond me, but I was sure that without Traiana trapped here, this place couldn’t exist.

“Didn’t I say that already, little Guardian?” Traiana spoke, a pleased grin on her lips and tears at the corner of her eyes. In the sense she really told us in a limited way that she could, no doubt like to many others, but the fact that I understood what she meant, even if only in a limited way, touched her. It wasn’t hard for me to put myself in her shoes. Even now, I longed for others to understand - not just know - what I had been through during my year of slavery. The mere thought of it was still crushing my soul. But my suffering was a mere blink of an eye compared to hers. She had been standing here alone for millennia, trapped in her dreams, as Idleaf told me the first time she saw her statue. The only difference, I guessed, was that she was here by choice. If not...that would be too cruel a fate for one.

“I...” I opened my mouth, only to find I had no idea what to say. To comfort her, to thank her for her sacrifice, for her courage, it all seemed wrong.

“No need to worry about me, little Guardian; my fate is mine to bear,” Traiana spoke, back to her regal self. “You should worry more about yourself and your comrade. She seems more lost than you.”

I immediately turned to look at Stella, who at once put on an affronted face, glancing from me to Traiana. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but even I figured out that you’re essential to this place, connected to this echo far more than we can imagine. It’s just, the way you described this place, it doesn’t seem like it should be possible to get out of here.”

“I didn’t mean to disparage you, little one. If anything, you’re the one of you two more aware of your plight, how badly lost you are.”

That gave me and Stella pause. She saw her mistake, that Traiana’s words were not meant as a scolding but a praise. And I, for one, realized how much I got caught up in the prospect of going home when I first had to find one from here. ‘How fucking dumb of you, Korra!’

Stella waved me off when I gave her a ashamed look. “Let’s find a way out. I hate how this place messes with my skills.”

“You are still having trouble with them?”

“You don’t?”

I scratched the back of my head. “I haven’t actually tried...”

“Are you kidding? Making sure you know what you have available to you is one of the basic things to do in cases like this.”

‘Cases like this?’ Was she trying to be funny? Anyway, as much as I’d like to chalk it up to Rayden’s teachings to be prepared for anything and rub it in her face, Stella was right. And so, without another word, I went through my skills, at least those with an active side to them. [Indomitable Will]; [Mantle of Magic]; [Beast Core]; [Spatial Domain]; [Beast]; [Tail of Poison Empress]; [Dancer’s Stride]; [Roundhouse Kick]; all of them seemed fine to use, though.

“You may have more severe injuries than you know,” I suggested when I thought about where the issue might be.

“I’ve been pretty m-messed up before,” Stella gritted her teeth and shook her head. “... but I n-never had as much of a hard t-t-time controlling my skills as I do now. So no, it’s not me, t-there’s something wrong with this place.”

“Well, it could be the time and space thing, the runes and enchantments keeping it in check.”

“Then why aren’t you affected?”

That, I had no idea.

“She is, little one,” Traiana spoke after listening to us in silence for a while.

“She is?” Stella wondered. “Then why am I the only one who is this messed up, ma’am?”

“Because the little Guardian here isn’t as deeply connected to the system as you are.”

What the actual fuck?! Was she hinting at me being an otherworlder again?

Seeing the confusion in both of us, Traiana resumed. “Let me clarify my words. While you, little one, have been using the system since you were 16, you, little Guardian, have not. One of you has honed her skills to match her class level, the other has only brushed up on their potential. One of you went far beyond what should be possible for a human of her age, while the other more or less relies on what she is.”

Well, what she basically said was that I was a complete rookie when it came to skills, while Stella knew her way around.

“W-wait, you’re saying I’m having t-t-trouble using the skills here because... because I’ve trained them further than Korra? That doesn’t make sense unless....”

“Unless?” I asked when Stella stopped mid-sentence.

She ignored me and frowned at Traiana with concern in her eyes. “Is there something wrong with the system itself here?”

Traiana gave her smile, the kind mothers give to children who understand something, brushed with mischievous glee. “I wouldn’t say outright wrong, little one. After all, there was no such thing at this age.”