It was a few days after Phoenix had learned about the little Destroyer Acolyte meeting Uriel and Dazien’s meeting with Emrys in a dream that she and the others were gathered near the inner entrance to the Labyrinth—except for Camilla, who would continue her research from outside of it, and Ren, who would be playing scout and protector for Cami while the rest of them were unavailable.

  Both Rifts were apparently located in the sea near Serenydi’s island within the safety of their enchantments, and she was pretty sure the island was artificially made purely because of them. The outer Sapphire ranked one was located just beyond the northern beach, while the one in front of her was further from the shore to the east.

  It was a large archway that seemed grown from corals and touched the bottom of the ocean floor. There was a heavily enchanted pathway that led there from the island, keeping the inhabitants feeling dry and warm but did nothing for breathing since they assumed anyone heading there didn’t have lungs anymore.

  Walking along it felt a bit like Saiya’s [Cleansing Stream] ability having the sensation of being in water with the dissonance of not being wet. The fish also seemed entranced by their visitors and had little fear of swimming close enough to brush along her floating curls, which were only held back from her face by a shining silver tiara.

  They were all preparing for battle. Most of their custom orders from Teal had been delivered by that point, though she knew a few items were still missing—mainly her own pieces to support her dragon transfiguration and Uriel’s latest rush order.

  They didn’t plan to spend a long time within the Labyrinth, focused on making a quick and precise assault toward the center where they knew the DOD waited. Based on what the Night Elves already knew of the Labyrinth that had been in their care for generations, it would only take about two days to get there from the Emerald landing area. That was assuming the time required for handling the Emerald Caste monsters they were assuredly going to be encountering.

  “Remember, your party is going to be sticking close to me at the back of the group once we’re all inside,” Emrys started to say as Dazien returned from his [Armory], having dropped off a book he had been reading on their way.

  She hadn’t been thrilled to note that it was a book about noble courtships and marriages, but she hoped he might have been looking for a polite way to back out of the offer that had been made since they already got the permission to view the library they needed.

  Emrys held out a handful of bracelets for all of them to take. They were thick golden cuffs that had runes etched around them. “These help keep track of the time you’ve spent inside as well as the monster kills and loot received. We require everyone who enters the Labyrinth to wear them. They will also lead you back to the nearest exit so ideally people don’t get lost for weeks. We try to maintain a maximum populace so the Keeper here doesn’t get overrun by a swarm of loot-hungry Casters.”

  “What’s to stop people from just staying in here forever like the DOD?” Phoenix asked with a raised brow as she took one of the bracelets.

  “Well, usually injury or a lack of supplies to survive long enough,” the prince replied, giving her a curious look. “But they also incur a heavy fine should they overstay their time allotment. I have a separate investigation ongoing right now to figure out how exactly the DOD managed to get into the Labyrinth without one of these bracelets to account for their presence.”

  He nodded toward Dazien. “Your brother explained that this DOD acolyte he met mentioned befriending the Keeper somehow, so they might not have the same threat of death most others do. I would very much like to learn how they managed such a feat.”

  “Can’t people just bring their own supplies to stay indefinitely, though? And what about an Obsidian or Ruby Caster? Can’t they just go in and destroy everything?”

  Emrys looked at her like she was insane for a moment before slowly turning his gaze on Dazien.

  Her brother just gave a short laugh. “You’ve heard the stories around her. Getting Rubies and Obsidians to do her bidding is just another Sonsol. I’ve tried explaining that it’s not normal, but it’s a bit hard to get her to understand when the Rubies and Obsidians keep humoring her.”

  The prince actually rubbed a palm over his face before turning back to her and explaining, “As a rule on paper, we don’t allow Rubies and Obsidians in since they can be such a threat to the Labyrinth’s growth, but if one was determined enough, we might make concessions in order to avoid international complications.”

  “I have no idea what that last part actually means,” she said with a confused pout.

  He chuckled. “It means a truly stubborn Obsidian could make our lives very complicated if they wished. It usually takes the threat of other Obsidian Casters to keep each other in line and not make our world descend into chaos. Luckily, most stay near the Obsidian zones including the cities on Visku, so they don’t meddle too often.”

  “I’m sorry, did you just say there were cities on the blue moon?” Phoenix asked incredulously.

  “Yes. One of the oldest Obsidians in the world helps oversee it and ensure peace among them. She keeps things fairly balanced and unbiased, but she’s not called the ‘Void Terror’ for nothing,” he added with another laugh and shake of his head.

  She was about to ask exactly how many Obsidians there were, but was shocked into silence when a small explosion of fabric and fur appeared. An annoyed looking Starfall voxen was suddenly standing amongst them, her hair and fur the color of orange topaz crystals as she scanned them briefly before walking over to Rayna and setting a glittering orange tunic over the smaller voxen’s head.

  “One for you,” the tailor announced, then moved over to Phoenix and shoved a pair of gloves and boots into her arms, “Two for you.”

  Uriel seemed both hopeful and hesitant as she stopped in front of him last and grumbled, “And one rush order for you. Could you also tell your meddling god that I didn’t need his help to make my work good! If he tries that again, I won’t make any more things for his Chosen!”

  Teal seemed to shudder involuntarily at the memory before disappearing in an implosion of cloth and hair, just as she had come.

  Everyone else seemed just as stunned as Phoenix felt until Emrys turned his focused gaze on Uriel and asked, “You’re Chosen as well? By who?”

  When Uriel didn’t answer right away, everyone tensed as the prince frowned and looked back at Dazien. “You mentioned he had problems with the DOD in the past. Was that because he is some sort of DOR pawn?”

  Dazien returned his frown but hedged, “No. The Delegation of Radiance has nothing to do with us currently.”

  “I find that difficult to believe,” Emrys replied as he glanced over at Phoenix. “She’s a Saint for five of the gods represented by them. They at the very least would have a vested interest in her.” He looked back toward Uriel and asked, “Why would the DOD risk the wrath of a neutral god? Surely there is some connection I’m missing.”

  He paused for a moment, taking in all of their faces, and Phoenix knew she was doing a terrible job of trying to keep the worry from her face. “You’re all making me concerned now,” Emrys cautiously said at the silence. “I don’t want to use my aura to dig around in his, but I do want to make sure all these guards I’m providing for this little expedition aren’t in additional trouble by having you amongst them.”

  “The Destroyer,” Uriel said, surprising all of them as they turned to look at his hardened expression. “He chose me when I was their captive, and I’ve never thanked him for doing so. I hope to stop Puera and the rest of the DOD from making more victims like me.”

  A tense silence descended as Emrys simply watched all of them, as if trying to see through them for any sign of deception. When he finally seemed to make up his mind, he simply nodded and asked, “Well, can I at least see what that eccentric tailor was grumbling about then? My curiosity has been going mad wondering what a god did to one of her already exceptional items.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  There was a collective relaxation as they realized Emrys wasn’t going to try fighting or imprisoning Uriel. Phoenix also felt her curiosity rising without the threat of retaliation now and summoned her [Guide Book] as she moved closer to Uriel’s side.

  Emrys’ laughter rang cheerfully through the space, “Cooking gloves? I didn’t realize the Destroyer and the Cook got along well enough for something like this.” He smiled at Uriel. “Maybe you can take after your blessed friend here and become Chosen to more than one deity yourself.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” he murmured softly, but Phoenix looked up to see Uriel grinning at the almost translucent gloves before slipping them into his dimensional bag. She had almost been jealous of the impressive item if she hadn’t already had her collection.

  “Your Highness, the guards are now ready to follow on your command,” a Night Elf said, dressed in actual armor that did cover most of their skin.

  “Thank you, Knight Shen,” Emrys replied, then turned to look at the rest of their small group. After a moment’s consideration, he asked, “Dazien, would you mind having your Seneschal go first? Normally, I would myself, but it would be a great reassurance that we’re not walking into a trap if the Chosen of the group we’re meant to be fighting took that first step.”

  “Absolutely not,” Dazien replied firmly, crossing his arms over his armored chest. “They want to capture him as much as we want to kill them, and I won’t risk his life unnecessarily like that.”

  The prince simply smiled. “Well, I thought I’d at least ask. I hope you realize how much trust I’m putting in our deal by not pushing the matter further.”

  Dazien slowly nodded, glancing over at her and Uriel for some reason as nervous trepidation rippled through their connection. Before she could ask what that was about, he replied, “I’m a man of my word. I will repay this debt as soon as we return as we discussed. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be reckless with the lives of my party who also place their trust in me.”

  Emrys nodded his head then turned to Phoenix and surprised her by holding out his hand for her to take. He smiled with amusement as he said, “I know I said this before… once upon a dream… but will you walk with me now?”

  She glanced back toward her brother, who smiled and actually nodded encouragingly at her. With an indulgent sigh, she nodded and took his hand in hers. “Just don’t let me fall this time. I have no idea what’s on the other side of this Rift because I told Dazien I wanted to be surprised.”

  “She promised she wouldn’t complain about the lecture I’ll be giving once we’re inside,” Dazien added with a cheeky grin. “I figured a little awe couldn’t hurt. The landing inside is normally safe and guarded.”

  “Indeed.” Emrys squeezed her hand slightly as he teased, “Well, I’m glad I get to be the first to show you this then.” With that, he gently pulled her along, and they both walked through the sheet of sparkling water that warbled within the coral gate, marking the boundary of the Labyrinth.

  Phoenix blinked a few times as the barely lit luminescence of the ocean depths gave way to bright sunshine far above whatever green forest they were in. It took her another moment to realize that the trees surrounding her however weren’t trees. They were grass. Massive blades that reached up dozens of feet in the air and the odd dirt beneath her feet made her feel like an ant in one of those cartoon bug movies.

  “Either something went wrong with that portal and we shrunk, or everything here is massive,” she said in the awe that she had been hoping to feel upon entering. She turned to look back at Emrys, who was still gripping her hand, and asked, “Did we actually go through the looking glass instead of a Rift portal? I feel a bit like Alice at the moment.”

  That was when she noticed the look of confusion followed by concern cross his features as he looked around.

  “What is it?” she asked, looking around as well but didn’t see anything… or anyone. “Wait, didn’t Daze say there should be guards?”

  “This isn’t where we were meant to arrive at,” he bluntly said, turning around to look at the place a Rift should have been at but there was nothing but more grass. “This is the outer rim. We need to be careful not to get too close to the edges or the dimensional forces could rip us both to shreds.”

  “Where is everyone else?” she immediately asked, worried about getting separated again—or worse, not being there if they were caught in another trap.

  “I have no idea. None of this is normal,” he replied and then gently tugged her along again to begin walking. “The bracelets are pulling us this way, though, so hopefully we can find the outer entrance and get back to the city soon. I’ll need to gather a larger force if they’ve somehow managed to gain control of the access points like this.”

  “What about the others? We can’t just leave them in here without knowing what happened to them or letting them know we’re still alive.”

  “If we find them on the way, then great, but this Labyrinth is very large, Phoenix. It could take weeks of wandering if they got transported to the rim like we did or some other random place. Our best course of action is to find the exit and get more help. I may be Emerald, but I’ve told you I’m not a combatant. Even I can’t handle many of the monsters near the center, which is why I organized the expedition and planned to stay in the back with your group of Sapphires. My goal right now is to keep both of us alive.”

  Phoenix luckily knew better than to reveal that wasn’t really a concern for her, and she understood Emrys’ point, but she still hated the idea of leaving her friends alone in here. She had no idea if what Emrys suggested was true and they all got separated to random locations or perhaps it was just a trap for the first person who entered. Maybe, if they thought the prince would be leading the way, Emrys was their actual target.

  She had so many questions and the only way she could get answers now was by finding her friends again.