Content Warning for this book:

  Violence and death (of people and monsters, including supporting characters); PTSD, grief, and depression; discussions about coerced consent; and some anxiety mixed with teenage hormones.

  Uriel still felt tense after revealing that he was the Chosen of Destroyer to Prince Emrys. Despite the mostly non-hostile reaction, the looks he was now getting from all of the Royal Guards nearby were far from reassuring.

  He was fairly sure nobody would risk killing him and paying for it with the life of everyone in the nearby vicinity, but he was already painfully aware that they didn’t need to kill him to make his life even more miserable. While it would be difficult to Silence or keep him prisoner now with his skin eating through any potential restraints, this was an Emerald zone, and his ability was still only Sapphire Caste.

  “Well, that went better than I expected,” Dazien whispered to him directly over their mental communication as they both watched Phoenix disappear into the Labyrinth hand-in-hand with the prince. He had definitely felt an irrational pang of frustration and jealousy at seeing the easy way they had held hands together, and he could only assume that was due to him never again being able to do that himself with his best friend.

  “What did? Getting access to the Labyrinth or not getting slaughtered for being seen as DOD spies?” he quipped, having been aiming for joking and coming across a bit more curt than he intended.

  Dazien gave him a side-eye with a single raised brow.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, looking back at the ground. “I’m still nervous about this whole thing.”

  “I told you we don’t need to take part in this expedition if you don’t want to.”

  “I do,” he interjected, grimacing slightly. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m anxious about confronting the man who tortured me for over a year. I still have no idea what his actual powers are. He was able to accomplish all of it by simply being an Emerald Caster.”

  “That does make this more dangerous, I’ll admit. You know how I hate going in with no knowledge about the enemy we’ll be facing.”

  “No different than the monsters we’ll likely face inside,” Uriel pointed out. “I may know a lot, but from what we’ve learned, Labyrinths work a bit differently. The Keeper can force its monster spawns, and it may not match the types of ambient magic in the surrounding area.”

  “Yes, but that’s more for the older Labyrinths. From what we found out about this one specifically, the Keeper is more wild and freeform. We shouldn’t expect any elaborate traps or completely out-of-place monsters.” Dazien paused, watching Rayna and then Saiya go through the rift in reality next. He turned his gaze toward the guards who were still watching them and added, “We shouldn’t really be fighting anything ourselves anyway with this much support. We can discuss more on the other side, though.”

  Uriel nodded and followed after his king, comfortably falling back into his place a couple of steps behind Daze’s right shoulder. His right-hand man. His shadow. His Seneschal.

  As soon as Uriel entered the Labyrinth, he knew something had gone very wrong.

  Dazien was no longer leading the way, and he was surrounded by tall plants that looked like massively overgrown blades of grass. Not only that, but he was completely alone. Only the eerie sound of the breeze overhead seemed to greet him. The scent of nature was also slightly overwhelming at first, without the Chains of Silence keeping his senses dulled. The magic he could now breathe in felt… wilder.

  His entire body had gone tense the moment he realized Daze was gone, but each following moment only increased the panic beginning to match his rising adrenaline. He didn’t want to be separated again.

  Not even Camilla was here to help keep him calmer and focused on what they needed to do. Her rituals had been the reason they had been able to reach Serenydi at all. Alone… he was completely screwed.

  He had never been good at rituals, and he didn’t carry a wand at all. He usually didn’t need one between his powerset and companions. The only saving grace at the moment was the new sense granted to him from the bracelet Emrys had given everyone. Pressing on one of the runes he recognized as “Direction,” the bracelet vibrated for a moment, then fell still, and he could now sense a direction to walk toward.

  Uriel had no indication of the actual distance he would need to go, only a vague sense of going… well, that way. Despite the sky being bright with a pale blue color, he couldn’t see the sun at all to know which direction he was actually going in. He wasn’t even sure this place had a sun. It was an incomplete pseudo-reality controlled by a Keeper that was likely just as wild as the magic he could smell surrounding him.

  Taking a slow breath in the way he had practiced for years now, he finally moved from the spot he had felt frozen to and hoped he would find his party again soon… Hopefully, before a monster found him instead.

  Torae Puera felt his heart soar as a piece of his soul reconnected with the power of his most beloved deity. As soon as the Destroyer’s familiar presence was right back where it belonged, he turned and said to the being perched on his desk beside him, “Keeper, can you seal the Labyrinth entrances now? Our Chosen has finally arrived.”

  The odd creature that looked like an overgrown red bumble bee tilted its head to the side momentarily as if pondering his words. The next moment, it buzzed happily at him and replied, “Izz done.”

  “Good girl,” he replied with a gentle smile. The Emerald Caste being hummed at the praise, hovering off the desk for a moment in her excitement. Puera was once again thankful that the Keeper of the Labyrinth turned out to be an Ember type—easily manipulated with simple praise, like a few breaths to fan the flames of obedience.

  The door to his study burst open less than a minute later as Dahlia shouted, “He’s here! The Annihilator’s finally here! You can feel Destroyer now, too, right?!”

  Puera glared at the little silver felion. “Manners, Dahlia. How many times do I need to remind you not to just run in here—”

  “But it’s Uriel Karislian! He’s finally come home! He gifted us with Destroyer’s whispers again!”

  He held back his sigh, not wanting to make the young Acolyte suspect his deceit. Dahlia was the kind of subject he would label as an Echo—a Pet that only pushed theirself when chasing after another person. Letting her idolize the young man who had gained Destroyer’s Favor as a teenager had been a great tool to motivate her with over the years, and he wouldn’t risk losing that now.

  “Of course, he did. That’s simply one of the things that makes him so special, isn’t it?” he asked, and her head bobbed almost frantically in agreement. “I know you’ve been working hard to prepare his room for his arrival, but understand that you’ll need to give him his space once he arrives. I’m sure he’s been through much during his time away from us, surrounded by people who scorned his very existence. I’ll need time alone with him to make sure he’s comfortable again and understand that he’s safe here with us.”

  “Do you think he brought his harem with him?” she asked, and he wondered if she even processed anything he said.

  “If he did, then they must be his new Pillars. You know how Shields like him need those to do their very best.”

  “I did see him get especially close to some of them. He wears a white torc, but he was definitely cuddling that redhead in their kitchen.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Puera wanted to rub his palm over his tired eyes and the growing headache at that new piece of knowledge. He had been informed of the Wayfarer by his contact in the city, and the last thing he wanted was his Annihilator to gain a Pillar that he couldn’t leverage. If Uriel had brought her in here, likely with the goal of fighting them rather than joining them, then he needed to ensure that she was either captured or dead before they encountered one another.

  Perhaps he got lucky, though, and the Keeper managed to lock the Rifts before she came in here. If Dahlia said Uriel had a harem, which he very much doubted, that meant there might be others he could leverage as Pillars instead.

  “Why don’t you go to our forward base and let the others know to… help lead the others that might have come with Uriel to our base here. You know the Rifts have been… misbehaving since you informed us of Uriel’s arrival in the city and scattering those who enter.”

  “Priest Castoris said the Keeper was doing it in order to make it easier to capture our enemies,” Dahlia said, glancing distrustfully at the red bee watching her curiously from his desk.

  “That would make sense. Likely an instinctual defense mechanism to keep us all safe,” Puera replied, glad for the excuse to hide the fact that he had asked the Keeper to do it himself. “It’s up to us to find Uriel’s Pillars and reunite them here. Can you pass that message along?”

  “Sure,” she happily chirped, perking up at the new task. “What should I do after? Can I help rescue them, too?”

  Puera shook his head. “No. You know it’s not safe enough on your own. Stay at the base there; then you can help escort any Pillars or the Annihilator himself to our main base here. Understood?”

  “Yes, High Priest!” Dahlia replied, giving a small bow before scurrying off to carry out those orders.

  When the door closed behind her from its own weight, he let out the heavy sigh he had been holding back. Leaning back in his chair, he let his mind race over the various methods he could leverage to keep Uriel in line once they all arrived. He couldn’t fall back on his previous methods, not when Uriel had grown up without him there to guide all that rage and defiance that had burned so brightly within the boy—no, not a boy, a man now. He needed to learn what kind of man his wonderful Annihilator had become. That meant starting back at the beginning. Capture and question with a new set of Rules for him to follow.

  A smile curled Puera’s lips. He always did love a challenge.

  Looking back toward the Keeper again, he gave it another order. “Bring me whoever came with the cinderen that entered right before you sealed the Rifts. Try to capture them if possible. Don’t hesitate to kill them if you must, but I need at least one of them alive.”

  The Keeper buzzed in confirmation, and he rewarded it with a gentle pat on its fuzzy head.

  “My goal right now is to keep both of us alive.”

  Emrys’ words echoed in Phoenix’s mind as she hesitated for only a moment before following after the Emerald Caster, who somehow seemed to know the direction to go in this maze of grass that made her feel as small as an ant. That was made clearer another moment later when Emrys lifted his wrist and started to explain some of its functions.

  “This Direction rune will give you a temporary sense to the nearest Rift exit and this—”

  Her chuckle interrupted him, and she decided to trust him with a not-so-secret ability of her own. “I can just let my [Guide Book] show me what it can do,” she offered.

  His brilliant blue eyes seemed to shine with excitement as a smile spread across his face. “I didn’t want to presume you would be comfortable showing me that. Though I’ve heard of a floating book following you around.”

  Phoenix snorted a laugh and conjured her book, pressing the bracelet to it in silent command for more details.

  “That’s fantastic. It’s like a Knowledge Tablet and Identification Orb in one,” Emrys said, smiling as he read over her shoulder. “Does it only analyze items? Or can it do people as well, like the Tablet and Orb?”

  “It can do people, too,” she replied, feeling her own excitement rise with his. “It’s been great to track my progress with. Not that I’ve really been pushing myself since arriving in the city, but I did fight a lot of monsters on the way here.”

  “How far are you to Emerald?” he asked, looking at her instead of the book as though he didn’t expect her to actually show that information.

  “Not as close as I’d like, honestly,” she muttered. “While I was able to push myself during the last couple of months during the blood moon and while on my own for the few weeks it took to travel here, I had some setbacks, and Sapphire takes so much more time than Crystal did.”

  “Setbacks?”

  “Er, just things not going the way I had hoped,” she hedged, knowing better than to reveal her resurrection Talent. She glanced back at her book, trying to think of a way to change the subject away from that particular secret. “Would you like to try it and see your own progress?” she asked, gesturing to the [Guide Book].

  His smile faltered, and he took a small step back as he shook his head. “I think I’ll have to pass. While I trust you enough to know what my Class is, I’ve never shown anyone a detailed report of all my abilities. Even if I trust you not to divulge those secrets out of malice, or even by accident, I don’t believe anyone is immune to certain methods of information gathering.”

  Phoenix paused to narrow her eyes at him. “Are you suggesting someone might torture me just to learn your abilities?”

  His grin was the more impish kind he usually wore around her as he answered, “Welcome to the world of national-level politics. You aren’t even a princess yet, but your profile is just as high as mine, if not higher in certain circles.”

  “Does that mean I should be just as wary of you learning about my abilities, and you should worry about getting tortured for information about me?” she countered with a raised eyebrow.

  Emrys chuckled but softly said, “Maybe, but I’m not so sure that my untimely demise would bother you that much. Perhaps you should show me just to hasten my end.”

  Phoenix rolled her eyes and hugged her book to her chest as she muttered, “I don’t actually hate you that much. Besides, I don’t think either of us would win if people found out we knew details about each other.”

  “Oh, I would definitely be the one who won if people believed we were close,” he replied with such assuredness that she had to look up to see if he was actually joking or not. His expression was hard for her to read exactly what was behind those piercing eyes and soft smile as he added, “I have high hopes that you will surpass me someday in both position and power, Little Hero.”

  The sincerity in his words surprised her, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t seem to require one, though, as he moved once again to lead the way to the closest Rift. Slowly trailing after him, she shifted the book in front of her again to will her profile to appear, realizing she hadn’t actually checked it in a while. She figured she might as well take the time as they traveled to gauge what kind of progress she might gain while in this new dungeon full of potential challenges.