The gray skinned figure rose to his feet. His posture held a certain elegance to it, a refinement that almost seemed to be a part of his very being. It was jarring to a degree because Eric’s entire body reacted as if he were before a literal monster that would destroy him with the slightest movement.
It repeated its questions, its face calm but carrying a certain intensity that was hard to discern. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
Eric looked directly into its eyes, looking through the System windows that blocked his sight. He was too tense to even dismiss the windows, even though it could be done with a simple thought.
You have encountered the secret objective of the Trial of the Mind.
New Quest!
Quest: Local resident.
Objective: Deal with the labyrinth’s prisoner.
Rewards: +20 Reward points.
The figure frowned slightly, staring directly at Eric—no—not at Eric, at the space directly in front of him, where the System windows were.
With a speed so incredible that there was a literal burst as he broke the sound barrier, causing Eric to flinch momentarily, the figure reached for the System windows, failing to grasp them.
“What is…” He tried again, failing once more. “Interesting little thing…” The figure made another attempt, and this time, the window moved a bit.
A smile appeared on the figure’s face and as if grasping the nature of the System windows. After another attempt, it yanked them toward itself.
Eric’s eyes widened in surprise. He had met people who he knew were powerful, but even Ondal and Ta’ir seemed incapable of interfering with the System, much less to this degree. Not once, in any of the fiction that he read, had something like this ever occurred, or maybe his mind was just failing to conjure up any relevant memories due to how tense he was. Regardless, he was surprised, and his nervousness only grew.
The figure paused as it read the System window, raising an eyebrow. “Really? Surprise? From you?” It pointed at Eric, shaking its head. It returned to its attempts to manipulate the window, occasionally glancing toward Eric and just shaking its head in apparent disbelief.
After a while, it gave up on the window because other than getting it to move, there was nothing more the window allowed him to do. A hint of irritation came across its face but quickly dissipated.
“So,” the figure began. “How are you going to deal with me?”
The rage that Eric had felt when fighting the skeleton angel was bubbling up inside, but it was weak, far too weak to do anything like he had done during his previous fight. And even if he was at full strength, he could tell that there was little he could do.
Whatever or whoever was in front of him was probably the strongest being he had ever encountered. Stronger than the outer god who took his eye, stronger than Ondal and Ta’ir. Yet, that bubbling rage, weak as it was, gave him the last push he needed to finally answer.
The figure furrowed its brow.
“I don’t think I’m the one who gets to decide that,” Eric answered, forcing himself to sound as calm as he possibly could.
“You do know that wasn’t you, correct?” the figure asked. “And please, call me Gray,” it added with a kind smile. “It is one of the descriptors you used for me, isn’t it?”
Eric was taken aback, he had only described the figure as gray in his head, so it was clear that it, or Gray, could read thoughts.
“What do you mean, it wasn’t me?” he asked with curiosity.
Eric had a small hope that he might get some answers to at least some of the many strange things that were happening to him ever since he entered the tower. He had ignored them up until now, but he was keenly aware of the awkwardness of his expressions.
Gray nodded. “That rage, I guess you could call it.” He began to pace around the room. “It’s not really yours. It doesn’t belong to you. Don’t tell me you actually think you can feel things.” His pacing became more relaxed, as if observing a specimen from all angles. “Wait, you do, don’t you?” His voice was full of sarcasm. “Noo, that feeling belongs to one of those you carry—wait…” He stood in place, something finally clicking.
Gray narrowed his eyes. His pupils grew and shrank, almost like going in and out of focus. “Are you one of those—What were they called? …Containers?” His expression turned into one of disbelief. “They actually found a way to make you?” His voice lowered, a calm curiosity in his tone. “But then, why are you so… damaged? I guess is the word.”
“Container? Container for what?” Eric asked, wanting to confirm something that, if he was correct, could easily explain some of the changes.
As soon as Gray mocked Eric for feeling things, something within him grasped at the insinuation. If he stretched what was just said to him, then maybe it would be enough to explain what was happening to him.
It would completely explain why I can’t express myself as well as I did before, Eric thought. It would explain why smiling, frowning or making literally any expression suddenly became so alien, so distant and difficult. The words “Heritage vessel” suddenly popped into his mind.
Gray stopped in place, looking at something in front of him. “Hey, look, I just got the System too,” he said with what appeared to be genuine happiness. “And wouldn’t you know it? My first quest is to shut up. Look for yourself.” He made a motion and shared his quest window.
New Quest!
Quest: Sentence.
Objective: Do not obstruct paths that are not your own.
Rewards: Freedom from the labyrinth.
“What would you do in my shoes?” Gray asked, turning to Eric, staring directly into his eyes. “No, wait. What does your gut tell you?” he asked through laughter.
“I don’t think you need the System to escape, not if you really wanted to,” Eric answered, sure of his words.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Uuuh, you found some courage, or maybe desperation, hmm?” Gray said, raising his eyebrows and leaning in. “How far is your little imitation game going to go, huh?” An amused chuckle escaped him.
Gray took a step back, a smile on his face. “But you are correct, I can. The problem lies in what happens after. I’m not at full strength and my captors might notice my escape. They’ll just put me somewhere else. Of course, only after we fight, destroying at least a couple planets, a couple suns, perhaps a few galaxies, maybe even your own.”
Gray made a mocking expression. “But don’t worry, you’ll soon know what you’re about. One of them is almost finished. Let me give you a tip though. Don’t rely too much on what isn’t yours. That goes both for what’s inside of you, and what isn’t.”
As Gray turned to leave, something in the air shifted. It was instantaneous, imperceptible to Eric, but Gray had seen it with such clarity that it was impossible to ignore. A single slash had cut through the space between them.
Eric blinked and before he knew it, the entire room had been severed in two, maybe even the entire labyrinth, he thought.
To Eric it looked like the labyrinth had suddenly been severed, the only difference being a blink. Gray on the other hand, even with his senses as dull as they were, felt the power coming, crawling its way toward them—two powers in fact.
There was no great movement that made the two halves separate and drift apart, everything stayed together. The only visible difference was the presence of a small gap, about a sword’s width, that separated the two halves.
Eric’s eyes drifted downward, sure that something beyond a physical attack had been the cause. Looking at the magic circuits, he quickly noticed that some of them didn’t line up, a small part was missing between the two halves. And now that he focused on the gap, he could feel it, like when Anna used her “sharpness,” except it was greater, much greater.
“A blade…” Gray muttered with hidden meaning, his gaze unfocused as he tried to reach for Eric, only for his hand to disappear. He retrieved it, observing that it was alright and focused on the actual space. “Ah. That’s interesting.”
Gray, noticing something, turned to Eric. “Anna, is it?”
Eric had only thought about her for a second, remembering her conceptual ability, but Gray caught the lingering scent of said thought and immediately grasped it.
“Interesting,” Gray said with a smile.
Behind Gray, a portal appeared in the center of the room. The portal was slightly egg shaped and what appeared beyond it was red and dark.
“Oh!” Gray exclaimed in surprise as he turned to face the portal. “You’ve even reached my home. You sure are handy,” he said, speaking to the formless System. He took a step but stopped his foot midair. “I should tell you. Your companion is basically dead.” Gray pointed at Harkus. “His mind collapsed as he crossed the dread wall. Not everyone is as empty as you are.” Crossing through the portal, a few more words reached from beyond. “We’ll see each other later.”
----------
Within a human encampment that was within a sandy desert, three figures, cloaked from head to toe, departed. Far in the distance, in the direction they were heading, a giant tree with freshly grown but empty branches loomed.
The early part of their journey was simple, the greatest difficulty they encountered was the sand itself, that always found its way into uncomfortable places.
Tournament of the Strong: 15:13:15
Traveling through the desert, the trio made light work of their journey. They joked, played and conversed with an ease that betrayed the danger that they were heading into.
Soon, they arrived at one of the battlefields that they would have to either tear their way through or, if they were lucky, could just cleanly make their way through, uninterrupted.
Making their way through their side of the battlefield, they waved through towering figures that wore brown and worn robes that hid them entirely. Grunts and heavy breathing were heard as the figures kept shooting magic in a relentless manner.
A giant pale blue fist shot out from one of the cloaked figures, seemingly punching empty air.
In front of the figure, a giant serpent that was rushing forward leaped into the air, ready to strike. As it bore its fangs, a magic circle flared to life for an instant in front of the pale blue fist, shooting a flurry of fireballs.
The serpent tried to shake the pain away but another of the robed figures stomped their foot on the sand, a magic circle appearing on the ground around their foot. When the serpent was ready to strike again, a magic circle appeared on the sand underneath it and a spike of hardened sand shot upward.
The serpent, now pierced, would die of blood loss, regardless of any further action, but that was not what happened. A single mana reinforced arrow shot forward, piercing through the snake’s head.
From atop towers magically constructed with sand, stood various humanoids with bows. Some revealed to have pointy green ears and others had fur.
Just like it had occurred with the giant serpent, many teams where facing off against giant beasts. Those that weren’t were tearing through hordes of small monsters like barghests, snakes and scorpions.
Amidst all this chaos, the trio made their way unnoticed. Though, they did occasionally stop to help in both the killing and the rescue efforts that their side was doing.
Tournament of the Strong: 12:54:22
Their resources were running low, but that was by design. They needed to discard any and all excess weight before they reached their destination. Extra weight would make their movements harder, and they needed to be fast, as fast as possible. Though, to be honest, their entire plan depended on a simple hope that they could only confirm after the fact.
They came across another battlefield. There were fewer imposing presences than on the previous one, but it was just as if not bloodier than the previous one.
One of the robed figures held one of the green humanoids head in there massive hand. A magic circle came to life, hovering above the back of their hand and fire exploded within his palm. The green humanoid burst into a fierce struggle, but it barely lasted a single second as the fire quickly extinguished their struggle.
In the distance, a green humanoid wearing makeshift armor held another green humanoid wearing modern military gear down, their face hitting the sand. With a powerful windup, they stabbed the captive, modernly dressed humanoid, repeatedly, killing them.
The trio had a harder time passing through this battlefield, but they did it, nonetheless.
Tournament of the Strong: 11:22:37
Covered in traces of battle, but somehow uninjured, the trio made it to their destination, the town with the giant tree at its center. It was a mess of styles that was slowly becoming uniform starting from the very center.
“Eyes up. They know we’re coming,” the biggest of the three said.
Even if they had never been here before, they could easily tell that security had been heightened. A series of patrols were roaming the small town. There were so many that every major street always had one present, and the minor ones had one every couple of seconds.
“It’s not like we expected this to be easy. Eh? Eh?” the second tallest said, jabbing the tallest in the ribs with their elbow. “You’re no fun.” They quickly turned to face the smallest of the three. “How does it feel? Eh? All of this is for you.”
“This is why Eric avoids you,” the smallest answered, advancing into the town.
The tallest let out a muffled chuckle.
“Hey, hey. He likes me,” the second tallest protested.
Tournament of the Strong: 10:17:15
Within a room that the patrols clearly telegraphed as important, stood four figures, with many more laying on the ground.
The three cloaked figures stood before the elegant gate that was powering up, while Raxel clutched his arm, a short sword deep into his forearm and side, keeping them together.
“You belong to us!” Raxel shouted, his eyes fixed on the shortest of the three. “You have been chosen!! Answer your call! Serve the great Krisk!!!”
“Damn,” the second tallest said flatly.
“That’s it?” the tallest asked, his back toward the others as they tinkered with the portal.
“Don’t really have anything to add,” the second tallest said with a shrug. “You?” they asked, looking at the smallest.
The smallest only shrugged. Completely unaffected by the shouting.
“Let’s go,” the tallest said, entering the portal.
----------
Still laying in the same position as its remains were before it reawakened, the great Krisk remained undisturbed. Not yet, but soon, it said, shifting in place, getting more comfortable.
