Selene…
“Y-You’re one of the Nøkkra?” Selene asked as she hesitantly shook Sarah’s hand with a look of disbelief on her face.
Already she has met Moyako and witnessed Camilla, Raum, and even Ranni in battle, but now she was meeting Sarah?
Sarah smiled as she said, “Formerly since our captain disbanded our group, but yes.”
“I...read stories about you growing up, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to see so many of you,” Selene said as she pulled her hand back.
Sarah had a sad smile on her face as she said, “Yes, well...I think it would take a miracle for those of us that remain to all gather together again. That contest was probably the closest the world came to see us all together again. If only Nadalia and Rosarra were still here…”
Sarah then shook her head as if she seemed bothered by the fact that she was dwelling on the past.
“Enough about that. I’ve been noticing you wandering around Alken today. Are you having trouble finding your way?” she asked as if offering to help her out.
“N-No, I’m just...trying to find something to do,” Selene answered sheepishly.
Sarah tilted her head to the side in confusion as she asked, “What do you mean?”
“It’s...probably not worth sharing. I don’t want to dump my troubles on you,” Selene said apologetically but Sarah waved her hand dismissively as if she wasn’t bothered by it.
“Come. Sit with me and tell me your troubles anyways,” she replied as she gestured towards a bench.
Accepting her invitation to talk, Selene sat down next to her and shared what has been bothering her about her life here in Alken.
When she was done, Sarah nodded as if it made sense to her.
“For a woman to be used to so much responsibility for so long and then suddenly have none at all, this sudden freedom to do whatever you want must be suffocating. You want something to give you a sense of purpose again, don’t you?”
Selene nodded, “Yes. If all I do is stay home and do nothing, I think I’ll end up wasting away.”
Sarah hummed as she bobbed her head side to side while thinking to herself until she suddenly went stiff as if an idea popped in her head.
“I know! Why don’t you join me?!” Sarah asked with a smile.
“Join you in what?”
“Dungeon conquering! Forrosa has an archaeology and exploration team that delves into the Labyrinth. You could join our team! Myself and a few others lead a raid team to take over new areas that show up in the Labyrinth and bring back all sorts of resources and discoveries for Forrosa,” she offered, with her voice sounding more and more excited the more she talked about the idea.
“Your job is to explore the Labyrinth?” Selene asked, bewildered that anyone could ever walk into that death trap.
From what little information that she knew about the Labyrinth, she read that it was an impossibly massive living structure that constantly changes and redesigns itself so that it can’t ever be mapped out.
She also heard that monsters, far more powerful than most that roam Erebus’s lands, are contained within the Labyrinth as well.
Only one person was ever able to make use of the Labyrinth in recent years and it was none other than Jiroh Aderlynn.
“I thought that the method for exploring the Labyrinth had been lost since the Mordrinite War. Without the Maze Key, it should be impossible for anyone to access it and use it,” Selene said.
Impressed by her familiarity with the subject, Sarah clapped her hands excitedly and smiled as she said, “Yes! Yes, ordinarily that would be the case! In fact, one of Forrosa’s dignitaries, Ruvick, has been looking for the Maze Key for quite some time.”
Ruvick huh…?
“Is that so…? Did he have any luck finding it?” Selene asked as the enthusiasm in her voice died at the mention of his name.
Sarah gave her a confused look when she noticed the change in her tone but ignored it as she answered, “Well, no… From what I heard, he thought he had a lead in Lunaas, but it turned out it wasn’t there.”
Selene’s eyes nearly flew out of her sockets expressing the shock she felt when she heard that.
That’s why he was in Lunaas?! This whole time he was looking for the key to the Labyrinth?! What for?!
“Is something wrong? Seems like you’re already familiar with that,” Sarah asked.
“I was in Lunaas with Marcus when Malthael was brought back to life briefly. At the time, Ruvick orchestrated a request for me to investigate disturbances in Lunaas. He later met us in person and told us that he was initially involved because he was looking for something but he never told us what it was. What could he possibly want with the Maze Key?”
Sarah shrugged as she said, “Why wouldn’t he want it? In our explorations we found traces of spiritual energy from other universes crossing over into this one. If Ruvick or my father got their hands on the Maze Key, they could travel across universes at will.”
“Your father…?”
“Yes. My father, King Harkon Razel Aldia,” she said, as if it were common knowledge.
Which, of course it was and Selene knew this, but also knowing that Sarah was one of the Nøkkra and walking out and about like a normal person made her forget the fact that she was still technically a princess.
“It seems that there are some gaps in my knowledge…,” Selene said as she stared at her.
She then shook her head as she asked, “Wait a moment. Why is a princess like you leading a Labyrinth raiding team, or even one of the Nøkkra Assassins? Wouldn’t the king be concerned with your safety?”
Sarah frowned as she thought about it and said, “Ordinarily, yes. You would be right. But I am one of his strongest children. He has no need to worry about me and I am only one of dozens of children he has. He can afford to allow me the freedom to fight and go on adventures as much as I damn well please! Haha!”
Sarah folded her arms and laughed heartily, clearly very proud of her rebellious attitude despite being allowed the freedom to do so anyways.
“I see…,” Selene muttered, not bothering to question the topic further.
“So! What do you say? Do you want to join us? Someone of your strength would be very welcome in the Labyrinth!” Sarah said with an aggressive tone.
It was clear that she wasn’t going to back down until Selene accepted.
“Alright. I guess it can’t hurt to give it a try.”
A few days later, Sarah called Selene down to meet with the rest of the raid team to teach her the ins and outs of conquering the Labyrinth.
The two of them met each other again in a large building on the outskirts of the Verglas Duskwoods.
“So how does the Labyrinth really work? If you don’t have the Maze Key, how do you access it and traverse it without being separated and killed?” Selene asked her.
“Alright, so first of all, there is something critically important that you need to know about the Labyrinth before we continue,” Sarah said as she leaned forward and gave her an ominous look.
“What?” Selene leaned forward as if to lend her ear.
“You’re in the Labyrinth right now,” Sarah said, to which Selene went pale as she looked out the window of the building but noticed that the scenery hadn’t changed.
Confused, Selene asked, “I don’t understand. We’re still above ground. How are we in the Labyrinth already?”
“The Labyrinth is a living structure that assimilates everything it comes into contact with and then reconstructs itself. The planet we’re living on? Erebus? It is a part of the Labyrinth now. The issue is that we don’t understand how its able to spread out and assimilate itself into other universes the way that it does. Even when we tried to apply Ruvick’s concepts of higher dimensionality to it, the Labyrinth continues to defy human understanding. For it to be able to cross over into other universes, it would need to exist on a seventh dimensional level or above, yet its a tangible object that we can directly interact with. But that’s not even the most terrifying discovery we’ve made about the Labyrinth,” Sarah said.
Sarah turned to signal to one of the other raiders to bring a container of sorts to show Selene.
When she uncovered the container, inside were two crystals containing familiar energy.
“The deeper you go, the higher the concentration of these types of energies become,” she said as she pointed to a crystal that emanated with Hellfire and another that gave off energy that reminded Selene of Chaos Magic.
“When we showed this to Ruvick, he told us that the realms of Hell and Chaos appear to be interacting with the Labyrinth and influencing it somehow,” Sarah said.
For some reason, the more Selene thought about this, the more it seemed to bug her. As if she felt that it was tied to...to Marcus some how.
“You said that the Labyrinth was able to cross over into other universes, right?”
Sarah nodded.
“When Marcus came to this world, he came through one of the gates that show up whenever Chaos Bringers appear. He first appeared in a village near Mt. Rheta where Jiroh emerged out of the Labyrinth and launched a surprise attack on Lycea during the war…,” Selene said as she had a hypothesis forming in her mind.
“You’ve come up with something, haven’t you?” Sarah asked her.
She racked her brain to gather up all of the knowledge she had that might have something to do with the Labyrinth.
A tangible, higher dimensional structure that directly interacts with the realms of Hell and Chaos.
The Maze Key has been missing since the war.
Marcus arrived in this world through a gate that Chaos Bringers usually emerge from connected between Terra and Erebus.
Because Thalia is Hestia’s daughter, she is directly connected to Hell.
To add to that, Lysandra has multiple tomes which once belonged to Dagon’s seven demigod children, including the tome of Sol and Vulcan, one of which summons Chaos Bringers, and the other forges weapons out of raw material instantly.
With Lysandra’s power, she could potentially forge a mimic Maze Key and manipulate the Labyrinth to her will.
“Oh god…,” Selene muttered to herself.
“What is it? Come on! Don’t keep it to yourself!” Sarah demanded curiously.
“I think...I might have figured out a way that Marcus could return home.”