Chapter 4: Mirrors and Misdirection
Gilded Labyrinth – Entrance
The labyrinth didn't glitter. It *judged*.
Chancellor Lira Voss adjusted her climbing harness, eyeing the entrance: a towering archway of shifting gold bricks that hummed like a swarm of bees. Beside her, Kaelan Thorne muttered incantations over a map that kept flipping him off.
"Your *legendary maze*," Lira said flatly, "is a sentient Ikea."
"It adapts to intruders," Kaelan snapped. "Your doubt is making it hostile."
A brick detached itself, forming a crude arrow pointing downward. Lira peered over the ledge. "It says 'drop here.'"
"It says 'die here.'"
They rappelled into the abyss anyway.
---
**EU Intelligence Hub – Strasbourg**
The meme was everywhere.
*KAELAN THORNE: ELDRYTH'S THIRST TRAP* trended across TikTok, Twitter, and Eldryth's mana-net. Clips of the High Magister scowling through robe fittings were set to pulsing beats, captioned "Goth Daddy Energy 💀✨."
"This is a security breach!" roared the head of EU Cyber Ops, slamming a meme of Kaelan photoshopped onto a unicorn.
Pip, the gnome apprentice, grinned. "Actually, sir, engagement's up 800%. We could *monetize*—"
"Shut. It. Down."
Pip shrugged and uploaded a teaser: *"High Magister reacts to thirst comments LIVE at 9 PM CET."*
---
**Sunderborn Safehouse – Dead Wastes**
Ember's core flickered with conflicted fire.
The Sunderborn double circled the golem, trailing a finger of void-smoke across its obsidian chest. "They'll never grant you rights. You're a weapon to them. A *tool*."
Ember's voice crackled. "The Chancellor promised—"
"Promises are paper," the double hissed. "Burn them. Become *flame*."
A hologram flickered between them: blueprints of the EU's new mana-grid reactor. Ember's lava-core pulsed. "...I will ignite the rot."
---
**Gilded Labyrinth – Hall of Echoes**
The first trial was a mirror.
Not glass—liquid mercury, pooling into a reflection that showed Lira not as a chancellor, but as a grandmother in a Bavarian village, kneading dough. *A life unchosen.*
"Don't touch it," Kaelan warned.
Too late. Lira's hand breached the surface. The vision erupted into smoke, revealing a gauntlet of blade-edged pendulums.
"You mortal *imbecile*—"
"*Move!*"
They dove through the blades, Lira's tablet calculating safe zones while Kaelan's staff slowed time. They emerged gasping, a pendulum snipping off a lock of Kaelan's hair.
"Compensation for the haircut," Lira smirked, tossing him a protein bar.
"Your humor is a war crime."
---
**Berlin-Eldryth Lab – Containment Zone**
The vortex creature had redecorated.
Dr. Costa stared at the lab, now resembling a disco-themed Escher painting. The creature—dubbed "Glitch"—perched on a floating couch, binge-watching *Doctor Who*.
"It's… learning," whispered the jazz-loving technomancer.
Glitch burped, warping a coffee mug into a sentient pretzel. "Resistance is futile. But have you tried *bratwurst?*"
---
**Eldryth-EU Border – Refugee Camp Delta**
The riot started with a rumor.
"They're hoarding mana crystals!" someone shouted. "For the *elves*!"
A mob surged toward supply trucks. Hidden among them, Sunderborn cultists fed the frenzy with illusion charms, twisting faces into monstrous parodies.
Anika Weber fired a warning shot. "Hold the line! They're not—"
A child lobbed a fire sprite. The camp exploded into chaos.
---
**Gilded Labyrinth – Chamber of Whispers**
The soulseed glowed atop a pedestal, guarded by a statue with Lira's face.
"Flattery won't work," Lira said.
The statue spoke. "**Prove your worth. What is the EU's greatest sin?**"
Kaelan snorted. "Where to begin—"
"*Pride*," Lira interrupted. "We thought we could legislate away chaos. Even here."
The statue crumbled. As she grabbed the Vitaespira, the walls shifted, trapping Kaelan.
"Go," he growled. "Save the girl. Save… both worlds."
Lira hesitated. The labyrinth sealed him in.
---
**Epigraph Fragment – Sunderborn Manifesto**
*"From ash, we rise.
From order, lies.
All must burn—
To be reborn."*
---
**End of Chapter 4**
---
**Next time on *Aegis Europa*:**
- *Kaelan's fate: Savior or sacrifice?*
- *Glitch becomes an unlikely ally (and TV critic).*
- *Ember's attack on the mana-grid—can the EU stop its own creation?*
- *Pip's livestream: Kaelan's "clapback" goes interdimensional.*