Chapter: 90 Day 25 - Labyrinth Of Lost Legends

"Hey, real quick, what does 'full-commit' mean?" Derrick asked, while the five of us stood outside the doorway into the spiraling void that presumably takes us to our next Objective. Korbin nearly dropped his battle axe swinging around to face Derrick.

"You could fucking hear us?!" Korbin asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"Oh yeah, we all heard your cute litt-."

"One more word and I'm demoting you to my gardener's butler." Korbin quickly interrupted Cassi, who's devious grin dropped immediately.

"You know if you don't make it sound all weird, the sentiment is pretty useful." I added, looking at Cassi who seemed rather puzzled at my words. I sighed, realizing I'd have to explain myself now.

"It's a way we used to challenge one another to stop bitching to ourselves about how hard something is and just getting the job done. Maybe you should try it sometime?" I added, glaring into Cassi's eyes.

"Very funny. Didn't know it was such a touchy subject." She replied with a grin, raising her up and stepping back.

"Are we done busting each other's balls? We might have to actually play nice this time around, can we do that?" Korbin asked, glancing between me and Derrick. Derrick's eyes fell to the floor, caving under uncomfortable as per usual.

"Oh sure, I don't see why not. As long as it's mutual?" I spoke up, hoping to force Derrick to say something.

"Yeah, yeah of course." He replied, glancing up at me. Though he wasn't scowling like I'd expected, his narrowed eyes quickly wandered away under a relaxed brow.

"Good. Then let's not delay any further." Korbin said, taking the initiative and leaping through the spiraling portal. Cassi and Lonni jumped in behind, leaving Derrick and I the last to go. Just as I leaned forward to hop in, his hand grasped my shoulder.

"Hey Tom, real quick." He said, as I turned to face him.

"What?"

"Just…why did you save me?" He asked. I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out what he's talking about.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"On Xernilia. Or, the simulated version or, whatever the fuck. You saved me twice, when I didn't really serve much of a purpose in that fight." Derrick said, staring intently at me.

"Ohh, well why wouldn't I?" I asked, not seeing the reason for this questioning. Especially before a fucking objective.

"What do you mean?! You spent the little time we were in the same vicinity belittling me furiously?" He passionately replied. I considered his words, as in truth I've had moments where I truly didn't like the guy.

"Derrick, you've got…gifts. Things that make a lot of challenging tasks for most people look easy. Which is great and all, until you hit a wall. Anything you can't naturally beat is just fucking avoided, rather than faced head on. That's what pisses me off to no fucking end, because I'm in the same pampered boat as you. I didn't earn everything I have, and I'm not stupid enough to pretend like I did. Only I work hard as fuck to earn my right to it, even if it's after the fact." I replied. While he might be a little cowardice, he wasn't a bad guy.

"That still doesn't explain why you saved me."

"Because I don't fucking hate you, Derrick. You're not a bad guy, and you have a lot of talents that can do some real fucking good. I want to see you do better. You just don't, and I'm tired of seeing… that." I replied, feeling my resentment for him momentarily slip. His eyes fell to the floor, reviving my disappointment before I quickly stepped through the portal. As the endless void erupted into a blinding light, and the air itself bent into streaking lines around me, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for Korbin. I can recall several instances when he said something similar, only I recall learning my fucking lesson afterwards. Derrick? I don't know.

*ding*

"-come to the Labyrinth Of Lost Legends!" The all too familiar effeminate voice echoed through the large, rather empty room. The walls and floors were made of a dark, shiny metal, with an entire wall made entirely of glass on one side. Korbin, Lonni and Cassi stood in front of the window, looking down intently as the voice continued.

"Countless of the finest warriors, mages, archers, and rogues have fallen along their rise to the pinnacle of power; Godhood. The echoes of their journeys rippled across the multiverse, many of which discredited or long forgotten." The effeminate voice said in her typical charismatic tone. Derrick's heavy feet clapped onto the shimmering metal floor behind me as I approached our squad by the window.

"Today, we give you and their spirits an opportunity to prove yourselves once more for the multiverse to see! 10 factions will be tasked with sending one member into the Labyrinth at a time." The soft voice added, as I placed my hand on Lonni's arm passing by. My eyes squinted as a flash of multiple radiant colors beaming from far below.

"Each participant must escape their respective maze and will receive 2 lives. If you lose, the objective ends and you do not lose a life. If you perish, however, you will lose one of your two lives. If you lose all of your allotted lives, you will have the totality of your Event Points transferred to whoever was responsible for your elimination, rather than 10. You may substitute for your squad at any point, but no more than once per Maze Objective, barring an elimination." The voice continued, though I hardly paid attention staring down at the massive structure sitting at least 200 feet below our viewing area.

From a top down view, it most certainly shared similarities with the typical maze you might find on the back of a kids menu. Only difference, besides being three-dimensional, was the walls stretched as far as the eye could see. Not only that, they were constantly shifting, revealing entirely new pathways hidden by perpetually rotating metal walls cycling as roofs in some areas, eventually twisting into the floor of another. Entire sections were engulfed in magma and fire, the flames billowing from each wall nearly touching in the center of the pathway of one massive section. In another, the metallic walls were either replaced or covered in twisting flowering vines.

Entire portions of the maze matched the size of Elysium harbored no preference for any particular affinity. The most notable being an area shaped like a dark colosseum. Only instead of rows of stands for viewers, the sides were a smooth black metal with multiple large tunnels peppered along its face. Of course, I was only able to catch a glimpse of its features while it spun and contorted along the seemingly endless Labyrinth.

"A list of 5 Maze Objectives have been randomly selected for each of the 10 participating factions, and sent to your notifications. You have 10 minutes to discuss these objectives, but do note all faction members are permitted to join any Objective so long as they have no members actively participating, and have at least 1 life remaining. Your 10 minute grace period begins now." As the female voice finished her announcement, the vibrant rotating Labyrinth below halted all at once, its colorfully glowing sections fading into darkness.

*ding*

I opened my notifications, realizing I had ignored the first one I'd received upon arriving at wherever here is.

Planet: System Domain - 2,496,310

Era: 29th

God: N/A

Lives: 2

Planetary Objective: Complete the Labyrinth of Lost Legends first, by any means necessary.

Okay, 'System Domains' are fucking crazy.

*Maze Objectives*

Phantoms Of Unclaimed Treasure

King Of The Pillars

Escaping Fate

Until The Last

Kill And Be Killed

"Okay, we got a lot to unpack and very little time to discuss. First things first, can we all agree the first one's a treasure hunt?" Korbin quickly asked, standing in front of the thick window wall.

"Makes sense to me, the 'Phantom' part's a little ominous though." I replied, having assumed so myself after reading over the list.

"I doubt they'll be throwing a bunch of wraiths at us, given it took a god to create the one on Xernilia." Cassi pointed out.

"In any case, unclaimed treasure in the multiverse either sounds underwhelming and unsought after for a reason, or borderline impossible to find." Korbin said.

"I'll do it. My Spectral Eye should help me scout out whatever treasure there is, so long as I get a moment to focus." Cassi said, earning some approving nods from the group.

"Okay, and I'll sub in for you if needed. Next is the pillars." Korbin added, rushing the conversation along. Once we came to a consensus over what each objective probably entailed, it really didn't take long for us to divvy up who was doing what. King Of The Pillars was most likely a play on 'King Of The Hill', in which whoever holds an area the longest wins. Naturally, we figured Lonni would fit something like this given his insane strength and toughness stats. Derrick elected to be his substitute, in case Lonni's eliminated.

'Escaping Fate' felt simple enough, basically your typical maze. Of course, none of us believed it would be as easy as finding an exit. Mainly because our last Planetary Objective never remained linear, often amending itself depending on how we acted. Having our mission change from helping Zeldrich win the war to killing pretty much the last remaining survivors left on Xernilia merited that enough. Because of this, Korbin excitedly volunteered himself, though he'd probably have to take a backseat from subbing if he's eliminated. From there, either Cassi or I will take his place depending on if she's eliminated before then.

'Until The Last' ended up being a hiccup in our otherwise smooth allocation of objectives. Mostly because a few of us had slightly differing opinions over the nature of the objective.

"It probably means it's a 'last man standing' situation, only with some maze shit or something." Derrick said, after Korbin opened the floor to essentially guess its nature.

"That feels a little shallow for an entire 'System Realm' devoted to this apparently endless Labyrinth. If anything, I imagine it's about surviving one of these mazes the longest." Cassi quickly rebutted.

"I'm not sure, I saw a full-on colosseum when I first got here, which fits the objective's dramatic title. Only it was filled with tunnels, and I can't imagine they're for show. Something's supposed to go in there, one way or another." I said, feeling my curiosity at the sleek, twisting arena peaking.

"Are you sure you're not just hoping it's the one area you liked?" Cassi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It can't be both?" I replied, fighting a smile realizing she had a point.

"In any case, I can't help but feel like Derrick's best suited for it." Korbin interjected.

"What?"

"What?" Derrick and I asked practically in sync.

"Yeah. Derrick, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but, the guy can fucking teleport, a rather handy defensive ability. Not to mention his toughness only gets higher the more mana he spends. You're telling me an Objective titled 'Until The Last' isn't perfect for his skill set?" Korbin firmly explained. My jaw flew agape as I searched for a rational argument against this, finding only air escaping my mouth realizing…he was right.

"Yeah I'll take that frozen expression as 'you're right Korbin.' Korbin said.

"I'll be his sub. If it's an objective he can last pretty long before he goes down, I can clean up the rest of whatever's left pretty quickly." I volunteered, not willing to risk losing that Objective due to some classic Derrick cowardice.

"Took the words out of my mouth. That just leaves 'Kill And Be Killed'." Korbin replied.

"I mean, I don't have an objective yet. Pretty obvious that I got this one." I quickly said.

"You also have the most personal points." Korbin shot back.

"Yeah, and?" I questioned.

"And if you die while subbing before getting there, we risk losing every single point you're holding." Korbin calmly replied.

"But you're right behind me? There's no way you don't have hundreds of points after fighting future gods." I shot back.

"That's why I chose an earlier Objective. If I die there, I won't sub at all. You're far more likely to sub in if that happens, especially if someone else gets eliminated as well. Which means we need a good replacement for the final Objective. Do I have to spell it out any clearer or..?" Korbin sneered back.

"Two minutes remaining until 'Phantom's Of Unclaimed Treasure' begins!" The effeminate voice announced, as it annoyingly had every two fucking minutes.

"Alright alright, who wants to sub for me?" I asked, realizing we needed to decide this now, regardless if I participated.

"We still haven't decided what we thought it's about. 'Kill and be Killed'? It feels like you're not supposed to fight." Lonni said after a pause.

"I can't imagine the system would discourage fighting with each other in something like this. Not unless we're separated." Derrick replied.

"Why not? Wouldn't being unable to kill off your competition make things more difficult?" Korbin countered.

"Maybe there's a consequence to eliminating each other? Like, everyone targets you afterwards or something." I proposed, feeling doubtful anything with the word 'kill' in its means twice would be one rooted in peace.

"Whether it's about peace or death, it doesn't sound straightforward. I don't have any personal points, so even if I'm eliminated beforehand there's no risk. I go first, might as well wait to go last" Cassi exclaimed. Korbin's eyes narrowed pondering the idea before nodding.

"Alright, Cassi will step in if Tom's eliminated beforehand. So everyone's in agreement with their roles?" Korbin asked, his eyes darting across our nodding heads.

"Good, because I have less than two minutes to do this." Korbin said, immediately dropping to the ground and stretching his hamstrings. I looked down, realizing how amazing that sounded right now before plopping on the metal floor and touching my toes.