My eyes slowly open, and seeing the stone built ceiling that looks 150-190 meters above me, I jolt up.
Where am I and more importantly… I'm alive?!
There're stone walls everywhere with some openings that show more pathways leading on; They look about two and a half meters tall.
"Where the living fuck am I?"
The scent of solidifying cement contrasts with the situation I was previously in, and it seems like a thunderstorm had just blown over.
My body still runs on the high of coming face-to-face with a blackhole.
So, I somehow survived the goddamn black hole and now I'm here?
Quick and shallow breaths don’t help my eyes keep focus; Making them blur as I try to make sense of the situation.
A gust of wind brushes past me and shivers run down my spine from the cold.
I can't really see much here because of the walls, but I catch a glimpse of what looks like a man lying on the ground in a pathway to my left.
"…"
My whole body sluggish after waking up, I slowly make my way towards him step by step until I feel my strength coming back.
"Anyone in there?”
Silence.
I try again, still scoping out the area for anything I can use as a reference.
“If you don't mind me asking, where are we?"
The man doesn't respond and I approach him.
My brain doesn’t process the situation; Even though the answer might be obvious.
Is he asleep?
My eyes dart around; Lightheaded.
Weird to think someone would be sleeping here.
"You ok si-"
His body topples and his lifeless husk falls face-first to the ground.
What the fuck.
My blood pressure comes back to normal as blood rushes to my head again. My eyes finally stabilize, lens thickens, vision returns.
His dried-out body succumbing to rigor mortis; I've seen my fair share of dead bodies, but the atmosphere is throwing me off. There's something off about this place, I just can't put my finger on it.
Body wobbling in place, I sense the oddity.
There's no mana in the air…at all.
Not even the slightest trace.
No no no no no no, t-that can’t be. Even on earth there was some ambient mana. How the hell is this possible. Wai— Oh shit.
The realization sets in; I can’t use my skills at all.
Nothing… No spell or skill. Nothing!?
SHIT! I’M FUCKED WITHOUT THOSE. I HAVE NO OFFENSE OR DEFENSE. WHAT THE HELL.
I find my hand landing on my chest and realize that my allocate is empty.
FUCK.
My legs shiver knowing that I have no way to heal if something goes wrong. I wrap my hands around myself,
I still have my de- I have my defense. Ok ok. Calm the fuck down.
I’ve come to realize how dependent on mana I’ve become, but I was not and am not physically prepared for a situation like this. I have… I-I have little to no physical strength.
Rambling on trying to calm myself down, my subconscious trying to convince me that I’m fine, my eyes drift to the opening next to me and notice; The pathways just keep going on-and-on with no end in sight.
I stare for a second… and take a deep breath.
So fucking pitiful.
Keeping my hand to the left of my chest, I try to regulate my heartbeat. Meandering onwards, I have no thoughts flowing in my mind. Just like my fucking allocate; Empty.
The placebo of feeling disabled works way too well sometimes, even when you know it’s a placebo.
Pure stone walls line beside me as the pathway continues. My body still feels like it’s in Zero-Gravity— Wait a minute.
I pause in my step.
With the flick of a wrist, my core pulsates. A cold tingle passes through down the length of my left arm, through my neck, coming up from my feet, to my head. My lower body goes numb, and I use silent activation on Soul Walker, which doesn't require any mana. Separating my soul from my physical body.
The physical and astral planes split as time freezes, and my soul becomes a separate entity. Space returns to normal as time resumes, and I move up toward the ceiling and try to pass through the wall.
I'm getting blocked.
There's a barrier up here preventing even my astral form from leaving. Wouldn't be much use either way since my actual body is still down there.
I look down, and I can just feel my heart thumping a tiny bit louder even though my body is down there.
It’s a fucking maze…
Corridors covering the entire map in intricate pattern. Dead ends every corner few corners. Some sectioned disguised in a black cover. One way in, and one way out.
And a massive dome sitting dead center.
I mark it on the mental map I'm building. Everything else in this place is either wall or corridor. The dome is the only thing that breaks the pattern. Whatever it is, I'll come back to it.
I scan the pathways below me. All of them. Every visible corridor, every junction.
No second figure. No one else in sight.
Left speechless, the only thought that runs across my mind is how to escape.
Could I possibly rift out? I have a feeling this barrier won't let me create a link with a different world, plane, or possibly even a separate location within this maze—but I have to at least try.
Through my growing worry, I make my best attempt to stay calm, but my senses suddenly run rampant; Something's making contact with my body.
I have no time to look, and I quickly kill the skill.
My soul and body converge.
Shit! Was that man alive somehow? I don't have time to contemplate!
My eyes jerk open and my body thrusts away from the source of the stimuli.
My heart's thumping so loud I can barely see through my body shaking, but I can make out an image of— wait, is that a child?
My senses are still a bit dull, but that is definitely a child. Looks to be a girl, around 8, 9, maybe 10; I can't really tell.
What the hell is a child doing in this godforsaken place, and why did she come to me?
The girl in tears sprints towards me, debris on the ground starts to jump, Spatial Awareness triggers and I feel something heading towards us.
Thought Perception wants to jumpstart, but nothing happens. I lose precious seconds thinking and without a single option, I run towards the girl—but I miss my timing.
A monster I don't recognize jolts in through a pathway to the right and crashes right in front of me, throwing me a few meters back into a wall.
It's covered in human faces pressed flush against its skin; Each one stretched and wrong, mouths frozen mid-expression, some half-formed, none of them where they should be.
My strengthened spine crackles and I can tell my brain wobble. Blood pools in my eyes but my vision stays clear. Blood draining into my mouth, I grit my teeth to contain the pain.
That hurts like hell!
The monster jumps between the walls and reaches the back of the girl. I gulp down the blood realizing what’s about to happen,
"DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!"
The monster pulls its arms back like it's going to slingshot forward.
THINK OF SOMETHING, COME ON.
Thought Perception finally decides to activate and I use it to my advantage.
Since there's no mana here, I can't use attack skills or cast spells. But didn't I get the ability to create matter? Wait... I can create fucking matter? What.
...
"..."
If memory serves, it doesn't use any mana. And if I can create anything, I can… I can…
The slowed scene in front of me, the cortisol running around in my head, I get a solution.
...Probably create magic circles and activate them with pre-loaded configurations.
Yes. That's it.
I flip my body through the slowed time so my legs are on the wall.
Time returns and glowing transparent blocks appear. They join together out of thin air, forming magic circles glowing light green to spawn beneath my feet; Bouncing off each other to create an air pressure difference that lunges me through the monster's sternum.
I crack through the bones and manifest a pair of swords in the hole I made, slicing it in half.
YASSSS!!
I land on the ground covered in blood and spawn a quick aquant circle. The water tastes like mana concentrate, which is to say, absolutely terrible, most of the blood washes off.
No mana in the environment, empty allocate, and I’m still alive. I sit with that for exactly one second before my legs start moving again.
I rush over to the girl.
"Are you ok? How did you end up here?"
Calm down. Calm down. We're both stressed from what just happened and she looks mortified.
The girl takes a few steps back as I get close. But blood is still pooling in my eyes and I'm about to pass out.
There's an internal bleed in my head and I have to act fast.
I create a healing circle layered with what I understand of regeneration. My head hits the ground and the circle activates.
My ribs move into position and the bone connects. It feels like something being welded in my chest and this burning sensation is so fucking awful; Biting my lips hard enough to bleed.
I might pass out from the pain itself.
The bones heal, but blood still lingers in my skull putting pressure on my brain.
An idea surfaces. Risky, but it'll work.
I create a demon summoning circle underneath me and modify it just enough that it doesn't link with anything, and changes the draw so it only pulls the blood I've bled out, not from the arteries and veins; A surprisingly easy tweak.
The blood pooled in my eyes flows out into the circle. Blood in my skull passes through and follows. The healing circle clears any remaining contamination and dissipates.
I break the summoning circle by overlapping it with another.
I check myself.
No pain(Well some lingering). Nothing else wrong. I run a check with Spatial Awareness and Analysis; Nothing near us, nothing I'm missing.
I take a deep breath and my ribs move normally.
Fucks sake was I scared as shit.
Out of energy, I lay myself flat on the ground into a more comfortable position.
"I'm Aarifiusfsbsfjgsah, give me a minute"
I gasp for air, stuttering through my breath, but still manage to sit up.
Clearing my throat,
“I’m Aarius, what’s your name?”
The girl—brown eyes, long black hair that brushes past my face as she moves—walks closer and lies her head on my shoulder without a word. Judging by the smell coming off her, she hasn't washed in roughly two to three months. That's probably about when she got here.
"Lyanna." She says, holding back a sniffle.
How did she even survive this long if this is the type of shit you have here… An estimated 3 Months… How?
"Any idea where your parents are?"
Her expression goes blank.
"…It’s…”
Ok never mind.
"If it's fine, can I come with you?" She says, still avoiding my eyes.
"I don't mind. Do what you feel like."
She breaks down into a silent cry as tears trickle onto the shoulder of my shirt, and I decide to rest here for a bit before leaving.
Lyanna's breathing evens out within the hour. Once I'm sure she's properly asleep, I get to work.
First thing, Soul Walker again, this time with a purpose. I send my astral form up to the ceiling and scan the full maze layout from above, marking what I can see onto a sheet of paper I create. I check every corridor within visible range as I go.
Still no second figure anywhere in the maze.
I hold it down.
The barrier above the walls is consistent. Same resistance everywhere I test it, regenerates almost immediately if I try to push through.
I spend a few minutes on it before accepting it's not a viable exit.
Teleportation circles I've already half-suspected won't work, but I try one anyway and the circle fails to link with anything. Whoever built this place sealed it properly. I can tell that much.
So we're walking out.
But first, I need better eyes.
I think back to the vessel concept I worked out after sitting down for an hour without anything interesting to do; Creating a physical container and feeding its senses into my own.
I try building one now, small and simple, and link my consciousness to it. The first two break immediately from instability. The third holds.
YES!
Its range is limited though. Reading changes in air, smell, sensitivity out to roughly two and a half meters; But I can network them. Create more, link them together, extend the field. That’s essentially the entire process. Almost like a web of my own senses scattered throughout this place.
More interesting is what happens when I combine it with ‘Separation’.
Using ‘Creation’, I create a vessel up at the ceiling height and push a very small portion of my soul core into. Then I modify the vessel's construction to add eyes with spatial distortion built in, capable of zooming. There's blurriness at the edges, but the center is clear.
I pray to everything I love that this works and by utilizing the link, I run the feed directly into my left optical nerve.
The first second is deeply disorienting; Normal vision on my right, pitch black on my left. But a few second in,
IT WORKS!!
Aerial CCTV on my left. I sit with it until it stops making me want to close my eyes.
FUCK YEAHHH!
From up there I map the rest of the maze properly. I scan every corner of it as I go; Still no second figure, anywhere.
The exit is at the exact opposite corner.
I stare at that for a moment. The dome in the center. The exit at the far end. The sheer scale of the corridors between here and there.
I’m guessing…A month and a half of walking, minimum, in a sealed environment with no mana, a child who's already been here for months, and whatever else is in here with us that I haven't found yet.
I look down at the child asleep against the wall.
Yeah. We'll take our time.