“Where are we?” I asked.

I looked around and saw a small town, one that almost looked more like it belonged in the old west than in the modern world. The fact that some of the walls were made of concrete disproved that, though my initial impression still remained. Most of the buildings had wood facades and were two stories or less, though one of them was the exception, reaching the lofty heights of four stories.

My eyes settled on a nearby streetlight. This was not a modern electric streetlight, but an old-fashioned gas light that would have fit right into Victorian England. This light and other details like it were what had given me my initial impression.

After taking a few seconds to examine the down, I looked behind me, at the glowing portal that I’d just stepped out of. This was a literal tear in the fabric of reality itself, as well as the local entrance to the Labyrinth. The whole thing was about nine feet wide and fifteen feet tall. It was a respectably sized opening.

“Gideon Heights,” Ace said in answer to my question. “We’re in Gideon Heights.”

“South Dakota,” I mused aloud.

Bunny gave me a curious look. “You’ve heard of it?”

I hesitated a moment before answering, “I’ve been here before.”

What I didn’t say was that the last time I’d been there had been a few decades ago, right after this opening to the Labyrinth first appeared. It had been well before the town had been built around it.

The others all gave me questioning looks at that, so I simply said, “It’s been a long time.”

“Okay,” Ace joked with a grin. “Maggie is a woman of mystery.”

“Look who’s talking,” Bunny teased Ace. “Mister…I can’t tell you what my class is.”

“Touche,” Ace responded cheerfully.

“We led you out of the Labyrinth as promised,” Olivia told me.

I gave her a polite nod. “Thank you. All of you.” I shook my head. “I have no idea how I would have found the way out on my own.”

“You were in there pretty far,” Bunny agreed. “Now for the fun part.”

Bunny gestured towards two people who were approaching us. One was a middle-aged woman and the other was a younger man, both wearing professional looking grey uniforms. The uniforms were different from what I used to wear, yet similar enough to give me a sense of nostalgia.

“The Men in Grey,” Turtle announced in a grim tone, shuddering as he did so. “And paperwork.”

I glanced down at myself and the torn and bloody robe that I was wearing. That robe clearly marked me as being newly respawned. Then with a sigh, I straightened up and stepped forward meet the pair of Wardens.

“Hello,” I greeted the Wardens politely. “Do you want to do this here, or would it be easier to do in your office?”

The two Wardens paused then shared a glance before the woman answered. “I was going to suggest our office.”

“We’ll see you later, Maggie,” Bunny said as the four of them went off on their own, leaving me with the Wardens.

I followed the Wardens to a nearby building which was labeled as being their office. Once we were inside, the woman sat down behind a nice wooden desk while the younger man opened the drawer of a filing cabinet and pulled out some paperwork. He set the small stack of papers on the desk by the woman, then left the room.

While they were getting ready, I sat down at the seat across from the woman, placing my mace on the ground beside me. It felt good to lose that weight. Then I slowly looked around the room, taking in all the details. There was the large filing cabinet that occupied most of one wall, with a liquid fuel lantern like what I used to use for camping sitting on top. Beside the desk there was a sword and crossbow, both clearly cared for and ready for use. What I didn’t see was any sign of a computer or light switch. That was to be expected.

I smiled faintly, definitely feeling the nostalgia. I’d spent countless hours in offices like this, ones that were too close to a Labyrinth entrance to rely on any modern technology. The Labyrinth had a strange effect on things like electronics and certain chemical reactions, such as the ones that firearms used, and that effect even extended beyond the Labyrinth to the area around any of its entrances. If you wanted to work anywhere near the Labyrinth, you had to get used to doing things the old-school way.

The woman across the desk had a name on her uniform. Davis. Agent Davis had a pen in her hand and a notebook open in front of her. She quickly wrote down a few things, giving me quick glances as she did so.

I didn’t recognize Davis from my time in the Wardens, though it probably would have been more of a surprise if I had. After all, that had been a long time ago and the organization had grown even larger since then.

I remembered the early days, when there had only been twelve of us. We’d been an ad-hoc group of military, intelligence, and law enforcement individuals, thrown together on short notice for the task of dealing with players, who’d recently begun to appear. The idea, at the time, had been that we would contain the problem until the important people decided what the official policy was going to be.

Back in those days, the Labyrinth was new and monsters kept emerging from the openings. When people began appearing as well…and ones who claimed to be dead people… Well, there were a lot of questions and even more suspicions.

A large part of our duties involved detaining players for investigation, resulting in them and many others referring to us as the wardens of their prison. At the same time, some of us thought of ourselves as being more like game wardens, overseeing the strange new ecosystem that was the Labyrinth, and the ‘wildlife’ that emerged from it. The name stuck and we became the Wardens.

“Now then,” Agent Davis said, breaking me out of my reminiscence. “I assume that you are newly respawned.”

“That is correct,” I agreed.

Davis stared at me with a thoughtful expression before saying, “You seem to be well prepared for this…” When I didn’t respond to that, she continued, “So, you may already be aware of what I am about to tell you, but I am still required to do so.”

“I understand,” I told her.

The Warden on the other side of the desk nodded, then began to give ‘the lecture.’ It was the same lecture that I myself had given dozens of times before, though some of the details had changed since then. For the most part, Davis just explained my situation as a respawned player, which would be useful to most newly respawned, but which was merely an unnecessary refresher for me.

“We will begin creating new identification forms for you,” Davis told me as she wrote more down onto one of the forms. “Now, what name will you be using from now on?”

“Maggie,” I answered. “I’m going by Maggie now.”

I didn’t give a last name since most respawned didn’t bother using one. Or if they did, they simply used the name of the place where they’d first respawned, which would make me Maggie Gideon, since I was in the town of Gideon Heights.

Agent Davis asked me a few questions about my class, but I wasn’t legally required to provide that so I didn’t. Then she measured my height, which was five-foot-seven, and wrote down a physical description of me. A short time later, she handed me my new legal identification card.

I glanced over the card, smiling faintly at how little information was present. The only name on it was ‘Maggie’. Instead of a ‘date of birth’, I had a ‘date of respawn’ listed, with the current date. I was a little surprised to note that the current date was nearly a month from the last date I remembered.

“And no DMV picture,” I joked, knowing full well that the reason Davis hadn’t taken my picture, was because cameras wouldn’t work.

“Only if you get a drivers license,” Davis told me with a faint smile. “Which is kind of pointless at the moment since you have to get good a mile or two away from here before any car will even start.”

“That isn’t real high on my priority list,” I told Davis. “But thanks anyway.”

“Now then,” Davis said, giving me a knowing look. “I suspect that the real reason you were so eager to fill out the paperwork was so that you had access to the amenities we offer new players.”

I gave her a friendly smile and a nod of acknowledgement. “You suspect correctly.”

Davis chuckled at that and then moved to closet door. After rummaging around for a minute, she pulled out a small pile of clothing and handed it to me. She followed that up by giving me a key.

“Room C on the second floor,” Davis told me. “We only provide room and board to new players for one month. After that, I’m afraid that you’re on your own.”

“Thank you,” I told her with a nod of appreciation.

“No,” Davis told me with a smile. “Thank you for making this easy. Do you know how many new players insist that we contact their spouses…or demand that we get them access to their old bank accounts?”

I nodded sympathetically at that, knowing exactly what she meant. I’d had my share of those encounters and still remembered players crying…and even threatening me over things that I had no control over.

“Their…our situation isn’t your fault,” I told Davis. “You’re just trying to do your job.”

Davis nodded at that, looking pleased that I understood. Then, just as I was about to leave, she cautiously said, “You don’t have to answer, but… What did you do…before?”

I hesitated at that, not inclined to answer. However, I had a feeling that Davis suspected something, and it would probably be smart to remain on good terms with the local Wardens.

“Why,” I finally answered, giving her a grin, “I used to sit behind a desk, just like that one.” I enjoyed the look of surprise on her face, right before I stepped out the door and left.

----------

My new room was small and cramped, reminding me of the college dorm room from oh so long ago. It was about half the size of my old room back at the home, having space for a bed, a small desk, and little else.

I took one look around the room and then dropped my mace to the floor beside the door. It hit with a heavy thump that would probably annoy whomever was beneath me.

But as small as the room was, it was a room with a bed, and at the moment, that was really what I needed. And as a bonus, there was a connected bathroom, even though I had to share it with whomever was in the next room. For the moment though, I had it to myself.

“Thank God that indoor plumbing still works fine,” I exclaimed upon seeing the toilet.

Bunny had given me some water earlier, and it had finally run through my system. I dropped my ragged robe into the garbage bin, then eyed the shower. A nice hot shower would be great, but first…

With a sigh, I sat down on the toilet, being thankful that I hadn’t had to go in the Labyrinth. Pissing in my new body didn’t feel nearly as strange as I would have imagined. It was the same basic sensation and feeling of relief, just with a few details being off.

Once I was done, I stepped into the shower, eager to get cleaned off. A nice hot shower was just what I needed. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that while this place had running water, it wasn’t hot. Because of that, I took a cold shower, cleaning myself as quickly as I could.

“Well, that was disappointing,” I said when I stepped out of the shower.

I used a towel to dry myself off, taking extra care with my hair since it was a lot longer and thicker than I was used to. It was strange to have a full head of hair again, but also pretty nice. In fact, I was even starting to feel an odd sense of pride in my new hair.

“Enough of that,” I grumbled, feeling self-conscious about the fact that I enjoyed having hair again. I’d always thought myself above such petty vanity.

Instead, I turned my attention to the rest of my body. I’d been in this body for nearly a full day now, and I was starting to get a feel for what it could do. Of course, it was the wrong make and model, but I had to admit that it was still pretty nice.

“It’s not like I can trade it in,” I told myself with a sigh. “This is what you’ve got now, so you’d better get used to it.” I snorted at that. “Easier said than done.”

I slowly ran my hands over my body, taking in the smooth skin and strange new curves. Then I paused with one hand rested between my legs. There was an unfamiliar absence there, one that reminded me of what else I’d lost.

For several minutes, I just stood like that, silently mourning the loss of my oldest and dearest friend. He’d only been average sized and almost completely useless in recent years, but I was still going to miss him anyway.

At this point, I finally left the bathroom, locking the door behind me as I did so. I didn’t want to risk my new neighbor inviting themselves into my room. A minute later, I collapsed onto the bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.