I leaned back against the stone wall, thankful for the support, as hard and uncomfortable as it was. We’d been walking through the Labyrinth for hours, just like we had for the last couple days, and I was just glad for the change of scenery.

The Labyrinth no longer looked like a bunch of natural caves and caverns. Instead, this section of it looked more like some kind of underground dungeon or lost city. There were tunnels and rooms following a similar type of structure, but everything was now made of large limestone blocks. It reminded me a bit of all the old structures in Egypt, though I didn’t see a single hieroglyph, sphinx, or pyramid anywhere.

“What even is the difference between talent and affinity?” Ace asked.

For the last half hour, while we’d been resting, the topic of conversation had been on status screens and what all the aspects of it all really meant. I listened curiously, having heard most of this before. Hell, I’d even read official reports with this information before.

There were a couple of shrugs, but no answers. Since it seemed that nobody else was going to answer Ace, I decided to do so.

“Talents are for skills,” I explained. “Things like acrobatics, juggling, or swordsmanship. Affinities refers to the type of magic you can use.”

Everyone was staring at me in surprise. When nobody said anything, I continued, mostly to fill the silence. It had been a long time since I used to teach rookie Wardens, but it was still easy to slip back into lecture mode.

“From what I understand,” I continued, “talents and affinities start off as background information, the kind of thing that never actually shows up on your status screen until you either get an ability related to it…or actively use it.” I shrug at that. “Take swimming for example. You might have a talent for it…which basically just means that you’re able learn that skill a LOT easier than normal, but you’d never know unless you tried swimming first.”

“So, I might have a talent I don’t even know about?” Ace asked with a look of surprise.

“There is a good chance,” I agreed, curious about what talents I myself might have. It might be worth trying to figure out.

“And what about affinities?” Olivia asked, giving me a curious look.

“Similar to talents, but with types of magic,” I explained, even though she had probably already figured that out on her own some time ago. All of them probably had, but that didn’t make them any less curious about what I had to say on the subject. “Affinities just refers to the type of magic you can work with…or that you have some advantage with.”

“I guess the terms talents and affinities are kind of self-explanatory,” Turtle said.

“Yeah,” Ace agreed, looking a little self-conscious.

“Every player should start off with an affinity for whatever kind of magic their class uses,” I continued, keeping my attention mostly focused on Olivia since she seemed the most interested in this particular topic. “You probably respawned with an affinity for arcane magic.”

“I did,” Olivia agreed.

“I’ve got one for creation magic,” Bunny offered.

I nodded at that, making a mental note since I hadn’t known what summoner magic was called. Creation magic seemed pretty appropriate considering what summoners actually did.

“Primal magic for me,” I offered.

“Not saying,” Ace insisted, sitting there with his arms crossed, a smug look on his face.

“Anyway,” I continued. “You can also get affinities for your different subtypes or specializations.” My eyes set on Olivia again. “I know that arcanists can use different kinds of energy, so you might get an affinity for heat, light, force, or whatever.” I paused for a moment before adding, “That will just make you more powerful when using whatever you’re specialized in.”

Bunny burst out laughing. When I looked at her, she flashed a grin and explained, “I have a rabbit specialization.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Turtle asked with a look of amusement.

I leaned back into the stone wall, thinking about my own affinities. Primal magic with a specialization in the divine type. It was embarrassing to realize that I’d already known that most magics had subtypes and specializations, but I hadn’t even considered what that meant for my own class until Wolf had pointed it all out to me.

“I just won’t mention that little oversight,” I quietly mused to myself before slowly getting back to my feet. I picked up my mace and said, “We should probably get going again.”

“You’re right,” Bunny agreed cheerfully as she practically bounced to her feet.

Olivia picked up her staff from where it leaned against the wall next to where she’d been sitting. She gave me curious look before pointing out, “You are a recent respawn. Very recent. So…”

“How the hell do you know so much about that stuff?” Ace asked. “I mean, I’ve been a player for six months now, and nobody has explained that stuff to me like that.”

I shrugged before admitting, “I knew a few players. Back in my old life.”

Then I paused, thinking about one of those players in particular. I could remember his face as clear as day, especially how it looked the last time I’d seen it…with blood gushing out of his eye socket.

“You know,” I commented a few seconds later as a cold smile formed on my lips. “Now that I’ve joined the club myself, I think that I just might have to go look them up.”

“That would be interesting,” Turtle told me, apparently not noticing my expression. “And if anyone could understand you coming back, it would be another player.”

Turtle began walking down the stone hallway again, taking his place at the front of our group. Everyone else quickly stepped into position behind him as we continued on our way.

We hadn’t gone far when Ace said, “You know, an old buddy and I… Well, we had a password we could use to prove our identity to each other, just in case THIS happened to either of us.” He shook his head. “I still haven’t gotten in contact with him.”

“Talking with someone in your old life isn’t easy,” Olivia said with a pained expression. “They don’t always react well. You’re probably better off forgetting about your old life.”

Bunny nodded at that. “I’m just glad I don’t have anyone I want to go back to.”

“Me either,” I added quietly, thinking about how lonely I’d been in my final years. If it hadn’t been for Margaret, I probably would have gone insane. Then again, she used to sometimes accuse me of that anyway.

“I wish I could say that,” Turtle muttered, not looking back at the rest of us. Then he just paused and stood there for several seconds, staring at the ground.

“What is it?” Ace asked, moving forward so that he could get a better look. “Is there a trap?”

A moment later, Bunny cautiously asked Turtle, “Are you okay?”

Turtle slowly shook his head. “No. But I will be. Eventually.”

Olivia nodded at that. “I think this topic is getting a little too personal.”

“Yeah,” Turtle agreed, though he straightened up. He forced a smile and looked like he was about to continue with our march forward, when instead he said, “I left behind… I left behind my husband and kids.”

“Husband?” I asked in surprise.

“You aren’t the only one who switched sides,” Bunny told me.

I blinked at that, then asked, “How did you know?” I wasn’t bothered by the fact that they’d figured it out, just curious as to how.

“Body language,” Bunny told me cheerfully. “You sit like a guy.”

“You do,” Olivia added with a smirk.

“Okay,” I replied with a shrug. “I guess I’ll have to pay more attention.”

Turtle just laughed, then gave me a sympathetic look. “You’ll get used to it,” he assured me. “I have. For the most part.”

Olivia put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s the people we left behind that are the hardest to deal with.”

“Yeah,” Turtle agreed emphatically. “It is.”

With that, Turtle took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, then turned and continued marching forward. I simply followed behind, feeling sorry for Turtle and thankful that I wasn’t in a similar situation. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to know that I had loved ones out there and that I couldn’t be part of their lives.

----------

The large monster slowly rose up from where it had been crouched down in the middle of the room, pretending to be a rock. It’s skin…carapace…was dull and beige, almost the same shade and texture as the rough limestone bricks that the walls were made of. Even now that it was standing up, looking like some kind of vaguely humanoid beetle, it still tended to blend in.

“Holy shit,” Ace exclaimed. “Is that a walking statue?”

We all stared at the monster, trying to make sense of what it was. We hadn’t seen many monsters in the area, and certainly nothing like this. None of us was quite sure what to expect of our new enemy.

“It isn’t an elemental,” I said, still a bit salty over my failure with the water elemental. It had been a couple days, but I still hadn’t forgotten how completely that thing had ignored me. “Not a primal at all.”

“Well, it’s good to know that you won’t try to tame this one,” Bunny teased me.

The monster stood back on two thick legs. Its body was rounded, especially its backside, much like a beetle shell. Its head was that of a giant insect, with bulging faceted eyes and a pair of thick pinchers at the mouth. Two arms emerged from its shoulders, each of them ending with a long curved blade, similar to a praying mantis.

With a loud shriek, the monster abruptly leapt forward, swinging its bladed arm at Olivia. Turtle immediately jumped between them, using his shield to block the strike at the last second. And while Olivia scrambled backward, Turtle positioned himself directly in front of the monster, making it clear that he was the monster’s primary foe.

“Let Turtle get its attention,” Bunny called out as she backed away as well. Her three horned rabbits all frozen beside her, tensed up to charge forward but waiting for her order. “GO!” The rabbits immediately burst into action.

Ace and Olivia both backed up to get more distance, then launched their own ranged attacks. I took a little longer, looking around to make sure that there weren’t any other monsters sneaking up on us from behind. Only then did I fire off an ‘Invocation of Spite.’

The monster shrieked in agony, even dropping to its knees while it did so. Everyone took that as the signal to hit the monster as hard as they could. Unfortunately, its carapace didn’t just look like stone, it was as hard as stone too. Once the monster shook off the pain, it lunged straight at me, knocking Turtle to the side where he landed on his back.

“Ah, crap,” I spat as I jumped out of the way an instant before a bladed arm came down in the spot where I’d been standing.

“LOOK OUT!” Bunny cried, right before the monster tried to attack me again.

I scrambled back, clutching my mace tightly while I kept my eyes locked on the monster. I was breathing hard with sweat pouring down my face. At that moment, I was thankful that I’d been keeping my hair tied back into a ponytail while in the Labyrinth. The last thing I needed was the distraction of having hair in my face.

“I don’t think so,” Turtle exclaimed, holding his shield up and yelling, “GET OVER HERE!”

Turtle’s shield began to glow and the monster turned and stared at it for several long seconds. Then the monster charged straight at Turtle, who once again used his shield to block the attack.

“I’ve been looking for a chance to test out that new ability,” Turtle said with a grunt. “And now that I’ve got his attention again…will someone kill him?”

“Glad to,” Ace responded as he fired two simultaneous blasts at the monster.

“I’m draining my staff for this one,” Olivia called out with a look of determination. “Every last bit of stored arcane energy for one attack…”

Olivia fired a blast of blue energy at the monster, hitting it in its back and blasting a hole in its shell. Once she did this, she slumped forward and used her staff to keep from falling flat on her face. Bunny was immediately beside her, helping hold her up.

“That takes a lot out of me,” Olivia admitted.

“Aim for the hole,” I told Ace, pointing to where Olivia had damaged the shell.

“Good idea,” Ace agreed as he fired several shots. One of them hit the shell and bounced off without doing any damage, but the other went through the opening. The monster shrieked at that. “That’s the spot.”

I glanced down at my mace, then rushed in towards the monster. But instead of hitting at the break in the shell, I swung my mace a lot lower, hitting the monster in the knee instead. There was another crack in its shell and it tilted lopsided, unable to fully support its own weight anymore.

“That should keep it from running away,” I exclaimed as I backed up, right in time to avoid a blade across my chest.

“And that should make it harder for it to come after one of us again,” Bunny added. She looked down at her own empty hands, which were lacking any weapons. “Maybe I should get a crossbow or something…”

“Or something,” Ace teased her. “I’ve seen your aim, and you’d be more dangerous to us than any monsters.”

“Bite me,” Bunny responded as she flipped Ace off. Then she turned her attention back to her rabbits and grinned. “Attack it’s broken knee…”

The three horned rabbits leapt at the monster’s knee, hitting it one after another. The giant bug monster let out another shrill scream of pain then swung at the rabbits, hitting two of them and killing them with a single blow.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite ready for another ‘Invocation of Spite’, so I ran forward and swung with my mace again. This time, I caught the monster in the elbow, shattering the carapace. The arm hung there almost lifelessly.

Turtle yelped in pain and I noticed that the monster had gotten past his shield with its other arm, nicking his shoulder. It didn’t look bad, certainly not enough to make Turtle drop his shield, but he was wincing in pain.

Aced moved closer, aiming both of his scepters straight at the gaping hole in the shell, and he fired again. Both blasts hit their target and the monster collapsed forward, nearly landing on top of Turtle.

“Good hit,” I told Ace with an almost evil grin. “Now it’s my turn.”

My ‘Invocation of Spite’ was finally ready again, so I braced myself for the pain, bit back the scream that always wanted to come, and then fired a ball of pure spiteful agony right into the monster. It let out another shriek, a horrific sound which faded out into a sick gurgling. It twitched in place for several seconds before going completely motionless.

“I think it’s dead,” Bunny announced cautiously.

Turtle glared down at the monster, then drove the tip of his sword right into the monster’s head. When it didn’t so much as twitch, he nodded. “It’s dead.”

“About time,” Olivia said, still leaning on her staff.

A new popup appeared in front of me, bringing a faint smile to my lips

YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 5

I quickly brought up my stat screen and saw that I had another free stat point to use. I hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh, remembering that I’d already made this decision. With a sigh of regret, I assigned it to presence, just like had my last stat point. That brought my presence up to a respectable seven.

“That should do it for now,” I mused as I looked over my stats, pleased to note that I’d also gotten an extra stat point in strength. Apparently, swinging a heavy mace around was good for building muscles.

CLASS: INVOKER
LEVEL: 5
FREE STAT POINTS: 0

FOCUS: 9
PERCEPTION: 7
PRESENCE: 7
STRENGTH: 7
VITALITY: 11
DEXTERITY: 6
AGILITY: 7

TALENTS AND AFFINITIES:
-PRIMAL MAGIC
--DIVINE TYPE

ABILITIES:
-INVOCATION OF SPITE

“Hey, look here,” Ace exclaimed.

Ace was crouched down next to a small wooden box that was sitting at the back of the room. It wasn’t quite a treasure chest, only being the size of a shoe box, but that was basically what this was.

“I’ve heard of these,” I said with a grin of excitement. “But I’ve never seen one before.”

Boxes like these were one of the MANY strange and contradictory elements of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth created these boxes and scattered them about as prizes…or possibly lures to draw players even further in. Everyone had their own theory for the why, but nobody knew for sure.

Ace opened the box and revealed that it contained two items. One of which was a simple looking dagger, one which was clearly an artifact of some sort or it wouldn’t have been inside the box. The other item was a single lump of faintly glowing metal, no bigger than a golf ball.

“No way,” Bunny gasped, snatching up the metal. “Unobtainium.”

I smiled faintly at the name. Unobtainium. Back in the early days, one of the other Wardens had named the stuff unobtainium as a joke, because it didn’t exist on Earth and could only be found inside the Labyrinth. Somehow, the name had stuck.

“This,” Bunny announced with a broad grin, holding out the nugget of unobtainium, “is what we’ve been looking for.”

“That should be enough to pay our bills for a month,” Olivia said with a gleam in her eyes.

Then as one, Turtle, Bunny, Ace, and Olivia all shouted, “PAYDAY!”