MasukKaimaThe castle didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before.It looked like something built to intimidate.It was massive, towering over us, with pillars that looked like they were made from gold. Not dull gold—bright, polished, almost glowing. I wasn’t sure the word beautiful would even start to describe this place. It was magnificent in a way that made your chest tighten, the kind of beauty that reminded you just how small you were.As I slowly looked around, taking everything in, a strange feeling crept over me. A weird sense of déjà vu settled deep in my bones, like I had been here before. The feeling was so strong it made my head ache—but that made no sense. I had never been here. I would remember a place like this.If anyone had told me just a couple of days back that I would be standing in the underworld, staring at a castle like this, I would have laughed in their face.The man who had approached us earlier led the way, his steps calm and measured, not speaking a single wo
KaimaThe ground started moving, and at first I thought it was all in my head. The feeling was subtle, almost like a vibration under my feet. I tightened my hold on Nicholai instinctively, pressing closer to him, my heart racing. But it wasn’t only me who felt it.“Can you guys feel that?” Tara asked, her voice tight.“Tara… Tara,” I said, lifting my head from Nicholai’s chest, fear rising sharply. “Behind you.” I pointed, my finger shaking, to a portal forming behind her.Wind slammed into us like a tidal wave, so sudden it stole my breath. The ground shook violently, like a volcano was about to erupt beneath us. Pebbles lifted off the floor, spinning in the air as the pull intensified, dragging everything toward the swirling darkness.“What the hell is going on?” I yelled, my voice almost swallowed by the roaring wind.We all turned to Kyle, and for once, he looked just as shocked as we were. His brows furrowed deeply.“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a portal opening in the labyr
NathanI hated this place so much. The deeper we went, the worse it became. The more we kept going, the weaker I felt, like something unseen was slowly draining me from the inside. It wasn’t physical exhaustion alone—it was heavier than that, sinking into my bones, into my head. It was like this place was subconsciously draining me, feeding on whatever strength I had left.And right now, all I wanted was to stop. To sit down. To breathe. But I couldn’t. We needed to find her. That thought alone forced my legs to keep moving, forced my breathing to stay even, even when my chest felt tight. Kyle walked a few steps ahead of me, completely unbothered.It was like this place had no single effect on him.“Hey,” Kyle said suddenly, glancing over his shoulder. “How are you holding up?”“I’m fine,” I answered quickly, too quickly.He gave me an amused look that annoyed the shit out of me. “Nathan, are you sure?”“Yeah,” I muttered, jaw tight. “Totally fine.”We kept walking, twisting into anot
NicholaiWe had been walking for so long it didn’t just feel like hours—it felt like years. My legs ached, my muscles burned, and my sense of direction had completely abandoned me. I was pretty sure we were going in circles, trapped in some cruel loop that refused to end.All we did was walk through another wall of bones and push ourselves through another narrow passage that led nowhere. The sound of our footsteps echoed strangely, as if the maze was mocking us. The air was suffocating and untouchable; it felt like this place didn’t know what fresh air was, like it had never existed here at all. I was tired of walking. Exhausted. But if we stopped, who knew what would come at us from the dark again. After a while, I stopped. My chest rose and fell unevenly as frustration finally boiled over.“There’s really no way out of this place, is there?”I turned to Tara, who looked like she’d been trying so hard not to pass out. Her face was pale, her steps unsteady, but she forced herself to
KaimaKyle looked frustrated as he kept looking around the endless stretch of darkness like just his stare would produce a magical door out of here.He ran a hand through his hair as if he wanted to rip it out of his skull. “No… no… this shouldn’t be happening. The portal was supposed to take us straight into the underworld. The portal shouldn’t link here unless—” he stopped.Nathan frowned. “Unless what?”Kyle looked at us as if contemplating what to say.“Unless what, Kyle?” Nathan snapped.“Nathan, take a look around. I’m very sure I’m not the only one feeling the energy this place radiates. In case it’s not clear to you, we are in one of the worst realms in all of existence. The labyrinth doesn’t just appear by accident. Someone diverted us into it on purpose.”My throat went dry.Who would do something like that, and why?Kyle continued pacing. “Only a powerful being could reroute a portal this way. Whoever did it wanted us lost—not just lost, but separated.”But then everything
NicholaiI woke up in suffocating darkness that pressed down on me like a living thing. My eyes strained but I didn’t see even a faint glimmer of light. My breath came in quiet bursts, my heart pounding against my chest.“Kaima,” I called her name, but no response. “Kaima,” I tried again, louder this time, still nothing. “Kaima, where are you?”I looked around. There was no single trace of her.“Kaima!” I yelled again, but still nothing.“Where… where the hell is everyone?” I whispered, looking around in plain darkness.Then I heard it, a soft pained cry somewhere to my right. It was Tara.“Tara… Tara?” I called out.Her weak trembling voice replied, “Nicholai…”I ran—or rather, I moved fast—towards her, my senses guiding me through the darkness. The air smelled of dust and decayed bones buried under centuries of sand. Then I saw her, half slumped on the ground, coughing, her chest heaving.“Tara,” I knelt down beside her. She was shaking, eyes wide with fear. When I helped her up, I







