Heaven's Ichor

Hearing the sound of the Labyrinth gate closing, the last hope of theirs vanishing, Astel felt eerily calm, all his fears vanishing wondering why he even entered in the first place, no prior training, no cultivation art, no Dao spells, only some basic knowledge of the machinations of the labyrinth. 

It really was a foolish move, but what else could he do, the world outside the Labyrinth in his eyes was even worse than this godforsaken Labyrinth, the weak helpless, the poor suffering all while. those in power hoard their wealth and cultivation arts to themselves, letting everyone else burn in hell.

"I hate them.. Yet If I was in the same position, would I share my wealth with people I don't know? I wouldn't, would I."

Shaking his head to clear all of his unnecessary thoughts, the only thought left was to somehow find a way to survive the night and wait for the gate to reopen in the morning.

"What to do, what to do?" Hoping they get lucky and find others? Relying on luck won't get you anywhere, wait until Uncle regains enough energy to cast his Dao spell again? Could work, but we'd be betting that we didn't encounter another one while running, if we did, we'd be screwed, reach the start of A1? even if we did, we still have to get rid of the Mosquito Creature chasing us. 

Feeling little beads of sweat forming around his face, Astel started wondering how they even mananged to outrun these creatures in the first place, Uncle could, but him? Looking at his scrawny muscles, he felt doubtful. 

Whatever healed our injuries also gave us energy but it's slowly runnin— interupting his thoughts was a stab from the Creature's proboscis, lightly grazing the side of his chest.

"Ah" wincing from the pain, Astel looked at the wound, noticing it already start to heal, turning the corner, at the very edge of his vision, he could have swore he saw an A1 etched onto the wall of the labyrinth. Suddenly everything started coming together in his mind, all the bits and pieces started melding together to create a scheme..? A vision..? No a plan, one that determined their life and death in this cruel world. 

"Uncle I have a plan, but you have to trust me, no matter what, okay? Astel said his voice containing an unnatural sense of excitement and confidence, for the dire situation they found themselves in. 

"Anything is better than just slowly getting closer to death, even if it's fighting this thing right now, I'll put my trust in you." giving off the aura of someone with no regrets, and an unshakeable resolve. 

"Alright follow me" sprinting as fast as his skinny legs could, picking up one of the fragmented weapons lying around everywhere a black longsword to be precise, he turned around heading straight for the Mosquito Creature, "Uncle you said you'd trust me right?" 

The Mosquito Creature seeing it's prey nearing it, couldn't help but secrete a black viscous liquid from it's proboscis, almost resembling saliva, suddenly it leaped jumping a whopping four meters in the sky, proboscis unfurled, ready to strike at any moment, a terrifying view for any person who was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end.. Yet Astel couldn't help but smirk, "Got you" 

"Use your Dao spell NOW!" Gambling with his life, a single second determining his life and death, Astel couldn't help but fell a euphoric pleasure unlike anything else. 

"DAO SPELL— LIGHTS EMBRACE!!" Abyss shouted, putting all his concentration into performing an extremely weakened version of his spell which previously melted the eyes of the other Mosquito Creature. 

"FLASH" pure white light filled the entire area they were in, yet unlike last time Abyss knew that this would only temporarily blind it and after it's vision recovered, it would immediately go after them again. 

Astel knew that he could dodge if he wanted to, remaining uninjured, maybe even kill it while it was temporarily blinded yet deep inside him, he knew that if he gave up this godsent opportunity and played it safe, he would come to regret it, steeling his resolve, Astel braced himself for what was about to come, knowing that for their survival, it would be a small price to pay,... 

"Screech!" still in midair, the Mosquito Creature felt the full force of the spell unlike Astel who had his back turned, using it's momentum, Astel gripped his sword as tightly as he could, the hilts patterns etching themselves onto his hands from the force he was using, turning his sword he thrust the short sword straight through one of its glowing red eyes resulting in a disgusting "crunch" sound. 

Knowing that it wouldn't be enough, Aster thrust deeper, all the way into the deepest parts of its brain, it's body spasming and convulsing until finally stopping, announcing the death of the cursed creature once and for all... 

"Thump" "Thump" Astel felt his heart about to beat out of his chest, taking a glance at it's unmoving body, Astel couldn't help but release a smile of accomplishment which instantly turned into a grimace as pain as he tried to move.

Turning around, taking a look at his back, Astel saw his clothes partially burned off, his back covered In gruesome pus covered boils and marred with ghastly burns, still steaming from the residual heat. 

"ASTEL!!" 

Seeing his Uncle unharmed running over to him, Astel let out a smile of relief as he felt his consciousness slipping away from him, unknown that a mysterious change was happening throughout his body... 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

"Where am I" waking up Astel expected to see the mossy walls of the maze, the warm cozyness of his house, hell even the inside of a hospital, yet where he was was what appeared to be the inside of his mind? If that even made sense, he could see all his thoughts colliding together creating what seemed to be emotions? Wills? Ideas? Astel had no clue what was going on yet it seemed oddly familiar, like he'd been here before, turning around Astel's eyes widened, and he tried his very best to stop himself from cursing out loud, which he failed to do so, "what the fuck is that..." 

In front of Astel was what looked to be a giant golden orb with an uncanny resemblance to the sun constantly releasing thoughts of courage, and fearlessness into his mind. 

Is this the reason why I felt so unafraid while fighting that damned mosquito, also why does it look like it has an— "blink" "blink" 

"Wha—wha, why the fuck does it have an eye!?" 

Feeling it's creepy warm gaze on him, Astel shivered yet he couldn't help but close his eyes and bask in the comfortable feeling it gave, like taking a warm bath, or finally sleeping after countless sleepless nights. 

After what felt like an eternity Astel finally opened his eyes again, immediately noticing that his thoughts moved much faster and collided more often than before.

"What are you?" before Astel had the chance to get the answer, he felt an invisible string tugging at him, and saw the scenery distorting wildly, until finally settling into what appeared to be the Labyrinth's moss covered walls. 

"Astel, thank god you're awake," immediately after waking up, Astel felt himself get pulled into a bear hug by his Uncle, "do you know how worried I'd been!? Your heart even stopped beating for a moment, I thought you died..." 

"I'm fine" Standing up and stretching himself, Astel felt like he'd became stronger, faster, more resilient than before, much to Abyss's shock, "ho—how.. I swear you were on your deathbed a few hours ago, how are you moving like nothing happened." 

Rasing an eyebrow, Astel countered, "you shoot light from your hands, yet are shocked when I heal some minor burns and shallow cuts." 

Although Astel said that, he was just as. Surprised as Abyss was, thinking to himself that it had to have something to do with the golden orb, "how did it heal me?" "where did it come from?" "what even is it?" 

"Sigh, so many questions, so little answers, looking at the clear blue sky Astel realised that that the gate should have opened by now.

It was time to finally head back home...