MAZE - The Endless Quest

Once Vulcan came back from the greenhouse, he was clearly feeling better. And it wasn’t just something purely emotional. Because of his nature as a half-daemon, his face was permanently scarred. His left cheek was mostly gone, forcing him to constantly have his teeth exposed to the air. His right eye, instead of the regular brown that a kangaroo would have, was white with a red iris, and the sclera was a vibrant green that gave him a monstrous look. Even his left ear was mangled. Not by something physical, but by the sheer pain and suffering his Spirit form had endured. No matter how much healing he received, or how long he spent inside the Legacy, those wounds always looked fresh, like they had just happened.

Or at least, that’s how things used to be. Now, his ear was able to stand up by itself a bit better. The claw marks and holes were starting to smooth out. The vibrant green of his eye was becoming duller, and the red was turning more pastel instead of the color of fresh blood. The skin around his left cheek no longer had that inflamed red look, but was beginning to blend toward the natural coloration of his light brown skin under his fur.

Forge knew that his scars would never leave, not completely. They were part of who he was, just as much as the hammer that dangled from his waist. But after coming here, helping the Strength Spirits, and understanding that his place was no longer among them, Vulcan was able to let go of some of the anger that still burned deep in his heart. That flame would never go away, and he understood that.

Part of him always assumed that he had no place where he belonged. He was in between two beings that couldn’t mingle, and his very existence was a danger to both sides. The transformation into a daemon was halfway done when he joined the Court, forcing him into this limbo state where he was neither a full daemon nor a full Spirit. But after seeing others of his kind, he understood that his thoughts were completely wrong. Ever since he joined the Court, he was no longer a Spirit. And he was also no daemon. He was a Titled Blade of Hera’s Court.

And because of that, he had a place where he belonged. A place that would accept him no matter what.

While walking back toward the lab, Vulcan started reminiscing about all the conversations he’d had with the Empress and the other court members. They couldn’t just talk, but also feel each other’s emotions. That wasn’t something he ever paid attention to. Now he realized that every time someone spoke to him, they were happy. They trusted him, they were worried about him. There was never a moment when someone tried to push him away. Never a conversation where another member of the Court was putting up barriers between them. They were just there, completely open, accepting who he was for who he was.

Once he finally arrived, Hera and the Court were still preparing materials for another version of the ceramic pot. Everyone understood that a single one wouldn’t be enough to create a comfortable environment for the Strength Spirits, but at least now they knew how to get there. Crimson was by the door, holding a stack of papers with the spell circle they were using. She stopped and stared at Vulcan for a long moment.

"Since when can we change how we look? 'Cuz if everybody can do that, I want to be taller," she said, turning to Hera, ignoring Forge, as she was still mad at him for calling her 'little one.'

"What do you mean by changing?" Hera turned to Forge. "Oh? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I’m great."

"Are you sure? Because I don’t know if you noticed, but you look different," Hera gestured to her own face.

Vulcan nodded. "I can feel I’m different. I changed somehow, but I don’t know exactly how."

"Huh. Daskka?" The Empress turned to the Herald.

"Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who changed. And I can’t explain why he did. Maybe his daemon side got mellower, and that changed things?" Daskka suggested.

Hera paused. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense. Maybe," she turned back to Vulcan. "Do you want to talk about what happened in the greenhouse?"

Forge nodded. "I do, but we don’t need to do this right now. I still want to try to make a few more pots before it’s time for us to leave."

"Okay. Do you need my help with that? I think I should be rested for tomorrow, and I also want to test Sphinx’s Gatekeeper skill," Hera replied.

"Why are you testing that now?" Helena asked.

"Because we might need to use it to fend off the guild, and doing a test run in the middle of a war doesn’t sound like a great idea."

"You can go ahead. Don’t worry, I can handle making the pots. If Viper and Crimson could continue to help me, that would be great," Forge replied.

"We can help," Viper nodded, earning an eye roll from his sister, who, despite grumbling, still continued to work.

Hera found a place in the corner of the room far enough from the rest of the group so the barrier wouldn’t cause problems for them. She had no idea how big this would be. In addition, she made a point of bringing Daskka along just to see what would happen with the Herald once the barrier was activated. After getting a confirmation nod from the rest of the group, the Ophidianite triggered the skill [Decipher Me or I Will Devour You].

Suddenly, something came out of the cloak pin. A black wave of energy that pushed Daskka away from Hera, leaving the Empress inside a 3x3 box. But instead of being completely dark, she could see what looked like stars. They were everywhere, above, below, and to the sides. It was as if she was walking around in space with her own private piece of the cosmos. But she barely had a chance to understand what she was seeing when the stars shifted, creating words out of the constellations.

'I am both trap and weapon, a curse woven into words. Spoken aloud, I twist and bind, halting even the mightiest of mages. What am I?'

"Well, shit," Hera grumbled. She was half-expecting the riddles to be the classic ones that everybody knew, not something she had never heard before.

Just as she finished speaking, one more word appeared.

'Incorrect.'

The Empress paused, thinking carefully about what she was going to say. It was clear that this effect would consider anything she said as the answer, which was great for when she used it against her enemies. Walking to the side, she tapped the barrier itself. It was completely solid, and it didn’t look like she could break it. Then again, she had little doubt that it could be broken. The only type of absolute barrier in the MAZE were the invisible walls around the rooms, and she didn’t get this item in a room high-level enough to consider this a perfect effect.

She couldn’t hear or see anything outside, which was both scary and interesting. Using this in battle, she could simply trap someone and prepare a powerful spell to catch them off guard once they broke free. But there was another thing she could do. When talking to a guide, she could speak to her Court without triggering the safeguards against sharing information about the guides. And if something that closely intertwined with the inner workings of the MAZE could be bypassed, this barrier didn’t stand a chance.

'Daskka, can you hear me?' Hera asked in her mind.

'I can, Mum. Are you okay?'

'I’m fine. It’s kind of beautiful inside here,' Hera focused on the Spymasters. 'Viper, there’s a riddle here for me to answer. Do you think you can look it up online or just give me an idea of what it could be?'

'Of course!' Viper quickly told Helena what was going on and opened a browser to try to help solve the riddle. 'Ready when you are.'

Hera repeated the words that were in front of her.

"Curse woven into words… Isn’t that a spell?" Helena turned to Viper.

"I guess, but then why would it stop even the strongest mage?" the Spymaster replied.

"Maybe it’s a counterspell," Crimson suggested.

"What does the internet say?" Vulcan asked Helena.

"Nothing that can help. A really weird porn site showed up, and I really don’t want to know what 'cursedfreaks.com' is all about," Helena sighed.

"How do you know it’s porn?" Crimson frowned.

Helena didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her tablet toward Crimson, letting the half-Naga read the description of the website herself.

"Holy crap. What’s wrong with people?"

"I wonder how that 'Eternal Piston' works," Vulcan mumbled as he read the description. Everyone turned to him with wide eyes. "No! I don’t mean to ride it. I mean, like to use it as a forging hammer. Having something that’s constantly beating down metal would help."

"I mean, it’s clear someone’s getting battered," Viper shook his head. "Anyway, if we don’t have anything from the internet, what else could it be? What is the bane of mages? Is there a spell or something that can stop every mage?"

"The only thing I can think about is a dead mana zone," Helena replied.

"It’s worth a shot," Viper shrugged.

'Mum! Try a dead mana zone,' Daskka said.

The Empress nodded and spoke the answer, "A dead mana zone." Another word appeared beside the riddle.

'Incorrect.'

'Nope. Only one try left,' Hera told her court.

'Why just one?' Hera frowned.

'Anything that I say here is considered an answer. I cursed when I realized I had never seen that riddle before,' Hera explained.

'I remember when you didn't curse. What happened to my sweet and lovable mum?' Hera put her tail on her head in an overly exaggerated expression.

'She died and grew a tail,' Hera replied, rolling her eyes. Even if her court couldn't see her, the intention behind the motion was passed along. Despite the joke, an idea came to Hera's mind as she read the riddle again.

'Can someone ask Helena what is the name of the most famous spell that stops someone from moving? Because if you stop a mage from moving they can't cast spells. So maybe that's it.'

"The most famous?" Helena thought for a moment after the court relayed the message, "Well, the most classic one is called Halt. It's even used in magic classes to show how you can adapt that entire spell to a single word. You say it, and people get paralyzed for a moment."

'That sounds about right. If it doesn't work, I'm going to sleep inside here since it takes 4 hours for the barrier to drop,' Hera warned the court before saying out loud, 'The spell Halt.'

The third and final word appeared amongst the stars.

'Correct.'

The letters changed, rearranging themselves into a much bigger and more elaborate font.

'Opening the Gates of Mana.'

All the stars in the sky started to swirl around Hera. They moved as if they were being dragged inside a black hole. A black hole that was the empress herself. While they picked up speed, the Ophidianite realized that her mana regeneration was increasing rapidly. Not wanting to waste her opportunity, she sat down and tried to focus on her active recovery.

She meditated for a little bit under a minute, since she ended up wasting the initial few seconds. When that was over, the star simply faded away, revealing the lab once more.

"Did it work, Sweetie?" Helena asked.

"Yeah. We did. If it hadn't, I would still be stuck there."

"Right, my bad. They said you weren't answering, and I didn't know what to think," Helena scratched her cheek.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. It started flowing mana, and I really focused on trying to understand the feeling," Hera opened her status to double-check how much she recovered. The problem was that she didn't spend that much mana, so it was hard to tell when her mana became full. However, her [Empress Core] was a surprise. It recovered about 100 thousand mana in those 60 seconds. In other words, it recovered the equivalent of an hour in just a few moments.

"Mum? Was that really all that happened?" Daskka asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, why?"

"Before you started that Nimbus, Livy and Lurize were still recovering, but now they are ready to come out. I think that mana gate thing can help your court heal!"