They decided to sneak past the snake and deliberated on how they would accomplish it. They came up with a good solution, where Mash would make a bridge that would go overtop the snake. It was risky since it would take a few minutes to make the bridge, but it would let them get past without touching the snake. There were a few formations they could go with and decided to have Mash lead at the front. He would need to build the bridge, and this organization would keep Red and Luke from direct harm. After he finished the bridge, Red and Luke would run across next. Jill would follow up last, since she could teleport if something unexpected happened. She was easily the most mobile of the group.

Speed was most important for this plan, so Mash quickly sprinted across the plains. In under a minute, he got close enough to the snake to start making his bridge. During his approach he started forming wood in front of him. He kept the wood growing as he ran on top of it. It started as a simple log, and as he got above the snake, he started growing it out flatly over the snake. He would’ve made it taller, but his mana sphere detected a powerful source of energy above him, and it felt dangerous. Dungeons had some rules that should not be broken.

He avoided it and just went further past the snake. When he finished it looked like a tree that was leaning overtop the thing. He didn’t make it touch the ground and gestured for the rest of them to run up. The snake was still asleep, and it looked like the plan was working. Although he wanted to be as careful as possible, and made sure to stay above the snake’s mana, He didn’t let the tree grow downwards because it might collide with it if the snake moved.

He didn’t make the wood touch the ground again, they could easily drop from this height without injury. A 20-foot drop would hurt a little, but they could manage it. It was by far the safest option that they had. Red and Luke got to the base of the bridge, and Mash dropped off the other end. He did it by hanging off the ledge and dropping down slowly, the snake remained unmoving. The whole process had taken a little under ten minutes.

Relieved, he waited for Red and Luke to get to the ledge. He started forming a wall that would lead to one of the paths. It blocked them from the line of sight of the creature and blended into the wood of the walls. Red and Luke similarly hung off the edge before dropping to the ground. They only had to wait for Jill, and it didn’t take long for her to arrive, as she appeared several feet in front of them.

The snake stirred at that, and Mash felt the snake’s mana flare. He didn’t need to tell them to run, they were already moving towards the path. Luke reacted quickly buffing Red so that she could keep up. Jill was closest to the path, and they all started running to the exit. Mash held the back of the pack and watched as the bridge broke under the slightest touch from the snake. It was like a blade of grass to it. With the wall up, Mash couldn’t see the creatures face and ran at a full sprint.

They made it to the entrance but didn’t stop and just kept running. It ended up being the right call as darkness chased behind them. It was bleeding in from where the snake was, like water it rushed through the opening. Mash felt the snake’s mana enter his sphere and wash over him. The darkness of night consuming his vision.

“Hello, wayward wanderer, who sneaks their way through the labyrinth. Foolish beings treading where they do not belong.”

Mash floated in darkness, the voice seeming to echo around him. He couldn’t see anything but could still feel the snake’s mana surrounding him. Instinctively, he knew that it was the snake communicating with him. Mash felt strangely unafraid now. Something had flipped for him, and the mana stopped feeling ominous, instead reminding Mash of a warm blanket.

“W-we are sorry, we did not mean to intrude. We were sent here by the dungeon itself. It reacted to my abilities and sent my team and I here.”

He said the words steadily, trying to hide his weird feeling of comfort. He didn’t want to offend the being and spoke respectfully. There was a long pause, and Mash waited in the sea of darkness. Time did not exist for him, and he had no concept of how long he had been in there, when he finally heard a response.

“So, you are the one who formed a connection with the labyrinth. How curious…”

From the darkness emerged the snake’s face, its eyes only a few feet from Mash. The creature’s voice contained a hint of amusement. Mash only stared into the creature’s eye, it was black as night and seemed like a door to another world. It was vast, endless, and consuming, seeming to take in all of what he was. Mash felt as though the creature was looking beyond him, into everything that he would ever be. Then he heard a deep rumbling.

“Child of man.”

It’s voice trembling with each word, and Mash realized that it was laughing. It was mocking him, treating him like a child. The face vanished, but the laughter remained until the darkness dispersed. It seemed to dissolve into the sky, blocking everything and casting the world beneath into darkness. Creating night for a small moment, before breaking and letting the sunlight through. Mash looked around; his friends were getting up as well.

Without saying anything they moved deeper into the labyrinth, now was not the time for discussion. They simply ran onwards; Mash was now in the back trying to feel for the snake’s mana. He wanted to make sure that they weren’t being followed. It had been a mistake, and he didn’t notice the warped mana until it had already surrounded Luke and Jill.

“Get back!”

Mash yelled the words but was still too slow. Jill was faster than him and managed to shove Luke backwards while teleporting even further behind. She must have noticed the trap as well and reacted before he finished speaking. While she got out unscathed, Luke suffered serious cuts along his arm as the wooden walls grew spikes to impale them. He screamed aloud but was already healing the wounds. The cuts weren’t life threatening, but it had been close. Between Luke and Red he doubted that the trap could’ve killed them, but it could have certainly gone much worse.

The spikes were jagged and unclean, as if they grew uncontrolled. Even though the wood had been formed into a wall, they thrummed with life and mana. It reminded Mash of his own creations, and he wondered if he could stop the trap. He was moving closer to the trap when Red grabbed his arm. He reacted violently, flinching, and spinning to face her.

“We should take a break. We can talk about what happened, and we need to relax.”

Red’s voice cut into the growing silence. Nobody disagreed, they knew that they were acting jumpy. They should have gone back to their original formation but were acting too paranoid. The snake was dangerous, but it hadn’t killed them and probably wouldn’t now. They had to focus on what was before them.

“What did the snake do?”

Mash’s question was obvious, but even with his mana sight barely understood what it had done. He hoped that Red would have an answer, but she just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. He was a little disappointed that she didn’t have the answers this time, even if he didn’t expect her to. Mash had been curious, he felt close to the creature, its mana having a soothing effect on him.

“The snake showed me images. I think it was of the future, but I couldn’t make out any of the people. They had all been cloaked in darkness, but one of them had white glowing eyes. “

Luke spoke softly, as if not wanting to say the words aloud. Red and Jill were nodding along as if they saw the same vision. Red proved that point by adding another detail.

“The man was wearing a crown; I think he was the king, but why did it show us that?”

Nobody had an answer for that, but Mash was thinking about a different question and tuned their conversation out. Why had he not received a vision, and instead been given the opportunity to speak with the snake? He didn’t know if he wanted to tell them what had happened. He knew what it was like to get singled out and didn’t want it to happen again.

He liked being around them and was happy to find friends. He didn’t want to risk their relationship. They had known each other for such a small period of time, but he had formed a connection with each of them. For one reason or another, they accepted Mash despite his past. He wanted to trust them, to be certain that they wouldn’t change no matter what he told them, but couldn’t. Too many people already avoided his eyes, he didn’t want to see it from his friends.

He decided that he couldn’t tell them yet, and he started to meditate to gather his thoughts and recover. He found that the healing meditation provided, included clearing his mind and easing his tension. He felt his mind heal and the worries wash away. It was like an easy method to remove unpleasant thoughts and regain his focus. Once he finished meditating, he waited for his friends to finish their own recovery. Red was already done and seemed to be waiting for him.

When Red noticed that Mash was done, she spoke aloud and drew the attention of Luke and Jill.

“What’s wrong? You looked pretty spooked earlier.”

Mash shook his head in a placating nature, signaling that it was nothing. They didn’t look like they believed him, but he replied confidently now that he felt better.

“I’m really fine, I was a little shaken, but my meditation skill healed me up.”

He smiled to show them that he was telling the truth. Red looked displeased though and grimaced at Mash’s words. She explained quickly as his own expression grew confused.

“Skills that heal the mind are dangerous, you shouldn’t use it for that. I know it’s not proven or anything, since those skills are rare, but be careful.”

Mash had never heard of that before, but trusted Red’s knowledge. He figured out why though, essentially his skill worked better than any drug could. He nodded to Red in agreement but thought that he would use it again. He decided that when he was in a dangerous place, he would use the skill to control his thoughts, but when safe would avoid relying on it. The improved concentration could be the difference between life and death in a dangerous situation.

Red’s words did pose another question though. What other skills could have affected his mind, and how much did he care? He had always been different from others and didn’t mind much. However, he didn’t want to be alone anymore, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be like everyone else. Could a class make him evil? Is that what made necromancers evil? What about his body, did that change affect his mind too? He could feel the concentration he gained slipping and pushed the questions aside. They were for another time.

He was right with his earlier assumption; his mana could flow into the wood easily. As long as he was touching it, he could probably control the walls to some degree. Honestly, it felt weirdly like he made the dungeon, but knew that was ridiculous. Nobody could make a dungeon; they were gifts to the people by the gods. He did have an interesting idea though. He pressed his hands against the wall and tried making a door. He felt a sharp sting in his hand as it reacted to his attempt. His mana had been rejected; it didn’t seem like he would be able to make a new path.

Instead, he walked over to where the trap was. The spikes receded back into the walls, and Mash moved closer to the trap. As he felt the mana in the wall, he noticed the trap and was able to touch the mana. He used his own mana to stop the wall from growing, and they passed through along the side of the path. He maintained his position in the front and repeated the process when the trap came up again. It seemed to be a frequent trap as they ran into it several times. It wasn’t difficult to deal with, he just used his mana to disrupt the mana within the traps.