At what point should you stop staring at a naked lady? The average person would have already turned their back and apologized. I on the other hand stood there with jerky in mouth, studying every curve of the woman in front of me. My time in the labyrinth had taught me never to trust anything you see, in truth I had lost a lot of friends because they'd fallen for tricks just like what I saw in front of me right now.

She had turned her back to me while she picked up the tattered clothing from the poolside. Her long red hair flowed down her back, still wet from the waterfall. The red fox tail, slick with water, had a slight bit of white at the very tip. As I studied her body I noticed a couple of marks of recent combat, wounds that had barely healed. The rest of her body was lean and muscular, though I already knew well how large the front of her chest was.

Even as she struggled to put her shirt on she glanced nervously over her shoulder at me. Green eyes turned in my direction, an expression mixed with rage and fear so blatantly obvious on her face that I could tell she was still young. Though the floor we were on was very warm her hands visibly shook.

"Why won't you stop looking!" she cried out, as she cringed underneath my gaze.

"I've seen too many shifters to trust strangers," I replied honestly.

It was a response that caused the kitsune to go still. Her left fox ear flicked, then she glared at me with open hostility. "Shifters aren't even real, they're a myth!"

With a great deal of control I managed to keep the confusion from showing on my face, as I wrestled with the idea that shifters had gone from a fact to a myth. Lucas had told me it had been possibly seven hundred years, but there still should be divers traveling from the first floor all the way through to the thirtieth. The only other possibility was that a divide had happened between the colony on the higher floor and the first floor.

"Sure they are," I shrugged my shoulders, refusing to turn away.

The kitsune growled at my cavalier attitude, almost finished dressing herself. "What's a slave doing here anyways?" she muttered in a voice overflowing with rage.

"Diving, what else would I be doing? What's a kitsune doing out of the tenth floor?," I counter-asked. During my time in the labyrinth the fox people stubbornly refused to leave the tenth floor.

With her shirt and pants on, though filled with holes from combat, she slipped on boots made from a type of cheap leather. "What?" confusion had filtered into her voice, softening the anger. "Everyone knows the kitsune wander the labyrinth ever since the Tenth War. Even you filth from the pens."

New inventions and now a mention of a war that I had no knowledge of. The changes continued to grow the further I went into the labyrinth, and sooner or later my lack of knowledge would prove fatal. "Why would a slave know anything about some silly war?" I wondered aloud, playing up the role of a pitiful Elf.

"What do you mean why?" the words were almost spit out by the woman. She had picked a dagger up from next to where the bundle of clothes had been. "You slaves were used as shock troopers against my ancestors during the war!"

"That..." I trailed off as my mind struggled with the new information. The Elves that I had known were best as scouts and support, they specialized in using their hearing and vision to pick out the dangers for the humans. "Why would they do that?"

The kitsune's ears lowered as she studied my reaction, the anger in her eyes vanishing. She made no move to step closer, but when she spoke her voice was quiet. "You don't know? About the war of the tenth floor?"

"Why would they even have a war in the first place?" I asked, still lost as to why this had even happened. The kitsune had always been friendly and helpful, supporting anyone who asked for aid. Lute and I had even chosen a chapel in the middle of their city for our wedding.

"You don't make any sense," the kitsune declared, her dagger lifted up into a defensive spot. "You can't trick me by pretending you're dumb!"

Though I hated to admit it the labyrinth had changed a lot, and those changes would prove to be my weakness. If it had been during my previous life I could've gone through the first ten floors blindfolded and naked, but now? To demonstrate that I had no hostile intent I sat down on the ground, placing the goblin staff next to me. "Lets just imagine for a second that I'm not ordinary. Why would anybody wage war against the kitsune?"

The kitsune's tail swayed ever so slightly behind her, as she lowered the dagger and stared at me. Her eyes, once narrowed in suspicion, widened and she glanced around as though expecting an ambush. "Umm, okay," her ears twitched nervously. "A bunch of humans died in the kitsune city so the humans claimed it was done by them. The kitsune said it was all a lie, but eventually the humans declared war."

"Hold on, I can theorize why the war happened," I admitted to her. "Why would the Elves be the first ones in for a war between the humans and kitsune?"

"I...don't know," the kitsune's ears sagged. "All I know is ever since the war they've been in the pens."

"I wonder if they were bullied into it," I scratched at my chin. "Then they were a good scapegoat when the war ended in failure..."

The kitsune adjusted her stance, the dagger was retracted while her free hand rested on her hip. "So mister not-ordinary what are you doing alone here?"

"I'm diving until I reach the final floor," was my response while I stood up from the ground.

That was the first time she openly laughed, the overall tone of it was beautiful like wind chimes in a light breeze. "A slave is going to beat the labyrinth?" she asked, a smile on her face. "The furthest anyone has ever gone is only like forty or fifty, but you think you can go further?"

"Yes," my voice was calm and very certain. While she stood there and gawked at me I studied the area near the waterfall and pool. The place hadn't changed much in the interval between my lives, though a boulder had vanished.

"That's impossible, you can't even go alone in here without dying," she told me. "I even came with some friends and almost died!"

It was information I hadn't anticipated, and it immediately brought to mind what I had dealt with recently. A person separated from their friends who had almost died, the various wounds on her body along with the torn clothing. The fact that I couldn't see any type of pack...

"Are you talking about Lucas and his sister and friend?" I asked.

Both ears pointed forward, as her eyes widened and stepped forward eagerly. "You know them? Are they okay?"

"They are, they used a return crystal not too long ago on the fifth floor. I'm expecting it was your tracking thing they found in the imp nest?"

"It was torn off me by the imps when they attacked me. I don't know why but I blacked out and woke up here...I've seen some goblins but I'm worried about going it alone," the kitsune murmured. She absently stroked her own tail.

"Probably the return crystal malfunctioned, you were caught in the portal aura but since you had been separated from the transitioning party you were thrown randomly to a nearby place," I told her.

It was not the first time I'd seen or heard of people being randomly spit out while transferring. While I wasn't used to the return crystal, it had happened to people who were physically touching the portal themselves. A strong enough disruption while using the portal, according to Lute, was enough to cause something she called a spatial disruption.

"That makes sense, I guess," the kitsune nodded her head. "Though now I'm stuck here since the imps hit my pack."

"I propose a deal," I spread my hands open, palms facing out toward the lady. "I'll escort you to the tenth floor, and once we get there we can use a red gem...they still get red gems right?"

"Uh...yes?" the kitsune half-asked me, she tilted her head quizzically. "You know about red gems but not about the Tenth War?"

"I told you, I'm not ordinary," I responded with a wave of my hand. "Will you accept the deal, then? I promise I can get us to the tenth floor and then we can go reunite you with your friends. All I want is for you to give me information if I ask for it."

The kitsune paused for a moment, then nodded her head. She did not walk over and shake my hand or anything else. For some odd reason she kept a fair distance between us, as though she thought I would gut her alive. "Very well, though don't touch me unless requested."

"A fair request," I admitted to her. "You can call me Th-..rmm..Fenix."

"Please, call me Kuzu."

☗ ☗ ☗ ☗ ☗

A small little nook could be found near the waterfall and I retreated into it, my body drained of energy. I had been forced to remain on high alert since I was alone, and now that most of the tension had been removed by reaching such a calm floor the fatigue came back in full force. I sagged against the rock wall, the waterfall outside a light background noise, while I told Kuzu of how I'd met up with her friends and helped them reach the fifth floor. It was a tale that I hoped would help build a degree of trust between us, as if I was to take her to the tenth floor her current distant attitude would prove a hinderance.

Most of my life had been spent in the labyrinth fighting through nightmarish trials. I had been surrounded by death, friends and enemies both unable to persevere and instead leaving me mostly alone. It had been Lute who had helped to stabilize me, to help show me there could be more than violence in this labyrinth. If not for my family I suppose I would have gone insane, but that did not help make my dreams any better.

So when I finally fell asleep in that little rocky hole what I saw in my mind was not a happy thing. Instead I dreamed of horrors that would turn most men white, of strange societies that broke from the norms of humanity, and of the war that I had declared in the name of vengeance. The war that had led to me holding Lute in my arms one final time.

Movement near my actual body caused the dreams to shatter, my instincts kicking in immediately. The long dagger had been pulled out and aimed toward where the movement was sensed, my other hand reaching for the spare goblin dagger. Kuzu had approached me, hand lifted halfway up toward my face, while a scared look now adorned her own. She had gone as still as a rock, the long dagger an inch from her neck.

"Don't come near me when I'm sleeping," I warned her as I forcefully relaxed my muscles.

I glanced up out of the hole at the sky and noted how dark it had gone, a sign that hours had passed by during my slumber. Once more my body felt lighter, energy coursing through it. Renewed, albeit it only partially, I mentally planned out my next course of action.

"I'm sorry, it's just you kept saying weird things, and..." she started, then she bit at her lip as though she didn't want to say the next thing. "Tears. I thought it'd be a good idea to wake you."

My study of the surroundings paused at that comment, as I reached up to touch at my eyes and found moisture there. All I could do was sigh, a hint of regret at how I had frightened the girl, before I put my daggers away. "I'm sorry, I'm still on edge. The next time you want to wake me up say Theodore," I told her, before I scouted around and found the fallen goblin staff.

Due to having looked up at the stars I had already made a rough map of where I should be, based on the geography that I knew of the floor. I began to move away from the pool, a slow pace as I kept my eyes on the horizon. Though I enjoyed this floor there was always that off chance a goblin patrol might wander nearby.

Kuzu's tail twitched at what I had told her, and what I had not told her, though she didn't say anything more. "Where are you going?" she hesitatingly asked, though she started to follow me from a short distance.

"Floor seven is designed as a rest point, so the overall setup is simple. The portal is always located on a point directly south of where you first enter, although that point changes depending on the time of the year."

"How do you know that but not...you don't make any sense!" Kuzu declared while she followed after me. While I gracefully stepped past the various rocks, boulders and pebbles as though they were not there she did not. Her movements were quite clumsy, especially for a fox person.

I paused, and turned to look at her. "I thought you were a kitsune, why are you acting like a kitling?"

Kuzu's tail puffed up a bit at that comment, while she glared at me with her golden eyes. "How dare you! I'm a perfectly reasonable kitsune!"

"You're...very unpracticed at moving compared to the ones I've met," I commented. The term kitling was perhaps a bit rude, but it was true that the children of the kitsune often moved like she currently did.

"That's because you've probably met the ones from the tenth floor, where they're trained for combat," Kuzu told me. She lifted her head a bit high and smiled wide. "I was born on the first floor, that's why Lexy and I know each other. We're old friends, after all."

"Impressive, I didn't realize the kitsune grew inept at basic motor skills if they aren't born on the tenth floor," I jokingly told her, before I turned away and kept on the move.

Kuzu spluttered a bit at that before she leapt after me with renewed energy. It was fairly easy to stay out of her reach, while her desperate attempts to grab ahold of me also gained me quite a bit of amusement. "Why are you so good at this! You're just an elf!"

"You're just bad, if you want to survive you'll need to get better!" I informed her with a chuckle. The chasing game continued on for a few hours while we headed in the direction I felt the portal would be at. On the second hour we came within visual range of uplifted rocks that formed a circular pattern.

Lute had never told me where she had thought up the design for half of her floors, but this one she said was inspired by something from the olden days. "There," I commented while I held up one hand to Kuzu to recommend a halt in her actions. With the goblin staff I motioned toward the ruins, crouching down to create a smaller silhouette.

She paused, though she looked unhappy about it. Her tail was quite puffed up, while her ears had flattened against her head. Still she was wise enough to settle down near me, though outside of arms reach. Her distaste for my physical presence had been rekindled now that she had calmed. "Is that where the portal is?"

My response to that was to ignore her, a response which gained a quick look of hatred. Instead I pulled the goblin staff up close to my chest, gripped it tight in the crook of my left arm and then carefully pried at the crystal. After ten minutes the crystal came loose and fell to the ground with a dull thud. While I could have smashed the staff against the ground, I had seen a dangerous feedback effect happen before when others did that. Without a care I tossed the staff away as I lifted the crystal up and stared into it.

"What...are you doing?" Kuzu asked. She had decreased the range between us again, her curiosity trumping her fear of me.

Once more my option was to ignore her, mostly out of personal amusement. Instead I pulled out the long dagger from my waist and put the crystal down against a flat rock. What came next was almost an hour of slow carving, an act that produced a very thin slice of crystal.

"Okay, come on, please tell me?" Kuzu almost begged, her ears once more sagging.

"You really don't know?" I asked her as I picked up the shard. With the dagger I began to sharpen and narrow the edge of the crystal, a hint of dread building at what I would do next.

"No, nobody I've ever met has ever even used those, they just throw the staffs away since they're explosive, usually," she told me. Her tail had returned to a smooth look and flicked back and forth automatically.

This caused me to pause, a look at her told me that she was being honest and yet it seemed impossible. "Tell me, what do you know of magic?" I finally inquired.

"Ah, it's something the monsters in the labyrinth use!" she said with a wide smile.

"But...don't the divers use it as well?"

"Not since the Tenth War, all the magic users died along with the secret of how to use magic," Kuzu told me. Her head tilted a little to the left. "Why?"

There was no answer I could give her that couldn't be equal to what came next, and so instead of responding I simply shoved the shard of the crystal into my left arm. It was a pain equal to taking a piece of glass and ramming it into your own skin, but it also came with a painful bolt of electricity as energy surged from the shard into my body.

Kuzu's eyes widened while she watched my pain-filled face. "What are you doing!" she cried out at a volume far too loud.

Sadly at that time I was too busy dealing with the sensation of pain that smashed through me. It was a feeling that I had hoped never to feel again, yet there I was doing the same thing once more. Like an idiot, a desperate idiot who needed power to complete his task.

A noise in the distance drew Kuzu's attention and she stood up with a start. I knelt down onto the ground and pushed my head against the soil, my teeth clenched tight and a groan of pain my only response."Goblins!" she hissed to me, while she brandished her dagger.

From my vantage point, which was peering directly at the ground, the goblins looked harmless. Totally harmless. At least that's what I could hope for, as my arm started to feel it was about to explode. There was nothing that could be said to Kuzu, and instead she was left to figure things out on her own.

With the grace of an ordinary human the fox-girl ran away from me. In the distance I could hear a slight grumble, a grunt and then exclamations of surprise from the goblins. Due to the poor night vision of the goblins Kuzu had the superior eyesight, which should have meant she could catch them by surprise. What came next was the sound of metal on metal, most likely a dagger parried by another, and her own shouts of anger at the goblins. It was a yell that did not bode well for the kitsune.

Kuzu was hard pressed against two goblins, one who was armed with a goblin sword and the other who had a type of quarterstaff that was in no way long enough to be called one. A large stick, perhaps? Kuzu meanwhile was armed with a short dagger, so the dead goblin at her feet was probably the only one she would manage to kill.

So it probably surprised her when a bolt of lightning leapt from out of nowhere and seared one of the goblins into something that smelled unpleasant. The other goblin twisted around in time to see the origin point of the lightning, which was my left hand, before his life was devoured by another burst of electricity.

The stunned kitsune could only look at me with wide eyes as I casually walked up toward her. Lightning crackled up and down my left arm, almost as though it lived and was eager to act again.

"What was that about all the mages dying off?"