It was when my body was shaken that I started to awaken. My eyes opened, and through a blurred vision I thought I saw three figures.

“What?” I muttered, my voice hoarse. I licked my lips in an attempt to moisten them.

“Dad! Don’t die on us!”

I tried my best to smile in response, but winced at the new surge of pain. The fact that Lisa had opted to shake me awake hadn’t helped much with my broken bones.

“I won’t,” I promised, though I felt dirty lying to them.

One of the figures knelt down next to me. She placed one hand on my forehead, and I felt a tickle of energy.

I focused on that energy, grasping at it within my mind as a dying man clung to a piece of driftwood. The power flowed into my body, spreading out through all of my tissues, and soon I was able to move my shattered limbs.

“Help me up,” I said, as I blinked rapidly to try and clear my vision.

Both of my daughters helped me up, and Mika stepped in close and lent me her shoulder. I leaned on her as much as I could, as I wanted to avoid relying too much on the energy she’d shared with me.

When I reopened my eyes I saw that the room hadn’t changed much during my nap. A new hold had appeared in the middle of the room, one that I could only assume my daughters had created to get in.

I studied the rest of the room, noting that only my daughters were present, and one question immediately came to mind. “The Architects?”

Lisa shook her head. “They didn’t make it. They all got splashed with blood by those things and turned into balls.”

“Eggs,” Mika corrected her.

“Yup. Eggs. We were kicking their butts anyways but things were getting tight, so Mika and I decided to wing up and just start destroying everything in sight.”

“I noticed that,” I said.

Lisa nodded. “Then there was some big explosion and all the things stopped moving.”

“Like puppets with their strings cut,” Mika commented, “I assumed it was something you had done.”

“Then we punched our way up here and found you. How’d you get here?”

“Helim,” I said, and quickly realized it was a poor explanation, “a really old Architect. He used some sort of technology to drag me here via the shell’s connection.”

Mika raised an eyebrow at that. “And your arm, and this room? And where is Helim now?”

“Helim had me cornered, and he was too fast and strong for me to fight. So I converted the marrow in my right arm into a bomb.”

“You can do that?” Mika and Lisa both asked.

“Well, less converting and more stored. I compressed and stored all the energy I could inside the bone, so Helim wouldn’t see any glowing or anything.”

My daughters shared a glance, and perhaps a thought, but neither opted to speak. Instead they started to walk to the giant hole in the floor. I was carried, or half-dragged, by Mika as she walked.

“We should get to the portal and go home,” Lisa said as she peered into the hole she’d made.

“No.”

They both paused at that. “The bad guy is dead and you need medical assistance, father,” Mika told me.

I tried to shake my head, but the motion was enough to make me groan in pain. “Find the green door.”

It was a bit obscure, but Lisa seemed to catch on to what I wanted as she pointed at the hole. “I remember on our way up seeing one of those in a vast hallway. But why not the portal?”

“Please, just take me there,” I almost pleaded with them. Though Mika had shared energy with me I could barely stay awake.

Thankfully my daughters didn’t argue with me, and instead spread their wings and took flight. Mika tried her best to carry me, though no matter what she did I still moaned in pain at every touch.

When they landed we had arrived in a hallway that stretched at least three hundred feet in length. At one end was a doorway that led somewhere else within the fort, but it was what was on the other end that I cared about.

A significantly large door stood, about twenty feet in height. On both sides of the door sat pillars crafted out of emerald, and vines made from jade curled and spread up the pillars. There was no handle on the door itself, and a sensation of power emanated from it.

“Take me to it,” I said, “I need to touch it.”

Mika hesitated at my request, once more a glance shared between the two. “What is it?”

“A promise. Please, Mika.”

“No!” Lisa exclaimed, “this is stupid. We need to take you home.”

I looked at her, and with a small shake of my head I said, “This is what I need. Trust me.”

There was a moment where they both looked ready to ignore me, to drag me back to the portal and all the way to floor fifty. Then Mika stepped forward and half-carried me to the emerald door.

“You are coming back, right?” Mika asked me once we were close to it.

I tried my best to give a reassuring smile, but in a small corner of my mind I knew I was lying. “Of course.”

And then I placed my remaining hand against the door and vanished.

Floor 100

The Gateway To Eternity

Checkpoint ∞

I appeared in a world of white, as a cloud of fog swirled around me. I collapsed to my knees on arrival, as I’d barely had the strength to lift my hand moments before. There was a pinch in my left hand, as a new checkpoint crystal was embedded in it, but that mattered little to me.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Every breath I took caused a sharp pain in my chest, on the right side. Even if it wasn’t for the fact that one of my ribs was embedded in it, the trauma from my magical blast had rattled the already bruised lungs.

“You took longer than I expected.”

When I opened my eyes the fog had vanished, or perhaps solidified, and instead I was in a circular white room. A single chair was placed in the center, upon which a woman in a long red dress sat.

“Wye,” I whispered.

She tilted her head to one side. “You have managed to put me into a bit of a difficult position, Theodore. I am supposed to maintain a neutral stance, after all.”

I didn’t respond to her, and I barely even heard what she said. Instead I collapsed face first against the ground. The cool surface crafted out of solidified mist, or what was supposed to be mist, felt therapeutic against my cheek.

What was more of a hiss than a voice spoke, “I vote we let him die.”

“Brother, such a choice would make little sense given why mother made us,” replied a familiar voice.

“Enough,” Wye said, “I would rather not wait another millennia again.”

There was a pause in the conversation, and then a long hiss that one could perhaps consider a sigh. A thin line of cold, like a string, slowly slipped up my leg and started to twine around my entire body.

The strand turned into a mesh, one that wrapped snug about my broken body. The strands of it seemed to meld into my flesh, and then into the rest of my body. With the melding came a rush of energy and a relief from the unending pain.

I blinked, and then slowly pushed myself up using two hands. It was only after I’d stood up I realized my right hand was back. That thought caused me to look at it, and the rest of my body.

My hand was there, though it was entirely black. It wasn’t a type of tanned skin but simply black. I wiggled the fingers, my gaze unable to move away from the hypnotic absence of light that I somehow could manipulate.

Wye cleared her throat, drawing my attention to her. “If you are quite finished admiring Shadow, I believe we have much to talk about.”

Wye was still seated in her chair, her legs crossed, but she was no longer alone. On her left was a silhouette, a darkness identical to the new hand that had attached itself to my stump. A dark line went from the base of the silhouette to my own shadow.

To her right was a woman adorned in a dark purple robe, one that was a bit too long for her. Bells hung from her ears, while thin glasses framed her lilac eyes.

My jaw dropped open as I stared at her. “Rinth? How’d you get here?”

The Oracle of the Labyrinth smiled at me, unable to resist giving a small bow in greeting. “I am where I am meant to be, when I am meant to be.”

The identity of one of the pair made the other obvious, as only one entity I knew of looked like that and was closely tied to Rinth. “And your brother is supposed to be here too?” I asked, as I eyed Shadow.

“Tss, I am where I want, Theodore,” the shadow commented, “and relish in my allowance to share my life with you.”

It was a comment that made me glance at the shadow-based hand I now had. I knew, or rather felt, my entire body had been infused with his power. My heart continued to beat and I could only assume due to the energy he supplied.

“Thank you,” I said, but before I tried to get more clarification I realized something else, “I’m surprised my daughters didn’t come through the door yet.”

“That’s impossible,” Rinth said as she sat down on her own chair, one similar to the chairs found on her floor.

“Why?”

“Because they haven’t gone through every floor.” Wye sighed. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Neither did I, I skipped a lot with the Architect transits.”

There was a moment where all three stared at me, and then Shadow started to laugh with that odd hissing voice. “Such an idiot!”

“You may be Fenix in form,” Wye said, “but you are Theodore in soul and mind.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic. “So how long is Shadow going to...help me?”

“Until you make and enact your decision.”

“Decision? For the love of...stop being cryptic and just say what you’re up to Wye.”

What I received in response was a glare. “You truly do not know the meaning of patience, I swear I don’t understand why mother found you so enjoyable.”

“Neither did I,” I said with a shrug.

“What Wye is dancing around deals with the purpose of the labyrinth,” Rinth said, “did Luticia ever explain about the first floor?”

“Only that it was the only floor she didn’t create, but where she’s from.”

“Exactly. She also told you about the control system in her?”

It was a question that made me think of my fight with her, or rather with the idiotic thing in her mind. Whoever had opted to create such a manipulative device had deserved a slow death, one that I doubted they received. “Yes.”

As we talked the mist around us shifted, and the room that Wye was often in began to warp. It was steadily replaced by a bleak one, created of metal and concrete. The walls were covered with screens, reminiscent of Helim’s throne room, except rather than being limited to the Architect systems it showed images from every floor.

Gone was Wye, instead in her place was a pillar made of wires, metal and glass. “Mother tried reviving her world, but once it achieved a certain level of knowledge the control system kicked in,” Wye said, her voice emerging from speakers attached to the pillar.

Rinth adjusted on her seat, the more regal chair she’d been on before replaced with a simple one made of wood. “That is when she decided to make the labyrinth.”

“A training place,” I said, “it isn’t that hard to figure out when you look at how everything is set up.”

Rinth nodded. “That was one of the reasons behind it, though in truth she had three.”

“Three? I thought there were maybe only two?”

“To train and prepare a weapon that could kill her,” Rinth said,” that was the start to the whole labyrinth.”

Wye spoke up, “But Luticia realized as she created it that her body was dangerous, even dead it might revive or allow others to replicate her.”

I narrowed my eyes at their words, as it was easy to see where they were heading. “Is that why the labyrinth pulled her to the garden automatically?”

“Correct,” Wye said, “it was the first part of a restraining system to evade the complete destruction of the labyrinth.”

Rinth smiled, but her eyes looked at the ground and a dark cloud seemed to hover over her. “It also worked to weaken the program, granting her enough self-control to deny the system access to her full potential.”

“Denied it access? Wait, are you saying she wasn’t fighting at her full power?”

“You fool,” Shadow hissed, “she crafted fake stars and you thought you were her equal?”

It was something I’d never thought on, but when I put my mind to it I realized how much sense Shadow was making. During my final fight with Lute there’d been moments where she’d seemed to almost hesitate, little pauses in her actions, and it was those that’d given me the chance to win against her.

“So the labyrinth is meant to train someone to kill her.” I frowned at the idea of how I’d been weaponized to murder my own wife. “It also serves as a prison for her?”

“No,” Rinth said with a shake of her head, “a grave. The garden will not allow anything physical to escape it, and once the final program is activated a singularity will automatically generate at the core of the miniature planet.”

I felt sick to my stomach at the first part. “If I go bury her I won’t be able to leave?”

“Correct,” Wye said, “the only reason you were able to reincarnate was due to an emergency backup system. The only way out of the garden is via soul transference, as they are able to bypass the walls between realities.”

“And another thousand years before I’d revive.”

“Correct. Which means your daughters will have perished of old age, and the labyrinth will have changed again.”

“I can’t do that to them again,” I muttered, my hands clenched into fists so hard that blood dripped from my left one.

“I will take that to mean you are not going to personally enter into the Garden of Eternity again.”

“No,” I replied.

“Good. We can commence with the final stage then. Rinth, Shadow, do you agree that Theodore has achieved what is required?”

Rinth nodded her head. “Yes.”

Shadow glanced at his sister, and the other which was merely a pillar of machinery, and let out a long hiss. “He has,” he muttered.

There was a groan of machinery, as though gears were fighting against a millennia of rust and dust, before a section of the floor off to my left parted. Out of it rose a small cylinder three feet in height and equal width. The top of it was smooth in the center, but had numerous bulges along the edge.

When the cylinder stopped rising a hum emerged, and then numerous lights shot from the bulges. A sphere appeared in the air above the cylinder, one that was for the most part brown with a few patches of blue.

“What is that?” I asked as I walked over, my footsteps unsteady even with Shadow’s help.

Rinth stepped up next to me, offering her shoulder. “That is the first floor. If you focus on it you can zoom in the picture to see Grantis and all the people in it.”

I couldn’t hide the shock on my face, so instead did what she’d suggested. Soon a section of the world was highlighted, and then that section zoomed in. The city steadily became more and more visible as it continued to focus. In a matter of seconds I could make out the individual people, though from a bird’s-eye view.

“That’s neat, but what’s the point of it?” I asked, my focus relaxing. The image returned to previous, one where Grantis was a mere speck on a brown ball.

Rinth didn’t look at me, and instead stared at the sphere. “Mother knew the world needed to be rebuilt, but that sooner or later she would trigger and ruin it all over again. So she decided to leave it up to whoever killed her to handle that.”

Shadow slithered over next to us and pointed at the ball. “You are alloted ten floors, and they shall be integrated onto her old home. You must decide which floors.”

“Once you have chosen,” Wye said from behind us, “you will be given enough time to prepare the inhabitants for the merge. As the new administrator you have access to all the floors and no automated systems will impede you.”

I turned around, looking at her with wide eyes. “Administrator? And what do you mean merge?”

Rinth put one hand on my shoulder as though to try and calm me down. “You will use this device to place the chosen floors. After that you will set how long until the merge happens.”

“Tss, I don’t recommend picking any of the places with monsters.”

I reached up to put my own hand on Rinth’s. “What about you three?”

They all replied instantly, “No.”

Wye explained further, “We are tired. We merely want to sleep.”

“I see,” I moved my hand off of Rinth’s, “what about the rest of the labyrinth?”

Rinth stepped away from me and returned to her chair. “Every portal will deactivate. All travel will become impossible.”

“Which means whoever you do not merge will be forced into solitude,” Wye commented, “so what floors will you choose?”

I turned back to the holographic display and thought on the question. There were a few floors I wouldn’t mind bringing along, but most of the labyrinth would prove too dangerous to integrate. What I needed were intelligent species, farmable land, and enough water and food to keep everyone alive.

“Only ten floors?”

“Correct. Any more than that and it could cause irreparable harm to the atmosphere of the planet.”

“Then let’s bring along the kitsune, orcs, humans, gnomes, shifters, avians, ratkin, and nyanko” I said, “so ten, eleven, sixteen, twenty, twenty-nine, thirty-nine, forty, and fifty.”

“That’s only eight floors, stupid, pick two more,” Shadow hissed next to me.

“Perhaps the Architects or the human desert tribe?” Rinth offered.

“No. The Architects had their chance, I’m not letting them ruin anything more. And that desert tribe just wants to be free, so they can have their whole floor to themselves.”

“I am surprised you included the shifters on that list,” Wye said.

I smiled. “The Doppelganger tribe has proven helpful. We can have them gather on floor twenty-nine with the gnomes and human guards before the merge.”

Rinth tilted her head. “Then what floors will you pick?”

“We need more water, there’s barely any on the first or the other floors I picked, so fifty-four will work well. There are no Architects on that, and I’ll have my daughters check it before the merge to make sure.”

“That is salt water, though,” Rinth pointed out.

“With plenty of fish,” I replied, “it should help revitalize the barren wasteland on the first floor even if it’s salt based.”

“Correct. My estimates are that with the presence of the moon it’ll generate waves, producing wind, which in turn will help in creating a better flow of weather. After a few decades patterns of rainfall should emerge.”

“Good, and I already know a great floor for freshwater,” I said, though I made certain to not look at any of the three when I spoke my next word, “seven.”

None of the trio commented on that choice. While they waited in silence I lifted my hands and manipulated the hologram, placing markers for where the ten floors would be put into it. The system even helpfully recommended a spot for fifty-four, so that the ocean wouldn’t be at a heightened elevation compared to the rest.

“I will need to make sure the goblins are purged from it first,” I admitted as I turned to face them, “but that’ll be easy for my team to handle.”

On the other side of the metal room a wide door slid down into the ground. Beyond it were two portals, one white and the other black and imposing. It seemed to almost pulse as it floated there, a temptation to any who didn’t know what it was.

“Make sure you get patched up before anything else,” Shadow hissed at me, “I tire of serving as your crutch.”

That made me pause, as I looked at Wye. “You wouldn’t happen to have a vial of nanites I can use, would you?”

“I can only offer the location of one of Markov’s old factories that wasn’t salvaged yet,” Wye said, “it contains enough to alleviate some of your muscle and bone deterioration.”

“Thank you,” I said, and then I walked unsteadily across the room.

I paused once more, looking over my shoulder at the three who remained behind. I couldn’t even fathom how long they’d lived for, or how long they’d waited, but even to me it’d been an eternity. “I hope you rest well.”

I walked over to the white sphere and put my left hand against it, the new checkpoint crystal I’d gained upon arriving on the floor shining. Within my mind I could feel every place within the labyrinth open in front of me, all save for one.

I glanced at the black portal next to me, my eyes lingering on it a few seconds longer than I might have wanted. “I’m sorry,” I muttered.