A feather fell upon the windowsill as Latimer was jotting notes down in his research journal. He gazed up to see a messenger bird perched upon the ledge with a message wrapped behind its ankle. He looked for a moment at the bird and then reached to take the message from its ankle. “Second dungeon has opened outside town, need immediate assistance - Guard Captain”

“Pfft, the guards of the state are absolutely incredible” he said with an irritated smile, “here I am trying to work and I get interupted”.

Right then Baz began pounding on the door and rushed in, “Some massive drowner vines are creating havok just outside town in the farms”

“What?”

“We should probably go deal with it, food supplies and all, the town wouldn’t look too kindly on us leaving it until reenforcements come”

“Dammit…”

“I will get a few others to come down, but it would be good to have you there when you get the time”

“Fine, I will come when I am done here, you carry on”

“Right!”

Baz’s footsteps pounded down the hall “you and you with me, we got some weeds to kill”

“Right!”

Subi’s breath was hard and he laboured to breathe as he stopped for a moment by the edge of the giant creature’s reach. It was fiercely guarding its territory, but from the look of it, it could only really effectively attack a wide ring around it, but not closer in. He would just need to maintain an eyeline on the tentrils so he could time his dodge to avoid its blows.

He sniffed the air, “Rem… Clive… They are in there”

He ran around the attack perimeter looking for an angle with light enough canopies to see. He darted in and out checking every angle. “Aha, this’ll do!”.

His legs pounded like a machine gun. They tore up dirt and drove his body forward like a cutting blade. The giant limbs arched and moved in a hypnotic rhythm before one headed straight towards him.

CRASH!!!

Subi dived to the side just in time, and looked up to see a second limb on its way, and this time slashing along the tree line. Trees spat up from the ground like leaves thrown about by the wind, a storm of debris shot towards Subi like an avalanche.

His eyes widened, he turned to face it and ran for a small opening where the debris was thinnest. He dived into the air as high as his legs could spring him and twirled. Transforming into his human form, he arched his back over the top of the vine as debris flew past him on either side a razors edge away from slicing into his skin.

He shifted back into the wolf and landed deftly on his toes and shot towards the center. The third tentacle smashed into farmland further away causing a massive explosion of smoke and fire.

The first tentacle had already recovered and was looming above his head, making a snaking motion.

Subi decided to run full speed in a sideways direction to force it to change its attack pattern. And then began running towards the center again. The vine hesitated and then began coiling around in a circle like a wall. A giant wall of green slammed down right in front of him and he dived above it, only for the vine to explode outwards in all directions as if it were attempting to flick away crumbs that fell on a table. The loud boom and crash echoed behind Subi as a huge area behind him was stripped completely barren of trees.

Subi stared up but the tentacles were no longer tracking him closely. The flicked like the irritated tail of a cat.

He pulled up short of the dungeon opening and listened for sounds coming from the hole. There was a lot of water down there, almost like an underground sea. He heard the sound of Cat, Jon, and Dan a bit further over breathing in a ditch. “Must’ve hit them as it came up… Damn, can’t help right now. Sorry guys”

He trod over to the edge of the cliff and turned into his human form, “a rope, someone descended down here… but it doesn’t reach the bottom, so no one came up. Footsteps in the distance in a tunnel, it is far. The grime in this water is throwing off my ability to pick up on the scent, but its gotta be them”

Subi pulled up the rope and tied a second piece of chord to the end of it that he took from his satchel. “There… Now just to catch up to them”. He flicked the rope back down and began to descend.

…

“Cassandra, a shield!” Baz shouted as he ran into one of the farm houses.

She screamed as a great blue sheath of energy appeared in the sky. One of the tendrils smashed into it knocking her off her feet and down to her knees. She coughed up blood.

Fire raged around the outskirts of the farming village. Thick smoke clouded the fields. And two of the other teachers ran off into other houses to help with the evacuation.

“We gotta go! Now!” Baz shouted from inside. “My child she can’t walk!” “I’ll carry her, lets go!” he yelled back. The second tendril thudded back down towards Cassandra’s shield, this time shattering it into magic dust.

CRASH!!!

Baz skidded out from under the tendrils path just in time as the house was shattered, with a girl on his shoulder. “Grrr… Cass, this girl can’t walk”

“Leave her with me, you go, get the others”

Baz pounded off in the direction of the other houses a red sheath of magic covered his body, and his muscles bulged.

The third tendril smashed down into another house one of the other magisters had just pulled some farmers from. They were blasted back by the shockwave of the near miss and were scattered on the ground.

“Grrr!” Baz roared as he ran towards it. He wound up a fist and sneered. “Take this!!!” he screamed as he leapt into the air, and energy raged in his fist.

“Hyaaa!” the crack as his fist smashed into the vine was like a hundred lightning strikes creating thunder at once. The earth shook, and it was like the air itself lit on fire as his blow tore into the vine, buckling it and shredding a portion of its fibers.

The tendril recoiled in agony, and a screech could be heard from deeper in the woods where it came from.

“Gah, wasn’t enough! You alright Derrick”

“Huh! What?! I can’t hear you!!!”

Baz irritatedly waved him off, and then ran off towards the stables. He knew that getting some of the horses might mean a bunch of folks could get out of there quicker.

…

Subi looked around the cave for a moment before splashing down into the water. “I think they went this way” he thought to himself before swimming over to the closest wall in the enormous cavern. He couldn't know how large it was because of the darkness but because he knew his night vision could stretch for almost a mile in darkness before it grew too fuzzy he knew it was far larger than even that. “Thought they didn’t get such large dungeons here… something is definitely up, this isn’t normal”

He waded out at the shore and saw with his keen vision the entrance to the cave.

“Hrmm, tracks, there is a third person with them, same scent as was on the rope… Pretty brave of them to jump down here with no way back up”

...

Clive “Look it splits up here”

Rem “Which way should we go?”

Cassius “This is weird, they all lead down, but there is no trace of water. I was hoping one of them would lead up it isn’t generally a good idea to go deeper into a labyrinth”

Rem “A labyrinth?”

Clive “A labyrinth is when a dungeon has multiple layers that descend deep into the earth. Some are so deep they can’t ever possibly be explored”

Rem “So if we go the wrong way, will we be able to find a way back up?”

Cassius “Well, there are usually pits and openings within some of the rooms, connected paths that lead down and up for the smaller critters that forage closer to the surface. So if we find the main chamber that the labyrinth branches off from, we should be able to figure out how to get back up. But if we don’t find the right way, we will have to backtrack, try another route”

Clive “Maybe we should wait where we came in, surely someone will come along to help get us out?”

Cassius “You are right of course kid, someone would help get us out if we wait long enough, only problem is, labyrinths won’t let you do that”

Rem “why not?”

Cassius “the labyrinth is different from a dungeon, it has the ability to sense where you are if you linger in one place too long. Explorers used to set up camps in order to explore only to find out that features of the dungeon changed as they woke up, and creatures moved in from all sides. It is suicide to sit in one place. But, if you keep moving it won’t be able to pick apart your presence from the other creatures in the system, so it won’t change”

Rem gulped, the idea of not being able to stop and being surrounded on all sides by creatures of the labyrinth seemed overly dangerous. “What? They can really do that? How do you rest if you get tired?”

Cassius grumbled in deep thought, “You don’t… Or you die”

…

Cassandra “That looks like the last of them, you go ahead I will help these guys back to the town”. The injured were saddled onto some horses and the people began heading back to the city.

Baz looked at Cassandra with a smirk and then ran towards the Drowner Vines with his red aura raging like fire. The vines smashed down around him as he deftly dodged from side to side. The vines coiled and formed a wall ahead of him, but he balled his fist and put everything he could behind the blow.

“Rwroaaargh!” his fist hit with a deafening clash as the air lit on fire and the ground shook. The vine buckled and swung back up into the sky allowing Baz to keep running ahead. The forest burned behind him and the last uninjured vine hovered overhead like a cautious mongoose, thinking of the best way to use its last chance to strike.

The vine came slamming directly towards Baz, “haha, too easy” he said as he dodged to the side. “Huh?” he let out as the vine’s blow suddenly stopped mid air.

“Stop playing around with it will you”

“Latimer!”

The maestro nodded “Let us make this quick”

He waved his hand and a blast of wind as sharp as a razor blade and as wide as a building cut into the monstrous vine, severing it in half. The limb fell down with a mighty thud as screeches of agony shot through the forest. By reflex the remaining two drowner veins smashed towards them. The maestro cast a powerful shield buckling both massive vines and causing them to land either side of them. Baz ran to the left with a balled fist and the maestro raised his other arm and brought it down like a sword, bringing with it a blade of air that sliced the great limb in half. Baz’s blow brought with it a blaze of fire and deafening thunderclaps which sent the Maestro’s cloak billowing in the blast wave.

“There, that wasn’t so difficult now was it?” the Maestro said dismissively as brushing specs of dust off his robe.

Baz smirked, “I was working on it before you got here, but I’m glad you made it”

Latimer nodded.

The ground began quaking as if it was crumbling from below. Before either magister could react the ground opened up into a dark abyss and the magisters were falling. They plunged through the air of a dark cavernous opening that shot down deep into the labyrinth below. The light from above quickly shrunk as they reached terminal velocity in the air. They fell for miles deep into a shaft in the earth.

Upon the surface everything once again stood quiet.

…

Stitch “The magisters brought it down!”

Freddy “Quick lets get to the opening, check on the kid!”

Stitch “You are right, lets go!”

They both ran through the woods.

“The opening is up ahead” Stitch yelled out.

“Whoa they really did a number on this thing” Freddy said in amazement as he looked at the dead remains of the drowner vine that lay by the cave opening.

“Hrmm, let's look around” Stitch said. “Right” Freddy agreed.

After a few minutes of searching Freddy yelled out “Over here!” and waved Stitch over,

“You find him!” Stitch asked as he arrived.

“It's a bunch of kids” Freddy said as he pointed down into a ditch.

Stitch “Oh yeah, quick let's get down there and help them”

Freddy “Yeah!”

…

Cassius “there is a draft of air coming from the left, we should go this way”

Clive looked at Rem who was obviously scared, he held out his hand and smiled gently to comfort her, “come on let’s go”.

Rem nodded, reached out and clasped onto Clive’s hand.

“Stay alert” Cassius said as he twirled an arrow onto his bow, cocked it, and held it half drawn under his eyeline.

...

Cassandra led the last of the farmers and their families through the gate. “Quickly” she said to the guards at the gate “Help take the injured to the healers near the temple”, one of the guards nodded and stepped forwards, “Those with the injured follow me to the healers”. She looked back at the sky to where the vines had been; it had been several minutes since she had seen the vines crash down, “I wonder what is going on over there”.

She pouted for a moment, “I really hate being out of the loop… They are probably just tending to the dungeon opening. But maybe I should check”.

She pulled a small figuring from her waistband of a sparrow and threw it into the air. “Ven Ma Zer” she recited. The figuring disappeared into a puff of smoke, and a sparrow appeared. It flapped its wings and shot off into the sky in the direction of the dungeon. It soared above the trees and through its eyes Casandra could see the burning farm. There was a large wall of smoke between the farms and anything beyond them. Cassandra ordered the bird to fly through the grey clouds.

Once out the other side the small sparrow coughed and wobbled as if disoriented by the smoke, and then regained its composure, regaining a steady course forwards rather than side to side. Casandra looked on with shock as revealed before her was a giant shaft leading to a great chasm in the earth. Cassandra made the sparrow circle around the hole for a while before deciding to look at the dungeon opening where the vines had emerged. Trees were scattered everywhere, and the earth was ripped up in all directions closer to the city. She could even see huge swathes of barren land heading out towards the paths to the city. “What happened there?”. She circled around and could only see some children with two guards. “Students?”

“But then if students are there, why isn’t Baz with them… Oh no” she said as it dawned on her that they might be down the massive chasm.

Cassandra pulled a wand off her belt and raised it into the sky, it shot out a flare of light that arched up high and passed through the smoke. As it began to fall and the sparrow fell with it. Both side by side entered into the depths of the dark chasm. The light and the sparrow reached incredible speeds as they kept falling for miles. The sparrow slowed to allow the light to proceed a little ahead, and a great chamber opened up below, filled with rawt fungi and gnarlshroom. The sparrow pulled up and stopped its momentum by swooping through the chamber. It was massive, from ceiling to floor was at least a mile deep and beyond were sightlines unobstructed to the horizon. It was as if another world existed here. She sent her bird to frantically search the area for any sign of Baz and Latimer in the hope they had survived.

She called back to one of the magisters that had accompanied her back to the gates “Get everyone from the academy. Now. We have a problem”.

She turned to the guards “Where is the captain of the guard?”

“He is in the gate office. Should I go get him for you Magister”

“Yes immediately”

…

Cat began to murmur and open her eyes, “huh, where am I?”

Stitch “this one is coming to!”

“Huh!? Who are you! Uh, Dan, Jon!” she said as she looked at them laying in the ditch beside her.

“Relax little lady we are guards from the dungeon, you and your friends here got knocked about when those giant vines over there burst out from the ground. Don’t worry, the magisters took care of them so they are dead now.”

“R-Rem, where is Rem!” she cried out.

“Who? Uh, we think Cassius went after her, into the Dungeon over there”

“You mean she is in THERE?!”

“Uh yes, most probably, and Clive went too”

“Clive!”

Cat hastily crawled on top of Dan, and landed a big smack with her hand, “hey, hey! Wake up!”, she then crawled over to Jon and started shaking him violently “Wake up you idiots! Rem and Clive are missing”

Freddy “I don’t think it is good to be hitting them right now, little miss”

Cat “Oh shut up you”

Freddy turned to Stitch with a tear in his eye, “No gratitude… I’m only trying to help”

Stitch “Stiff upper lip Freddy, she’s just stressed is all”

Freddy “Yeah she’s had quite a fright I bet”

Jon “Uhg, why are you on top of him?”

Dan began to murmur and slowly open his eyes. It was a blur, until he started to make out two circular shapes and a screeching noise of some kind. “Huh? What is this” he said as he reached up and grabbed one of the shapes “So squishy”.

Jon looked at Dan with wide eyes “Ahahaha!”

“Yaaaaaah!” Cat screamed as she jumped off Dan, “h-how d-dare you y-you PERVERT!”

Dan quickly came too and realised what he had been grabbing “I uh, er, uh, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING ON TOP OF ME IN THE FIRST PLACE” he yelled angrily.

“Don’t yell at me! It would be nice if you had some manners, first you grope me and now you are yelling”

“I wasn’t trying to grope you, I was disoriented”

Jon “yeah you were pretty out of it man, but never the less you got a good handful, I was impressed. You are much bolder when you have had a knock to the head than you are usually. Maybe you should do it more often, then you wouldn’t be complaining to me all the time about how scared you are to talk to Cat”

Dan’s face became bright red “SHUT UP Jon! Don’t go saying things like that!”

“Ugh, boys…” Cat said as she brushed off some dirt from her skirt, “oh, I knew I wasn’t dressed properly for this, my dress is ruined”.

Cat lifted a finger and stared at the boys with intensity, “you two! Rem and Clive are gone!”

“G-gone?!” they yelled out together

“Yes, they are in the dungeon over there. Apparently those large vines over there broke open a new part of the dungeon and Rem and Clive are now down there”

Stitch jumped in “But they aren’t alone, Cassius, he’s one of the eagle squadron, one of the best fighters in the country, he is down there with them”

“Oh…” Jon said as he realised Cat wasn’t implying they were dead “So they are alive, they are just stuck down in there”

Dan stood up and ran over to the hole. “Oh look! There is a rope!”

Stitch ran over after him and grabbed his wrist.

“Hey don’t touch me!” he yelled

“Don’t kid, don’t go near the opening, it’s too dangerous”

“I’m not going to just jump in, for now I’m just looking”

“Well, let’s just wait for some reinforcements from the town to arrive, but until then, just stay away from there, no telling what is down there”

Jon “and if we don’t know what is down there, how can we know if Rem and Clive aren’t facing some horrible monster right now. Maybe we should go down?”

Cat “don’t you boys know anything?! If we went down there we would be in just as much trouble as them, the guards are right we have to wait for others”

Dan “but if we wait, there is no way they are going to let us down to help, we’ll get sent back to the town, I vote we go in, look there is even a rope”

Stitch “Look kid, there is no way I am letting any of you down there… Freddy”

Freddy nodded back at Stitch and headed over to the opening “Yeah, you aren’t going to get through us”

Cat, Dan, and Jon all stepped back and stared at the two guards blocking their way.

“Easy kids, it is for the best, you don’t know what is down there. This probably isn’t even a dungeon anymore. With a hole this large, this far from the first opening. This is probably a labyrinth”

All three looked at each other, “A labyrinth!”

Jon “Oh no, Clive and Rem are down there!”

Dan “Oh man this isn’t good”

Cat “A labyrinth you say? Is it true that there are magical treasures inside labyrinths that empower your magical attributes?”

Stitch “W-what… No… Don’t even think about it. Hey, what are you doing, put that wand down, I’m warning you”

Phwoosh!

A flash of light exploded off the tip of her wand, knocking the two guards to the ground.

Jon looked at them with a wide open jaw, “How did you?”

“Quickly, let's get in there before the others arrive” she shot back

Dan nodded and ran over to the rope.

…

A man adorned in silk walked calmly through a richly decorated hall. He pushed open a large set of doors, revealing a room that flourished with flower petals and marble statues. Within its center was a luxurious spa. A lone figure sat within the spa with their back turned towards him.

“Why do you disturb me” the figure said plainly.

“Chancellor, we have urgent news”

“When is it ever not urgent…” he sighed, “Very well, go ahead”

“Your eminence, a dungeon to the south east has revealed an opening to another labyrinth”

The chancellor sat silent for a moment. The man adorned in silk did not flinch or move.

“So we have had three labyrinths open in as many days. Send four more men to secure the opening and a scouting team to verify its size, if it is discovered to be a greater labyrinth send a detachment”

“Yes your eminence”

The chancellor grumbled under his breath “This is inefficient”

“Wait a moment!” the chancellor yelled back to the man as he reached the door, “One more thing, bring me the citadel’s Arch Magister, inform him he is to present me with a more efficient way to solve my Labyrinth problem. Inform him that I do not want him to remove any option he has at his disposal for reasons of sensibility or it shall mean his head”

“Yes your eminence”