Subi’s hair flowed gently against his face as the world around him came alive. Gentle sniffs of his nose and twitches of his ears revealed woodlands filled with all variety of creatures for miles around. Goblins, grand spiders, centipedes, tiger birds, and a litter of other creatures. A goblin scurried in the distance, and rushed to the corpse of a centipede. His movements became excited at the sight of a meal for his clan, and he signalled to another goblin to grab the other half and to return to camp. They each picked up their half and waddled off into the woods.

“Clive and Rem aren’t far up ahead now” he said calmly.

“I can’t believe there is a world like this down here”

He walked casually through the trees and zig zagged around where creatures gathered so as not to disturb them and force them into battle. His armor glimmered in the dappled light that made its way through the treetops.

“Hrmm, if it was just Clive and Rem alone I could just show up, but there is an eagle squadron trooper with them. I could take my chances walking up to them, but I’d be at the mercy of his reaction and he is probably on high alert. But maybe if I yell out their names they will come to me? And he will just follow along? And I can explain to them why I look older now”

“REM!!!”, “CLIVE!!!”

“Shoot, it isn’t travelling far enough, maybe a howl… Ah, but that would freak the eagle squadron trooper out”

“Ah, how about that cliff over there, if I get high enough the sound will carry”

Subi transformed, his paws thudded against the ground in rapid succession, and he darted swiftly through the trees and up the ridge to the top of the cliffs. He transformed back down and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“REM!!!” “CLIVE!!!”

Clive “Hey, do you guys hear that?”

Rem “Huh?”

Clive “Just stop and listen for a second”, “see, that, its our names”

Rem “Oh, I hear it too!”

Clive “Do you think it is Cat and the Guys?”

Rem shook her head “Too far into the labyrinth, no way they’d be this close, maybe it is Subi!”

Clive “Isn’t he off travelling to dungeons and searching for a way to help me though? And it doesn’t sound like a little child”

Rem “Maybe he has grown”

Clive “He can do that?”

Rem “His form changes depending on how much he can level up his humanity, so maybe he found a way to do that”

Clive “So cool, so if it is subi, he should be able to hear us easily right? Can he yell something different to confirm it is him”

“Daaaandelionsss” the word drifted on the wind

Clive’s eyes shot open “It really is him, but then why isn’t he coming down?”

Rem “Maybe it is Cassius”

Cassius “What are you guys talking about?”

Rem “We can hear someone we know, they want to meet up with us, but they are kind of shy so it is best if I go meet them first before you meet”

Cassius “That doesn’t make any sense. Well, if you want to, I’m sure it is fine, just keep your guard up and don’t go too far”

Cassius placed down his bow and found a log to sit on, while Clive and Rem jogged out of sight line of Cassius.

Subi appeared from the woods in a set of blue armor, “Hey guys”

Rem “Subi!”

Clive “Whoa, you’ve grown dude!”

Subi “Yeah, I look a bit different right?”

Clive “What is that armor?”

Subi “Its pretty cool right, I got it because I figured I might have to stay in human form in this labyrinth”

Clive “So you can fight like that?”

Subi “Not all that well or anything, but I have super strength and agility, so I’ll do alright I guess, and my heightened senses”

Rem “I am just glad you are back, I was worried about your trip”

Subi “Yeah I was worried about you too, and it seems I was right to be, how did you guys get down here?”

Clive “The earth opened up when that giant plant monster appeared, Rem fell down. I uh… I followed? Kind of?”

Rem began to blush as she remembered what had really happened. The shining light appearing from within the dark, and the grip of his hand drawing her to the surface.

Subi “and then the eagle followed you guys down… Makes sense… So what is the plan, what should my story be for this guy from the eagle squadron”

Clive “His name is Cassius, he’s a good guy I think, came down to help us”

Subi “Yeah, they do that, I’ve met some of them before”

Rem “Just say you are a young magister from the academy, an augmenter and you followed”

Subi “Sounds good, shall we meet Cassius then?”

Rem nodded and led the way back to Cassius.

He looked up at them as they came back into view, and his eyes landed on the boy in blue, with silverish blue hair. He quickly noticed the quality of the armor was on par with the royal families, and stood to his feet.

Rem “Cassius, this is Subi, he is from the academy he is an augmenter”

Cassius “An augmenter huh? So he’s strong and fast? Nice to meet you subi”

Subi “Likewise, I have a lot of respect for you eagles, I was helped by one of you once, saved my life actually” he said as he flashed the pin on his bag.

Cassius “An eagle’s pin, seems one of my colleagues thought you ought to be trained. Well, that is good enough for me. Come with us, we are headed to that big pillar up ahead, about 30 miles out, that should be the center, where we will find our exit”

Subi nodded “Sounds like a plan, shall we go”

Everyone nodded and headed out.

…

Sada waved her hand signaling for Freddy and Stitch to make their way deeper into the cave systems. "We are here" she said as she leaned forward and looked at the carvings on the stone wall. Sada deftly pressed a handful of symbols in sequence and straightened her back and pumped her fists in celebration "I remembered it this time". Stitch elbowed Freddy in the ribs who was flushed red and staring at Sadas figure "hey what do you think happens if she gets it wrong". Sada smiled, "come come" as the magical barrier that had looked like rock faded away. They made their way through a small crevasse and began to see a blue glow up ahead.

Freddy was fixed on sada's curves so by the time they stepped into the room he was already surrounded in blue light in all directions. "Dude!" Stitch said as he slapped Freddy's chest "Are you seeing this?". Freddy was startled and began defensively stumbling over his words "yeah I see it lots of gnarlshroo… whoa". His jaw dropped as he looked around. The light was made of dancing magical aurora and bright moving orbs, the light reflected off of waterfalls on all sides of the massive cave, and a small city opened up before them.

Stitch "I have never seen anything like it, not even above ground… How did you do all this, don't the walls change in labyrinths, I was expecting a tribal settlement"

A man with human colored skin, and short fluffy grey hair and sideburns walked up and hugged Sada.

Sada turned to the guys and said "this is my Dad the chief of the village". Stitch scrunched up his brow considering the implications of her wording, that this wasn't the only community and this was considered small.

Freddy "n-nice to meet you sir". The man laughed with joy, seeing through Freddy in an instant "I see this one has fallen in love already, you really must wear more Sada, men are easily swayed". Sada blushed and then turned back to the guys and ignored her father. "A long time ago our people migrated from place to place each day, until we one day came upon some sacred stones, these stones gave us magic and gave us the power to manipulate the world around us, helping us to build our villages and to stay hidden away from the rest of the labyrinth".

Sada's father nodded "and I am the chief responsible for the magic of the stone."

"Are you a human" Freddy asked.

"No, I simply prefer this form to avoid the distraction of our magically infused skin. We are one of the few species of the labyrinth that can change into human form, but for us it serves less use than for the others"

"others?" Stitch asked.

"Yes, the dragons, the insectids, the fowler, and even the extremely rare feyr"

Freddy "what?"

"Though the Feyr are probably extinct now after the purge"

Stitch held up his hand in a stop sign gesture, "what are fowler, insectids, dragons, and feyr… and why was there a purge"

"long ago the creatures who could turn into human shape lived together, we shared knowledge, technology, and traded resources. Eventually there were disputes so a council formed. The grand council was responsible for keeping order but assassinations and corrupt dealings were not uncommon, and over time division grew between the races. Wars broke out over ideals, and they continue to this day. Most of the races survive in peace because if they stay to their territory they are not seen as a threat. All except for the Feyr, while they are the most powerful of the races, they are also the most vulnerable because they give birth only once every ten thousand years. They have senses that surpass any other race, and when wars break out, they are always ahead of the other races, and win the best territories, and have the most influence, the other races have despised this for millenia and worked together to uproot their power. Yet even one feyr was in the end deemed a threat to the other races and so once the races had the upper hand they killed the feyr they found. All but the princess were found, and I believe she is the last, but she won't last long, the insectids are great hunters and are no doubt on her trail. We cautioned the other races against purges from the beginning but we are the weakest of the races, forced to do trade with the others at extortionate rates while our people suffer"

Stitch "but your city looks so full of wealth"

"in luxuries yes, but with food, resources, weapons and medicine, we are poor… but we all do our part and we survive, somehow…"

Freddy "that sounds rough, I guess it is why Sada was out hunting"

Sada sighed, "It is more complicated than all that unfortunately… but let's get back home where we can talk".

Her father nodded and directed the men into a sleek pod that came out of an opening in the ground, "this carriage will take us".

CHAPTER 22

Cat whispered "it's this way".

Dan "how do you know?"

Cat "my pendant is drawn to magic"

Dan "what if it is just some big magical trap?"

Cat "it is tuned to the energy given off by powerful magical artifacts"

Dan "how do you have something like that?"

Cat "my dad was a treasure hunter"

Dan "was…"

Cat "He died when I was little…"

Dan "I am sorry… That must have been tough"

Cat "but I grew up with my grandfather so it is okay"

Dan frowned, his heart hurting to realise why Catia was so driven. He could relate, having grown up in a lonely home. He retreated into sports and fighting in order to cope.

Jon let out a knowing smile because he realized that Dan and Cat were finally getting along. He only wished it had happened above ground and not down below. He understood that Catia was driven by the desire to be like a father she did not get to know and Dan was driven to follow her because of his hormones. It was obvious neither one would have a backup plan if things went wrong. And since it was likely they would all die without one he knew it would be up to him.

The rock below them began to rumble as they crawled ahead through a narrow tunnel. Cat's skirt slowly shifted higher and higher in front of Dan who began to blush and fight his instinct to look. When he finally did look he had to hold back his laughter with his hand. Little kittens were printed on her underwear, with some playing with yarn balls, others meowing, and others strutting their stuff. Catia didn't usually appear to be a girl who had a soft side. He smiled and turned his head away.

Cat suddenly tensed up and gasped. Dan's face slammed onto her bare behind and they both fell forwards down an embankment.

Jon looked straight ahead and after quickly checking that Dan and Cat were okay he saw what Catia saw.

Drums boomed, and thousands of chitterlings carrying torches, chirped and roared in a rhythm. They were gathered in a crowd around a ritual alter. A man with red and black skin was panicked and pulling at his restraints as a chitterling with a large head dress approached him with a sharp stone tool. The alter was raised up from the surroundings by some steps. Ornate statues were carved out of stone on either side. And another chitterling read from a wooden tablet and walk along in front of the crowd.

"Hrmm Chi Fara Chi Chi…. Hrmm Chi Fara… " was chanted faster and faster as the priest approached.

"Mulak! Tera! FALOM! AH CHA CHA CHA!"

The chitterlings went into a fever as the priest hacked into the chest of the native. Smokes were applied by helpers to keep the native conscious, they then lifted his head to see his open chest wound and beating heart, as the priest slid both of his hands underneath it and drew it out of the chest while the arteries were still attached. A cup was handed to the priest and powder was applied to the heart. The priest clicked his fingers and the heart burst on fire, he tugged the heart out and squeezed it as it burned into the cup.

Jon puked as the native finally went limp and the crowd of chitterlings cheered.

"Uch bi MULAK!" the priest roared as he turned to the crowd.

Dan was stuck underneath Catia. They were face to face both turned to the side watching the chitterlings in horror. Her breasts pushed up against his chest and their breaths mingled. Dan grabbed a Catia and slowly slid her off him and they both crawled back behind a large Boulder.

"Behind the alter" Catia whispered out of breath, sweat beading on her skin and her hair a mess.

Dan turned and looked confused into her eyes. He then looked over to see a gem inserted into a metal locket hanging behind the alter, "Is that it?".

"Yes it is a very powerful artifact, an eye of power"

"What does it do?"

"It enhances magical power of the wearer allowing them to become as powerful as a force of nature, legend has it it was created by the old gods, who had servants use them to control the world"

"What?" Dan said shocked, "why do those little monsters have it?"

Cat "apparently chitterlings are one of the most dangerous creatures in a labyrinth, they aren't powerful on their own but together they could even take down a dragon."

"Dragon's… Then how could we even try to get it if they are that dangerous"

"We steal it"

Dan nodded for a moment and then his face went blank, "we what?".

Cat ignored Dan's reaction and opened up her grimoire.

Dan "but you don't know anything about thievery"

Cat "Don't freak out, I mean how hard can it be right, you look for an opportunity and then you grab it"

Dan "Did you just see what they did to that creature before"

Cat "yeah yeah yeah I saw it but I just need to touch the eye of power, and then I can use it to get away"

Dan "and what makes you think you will be able to just grab it"

Cat started thinking "I guess they will always keep a guard", she looked around at Dan's waist "you didn't bring any weapons?"

"just these" he said as lifting up the metal knuckles on his fists.

"aren't you good at throwing?"

Cat focused on a spell in her grimoire and laid her hands over each other while repeating an incantation. She slowly drew a sphere of ice out into a long spike and handed it to Dan "what am I supposed to do with this?".

Cat rolled her eyes as she made several more ice lances "you throw it at the guards while I make a run for it"

"No cat don't, that is seriously insane you will die"

Cat began creeping down into a natural trench that led up to the side of the gathering of chitterlings. The chitterlings were beginning to drink and celebrate leaving only a few guards by the altar.

Dan reached out to Cat but it was too late, "shit" he cursed and then he grabbed up the ice lances and ran down the trench after her.

He kept his breath controlled and steady, and held a lance in each hand. A red aura trailed down his forearms and flowed over the ice hardening it further into a deep blue. His pupils glowed red and focused on the chitterlings nearest to Cat.

Jon looked on in horror as he wiped his mouth free from vomit, "what the hell are they doing, shit!". He was only capable of two magic spells, a magical flare and creating a single plant root spike to trip a creature or hurt its foot.

He looked for a route on the upper ridge he was on to get closer to the altar, and started climbing over rocks and across vines to try and catch up.

Cat deftly stopped and dropped every time a chitterling passed by or turned around. She hopped over some loose stones and moved close to the side of the altar that held the eye of power, she signaled at Dan to throw the ice lances and without hesitating he hurled his body into both throws, the lances slicing straight through the chitterling guards causing them to collapse on the ground holding their wounds in shock and bleeding out. Cat then charged for the altar and shot off a magic missile at the priest while his back was turned hitting him in the shoulder and toppling him over into his assistants.

The rowdy chitterling crowd turned in an instant and pulled their dart pipes up to their lips.

Cat ran up the stairs and dived towards the eye of power clutching it in her outstretched hand. The priest snarled and whipped around with his magic staff, a giant lightning bolt shooting out from it.

Dan clutched another two lances and threw them at the priest, one piercing his neck and the second under his ear, killing him instantly. Cat was struck by a blast of lightning and the eye of power went flying. She spun several times in the air and crashed to the ground. Dan picked up another pair of lances, but was struck in the side by something, and then hit by several more. His eyes began to glaze over and he fell onto the ground. Chitterling darts littered over his body.

The eye of power continued to soar through the air. And just as it was about to land by the edge of the cave, Jon leaped down. The eye collided with his body as he raised his flare spell in his right hand and his plant spike spell in his left.

The spells released with a booming recoil that threw his clothes back against him as an enormous heat wave shot out in all directions. The light was blinding as rays of fierce light shot out in thousands of flares. Each ray was a hot plasma like that of the sun, the chitterlings burst into flames upon contact along his right side and then out to his left giant plant spikes shot up from the ground to the ceiling in a wave. Each one shot up with a loud thud in perfect sequence, impaling hundreds of chitterlings in an instant.

Jon stepped forwards in a shell shocked daze and fell face first into the dirt, the eye of power bounced off his chest and landed beside him. All three were unconscious surrounded by chitterlings burned to a crisp or impaled on spikes.

…

Cat was the first to awake with scorch marks branching across the entire left side of her body. She screamed in pain as she struggled to her feet. Half of her dress was vaporized from the bolt of lightning. She looked around her to see everything smoldering and covered in smoke. Even the stone floor had melted, and off to one side was a jungle of plant shoots burning and stabbed up through crowds of hundreds of chitterlings.

She looked around for the eye but the only thing she could see through the smoke was the dead priest and his lightning staff. She limped over and picked it up, she then used it as a crutch and limped back towards where she had remembered Dan had been.

The plant shoots smoldered with thick smoke so she pulled off her remaining sleeve and wrapped it around her face. As she made her way through the devastation ash rained down covering her in soot. As she got closer to Dan she noticed that many plant shoots had burned up and broken in half falling in all directions.

"Dan!" she screamed out as she hurried over to him. He was wedged under several shoots that were still on fire. She grabbed them one by one by the ends that weren't burning and threw them off to the side. She then knelt beside his body, ripped off her face mask and looked at the chitterling darts. She was glad she grew up with a knowledge of plants and had learned how to counteract their toxins with magic. She pulled out the darts and rolled him onto his side. She rubbed her hands together and they began to glow.

Jon slowly opened his eyes and sat up. The cave was filled with smoke. He looked beside him and picked up the eye of power and put it in his pocket and strolled over towards where Cat had been. Footprints led from where she had laid and trailed off towards the priest and then off towards where Dan had been. He arrived to see Cat kneeling over him with her hands glowing.

“I see no one came looking for me I guess” he said while rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

Cat barely noticed him as he walked up beside her. “Oh hey” she said momentarily glancing over at him. Jon kneeled down and looked at Dan and the pile of darts beside him “were all those in him, damn”. Cat remained in a concentrated trance and channelled what energy she had into Dan, tendrils of white light danced underneath his skin and slowly neutralised the toxins.

“Grrr” Dan grumbled.

“Hey sleepy head wake up” Jon joked.

“Huh? What is going on… wait, Catia!”

Jon “she is here bro, she’s the one who brought you back”

Dan turned and looked over at Cat. Her entire left side was scarred with branches of scorched skin. Her dress was tattered, and most of the left side was vaporised and only held together by strands.

Dan “you are hurt! That priest hit you with lightning”

Cat “I am okay, it hurts, but I’ll live… but what happened after I was hit, why are their plant shoots and scorch marks everywhere?”

Dan sat up and looked around with a confused look on his face “it wasn’t me”

They both turned towards Jon with open jaws.

Jon “why are you looking at me?”

Cat “you did this? How?”

Jon “this thing hit me, and my spells just exploded, I passed out and woke up and found you guys and this mess”

Cat “show me the thing, do you have it?”

Jon “Yeah its just here” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled it out to give to her.

Cat “wow, we really have it, an eye of power… My father’s journals talked about this… What was it like when you cast your spell!?”

Jon “Ah, well, it hit me in the chest as I was casting and the spells just suddenly expanded and exploded out of control, blinding rays of light out of my normal flare spell and this huge wave of shoots from my plant trip spell. And then I felt really light headed and collapsed”

Cat “Light headed… Hrmm… There might be a limit to how it can be used, we will have to be careful and only use it as a last resort, and prepare to hand it to the next one of us if the one using it falls”

Dan looked around “that thing made your crappy little plant trip and flare spells do that? Damn, I wonder what it would do to my augmentation, maybe if we found a hole I could just jump us straight out of here”

Cat “yeah, but where would we find a hole to the surface?”

Jon “what about back the way we came”

Cat “no good, that opening has definitely sealed by now, we would just get lost trying to back track, I say we make our way to the next magic artifact that my pendant leads us to, and we use this to capture it”

Jon “Ok, but one thing remains… what about your clothes?”

Cat froze in place, “my what?”

Dan “yeah you are looking kind of exposed there, I can see your underwear”

Cat reacted as if by instinct and slapped Dan across the cheek.

“Ugh, why didn’t you hit Jon, he mentioned it first” Dan said as he rubbed his face.

Cat shot around and pouted towards Jon.

Jon “Hey, don’t blame me, I’m just thinking about getting you some clothes”

Dan stood up and pulled off his shirt leaving him with a singlet he had on underneath and handed the shirt to Cat “here, take it, we’ll also need to find some medicine for those burns”.

Cat took the shirt and slid it over what she had left of her dress, “thanks, I guess”.

Dan reached out his hand to help Cat up, and she stared at him, “look, I can see you are hurt, just let me help you up, like you helped me”. Cat relented and took Dan’s hand and he helped her up.

Jon, “so how does that pendant work, won’t it just keep leading us towards this eye of power thing?”

Cat “Yes, it would, except for when you hold the pendent close to it like this, it will change color, and it won’t search for this magical signature anymore… There, see!”

Dan “Oh, cool!”

Jon “Hey look over there on the far side, aren’t those the supplies of the chitterlings? What if they have some herbs?”

Dan “Yeah, you are right!”

Cat winced in pain as she tried to follow the boys. Dan “you go ahead Jon, I’ll help Cat”.

Dan looked at her, “that little monster really did a number on you didn’t he”

Cat “Mhm…”

Dan “here, hop on, I can augment, so it will be nothing to me”

Cat didn’t want to get up on Dan’s back, but her burns really did hurt to the point she couldn’t imagine walking much more. “Okay” she said and she climbed on.

Jon “Hey! There is all kinds of stuff over here! Look!”

Dan sprung Cat onto his back and jogged over. Cat pointed down at some paste in one of the baskets “Give that to me, I need to smell it”.

Cat “ah, like I thought, its ginger root and verana leaf, it will work”.

She hopped down off of Dan’s back, and looked at the guys, “guys you need to turn around so I can apply it”.

Dan “yeah right”

Jon “s-sure”

Cat tenderly took off the shirt, and pulled off the tattered remains of her dress, and took a scoop of the herbal ointment and applied it to her burns.

“D-don’t you dare turn around, I have the eye of power, I could fry you to a crisp, don’t think I won’t”

Jon’s eyes bulged out of his head because he believed it would be just like her to do something like that. Dan however casually blew it off “No worries, we got your back”, and shot her a thumbs up out to his side.

Cat smiled, finished with the last of the ointment and put Dan’s shirt back on.

“Okay, finished, but it will take a bit of time for me to be able to recover”

Dan “No worries, just hop back on and let’s find the next artifact… Right Jon?”

Jon “Right!”

Cat hopped on, smiled, and pointed ahead.