Why was it that things always had to go from bad to worse? Not only were we all separated, but we were all being chased by monsters. Nyle’s injuries weren’t life-threatening, at least, not if they didn't open from moving too much. We were fortunate, in a way, that the monsters chasing us froze as long as we looked at them.

Strangely enough, the statues didn't beat at the edge of my light. They were a few steps out from my vision. Did it work because they saw I was looking their way?

I let Nyle lead us. He had one hand on the wall to support himself and shuffled at a brisk pace. I couldn’t count on him to keep an eye on the statues, especially not when he was only half-conscious. The man tried his best to look alright, but he wasn’t fooling me, not with the way he moved and breathed.

Nyle cursed.

“What?” I asked.

“I think the bandages are falling off. They’re soaked.”

I cursed too. Regardless of if the bleeding had stopped by now, no bandages meant the risk of infection went up. Even if we somehow escaped from these things, we’d need to find Raia since she had what we needed.

“Hold on,” I said, taking off my half shawl. “Use this. Rip it if you have to.”

He took it and after a moment said, "Ready."

We trekked forward, or backward in my case, for a while. I heard the statues’ steps every so often when we got far enough away that whatever conditions for their movement were met. Nyle had slowed a crawl and I hesitated to push the man further. Between the lives of people I couldn’t do anything for, and his life I could ease right now, it should’ve been obvious.

But they had the major core.

Without that, letting myself get taken by the Shift would’ve been meaningless. I’d be back at square one. Carlyle and the headmaster would probably be watching me, making it even harder to move around at night. The old man might even place some condition on me, so I’d have to choose between breaking my promise or getting Kharss.

“We need to go faster. They’re in danger,” I said, knowing how callous my words sounded.

Nyle grunted in response. It worked.

We came across a lever, and I gave Nyle some space before pulling it. The ceiling shifted to reveal a long string of light above the hall. The statues were more numerous and closer than I thought. I half-expected the bunch of them to be at least twenty-plus steps back, considering my guess at how they worked. Instead, the stone monsters were in a weird outer zone.

If I could see a few feet at most from where the light’s radius touched, those statues were another radius away, stalking us at a rate where if things weren’t dead silent, and Master hadn’t taught me to always be on my toes in dungeons, I might’ve let my guard down and blinked. So far, I’d been alternating between eyes, which worked fine when we were caught by surprise in that first room.

“By the veil,” Nyle said.

“Don’t worry about it.” I put out my fire. “I’m the one who’s keeping an eye on them. With this light, they won’t be getting much farther.”

I let go of the lever. With the new set of lights, the statues couldn't move at all. Nyle was still slow, but so long as I could see them, we weren’t in any danger. All that mattered was finding the others and the major core.

The lights flickered. None of the statues moved or, if they did, I didn’t see it. “Nyle, did you see the lights flicker?”

“Huh? I don’t know.”

I squinted and prepared to flare my magic. Mana didn’t recover that quickly, but each second I could go without using it was a relief I wouldn’t get for a while.

The lights were an array of small stones powered by magic. They flickered again and went out. I lit a flame while a terrifying stomping of feet came our way. Nyle spun around, startled by the sudden flood of events. So long as I had my fire, they wouldn’t get anywhere near us.

Peering at the monsters, I picked up on a light tapping noise that came in twos. A pitter-pattering of feet that couldn’t have been from the statues. I listened closer and picked up on the sound of faint panting. It wasn’t Nyle.

“Watch behind us,” I said as I lifted the man over my shoulder. He wasn’t light at all, and I couldn’t run with him on me, but it was faster than going at his pace.

“What’s happening?” He asked, exasperated.

“Washir.”

A part of me hoped the washir that appeared on Blue Hair’s side of the wall were the same ones that were chasing us. I wasn’t lucky enough to be right.

More heavy footfalls happened than before. I was going faster and so the statues were making more effort to keep up. Nyle probably couldn’t stop himself from blinking either.

Suddenly, the ground shook. Ahead, I saw a new path in the corridor slowly open and another close. The opening path led straight, while the one closing was to the right. Nyle was a hindrance at this point but I wasn’t going to leave him to die when I didn’t have to. The washir were gaining ground, and I was out of options.

I sprinted toward the closing wall and pushed him in along with the bag.

“What? You aren’t coming with?”

I shook my head. If I took him along, he’d probably die. If we both went this way he had the highest chance. The issue was that this way likely led to the other two, and they had the major core. Part of me said to go with him, and that part asked how I could risk trading a life for what was only a chance at getting revenge.

The other part dug up those memories, the memories of when Kharss left us in the labyrinth.

I wiped my hands on my uniform. I had to calm myself when I saw the blood. It was just Nyle’s.

It must’ve gotten on me when I was carrying him.

It was nothing. It had to be nothing.

I no longer had a choice. The opening was too thin for me to fit, and using my ability to blink through would put me out of comission. “Here,” I said, throwing over two of my unused tools. “They’re smoke bombs. Use them if you have to. There’s a crystal in the backpack for light, right? Go.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said as I turned and ran.

The statues weren’t my primary concern anymore, so long as they weren’t faster than me. Without someone to slow me down, I could run as fast as I wanted. I might’ve been trapped in the dungeon, but I was unburdened for the first time in a while and it felt refreshing.

I dug through my bracers’ storage as the washir got closer. I couldn’t use knives. Not only did I risk losing them in the sea of pursuing statues, they lacked the length to deal a fatal blow without aiming for the neck or risking my own. Rather than a knife, I grabbed the oil pots I prepared before coming to the labyrinth.

I slowed, turning around to stop the statues, and waited for the washir to come, however many there were. The moment the first lunged at me, I threw the oil pots and cast a firebolt. The monster flailed as the fire engulfed it. The other two washir couldn’t retreat because of the statues and soon enough, the fire spread to them.

Using that opportunity, I ran.

With the washir dead, I’d gone back to walking to save energy. Just like the day took its toll on Blue Hair and Nyle, I’d been using my magic for the past few hours. It was a new record, and I could feel it in my body. The pain resembled aching muscles and pinched nerves.

The hall shook for the hundredth time and I took it to mean that new paths and areas were opening on their own somewhere I couldn't see. Sometimes the hallway would turn right or left, and I’d be stuck wondering if that rumbling I heard earlier meant I missed something.

I hesitated to flare my fire, so I risked it and went closer to take a look at the statues. There were fewer of them now. Either some had decided to run off back to who knows wherever, or one of the ‘revolving doors’, as the tablet called it, cut some of them off. The latter was the answer I preferred. I didn’t want to think the statues had minds of their own.

As I walked backward, I bumped into the wall or a sharpened part of it. I felt it bite into my skin. I glanced twice before it hit me. Finally, I reached a fork, something I didn’t imagine seeing again. My mental map of the dungeon was lacking. There were dozens of turns I had to make, all while keeping an eye on the statues.

Either path was good, as far as I knew.

But something caught my ear. It was quiet, quiet enough to make me think my mind was playing tricks on me. I ran out of water a while ago and got next to no sleep. The issues with my body and mind were endless about now. Still, in the silence of the dark and seemingly infinite hall, it was like a ray of light, though I was the one who had a literal fire in his palm.

I followed the noise, hoping my ears, which faced away from the source, weren’t wrong. The dungeon rumbled again, and the sound briefly disappeared, drowned out by sliding stone. When things calmed down, I picked up on it again and kept moving toward it.

The closer I got, the more distinct it became. It wasn’t like the rhythmic steps of the statues or the measured panting of the washir. The sound was a series of sharp, unsteady breaths, followed by moments of silence.

It’s… sobbing?

My back hit a wall. I was so concentrated on the sound I wasn’t paying attention.

“Hello?” I called out.

There was a sniffle. “Rainen?”