I told you! Leo screamed, flooding Anthony's head with incessant noise.
"I know I know," Anthony said, pointlessly holding his ears to block the incessant berating.
Every goddamn time! Leo continued. If you stick your nose where it shouldn't be, people just get hurt.
"I know, I'm sorry, I should've taken my time," Anthony admitted.
All you had to do was listen to me! You want to get back don't you?! All you had to do was leave it alone!
"Leave it alone?!" Anthony scoffed. "We have been wandering aimlessly for two days and we see one sign of life and you think we should've just left it alone?"
Yes! If we had just stayed on our path-
"Well we didn't okay!" Anthony interrupted. "We didn't, and now we're lost. There's no use in fighting so let's just figure out what to do now."
Okay yeah, you're right
"Thank you," Anthony said as he gathered himself and began to look around for answers. "Do you know what this place is?"
No, not really, I've never even heard of a place like this.
Anthony ran his hand along the rocky walls. He felt a quiet hum against his fingers as if magic was embedded in the wide walls of the corridor. He looked up to revisit the crystals that provided the caves dim illumination.
The ceiling was high, maybe twice Anthony's height, certainly too high for him to reach. He reached his hand upwards, targeting the nearest crystal above. Anthony gathered his mana in the palm of his hand and projected it upon the crystal.
His brow furrowed and teeth gritted with frustration as a yellow glow surrounded his target. The crystal rattled, refusing to leave its place until suddenly Anthony winced, twitching his head backwards as the crystal flung itself into Anthony's tight grip.
What'd you do that for?
"Just trying to make some observations," Anthony responded as he carefully looked over the recently obtained crystal. "This place has magic, not just the crystals but the walls too, but the mana feels almost natural in a way."
Yeah, but it's not just the stuff that flows through nature, it's kind of like the amalgamations that make up mana beasts.
"Really?" Anthony propositioned as he slid the glowing stone into his satchel and began to traverse the corridor. "Maybe it formed the same way mana beasts do?"
It could have, but then why would it exist like this, and why would it suck you in teleporting you wherever.
"I don't know, it has to have a way out right?" Anthony asked.
Yes, I'm sure of that, the cave didn't change itself, it just changed where you are, so an exit still has to exist somewhere.
"Good, then all we have to do is find it," Anthony declared with conviction.
Frankly, I'm more worried about what's in here, because if it can suck you in and teleport you, there's no telling what else-
"Wait," Anthony said, ceasing his stride and bracing his knees. "Can you hear that?"
What?
"There's a small vibration in the-" Anthony was interrupted by the very vibration he was describing as a rumble began to grow within the walls. Anthony's neck snapped forward and eyes widened as the end of the corridor began to glow a light red.
"What the-" Anthony began to mutter but he was disrupted by the sight of a figure stumbling into the open from where the glow. He began to turn the corner into an all out sprint when he spotted the stunned Anthony.
"RUNNNNN!!!" He hollered as he retreated from the growing light behind him. Suddenly, flames crashed into the walls ahead of them and Anthony snapped into focus turning to flee alongside the newcomer.
They sprinted frantically in the opposite direction, hoping to outrun the waves of flames behind them. They approached a wall ahead of them when the boy yelled "left!" as he redirected his momentum by prancing on the walls and smoothly returning to the floor without losing any speed.
Unlike the boy Anthony stumbled and skidded bracing his right leg to avoid crashing into the wall before instinctually creating a pulse of his golden mana, using it to push him to his feet and forward, barely avoiding the pursuing flames.
Anthony caught up to the boy, they huffed as their arms waved back and forth wildly, their quick steps loud enough to hear even with the thundering burn behind them. They looked at each other with concern, each boy's eyes just as wide as the other until Anthony's pupils darted towards the ceiling ahead. There was an opening, previously hidden in the darkness.
"Up!" Anthony yelled, creating an explosive pulse to push himself upwards into the vertical corridor. He turned as he braced his right leg against the wall to push off again. In that split second he saw the boy sailing into the opening about to land below him as the flames sailed past beneath them.
They quickly hopped upwards, back and forth between the distant rocky barriers. With each hop Anthony released an explosive golden pulse, propelling himself upwards. The boy did similar, replicating Anthony only with a loud whoosh of wind underneath his steps, strengthening each leap.
With his last leap Anthony landed safely in a crouch on a rocky platform that would lead into a new corridor. He turned quickly to see the boy's last leap, arcing towards Anthony but landing just below the foothold.
The boy reached for the jagged platform, the tips of his fingers barely latching onto the edge. Anthony reached out, attempting to help only for the boy's face to suddenly change, taking on a look of terror as his fingers slipped and his freefall began.
The hints of a scream began to leave the boy's lips but in the blink of an eye Anthony lunged forward, grasping at the boy's arm. Laying on the platform with his arm extended over the edge and teeth gritted with effort, Anthony had managed to stop the boy's fall.
Tightly gripping each other's forearms the boys grunted in desperation. Anthony pulled back and managed to brace his leg against the ground. As his neck craned backwards, Anthony poured mana into his contracting muscles, hoisting the boy upwards with as much strength as he could.
"Come on!" He yelled with intensity. He fell backward as he willed the boy up and over the edge. The boy made it, falling safely at Anthony's side. They both huffed heavy breaths as they rested for a second, reeling from what had just happened.
"Hey- Thanks- Thanks a bunch man," the boy said through exasperated breaths. "Hell of a first introduction huh?"
"Yeah- yeah, pretty crazy," Anthony said, still lying on his back, eyes to the ceiling, huffing like he had just run a marathon.
"You were awesome back there man," the boy huffed as he stumbled to find his footing. With his arm keeping his balance on the cave wall he reached out to Anthony. "Rare to meet someone as weird as you, even in a labyrinth. My name's Alwin, what's yours?"
"It's Anthony," he answered as he grasped Alwin's hand, he looked up to his new friend, getting a good look at Alwin's smiling face for the first time and he gulped as his eyes widened with surprise.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Alwin said, noticing Anthony's discomfort. In the dim light Anthony gazed at his new acquaintance. Alwin had long hair that draped on his shoulders, only organized by two frayed french braids on either side of his head.
His arms were a little lengthier and skinnier than Anthony's but they still displayed defined muscles. He wore a white shirt and black pants, both covered in dirt and marred by tears. There was a weapon on his back, a long staff with a short, one sided, dagger length blade on the end.
All of those things would be completely normal, frankly quite similar to Anthony, except he was purple. His skin was a light purple, his hair a darker shade. His pupils were a dark black but on his temples and underneath his eyes laid dark purple, scale-looking blotches.
"You're uh-" Anthony stuttered, subconsciously loosening his grip on Alwin's hand.
"Purple?" Alwin finished as he tilted his head along with a curious squint. "Maybe just a bit, is this the first time you've seen one of us? I guess we aren't too common around here."
"No- yeah," Anthony answered, stumbling through his words as he slowly climbed to his feet, keeping his eyes on Alwin. "Are you a Kekropan?"
"In the flesh!" Alwin answered with an awkward emphasis, gesturing to himself with a wave of his hands. "But don't worry we don't murder or enslave humans anymore, at least you can trust I don't."
Anthony didn't answer at first, taken aback not only by his shade but by his friendliness. With his hands still up, keeping the distance in between them, he looked over Alwin. Posture straight, chest protruding, and chin slightly elevated he stood there in stubborn pride despite Anthony's discomfort and the exhaustion from what they just went through.
After an awkward pause, Alwin continued with a forceful smile, "So… Anthony, how'd you end up here? Are you from the guild? I feel like I would remember someone as young as me and with such weird magic if you were from there."
"Uh, no," Anthony responded, finally lowering his guard. "I was just passing by and got sucked in while I was investigating it. You're from a guild? You said this is a labyrinth?"
"Oh shit did you not know?" Alwin responded with concern. "Yeah this is a labyrinth, kinda like a magical maze full of treasures, traps, and monsters. Usually they teleport you and whoever goes in with you to a random spot when you enter, then you have to find your way to the boss, who guards the entrance."
"That makes sense," Anthony said, holding his chin as he finally began to understand his situation. "So you came in with a group, your guild or something?"
"Yeah… I'm a canary slave, so like, you know…" Alwin said, averting his eyes and waving his arms to coax understanding but Anthony just stared right back at him. "Oh, so like, the orphanage I was at noticed I was good at magic and sold me to the local adventurer's guild and they use me as a canary slave which means I go into the dangerous places first either as a distraction or to figure out how dangerous it is. Usually that means I would die after a few missions but like I said, I'm good at magic, and fast, faster than the other party members at least."
"So, your group did something dangerous that killed them all but you got away," Anthony concluded.
"Unfortunately, yeah," Alwin confirmed, as he ruffled his hair in discomfort. "And now I've been trapped here for around half a day, running around constantly, just trying to stay alive. But now, it's the two of us, and maybe we can get out of here together?!"
"Maybe?" Anthony responded, once again taken aback by Alwin's quick ascent to optimism. "How do we do that? We're lost and there's a boss between us and the exit."
"Well, not lost, lost," Alwin responded with conviction. "The thing that killed my party was the boss, and I've been here a while so I can get us there."
"But there's still a boss, one that killed your party at that," Anthony said in protest.
"Well yeah, but the thing is you don't have to beat the boss to get out, it's just standing in the way. We're fast, that much I'm sure of, we can get out," Alwin declared, staring at Anthony with conviction before sticking out his hand for Anthony to take. "It might be dangerous but what else is there to do? Are you with me?"
Anthony began to stretch his arm out but hesitated. Against Leo's advice he had impatiently stuck his nose where it didn't belong. He left the temple because he was tired of waiting and wanted to get back to his family but since then he had screwed everything up. Thoughts of doubt flooded his mind, but Alwin was right, the only thing to do was to push forward. So Anthony finally clasped his new friend's hand, "I'm with you."