The echo of that voice faded into the stone, but its weight remained in my chest.
You will not be weak.
I didn't know who—or what—had spoken to me, but it knew me. Somehow. It reached into the space where fear was nesting and burned it away.
My hooves scraped against the stone floor as I took my first true steps. The sound reverberated through the maze around me. The walls of the labyrinth stretched endlessly in both directions—towering pillars of dark, moss-slicked stone, twisting into shadows that moved even when I didn't. The air was thick, humid, as if the place itself was breathing.
I could feel it. The pulse of the place. Like a living thing. Watching.
The memories of my human life were hazy, like trying to recall a dream upon waking. My name—Kellan, yes, that was it—drifted through the fog. I had been... ordinary. A man who paid bills, lost time in traffic, avoided mirrors because he didn't like what stared back.
But now? There were no mirrors here. Only stone, darkness, and the slow, rising thrum of power in my limbs.
My instincts sharpened with every breath. I could smell things—damp stone, something sweet and rotting, the faint musk of blood dried long ago. My ears flicked, capturing distant sounds: water dripping, a skittering of claws against stone far away. I wasn't alone in here.
A sudden noise froze me in place—scraping, deliberate. Something was moving nearby. Not small. Heavy.
I crouched low, my massive frame shockingly agile, blending with the shadows like I'd done it a hundred times before. I didn't think. I knew. My body responded like it remembered something my mind hadn't yet caught up with.
From around the corner of the corridor, a shape emerged—lithe, humanoid, carrying a crude spear. A kobold. Red-scaled, hunched, its yellow eyes glowing in the dark. It sniffed the air, clearly tracking something. Me.
I watched it stalk forward, unaware that its prey was already behind it.
I lunged.
There was no hesitation. No guilt. I caught the creature by its neck, lifting it effortlessly. It thrashed, tried to stab me, but its weapon splintered against my chest. I felt no pain. Only instinct. The beast's scream echoed once, then fell silent.
I dropped the body. It wasn't clean. I wasn't proud.
But I was alive.
And more importantly—I was powerful.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, the man I had been recoiled in horror. But that man was fading. He didn't belong in this place.
I knelt beside the kobold, examining the crude satchel slung over its shoulder. Inside: dried meat, a worn piece of parchment covered in glyphs I couldn't yet understand, and a rusted iron key.
I clenched the key in my fist. It felt important.
The labyrinth wasn't just stone and shadow—it was a system. A world. And I was beginning to see the pattern. If I could survive long enough, maybe I could escape it.
Or maybe...
Maybe I was never meant to leave.