The air in the labyrinth was colder than an ice cellar, yet it burned like a scalding iron lid, forcing a scream into everyone's throat. The walls twisted constantly, like the intestines of some sick giant beast, groaning, contracting, squeezing everything toward the center. Ethan and the few remaining allies squeezed through a narrow crack in the stone, only to stumble upon a sight that made their scalps crawl.
Dangling from the dome of the maze was a chain woven of iron and pulses, swaying in silence. At its end hung a half-transparent figure, faint light flickering in his chest like a dying firefly.
"…Carl?" Ethan's voice rasped like a blade being scraped over stone.
The figure slowly raised his head, revealing a face both familiar and strange. Carl's expression was bizarre, as if he wasn't sure whether he was still alive—his lips twitched in something like a smile, while his hollow eyes seemed to pierce through the entire labyrinth.
"You finally made it, Ethan." His voice echoed like a broken record skipping grooves. "Congrats. Your dear brother is now part of the Key. Premium-grade accessory—Death Labyrinth Limited Edition."
One of the allies gasped. "Part of… the key? You mean… he's not human anymore?"
"Human?" Carl gave a dry laugh. The chain groaned with his movement, the screech like nails on a chalkboard. "Here, being human is just an expired joke. My soul got shackled to power this maze. Do you know what that means? Ethan, I'm greener than a solar panel—one charge lasts three thousand years."
Ethan clenched his fists, sweat running down his palms. The black joke was too sharp: his friend was bragging about being a piece of renewable energy.
"So Ethan," Carl's tone dropped heavy, "you've got to choose. Tear down the Chains of Fate, free me—and destroy the balance of the labyrinth. Or… leave me here, hanging like a streetlamp, until the world collapses again."
From nowhere, a laugh echoed, dripping with contempt. "Humans always love pretending choices matter, as if they ever decide anything."
"Shut up." Ethan's teeth ground together.
He stepped closer, heart pounding like a sledgehammer. The chain coiled in front of him, thick as a python, each link carved with twisted runes that seemed to laugh and scream at once.
"You know, Ethan?" Carl suddenly switched to a jaunty tone. "I kind of like this setup. No food, no sleep, no bathroom breaks, and I get to be a key component. Isn't this the peak of life? A forced promotion."
"Shut your mouth." Ethan's gums bled from the pressure of his bite.
"Hey, don't be mad. Just a reminder." Carl's twisted grin widened. "Break me free, and the maze collapses. Everyone you've tried to save dies worse than now. In short—you destroy the world, or you destroy me. Classic multiple-choice. Sound familiar?"
Ethan fell silent. The air around them thickened like ink, pressing down every breath.
An ally whispered, "Ethan… maybe he wants you to end it? He's not… human anymore."
"Wrong." Carl's voice rumbled like a wind from hell. "I don't want anything. The chain wrung me dry long ago. I'm just the maze's lightbulb, good for one thing—making your life hell."
A tremor hit Ethan's chest. He realized Carl wasn't begging for rescue. He was using his last scraps of clarity to force Ethan to face it: the so-called Chains of Fate bound not just Carl, but Ethan too.
Because from the beginning, they were just pawns in some child's cruel game, destined to topple or crack.
"You know what, Ethan?" Carl laughed again, broken and sharp. "I remember when we were kids. You always said the world was a lock, and you'd be the key. Ha! Look at you now—the key grew crooked."
Ethan's eyes burned, yet he almost laughed. The universe had turned him into the butt of its joke.
"You're right, Carl," he whispered. "The key's crooked… but maybe that's the only way it fits."
He pressed his hand to the chain. The runes came alive, biting his skin. Blood spilled, greedily sucked into the iron, spreading into the maze's walls.
Carl's grin stiffened. "So… what do you choose?"
Ethan's voice rang low and steady in the dark. "I choose to let no one win. Not even you."
The chain shuddered. The labyrinth convulsed like a feverish patient. Walls cracked, black dust erupting like the screams of the world itself.
Carl's flickering form laughed even as he faded. "Good, Ethan… still the same stubborn lunatic."
Then came the sound of chains breaking—a raw, jagged tear, like fate itself being ripped apart.