Felix grinned. "You scared, huh? Don't worry, kid. I won't let anything get close to you. While we're in here, I'll show you what Signatures can really do."
Dominic's fear eased, replaced by something else, curiosity. Of course, Felix wouldn't let him get torn apart by monsters. And, he wanted to see it too. The power of Signatures. What real explorers who traveled a Labyrinth alone could do.
They continued walking, Felix talking as they went. He explained that Signatures required ether to function.
Ether was the power, the core energy that flowed through all living beings and the Labyrinth and the world itself. Without it, even the strongest Signature was nothing more than a mark on the body.
Dominic blinked, realization hitting him. No wonder he collapsed when fighting the monster. He had run out of ether. It was so obvious, even every child in the kingdom learned this.
He already heard about ether which was the world's power and energy that could be harvested and shaped by master Arcanists and craftsmen and crafted into items and tools with their Bloodmark ability.
How did he forget something that basic?
"I'm such a fool. If Felix didn't arrive, I'd already be dead," Dominic thought bitterly.
Felix must have noticed the regret in his eyes, because the older man only smiled as if saying, 'Yeah, figured you'd realize it eventually.'
They reached the end of the tunnel. Felix motioned for him to crouch low and lower his voice.
"Stay here and watch. I'll handle it. Don't make a sound. Your ether's probably not filled up yet so you can't use your Signatures to fight."
Dominic nodded, pressing himself against the wall.
Felix slipped forward into the next chamber, moving with a quiet confidence that made Dominic instinctively hold his breath.
The man looked around, then reached behind him under his cloak and pulled out what looked like a short stick.
With a flick of his wrist, the stick snapped open, extending into a long glaive, its shaft reinforced with dark steel, and a crescent blade gleaming at each end.
Then the monsters appeared.
They emerged as if peeled from the shadows themselves. Some of them crawled out from beneath a slab of broken stone. Their bodies were thin and black. Their skin stretched so tightly over their bones it looked like wet leather.
A few of them slid out of the wall as though they had been part of it. Their form melts into the open air and they have too many joints in their arms and a head that turns completely backward.
Another batch clawed their way from a pillar, stone scattering as their claws dug free. They each have four glowing eyes and long mandibles clicking rhythmically like an insect.
More came after them.
Some slithered over the floor with spines jutting from their backs. Some dropped soundlessly from the ceiling. Some crawled upright, hunched and twitching.
All of them stared at Felix hungrily.
And Dominic, hidden near the tunnel's edge, felt the air turn cold as the swarm gathered. Dozens of nightmare shapes encircling the lone man with the twin-bladed glaive.
The monsters lunged at him all at once. All of them.
From the walls, from the ceiling, from the floor, they shot forward like arrows, claws scraping, mandibles clicking, and joints bending in impossible angles.
There were about twenty, maybe more. Dominic couldn't count. He gasped with wide eyes at the sheer speed and terrifying number of the swarm.
But Felix didn't flinch.
He simply lifted his right hand.
The back of his palm flared to life.
A circle of unfamiliar symbols spiraled outward. The symbol was sharp with angular strokes interlocking with curved lines. Thin lines branched in five directions with distinct patterns across the surface of the glowing mark, forming a pattern that radiated cold just by looking at it.
WHOOOSH!
A blast of pale blue wind erupted from Felix's outstretched arm.
The temperature crashed instantly. White vapor exploded across the chamber.
In the space of a heartbeat, every monster was caught in the middle of their leap, frozen in place. Their bodies were encased in thick ice.
Twenty plus monsters turned into silent statues.
Their twisted limbs and gaping maws were preserved in glittering frost, some of them crashed into the ground and turned to dust.
The chamber fell silent, save for the crackling of freshly formed ice.
Dominic stared wide-eyed.
Felix calmly lowered his arm, as if the display of power had been nothing more than brushing dust off his cloak.
He lifted his glaive and, with smooth, practiced motions, hacked through the frozen monsters. He shattered the creatures into brittle shards, breaking them apart as easily as striking glass.
One by one, the frozen monsters collapsed into fragments and icy dust, littering the chamber floor with glittering debris.
After finishing the last one, Felix scanned the area, his gaze sweeping every corner and shadow.
Only when he was satisfied did he speak.
"You can come out now."
Dominic pushed himself off the wall and approached slowly, still shaken and amazed. He stepped closer to Felix, who rested the glaive across his shoulder.
"Let's go," Felix said calmly.
Dominic followed, but he couldn't hold back the question that burned in his chest.
"What was that?"
"My Signature power. It does exactly what you saw. I spent a long time earning that Signature and mastering it."
Dominic nodded quietly.
"You need to train to master yours too," Felix added, glancing at him with a serious expression. "Remember that."
"I understand," Dominic replied.
They continued deeper through the corridors. More chambers and monsters.
Every time something appeared Felix killed it with ease.
Dominic understands fully now why explorers of the Labyrinth needed power. And why most people feared the Labyrinth.
Eventually, after clearing another cluster of creatures, they reached a circular stone structure embedded in the wall.
Felix pressed both hands against the stone and pushed. The ancient mechanism groaned as the circular door slowly rotated open.
A thin draft slipped through the widening gap. Cool and fresh air carrying the scent of soil and grass. Nothing like the dead, stagnant air of the Labyrinth.
Dominic drew a sharp breath. It felt like stepping out of a nightmare.
Light spilled through as the opening widened fully.
Felix stepped out first, scanning the surroundings with practiced caution before giving a brief nod.
Only then did Dominic follow him into the open air, the weight of the Labyrinth falling away behind him.
—