"So… what now?" Zero asked.
Orrin was in thought for a few seconds. "We finally made it out of that long corridor, but now we have to choose between three paths…"
"Do you think they lead to any other corridors?" Zero turned towards Orrin.
"Possibly…"
"Wait!" Zero said. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what? Have you finally gone insane? Are the hits you took from the double-beak still affecting you?" Orrin was clearly irritated.
"No!" Zero said. "Well… they actually are affecting me. But I really do hear something!"
Orrin sighed. "Hear what?"
"Footsteps… two people from the path on the left."
"Well I don't hear anything. It must be your imagination."
Zero then walked to the path on the left and stood in front of it.
"ANYBODY THERE!?" Zero shouted at the top of his lungs.
"YES! ARE YOU ANOTHER PARTICIPANT?" A girl's voice came from the path.
"YES! THERE ARE TWO OF US!"
Then, a figure emerged.
One of them was a girl, she had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail and her eyes were black.
"You're alone? I was sure I heard another person as well…" Zero looked behind the girl, thinking he'll find someone else. "Looks like you're alone…"
"Boo!"
Zero was startled, not knowing where the voice came from.
"What the hell!" Zero said.
"Oh calm down, you idiot! It's just a noctryne!" Orrin said.
"Noctryne? What's that?" Zero asked, turning to Orrin.
Orrin sighed. "Noctryne are a race of people that can go invisible. I know people of your class lacked education, but to this extent?"
"He's right!" A black haired boy suddenly appeared infront of Zero out of nowhere, his eyes were purple and there were bags under his eyes. It was the noctryne.
Zero jumped back as a reflex. "Oh… so that's all? That's a relief!"
The girl then spoke up. "Have you two found a way out of this labyrinth?"
Orrin and Zero looked at eachother, confused.
"Labyrinth? What labyrinth?" Orrin went into thought.
"Huh? You guys didn't know this was a labyrinth? How can you not know after taking so many complicated paths?" The noctryne boy spoke.
"Complicated paths?" Zero pointed toward the corridor he and Orrin came from. "There was only a straight path for us."
"For us and everyone we've seen, there have been many branching paths, so you two must've started off in a very long corridor of the labyrinth." The girl said.
"If that's the case, we can avoid searching there, as they just confirmed that there's no exit there." The noctryne boy turned to Orrin and Zero. "Basically, everyone was transported to a random area in the labyrinth, and I'm pretty sure everyone is in teams of two or three. I'm pretty sure you didn't know that since you were in that corridor."
Orrin turned to the Noctryne boy. "I see… then may I propose an alliance?"
"An alliance? Why should we?" The girl asked.
"I'm guessing you two saw a few aberrants or obstacles in the labyrinth, yeah? Won't they be easier to defeat if there's four of us?" Zero looked at the girl. "Besides… what's there to lose?"
"They have a point…" The noctryne boy admitted.
"But what if they betray us?" The girl didn't really trust Zero and Orrin.
"We have no reason to do that. I give you my word as a noble." Orrin said.
The girl looked at the noctryne boy before speaking. "Fine, we're in."
"Great! Now we have to decide which path to take." Zero started thinking. "You two came from the left path, and we came from that long corridor, so we can avoid those."
"How about the right path?" The noctryne boy asked.
"Sure I guess…" Zero replied. "Everyone agrees?"
Both Orrin and the girl nodded.
They entered the path on the right, it was wide enough for them to walk side-by-side.
It wasn't like the dungeon from before, as this path didn't have any cells.
They didn't walk for long before reaching a room.
This room was also circular, with five chairs made of stone coming out of the ground, forming a circle in the middle of the room. There was a hole in the middle.
"Finally! Some place I can rest and recover!" Zero sat down on one of the chairs.
"Wait, you idiot! It could be a trap!" Orrin shouted. "Oh well…" Orrin also sat down. "It's surprisingly comfortable for something made of stone…."
The girl and the noctryne boy sat down as well.
"I suppose we should introduce ourselves now." The girl spoke. "My name is Nyra, and I come from the noble family of Vire."
"My name's Hollow, and I come from a noctryne tribe."
"Orrin, from the noble house of Arkwright."
"Zero… street rat."
Nyra's face showed disgust for a short moment before wiping it away.
Suddenly, a massive stone door dropped infront of the path they came from.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Zero immediately sat up to inspect the stone door.
"There's no way past it! There's not even a keyhole!"
"It's probably the examiner's doing!" Orrin said. "I guess he wants us to go in there…" He looked at the hole in the middle of the room.
"You sure? Maybe there's some other way out." Hollow looked around the room. "Nope…"
Nyra approached the hole, looking down. "Let's see what's down there…" She couldn't see a thing. "It's pitch black."
"Guess we only have one choice now…" Zero jumped down the hole.
"Wait! Are you insane!?" Orrin sighed before jumping down as well.
Hollow and Nyra followed.
It didn't take long before Zero hit a soft surface.
Then the rest did aswell.
"It's pitch black!" Zero tried to observe his surroundings, but he couldn't.
"What did we land on? It feels like fur…" Hollow felt uneasy.
"No idea! None of us can see shit!" Zero said.
But then, a growl could be heard.
"That doesn't sound too friendly…" Orrin said.
Torches suddenly lit up the dark room.