I woke up after fainting a few hours ago. Thankfully, my body seemed unharmed, though a faint sting on the arch of my foot made it hard to stand. The once blue sky had now turned pitch black, and the viridescent plains I was previously standing on were now unrecognizable. In front of me was a dark, empty hallway, and the walls seemed to be made out of decaying concrete that crumbled beneath my fingertips whenever I leaned for balance. I could feel it about to crumble from my weight. The foul stench of stagnant water filled the air, invading my nostrils, which seemed to originate from the constant sound of droplets of water hitting the ground as they formed a small puddle.
"Where the hell am I?" It was the only thought that roamed around my mind.
The echo of my footsteps reverberated through the corridor. Every few seconds, I could swear I heard another set of steps, echoing through the walls. My pulse spiked, and I pressed myself against the wall, careful not to crumble it further, while trying to make out the direction of the sound.
Then a familiar voice broke through the silence.
"Vimar!"
My breath caught in my throat. I turned toward the sound, and from behind the veil of shadows, a faint pink glow emerged, the unmistakable color of Chell's hoodie. She looked worn, her eyes seemed grayish, and the tip of her horns faintly cracked.
"Chell... thank god. I thought you-"
"Don't. We don't have time for that stuff." She looked around, taking off her hoodie and wrapping it around her hips. "Something's wrong with the world. Everything around us feels artificial. Before you woke up, I broke one of the walls with my fist. But after a couple of minutes, it regenerated. I can't sense Von's presence anymore. However, as I roamed, I found the spruce tree we marked for guidance."
My heart raced at the realization. "You don't mean to say..."
"Our location hasn't moved. But our environment has."
I swallowed hard, replaying the last few moments I remembered. Von was using his 6th arm to hold his eyes in place as we stood in front of him. Chell was wielding a sword, and I was preparing to cast a protection veil, then suddenly, I fell to the ground, my legs gave up, and my eyes seemed to close on their own, before I lost consciousness. I saw... A man?
"Do you think this is Von's doing or another demon?"
"What kind of demon has this power? Only a throne could pull off a domain of this scale, even then, its body must be paralyzed from the sheer amount of energy to pull this off."
"Well, what if it were the doing of a throne?"
"Impossible. Samudh wouldn't even think of doing this. Tholin has been dormant for weeks in the Siberian forest. Audyt is under our control. Vitness..."
I rested my chin on my hand as I got lost in thought. "Could Vitness do this? When was the last record of him?"
"It's unlikely that he would summon a domain, but it remains a possibility. Although our records mentioned he was last seen across the southern sea."
"And Von had already engaged in battle with us, if there's one thing I know about him, they don't mess around when it comes to the conventions of combat. They wouldn't pull off such a scummy move like this."
The floor trembled under us, and the walls pulsed faintly. We could hear the concrete regenerating itself. The stench of rot deepened.
"So, this is a labyrinth," I murmured, looking down the endless, splitting corridors.
"Yeah, seems like it. We seem to be trapped inside a demon's domain. And really annoying one at that."
For a moment, neither of us spoke. Just the drip of water, and the echo of something, something breathing in the dark.
"This place is giving me a really bad vibe." My legs had begun to shake as I leaned in closer and closer to Chell, seeking some company in the narrow labyrinth.
"It's alright. I've walked here for hours, and there seems to be no danger, even though I understand you, this place really looks depressing."
The walls seemed to have a heartbeat, a slow, steady one. Almost inaudible, but when you leaned in close enough, you could feel it, rising and lowering, with a soft echoing thud.
"This is all my fault. I-If I had cast the spell fast enough, we'd have been protected from any attack, we wouldn't have gotten ambushed like that." Chell shushed me before I could continue apologizing.
"There's no point in being stuck in the past. We need to find an escape of some sort."
A high-pitched ring came from Chell's left arm; her COMP was ringing, the screen read, "Xena". Chell pressed the screen, and a hologram popped up; it was her. Her facial features were unmistakable, with messy hair, a ponytail on the back, and her characteristic pointy ears.
"Xena! You won't guess what we got into! It's such a relief to see you're alright, we need some assistance!"
"I was actually calling you because of that."
Chell and I stopped on our tracks. "What do you mean?"
"The entire planet has been engulfed by that demon's domain."
My eyebrows rose as my eyes grew in size from the sheer shock. "The whole world!?"
"The committee of the United Nations has issued a global-scale demon attack; every demon hunter association is being sent out to search for the demon's core."
"Should we engage in the search too?" Asked Chell, and she seemed far more composed than I.
"No. Karelos and I will go search for you, as we believe you might be the closest hunters to the demon's core. Unfortunately, Hyde won't be able to help us as he's currently investigating the maze's nature. If he manages to find a pattern, we'll reach you in no time."
The sting in my arch seemed to reach my shin.
"Great. We'll remain idle until you reach our destination."
Karelos took control of Xena's hologram, his unkept curly hair almost covering his eyes, and both of them were dripping with blood. "I've been looking at the flow of negative energy. It all seems to be heading to your location. Please, remain still, you might be right next to the core without knowing. And be careful, the domain is causing the flow of negativity to concentrate around people; we aren't sure what that means, but it can't be good. And if you see a man with a missing cheek. Run-!" The call cut off, but we managed to understand the last sentence Karelos had said. His voice was one of distress, probably more worried than both Chell and me.
"Missing cheek? How does that work?"
"I'm unsure, but we should listen to Karelos." Chell sat down on the ground, resting her back against a wall.
"We should rest, we'll be here for a while. I did some calculations; if they were to walk all the way here, it could take them up to 4 hours to reach us."
I sat down next to Chell, letting out a sigh of relief. The sting in my leg didn't seem to go away, but it didn't matter; I felt safe. But I really wish I could go back in time and live a normal life, once again.