If I were in my regular body on earth, I would only be able to hold on for a minute before feeling the intense burn of my muscles screaming for relief. But here in this world, holding on wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Although my forearms were starting to feel the strain, I knew I could hold on for at least another ten minutes before my body gave out. The burning sensation was manageable, and the time allowed me to focus on my next move.

  I released my grip and plunged downward toward the next handhold, which was roughly 10 feet away. I intended to drop and grasp it, relying on my heightened ability and strength to execute the risky move. As I reached for the handle, I managed to grab it, but couldn’t secure my grip and slipped past, only slowing down slightly. Despite my efforts to find another handhold, my fingers could only scrape the wall, and I landed on the walkway with a jarring impact, nearly losing my balance and falling off the side. Saresh quickly tugged on the rope, steadying my body, keeping me from plunging off the edge.

  The hit to the floor wasn’t as bad as I expected. The pain was sharp, but I only damaged my tailbone and fractured my wrist. My fingers were bloody, but that was barely an inconvenience. It wouldn’t take too long to heal, and all I had to do was ignore the pain until then. As I got up gingerly, I said, “Thanks for not running.”

  “I was going to for a moment, but this rope is tied a little too tight,” Saresh said honestly, and he was slightly abashed.

  I was glad he admitted it. I felt it was a step toward trusting him. If I had been in the same position, I would have done the same. If the Goblins had looked up, they would have only seen me because I was still on the wall. He would have been hidden since he was on a higher bridge than they were.

  I did not think that if he ran, it would have been out of malice but out of practicality. I could have scolded him for the slight, but now that we were in someone else’s territory, I felt it was better to have an ally than an enemy.

  “Nah. You were trying to hide so we wouldn’t be seen. You also saved me from falling off,” I replied, pulling out from my pouch the sword he had on him when we met, and handed it over.

  He took it and said, “I only thought if you went over, you would have taken me with you.”

  If I went straight into the abyss, the rope would have eventually gone taut at its lowest point. The sudden force of the rope tightening and my weight could have pulled him down into the abyss with me.

  “Yes, more than likely.” I smiled as I thought he realized what I had. “But to be truthful, we both have a better chance of surviving together. You got my back, and I got yours.”

  Saresh smiled. “How do you think we can get out of here?”

  “I am guessing we need to go up two floors, and there will be an exit,” I said, pointing out that there were only two walkways above us and an unknown number below.

  “I meant besides the obvious,” Saresh said. “Since we can’t go up, should we go this way or that way?” Saresh pointed to the two directions of the walkway. One of them led slightly toward where the Goblins came from, and the other one led somewhat toward the lightning traps.

  “Possible traps or possible Goblins? I am not sure which is worse. Do you have any Trap Detection Skill?” I asked.

  “None. Do you?” He said.

  “Nope.”

  “But now you speak Goblin,” replied Saresh. “Gosh, I wish I had that Ability. I had spent most of my life learning other languages. I have never heard of such an Ability before.”

  “Okay, toward the Goblins then.” At my words, we headed in that direction after carefully untying and storing the rope. Removing the knots had been more challenging than expected, and it dawned on me that I needed to learn more about knots. In this low-technology world, it seemed like something that would keep coming up.

  Since we were in a spiral, the pathways didn’t move in the same direction as the Goblins, but in an offshoot at a roughly 20% angle. The pathway we were on appeared to be deserted and devoid of any sound or movement. Despite the silence, we moved stealthily and cautiously, treading lightly to avoid drawing attention. After about a minute, the painstakingly slow pace began to wear on my nerves. The tedium of our stealthy approach dissipated after we reached a door in just a few minutes.

  With a cautious hand, I pushed the heavy door a crack open.

  A beam of warm light flooded the hallway, illuminating the darkness and casting long shadows across the walls. It was a stark contrast to the frigid air and musty smell that lingered within the hallway. The warmth from outside wafted in, chasing away the chill that had settled in our bones during our journey.

  We had finally found the exit, and the relief washed over me like a wave.

  We maintained our cautious approach, leaving the door slightly unlatched while listening intently for any sounds from beyond. After a minute of silence, I cautiously widened the opening, peering through to check for any guards on the other side.

  To my relief, there was a small staircase leading up. We crept through the doorway, carefully closing it behind us and crouching low to the ground to avoid detection. The sudden brightness outside temporarily blinded me, but my eyes quickly adjusted to the light.

  Since we couldn’t see anyone there, we thought we were safe. With bated breath, we crept up the stairs, anticipation building with every step. The brilliant sunlight and the blue sky above were a welcome respite from the darkness and confinement of the city. The beauty of the outside world was overwhelming, and for a moment, I allowed myself to revel in the freedom of the open air.

  But my joy was short-lived, as Rabbit’s warning shattered my moment of bliss.

  “We aren’t outside,” Rabbit exclaimed.

  “I can see the sun,” I argued.

  “That’s not the sun. That sun you see right now would be at about noon as it is directly above us.”

  Shit. I overlooked the time. It had been noon a while ago. But then what was going on?

  Instead of looking up, I focused on the vast landscape stretching out before me. It felt as if we were standing in the heart of an endless field. The mountain I had started in was gone, and the snowy peaks of the northern range were nowhere to be seen. In every direction, a variety of crops sprang from the soil, vibrant and abundant, while a babbling brook wound through the center, nourishing the fertile earth. Clusters of tall trees dotted the horizon, and a tranquil meadow lay ahead, as if inviting us to rest there for a while.

  Near the cropland, I could see an innumerable number of Goblins. It was clear that we were vastly outnumbered. I quickly ducked my head below the top stair to avoid being spotted.

  “There are Goblins,” I whispered out loud so Saresh could hear me.

  “Do you know where we are?” He questioned.

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  “No, but the sun is in the wrong location, and all of the mountains are gone. I am not sure what that means.”

  Saresh looked around at my words. He only put his head above the stairs for a moment, but it was enough for him to understand. “I think we are in another world.”

  Those words set my mind ablaze. “I thought the only way to reach another world was through the Labyrinth, and that’s extremely dangerous?”

  I knew a bit about traveling between worlds as it had always been my primary goal. If he had information on how to bypass that and get me directly home, I was more than willing to listen. Even if Goblins found us, I would be prodding him for answers as we ran. Fortunately, it seemed no one had noticed us yet.

  Seeing the seriousness on my face, he chose his words carefully. “Sorry, I meant part of another world.” At my raised brow, he realized I wasn’t going to be satisfied with that and launched into a lecture. “Most people think the Labyrinth is just a door between places, with some kind of dungeon in between. But what’s between those places? The top scholars theorize that these are fragments of other worlds.”

  “So the gateway between worlds is made of other worlds?”

  “Not entire worlds but just pieces of them. From what we’ve learned from the ‘gift of three,’ all worlds were once one. There used to be bridges between them, and anyone could travel freely. Then a great calamity, or perhaps a great war, took place. It’s unclear because both are referenced. The Ancients, who guide travelers to this world, broke up the pathways so the calamity couldn’t spread.”

  “If they mixed everything up, wouldn’t that just make it easier for the calamity to spread?”

  “No, that’s the brilliance of it. They took the connections, pieces of different worlds, and strung them together so that every road now leads to this world. This means there’s no magic in the greater universe, but magic is channeled through the Labyrinth. It uses that power to make the journey between worlds more difficult.”

  “So that means it’ll be harder for me to get back to my world,” I murmured to myself.

  Saresh’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re a traveler?” At my nod, he continued. “Sorry, but you’re not getting home. Like I said, it’s intentionally designed to be difficult.”

  “That’s what I don’t understand. Even if the challenges between worlds are extreme, wouldn’t the calamity eventually make its way here?”

  “Apparently, it already did. It’s said the Ancients fought alongside all the races against the calamity for some time. In the end, they sacrificed themselves to lock away the disaster with them.”

  “So what is this place? If we are in another world, it’s strange that there were no challenges that prevented us from getting here. I thought reaching other worlds was supposed to be incredibly difficult?”

  “The Ancients often did things like this. Imagine having the power to pull entire chunks off worlds. Wouldn’t you place farmland in the heart of your city? Or if you could draw mana from the universe, why not funnel some of it into a research lab of your own?”

  I had already discovered one of their research labs, and his words were helping me piece things together. The warriors in my vision had fought the Void near a door that led to the Labyrinth. However, they had deliberately kept the battle away from this city, which seemed odd. The city already contained many doors to other worlds, so they must have chosen that location for a specific reason.

  I hadn’t understood why they had put so much effort into creating a soul gem that encompassed everything. But what if it was meant to capture the Void? What if the distance was to keep the city safe? The Void seemed to shift and change, becoming anything. So wouldn’t the only counter to something so boundless be something all-encompassing? A soul gem that was limitless.

  I suppose, in the end, it didn’t really matter, since both the Ancients and the Void were gone from this world. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important. I pushed what I had learned to the back of my mind and focused on the problems we were currently facing.

  “There are plenty of places to hide, and there is more than one entrance from the looks of it,” I said. “We should sneak closer to find out what is going on.”

  Saresh agreed, and we cautiously moved forward, taking cover behind a cluster of bushes. As we drew nearer, the scene before us grew increasingly disconcerting. Initially, I assumed the farmers to be Goblins, but upon closer inspection, I realized I had misjudged them from afar.

  They were smaller than any Goblin I had seen so far, and their faces were hidden behind wide-brimmed hats that seemed to swallow their heads entirely. Beneath the hats, they donned black robes that masked their entire bodies, and only their gloved hands were visible as they tended to the crops. These gloves, once white, were now stained brown from long hours of toiling in the fields. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t discern any distinctive features that might help me identify these strange creatures.

  “What are they?” I asked.

  Instead of Rabbit responding as I expected, Saresh stepped in and spoke, “They are the females.”

  “Like Goblin females? How do you know?” I questioned.

  “The females are smaller and are dominated by males. The male Goblins don’t do menial labor like growing food, cooking, cleaning, or child raising.”

  “What do the males do?” I asked, thinking I already knew the answer.

  “The males mostly kill each other. They are mostly warriors. This race has a hierarchy system based on dominance. The leader is usually the strongest Goblin, and their whole system works that way. If you want something from someone, you kill them and take it.”

  “That wouldn’t work,” I rebutted. “A community cannot survive like that. Society would break down if everyone killed everyone for what they wanted.”

  "That might be the case if there weren’t people at the bottom. As I mentioned, the women are the ones doing the work, and they aren’t armed or trained to kill each other. It’s a hierarchy. I’m sure there are men at the bottom who don’t want to die, so they follow orders. It’s an interesting society," Saresh remarked quietly. "My father often compared it to our own culture, and in many ways, he was right. The strong tend to take from the weak. But he believed the key difference between us was our ability to work together. In that way, groups dominate other groups, rather than individuals taking from one another." He paused, watching my reaction closely.

  I considered his words. There was some truth to them, but enough gray areas that I couldn’t entirely agree. “What about the women?” I responded. “They’re an entire group being dominated.”

  “Because they’re the weakest. Goblins don’t see them as people, more like property,” Saresh added, and his words stirred a rising anger within me.

  As I observed the treatment of Goblin women, I couldn’t help but wonder about the cultural norms and values of this society. Were they truly treating these individuals like property, or was it simply a matter of differing cultural perspectives? It was easy to judge from our own point of view, finding something unfamiliar to be strange or even wrong. However, we must also acknowledge that some cultures could be brutal.

  For instance, the Aztecs used to sacrifice members of other tribes to their gods, a practice considered heinous in any era. However, to them, it was a deeply held belief. Ultimately, I realized the question wasn’t whether their customs were strange, but whether they caused harm to others. In the case of the Aztecs, they sacrificed people. In the case of the Goblins, they treated women as property, and I couldn’t stand by and watch without understanding the situation better.

  “Why don’t they fight back?” I asked, my voice rising with urgency.

  “How? Trust me, I disagree with it, but that’s just how their society works. The females are weaker but far more numerous. Even without weapons, they could probably overwhelm the men, but they lack the will. Those who try to resist are brutalized. I won’t even go into what happens to them. Any female would prefer death over that kind of torture.” Saresh’s expression darkened, clearly pained to talk about it.

  “How many more females than males are there?” I asked, a flicker of hope in my voice.

  “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe two to one? Maybe ten to one? I have no clue. The men often kill each other in fights for dominance or defending territory from outside threats. The females owned by those men are then spread among the survivors. Of course, the winner of these fights often claims at least one ‘prize bride.’ Those in power end up with the most. But isn’t that how most societies treat something they view as valuable property?” Saresh explained, and my stomach turned. Not only were the female Goblins treated like property, but they were regarded as brides.

  I pushed aside the disturbing thoughts and asked, “Why are they wearing those things? Are they forced to wear them?”

  “It's because of the sun.” Saresh pointed straight up. “Goblins don’t live above ground because they’re sensitive to light. It’s too bright for them, and the sun would burn their skin. This place functions much like the outside, maybe even better for growing food. Now imagine you’re a Goblin who hates the sunlight. Who would you assign the work to? The lowest members of your society. The ones you wouldn’t mind stuffing into bags that heat up all day while they slave away for you. I guess they wear those coverings voluntarily because, without them, they’d be sunburned and mostly blinded by the light. There’s one not wearing it in the stockades,” he added, pointing through the bushes we were hiding behind toward a corner where a long wooden beam with holes for hands and neck stood.

  There was a Goblin there, but I couldn’t make out many details from this distance. Her skin was almost black, so I hadn’t noticed her at first.

  “Are all the females that dark?” I asked.

  “Nope. The parts that aren’t exposed to the sun are probably green. It looks like her skin is burning away,” Saresh replied.

  Just as Saresh finished speaking, a sharp whistle pierced the air, cutting through the stillness. The Goblins began to stir, their movements sudden and chaotic, as if some unspoken signal had jolted them into action.