Uruvi yelled out loud in frustration. She had been walking and walking, leaving behind a trail of marks at every turn she took. Not once did she return to a point she had already been to, nor did she manage to find either of her allies. The landscape continued to evolve, from narrow alleys to a rotting cityscape, before regressing back to thin lanes that at times triggered her claustrophobia.

  “I have been at this for hours! Where the hell am I supposed to go?”

  She fell back onto the ground, spreading her arms and legs, staring into the grey sky above. Walls that closed her in seemed to go on forever. The labyrinth continued to move and change, seemingly trapping her in an infinite loop.

  “If there is some logic to this place, I am clueless.” She was always terrible with puzzles in video games, many times having to refer to guides to solve them. “Arya, please give me some help. Any help.”

  “Negative. No information on the labyrinth is available.”

  “Oh, come on. Usually, these domains have some help provided. A tip or a suggestion.”

  “Suggestion. Labyrinths use illusions to trap those inside. Look beyond the illusions to escape the maze.”

  “Huh? Illusions? You mean to say there were exits hiding in plain sight?”

  “Affirmative. Monsters within the labyrinth also use illusion to trick their prey.”

  “Well, I guess that Chest monster did trick us with an illusion. But if there are hidden paths, that just makes this a whole lot harder.”

  She wondered for a moment if she should just stay put and let the others find her. She had concluded they had more brains than she had. “No. I am going to end up melting my brain if I don’t do anything.”

  She sat up straight once again and crossed her legs. “Okay. Let’s think through this once again.” She had tried to take the same path as before, hoping to circle back to where she had split up from her gang. However, when that strategy failed, she had been taking random turns, while making sure not to circle back. There were no patterns or rhythm to the way these paths progressed.

  After using up a good amount of brain power, an idea dawned upon her. “Should I backtrack?” She recalled taking a turn into an alley in an urban cityscape. Since then, she had been trapped in narrow alleys. “If I follow the marks I made, I should be able to get back. That is, if the marks I left are still there.”

  She saw no reason not to try. Hopping back on her feet, she trotted back the way she came until an intersection where she had made a right turn. She saw that the mark she had made was still there. “Okay. This might work.”

  She followed the trail of marks back into the street, lined with houses. She let out a big sigh of relief, along with an unintentional chuckle. “Thank god... Now then.” She looked ahead and saw that the street stretched on with more houses lining each side. “I hope this works.”

  As she continued, she came across more splits in her path, asking her to dive back into alleys or continue on in the cityscape. She always chose the path that stuck to the cityscape. Occasionally, she ran into a swarm of monsters made up mostly of Pisacha and occasionally a Pisachi. She made quick work of them and continued forward.

  The landscape continued to morph with the buildings surrounding her taking various shapes and sizes. She kept an eye out for any hidden passages, asking Arya to scan for any, but found none.

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  “Arya, I'm starting to think there are no hidden passages.”

  “Affirmative. No passages found so far.”

  She felt a bit frustrated with her assistant but said nothing. Suddenly, the street before her opened up into a massive open area. At the center, there was a building she was all too familiar with, but not something she expected to see in a Dungeon. It was a temple, more specifically a Hindu temple, with a towering narrow pyramid called Gopuram, over the entrance gate. The tower was decorated with statues of deities, who were supposed to be dead in this world.

  “What? What is this doing here?” she said out loud.

  An ember of light appeared before her. It grew larger and larger, taking the shape of a human with no face. She took a step back and pulled up her axe, ready to throw down.

  “My child. Fear not, for it is I. You have been brave in these trying times. Allow me to assist you in your escape from this eternal torment,” said the light, in a soothing male voice.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Don’t you recognize me, blessed one?”

  She squinted her eyes, trying to see if it had a face. “No. I don’t. There are like what? 33 Gods?”

  “Look within yourself, and you will know who I am.”

  A smirk appeared on her face as she swung her axe at the being. “Illusions! Your trick might have worked had I been a little more religious!”

  The light immediately shrank into a ball and flew into the grey sky before disappearing.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “New enemy detected. Astaya Deva. Malevolent spirits that trick beings by pretending to be the voice of gods.”

  “Well, that is a new one.” She looked at the temple once again and found the statues had morphed into strange and disfigured shapes. “And that is just disturbing.”

  A large dark shadow was cast over her. Her senses kicked into high gear, and she immediately leapt forward, out of the shadow. A massive sword crashed into the concrete floor, sending chunks of cement flying. She rolled forward and turned around to see a massive figure draped in heavy armor standing before her. The helmet that sat atop the armor appeared empty on the inside.

  “A bhootha?” she said out loud.

  “Warning! New enemy detected. Meka Yantra. Soulless mechanical beings that are used by the system to act as guards.”

  “Meka…? Short for mechanical? How interesting…”

  The number 10 appeared above its head with a full health bar beneath it.

  The Yantra picked up its massive blade and stepped forward. Its movement felt stiff and predefined, almost mechanical. It charged at her, throwing a series of slashes with its Greatsword. She dodged them with ease, as her speed was far superior. She dropped beneath its massive body and struck the torso with her axe. The Yantra staggered back, nearly falling over. Its health shrunk by 10 percent. ‘It is slow and pretty weak. Easy pickings!’ She maintained a distance whenever it attacked and leapt at it with a flurry of strikes whenever an opportunity presented itself. She managed to chip away at the monster’s health bar before delivering a final blow to its torso. The strike was powerful enough to break the machine, its armor dismantled and scattered onto the ground before her.

  “Well… that was something.”

  Just as she completed her sentence, the pieces of the armor began moving. As if they were strung together by strings, they pulled towards each other and reassembled in the blink of an eye. The Yantra picked up its sword, and the health bar began to refill, stopping at 70 percent.

  “Are you kidding me!”

  The battle continued as she found herself fighting the Yantra over and over again. After her fourth battle, the armor finally turned to dust, leaving her sweating and out of breath. “Well. That is one annoying enemy. It may be weak. But man, it's annoying!”

  She scanned her surroundings and found multiple exits, all leading in different directions. “Wonderful… What do I do now?"

  Her eyes were drawn towards the temple once again. She followed the tower until she reached the top, when she was struck by an idea. She dashed into the temple’s entrance and found herself in an empty hall with a low-hanging ceiling. “Dammit!” she cursed out loud.

  Trotting back outside, she began to scale the tower. Climbing over the steep stories, each one being just as tall as her. 13 stories later, she stood on top of the tower and found herself looking over the labyrinth. She let out a hearty laughter, for she felt like she had managed to cheat the system.

  “Let’s see now…” She scanned the surrounding maze and found a massive stone door at a distance. “Is that it? Arya, is that the exit?”

  “Affirmative. That is the exit to the dungeon.”

  “Arya, take note.” She began to narrate the sequence of turns she needed to make to reach the end. Her eyes searched for any signs of her companions but found nothing. ‘God. I hope they find a way out too!’