The transition wasn't sudden.
It wasn't a fall, nor a gate of light.
It was a slow change… as if the place itself were rotting around them.
The walls behind them melted away, and the ground turned into a wide, uneven passage—its floor sticky, dark, as though coated with a thin layer of dried blood.
Then… they saw them.
Corpses.
At first one… then two… then dozens.
Adventurers, warriors, mages—some still wearing magnificent armor, others carrying nothing but rusted daggers.
Entrails were scattered, arms severed, heads tilted at impossible angles.
The faces… they weren't merely the faces of the dead, but faces of torment. Mouths frozen open as if they had screamed until they tore, eyes locked in a moment of pure terror.
Kaelen stopped suddenly.
He stared at one of the corpses, then slowly knelt.
"This… this one was from the first group. I remember him."
Elenios didn't reply immediately. He was examining the walls, the floor, even the air. Something here was more wrong than usual.
Elryas spoke in a low voice:
"Monsters didn't kill them."
The father turned to him.
"And how do you know?"
Elryas pointed at the chest of one of the dead. It wasn't pierced, nor ripped by claws.
"This… is a sword strike. Clean. Human."
Silence fell.
Kaelen clenched his fist.
"Did… did they kill each other?"
Elenios finally answered, his tone cold:
"No. Daymas killed them… by their own hands."
They moved on.
The deeper they went, the fresher the bodies became. Some of the blood hadn't dried yet.
And in one corner, they found something worse.
Three adventurers tangled together…
Two had their swords buried in the chest of the third, while the third had a dagger buried in one of their throats.
As if they had all stopped at the same instant.
Kaelen swallowed hard.
"What did the labyrinth show them… to drive them to this?"
Elenios stepped closer, bent slightly, and touched the ground.
Then he said:
"This level does not test fear."
He lifted his head, eyes narrowed.
"It tests choice under pressure."
Suddenly… a sound was heard.
Not a roar. Not a scream.
But crying.
Soft, broken crying, coming from ahead.
The three advanced cautiously until they reached a relatively open hall.
In the center… sat a young man. Alive.
His clothes were torn, his hands covered in blood, his head buried between his knees.
Kaelen stepped forward instinctively.
"He's alive!"
Elenios grabbed him immediately.
"Stop."
The young man slowly raised his head. His face was pale, his eyes unfocused.
"Don't come closer… please…"
Elryas asked:
"Who did this?"
The young man let out a short, hysterical laugh, then began to cry.
"I… I did."
Kaelen shouted:
"What?!"
The young man pointed behind him.
There… stood a massive mirror, half of it shattered, half still standing.
"It showed me… my brother. He told me they would abandon me. That they planned to get rid of me. I saw them laughing…"
His voice began to tremble.
"I didn't want to… but when I looked at them… I couldn't see them as they were anymore."
Elenios stepped closer.
"And what did you see?"
The young man lifted his eyes.
They were the eyes of a broken mind.
"I saw… monsters."
At that moment, the mirror moved.
Cracks spread, and the reflective surface began to writhe.
Elenios said with lethal calm:
"Stay away from the mirror."
But Kaelen… didn't hear.
He was staring at his reflection.
He saw himself… standing over corpses.
He saw himself… raising the amulet, Elryas lying at his feet.
He saw himself… smiling.
He stumbled back.
"This… isn't me."
The mirror whispered:
"But it is possible."
Suddenly, distorted copies emerged from it—not complete, but fleshy shadows, their features constantly shifting.
Elryas shouted:
"These are… reflections of our possible selves!"
One of the copies lunged at Kaelen.
Elenios moved instantly. His sword split the shadow in two—but the body didn't fall. It divided into two.
He shouted sharply:
"Don't kill them! Every strike… creates another possibility!"
The copies began to surround them.
Kaelen screamed:
"Then what do we do?!"
Elenios looked at the mirror.
"We shut the source."
But the mirror wasn't something that could be easily destroyed. It was part of the level itself.
Elryas stepped forward, his gaze steady.
"This isn't a mirror. It's judgment."
Then, for the first time, he lowered his weapon.
He said clearly:
"I am ready to see the worst version of myself… without running."
The copies froze for a moment.
The mirror glowed, and within it appeared Elryas…
Killing his father.
No deception. No distortion.
The truth as his soul feared it.
Kaelen gasped.
"Elryas…!"
But Elryas didn't look away.
"Yes. This is a possibility. But it is not a choice."
Then he said:
"Daymas, if you are testing us… then listen."
He raised his voice.
"We are not slaves to our possibilities."
The mirror began to crack.
The copies screamed and dissolved like smoke.
The surviving young man collapsed unconscious.
The three stood in the hall, breathing heavily.
Kaelen said hoarsely:
"This place… turns us into enemies of ourselves."
Elenios replied:
"And those who survive… are the ones who know when to stop fighting."
The walls shifted again.
A new passage opened—narrower, darker, colder.
And before they entered, a final inscription appeared on the wall behind them:
"Those who survive here… will not leave as they entered."
The three looked at one another.
Then they went in.
And the labyrinth… smiled.
I never liked gates that open after silence.
Silence in Daymas does not mean safety… it means anticipation.
The dark crimson light before me—and Neil—was unstable, pulsing as if it were breathing with us. I felt the labyrinth watching us now with a different kind of interest… not as prey, but as something that had survived more than expected.
My hand went to the hilt of my sword without thinking.
Neil stood beside me, his shoulders tense, but his eyes no longer avoided what lay ahead.
"Is this… the next level?"
I answered,
"Yes. And after what we've been through… it won't be an ordinary test."
We stepped through the gate.
The light vanished the moment we crossed.
There was no darkness… but the absence of sound.
No footsteps. No breathing. Not even an inner echo.
I opened my mouth to speak… and heard nothing.
Neil noticed immediately and opened his mouth to shout, but froze when he realized the truth.
The silence here was not emptiness…
It was a restraint.
The corridor was long and straight, its walls dull gray, devoid of any reflection. No mirrors. No shadows.
As if Daymas were saying: enough confronting the past… now we strip you of the present.
Neil tried to signal with his hand.
I nodded: stay close.
Then… I felt it.
Not danger.
But the absence of something.
I stopped suddenly.
Neil turned toward me, confused.
I placed a hand on my chest.
No pain. No wound.
But the power I was used to feeling… was silent.
The shadows no longer whispered.
The sword felt heavier.
My body… ordinary.
I whispered within myself:
So this is the test.
Daymas does not take power directly.
It removes reliance on it.
The Silent Entity
At the end of the corridor, a small circular chamber appeared.
And at its center… one thing.
A statue.
A human form without features—smooth surface, no eyes, no mouth.
Yet I felt its gaze.
As we approached, words carved at its feet appeared:
"Those who cannot speak… must be understood."
Neil looked at me, then at the statue, then struck his chest with his fist. I am here. What do you want?
The statue moved.
Not a step… but a transformation.
The smooth surface split, revealing two forms within:
One resembled me… without a sword, without shadows.
The other resembled Neil… but larger, sturdier, stripped of fear.
I understood instantly.
This wasn't combat.
It was replacement.
The version of me raised its hand. It didn't speak, but the message was clear:
Give up your role… and I will take it.
Neil froze.
The other version approached him and gently placed a hand on his head:
You no longer need him.
Something stirred inside me.
Not anger… but pure fear.
Not fear of death.
But fear of being unnecessary.
The Decision
I couldn't scream.
I couldn't attack.
So I did the one thing Daymas didn't expect.
I stepped back.
I raised my hand and looked directly at Neil.
I spoke—not with sound, but with a look, with memory, with everything we had been through.
You are not here because you are weak.
And I am not here because I am strong.
Neil understood.
He clenched his fist, nodded firmly, then shoved the version before him back.
The statue trembled.
The version that looked like me began to crack.
Daymas does not like this kind of refusal.
Quiet refusal… without battle.
Sound returned suddenly.
All at once.
A sharp scream tore through the chamber.
The statue exploded into dust.
We fell to our knees, gasping.
Sound returned.
Sensation returned.
But… not as before.
I rose slowly.
Neil looked at me.
"I feel… like something has changed."
I answered,
"Yes."
I placed a hand on my chest.
"My strength alone is no longer enough."
On the opposite wall, a new passage appeared.
This time, it bore only one inscription:
"From now on… no one survives alone."
I looked at Neil.
Then we entered.
Daymas…
Had begun to change its rules.