The Shift
We keep running further into Chris's crib, and pass broken crates of supplies, makeshift hammocks and sleeping bags, the remnants of a fire. It looks lived in, cosy, almost.
"I don't wanna leave this place behind!" Buck protests.
"Do you think the… Labyrinth will shift in here as well?" Swifty asks Tavin. "We've never had this issue yet!"
"Do you want to gamble it?" comes the reply. "We don't know how this place works. Every time we think we understand it, or found a pattern, it'll find a way to throw us off."
"Let's just see," Chris says, skidding to a stop.
We look at the shifting walls behind us, racing closer, and my heart skips a beat.
"We should go," I say nervously.
"No, wait."
The shifting keeps coming, getting closer and closer to the gate with Chris's warning. If they're right, then it'll stop…
It blasts straight past and starts following us, walls splitting into segments and rippling like water.
"Fuck!!" Luc bellows, turning tail. "WHY DID WE STOP FOR YOUR STUPID IDEA!?!?!?"
And suddenly all twenty of us are sprinting full speed, stumbling against each other's heels, pushing and shoving and yelling, and then we reach the end of the cavern.
Now I see what Celeste meant. In front of us is a giant, rusted contraption, clearly out of use for a looong while, a huge slab of aged metal blocking our escape route. Gears the size of wheels, huge levers, pressure plates, wired, pipes and more interlock to form a solid wall between us and freedom.
"What the hell is THAT?" Dread demands.
"The world's worst doorstop," Celeste mumbles.
"Don't dawdle!!" Tavin yells. "Sword, Nyx - you guys know anything?"
Right, I majored in Chrona Engineering - if anyone's gonna solve this one, it'd be me.
Nyx touches my shoulder.
"You haven't forgotten everything, right?" she whispers.
"Wouldn't be surprised if I have," I grit my teeth. "Let's go."
We run to the… machine, and start examining it up and down. This technology's unfamiliar, it feels weirdly advanced, but still more primitive than what we usually use.
"Uh huh… yeah, this would be it…" my brains whirs nonstop as Nyx examines the other side.
"You might want to hurry!!" Chris calls, bouncing up and down.
"Stop rushing us!!" Nyx snaps, fiddling with a lock.
My eyes whiz over the rusted machinery, piecing it together as fast as I can.
"ANYTIME NOW!!" Bryce screeches backstepping as the corridor roars behind us.
"I figured it out!!" I announce. "It's completely dead - we'll all have to work together to give it a kick!"
"Tell us where to go," Krim says, rolling up his sleeves.
"ALL HANDS ON DECK!!" Artee yells, and everyone crowds round.
"WE DO NOT HAVE TIME!!" Neo shrieks, panicking as the walls around us start to ripple and pulse like they're alive.
"THEN HELP!" Tavin roars at him. "Sword!"
"Uh," I say, also panicking. "YOU! Pull that - YOU! Stand on that - KRIM! Hold that - AND YOU-"
I direct everyone as quickly as possible, and for a very, very long few seconds everyone's just straining at the rusted metal. Then Luc grunts and successfully wrenches it into motion, and with a few sparks, metallic grinding, groaning, screeching and squeaking, the slab peels open to reveal a gaping, dark hole.
We've done it.
Chris wipes his forehead, panting. "Haha, look at us, working together like one big happy fam-"
"EVERYONE THROUGH!!" Tavin yells, and someone tramples Chris as we all pile towards the door.
Elemental dives through first, followed by Krim. Neo stumbles over, and I bang my face on something as Nyx pushes me through, Tavin follows after us, Chris jumps in, Mist follows him.
Mist is the last person to barely make it through.
Because as I turn, see Luc's figure framed in the doorway, reaching for me, the other side of the door flips and erupts. The last thing I see if Luc's eyes meeting mine, wide and alarmed, and then he's gone, sucked into a whirlwind of movement, shifting walls and blocks of rock moving.
Once again, the Labyrinth is shifting. Mist loses her footing, but Chris grabs her and pulls her upright.
"GUYS!" Neo screeches, but Tavin grabs him and holds him back.
I stare at the tumult of blurring movement in front of me.
"Luc…?" I say.
"Jora…?" Nyx says.
"DON'T LOSE FOCUS!!" Tavin roars, but it's too late.
Wait… since when did we establish… that we're safe behind the door?
That thought runs through my head for a second, and then the floor disappears beneath my feet and I drop like a stone.
Not my day.
Once again, all sense of direction goes down the toilet. The world becomes a meaningless blur of shouting, screaming, whirling and rumbling, at some point I think I see Artee's silver hair shoot past. Buck yells profanity. Celeste is screaming. Neo's howling. Someone's powerful fingers close around my ankle, and I feel them yanking me along like a sack of potatoes.
And then, in an instant, it's over.
The world snaps back to normality and I hit the cold, hard stone surface, jarring every bone in my body down to the roots of my teeth. The walls settle. Solid ground beneath me.
The second Labyrinth shift is over. Just when we'd gotten a big enough group to feel somewhat safe, we've been split up all over again. This is giving me Crystalline Crawler flashbacks.
I clench my teeth and blink rapidly to clear my head, then try to sit up. There's no strength in my arms and legs and I collapse back to the cold, hard floor.
"Ugggh," I groan.
"Sword," Elemental's voice reaches me, and his strong fingers grip my wrist, hauling me up. "Get up."
He pulls me upright, and gives me water from the pouch on his belt, which I accept gratefully.
"Where are we?" I croak, still massaging my aching shoulders.
He shrugs.
"Same hellhole, that's for sure."
"Oh please," Nyx says somewhere behind me. "Give me some good news for once…"
"Pull yourselves together," a stern and deep tone commands.
Definitely Tavin.
"Give us a moment," Artee retches from right beside me, making me jump since I didn't even notice him.
Someone coughs and gags nearby - six people total, including me, I suppose.
With Tavin encouraging us, we eventually get over the nausea and dizziness from getting flung around - no matter how many times I think about it, I can't figure out how the fuck this place works. Is it a mechanism??? Or some kinda spatial distortion technology?
I don't know, but I have WAYYY bigger worries at hand.
For starters, our current group after the shift is made up of Tavin, me, Nyx, Artee, Elemental and lastly, Kino. Six of us.
"Not gonna lie," Artee says, raising his hands as I point out the meagre number, "this could be very much worse. We have you two with us, so I can at least breath slightly easier, right?"
He motions at Tavin and Elemental, and I can't help but agree.
"But what about the others?" Nyx says nervously. "Oh god, Mist, Leon, Neo, please be okay…"
Neo. Right, Neo. I hope Neo's fine. He went through the door with us but he disappeared instantly… I silently pray that he's with trustworthy teammates, and not all alone in this shitfest of a place.
"Now's not the time to be worrying about the others," Tavin announces, motioning us to gather round. "We should be worrying about ourselves first, about where we are, how to meet back up, and how I'm gonna keep you all alive."
"Doesn't look much different from the rest of the place," Artee states.
He's right - the same bioluminescent moss, glowing blue fungal spores drifting in the air, cold, glistening black rock stretching as far as the eye can see. Except, instead of a solid roof above us, it opens up and stretches far above - almost like a sky.
"We're in a very 'open' area," Tavin observes. "So I'm guessing we've been put somewhere near the top layers, close to the holes we all climbed up."
"That feels so long ago," I say.
So long since I first woke up here, met Neo, shared mouldy food together, suffered from the cold and sleeplessness and pale viper venom, and the arduous climb.
"S-so," Kino says nervously, lifting a hand gingerly, speaking for the first time. "What do we do from here on?"
"Well," Tavin says, pondering for a second. "This split up is not ideal."
"Really?" Elemental mumbles next to me, and I nudge him.
"We've lost most supplies," Artee says. "Krim was carrying most of the scant amount of food we had left."
"Remind me where we even got food from again?" I ask, because I actually forgot.
"We got some from that depot we fought for alongside Krim's group," Elemental reminds me. "Tavin brought all of his rations."
"So," Tavin claps his hands together. "Food and water - almost run out. Head count - six people. Location - upper levels, unknown which one, no exit in sight. Supplies - what supplies?"
"What supplies indeed," Artee mutters, holding up his battered medical-pouch, the contents of which have been pretty much turned to useless paste.
"I feel like it split us up on purpose," Nyx huffs, frustrated. "As soon as we got a big group it acted, and split us all up. As though it's against us."
"We should treat it as such," Tavin agrees. "Let's move. We'll be food for the inhabitants of this place if we don't."
"No complaints here. I don't want to get pulled up on by Airo or some other psycho group."
"Oh, I don't think you should worry about them," Tavin shakes his head. "Right now, people aren't our biggest threat. Trust me."
"They aren't?"
"No. It's too early. We may have had some clashes, but… in the end, as we are, we're all just prey."
"Even-"
"Are you confident against a Thorn-caster Wyrm?"
"…no."
"Then no one else will be either."
We start trekking through the landscape - the place is large enough to be a full-on biome of its own. It feels almost as though I'm outside - the air is open, and there's even a light breeze that blows through my hair and rags. Boulders and rock formations make up the 'forest', creating huge sculptures that tower above us, pushing in on the narrow passageways and gorges that've formed between them. We're all covered in dirt, grime, sweat, cuts and dried blood. It feels so shit. Super shit.
I wanna go home. Have a warm shower, eat some homemade food, and then-
I trip against a rock and almost fall flat on my face.
"My bad," I say sheepishly when everyone stares at me.
"Focus," Tavin warns, and then keeps going.
I suppose he's group leader now. I'm relieved, so relieved that he's here, giving us a direction. But then, I'm ashamed that I'm relieved.
I'm overthinking again. My small brain's gonna explode.
"Where are we going?" I ask. "Do we have a goal in mind… or are we just walking around aimlessly? Shouldn't we be searching for the others?"
"I don't think so," Tavin shakes his head, pushing a curtain of cave moss aside and rubbing the wetness between his fingers. "I don't think it was a coincidence it shifted as soon as we formed a larger group."
"Right," Elemental nods. "It felt too forced - like it was on purpose."
Nyx shivers.
"You mean its actively working to prevent us from forming too large a group?"
"Yes," Tavin agrees. "By two methods - either shifting like this, or sending a… medium."
My jaw clenches. That fucking masked batsman, I'll kill him for sure. While I'm thinking this, I happen to glance behind me and glimpse Kino, and instantly I know he's thought of the same thing as me.
So has everyone else… all with different expressions.
Elemental's hasn't changed. Steadfast, steely, kinda depressed, like he's 'dead inside' or something like that. Tavin's face is hidden as he's a few steps in front of me, leading the group. Artee looks angry, teeth gritted behind lips with fists clenched, like he wants to go out there and beat up the batter right now. Nyx's biting her lower lip, eyes steady and focused, but it's definitely a mask. She's afraid. Well, me too. Who wouldn't be?
Lastly, Kino, he's outright having a breakdown. Sweating, shivering, hyperventilating.
That won't do. If he stays like that… he'll die very soon. He has to get a grip.
I drop back until I'm walking right next to him.
"Kino," I begin, suddenly realizing that I've practically never talked to him, even though we've been together since the start of the Death Game. "You, uh… you good?"
"Yeah," he lies. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're shaking."
"Oh. Yeah- uh, sorry."
He's embarrassed.
"Uhhh, so what'd you do before all… this?"
"Nothin' important," he shrugs.
I decide to press. Just cuz.
"Still."
He shrugs again, for real this time.
"Seriously. Nothin' worth mentionin'. Tryin' to battle through uni like any other guy my age. Don't think I was winnin' though."
I snort.
"Tell me about it. I barely made it out alive."
Nyx hears this, and turns around indignantly.
"Ex-CUSE me? You breezed through it while trampling over everyone else's hard work!"
"You make me sound like some kinda villain," I protest. "I'm not evil, I was just friggin' better."
"He was top student for a whole two years without dropping once," Nyx tells Kino. "Can you believe it?"
"Wow," he says. "Sounds like even before this u were standin' out. I was the mediocre of the mediocre I guess - cryin' day on day, tryna swim through exams."
"Wait, what do you mean…? I'm standing out now?"
"Well, you're definitely more suited to this place than me," Kino nods.
Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was. We're all in the same boat, me and him.
"Uh, well-" I begin.
"He doesn't even know it himself," Artee snickers.
"Guys, what are we talking about?" I ask, completely bewildered.
"Yeah, what are we talking about?" Nyx asks, equally confused. "From my POV, he's just a bum though?"
"Hey."
Kino laughs.
"At least you guys managed to graduate. I'm still a year off."
"That's good," Artee grins. "Maybe if we get out of this shithole fast enough, you'll be able to make it."
"Yeah, we can mentor you," Nyx agrees. "You'd be a good student I know it."
"No chance," Kino shakes his head. "I'm hopeless. I'll just settle down and get by on minimum wage or somethin'."
"What garbage aspirations," Elemental mutters, completely ruining the mood.
As Nyx and Artee go off to bicker with him, I stretch lightly and look at Kino again. He's much better now. No longer trembling now, and a lot more relaxed.
"Hey Kino," I say.
"Yuh?"
"It'll all be fine. Stay with us, don't get lost, and you'll pull through. I know you will."
I give him my hand, and he takes it. We shake.
I glance over at the group head - Tavin. He's eyeing me, and there's an unfathomable look on his face.
"That's dangerous," he tells me.
"What? Shaking his hand."
"No. Making those kind of promises… in this kind of place."
"Come on man," I say. "Don't put a damper on the moment."
Tavin looks at me with his same tired, cold eyes. I stare back at him, a little annoyed.
"Guys guys," Kino says. "It's fine. I'll make sure to play my part from here on."
As he says that, he clenches his fist, still shaking a little. Of course he can't turn a full 180 instantly - but this is progress. Despite how he seemed, he has a strong mentality.
"Nice," I say. "Let's keep goi-"
"HEY!!" Tavin roars.
Something blurs past me. Wind lashes against my skin. Something huge, something huge, black and muscly. It streaks past me and slams into Kino who's two steps behind me.
Something wet and warm splashes against the back of my neck.