As the Tinkerer led him through the building, Liam was lost in thought.

This strange world he had found himself in was nothing like he had been expecting. With how quickly they’d receive the bodies on the surface – only a day or two after they were sent in – he had expected a monster. None of them had ever thought there would be people in the maze.

The Tinkerer and Rinth seemed to be thriving there, despite the lack of other people and natural light.

It was bigger than he had thought it would be too, he wasn’t sure how long he had travelled with Rinth after he had met the girl, but he had been running for what felt like hours before that. That was the other thing, he had no idea how long he had been down there – there was no sky to keep track of time and he had long since lost his watch. He didn’t think it was as important to the other two as it was to him.

That was the other thing – how long had they been there? Lurking in the unknown shadows of the maze. The Tinkerer was not a young man, his hair long since turned white by the lines in his face. But his house was well loved, showing signs of being occupied for years.

And Rinth was… he wasn’t sure how old she was. She didn’t look old enough to be an adult and acted a lot like a child. But at the same time, her confidence was something he had never seen before. She knew exactly how to navigate the maze, no matter what the lighting. The Tinkerer deferred to her decisions no matter how he seemed to argue against it.

Her clothing was strange, unlike anything he had ever seen anyone wear before. Heeled brown boots that looked impractical for the amount of bouncing she did. A skirt with a pattern on it that he couldn’t quite make out in the strange lighting.

The Tinkerer’s house was awash with a muddy golden light like the lanterns he had seen outside of it, transforming the colour of everything it touched. His own clothes – the blue uniform he wore for work – seemed green, although the bottom of his pants was covered in dust.