I give myself a few moments to breathe, thoughts swirling around and around in my head, an endless loop of ‘what-ifs’.

But I can’t stay here forever pondering what could have happened. That shadow possessed girl clearly saw where I went, it’s possible she won’t be too far behind me. I need to move.

Pushing myself up with a hiss, I carefully steady myself with the nearby wall. My muscles are protesting, and I’m covered in fresh scabs, but it’s nothing that will severely hinder my movement. The main problem is that I can’t see anything. Stumbling my way through a dark tunnel is already bad enough, but this is supposed to be a ‘labyrinth’ according to the tutorial quest.

[Continue forward] the white text box ever so helpfully informs me, as if I couldn’t figure that out on my own.

“Gee thanks, was really confused on the quest.”

At my stray thought of the quest, there’s a “ding!” and the blue system window reappears, washing the area around me in an eerie light. It’s not a lot of illumination but it’s certainly enough to not run into any walls or trip over anything.

“At least you’re good for something,” I mutter, reaching out to shift the text window a little lower so I have a better view of the floor.

“You don’t happen to have a map function, do you?” The screen statics for a second but nothing changes. Honestly, I don’t know why I tried, maybe by some miracle the system would become more helpful. Always good to dream.

This one maybe useless but there’s still the other far more chatty one, and I have bigger questions then just asking for directions.

“So,” I start heading off down the hall with the help of the open blue screen. I pointedly don’t read its words again just keep its window far enough to my side I won’t see the survive count tick any lower as I walk. “How exactly do I find my brother?”

It takes a bit longer than normal but after 10 or so steps the white system returns, [We will tell you with time.]

“I’m not falling for that,” and I pull to a stop, refusing to keep walking like the system told me, “I’m not listening till I have proof.”

[You do not need that information right now]

“Don’t need—! He’s my brother! Of course I need to know here he is!” I protest, swinging my hands around to really drive home the point but I’m not even sure this text window can “see”.

“Until you tell me I’m not taking another step,” and I cross my arms and lean on the jagged cave wall. “You want me to be your good little pet, then I’m going need something in return for my good behavior.”

[He is safe] it reads before the screen statics and it edits its message to add, [safe for now]

“Is that a threat?” I ask with a snarl, tightening my fists and glaring at the floating text window.

[No. A guarantee] it says. [An acolyte will not be able to save him, so there is no point in us telling you.]

“I still want to know where he is!”

[No.]

“You—!! Then we’re done!” I say, pushing off the wall and storming down the hallway, “go find someone else to annoy. I’ll find him myself.”

I only get two steps away before a new window blinks to life in front of me, [You would risk your brother’s life for your pride?]

“Watch it pixels,” I snarl swiping my hand through its text window but it just reforms out of my reach, mocking words still printed on its screen. “I haven’t figured out how this game works fully yet, but I’ll find a way to give you a good punch before this is all over, I guarantee that.”

[Then we will find another player.]

“No!” I hiss taking a rushed step towards the code and nearly phasing through it, “you’re a fucking asshole, but fine. Nothing is more important than finding my brother, you want to be mysterious and rude sure whatever, but you better give Zeke back to me once I’m done being your lapdog.”

[We will tell you once you are ready. For now gather allies, become stronger, then we will help you free him].

It all sounds a little too good true and a little too much like a cop-out rpg answer to the hero’s quest. A trope I’ve never been found of, but now actually in the shoes, I can sort of understand why the heroes blindly follow, there really is no other choice. I could go off on my own and risk it, but so far its been at least semi-helpful and hasn’t gotten me killed yet. It clearly wants something from me in return, so as long as I play the good soldier, Zeke will be safe if only to keep me on a leash.

“Fine.” I agree, though I make it clear with my tone I’m not happy about this deal, “tit for tat right? I help you; you help me. What’s your price pixels?”

[for you to get stronger, you have a great destiny ahead-]

“Yeah, save the lecture and destiny talk. Don’t care, what do you actually want from me?”

[Do as we ask, you need not question our motives. You are our “dog” aren’t you?]

“Fuck you.” And I turn on my heel and march down the dark hallway, away from the white system screen.

With each step, the roughhewn rock under my feet slowly morphs into sanded smooth stone. The walls also slowly change, becoming smoother and decorated with murals of monsters and warriors. And a fiery flicker of red light starts coming into view at the far end of the tunnel.

Picking up my pace, I keep my eyes locked ahead on the flicking red. Slowly out of the darkness an archway flanked by two identical statues emerges. Seeming carved from the earth, the statues glow with a faint unnatural red shine, carved into the likeness of a minotaur holding a double-sided axe and an unspooled ball of yarn.

“Well, this could be a problem,” I’m not exactly well-versed on classic Greek myths, but everyone has heard the story of the minotaur at least in passing.

I glance around cautiously, ears listening closely for the sound of hooves. “the old one was worshiped or something right?” I mutter to myself trying to recall the English class I tended to sleep through, “I defiantly remember the human sacrifice part,” I glance down at a bone that looks suspiciously human at the base of one of the statutes, “and I’m pretty sure the minotaur ate them. Here’s hoping that if there’s one here, he’s a vegetarian.”

Hesitantly I take a few steps forward, moving into the darkened chamber beyond. Once I’m past the archway and fully into the new room, there’s a sputtering snap sound and suddenly torches ignite along the walls. Their light is an unnatural golden yellow and sends long-reaching shadows to dance along the curved walls.

[Player has entered the labyrinth!] The blue window dings, [access to starting zone now prohibited.]

I glance back behind me, and sure enough there’s a weird sparkly golden wall filling the archway.

“Well, no going back now,” and I turn my attention back to the new area I’ve walked into. It’s a large circular room, about 50 feet across, with a low arched ceiling, and scrap piles of broken and rusted equipment littering the floor, with a few human-sized bones tossed in for some extra decor. Ten doors are set into the walls, all equal-distant from each other, plain and wooden. A few are damaged, and one is completely off its hinges and lying shattered on the floor. For a creepy starting point of a RPG, it's trying a bit too hard to set the scene.

“Seems a bit mean to make the intro mission something that’s almost entirely luck.”

 While a maze might not sound that hard, without any idea of the layout, it is nearly impossible to solve. There was always the trick about following the left wall, which would guarantee that I would find the exit eventually, but it would most likely take ages and would require that I never slip up once. The best option would be if there was some kind of clue or hint leading to the correct pathway.

“You going to offer me any hint here?”

The white window doesn’t even grace me with an appearance which I take to mean that I’m on my own.

I have half a mind to just open the first door I reach, but Zeke is always yelling at me for not doing things “smart” and for “rushing in when I should think”. So, if the system won’t give me any clues about my brother, maybe I can find something here.

Slowly I start to search the room, keeping an eye on the golden wall to make sure no one else walks through it. While the doors appear the same from afar, they do have one key difference. All of them contain a different animal etched into them, even the broken-down door has the remnants of some sort of engraving, unfortunately, it is now beyond recognition. Based on the minotaur motif, it’s possible the broken door contained a bull or a minotaur, and considering it is destroyed, the minotaur in question might just be down that tunnel.

“This is probably the way out,” I mutter staring down the dark tunnel, I’m not sure if it’s a trick of my brain, but I swear I hear the shuffle of hooves, “the minotaur lives in the heart of the maze after all.”

Despite my sound reasoning I still glance at the other doors, I only had one mildly useful ability and though I’m pretty handy in a fight, I’m not stupid enough to think I can kill a minotaur on my own. ‘And my shield of inaction’, [shield of peace] the blue system corrects as it pops open a window, showing the slowly ticking down cooldown. ‘yes, it helped me escape the weird bloodthirsty freaks, but 24 hours is a bitch of a cooldown time.’

It might be better to explore the other areas and gather more experience before taking on what was probably the boss. Plus, if this world really worked like a video game, then it was always in your best interest to take the path less traveled, complete side-quests, and find the rare loot hidden in strange places.

After circling the doors I now have a list of all the engravings; hawk, snake, lizard, wolf, cat, bear, boar, butterfly, and spider. Which means… nothing to me.

I glance back up at the air, “You really have no opinion on where I go?”

[It is your quest.]

[But] it continues before I complain again, [Once you enter a doorway, we will no longer be able to aid you.]