As soon as the door swings open, it’s obvious that the theme has shifted. Beautiful tiled floor with decaying carpets and smooth gray brick walls with faint splashes of brown that might have been colorful paint once upon a time but my cynical brain is already leaping to a more deadly conclusion – dried blood.

The hallway stretching out before me isn’t a mess, though it looks like time and decay have taken a toll. Yet hanging from the ceiling on metal chains are hooded lanterns that glow with a warm yellow light, turning a scene that at first glance might feel ripped out of a horror movie into something more welcoming. Though it does nothing to help the déjà vu summoned from the sight, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least a dozen hallways similar to this one on those cheesy B-list fantasy movies that used to play on the tv. Zeke always had a soft spot for hero stories and happy endings, and I’ve been present for dozens over the years, not that I could recall even one right now.

At least this hallway is mildly more interesting. Portraits of men and women in lavish and vaguely Victorian styled clothes hang on the walls. Small cupboards and bookshelves filled with hand-painted vases full of dead flowers and rotting leather books, line the sides of the long corridor. And at the far end of the hall, I can just make out a towering door of dark oak, reinforced with metal, and flanked by two larger-than-life suits of armor.

“I feel like I just entered a castle,” I note out loud, my voice echoes and carries down the hall. Oh, that was going to be a problem, while it wouldn’t be too hard to keep my voice down it only took one slip up and the whole dungeon would know where I am.

[Player has chosen the Castle of the Lizard!]

“So, it is a castle,” I mutter, carefully paying attention to the lack of echo. If the sound was soft enough, it didn’t carry throughout the hall, the trick would be making sure to stay under that volume.

[To complete this level, the player must collect five Artifacts and return them to the Treasury Guards on the lowest floor.]

“You know, you should really give people that information before they pick a door.”

The system’s blue text box does not respond, only morphs its message to say, [Artifacts: 0/5]

“Hmm,” I hum, looking back through the door I just entered, there’s no weird shimmery wall like the archway. I carefully take a step back into the door room.

[Player has exited Castle of the Lizard. Quest progress will be halted until re-entry. Player may hold up to 3 quests at this time.]

“Well look at that, you’re actually being semi useful for once,” I mumble with a little smile as is can the room. And it really is helpful, in the worst-case scenario, I could backtrack and choose a hopefully easier door. Always good to have an escape plan. “Good job system.”

The white hacker window pops to life next to me and I can feel the glare through its pixels, [Please refrain from complimenting the system. You would not be so eager with your praise if you knew the truth.]

“Well, I’ll ears if you want to fill me in on what’s so scary about it.”

Predicably it says nothing to that, and I roll my eyes as the blue system gives me another pop-up, [Please select a door.]

I’m tempted to try the other doors just to see what they are, but I already picked this door, no point in switching now. So, I walk back into the Castle of the Lizard.

The blue window gives another notification of my entering and a reminder that the quest has been resumed. I wave it off, thankfully this place has actual lights, so I don’t need to keep the blue screen around for light. Though I have no idea whose been lighting all these dozens of hanging lanterns especially when this place looks like it’s been abandoned for over 100 years. I just chalk it up to more magic RPG nonsense as I continue down the hall.

I’m not sure if traps are a possibility in this game, and now suddenly struck by the thought I consider heading back out to ask, but what sort of message would I be sending if I ran to Hacker for everything? I still have some pride and most likely Hacker wouldn’t even answer me. So against what might be the smart decision I keep forging ahead, but I do play it better safe then sorry. With a steady hand I firmly tap my spear along the titles before I step and make an effort to try and not to touch any of the decorations. Falling into a spike trap or getting shot with a poison dart isn’t exactly how I dream of dying.

It’s a short walk to the large doors. The suits of armor flanking it are at least 10 feet tall, they look like normal glittering knights, except their helmets have twisted ram’s horns. Each set of armor is holding a flagpole, but whatever flag was once attached has long decayed beyond recognition, leaving only burnt, tattered pieces of cloth behind.

Carefully, I use my spear to prod at door. When nothing happens, I get a bit bolder and give the door a good shove with the blunt end of my weapon. The door squeaks on its hinges, moving slightly inward, though not enough to reveal anything behind it. I wait for the sound of a monster’s howl just on the other side or the clicking gears of a trap about to cut me in two, but there’s only silence. Now satisfied that the door isn’t going to kill me, I push it open.

The hallway beyond is almost identical to the one I left, the key difference being the branching pathways at the far end. I’ve truly entered the maze part of this quest now.

I’ve already figured out how I want to handle the labyrinth. Thankfully with some more thought I was able to remember most of how I think the myth of the minotaur goes. Even though this lizard level doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the ancient Greek myth considering its middle ages Europe design, the maze seems to spread to all the levels. So much like with the original myth, it’s very important that you know which way you came. So, when I reach the end of the hallway, I use the stolen dagger I looted off the first lady trying to kill me and use it to cut a little triangle into the stones on the left side, pointing the tip of the triangle back towards the way I came. This way if I do get lost, I just need to find another triangle marker and I’ll be able to retrace my steps back to the starting point.

It takes me a few minutes to carve the triangle into the stone. Surprisingly vandalism was never a crime on my impressively long rap sheet. Never truly saw a point to it, I’m now wishing I had accepted a few offers in the past only so I would have some idea. Vandalism is more work and more tedious than I gave it credit for.

Thoughts of before of course summon thoughts of my brother. I tighten my grip on the dagger and call the mark done. I have a puzzle to solve, grief and regret are for after I’m not in a life-or-death situation and after I find Zeke, then I can have a good long meltdown about all of this.

Mark finished; I take off down the left passage. It looks nearly exactly the same as the hallway I just left. I haven’t been paying too much attention to the figures in the paintings, I don’t think I’ve seen the same face twice but hard to tell when none of them are “human”. Though all the portraits share the same classical English European style or dress all of them have strange features, like horns, wings, and many eyes. The vases of dead flowers continue atop their decaying cabinets and dusty pillars. Obviously, no one has been “living” here in a long time, if there ever were people in this strange maze.

Meticulously, I keep marking my path. Choosing left or right randomly with no real reason. I’ve already accepted that I’m going to wander through these halls more than once in my quest to get out, so I’m trying in this first run to cover as much area as possible.

I’m not sure how much time has passed; the stat window doesn’t come with a clock to my disappointment (something I make sure to grumble about even though the system doesn’t respond to my snide remarks like Hacker dose), and there’s no sun or moon to tell. Though unsure of exactly how long I’ve been trapped in the labyrinth, my best guess would be 4-5 hours. My legs are sore from all the walking and I’ve yet to find anything of real note. There’s been a few doors that I’ve come across, but the first 4 were locked, and at that point I figured it was smarter to stop trying to loudly force open doors and maybe take up a sneakier approach. If I really wanted, I could always go back and explore them further once I had a better idea of this place and an assurance I wasn’t going to attract a monster’s attention.

“Just a few more branches of the tunnel then I’ll head back,” I promise myself, already rehearsing what I’m going to tell Hacker as I finish another mark and take a right into a new hallway.

I freeze where I stand.

There is something alive in this tunnel. Something I've never seen before.

A monster.