inside the apartment where they grouped in 3 groups all having their own sitting place with the 2 couches, on one sitting zenos and kellam while on the other lüziel, rina and marth, being turned around to face the bar, at which håkan, kjell and torholt sat. the three at the bar tried to find the way how to start this but stopped another right when they where going to start. after a bit of awkward silence did kjell start speaking
„so let's just get it over with. we planed to do a bit more but it just doesn't feel right when you already know what this is about. let me just ask how much do you actually know outside the name?"
„not much. we can guess from what mythology tells but nothing concrete"
„and you two"
„nothing. up until just now we didn't even know the name"
håkan was laying dangerously far back on his barstool and sight
„well that was the most important part to your gig. we waned ya to guess the name. with it being a maze and all we though it would be fitting to make a puzzle out of it"
kjell was now again speaking
„ok in that case let me ask you how much do you know from myth. they are always based on the reality and being from roman time when grintß where still allowed on earth they tend to be quite close to reality"
he was looking from right to left going down the row with kellam just shaking his head followed by zenos
„not my kinda boat. something greek or so i think"
he continued with rina but when he saw how she blanked he turned to lüziel
„most i know could marth probably say better"
and finally he looked at marth who took up lüziels word
„as far as i know it's build by daedalus to trap the minotaur which later was killed by theseus. i wouldn't know that there is much more to it especially if the minotaur is now dead and also the tradition of sending people into the labyrinth should be long gone."
kjell clapped with his hands when marth was finished before speaking
„bravo thats mostly correct. if you can believe what the olympians say than there was a mane named theseus that went through different labors and also was the first person to leave dedalus's labyrinth after having entered it holding the head of a minotaur but that was not the only that exists. there is such a thing as a minotaur and it is an animal that lives in one of the human enedire realms. daedalus was in fact the one that brought an exemplar to earth for experimentation but in a middle ground he needed to lock it in the labyrinth build for minos or he would have been kicked out of knossos. story tells that minos did this to protect his people from the beast but we all know that he just wanted his own personal torture chamber looking at how he used it"
marth looked extremely enthralled by hearing all of this but he was not the only one as both zenos and rina also listened closely to what kjell had to say and it was not like lüziel or kellam weren't interest they simply didn't show it openly
„so you are telling me that all of that really happen ON earth and there is a real labyrinth in knossos!"
to this kjell had to shake his head
„it's all stories being told by the people they are about so they would definitely fluff them up. who knows maybe there really was a small labyrinth under knossos but what we do know is that there is one in olympus that is ancient and has a minotaur trapped inside guarding it"
håkan stepped in to follow this up
„it is not unreasonable to think that there was some sort of labyrinth like cage for a minotaur that daedalus brought with him as during that time specifically a lot of grintß lived on earth. now it's of cause impossible but back then it was perfect to play superhero even if they went a bit overboard in the end."
„anyways, it is not only a real place but it also gets used in a tradition to what thesius did. every 200 years to celebrate his deeds the descendants of minos give out the permission for 1 group to enter it. it was quite a hassle to be the one group that was allowed in and we already tried the last two times without success thats why we got the permission 3 years in advance."
lüziel was now leaning forward and asked the thing that marth was to distracted with the story around to ask
„that is all good but what is the goal. i doubt this will happen just for the fun of it, there has to be something to be gained out of going through the effort"
hearing this the three changed their looks immediately
„oh what could it be. a mans lifeblood to slay the beast."
„seeking out the goal that is salvation, not his own but that of others"
„a justice not known, a justice never payed"
„only one could be his name"
„thesius"
„only one could be his title"
„hero"
„his death cheered in his life, his deeds celebrated in his death"
„ἀμβροσία his blood is what we drink"
after their little show ended did marth go to thinking before he had an answer. in the meantime did rina and zenos not hold back on their opinion about this play
„that was so bad. you just said some nonsensical lines"
„really wasn't your greatest work, not like i expected much more"
„really, not even pretending, how rude. we tried our best but we never intended to do it like this. we needed to make that tup on the spot"
„you could have just said it normally"
but kellams muttering was so quiet that no one heard it and before anyone could go further into this did marth finally make up his mind
„isn't ambrosia that stuff that made someone immortal if you drink it?"
this was something that gained immediate attention of the others with zenos being the one to speak it out
„so you are telling me that you can gain immortality!"
a loud laugh was the only answer they got at first before the three realized that they where serious
„of cause not. it's just some wine that apparently has some medicinal effects but most importantly it's said to be some of the best wine ever made and now that's what you call something worth being hunted through a maze by a minotaur"
„that's boring, i don't want some stupid wine"
„but you still want to go"
lüziel could see that under rinas pouting was still the excitement for the maze which was answer enough for him
„i have to say it does sound underwhelming"
„common you can't give us that attitude when we give you the special ability to go with us. this is the only time in 200 years to get at ambrosia. the only other way would be through the olympian gods or prices that would make midas gold touch look like it creates coal"
„but i doubt you want it for the money"
lüziel could clearly se in their eyes that their reasoning did not stem from aa desire of wealth but rather something more ‚chaotic'
„of cause not. even if it would be worth a lot far outclassing the difficulty to reward ratio should someone who does this for the money get permanently kicked out."
„yeah if you have no sense of adventure why even bother being a ranker. go back to the hole you crawled out of and don't ruin everyones fun"
what torholt said almost was like a war cry for the three as they all chimed into this ritualistic call
„i think you should slowly get to the point. we still don't know much about what to expect"
zenos got increasingly fidgety while they where patting out the explanation more and more
„ähm, yes of cause. so the reality is that you know, like this is not that easy to understand…"
„just get to the point, you'll figure out a way to say it if you actually try"
„so the reality is that we know nothing"
all 3 went simultaneously into a pretend depressed state with hanging heads and shoulders while the rest reacted shocked all in their own way and degree with rina being disappointed and somewhat angry, marth and zenos frustrated and kellam and lüziel mostly expected something like that when kjell started to stutter.
„how are you supposed to traverse a maze that you know nothing about when it is meant to be this grandiose masterpiece?"
a not not unreasonable thing to say but you could hear that marth mostly was saying this out of anger
„it's more fun that way isn't it"
„sure it's totally fun getting lost inside a maze designed to kill you. is right next to getting put in a guillotine on my bucket list"
it was quite the interesting thing for lüziel to see zenos, the usually annoying collected and composed, to snap. gone where his pretentious stile, no more playing the gentleman
„ok but to our excuse it is hard getting any verified information. those who did it are shut tight with a seal only large sums could break and the stories are anything but helpful, some even contradicting another"
„the privilege of those who went through i guess. if it really is that hard not waning other to just get a free pas makes sense"
while lüziel could reason with that explanation did it not solve the real reason why zenos and marth where angry
„why didn't you say that from the start. you expect us to just run in head first without a thought. i get the feel you wanted to ditch us if push comes to shove"
this however did not stick well with them now also getting angry
„what do you think that we are just some assholes who would sacrifice other people for our gain…"
seeing how this discussion would not move anywhere for a while did lüziel decide to go out for a bit
„you do that and when your finished just write me, i can do better than listening to this"
they didn't even listen to him or notice that he stood up but kellam and rina did who both gladly followed his example leaving the room together
„zenos is always so weird and annoying but he just went bam all of the sudden and the other also where so nice but suddenly go all wild"
during her explanations did rina throw her arms around to go with the explosion sounds she made
„don't say i can understand their line of thinking. they bring results and that's all that matters. as long as i follow them i can grow even further"
„to think about we met zenos but never you. you seem to be quite the opposite , all to yourself not seeking conflict like he does"
this pulled a slight chuckle out of kellam
„we are quite different people but he is reliable and gets me moving. i'm not one to take the first action i like to watch, so having someone to watch is what i need"
„but you sounded super duper strong when marth and elise described you, like a super villain who can take on an entire army!"
„i wouldn't go that far, but effectively yes from what i gathered i expected you to be of the punch and no talk type"
kellam looked a bit shocked about these descriptions
„me? you sure you are talking about me?"
„well it's a while ago but it is memorable seeing someone who is that showy getting put so much in her place that she couldn't even pretend to have had a chance"
„i don't know what you heard but let's just say i am strong enough to take care for myself, but thats enough about me we should use this time more productively"
„boooring!"
rina was crossing her arms and looked aggressively disappointed but lüziel accepted so she simply followed him
„more productive means?"
„we know now probably as much as them so we might as well go search for things helpful to traverse a maze"
„we don't know much about it but going from how it's talked about to this day it probably has protection from more normal ways to get through. i doubt something as simple as drawing out a map would work or anyone with enough time could easily get through"
what lüziel said made rina quickly retract her hand that she raised to give her idea
„a compass may be helpful"
„a compas?"
„that way you always know what direction you go in relation to the entrance"
„that does make sense but wont get us far in progressing"
as they where talking they walked through the commercial district around the gate. while it was not unusual for rina to run around and look at what the shops had to offer, she did seem to have an incredible focus while doing so this time. it wasn't like kellam and lüziel weren't looking around but her more energetic looking did lead to her finding something that they would have easily overlooked. from the outside it looked like a lava lamp but looking close it did have a scale printed on the glass
„rina we are not here for enjoyment"
„but this is what you wanted"
„what do you mean?"
„you should look at it with the system, it can identify items even if you don't own them"
when lüziel did as kellam said what he saw was clearly and unmistakably the word ‚compass', something he could wrap his head around how could this be something like a compass
„but how does this show anything? it just waves around randomly inside."
„you are to narrow minded, this is an elf compass using magic"
„magic, i think we figured out that ‚magic' is just using certain skills that are how we imagine magic to go"
„it's quite large for a compass, nothing you would want to carry around to look at it any time you need it"
„so is it like a waypoint?"
not waning to wait rina simply bought it unnoticed to them which lead to lüziel being shocked when she simply took it like she owns it
„rina you can't just take it, put it back"
„but this is mine now"
„it seems i'm not the only one who has more outwards companions. now it's to late to regret so let's figure out what it does"
kellam was eagerly clapping his hands together walking to rina looking more closely at the compass.
Fire Compass
Rarity: 1 silver stars
Durability: Low
Equipment: Map
Description: A lamp filled with fire that will guid lost souls back to the right path
„guiding you back to the right path, eh? i really hate how ambiguous these descriptions are. i just want some clear information what it is is that so hard!"
„it doesn't have any buttons. how do you use this?"
looking bellow and all around the base rina couldn't find anything that would help to use it
„let's just go back. they should be done with their skirmish. they maybe know more than us just trying random things until it breaks"
going back to where once was a heated argument happening they now saw when they opened the door was 5 people singing and dancing with some peculiar looking bottles standing on the table. it was marth who first notice their return
„there you are! you just vanished, we where worried"
„looking behind him lüziel didn't need long fir his answer
„i doubt that. at least you have finished that pointless argument"
when rina put the fire compass on the table it got the imidiat attention from everyone in the room
„wow that lava lamp looks weird"
„you got a fire compass?"
„more importantly where where you"
while walking past kjell to sit down did kellam did he say something of which the first part was just barely loud enough for him to hear
„we had our break you had yours, can we now do what we wanted to do an hour ago"
„you have still no learned to speak up. loud you need to speak loud if you want to say something kellam"
„so what is that and where did you get it"
marth was pointing at the fire compass
„i found it after searching every shop for something helpful"
rina looked proud while saying that
„but we don't know how to use it. the idea was that a compass helps us not getting lost but that only works if we know how to use the compass to begin with"
lüziel was plopping down in the couch
„why ya bought it if ya don't know how to use it"
håkan was looking at them curiously
„it's called being an air head"
„hey, that was mean"
„a compass is something i would have been against if it was the ones we know of as they are easily distracted by magnetic things but this i have no idea what to even think"
„gimme that"
torholt went over to the table and snatched the compass from it, he then turned on the bottom until he could remove the top showing that there was a second tube on the inside. he then turned the bottom again to remove the foot from the pipe that had the liquid inside. going to the sink he filed the outer shell with water and put the inner pipe back in closing it again with the foot.
„see that if you now turn it on and twist it the inner pipe stays in the same orientation. you could also read the angle you have turned by comparing the markings on the inside and outside but who actually needs to know the exact angle your in"
„you know that you did that wrong?"
„i know that you should put salt water in but do you have some at hand right now!"
„wow this is like a gyroscope but for horizontal movement instead of vertical, but how does this actually work. i don't see anything like a skill being at work here?"
marth was twisting and turning the compass fixated on the tube on the inside and how it floated almost still only slight turning with the rest of the compass
„who knows? some wacky elf toy that just works"
„whoa when you read the outside it goes all the way up to 9072, what a weird number and it has these 9 rings all split in ascending order halves, thirds, quarters,… everything from 2 to 10"
„honestly where did you get that thing. they are almost nowhere to be found as they are obsolete when the system can give you a map at any time"
torholt was staring at rina
„i already told you that i searched everywhere and found it"
„well it is true that you searched through a lot to come across this but it was just from a random shop down there"
lüziel tried to pat rina on the head but she dodge out of the way for his hand to only meet air
„you mean from down there?"
torholt was pointing in direction gate
„yup"
„wow i'm surprised that you didn't got scammed, there are a lot of tourist traps set out for ll the people who come here without knowing anything about elfs. but looking at it it definitely seems to work properly"
„anyways let's get this over with, after all we have someone here who can't wait for that"
kjell was looking at kellam with a short break before continuing
„we know it's a maze, there will be a minotaur but don't worry about that that's where we are for. you're job will be to get us through to the end and it seems like you are already taking steps for that so we definitely picked the right guys. don't trust what people say about labyrinth as at best they are just misinformed, those olympians are good at keeping a secret if they set their minds to it and honestly i don't even know if they now how it works. daedalus is long dead, never had any heir and it is said that labyrinth has a second purpose he build it for that he kept secret so he surely would give out information"
„just so you know we can only protect ya when you stay close. i will do everything in my power to guard ya when ya don't run around like idiots. i'm no wizard"
torholt was giving them a serious look o make sure they understood
„we are not some children, i think all of us know how to act properly when it gets dangerous"
zenos looked a bit insulted about what torholt accused them of. after that interrupt did kjell continuo
„we also don't know exactly how long it will take. from what we found out it took others about 3 weeks so prepare for that. once we are out it's over no matter how we get out so we can't take a break if it gets exhausting"
„it's not like you are going to do the heavy lifting but it would be our fault if something happens to you guys"
„you sound like lüziel"
„despite how annoying lüziel can be at times it is still the better of the two options"
„what is that slandering about me you two are doing there!"
ignoring them did zenos ask the last important question
„so we still need a concrete date. you can't just expect us to jump up and go when you say go"
the three looked at another silently confirming that they all had the same idea before kjell spoke
„let's just go there. you still need to be officially called part of the group. if we do that you also get the mission"
this was something marth and zenos where waiting for so it didn't take much convincing that they would go there right now. when they entered olympus they went somewhere marth, lüziel and rina already knew, at the bottom of the mountain to themis
„is he going to be mad at us from the last time?"
„we did nothing wrong and going from his attitude i doubt that he going to do something inappropriate"
„sounds like you went all out when you came here. maybe it more worthwhile to hear that story than one thinks"
zenos was squeezing himself between them but the three kept silent about what happened. when they entered the building it had the same atmosphere as the last time but this time when themis spoke he sounded less annoyed and more professional
„what do you want, why do you seek me out?"
„whoah where is that coming from? it's ringing in my head!"
both zenos and kellam where extremely confused when themis spoke exactly how rina, lüziel and marth where when they came here first. to them it still was weird but they somewhat got used to it during the last time
„we have come to update our team for the upcoming labyrinths"
after that it got shortly silent before a door opened on the end of the corridor. while kjell, håkan and torholt went straight for it was the rest just standing there before torholt waved them over. the room on the other side of the door was a large white room with pillars separating it into sections each with a desk that had someone working at a pc there. where it not for the out of place pcs you could easily think that this place was build by romans and had stayed unchanged for the last 2000 years.
„is this,… an office?"
as non of them had expected this they where readily confused
„they may put a lot of effort into making these building look authentic but in the end even the high and mighty olympians have to conform to modern standards to not fall behind"
kjell targeted directly at one of the desks
„where here to update the labyrinth mission"
„labyrinth? just a moment"
the one at the desk turned around to a small drawer going through some files before pulling out one
„i need to see the identity card of all participants for this"
kjell, torholt and håkan all opened a yellow menus to show the person behind the desk. after some comparing between the papers in hand and the menu he spoke again
„what change do you want to make?"
„we want to add 5 support party members, those 5 behind us"
kjell pointed at them and the one behind the desk threw a quick glance at them
„a support party member will get reduced rewards and is no allowed to finish the quest on their own, is that ok"
„yea yea, i know. we just want them as support and not full members"
„what is that about, support members?"
„i don't want to be stupid support!"
marth and rina seemed to not like the sound of support but lüziel shot them down before they could say anything
„he will have his reason for that. in the end we are nothing more than support so they have all the right to put us as that"
„but it sounds so unimportant. i want to adventure, not stay behind and just watch"
„a change to this type of mission will cost an extra fee, in addition for every party member added the appropriate participation price has to be paid. the only change is to add 5 support members?"
„yes thats all. everything else stays the same. and the fee, we will pay that right away"
„do all current participants approve of this change"
both håkan and torholt simply gave a thumbs up and nooded
„a fee for a mission? we never needed to pay anything, just pick it up and accept. that would explain why support members, they probably cost less"
„knowing them they will probably throw us at the minotaur and say ‚fight!' even if we are just support members. they really don't care for ranks or anything. as long as they think it's not dangerous will they have no problem letting us fend for ourselves"
zenos was leaning with hands behind his back on the pillar as if waiting for something, then the woman behind the desk called them
„i no need your identity cards to add you to the mission"
as they never had needed to get the information card needed they some help to get to it, not that it was hard to find, simply that they didn't knew where it even was. after she finished the change could they leave. not waning to waste coming here they got some food before returning to gaime. it was back there when they for the first time looked at the mission
Λαβύρινθος
Objective: enter Λαβύρινθος and find the exit while escaping the Μινώταυρος
Reward: 5000 tallon for clear + 100 cp
Achievements: 0/2 cleared
Description: The Μίνως family has opened the Λαβύρινθος once again. you have been
choose as one of the lucky few to find glory in reaching the exit of this
legendary place. will you be a hero like Θησεύς and survive or will be lost
like many more before.
Place: Olympus
Rating: Legendary Event
„this description is written like an add"
„What are these weird letters?"
rina was looking at the mission like her brain could any moment start to go up in flames from overheating
„is that greek?"
„as far as i can tell. it's not like i know greek but at the very least i know most letters. the words your missing are labyrinthos, minotauros, minos and theseus"
marth was pointing at the apropriat word while he was sying them on rinas screen
„and why do you know this when you can't speak greek, no wait i don't even need to know"
„ever heard of math and physics, there those letters get used plenty so it's really not that hard to know them. but it does stick out that every name is in greek"
„i thought this stupid thing is supposed to translate everything, so why is it broken now?!"
„it is definitely odd, we ever saw was like this even here or in riastehc while this is still from humans"
puzzling about this they turned to kjell and co as they where still mostly ignored by kamaron
„oh that, you probably haven't seen that as of now with the level of missions you can get. non of them are relevant enough for someone to care enough but that is what happens when the person who made the mission really some things to have ‚their original identity'. it's expensive to do so changing 4 words is a lot"
„expensive so you have to pay for that, but to who"
it was something all 5 never really thought about as the system simply worked, but who would be able to change things in something this grand and to begin with how do missions even get added in the first place
„don't you know mips are the one regulating the system. you all should have seen them as they are also the ones who deal with act 2. they may not be fighters but the simple fact that they have control over the system to some extend makes them some of the most dangerous being out there"
„you mean that small fluffy guy with horns on his head"
while rina was the one who said it the image was burned into their minds of the first time they saw something not from earth. a being that at that time looked almighty
„surely only one thing could fit that description, you are spot on. ya don't see em often after that but if they do ya know something big is up"
„but if they have control over the system wouldn't that mean they can do whatever they want?"
„it's not like they can do whatever, they are just administrators after all. where the system actually stems from who knows, it's not like the mips would give that information out"
„so something that just exists that has this type of influence and the creator probably unknown…"
while marth was driving of into his thoughts did the rest mostly loos interest into something this far of understanding
„so about this mission, it's called a legendary event that sounds quite.. dangerous"
„don't ruin this lüziel, this is bout to be so fun"
„oh don't think to hard about that. everything that has some historical root is legendary. you know the olympic games right? there is something like that in olympus that is also called legendary even t even if it is just a competition of physical attributes. legendary is just the systems way of saying long tradition and they are basically always organized by someone"
„olympic games, wouldn't that be quite boring. the one who has gone the furthest i the system always wins"
zenos was amused at the idea of a normal human running as fast as they could just to get continuously lapped by someone who simply had more skills from the system
„well it's not that simple. there are weight classes and most pats prohibit using the system so in the end is it still a competition to find the physically fittest"
„just look at us, we all trained and worked together for 400 years and are wildly different in our abilities. i am not that fast but much more sturdy than those two"
lüziel didn't have to think much to see what torholt meant with rina standing right next to him
„i can see that, some are just better at some things and if everyone gets stronger it doesn't change that"
„it seems you have felt it already first hand, in fact the gaps between a normal person and an expert get more extreme thanks to the system. if you see how fast or strong some people are you really can only say that that is inhuman"
for the rest of the day they just ended up being random talk about more of this and this was also basically the last time they bothered to talk about labyrinth for the remaining time as there simply wasn't anything more to talk about with how limited of information they had. the remaining time they has they spent to come up with helpful things and stock up on basic things. in totality they ended up with the compass they had a second regular one for ‚testing' purposes and yarn for the good old lay out your path strategy. on the day before the mission started they got a message from kjell
yo tomorrow it starts so come meet us. we will go there now to be on time there. there is such a thing as missing out if you come to late so we have to get there before it starts
after meeting up all 8 went to olympus taking a hotel in a part of the city that they where never in despite having worked as guards here for a year. it was a part halfway up the mountain. the only thing they knew about this place was what they heard that here live the most important people that ween't directly gods. demi gods, descendants of emperors or heroes, all people that couldn't be further away from what they where.
„are we really supposed to be here?"
„it feels like they are staring at us"
„let them gawk, are are they gonna do attack us? they are way to high and mighty to do that"
compared to lüziel and rina was zenos walking around like this was normal but even he knew that this really wasn't the place for them
„don't worry about that we've taken care of stuff. at least for a bit we can be here no problem"
„if anyone tell you off just ignore them. most of the guys here are just some rich dudes who have won in the lineage lottery. very few hero or god lines are still what they where at their peak"
„i would even assume that a lot of the people here are weaker than you guys, just look at them. still don't start a fight, there are still a few of very powerful people here including some of the heaviest hitters of humanity"
when looking around they could see every now and then some mean looks directed at them. the hotel they where in was of cause of the highest class something they had only seen in movies and the rooms where comedically large for the lack of filling. still you could tell that everything that was there was of high quality and even rina couldn't dare to risk damaging anything in fear of having to pay it pack so the rest of the day was an awkward mix of not waning to go out from how unwanted they got treated and not daring to do anything inside their rooms of fear of breaking something more worth than all the money they had gained up to this point combined. the next day quite early they where summoned to the minos villa
„it's so big. the other houses look to tiny in comparison"
rina looked in awe at the building before here while zenos seemed to anything but impressed
„just some rich guy stuff they get to show how much more money they have than normal people"
„do you have a personal vendetta towards rich people. i already noticed when we came here how the usual you got lost but you clearly have some agenda here and it's not only you despite being quiet i can tell that you too aren't the biggest fan of this kellam"
„we just hate people who have powers and don't use them, it's the reason why we want to clear the 3rd act. we want power so that we can do what they don't want to do"
zenos was angrily pointing at the minos villa but he could have pointed in any direction with the are they where in
„that aside isn't minos just a random king how coma that he has all of this"
„branding"
håkan gave only 1 word as answer but despite that it wasn't such a simple answer
„branding?"
håkan then leaned in and spoke more quietly
„don't say this outloud near minos company but people argue if they even are descendants of them. if minos really where that great he should have some sort of skill or weapon or something be related to him but despite it only being 3 generations ago that timeframe is suspiciously gray. if it would come out that one of the strongest companies in olympus are just some pretend to be that would not fly well with the ones up there"
„company minos, whats that supposed to be?"
„not all people are stuck in the past. there are two ways of having power in this word. 1 you become a legend or myth that way you get power from people already knowing you when they become grintß. number 2 is that you work to build something that becomes only known under grintß like a company selling quality items. the first one is easy, just impress some weaklings and let them do the work for you, but as easy as it comes it also goes when you drift into obscurity in your cultures myth. minos chose the latter, building up with hard work something that will last by the sheer fact of actively influencing people in the present and he had daedalus's labyrinth after all to turn into a tourist attraction"
„so while everyone else sat around like an idiot he actually did something with what he had"
„thats the idea"
while they where talking zenos and marth, who listened quietly to what håkan had to say completely missed what was happening before them. greeting them at the entrance of the villa where a plethora of battlers and maids leading them to a ballroom that had 2 types of people inside, normal people like them, and ‚high class' people wearing no doubt expensive clothe in the forms of togas not only in the classic white but also with red, blue or other colors of stitchings or even entirely in different colors. on the sides where tables with different types of food, most being earthly, some something they couldn't even recognize if it even was food to begin with. at one end of the room up a short stairway was where most of the attention was directed towards with everyone waiting for someone coming from there. it took long enough that they where able to take a round through the food laid out before someone appeared from atop the stairs started to speak.
„i Ἀκταίων welcome you and wish every single one to have arrived without any problem as it is not a time for sorrow when it has been 200 years since the last time we opened Λαβύρινθος and on this date the legendary hero Θησεύς traversed it, slough the Μινώταυρος AND successfully return back. he as a young grintß had done what no one else before him could and now it is your chance to equal him. of cause you are no longer a third act grintß but do not frighten even for you now it will still be a great achievement to follow the footsteps of the legendary Θησεύς. soon you too will step foot into Λαβύρινθος and see for yourself the brilliance of Δαίδαλος machinations that created this Λαβύρινθος that is unrivaled among anything that came before or after it. i know that all you you are quite eager to either step foot inside or to see the next generations of heroes to be born but i please beg for some of your time as only 1 group will be able to enter at a time. we would of cause not dare to let you just wait unattended so let me offer you some food, wine and games while you are waiting and of cause as well some housing. we will spare no expenses to let our precious guest feel satisfied"
with that aktaion ended his speech he walked down to greet the rich halve personally while the other halve simply did what they did before to wait
„so i am right, how you where telling it i was sure that it was a 1 person deal which would be quite odd for something that happens only every 200 years"
marth was poking through kjell with his looks while he did a halve hearted laugh before answering
„you know it's quite a bit easier to get people exited when you make it sound more dramatic. as you can see it is still a small amount who can participate but there are multiple groups every time"
„i don't care for other people this will still be so exiting!"
„i also really don't mind. in the end it doesn't change the reason why we are here"
marth was turning to rina and lüziel
„it's more about the principle. we tried so hard to get anything from them but something this simple they just skip over after us being persistent"
kjell ruffled marth hair to his dismay
„if keep that attitude up you'll age twice as fast, you wouldn't want to look like eighthundret in your fourhundreds"
noticing from behind them there was some commotion that interrupted their talk. approaching them with open arms was aktaion
„kjell, håkan, torholt there you are. why didn't you tell me that you want to take part? i have heard that this is your third time trying, if you just had told me i could have gotten you way higher in the priority queue"
kjell was dodging aktaion while the rest of the people around them where interested in why aktaion was to welcoming to this random 4th acter
„you know exactly how people would react if you do that, they won't go light on you when you do something like that to such a rare event and we would get all kinds of flag for abusing relationships"
„common you are some of faheros best human supporter and all of that without being a ranker"
it was an interesting reaction coming from the crowd when the name fahero fell as most where confused what this was about but some, some reacted with all kinds of emotions to that name
„who is that fahero guy?"
rinas quest hit a dead end on zenos and kellam who where equaly as clueless and torholt answer also wasn't helping
„some other time, really isn't the best place for that"
„you know you should use his name this lightly. we don't intend to get any further benefits out of that than what we already get or we would have to deal with unwanted consequences. you should very well know that he will always get back what people owe him"
aktaion simply overheard this comment of kjell
„anyways now that you have gotten here in an acceptable manner for everyone lets say there could be a chance that you are the first to go. there are a lot of influential people watching so that should be perfect for your expertise, if of cause you clear Λαβύρινθος"
„if you really want to be that helpful just tell us what to do"
„you know that in that case i might as well go into the depth of Τάρταρος"
„in that case i doubt we have much more to discuss. you have a few people waiting"
seeing the crowd behind them aktaion decided to give a last handshake before turning around and return to what he did before but not without leaving behind a crowd that was staring intensely at kjell to figure out who he was
„you surly have better things to do than pester us so scram. i don't need people talking behind my back, at least gossip somewhere else"
kjell was pushing the circle around them away with the help of torholt and håkan rougher than some would like but after having seen kjell and aktaion together they didn't talk back out loud
„who are you guys anyways. it's not like we have gotten a great introduction for someone who has apparently some awesome connections"
zenos was joining in lüzuels quest seeing this as a opportunity to finally squeeze out some informations about the team they now followed for a good while
„i too would like to know that. you always avoid telling us what you are really up to and constantly vanish for long times"
„i think it's only fair. we would have done this after anyways"
whereas torholt seemed to have some sympathy towards them was håkan not so convinced about this endeavor
„but this is not really the best place,… how about you wait after us going through labyrinth then we can take off some time to do this properly"
then a weapon appeared stronger than anything known to man aiding zenos and lüziel in their endeavor in the form of rina's childish stubbornness
„but i want to know now or i won't go!"
„it's just a small bit longer waiting and what are going to do with that information anyways right now"
„NO, i want to know NOW!"
„common that's just childish it won't kill you to wait 2 more weeks"
„i don't care, i won't go if you don't tell me"
„you do know that that would just hurt you. weren't you the most excited about this"
„you searched for people to help you so i know that you can't do that"
„well at least she can stand her ground for things she wants"
torholt was laughing at håkan who seemed to not know how to handle this
„if you really need to know, we are information broker. we run around and get people what they want to know. it's the reason why we rarely do something together, there is no point for more than one person to gather the same information"
all of them seemed quite shocked about this revelation as looking at them and with how they acted it looked just absurd
„but like, you are fighters and you act so ‚chaotic'. shouldn't a good information broker be good at talking"
„you are still new so you wouldn't know but in this world if you can't stand your ground all you are fit for is regular jobs."
„always keep in mind if you go out there laws don't apply. if someone thinks it's funny to kill you no one will stop them. and now that's enough of that it's time to go"
kjell look extremely serious when he said that before going to where everyone else was heading, a second room connected to the room they where in that had tables set up so that every group could could get their own with name tags in the middle. in the middle of the room was a wall that one one side had a simple maze that was consisting out of just a singular path going in circles around the center until it finally reached the center on the other side it was a real but simple maze of paths forming what looked like a gear. when everyone sat down aktaion began to speak for the second time
„now that the greetings are over it is finally time to officially start this event. you may already have introduced yourself but let me give some short introductions. first on the side of the δωδεκάθεον we have Ζεύς second son Ἄβδηρος to overlook the ἥρως. next up is Ἀχλύς, daughter of ᾍδης and the one who will lead anyone going astray safely over Στύξ. and finally we have the greatest ἥρως of them all Ἡρακλῆς…"
„aren't the gods all supposed to be dead long ago. how come those ancient geezers still alive"
zenos was was laying unimpressed back in his seat while aktaion was doing his speech
„this may just be a family name they now wear but you shouldn't challenge your luck and didn't we already tell you this a while ago"
„eh"
zenos just shrugged not showing if this response was meant to the first the second or both parts
„… and at last the last group of ἥρωες we have the ones who joined us last, kjell, torholt and håkan. they may not be rankers but in face of Λαβύρινθος everyone is equal. i know you all want to start as soon as you can but sadly only 1 group is allowed to enter Λαβύρινθος at once so instead we will do our traditional ἥρως lottery. may you be the lucky one to go first or do you have to wait for the very end?"
what was brought in was not something lüziel expected. a tree like statue made from a pitch black on the outside and red on the inside wood with a window showing the inside of the stem, 8 roots and 1 branch and where the crown would be instead becoming thinner and being separated into 8 parts. the roots themselves where not equipped with a window but to each's end was attached a pipe leading to beneath the table it was standing on. the stem was emptied out and now had in the inside rods randomly placed.
„as we have only one group of non rankers i think it is fair to let them have the first choice. team leader kjell on what root of live would you want to put your luck on. what existence with lead you to victory or demise"
the attention turned to their table and after a bit of wait and a sigh kjell decided
„we take N.L.P. as our root of choice"
„not the highest but also not the lowest, will this be the right choice only time will tell"
after the attention turned back to aktaion marth immediately questioned kjell
„ N.L.P.? that has to stand for something"
„non lignified plants, 1 of the 8 roots of life and more importantly the one he tampered with in that machine"
„what is that thing, it's a tree but not?"
kjell was leaning back in his seat
„just a silly gadget to randomly draw lots using the world tree ‚symbolic' to represent whatever agenda you want"
while kjell wasn't giving the answer rina wanted torholt had a bit more to say to this
„you put something inside the roots and then blow air through it and see them climb up ordering in a random order at the top. do you know these sorters that look similar to that inside, where you throw in stuff from the top and it will order from border to center least to most, same idea but in reverse."
„but then you need to take the highest one, that is obviously better as it is closer to the goal!"
„that's why the two top roots are curved down at the entrance. is it fair, i doubt that but not like it's used for something important"
after everyone chose their starting point 4 different colored balls where put in near the tips of the roots and after they where closed off through what could only be an airstream they came flung out into the center part dancing around and hitting against everything in there including the other balls sporadicly but finally floating upwards. their ball was the first one to come out bouncing between the pillars on the inside like the rest but way more successful as it was surprisingly good at evading the other balls a fact that only was noticed by kjell who was looking for what aktaion had planed to let them win.
„ad the first to reach the end iiiiiiisssss BLUE followed directly by yellow and who is the next one it is… green who sneaks it's way past red. with this we have our order of entrance"
after this was finished they pulled out the balls in order and layed them out while pushing the tree to the back wall just letting it stand there. this was followed by a lot more talking that didn't amount to much with all the god representatives abstaining from saying anything. the one important thing coming from this was that they would go first the next day so they stood there now in front of a giant stone door waiting to be opened.
„i hope you are ready because we won't get out of there unless we found the end or are dying"
they knew that this question was just rhetorical as they all came here exactly because they where ready
„so we just gonna push that giant rock or what?"
zenos was halfheartedly kicking against the rock as if it move out of the way from that. to his surprise it actually did move away making him freeze in place from disbelieve
„they have to of cause seal it of for people to not simply walk in but that includes a way of opening it at will of cause"
all of them where starting to move past zenos with torholt at the end of the line giving zenos a push to get him to unfreeze. once inside they where surrounded by walls that looked like simply stone but had an odd black metallic shine coming off them. while there was light it was so dim that they could only barely see to the end of the starting path where it split of for the first time
„do you hear that? it's almost like a clock ticking. where is that coming from"
marth was looking around searching for the origin of the ticking but it was almost as if it came from everywhere at once
„shouldn't you expect machine sounds from something made by ‚the greatest mind of his time'"
zenos was talking in irony but also not so far of the truth
„if this really is not just a normal maze i wouldn't doubt that there is some mechanism at work her"
„more importantly i can see why you wouldn't just barge through the walls. this stuff is seriously hard. you would be hard to find someone who had the tools to break it in a reasonable time"
while he was saying that did kjell knock on a wall
„it's so shiny and new, but also so old and not shiny. i don't like these walls, they make my head hurt thinking about them"
„then don't do it. we are not here to break anything. walls are walls and thats it"
lüziel seemed not impressed by the walls
„anyways let us proceed forward. what lüziel said is right, we are not here to destroy anything. even if we found a way to break through we couldn't afford the upcoming costs in a decades worth of working"
„wasn't there supposed to be a minotaur. can't see anything like that"
„but he is supposed be inside the labyrinths and we are only at the entrance"
rinas lecturing seemed to amuse zenos but before he could respond did kjell interrupt them
„let the minotaur be our problem. all 5 of you together wouldn't be able to beat it"
„before we start going in let's try this. it's at least worth a shot"
marth was pulling out a yarn ball that he fixated on the ground with a medium sized rock he also pulled out
„the breadcrumb trick eh. i could imagine how this can go wrong but you are surely not the first to think of that but it's still better than walking around aimlessly i guess"
„you really are all negative right now zenos. isn't your style to be insufferably annoying"
marth did not himself get distracted by what zenos said and after he made sure that the yarn was tied tight to the rock he use the blue menu again now to draw something inside. unsurprisingly did the map show nothing inside here so he decided to use a simply notepad to draw up the path they walk as a handmade map.
„well it's now up to you to get us through this. puzzles aren't our forte so let's show us what your made of"
despite this looking like some sort of encouragement it was not hard for any of them to see what was really going on here
„or in other words you do nothing and just let us do everything"
but they just pretended to not have heart what lüziel said and so they started going into labyrinth. outside of the constant sound of something large moving that surrounded them and a breeze coming from what looked like venting ducts for the first few hours it looked just like a normal maze. what they did realize was that there seemed to a constant curvature to the left or right leaving the only conclusion that labyrinth was build in a circle but it was hard to actually notice the curve giving a scale how large labyrinth would need to be. as of now it seemed like the yarn method would easily work but that was about to change very quickly with a sudden earthquake shaking all their surroundings
„the ground is moving!"
„oh thank you i would have noticed any other way"
„what's going on?"
„don't look at us, we already told you there isn't much information about labyrinth"
„woaaaah"
almost as soon as the shaking started the yarn was pulled out of marth hand and they now also could hear the sound of stone scraping over stone while the constant ticking increase in frequent and volume. marths first reaction was to go back following the yarn but he was hold back by lüziel
„before you run off let's wait for this to stop"
it took only about 1 minute before the shaking stopped but the yarn marth was holding rolled out almost completely during that time. after it stopped they turned around following the path the yarn indicated and for most of it it was exactly like they remembered with one exception