Labyrinth of Souls

by C. E. Dorsett

  Raih reached down to touch the water. The pond retreated from her hand. As she pulled back, the water returned to its shore. She tried again with the same results.

  The inky black water stood still, without ripples. How had it moved? She waved her hand over the pool twisting and curling her fingers to draw out sigils of revelation. Her hands tingled like they did when she let her energy flow through to stir up the aether to uncover hidden things.

  For a moment, something rippled through the air. Lines glittered, turned, and twisted, but faded before she discerned a shape.

  Sitting down at the water’s edge, she fixed her attention on the black pool. Smooth as a mirror, nothing perturbed the surface. It didn’t even ripple when it moved away from her. It moved like it was alive.

  Something stirred under the surface. Black in black, but it was definitely there. The dark water, if it was water, obscured the creature, but the light danced on its skin like a bubble in amber.

  Raih stood up and moved back from the pond. She rocked back and forth. They wouldn’t trap her in here with a monster, would they?

  They couldn’t want her to fight a beast for a place at the academy? Was she a sacrifice to a terror under the school?

  No. Ema trusted them, and she didn’t trust easy. The school was ancient and prestigious. Attendance would open new opportunities for her. Nothing that good came without a price.

  Ema had warned her that if she became a summoner, she had to be careful or the things inside her might overwhelm and destroy her. When she asked Ema what she meant by that she just told her stories about summoners who lost control of their creatures, essentially dying by their own hand. She hadn’t summoned anything. The grandmaster said they would be patrolling the labyrinth in case she needed help. Why would they need help if there wasn’t danger? That felt like an empty promise. There were no corridors or passages for them to patrol.

  The creature moved in the black water again. It reminded her of the time she watched Ema add a few drops of a carnelian elixir into a glass of water when she was sick. The orangey red drops blossomed like ribbons in the water. The creature was like ink in black water.

  Her muscles tightened like ropes binding her to the spot. For just a moment, concentric rings of sharp triangular teeth glinted through the murk. Light flashed in countless eyes blacker than the water. They stared up at her with an unsettling otherness. In that stygian abyss, one large or hundreds of small creature focused on her.

  Raih stepped further back. What was it? A test, a trial, what? The beast in the pond was not eating her, today. She might not be able to kill it, but she wouldn’t be easy prey.

  More ringed maws and cavernous black eyes looked up at her from the black water, which started to churn from their excitement. Stark white lines crested the ebony waves making the pond look more like a giant spider web.

  Something rustled to her right.

  Raih jumped left. She turned. What made the noise?

  A stray clomp of glowing white lilies near the root trees shook violently.

  Something shook the leaves.

  It chittered angrily and wailed as if it was in pain.

  Raih stood still and listened to the plaintive cries of the creature. It didn’t sound like it was being attacked. It sounded as trapped as she was. It cackled and moaned.

  She took a single step forward. Something orange and white thrashed around behind the green of the lilies and the graying ochre of the roots.

  She stepped forward to half face the pool, which had returned to its mirror black finish. Maybe she stepped out of the creature’s reach? She turned back to the trapped creature.

  “Hello?” Raih said.

  The creature stopped rustling and howled at her like a trapped puppy.

  Raih stepped closer and pushed the lilies apart.

  A strange animal that looked like a floating, tiger striped seahorse with a white belly and orange and gold, black veined, leaf-like butterfly wings howled at her. It was so tiny, and if she put aside her fears for a moment, so cute.

  The poor little thing had somehow gotten itself caught in a cage of roots. Beyond it, she could make out a passage just big enough for her to wriggle through.

  “Calm down,” she said to the little howler. “I will get you out of there, trust me, you don’t want to be in here.”

  With a little effort, she wrenched the roots out of the ground.

  The creature fluttered out and circled her head hooting and whistling. It nuzzled against her cheek and licked her ear.

  Raih couldn’t help but laugh. Its soft velvet body was so warm, and its tongue wet and a little scratchy like a cat's.

  “You’re welcome,” Raih giggled. “Stop, stop, you’re welcome.”

  The little thing was about a quarter meter tall, but it was hard to gauge its size because it kept coiling its tail up.

  “Where did you come from?” Raih asked.

  It glanced back through the small passage, then tilted its head in several other directions before looking up and twirling.

  Was it trying to explain the path it took in from the surface?

  “Do you have a name?” Raih asked.

  The creature made a sound that sounded a lot like, “Min Min.”

  “So little Min Min, my name is Raih. Will you help me get out of here?”

  Min Min nodded and trilled.

  Raih knelt down. She pulled at the twisted roots to clear a path big enough for her to get through.

  After forcing herself through the crack in the wall, the passage opened enough to stand. Yellow-white crystal doted the ceiling down the tunnel. Raih ran her fingers along the wall. The stone was rough and dusty, but not scratchy. Even though they were dry, water must have cut the passage. Something else emanated from the walls. It was familiar, but elusive. As she tried to track down the sensation, she remembered a bad thunderstorm that buffeted her home with howling wind and torrents of rain. The sky screamed with rage and roared until sunrise. That night, Ema held her as she cried. Whatever she sensed within the wall reminded her of that comforting embrace. Even though it was just stone, it touched her back, caressing her finger.

  Raih wondered if she perceived the teachers watching over her like Cacuun promised. The magic they used to peer into the labyrinth might be strong enough for her to detect it, but this struck her as something else. It was in the rock itself.

  The passage stretched on. She walked at slow pace. Once or twice, she thought she heard music. It was just the light crystals vibrating in the stone. Each one made a different tone, and together they made chords, melodies, and harmonies. Raih moved on like a needle on a record, the song playing faster and slower depending on the pace she kept. The song twinkled through the air. If the cave wasn’t so quiet or the passage to long, it would have escaped her.

  Little Min Min fluttered and spiraled around her. A couple times, the creature sang along with the melody.

  Raih smiled. This is real magic. The necessities of life stole this magic from her since her parents died. When she was a child, she used to dance to the rhythm of the winds and the chorus of sounds they played in the leaves and grass. The birds sang to the wind, and it carried them into the heavens.

  One time, a group of Tengoku beetles rested on the Bagha lilies in their garden. Their chirps sounded like a lute in the hands of a master. She and her mother danced to their song for hours.

  Raih smiled. A warmth filled her chest. Tears refreshed her eyes, but she didn’t cry. She danced with Min Min like she hadn’t since she was a child.

  The passage narrowed and ceiling lowered until she had to crawl on her hands and knees. After a while, her muscles burned from creeping along the ground.

  She kept pinning the dress under her legs and had to pull it up to continue forward. I’ll never wear a long skirt ever again. She wore this dress because she wanted to look presentable. Honestly, she wanted to fit in. Any school as prestigious as Sunsuulyn would recruit from the elite of the world. Raih believed she
was anything but elite. Appearance served no purpose down here. At least, she wasn't the only one who had expected nothing like this. Some dressed in even finer clothes. She laughed. If she had worn a designer outfit to crawl through a cave, she would have been incensed. At least she didn’t like this dress.

  She pushed on and felt her skirt rip. She laughed again and lowered her head to the dusty floor. Reaching down, she ripped the rest of the fabric off so her knees were free to move. The ground greeted her bare knees with a soft almost sandy soil she hadn’t felt with her hands. Had it shaped itself to keep her from getting scuffed up? It changed constantly. Frustrated, she continued down the tunnel.

  Ahead, light flooded the passage. She bowed her head and said a silent prayer of thanks to the spirits for giving her a way out. Focused on the light ahead, Raih hastened to the end of the tunnel.

  She crawled out and stood up. She stretched like cat greeting the day. Min Min swooped past her. Raih’s legs ached and wanted to celebrate their freedom with a dance. She stretched again instead.

  Min Min had no such compunction about celebrating their freedom from the tunnel. She whorled through the air singing a happy song.

  Raih smiled.

  The labyrinth stopped pretending she was outside. Rough hewn stones filled the circular walls in a spiral from floor to ceiling. A single, large, glowing crystal hung like a chandelier from a chain in the center of the plastered ceiling. As she examined the ceiling, she could see more blocks under the plaster spiraling to the center. Three wooden doors interrupted the coils of stone. They were the equally spaced apart, with nothing carved on them. They had no markings at all.

  Min Min stopped her celebratory dance and fluttered from door to door. Then, she looked at Raih with a furrowed brow and squawked.

  “I don’t know where to go either,” Raih scratched her chin.

  Min Min harrumphed.

  “Let me guess," She said to the upset creature, "This isn't the room you expected us to find.”

  Min Min nodded and pursed her lips, which distorted her little snout.

  “Well, little one, that confirms, the rooms move around.” Her stomach tightened. If the labyrinth could reorder itself without making a sound or causing a tremor, she could be trapped down here forever. The wall hadn't just closed behind her, the room moved away from the stairs. Grandmaster Cacuun talked to her long enough for the labyrinth to change. Did that mean he was sincere when he told her how deep her name was carved in the stone? He had nothing to gain from lying.

  “So, Min Min, the rooms move,” Raih screwed up her face and sighed.

  The creature blew a raspberry at the wall and twisted its body in a way that reminded Raih of a child throwing a tantrum.

  “Don’t worry. We will get out.”

  Min Min raised an eyebrow and squawked at her.

  “I know,” Raih sighed. “We need to stay positive.”

  The school wasn’t a deathtrap. If it were, Ema would have heard stories about students dying at an alarming rate, right? Magic was dangerous, so maybe the losses where counted as acceptable.

  She shook the idea out of her head. She had three doors to choose from, and if she was right about the rooms moving themselves, she only had one chance to get it right. All three looked the same. What trick gave away the right answer? It was possible the same room laid beyond each door. That wouldn't be a stretch for a magical labyrinth.

  The door opposite her opened.

  Raih jumped and raised her arms to fight.

  Min Min dove behind her.

  An olive skinned woman with her black hair in a braided bun behind her ears wearing a gray wrap jacket and matching pants ran in and slammed the door behind her. When she saw Raih, she set her feet and raised her arms to guard her body. The movement looked so practiced. She had trained to fight.

  They stared at each other.

  Raih kept her eyes fixed to her muscles for signs the stranger was about to attack. She looked surprised. The students were let into labyrinth one by one. The rooms moved according to their own logic. Meeting another student wasn't a coincidence.

  “I remember you from the platform,” Raih broke the silence.

  The stranger nodded and relaxed her arms.

  “My name is Raih.”

  The stranger stood quiet for a moment, “My name...” She looked down with a wavering smile. “My name is Jodhaa Bhai.” Her eyes locked on something behind Raih, “You have a Seiryu?”

  Raih followed Jodhaa’s eye line over her shoulder to Min Min and back, “I don’t even know what a Seiryu is.”

  Jodhaa pointed at Min Min, “That is a Seiryu.”

  Raih took a deep breath. She watched the stranger’s face. Watching her eyes and the corners of her mouth, she told Jodhaa how she found Min min, and how they got here.

  Jodhaa examined Raih’s ripped skirt as if she was trying to verify her story. She grunted softly at the end of the story, then looked right into Raih’s eyes. “Then you should know Seiryu are incredibly loyal.” Jodhaa put her arms down and stood in a much more relaxed posture. “If you helped her out, she might never leave your side.”

  “Oh,” Raih hadn’t considered anything like that. Well, she had always wanted a pet.

  “How many rooms have you been through?” Jodhaa asked like she was taking inventory in a shop.

  “Just the one, you?”

  “This is my fourth.” Jodhaa pointed at the two other doors. “But they only had one door each.”

  “Well,” Raih glanced between the three doors. “Since you entered through that door, and the door behind me goes off in the direction I came from, then we have one obvious option.”

  They turned to face the remaining door.

  Raih didn’t like her own logic. The door Jodhaa entered through probably went somewhere else by now. The door next to the tunnel could lead anywhere. This puzzle had a solution, or it would be a pointless test. Those were the only clues they had.

  “That makes a certain sense.” Doubt showed on Jodhaa's face, then she said under her breath, "Sister Moon, guide and guard us."

  Raih didn’t like that answer either. It was too easy. If the labyrinth was designed to test them, why would the path be obvious.

  “Have you checked either of them?” Jodhaa asked.

  “No, I figured there was a trick to it, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”

  Raih walked up the to door behind her and touched the handle. Turning, she noticed the other two doors faded into the spiral stones. She walked over to the obvious door and touched its handle. The two other doors faded.

  “Looks like we only get one chance.” Jodhaa said.

  Raih thought about it for a moment. “We should take that door." She pointed to the one by the tunnel.

  “Why?”

  “You came through that door. I entered through that tunnel. That makes the third door the obvious choice. In my experience, the obvious choice is usually wrong. That leaves the door by the tunnel. There wasn't a door in the room I left. It must go somewhere else, and it isn’t the easy choice.”

  “What is precious does not come easy,” Jodhaa said.

  “Something like that. It would be a good way to hide the right choice.”

  Raih opened the door by the tunnel, and the two of them walked into darkness.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Caught by Night

  Raih walked down the dark passage with Min Min at her side and Jodhaa behind her. The gloom clung to her like nettles laden with dew. Her skin prickled with a lazy itch. She waved her arms in front of her to keep from walking into a spider web or even the wall, finding nothing there except for the chill air.

  She glanced over her shoulder at Jodhaa, but saw nothing but the inky black void.

  The darkness loomed so close. Her legs ached to run, but without her eyes, she could trip, fall, and hurt herself. Then she would really be trapped. Only calm, deliberated action would get her through this.

  She opened her mouth
to say something, but no words followed. Language failed in this void. Vague platitudes or weak encouragements served no purpose. Jodhaa walked the labyrinth for the same reason she did. Raih listened to her companion's footsteps, and Min Min’s fluttering wings. Words would just be extraneous noise.

  Ahead, the murk faded into a dim sepia. Tiny shards glowed from the ceiling. The corridor opened into a large cave lit by more and larger luminous crystals.

  This room set Raih’s teeth on edge. What kind of labyrinth was this? No hedges or stone passages, just utter chaos. None of the rooms made sense, this one least of all.

  The cave looked natural, not carved or built. Even the glowing crystals peeked haphazardly from the stalactites scattered across the ceiling. Most even had stone growing around them which cast strange shadows throughout the room. An underground river carved these caves out of the mountain. Later, someone connected them to make the labyrinth. Magic requires cooperation with nature.

  Was that the lesson they intended her to learn? It was too simple. Every novice learned to survey the area first, or at least they should have. If they didn’t understanding the available energies, they wouldn't be able to perform. Perhaps they designed all this to disorient them so they would be a clean slate when they started their instruction.

  Jodhaa complicated the situation. It wasn't a coincidence she met the one person who caught her eye on the reception platform. Is that why they met? With magic involved, random chance became unlikely. Ema told her, "Magic has a wyrd nature, forming connections between disparate things." The enchantments of the labyrinth intended for them to meet.

  Strangers always caused problems. They either wanted something from you or they didn’t care about what happened to you. Before she met Ema, she saw people as pockets to pick or obstacles. Ema caught Raih after she popped her money purse off her belt, but she didn’t turn her over to the Sawyers. She offered her a hot meal.

  For days, Ema just showed up with food, until one day she invited Raih to come home with her.

  Raih chuckled. She was a sick puppy Ema saved from the dangerous streets. It took time for her to trust Ema, but eventually she wore her down.