The light around them flickered, shifting like waves in a storm. As Lumis and Eili moved forward, the labyrinth seemed to breathe with them, its walls shifting, reshaping, and leading them down a narrow passage that twisted and turned in impossible directions.
Eili, her heart pounding in her chest, glanced at Lumis. The certainty that had filled him moments before now seemed to waver, as if even he were unsure of where this path would lead.
“Do you feel it?” she whispered.
Lumis nodded, his face pale in the shifting light. “Yes… this place isn’t just alive. It’s aware of us.”
They paused at a crossroads—three paths stretched out before them. Each one appeared identical, bathed in the same radiant glow, but something in the air shifted subtly, as if the very space held its breath.
“I think we should take the one on the left,” Lumis said, his voice carrying a strange calmness.
“How do you know?” Eili asked, her gaze darting between the three options. She had learned to trust his instincts, but this felt different.
Lumis didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his eyes closed for a moment, and he seemed to listen to something—perhaps the pulse of the labyrinth itself. When he spoke again, his voice was steady but edged with a quiet intensity.
“It feels… right. Like it’s pulling us toward it.”
Eili hesitated but then nodded. She trusted him, even if a small part of her felt that they were no longer walking on solid ground but on the edge of some unfathomable precipice.
Together, they stepped into the left path. The air grew colder as they walked, the once bright walls dimming slightly, leaving only a faint glow to guide their steps. With each stride, the darkness seemed to deepen around them, like shadows pulling at their ankles.
Suddenly, the passage narrowed sharply, forcing them to move closer together. Eili’s breath caught in her throat as a low hum filled the air, vibrating through her very bones. The labyrinth was alive, and it was speaking to them.
“I think it’s testing us,” Lumis murmured, his hand brushing against the wall as if seeking something—anything—to anchor him in this strange, shifting world.
They reached a dead end, the passage closing off before them. The glowing walls pulsed with a rhythmic thrum, louder now, almost deafening. At the center of the wall, a circular depression had formed, a smooth, dark surface that seemed to swallow the light around it.
“What is this?” Eili asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Lumis stepped forward, his hand instinctively reaching out toward the dark spot. The moment his fingers brushed the surface, the humming stopped. The labyrinth held its breath.
“Lumis, wait!” Eili called, but it was too late.
The dark surface rippled, and with a sudden surge, the wall in front of them seemed to collapse inward, revealing a vast chamber beyond. The air inside was thick, heavy with the scent of old stone and forgotten memories.
They stepped into the room, and as their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they saw it—an enormous clock, its face cracked and aged, but still somehow ticking with an unsettling rhythm. The hands of the clock moved slowly, as though reluctant to pass, each second stretching into eternity.
“Is this… the heart of the labyrinth?” Eili asked, her voice echoing in the vastness of the room.
Lumis approached the clock, his eyes fixed on its moving hands. “This is it. The core. The center.”
The clock’s ticking grew louder, each beat like a pulse, reverberating through the very air around them. Lumis reached out, his fingers brushing the face of the clock, feeling the cold metal beneath his touch.
“How do we stop it?” Eili asked, fear creeping into her voice. She had seen this before—the ticking of time, the inescapable rhythm that controlled everything.
Lumis paused, his mind racing. He had no answers, only the overwhelming sense that something in this room held the key to everything they had been searching for.
Before he could speak, the ground beneath them trembled. The clock’s hands moved faster, as if it were waking from a long slumber. The light around them flickered, and the air became thick with an oppressive weight.
“We need to make a choice,” Lumis said, his voice resolute. “Now.”
Eili nodded, her heart heavy with the realization that whatever lay ahead, it would change everything. They had come this far. Now, they had to decide whether to face the clock and everything it represented—or to walk away and leave the truth behind.
The ticking continued. And the labyrinth waited.