Over the past few hours, Orion had passed through different rooms, corridors and pools filled with water and he had noticed that after each death, his body suited him a little better.
Bit by bit, things were falling into place. It wasn't his height increasing or his limbs changing shape. His outward appearance hadn't changed much. But dying smoothed something internal, reshaping him into a state that felt more natural to inhabit.
Eventually, he reached a point where breathing felt easier and running no longer required constant commands.
This body belonged to him now.
At that moment, he was moving through a room where winged creatures with bodies of magma had built a nest in the center. When Orion slipped past this dangerous flock with light steps, he felt his body recover once again.
The moment the haze at the edges of his vision cleared, he heard monstrous screeches behind him. "Damn it. A minute is too short."
When the bird-like mammalian creatures pounced on him and tore him apart, his pupils, one drifting to the right and the other to the left, stayed still for a few seconds.
He was dead.
Seconds passed and his body began to recover in a way that felt almost magical.
"At least I don't feel it. If I felt pain during the recovery too, that's when I'd actually lose my mind."
The one thing he knew for certain was that dying wasn't as terrifying as he once thought. During his last few deaths, he had paid close attention and noticed that his brain shut off pain shortly after taking fatal damage.
After they managed to kill him, magma birds lost interest and began acting as if he was never there. Orion lay on the ground as this happened. About ten seconds later, his pupils started moving again.
He was certain that this period of immunity lasted a maximum of one minute with each death. And as long as he healed and moved faster, nothing attacked him.
By the time he pushed himself up and began walking, thirty seconds had passed. Now he had half a minute to move out of the range where these creatures could sense him.
After exiting, he entered a long corridor sealed off by a massive wall. He knew this place.
"So no matter where I go, the paths always lead me back to this central corridor."
At first, he thought this was some kind of maze. Maybe it was for others. But after hours of exploring without fear of death, he realized it wasn't all that complex.
The young warriors he had left behind probably didn't realize that this place was simpler than a children puzzle.
Orion tried to smile, but his facial muscles didn't move.
"The recovery process probably leaves the smaller outer muscles for last."
Just as he was about to curse, he realized he could hear voices. Without knowing when, he had reached a place where the sounds of battle echoed.
After passing another corridor on the left and drawing closer to the central area, he figured out where the sound was coming from.
It was that portal room with damned dragon inside.
Before he could make any sort of plan, he saw something that made his heart race. One of the young warriors, a black girl swung a massive club and brought it down on the head of the Orc. Monster was nearly two and a half meters tall but the Orc flew backward.
Orion wondered if this was magic or some martial physical enhancement.
Many of the questions swirling in his head probably had answers tied to the people who had entered this dungeon alongside him. But instead of approaching them to ask, he decided to watch for a while. None of them looked older than twenty including himself.
"There's something going on here."
..
POV: Seraphine V. DuMont
Portal Room Entrance
The portal chamber felt different from the rest of the Maze.
Corridors gave people chances to run away from monsters. Corners to hide behind. Narrow lanes to trick them and beat their numbers.
This hell-spawn room offered none of that!
It was wide, carved like an arena, with the arch set into the far wall as if the stone had grown around it.
The light inside the opening pulsed at a steady rhythm. Each pulse sent a faint tremor and a thin mist through the floor, spreading into their ankles and knees.
Seraphine adjusted her stance until the vibration stopped throwing off her balance. The pulse affected the entire floor at random, so getting used to it was impossible.
She slid her left foot half a step and planted her heel to ground. Then lifted her chin and watched the front like a commander of an army.
"Left side, stick closer!" she barked.
Seraphine wasted no time checking their faces. Her soldiers' defensive line answered immediately. Shields overlapped. Bodies pressed together. A gap that had been forming vanished before it turned into a problem. And that was enough.
Her rapier's handle was slick.
Blood had reached the grip, soaked into the leather and dried. It caused itch beneath her fingers. She felt the irritating leather with her hold. Wiping it would've helped, but there was no time. If she loosened her grip for even a breath, someone paid for it.
Something slammed into the shields with a heavy, ugly impact. It was an unusually large Orc. Probably an elite, maybe even a chief.
"We need help with the big one!" a young candidate shouted. But Seraphine could see their condition better. They weren't in a desperate situation yet.
The creature was impressive in size, but it lacked a cunning mind. Even its weapon grip was crude and awkward. Still, the clumsy movements of this primitive, savage beast carried tremendous weight.
Under its heavy attacks, the same shield-bearing boy's arms trembled. Fear made his hands forget their purpose. A scream rose, half a name, half a plea, then ended with a hard sound as a body hit stone.
Seraphine kept her gaze forward. Yes, a candidate died just like that. But he would have survived by trusting his shield. She had told everyone what to do dozens of times.
From this point on, everything depended on whether people did their part. If they wanted to pass this exam ground and enroll in the Academy, success was the only path.
"What do they expect from me? I'm just another candidate like them." She muttered.
A black girl from a prestigious and powerful southern family, lifted a massive club and swung with all her strength. The Orc flew away with shattered body parts disrupting the defense line.
"Nice one, Elara!"
"Figures, she's a Sinclair! She is carrying a quarter-ton club."
Seraphine ignored the excitement, the same way she did for the dying people.
Her focus stayed on the overall battle line. Individual moments never held her attention for long. Individuals died fast in places like this. Even she could die if these idiots didn't stop wasting time.
"Take your place Sinclair and don't move on your own unless I say so!" Yelling her felt like a waste of time. Seraphine's mana sharpened her sight, a faint blue glow deep inside. She watched movements of monsters and gave orders for the spacing.
She watched eyes of the monsters that started searching for an escape instead of targets. She noticed the small signs first, because disasters always began small.
The portal kept pulsing. The floor kept trembling. The air stayed warm and metallic, like wet copper tools left too long in the sun.
Seraphine wasn't focused on the portal itself, but on the entrance to the Portal Room. Then the latest tremor pushed far more creatures through than she expected.
Her eyes slipped involuntarily toward the massive portal across the chamber. In front of the portal, there was a figure of a dragon.
A pale dragon statue, smaller than anyone expected. People had talked about it constantly before this Hell-Maze began.
It was the goal, the key to riches and the only finish line of this madness.
The Academy had placed a prize in front of the damn portal and dared them to earn it.
Touch it and the exam ends.