CHAPTER 193: STUMPED IN THE MAZE!

The corridor swallowed them in pale blue light as soon as they stepped through. The shifting wall closed behind them with a low, final groan, sealing the chamber of bones away as if it had never existed.

Their footsteps echoed softly on the polished stone, the path carved in a perfect spiral that wound downward in an almost hypnotic descent. The air here was cool, clean, freshly stirred—as though the palace itself exhaled to welcome them.

Ember walked beside Albedo, her flames dimmed to a gentle shimmer. Lilian kept her daggers drawn despite the quiet, her eyes flicking back and forth in the dim glow.

Elara remained close, her fingers lightly brushing the stone wall as she absorbed every shifting thread of mana flowing through the structure.

No one spoke for a long time, instead focusing forward as the spiral path eventually flattened out, opening into a vast square chamber. The ceiling disappeared into black mist, and the walls, though clearly of stone, seemed to ripple faintly, like reflections on water.

Four archways stood at equal distances around the room, each leading into a dark hallway identical to the others.

Albedo tensed instinctively. "This,"

The voice cut him off, resonating from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"THE MAZE OF AETERNA. THOSE WHO WISH TO REACH THE PALACE HALL MUST PROVE PERCEPTION, RESOLVE, AND UNITY. FIND THE EXIT."

The sound faded as if sinking into the very stones.

Lilian spun slowly in place. "A maze. A giant, ancient, shifting death-maze."

Elara eyed the four archways. "These buildings are built on mana flows. Everything in this place changes shape... so the maze probably isn’t physical. It’s mental, magical, or both."

"Perfect," Lilian muttered. "We finally get a break from undead, and instead we get psychological torment."

"Let’s pick one and start moving," Albedo said, walking toward the nearest archway where they entered together.

The hallway stretched endlessly ahead, torches flickering with pale blue flames. The stone beneath their feet felt subtly different now, softer, maybe, or smoother. Hard to tell. But after five minutes of walking, Elara frowned and glanced back over her shoulder.

"I know I anchored my sense of direction earlier," she said slowly, "but... did the corridor behind us just change length?"

Lilian whirled around, "No. Don’t say that. Don’t start the horror maze nonsense."

Albedo meanwhile stopped walking, looking around as he noticed the corridor behind them was shorter, much shorter, a dozen steps instead of the dozens they had taken.

He clicked his tongue. "It’s manipulating distance."

"Mana projection," Elara agreed, her voice tight. "This entire hallway exists in a distortion field. The maze isn’t confined to physical space."

"So what, are we walking through illusions?" Lilian asked.

Albedo said, narrowing his eyes, "Kinda, we’re walking through whatever the palace chooses to show us, and we need to find the right path soon,"

They continued. The hallway opened into a square room, identical to the one they’d started in, except for the lack of the initial spiral entrance.

Four archways again and Four identical hallways.

"Did we... go in a circle?" Lilian asked, suspicion twisting her tone.

"We walked straight," Elara said. "I didn’t sense any curvature."

Albedo took out a piece of chalk he’d grabbed earlier from his dimensional storage. He drew a large "X" across the wall. "We test it."

They chose the opposite doorway and walked again. They walked across the same hallway, same length, same torches, and even the same faint hum of magic.

However, ten minutes later, they stepped into a square room.

Elara’s breath hitched, "That’s the same mark."

The chalk "X" gleamed back at them from the stone wall, unmoved.

Lilian threw both hands into her hair. "No. Nope. No way. I’m not even religious and I want to pray."

"Let’s test one more," Albedo said, though his tone grew colder.

He drew a second mark, this time a large slash.

They entered a different corridor and walked again.

This time, the hallway bent slightly. There was a turn, and a new room that wasn’t identical, giving them hope.

Elara smiled. "Different architecture. Good. That means the maze is, "

They turned the next corner and walked into another square room. Their marked wall waited for them.

The same slash. The same chalk dust. The same faint torches.

"...mocking us," Lilian finished. "Fantastic."

Elara stepped forward, placing both palms flat against the cold stone. She closed her eyes, letting mana spiral outward from her fingertips. The room pulsed gently in response—but she sharply inhaled.

"It’s looping us," she whispered. "It’s folding the path behind us, redirecting our spatial position through fixed anchor points."

"So we’re trapped," Lilian said. "A magical hamster wheel."

Albedo’s voice cut through the frustration. "No maze is unsolvable. Every enchantment has a structure. This one wants something from us."

"Unity," Elara murmured. "Resolve. Perception."

"Maybe it’s perception," Lilian said. "Maybe we’re not supposed to force our way through."

"We aren’t," Albedo agreed.

He walked back into the center of the room, staring at each doorway in turn. Ember approached him, lowering her head, her flames flickering in soft pulses that matched the hum of the walls.

A thought struck him.

"Elara," he said quietly. "The palace reacted to our strength in the last trial. It adapts to whoever enters, right?"

"Yes."

"Then this maze... might be responding to what it perceives in us."

Lilian blinked. "Meaning?"

Albedo turned, meeting their eyes.

"It’s showing us the same room because we’re walking like three individuals searching for an exit... not as a unified group."

Elara’s eyebrows rose. "You’re suggesting the maze responds to our intention more than our direction?"

"Exactly. If this place tests perception, it might require us to move as one, mentally aligned. Not just physically together."

Lilian sighed. "So we have to think the same? Like... synchronize our brains?" She paused. "Elara, you can do that, right? Mind vine or whatever?"

Elara pinched the bridge of her nose. "No. That’s not how it works."

Albedo stepped into the center again, offering a hand to each of them.

"We walk together," he said quietly. "Not following me. Not following any corridor. We move forward with the same intention. Same focus. Same direction."

Lilian stared at his hand like it was a cursed artifact. She groaned.

"This is some friendship-is-magic lesson."

Elara reached first.

Lilian followed with a dramatic sigh.

Ember lowered her head, touching Albedo’s shoulder lightly with her muzzle.

"Alright," Lilian muttered. "One unified direction. Together. If this teleports us back again, I’m punching the architecture."

They stepped forward as one.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the torches flickered. The walls shifted. The light dimmed, and for the first time, the corridor ahead wasn’t identical.

The stone changed texture. The air felt warmer. The walls curved gradually like a natural cavern rather than a perfect passage. Ahead, faint glimmers of violet motes drifted like fireflies.

Elara’s eyes widened. "It worked."

Lilian grinned. "Teamwork. Disgusting. Let’s keep going before the maze changes its mind."

They walked deeper, the passage widening.

But even as progress finally came, the palace grew darker, stranger, and more alive with shifting illusions, and deep in the maze, something awakened.

The corridor opened wider with every step they took, the air stirring with faint vibrations, like a heartbeat buried in the stone. The violet motes thickened ahead until they formed a shimmering cloud, guiding them forward in a soft spiral.

None of them spoke. Their breaths matched naturally, their pace aligned, their focus anchored to the same simple intention: Moving Forward Together!

The palace felt that intention. The floor beneath them shifted, subtly at first, then with greater certainty, until the corridor stopped bending entirely and straightened into a single, long path.

Ember’s flames brightened, reflecting off the slick obsidian walls as the motes scattered, rising like dust shaken loose from some ancient dream.

Albedo slowed as the path broadened into a final chamber. It was circular, vast, the ceiling lost in smoke. At the far end stood a single towering archway—etched with runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. This was the exit. Instantly, instinctively, they all felt it.

But something blocked the doorway.

It was massive, easily twenty feet tall, hunched on four thick limbs like a lion sculpted from midnight stone. Its mane writhed like living smoke, and its eyes glowed with a molten gold that burned straight through each of them. When it inhaled, the whole chamber dimmed; when it exhaled, the air trembled.

Lilian whispered in a voice too small for her usual bravado, "...that is not normal."

The creature lifted its head.

Its voice rolled through the chamber like an avalanche wrapped in a whisper.

"YOU HAVE WALKED AS ONE. YOU HAVE BROKEN THE MAZE OF AETERNA."

Its eyes narrowed.

"BUT ONE FINAL QUESTION REMAINS."

The beast lowered itself until its face was level with Albedo’s. Ember stepped protectively beside him, flames curling around her hooves, but the creature ignored her.

Its next words came softer, yet somehow heavier.

"WHAT IS UNITY?"

The Beast asked and then waited, while the trio held their breaths, thinking deeply and trusting each-other.

Albedo placed his hand over Ember’s warm shoulder, feeling Lilian and Elara move in beside him. No one spoke aloud, but the thought aligned again, naturally, effortlessly.

Forward.

Together.

Albedo raised his head to meet the golden eyes.

And he answered.