We walked past a half-dozen doorways before Tristan reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Alex. Can you pull the map out for me?" Her voice was heavy with worry.

"We should really keep moving." Faye was a good twenty feet ahead of us. "Taking a break now would be unwise." As she spoke, the darkness at the end of the hallway grew deeper. "Whatever it is, it can wait."

Turning, I saw that Tristan's cheeks were wet. She'd been quietly crying. "Faye. Wait." I didn't have it in me to turn Tristan down, and a good leader made time for his team to grieve and feel. I had to do this for her. "Of course I can do that." Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out the [Pathfinder's Map]. "Just give us a moment, Faye."

"Be quick."

Unraveling the map, I asked Tristan, "What are you thinking?"

She pulled a small silver ring off her left middle finger and placed it on the page. "Na-Ya gave me this ring. I just... I want to see where she is. Where they are. I need to know that they're okay."

The second the ring touched the page, the words written at the top of the map, "C⍜pp⟟rh◌ld: L⧫v⟟l 3," shifted. As the name changed, the lines on the map faded away, and new lines took their place. After a few moments, the words "Lights Hope Temple" ran along the top, and a familiar-shaped structure was visible on the page.

"Are they... home?" Tristan's nose almost touched the page. "I think they're home!"

Just beyond the tip of her nose, near the top of the page, a single black dot was rushing out of one of the small rooms in the north wing and was making its way to a room labeled "scriptorium."

"I think they are!" Relief washed over me.

"She's alive..." Tristan let out a trembling breath and stood upright again. "I'm so glad." She wiped the fresh tears from her cheeks.

"Team," Faye's voice was hard. "We need to move."

"Soon. Just a moment more." I found Tristan's eyes. She was still worried.

"Do you have anything of Ro's?"

"I don't think I do, but..." Maybe it would work if it were something he had touched recently. "Let me try something." Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out the little chest Faye planted for us. Ro had handled it not too long ago. It might just work.

Placing the map on the ground, I put the box on top. A moment later, a second black dot, much fainter than the one created by Tristan's ring, appeared on the page. Both dots were just entering the large room labeled "Great Hall."

"Thank the Goddess!" Tristan's smile grew brighter as she wiped away a couple of fresh tears.

As she spoke, another set of lines bled onto the page, superimposing themselves around and through the lines representing the temple. The words "C⍜pp⟟rh◌ld: L⧫v⟟l 3" reappeared at the top of the page, and our dots reappeared in the center of the page. Everywhere the lines from both places touched, the map looked like it was glitching out.

"We gotta go, team!"

Looking up, I saw the tunnel had grown even darker, and back the way we came, I couldn't make out anything in the gloom. Then, down on the map, the lines representing the temple disappeared, and the air around us grew cold and still.

"It's too late..." Faye sighed. "Damn it!" There was some shuffling, and she muttered, "I'm such an idiot!"

I looked up again to find the Hero sitting down cross-legged on the stone floor. As I placed our stuff back into my inventory, I asked, "What's too late?"

"It's too late to avoid what's ahead of you."

Walking up and kneeling beside her, I could tell we'd fucked up, but I didn't know how. "What does that mean?"

Dropping her chin into her palm, she said, "This place is called a demesne. It's a realm that sits just outside the Goddess's laws. As such, it's not bound by the same rules as the surface world." She pointed at the doors. "The quest you got when we arrived at Copperhold, the extra one with all the glitchy text, refers to a being called a No Life King. That being is almost certainly the one creating this tunnel and all the doorways that you see." She pointed at one of the nearby doorways. "And those are your roads."

Following her finger to an open doorway, I saw inside was my room again, but the furniture was all wrong, and the walls were smooth instead of stone and mortar.

"Explain it like I'm five."

"You've been trapped by a scary monster, and the only way out is to do something crappy."

"Why didn't you say anything before?! If you knew we'd end up in a place like this, it would have been nice to get a little heads up!"

"I'm sorry..." She lowered her head. "Ever since Elowen passed, I haven't really gone on a real quest with anyone, and she died decades ago. And aside from some monster incursions near the clefts, Reial hasn't exactly been exciting this century. I guess I'm rusty."

"Rusty?!" My voice echoed up the hall. "You're the fucking Hero!"

"That's only a title, Alex. I've been around for a long time, but I'm still just me. I eat, breathe, and cry just like the rest of you. And sometimes, I even mess up. I'm not perfect. I'm just a person."

"I..." Looking down at her, seeing the pain and vulnerability on her face, made me realize that I hadn't seen her as a person. I built her up in my mind to be this invincible, immortal badass, one who was far beyond the rest of us. But she'd never portrayed herself that way.

She'd done everything she could to be relatable, to connect. She'd been mentoring me, sure, but she didn't try to leverage, at any point, her status or title. Instead, she'd been watching, and when she wasn't watching, she kept saying over and over again how much she missed what we had. She talked about how people put her on pedestals. How hard it was to build relationships. How people used her for her status.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I realized then that she wasn't some superhero like I'd thought. She was a lonely old woman who'd lost more people than I'd ever known and who didn't know where she fit in the world anymore. All she wanted, really, was connection. She was here for us, sure, but she was here for her, too.

My heart broke for her.

With all those realizations, I decided that it was time to be a leader for her, too. "It's okay." I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "I understand. We can all only do our best. I know you did what you thought was right."

Her green eyes fixed on mine. For a moment, she didn't speak. Then, running her hands over her face, she said, "Honestly, I never expected we'd ever end up in an infinite hallway. They're not exactly common." Raising her head again, she added, "Also, and this'll sound strange, but the more you knew, the more likely we'd end up stuck in here."

"How could knowing more about a thing make it more likely to come about? Isn't that ass backward?"

"I told you. The Depths are a place where wishes and nightmares become real. This place shifts and bends according to what we hold in our minds. If you knew the possibilities of what you might face, it was more likely that we'd face them." She wrung her hands in her lap. "Plus, I thought that, by my being here, the No Life King presiding over this area wouldn't try to threaten you. Hell, I didn't even think he'd be able to sense you. My aura's not exactly small. I was wrong."

"Yeah, very wrong." If she wanted connection, she'd get sass, too.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Glancing around the space for a moment, I didn't see much of note. The hallway stretched out in one direction for as far as I could see. Back the way we came, there was nothing. "So, what? Are we stuck, stuck then?"

"Yes and no." She pointed up the hallway. "You'll end up stuck here if all you do is walk down this hallway. However," she pointed at the nearest doorway again, "one of these doors will lead you out of this... bubble, I guess you could call it, and into the real demesne beyond. You'll just have to find which door is the best option. Then, after you walk one of your roads, you should be able to emerge out the other side and fight the No Life King who rules here."

"The roads?"

"They're false worlds constructed from the remnants of what your life would have been had something different happened. Put more poetically, they're the ripples that we leave behind as we swim through the currents of life. Kasimir always likes to describe them that way."

"So, they're like alternate realities? Multiverse theory and all that?"

"No. They aren't like the worlds where all of the races originally came from. Those are real. Our roads aren't real, but they still exist, if that makes sense. And some are more real than others. The more real, the longer they stick around. Understand?"

"Not at all."

"Yeah, I don't get it either. All I know is that they exist, but don't."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do they exist but don't?"

"Why do trees exist? They just do." Faye looked hard at the nearby doorway. "They're the lost possible futures you cull as you live your life. Normally, they have no impact on us. All they do is end up sinking into the Depths and becoming food for the Abyss. Before they fade away, though..." She gestured around, "They can be experienced. Mostly, in places like these." She gestured around us.

"Do people do that? Enter their roads? Like, by choice?"

"Sometimes."

"Why?"

"By entering one's roads, a person can better understand their life. But some also say they exist so we might better process grief. Others say they exist so that we might reflect on our lives. Some even believe that, through exploring all of one's roads, one can experience enlightenment. I haven't experienced that, but it's a nice thought."

"Huh." I scratched at my stubble and thought for a while. The whole roads thing was a bit beyond me, but I was sure I'd figure it all out when the time came. This monster, though... "I've never heard of that kind of monster. A No Life King. What can you tell me about it?"

The Hero shook her head. "A No Life King isn't a kind of monster. No Life King is a title used by powerful undead. It refers to any undead being strong enough to bend the Depths to its will, twisting the world below to suit its strengths."

"So, we're facing an undead?"

"Yeah. A strong one, too. If I had to guess, I would guess that any undead strong enough to claim that title would be a lich or a vampire of some kind. Maybe a revenant."

"Great." I sighed. I forgot vampires existed in Real. "So, why don't you go through one of these doors, then? If you've already walked your roads, surely you're better able to do it than us. You may just be a person, but you're still the damn Hero, right?"

"I'm sorry, but this is your fight, not mine."

"Useless."

Faye looked hurt. "Look, I would if I could. These doors might look open for you, but all of these doors are closed for me. All but one." She nodded at the nearest doorway. "So, until you help me out, I'm stuck down here."

"Why are they closed for you?"

"I'm old. Very old. Most of the ripples I made faded a long time ago. The ones that haven't, I've already walked. I have one left, but I have no interest in walking it."

"Why not?"

"I'm not about to relive that time."

"Which is?"

"It was the worst time of my life." She crossed her arms. "I won't go back to that time unless I have to."

"I see..." But, she was the Hero, right? "You can't actually be stuck down here, can you?"

"I mean, I could carve a hole through these walls, rip through the Depths, and erupt onto the surface, but the damage to Istaera would be horrific. Not only would a good part of the region be destroyed, but I'm confident you'd all die. I don't want that."

I shook my head. "Forgive me for saying this again, but you're useless." If she wanted connection, then I'd shit on her just like I would a friend.

"Totally useless," Vral added behind me. "Step it up."

"Guys..." Tristan chided us, but she didn't correct us either. "Be nice."

"Never!" Vral snapped.

Faye pretended to scowl, but there was a small curl to her lips. "I'm not even supposed to be here."

"Well, you are." I crossed my arms. "So, if I'm getting you out of here, tell me everything you know. What are we dealing with?"

With a chuckle, the Hero said, "The fact that this king was able to bend both the Depths and most of a dungeon to its will means it's strong. The fact that it's constructed these doorways means its powers are linked to space and time, and it will likely devour your life force as you live the lives you would have lived. And the fact that it sent the other two away means it thinks it can take the three of you on, but it was afraid of all five of you being together."

"So, Ro and Na-Ya really were sent away? That wasn't an illusion or anything?"

"Like your map showed us, they're back at the temple now. If the king wanted to keep them here, it would have enticed them to enter one of their roads, but that would have risked them escaping and fighting alongside you three. Its choice to divide you up means that it's at least somewhat afraid of you."

"Shouldn't it be more afraid of you?"

"I'm sure it's quaking in its boots that I'm here, but like I said, I only have one road available to me, and I don't want to live it. My guess is it already knows that."

"How could it possibly—"

"I don't know, but I sure as hell will be figuring that out once I get out of here." Her tone was as sharper than I'd ever heard it.

"Will the three of us need to enter our own roads?" Tristan asked.

"No. Like Ro-Saleh and Na-Ya, since your hearts are connected, if you three enter a doorway together, you should be able to walk the same road. You'll just need to choose whose road you want to enter."

"And that's it? We all go and share a fake life together?"

Faye shook her head. "I have no idea. I explored my roads alone."

"How will we escape them? Because all of this just sounds like we're gonna get stuck in some shitty half-life with no way back." Vral's eyes were smoldering in the darkness beside me. "It may not be worth much, but I kind of like my life these days!"

"I don't know. Kasimir knows far more about this stuff than I do. All I know is that everyone's roads are different. Also, your memories will be fuzzy when you're in there." She paused. "Oh, and eventually, something will appear in your life that will feel wrong. Whanever it shows up, follow it. And never forget that it's all just a reflection. It's not real. Make sure to remember that."

"Tch. Useless Hero."

"How do we choose which door to enter?" I asked.

"Choose the one that looks and feels the best."

I sighed. "That's it?"

"That's it.

"Okay." Turning to the girls, I said, "Let's go pick a door. It's time for us to save this useless Hero of ours."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.