Surprisingly, through most of this, she didn’t say a lot, just nodded and took the information in. Then she started to confirm what we already knew was happening at the capital, where the king’s judgment could no longer be trusted. Of course, we knew why and soon so did she because we both explained what I had seen in my visions and what Atlas had planned.
Something we were here to stop.
We turned yet another corner, making me wonder how she remembered any of this and whether navigating her way around the Labyrinth was more of an instinct than memory.
“I can’t believe this is still standing,” Aster said quietly after a while, his hand returning to brush along the wall as we passed, his touch respectful as the corridor widened and opened into a vast chamber.
I stopped beside him, my breath catching.
The space before us was broad and circular, its boundaries marked by towering stone pillars arranged symmetrically, each carved and polished with a care that spoke of worship. Above us, the ceiling rose high, formed from an intricate lattice of stone beams that crossed and curved overhead in an elegant design, allowing daylight to filter through. Grass grew beneath our feet, thick and green, pushing through the stone in defiance, dotted with small flowers that bent gently in the breeze. At the center stood a circular training ground, its stone floor worn smooth by countless footsteps. Faint markings were etched into the surface, practice rings and boundary lines were still visible. Around the edges stood training posts and stone targets, scarred and cracked from repeated impact. Their surfaces bear the memory of blows struck long ago.
Aster stepped forward slowly, his gaze sweeping the chamber with unmistakable familiarity. His shoulders squared, and his posture shifted as muscle memory resurfaced.
“We trained here,” he said, his voice low. “This was the heart of it. Where boys became warriors, where discipline was learned before strength.”
Stava remained silent, adding to the quietness that seemed wrong in a place that would have held so many sounds, though her expression softened as she took in the space, her eyes tracing the pillars, the markings, the places where young Minotaurs once stood side by side. I understood then that this wasn’t just a training ground. It was a rite of passage. A sanctuary carved into the Labyrinth.
“They stopped coming,” Stava continued after a moment. “When the darkness spread, the herd scattered. Some went in search of land untouched by it. Others went looking for answers, for help.”
Aster exhaled slowly as Stava looked to him and finished.
“And the rest… chose to wait.”
I felt the weight of those words in my stomach.
The darkness hadn’t claimed the heart of the Labyrinth. Not yet. But the Labyrinth had outlasted those who once filled it with life for generations.
And standing there, surrounded by life instead of ruin, I realized this place wasn’t forgotten or lost.
It was waiting.
Waiting for the young Minotaurs to return.
“I thought the darkness would have devoured it by now,” Aster commented, his thought no doubt suspended somewhere in the past and in what the future held for this place.
“It has tried,” Stava said.“But the God’s magic runs deep in these walls, and we have added our own runes to help protectit. Which brings me to tell you that we have also made the Labyrinth our home.”
“What?! But… but how?” Aster asked, clearly shocked by this and well, I had only been here for a few hours, but based on what I had seen so far, I couldn’t say that I blamed him.
“It wasn’t easy to tame it, but it has finally seen the truth of what we are, and how we worship this place. Eventually, it stopped fighting us after discovering we were only trying to help keep it pure. It then accepted us for more than just training our children.” She ran her palm along the nearest wall, and the same shimmer appeared under her touch, moving around quickly like an excited Labrador.
“In the end, it has kept us safe from the evil outside. Here, we are away from the worst of the darkness.”
Her voice hardened slightly.
“But it won’t stay that way for long. The darkness is spreading faster now, slowly taking control of the Labyrinth, creeping in along the edges. There’s not much of anything left beyond the walls of the Labyrinth as the rot of evil is increasing.”
Aster’s jaw tightened. “Then we have even more reason to hurry. Not only for Atlas, but for all of Theïkós too.”
Stava looked at him for a long moment before nodding.
“Still your father’s son,” she said softly. “Always charging ahead, but yes, in this I would say you are right.”
“Wait, if the Labyrinth has accepted you, then what about all those creatures we had to fight, that huge monster at the end?”
Stava sighed, but it wasn’t in exasperation, more in pity.
“It accepted us because we have no reason to fear it. It still does not know you, but it tasted your fear, and that was enough to call forth those of the Underworld to protect its sacred walls.”
