The Maze Master splinters across every wall. Dirk Husker’s face, huge, his grin stretched across every panel. “Final boss unlocked,” his voice booms. “Congratulations, Liora. You made it to theclimax!”
I swallow. The word tastes like ash. The walls flicker behind him. Then he steps out—Dirk himself, in silhouette against the doorways.
He walks forward, boots echoing. The screens flicker. He holds his hands out, palms open. “Welcome to the end game.”
My blood hums with fury and terror. I grip Dravven’s arm. He tenses beside me.
He hisses, “Stay behind me.”
I shake my head. “No. Not this time.”
I stagger forward—pain in every limb. Grit my teeth. My vision blurs. The Maze warps. Panels shift. Dirk strides across the chamber, light fracturing around him. He seems unreal and too real all at once.
He stops a few feet from me. His grin is wide. His eyes hollow. “You’ve been such a delightful puppet, Liora. But now we cut the strings.”
I spit on the floor. “You don’t get me. You don’t own me.”
He laughs—low, rich. The sound bounces off the walls. “Oh, but I did. In every version. In every code line. I wrote your fears. I watched them bloom.”
Dravven steps behind me. “You’ll die.”
Dirk shrugs. “Maybe. But not before the show ends.”
My compad hums in my pocket. It pulses red. I fish it out. It’s stuck. Overtaken. The override I planted earlier flickers off.
Dirk’s face leans close on the wall screens. “No backups. No patches. Final version only.”
The walls begin to close in—panels sliding. Floor segments shift upward. The cube chamber is reassembling, collapsing inward.
I feel walls pressing, heat rising. I look at Gyon—far away, bleeding, fiercely distant—and panic claws at my chest.
I scream his name. “Gyon!”
The Maze pulses. Dirk’s laughter crescendos. The room starts folding in layers.
I press my palms to the walls, nails digging, trying to hold them apart.
Dravven grips me tight.
I hear the molten mixed hiss beneath glass floor.
Dirk’s voice rings, “Finish the story, Liora. Walk forward. Accept your fate.”
My legs shake. My vision narrows. The walls bend. They sweep closer.
I step forward because it’s all I can do.
One foot. Then another.
The floor cracks beneath me. Molten light leaks.
Dirk’s smile widens.
My mind echoes a plea:Gyon, I’m coming for you.
The final wall segment slides back with a roar.
Dirk steps aside. The chamber beyond opens—blinding light. Silence, at last.
