Chapter 210: Chapter 208: Mere Flaw

"Which way, sir?" Stella asked, looking right and left. Those were the only two options we had. Retracing our steps would be pointless when we knew that the same misshapen space that was ahead of us was closing in on our backs.

"Grey, Idleaf? How do you two see it?" Sergeant Pinescar asked us before making his decision. I must say, him asking the little ol'me was quite a pride-stirring. As creepy as the eerie voices were, the fact that I heard them mattered. It was also fairly reasonable of him to ask and get as much information as he could outside his, in this case, limited abilities to make the best decision. However, as much as I wanted to give him a clear answer and tell him more about the wall of misshapen space, the weakened barrier between worlds, the veil to the beyond, or whatever it was, I couldn't.

"I'm sorry, sir." I said after running a short distance to the right and left, listening for any difference, any hint that it was safe to walk there past the wall that eluded my eyes. "It seems the same to me, no matter which side. Maybe if I go further..."

"No, Grey. In situations like this, you don't want to be separated from your squad. Remember that...all of you," he said in all seriousness to everyone and looked at the spirit. "Idleaf? Did you sense a way out?"

To everyone's dismay, she shook her head, wings and shoulders drooped. Then her eyes lit up, and with curiosity in her voice, she added: "It's moving slowly toward us, though." 

"Shit!" Harper cursed aloud. "It's really a trap."

"Too early to tell Breadbeaker. As Welkes said, those shouldn't be above floor one hundred in labyrinths, let alone on a shallow floor like this one. Well, since it doesn't seem to matter... we'll go right. Grey, Idleaf, you're out front. Make sure you've got the 'misshaping' in the space on your left and the second you see a way out, let us know."

"Yes, sir," I said. "Come on, Idleaf, let's go."

I don't know if she sensed more dread from me than before or if she just wanted to lift my spirits, but Idleaf nudged me with her elbow playfully as we set off along the wall of misshapen space. "Don't worry, Korra. If anything should befall you, I'll move you to me. Or if you want …I can do it right away."

Yeah, I can't say that thought didn't cross my mind. It was an easy way out, a safe choice, sparing me the dread of eerie voices hammering my ears and the silence of my beast instincts. It was nice of her and I itched to say yes. 

Yet, no matter how I looked at it, or tried to justify agreeing to Idleaf’s kind offer, I couldn't bring myself to say yes. Not only would it be cowardly just to walk away and not face the situation here, but mainly a pretty  fucked up move considering that Idleaf could only move me, her Guardian, and no one else. Basically, it would mean leaving the entire Squad Four and Sergeant Pinescar to their fate.

“That's very thoughtful of you, Idleaf," I told her with as much sincerity as I could get into my voice. After all, I was awfully glad to have her by my side, especially now. "...it's not necessary, though," I added, feeling the dead glares of the others on the back of my neck. 

“All right," she hummed happily, fixing her gaze to our left. "This is more fun, anyway."

I thought it was impossible, yet with her lighthearted remark about this mess we found ourselves in to be fun following the fact that she and I could practically get out of here whenever we wanted, the hairs on the back of my neck bristled up even more than with those eerie voices reaching out to me, making my mane there look all frizzy.

"Don't you find it strange?" Meneur threw in a question out of the blue after we walked for a while in silence and dreadful tension.

"What, Ironhoof?" Pinescar grunted. The suspense was getting to the man too, and the fact that our mage didn't explain himself right away annoyed him.

"The fact that we haven't come across any Horned Rabbits in all this time, sir. We didn't go this way before; we didn't hunt here."

"Ah, that. Their instincts are simply telling them to stay the fuck out of here," Pinescar said, scowling at himself. "I noticed there were fewer of them around before, but I should have paid more attention to it..."

"Sir?" Stella asked when he paused, a little worried, mostly wondering what he was thinking. Whether it was because she was as scared shitless as the rest of us or she was trying to learn as much as she could from him as our leader, I had no idea. However, I was all ears to hear what he had to say, too. Well, apart from listening to the endless symphony of shouting, yelling and screaming coming out of the wall of misshapen space.

"Didn't I tell you that beasts have better senses than humans? Horned Rabbits, no matter how dumb they are, are still beasts, beasts created by the labyrinth…” Sergeant Pinescar said and paused. “Listen, on the lower floors, where you will find a plethora of creatures, predators of various strengths, and also the labyrinth traps, it is damn good to pay attention to the behavior of the beasts. Keeping an eye on them can warn you of all sorts of threats more dangerous than themselves.” 

“I didn't think it was necessary here, though," the man added after more to himself, half absorbed in his own thoughts. "Looking after your arses I've grown too lax. I should have known something was wrong right away." 

Realizing his mistake as soon as he saw the troubled faces of the Squad Four members, including me, who didn't need someone doubting himself, but a strong leader, he cleared his throat, straightened up, and with a bit of presence in his voice, tried to restore some of the lost confidence. "No need to cry over spilled milk, though. As you can see, even I can make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and not let them weigh you down. Do you understand, Squad Four?"

""Yes, sir."" We all gave him a unanimous answer, though some were not as rapt and loud as others. Honestly, I found it kind of fascinating how a sense of order - normalcy in a sense - could keep one relatively calm. It wasn't hard to imagine that if it weren't for Sergeant Pinescar here, we would have fallen into a bunch of arguing fools long ago, some of us like me reluctant to approach the eerie wall, others willing to try to get through.

"That said, it's no less important to be aware of where you are," He said as we walked on so far without success to find a way through and went on to explain. "Down here, it is easy to forget that you are in an ancient structure beyond the grasp of current men. For all we know, that shift in space, misshaping as Idleaf put it, could be one of its functions or just an error resulting from the millions of runic lines running through the labyrinth. We just have no way of telling what it actually is."

"Besides going through," Harper remarked in a low voice and then added: "Sir," when she noticed that Pinescar had heard her anyway.

"Yes, apart from that," the man said and continued. "I called this place an ancient structure, and it's most likely the term you're most familiar with apart from the Labyrinth or Fallen's Cry. But do you know what labyrinths essentially are?"

I knew what Pinescar was doing. Under the guise of a lesson, he was trying to reassure us, to give us that sense of normalcy, and make us trust that not everything was completely screwed up. Actually, I think everybody was kind of aware of that. Yet no one pointed that out to him, pondering on what he said instead.

"Big nasty things that burn my roots at the touch?" Idleaf asked, pretty sure she was right, amused by the new guessing game.

Pinescar chuckled. "In a sense, yes. Anyone else?"

"They're basically magic tools, aren't they, sir?" ignoring the jubilant Idleaf rejoicing that she got it right Stella asked when no one else said a word, not even me. In my defense, it was hard to think too hard when I was focused on finding us a way out. Which, by the way, was Idleaf's job as well.

"Exactly, damn massive and incredibly complex magic tools."

"I don't see how that helps us...sir," Harper said. She might have been a little peeved that Pinescar didn't want to face that misshaping head-on, but now she genuinely didn't understand where he was going with that, and she wasn't the only one. Even Meneur and Freyde had trouble figuring out what he meant. And to be honest, except for the fact that we were stuck in a giant machine that nobody really knew how it worked - which didn't sound too great, by the way - his point eluded me, too.

Seeing that he got us, Sergeant Pinescar smirked. "Tools have functions; they work on principles based in either the real world or magic, adapting both to their purpose. Which is?"

"Me, me,..." Idleaf squealed, her hand up like an excited schoolgirl. Where she picked up the gesture, I had no idea.

"Yes?" Pinescar passed the word to her, even though he knew he probably wouldn't hear the right answer.

"Old humans’ dens or burrows," said the spirit enthusiastically, making Sergeant pause. I would bet that was the first time he ever heard labyrinths called that.

"Well, that's an interesting take on it. Can you tell us more?"

Idleaf thought about it, and I have to say that despite the gravity of the situation, I almost chuckled at her cute expression. "Zeewet and Esudein said these are the places where the old humans hid to survive. They also say that the power of these places is waning. That's it. I asked the elder ones, but they couldn't tell me anything about these places," she said, looking crestfallen about it. Her eyes, however, shone with anticipation as to whether she got it right again.

"I wouldn't say that's what I had in mind per se, but rightly so."

What followed was Idleaf squealing with delight like a little girl.

"Wait," Freyde spoke up. "The labyrinths are getting weaker, sir?"

It was apparent that wasn't what Pinescar wanted to bring up right now, but he nodded nevertheless. "There are many indications that that is the case, Welkes."

"Like the beasts at the city walls," I added thoughtlessly, realizing too late that maybe it was something I shouldn't have said. On second thought, they were all city guards and should know.

"Correct and many others...after all, as I said, labyrinths are essentially magic tools, and as we all know, even the best ones wear out with use. The labyrinths have been running non-stop for thousands of years."

"Then, it's malfunctioning, sir?" Harper asked, fixing her gaze to her left, where the misshaping in space she couldn't see was. "So that thing is...a mere flaw?" An error, glitch, a bug, whatever you want to call it, that was one of my theories too.

"I wouldn't call it 'a mere flaw', Breadbaker. Flaws in malfunctioning tools can be very dangerous. Take the Thread, for example. I have personally seen the connection between the ring and the disk, an anchor, break and heard about the string snapping to one of the labyrinth blocks instead of the disk. But while that may not give you the right idea, I'm sure you've heard of mbath and mwipe breaking down."

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They all grimaced at the thought, especially Stella, making it quite clear that whatever happened with those two tools wasn't pretty. I was curious to know, though. After all, those tools were on my list of things to get. Worse, I already used mbath a couple of times - albeit borrowed. It would be nice to know what I'm in danger of if I use them then.

"I didn't? I didn't hear about that. What happened?" It wasn't me who threw in the question but curious Idleaf. And honestly, I was glad it was her who asked, as talking about it made others clearly uncomfortable.

"Well," Freyde said, at last, scratching behind his ear, unsure of how to go on. "It didn't happen to me...well, I heard of one guy whom the mbatch didn't just rid of the grime, but all the hair."

Harper nodded. "I heard that one, too. Plus, my mom said she once saw mbath work in reverse."

What the hell? In reverse? "Like instead of removing the grime, it puts it on you?"

"Not on me, but you get the gist. Same with mwipe."

"You mean it worked the other way around?"

"Uh-hmm...bit nasty, huh?"

That was putting it mildly. 

"Mbath has been the subject of many wild tales of Taurus warriors at the clan fire. Even if only half of them are true, you don't want the tool to go haywire, Korra." Meneur cautioned me, and while I took it to heart, Idleaf found it fascinating.

"I wish I could see it..."

"Right, well, I'll stop you there," Pinescar said to Idleaf's dismay. Stella, on the other hand, seemed relieved as this whole topic didn't sit well with her. She might be eating, sleeping, and delving into the bowels of the labyrinth alongside the members of Squad Four right now, but at times she failed to hide her noble background. Not that I fault her for that. 

"The lesson: it is a good idea to take good care of your magic tools; advice I'm glad to see you guys don't need. But now consider that, to our knowledge, labyrinths are tools that have been unmaintained for millennia, the tool that works with space and matter. They create for us the individual floors; the ground we walk on right now, the air we breathe, the beasts we face."

He paused, letting the implications of that sink in while cautiously scanning the area of the misshaping in space to our left. "A mere mistake, you say, Breadbaker. I wonder if you would say that even if you found yourself on a floor with no air or facing a beast from floor 150 and below instead of a level 56 Horned Rabbit. Just keep in mind where you are; that's all I'm saying. If you do, it can help you deal with various situations down here."

"And how exactly does that..." Whatever Harper was asking I blocked out as my ears perked up yet again. The voices did not disappear, hence indicating free passage through the wall of misshapen space, the spot we all hoped to find. Quite the opposite; if my ears weren't wrong, I heard them coming from all directions except our rear.

Swallowing dry and a few curses, I looked at Sergeant Pinescar after signaling everyone to stop. "I think we've hit a dead end, sir."

"Explain, Grey." The man kept his cool and simply wanted to hear more details to know what he was dealing with.

"I can still hear voices from our left, but now from our right too. They're coming from a little further away, though," I said and faltered, focusing a little more on what I was hearing, trying to make sense of it.

"You said a dead end."

"Yes sir, I did, but...it's hard to tell with all the noise coming from both sides. I think...I think it's coming from up ahead as well."

"Shit!" he swore, but it was how far he let his temper off the leash. "All right, I guess we're way too far for you to confirm that, Idleaf?"

"Um-hmm," the spirit hummed.

"Then we'll go crosswise to the right side and make sure."

As the man said, so we did. Moving steadily forward, we distanced ourselves from the wall on our left. Alas, what we found on the right side was no different, an invisible shift in space leaking off the despairing voices of men and beasts. The same was true of our front, where we arrived a few minutes later. 

We truly hit a dead end.

A little strange to say that when one could only see the rolling green hills and meadows around, but true nevertheless. We were at a dead end, and I found it a bit overwhelming. The way the eerie voices came at me from almost all sides, the chill they brought to my bones, sending shivers down my spine, all that made me want to run away, tell Idleaf it was time, and just ditch the place. Esulmor were pleasant woods to be in this time of year as far as I knew.

"Retracing our steps again, sir?" Stella asked. That was about the only reasonable option we had except to try to go through.

"Yes, Private Palemoon," Pinescar confirmed. "I am not yet resigned to risking the lives of all of you."

"I didn't mean...."

"I know, Private. Just remember that as a squad leader, you don't have only your life in your hands."

Stella bit her lower lip and nodded, obviously frustrated. She wanted to say more, to defend herself but was all too aware that in this situation, it was better to swallow her pride than to argue about little things.

Whether knowing he might have wronged her or not, this time Pinescar left our leader to her own thoughts and turned to Idleaf. "I guess the misshaping is still moving. In which direction?"

"To us," Idleaf replied swiftly and simply.

"Which side?"

"All of them." 

That took all of us aback. 

"What the fuck...?!" Harper blurted, looking around uneasily, trying to see the encroaching walls of misshapen space, and failed yet again. So did I and the others. There was not a single shiver in the air. Yet I could have sworn we were standing in the grip of three walls.

"How fast, Idleaf. How quickly are they closing in?" not an easy question from Pinescar for the spirit of the World Tree to answer. Being with her for a while now, I learned that beasts and plants didn't exactly have worked out length units like humans. With the time it was even worse. Their system, if they had access to it at all, didn't feature a clock like mine, and so their concept of time worked on the basis of the sun - quite an issue here.

"I...would...say....a length of Korra'leigh's ear for two of her breaths."

Of course, in that instant, all eyes fell on the sails I had for ears. With all the changes [Nature Call] brought to my body, they were now 36 centimeters long. Well, that aside, considering the increased pace of my breathing - nothing strange given the shit we were in - I'd say I took thirty breaths a minute.

Pinescar seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Roughly thirty five centimeters per four seconds; those walls are about three hundred meters apart, which gives us about an hour. Might seem like a lot, but....we're moving!" he bellowed aloud, gesturing for us to move our asses and do so briskly. The entire Squad Four did so without a word of protest, retracing our steps in the hope of finding a safe passage through.

We didn't get far, though.

Our footprints were still visible in the grass, easy to follow, but where we had passed just a few minutes earlier, eerie voices were now echoing through the wall of misshaping space.

"Our left," Idleaf chirped. "We can go left." 

She was right. The overly enthusiastic spirit - in quite a contrast with the rest of the squad - was right; a path opened up to our left. No voices coming from over there. The only downside was that to take that path meant going further away from the entrance platform and deeper into the floor, back where we came from and knew we would be facing the same thing.

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