CHAPTER XXIII

Consensus Delusion

It was nighttime when Team APEX arrived in Kuo Kuana along with Fiona and Hanuman. The capital of the Kingdom of Menagerie was sprawling. There were no hints of its former humble origins, just a coastal town on a landmass that was barely habitable. Today, Kuo Kuana was a bustling metropolis that spread for miles from north to south, extending inward from the coast to sit just at the edge of the vast desert to the east. Even in the midst of the massive urbanization that had happened in the last years, however, the city never lost its more untamed side.

Unlike the capital cities of the other kingdoms, Kuo Kuana was not a monolithic steel and concrete landscape. Urban planning made room to keep the wilderness intact to a degree, a symbolic gesture to represent the idea that the Faunus could never be shackled. The capital was composed of seven major districts, each with its own urban centers and skyscrapers, which were of often eccentric design, a stark contrast to the nigh-uniformity of Atlas's capital city.

Between each urban center was wilderness left untouched except for the necessary roadways and utility lines, which were also designed to be as minimally intrusive as possible in an effort to preserve the wild lands.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature shared between all of the urban centers was the continued presence of "primitive" architecture. The middle of each sector was dominated by high-density metropolitan structures common to all major urban areas, high-rise residences, skyscrapers, factories, etc., but the further out from the district, the greater the presence of wooden huts and clay buildings.

This served as a reminder of the Faunus' humble origins and the ability to make do with the little they had. In a way, it also served as a kind of handshake between the urbanization brought to the country through global trade and the more rustic way of life the Faunus were once forced to live.

"Mom always believed in reaching out to the other kingdoms," Fiona said as they kept to the streets on the way to their destination. "It was one of the reasons she welcomed every architect who wanted to build stuff in our city."

"I can tell," Xanthus said. "I see architecture from all four kingdoms aside from yours in this place. I'm quite sure that building over there was designed by someone from Vacuo. And that temple was definitely designed by someone from Mistral."

"And that super imposing looking factory is clearly Atlesian," Athena said, looking in the distance to a monolithic structure that was far too blocky to fit in this colorful city.

"I like the outlying villages," Echo said. "The city life is way too crowded for me. And it's so noisy even at night."

"I like the coastal villages the best," Hanuman said, hopping from streetlight to streetlight as he followed the group. "I'll never get tired of the sound of the ocean."

"Instinct Academy is next to the ocean, isn't it?" Perseus asked their guide.

"Yup," Fiona said. "All of the really important stuff is in District 1, where city hall is located and all that fun-no-lol-jk-it's-not-fun stuff. District 2 is where my family lives, the same house my grandparents raised my mom in. Instinct Academy is in District 7, the northwest-most urban center that's almost totally surrounded by ocean. Did you guys land there when you flew here?"

"No, we went straight to you when we saw your village under attack by the Grimm," Athena said.

"That's the outskirts of District 6. You guys didn't see the wall, did you?"

"There's a wall?" Perseus said.

"Between Kuo Kuana and the badlands is a big wall to keep out the Grimm and wildlife as much as possible. Out there's some crazy stuff, but it's not like people don't live there. There are three major settlements east of the wall, all of them mining towns. The one furthest east is where all the Dust mines are. The closest town outside the wall is a big iron mining town. The one southeast of that one mines out various ores and heavy metals."

"How do they keep protected from the Grimm and wildlife?" Xanthus said.

"Easy," Hanuman said as he landed beside the group. "Only the hardcore guys go outside the wall. Nobody messes with them."

"That and the fact that the three towns are heavily militarized," Fiona said. "Even the miners themselves are armed with at least something just in case the poop hits the fan."

"What's in Districts 3, 4, and 5?" Echo asked.

"Those are the big agricultural districts. You guys probably saw all the farmland and livestock around the village we were at, right?"

"Yeah."

"District 6, the one that town is part of, is also agricultural, but with a bigger emphasis on livestock."

"So, the first two and the last one are hella urban areas," Athena began, "and the middle four are farming?"

"That's their emphasis, not their only purpose, but yeah. District 5 all the way to the southwest focuses on fish farming, too. Also, you probably all know about our awesome coffee."

"Lilly's obsessed with that stuff. Is that one of the districts?"

"Mm-hmm. District 3 is dedicated entirely to coffee bean farming. It's the most mountainous of all the agricultural districts, and the only one in the tropical zone at the north of the continent."

"So, is District 1 where it all started?" Perseus asked.

"Technically, that's both District 1 and 2, but District 1 is the part closer to the coastline while 2 is more inland. They're both super close to each other, by the way, not distanced like the other districts. So yeah, that's where this all began. The other Districts were planned out from the beginning instead of developing organically like Districts 1 and 2 did."

"You really know your civic history," Xanthus said.

"I'm the only one out of all my siblings who actually care about any of this stuff. Ingrid's mostly focused on fighting."

"Hey, I care about civil engineering, too!" Hanuman said.

"Psh. Is that why you hang out with your friends all day long causing mischief in the marketplaces of District 7?"

"No!"

"Where's the CCTS tower?" Xanthus said.

"Oh, that big ol' thing?" Fiona said. "That's in District 1."

"That's odd."

"I mean, yeah, it is an odd number."

Athena gave her a high five. "Your sister would hate us so much."

"I know."

"What I mean is," Xanthus continued, "the other kingdoms have the CCTS tower right in the middle of the Huntsman Academy in order to protect it."

"Well, we went with a different theme. Instead of Instinct Academy guarding it, it's in the White Fang Headquarters, just outside of the civic center."

"That's hella symbolic," Perseus said.

"Anyway, that was the perfect end to our conversation," Fiona said. "Here we are."

Team APEX looked up at the clay and wood construction. They had long since exited the urban area and crossed into the outskirts of the district, right at the edge of the wilderness that bordered Districts 1 and 2. The rural, tropical feel of the place was much more intact out here than in the middle of the city.

The door opened, revealing Ilia Amitola, the current leader of the White Fang and close family friend to the Belladonnas.

"Fiona, thank goodness you've made it safely," Ilia said.

"I made sure to dress them appropriately, too, to keep them from standing out," Fiona said.

"Yes, I can see that. I would give you all a warmer welcome if it weren't for the current climate of the city. Come in, let's not talk in the night air."

Athena led her team in, following just behind Fiona and Ilia. Hanuman wandered around the house, though he always kept within earshot.

"I was under the impression that the city was mostly in pretty good order," Athena said. "That's what Ingrid's told me anyway."

"Sis hasn't been home in some time," Fiona said. "At least, she hasn't been home for long enough during her visits to really notice any changes."

"It's been underway for a number of years now, actually," Ilia said. "We're not entirely sure what it is, but the population's attitude shifted pretty suddenly about five years ago. Ingrid wouldn't remember since she left for primary combat school on the island of Patch before then and has been at Beacon Academy ever since. At first, we all thought it might have been the typical response to rapid urbanization, maybe some psychological thing or perhaps the effect of endless entertainment. But with how quickly it happened, and now with the knowledge we have of the Labyrinth, we're thinking it's something else."

"Something Labyrinth-related," Athena said.

"Yeah. Blake, Sun, and I have been keeping in close contact with Professor Ozpin in Vale, Dr. Hillphire in Mistral, and Dr. Cherenkov in Vacuo, the latter two of whom are the only ones in the five kingdoms who are strongly focused on the Labyrinth. We also know of the two task forces put together in Vacuo and Mistral and their results since they began their work."

"Where are Fiona and Han's grandparents?"

"They recently went to Vale," Fiona answered. "They told us it was for a diplomatic thing, but..."

"Did your Semblance tell you otherwise?" Xanthus said.

She nodded. "I never asked, though. I figured it might have to do with the Labyrinth idea we've got, but I don't know how they could help us all the way from a different continent altogether."

"Count us in," Athena said.

"Wait a minute," Perseus began, "this seems like a population-wide thing, not a personal Labyrinth sort of deal."

"I've spoken with your sister about it," Ilia continued, "and she theorizes that because of the epidemic of idleness throughout Kuo Kuana, there may be one giant Labyrinth that countless people are connected to."

"She may be right," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "It would not be the first instance we have encountered. Some of the Labyrinths we have collapsed were shared Labyrinths between people loosely connected by the same psychosis. That is where the doubt lies, however. Every Labyrinth we have encountered so far has been some kind of extreme psychological distress that manifests in the other world as a distorted reality. I don't know if laziness would qualify under that definition."

"Okay, let's put it to a vote," Athena said, standing with her team. "Labyrinth first or should we investigate out here beforehand?"

"Can we come with you guys into the Labyrinth?" Fiona asked.

"Normally, I'd say no, but given your Semblance, it might be really useful."

"What about me?" Hanuman said.

"I dunno if your sister would appreciate us taking you to a world like that."

"I can be helpful, though!"

"What do you guys think?" Perseus asked Echo and Xanthus.

"I personally don't want to bring anyone else into that world," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "But at the same time, we're foreigners here and could use all the assistance we could get."

"I think Han has the chops to not die in the Labyrinth," Echo said.

"That's not exactly comforting," Fiona said.

"I'm just saying it how it is. I don't know what you guys have heard about that world, but it's..."

Athena noticed the budding discomfort in her combat partner and finished the thought for her. "It's hell," she said.

Their companions were quite visibly perturbed by her straightforward assertion, but their resolve could not be shaken.

"This is my country we're talking about," Fiona said, "our home, and the only place that has been our safe haven in the entire world."

"And I have friends I wanna protect," Hanuman added. "This thing, whatever it is, it's affecting everyone."

"What I'm wondering," Ilia began, "is why we haven't been affected. I don't see any reason why Blake and Sun and I are unaffected, yet so many around us have fallen victim to it."

"You guys haven't seen the two of them in a while, though, right?" Athena said. "What if the reason they've been out of contact is because they've also suddenly been afflicted by this passiveness?"

"You do have a point. That certainly is a possibility."

"I vote quick Labyrinth run," Perseus said. "We don't have to do anything major. Just take a peek maybe before going through the city in the real world to gather clues to help us break through the Labyrinth."

"Xanthus, you can sense rifts around us, right?" Athena said.

"There is one close by, actually," he said, looking at his armband map. "I am not quite sure where exactly, though. It's north of here. I think it might be in the wilderness."

"I'll go with you guys," Ilia said. "I've been curious about this whole thing myself and I wanna be prepared in case anything crazy happens."

"Good thing we have a lot of these," Perseus said, passing around the reality anchors Ariadne had designed.

Xanthus led the way through the wilderness toward the tear between this world and the Labyrinth. This was far from an exact science; he relied entirely on his "sense" of the rift, whatever that meant. Yuan was the better between the two at the spiritual aspect of martial arts while Xanthus had more of a mastery of the technical side. Still, it wasn't nothing.

"So, how does it feel?" Perseus asked him as they crept through the woods.

"Hmm?" Xanthus said, glancing at his combat partner.

"The whole 'sensing' the rift thing."

"Oh. How do I explain this...ah, you know that feeling you get when you have a tingle up your back?"

"Like a sixth sense kind of thing?"

He nodded.

"Can't say I have. I wonder if it's similar to what Ingrid gets as a Faunus or what Echo's Semblance is like."

"I couldn't tell you anything about that, but in this case, it's..." He dug through his mind for the best description of the sensation. "Because it's the Labyrinth, I feel an incredibly sinister air associated with the rift. The closer we get, the greater the bad feeling." He stopped walking.

"Something?" Athena said.

"Yeah," Xanthus said, staring at an object no one else could see. "Echo, I have a question for you."

"What is it?" she said.

"Do you also feel a slight sense of danger from here?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. It's coming from right over that way," she said, pointing to a nondescript rock formation. "I didn't think much of it since we're in the woods and who knows what the heck is out here, but yeah, it's pointing to that spot."

"So it does work similarly."

"You're sensing a rift there?" Ilia asked him.

"Yes."

"Gear check," Athena said. "Everyone make sure you have those rune-embedded rubies on you at all times. Keep it in your pocket, not your pack. Don't lose it. Ever."

"O-Okay," Hanuman said.

"What happens if we lose it?" Fiona said, playing with the gemstone.

"That serves to create a bubble of stable reality around your body," Xanthus said. "It's a stopgap in case you get separated from me."

"Why you?"

"I harbor inside me a Wraith-Knight, a magical being that enables us to cross over between this world and the Labyrinth world. This being also allows me to assert a stable reality around my body to a certain extent and radius. Those rune gems are in case we get separated. It'll prevent you from being swallowed up by the Labyrinth and converted into a Corrupted."

Fiona swallowed hard. "Duly noted." She turned to her brother. "Han, make sure you have that in your inside pocket, okay?"

"G-Got it, sis," he said.

"Okay, let's do this," Athena said, leading the way with Xanthus.

"So, this is one of those rifts Dr. Cherenkov and Dr. Hillphire have reported to the Coalition," Ilia said, standing with the group. "These are the random points that move around in the real world where people often disappear through, right?"

"That's right," Xanthus said. "We suspect that these points, where the veil between worlds is thinnest, are responsible for the mass disappearances we've been hearing about."

"So, we just stand here and get drawn in?"

"Sure, if we didn't have him," Athena said.

Xanthus turned to his team leader.

"Whenever you're ready."

He nodded before closing his eyes. He focused his mind on the Wraith-Knight Percival, allowing the dormant power to burgeon up from within. The usual physical pain of attempting to harness his Wraith-Knight's powers was absent, probably because he stood directly on top of a rift and was physically closer to the Labyrinth world as a result. He opened his eyes, which transformed into that otherworldly state once more, the blue and red replaced by a golden flame-like halo radiating outward from his pupils, signaling the emergence of his magical power.

The rest of the group looked around as their surroundings shifted right before their eyes. They were in the First Layer of the Labyrinth, the vibrant colors of the real world replaced by a blue-gray hue. Nighttime was supplanted by an overcast gray and the air became as still as the grave.

"This is gonna be different without Dr. Hillphire navigating for us," Perseus said, drawing his sword. He turned to his combat partner. "Hey, what the hell?"

"When did you change clothes?" Athena said to Xanthus, who looked at his outfit.

The old attire he had been wearing was gone, replaced by all black from his jacket down to his shoes. There were traces of yellow trim here and there, including the jacket buttons and the embroidery on his shirt.

"I, uh," he said. "When did this happen?"

"You know," Echo began, "I think I remember this happening last time, too. When you awakened to the power, I mean."

"I think you're right," Athena said. "His clothes turned all black then, too, didn't it?"

She nodded. "I think that happened to Yuan, too, last year, but his clothes haven't changed like this since that time."

"Hmm. Well, I think it looks pretty hot on you, dude."

Xanthus reddened. "Th-Thank you," he said.

"So this magical power of yours changes your physical appearance, too, does it?" Ilia said.

"This is all really new to me as well. I'm not quite sure what to make of any of it."

"I think it's awesome," Hanuman said.

"All right," Fiona said, turning toward the city. "Leave the navigating to us natives. As long as we stay close to Xanthus, we'll be fine, right?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm not absolutely sure what the radius is, but just to be safe, let's keep everyone within ten meters of me."

"Okay, let's roll out," Athena said, glancing at Echo, who nodded before disappearing up into the trees.

The group marched through the forest, which was unnaturally still given that they were no longer in the real world. No birds chirped, no wind blew. It was as eerily silent as always.

"I think I prefer the Second Layer, to be honest," Perseus said.

"What do you mean?" Xanthus said.

"At least there's noises and stuff in the other layers. The First Layer's always super quiet. It's almost like the whole world is dead except for us. I mean, we never even run into any Corrupted in this layer."

"Speaking of that," Ilia began, "what are these Corrupted you speak of? I've read the reports the Coalition sends from time to time summarizing Ariadne Jupiter's research, but what exactly are they?"

"The most recent reports suggest that they are people," Xanthus said.

"Did you say 'people'?" Fiona said.

He nodded. "You all know of the random disappearances and rise in mental health issues all across the kingdoms, don't you?"

"Just what's on the news."

"The data indicates that both are linked to the Labyrinth. The current hypothesis is that all Corrupted were once human beings. However they arrived in the Labyrinth is not important, whether they fell through one of these rifts or were forced into this world by some other means, or they gave into their real-world depression or psychosis and their soul was dragged into this world, leaving their body an empty shell."

"What turns them into the Corrupted?" Ilia said.

"No one really knows the mechanism. What is clear, though, is that the form they take in this world is the direct embodiment of whatever it is that tortures them deep inside."

"It's as if their torment takes physical form," Fiona said. "And they wear it on their skin."

"That seems to be the case."

The group arrived at the outskirts of town without incident. Echo dropped down beside them from a water tower.

"Nothing as far as the eye can see," she said to Athena. "I don't even see any spatial distortions like back in Mistral."

"Not even a funny looking building?" Athena said.

She shook her head. "If there is a city-wide Fourth Layer Labyrinth here, I'm not sure where to start looking."

"Xanthus?"

He put a hand to his chin, trying to concentrate. Echo pushed up his glasses for him as he continued to brainstorm.

"I'm not sensing anything out of the ordinary either," he said. "Except..."

"Except what?" Athena said.

"Echo, has your Semblance been acting up?"

"It's always buzzing when we're in the Labyrinth," she said.

"Even in the First Layer?"

She thought about it for a moment. It was true that it only intensified the deeper they went, but this steady hum in the back of her mind was attributed more to the general danger that the Second Layer harbored. It wasn't supposed to be this active in the First Layer.

"Echo?" Athena said when her partner didn't answer.

"Now that you mention it," she said, "this is kinda different from usual."

"So it's not just me," Xanthus said. "Ever since we got here, right at this spot, I've felt a certain uneasiness. I haven't harbored this Wraith-Knight for long, so I don't know if it's normal or not."

"Echo's Semblance is tingling, too, so probably not," Perseus said. "We should keep our guard up while we explore the city."

"Fiona, Ilia," Athena began, "which way do we go first?"

"I think city hall is a good starting point," Fiona said. "If we're gonna find any clues about the mass apathy, it might be at the civic center."

"After that, we can hit the White Fang headquarters," Ilia said. "My own organization has been acting up, too, and I wanna see if we can find anything there."

"Let's go, then," Athena said, leading with Echo close behind her and Xanthus in the center of the formation. "Perseus, cover the rear with Han. Xanthus, stay right in the middle."

"Hooah," her two teammates acknowledged.

"Hooah!" Hanuman mimicked their battle cry.

Perseus bumped fists with him.