Chapter twenty-one: Eye of the storm

Jack stayed frozen in the room for what felt like an eternity. The mass of darkness around him stared back. Sounds of air currents and distant mechanical whirring echoed through the hallways, sending shivers down his spine.

He clutched the poleaxe. Light… he thought. I should've brought light. If only he'd taken some Ambrosium or glowstone of his own. He had brought some from the cave he stayed in when he just entered the Aether, but that was in his jacket, which he didn't have with him right now.

He waited long enough for his eyes to adjust a little. The markings on the wall, dim as they were, still gave off some small measure of white-bluish light. His vision was still very limited, but at least he could see what the surrounding area roughly looked like.

Can't stay standing here, he thought. He couldn't count on the Valkyries finding him. He had to push on by himself.

He reluctantly started walking, listening intently, trying not to let his armor creak too much. He kept his pace slow, his poleaxe at the ready. He felt like he could throw up, but that was for later. Now he needed to try not to draw attention.

As he walked, he slowly became aware of a presence. The realization that it was there didn't startle him. Even when he saw the shape appear out of thin air, walking by his side, he wasn't surprised in the least.

"You should not have accepted her deal," Tristan said.

Jack ignored him.

"There is more to this than mere echoes and shadowy hallways, Jack."

"No shit," Jack hissed. "It's almost like this place is trying to kill me."

"Even now, you remain sarcastic."

Jack said nothing. He had to focus.

"You should have found another way to locate where the portal would appear," Tristan said.

"Your Overseer friends should've done something when Karthuul broke the Rule."

"There are many different kinds of spirit. His kind is naturally weaker than ours; he still relies on physical form, and is therefore not bound to the Rule."

"Always an excuse."

"Other spirits would have intervened if the Overseers had tried to—"

"Why're you so adamant that I shouldn't work with the Valkyries all of a sudden?" Jack interrupted.

"I cannot tell you. The others prevent me from doing so. They do not want you involved in this more than you already are, but they also refuse to let me influence your choices too much."

"Involved? In what? Your little rivalry with the Valkyries?"

"There is more to it than a simple rivalry. Jack, the Valkyrie High Queen is supposed to reside in the city of Brexul. Why do you think she is not there now?"

"Why don't you just give me a straight answer?"

Tristan remained silent for a moment. "The Will of Arkenzus," he finally said. "The ideal that the Valkyries try to follow. But every Valkyrie Queen has a different interpretation of it. Every new Queen that rises to power has a different way of ruling, because they do not interpret the Will in the same way. Generally, it revolves around opposing chaos in favor of order, but this can mean many things."

Jack stopped and turned to him. "I don't care. I've got a job to do, and you're not helping!"

"Very well. I should leave you to it. The more I talk to you, the tenser the other Overseers become. Helping you survive is out of the question altogether, now that you have sided with the Valkyries. But ask her. Ask Herskagul why she is no longer welcome in Brexul."

He vanished.

Seems like Herobrine isn't the only one who likes to push the Rule to its limit, Jack thought.

He slowly continued on. He'd almost grown used to the constant echoes that sounded through the Labyrinth. Almost.

He passed through another hallway. He peeked around the corner in the room ahead.

His breathing stopped.

There stood a pedestal. And above the pedestal floated a figure. Jack couldn't tell if it was made of stone or metal, but the figure itself gave enough light to let him know that it looked vaguely humanoid. It had no legs and no neck, but it did have two broad arms that looked like they could easily crush him. The luminous bluish gem in the creature's chest connected to channels of light that spread over its abdomen, much like what Jack had seen at the Labyrinth's entrance. Its eyes and other luminous patterns on its head and hands had the same color.

Some kind of…golem. A floating golem.

It didn't seem to have seen him. It just floated there, staring ahead.

Jack backed away, holding his breath. He was not going to confront that thing…

He walked further through the maze, hoping—albeit hopelessly—to find the Valkyries. He ran into more of those security things, but managed to stay undetected. Good. The less he had to use his weapon, the better.

"Why do you think he wants to return to the Overworld so badly?" wondered Brigul.

Skotur didn't answer immediately. She took a moment to glance around the room, ensuring it was safe. "He's got friends there…"

"Yes—the mobs Tristan mentioned," Brigul recalled. "But wouldn't you think he wants to return to Earth, rather than the Overworld?"

"Maybe his friends in the Overworld know how to bring him back to Earth."

"What, so he can abandon the mobs for his own sake?"

Skotur didn't respond. Brigul hadn't sounded very confident in her admonishment of Jack. Even she realized that Jack couldn't stay in the Overworld, it seemed.

They passed hallway after hallway, room after room. They only found more tunnels. Some were high and broad, and merged perfectly with the Labyrinth's overall layout and design. But they also found those that were significantly smaller and usually had a dead end. These tunnels also didn't have the same carved stone walls; rather, they looked like the beginnings of mines.

Finally they entered another room. In the dim light of their lanterns, they saw another pillar—much like the strangely shaped pillars they'd been finding so far. And next to the pillar stood a chest.

The Valkyries glanced at each other.

"Is that what we're looking for?" whispered Brigul.

Skotur doubted it. She slowly approached the chest, lance and shield raised. Brigul followed suit. Something about this felt off.

Using the end of her lance, Skotur poked at the chest.

It opened, revealing a large mouth with sharp teeth, and an eye where the throat was supposed to be.

Skotur leaped back.

The chest grew dual legs and ran forward. Its eye stared at the Valkyries, its maw chomping maniacally.

With swift motions, Skotur stabbed her spear forward and into its eye. The creature limped—that is, as much as a wooden chest could limp.

Brigul lowered her sword, exhaling a sigh. "I didn't expect there to be Mimics here," she whispered.

Skotur retrieved her lance from the Mimic's maw.

Brigul heard something in the shadows ahead. She raised her sword again. "Skotur…!"

Skotur tensed and followed her gaze.

Ahead, a weak bluish light ignited and floated above the ground, staring at them.

Brigul removed one of the lanterns from her belt and tossed it towards the blue light. The Ambrosium illuminated the room well enough to reveal the Y-shaped floating mechanical eye, as well as the multitude of gears that formed a circle around it.

As soon as Brigul's lamp landed on the ground, the blue eye turned red. Two of the gears separated themselves from it and shot towards the two Valkyries.

Skotur was able to deflect one with her shield, and Brigul jumped to the side, avoiding the projectile.

They turned to face the eye itself, glaring down at them. Skotur shared a glance with Brigul, and they seemed to have the same thought. This thing was different from the other security machines. And this wasn't a fight they could avoid.

Might as well win it.

The room Jack entered didn't look familiar at first—until he saw the strange statue from before. The stone cube, standing on the pedestal, guarding the locked door.

Jack narrowed his eyes. He'd somehow managed to get back to relatively familiar territory, but there was something about the sight of that statue that unnerved him—even more than before.

Then he realized what that was.

The platform the cube stood on… It was the exact same as the one he'd seen under that floating golem. It was the exact same shape, and he hadn't seen it anywhere else in the Labyrinth.

What is that all about…

Against his better judgment, he inched towards the cube. That golem from earlier had looked like some security…thing. And it also had its own platform. Jack didn't want to believe it—he hoped he was wrong, but what if…?

The cube didn't move.

Hesitant, Jack extended his gauntleted hand and lightly touched the cube. No reaction.

He stepped back. Well, this was—

Four short stone legs grew from the cube's underside, and it stood. Channels on the sculpture lit up in red, as did a single eye-like shape in the middle of one side, bright enough to illuminate the room in a crimson glow. It looked straight at Jack.

Jack leaped back, his armor carrying him farther away than he would've gone otherwise. He raised his poleaxe.

Hatches opened in the giant cube's sides and released smaller cubes that floated towards Jack, their orange-red light making them easily visible in the dark. Jack flinched, clutching his weapon.

The cubes weren't fast in their movements, slowly but surely approaching. Almost as though they were designed to induce a sense of impending doom.

Not thinking, Jack stepped forward and swung at one of them. The cube all but shattered, and its light faded.

The other cube just about reached him. Jack reflexively raised his axe and the cube met the axehead.

It applied a force that made Jack stumble. His form and his defense faltered. The cube pressed down on the axe and moved forward. Jack reflexively raised his gauntleted hand to block.

The cube met his palm—and still applied force.

Jack planted his feet down and grunted. He'd expected his Gravitite armor to lessen the cube's force on him, but he needed all of his strength just to keep it from getting closer. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't move it away. Were it not for his armor, this thing could crush him if he didn't—

Then he saw the big cube was floating. It produced two more mini-cubes that moved to help their comrade.

Jack grunted. Then he ducked down, releasing the cube and scrambling away. He looked to the mother cube that hid behind its smaller lookalikes.

"You must be the Slider," Jack guessed. "Is this all you're going to do?"

It didn't respond, of course. It simply stayed back, floating mere inches above the ground, observing as its soldiers advanced.

Jack growled. He survived the Nether. He could definitely deal with this.

Using the hilt of her greatsword, Brigul smashed another gear to pieces as it flew straight at her. With a flap of her wings, she jumped up at the eye and tried to strike it as well, but another gear protectively moved to absorb the hit.

Brigul landed and backed away. More gears flew towards her. She swung widely with her sword and successfully deterred a few, but one was able to get past her defense and went for her head.

It hit her helmet and flew off. Despite her armor, Brigul felt dazed. She didn't have time to recover before another gear slammed itself into her stomach, winding her and knocking her back. She struggled to keep her balance.

It moved to hit her again, but Skotur slammed into it with her shield and crushed it against the wall.

Brigul backed away further, facing the mechanical eye. Its gears had regrouped around it. She met with Skotur.

"I haven't been able to hit that thing once," Brigul growled. "We need to do something different…"

"No," Skotur said. "We don't."

Brigul glanced over her shoulder. In the dim light, she could see that the hallway they were in ended in another room not too far behind them. "It's got us on the back foot," she said. "If we don't destroy it quickly…"

"Look closely at it."

Brigul paused, looking up at the eye. It glared back down. Only then did Brigul notice something.

"It had more gears before," she noted.

Skotur nodded. "They're its weapons. If we remove them first, the core will be a sitting duck."

If we survive until then, Brigul thought. The hits she'd received to her head and stomach still ached despite her armor.

The eye slowly floated forwards. Then its gears spread out suddenly, as if to attack. The two Valkyries backed away more, passing through the tunnel. The eye advanced.

Once again, Brigul glanced over her shoulder to the room ahead. For some reason, it seemed to be better lit than it should be. Was there another light source in there besides the markings on the wall?

The gears flinched again, threateningly driving them back. Why? It wouldn't have much of an advantage in a room as opposed to a corridor.

The three combatants further moved through the tunnel. None attacked. The Valkyries wouldn't be able to get to the core when the gears were still there, and it was better to wait until they reached the room, as that would allow more maneuverability for them and force the eye to spread its gears more thinly.

Brigul felt a hint of a grin. It was putting itself at a disadvantage by forcing them into the room. It seemed that it didn't have much of a mind for tactics.

They just reached the end of the corridor and stepped into the chamber.

Then Brigul's building grin fell.

As she'd suspected, there was an additional light source that illuminated the room. It originated from a sizeable humanoid figure that floated above the ground.

As soon as they set foot in the room, the blue light its core emitted turned red, and the golem started to move.