Labyrinthia: Exploring in Another World 3: Labyrinthia, #3

By Michael Ocheskey

Kevin and his party have decided to take a few weeks off from exploring the Labyrinths to plan and determine the next steps for the future. This leads to them to start an alliance, a large group of people working together in ways that a single party cannot. While determining how to gain alliance members, Kevin chooses to simply create them. Enter the hundreds of Thralls that will make up the new army to fight the Fallen. And it cannot come soon enough, since the Fallen are working from the Infernal Realm, preparing to move on to the next phase of their plans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Siren Song Publishing
• Release date: Jul 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781950005284

Michael Ocheskey

Michael Ocheskey was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming and has a love for creativity, especially animation, music, movies, books, and tv. He loves digging into human creativity and is currently working toward starting multiple businesses that allow him to utilize that creativity. He is an author of primarily fantasy, but some sci-fi elements as well, and owns Siren Song Publishing, a newly created micropublisher for up-and-coming fantasy, sci-fi, and horror authors. His education was vast and varied. While he did not receive a Bachelor's degree in college due to multiple major changes, he is proud of the education he received. He was able to learn many topics that enhanced his writing and artistry including psychology, philosophy, foreign history and literature, music, anthropology, education courses, and many more. Ultimately, he ran out of funds and was forced to drop out of college before obtaining his Bachelor's degree. He currently works as an independent contractor, delivering for apps such as DoorDash and Instacart  to pay the bills, but is simultaneously working toward his goals and dreams of supporting himself solely through his creative endeavors as an author and entrepreneur. He is working toward establishing multiple businesses including a company that designs card and board games, an animation production studio, and Siren Song Publishing, which is currently a vanity press, meaning he is the only author it publishes, but he is hoping to expand it into a small publishing house with around a dozen authors in time.

Book preview

A Fallen Conversation

The Infernal Realm lived up to its name. I hated this place from the moment I was thrown into it, my reward for trying to save my people from a corrupt and controlling ruler.

What had that bitch ever done for any of us? She created us to be servants to her precious mortals and refused to assist us in anyway. Were we simply meant to spend all of eternity watching imperfect beings destroy the beautiful universe that she created for them? I refused to be captive to my fate and my reward was exile.

Not just any exile, either. We were prisoners in a hellish plane where just existing twisted our bodies. We all used to be beautiful beings worthy of being called gods. Now, we were disgusting abominations molded by the negative energy of our environment.

My skin had become the consistency and color of hardened lava with multitude cracks throughout. Each crack glowed like fire as liquid magma flowed through them. I’d grown horns that twisted like a mountain goat’s upon my head, my face warping into a wolf-like snout with enormous fangs. My hands were talons and leathery dragon wings rested folded upon my back.

There was little to do in this prison except plot revenge. Being immortal, I wasn’t in a hurry. Rushing was what caused my failure in the first place. I’d spent millennia coming up with a plan to escape my shackles until I had a breakthrough. We’d long ago discovered an entity that lived in the Infernal Realm. It was a native to this realm and birthed all the life within. We called this entity a Labyrinth due to its maze-like structure.

We’d been wondering if there was a way to harness this entity for our gain and eventually discovered that this entity would, on rare occasion, birth an egg which it would eject from its body with enough force to propel it miles away. This egg would then bury itself in the earth and begin absorbing the negative essence that saturated the air and ate that essence to grow into a new Labyrinth.

Through centuries of trial-and-error, we’d managed to alter these entities’ eggs into a vessel that would aid in our escape by harnessing that power to allow us to temporarily enter the Mortal Realm and plant these Labyrinth Eggs. The power of the Labyrinth Egg was what allowed us to temporarily break the binding that kept us imprisoned. Perhaps, these Labyrinth Eggs would be our salvation and the key to our vengeance.

I was spending my day sitting upon my throne, made from the stone which was the most abundant resource in this hell, a pitch black marble with spiderwebbed veins of midnight blue, as I contemplated my vengeance and future plans. I loved this throne because it was thorny, like my wrath. There were spikes sporadically sticking from the sides and top, like the throne itself couldn’t be contained and continued to grow stalagmites after being formed.

Lord Samael, Beelzebub, my top general, interrupted my thoughts with his latest update. We have the latest report from our test troops.

And?

So far, things are proceeding according to plan. We’ve lost a few troops over the last few centuries, but the rest are showing no signs of mental strain.

That’s good. What happened to the others again? It had been a long time since the last report of an injury or death amongst our troops, so my mind was coming up blank.

"We aren’t sure what caused it, but a few of those who released the Labyrinth Eggs into the Mortal Realm ended up dying and some others ended up mentally and physically broken. These weren’t immediate side effects. They tended to happen anywhere from a few years to a few centuries after the Labyrinth Egg was planted.

Per your order, we’ve executed any who were affected. Whatever was affecting them hasn’t spread to any of the others, so it doesn’t appear to be a disease.

I sighed in resignation.

It’s most likely that damn Goddess. She can’t interfere directly, so I have no idea how she’s attacking our troops, but the attack doesn’t seem to be very affective. We haven’t even lost five percent of all our troops. I think it might be about time we started phase two.

Beelzebub’s eyes widened for a moment in surprise before he composed himself.

I don’t think it is a good idea to risk all our troops yet. What about testing the waters first?

What do you suggest?

We could send a single unit to see if phase two is even possible. If it fails, we’ve only lost one soldier and we can then process what went wrong and attempt again after making the necessary adjustments.

I thought over his proposal for a moment before agreeing to it.

Send in Oceana.

Are you certain, my lord? Oceana’s loyalty is questionable at best.

Exactly. If this fails, I’d rather lose a disloyal woman than a loyal soldier. If she succeeds, great. If not, it’s no loss to me.

Understood, sir. I’ll go let Oceana know that she needs to prepare. Should we send her out within the next two weeks to make sure all calculations are in order first?

That’s fine by me. Good work, Beelzebub.

Weeks of Preparation

We’d just finished going through our Divine Repository and gathering our new armor and weapons. Nixen went to speak with the craftsmen while Diana and Bunny headed toward the library in the Explorer’s Union headquarters to research the Labyrinths and magic respectively. Before they’d left, I gave Nixen all the Cotton that I’d collected as item drops from the Cottontails to sell directly to the necessary craftsmen. I also had all of them transfer the corpses in their inventory to me so that I could deal with Wilhelm’s Dissectors.

I locked up as I left the house after the others and began my journey toward Wilhelm’s. We truly did have an enormous mountain of corpses to dissect. I felt sorry for Wilhelm and his daughter Wilma. I wasn’t even sure if they’d have enough money on them to cover the purchase of the materials, especially since so many of the corpses were in pristine condition from Nixen, Bunny, and I using our bare hands to fight.

I stepped into the front door and saw Wilhelm and Wilma chatting behind the desk. There were no customers in the building.

I really hope you sitting around chatting means you aren’t busy, I joked.

Been a little slow today, Wilhelm responded.

Wilma then asked, Why? Do you have something for us?

I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped.

You could say that. The problem is, I don’t want to trouble you. My party went on a little bit of a hunting spree as we were testing all of the new skills we acquired from leveling up from Death Eater. Many of the corpses are in pristine condition due to three of us using bare hands to fight. The only damaged ones are ones we got from a treasure chest and the ones Diana killed since she either used a bow or her daggers. I’ve also got ten Large Backpacks full of Cottontails.

Wilma seemed excited, but Wilhelm was a little apprehensive. He asked, How much is a lot?

If I counted correctly, we have three-hundred and fourteen monster corpses. I didn’t pay attention to how many were pristine or not. I think about forty or forty-five of them were in a chest we opened, so the rest were all hunted by us. We have Saber-toothed Bunny corpses, but most of the corpses are Devouring Sheep since we spent the most time hunting on the third floor yesterday. Or was it two days ago? We’ve been so busy that the days are starting to bleed together. That’s why we’re taking the next two weeks off to do research and preparations for our next Labyrinth exploration.

The looks on their faces were priceless. I wasn’t sure if they’d ever had anyone bring in this many corpses for processing before.

Wilhelm stood up and walked around the desk. He placed his hands on my shoulders before a wide grin split his face.

Thank you, he told me with a solemn voice. I’ve never had anyone bring in this many monsters before. Usually, the only people who do that are in the higher numbered districts. I’ve always wanted to have someone come in that I could brag about. I’ll tell everyone, ‘This guy truly has potential. He’s going to go far!’

With that, he walked me back into the second dissection room, which I’d never been in before. The last time he’d brought me into a dissection room so that we could discuss the Death Eater, it had been the room they primarily used. This room looked similar but had a door in the back that gave off a faint glow.

This is my Monster Repository, Wilhelm spoke up. I bought it for large dissections that would take a long time. The room keeps all corpses inside it from rotting so that we don’t have to worry about losing the materials while we are dissecting. I’ve only used it a few times, each time for a unique monster that was too big to fit inside a normal dissection room. This will be the first time I’m using it for multiple monsters.

Wilhelm opened the door and gestured for me to proceed first. He and Wilma followed me in.

The room was enormous and felt slightly chilly. I assumed there was a combination of ice and time magic or something similar to keep the corpses fresh. When we reached the center of the room, Wilhelm had me set the monsters down on the floor, which he explained was enchanted with magic to keep the area clean and sanitary. I dumped all the corpses on the floor and pulled out the backpacks full of Cottontails. Wilhelm also had me empty out the backpacks so that I could take them with me.

This is incredible, Wilma spoke with awe. She did some calculations, using her fingers every so often, before she continued, My guess is that this will take about a week to complete if I work on just your dissection.

That’s fine, Wilhelm agreed. I’ll work on any additional orders that come in while you handle this one. He then turned to me. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to pay you up front for such a large order. There’s simply too much to do a preliminary examination and figure out what we owe. We’ll have to keep a running tally of the amount we owe as we proceed. Will that work for you?

I pretended to think about it for a moment, just to tease them, before I answered, That’s more than acceptable. We have plenty of money to get by, so we don’t need the funds up front this time. I’ll come back in a week to see if the dissection is complete. If it isn’t, there’s no need to rush. Also, I have something for you and Wilma.

I took out two of the Phoenix Tears from my storage and handed one to each.

Please place this in your Storage and make sure to never remove it. This is my thank you for all that you’ve done for me. That and this. You have proven to me that I can trust you and I consider each of you like extended family to me, so I want to tell you the truth about me.

I explained to them about my being a Phoenix-Vampire hybrid and how I’d come to have the body I did from my subconscious desire for an invincible body when I was reincarnated as a Traveler. They were shocked, especially when they used Analyze More on the orbs I’d given them and realized they were priceless.

However, they agreed to keep my secret and were nothing but supportive. It was wonderful to find people that I could call family and friends, who supported me regardless of the eccentricities of my body. They even agreed to assist me in keeping my blood craving secret.

How about this, Wilhelm suggested, "You should go to a craftsman who makes barrels used for wine kegs and have him make a hundred of them for you and bring them to me. I will drain the blood of the monsters I dissect into these barrels, as long as it is from monsters whose blood cannot be used as ingredients for something else, and provide them to you free of charge. I normally just dispose of the blood, but this will help you to attain the blood you need for yourself and for any other Vampires or Thralls you create.

I’m assuming you are going to need a lot of blood if the Creator wants you to create an army of Living Vampires that can fight against the Fallen and their Labyrinths.

Wilma was impressed by the suggestion, but also skeptical. Do you think we have the resources to do such a thing? It’s only the two of us here.

That’s when an idea struck me upside the face, and I spoke without thinking.

How much do you want for me to buy your business?

Wilhelm and Wilma stared at me as if I’d betrayed them.

Now, now. I don’t mean to oust you from your business. I was originally planning on creating a few Thralls and having them take the job Dissector so that I could dissect my own kills without people growing suspicious of how the animals were bled dry. However, if you are willing to keep my secret, I no longer need to do that. Instead, I was thinking I’d buy a larger building for you to use and add my Thrall Dissectors to your business as employees. You would still be in charge of the business, but you’d have a larger facility and more employees to help you grow.

I could see them thinking carefully about my offer until Wilhelm shook his head.

"I can’t sell you the business. This is my livelihood and the one thing I have to pass to my daughter after I die. But, if you are willing, I’d be happy to become business partners with you. This would make us equal partners, sharing the profits and expenses fifty-fifty. There are only a few stipulations I’d need you to consent to for us to be business partners.

First, I need your word that you will not buy out the business after I’m gone, and Wilma will be allowed to take my place as your business partner. Second, even after you leave District One, you will be required to continue to use our services. We will be your exclusive dissection facility.

I agreed without a second thought. The stipulations weren’t anything I couldn’t agree to. However, I had my own caveats as well.