Page 23 of Pain Run Rampant

We don’t really talk about it as we travel to Magnysia. Not the kiss between me and Frederick, or the way Invictis interrupted us. I don’t bring up that dream or the conversation I had with Invictis inside that dream, and thankfully the asshole himself doesn’t bust into any more dreams the following nights.

There are things we all need to think about. I can say, though, it makes for long days when nobody wants to chat.

We make it out of Pylos relatively quickly. The closest labyrinth from where we are is the one in Magnysia, which means Frederick and I are going home, so to speak. We aren’t going to the castle, but we’ll be close enough.

The landscape turns from mountainous and craggy to flat, intense woodlands that drown out the sun’s rays. It’s eerie and creepy, not to mention dark even when the sun is out in full-force. The ground is covered in a thick moss instead of grass, whatever survives and thrives with hardly any light. The trees that dot the land are massive, bigger than any tree I’ve seen in my life back on earth. If one fell, an earthquake would follow.

We’re still a week or so away from Magnysia’s labyrinth, but now that we’re officially in a new region, I have to ask Frederick as we hike along: “Excited to be back in Magnysia?” I wouldn’t say things are weird between us, but things definitely haven’t been the same since the kiss.

And Invictis… there are entire days where he says not a single word.

“Honestly, I don’t have many memories from my time in the castle,” Frederick tells me, glancing at me as we continue along. “I was but a child when we were forced to leave. I vaguely remember a playroom with a mountain of toys, but that could just be a reoccurring dream.”

When I look at him strangely, he adds, “When I was young, of course. A reoccurring dream from when I was young.”

“Right,” I say.

He clears his throat. “I know we don’t have time now, but… in the future, I would very much like to take a trip to the castle and see it again.”

Memories of the day when I wandered through the castle while bleeding all over fill my mind. Half the castle is just gone, blasted away like a bomb went off when my mom lost it. I don’t know that there’s much Frederick can see, but who am I to tell him it isn’t worth it?

“We can,” I eventually say.

Remembering that day also brings back other memories, such as the blade of light Invictis used to stab me. A much cleaner, thinner wound than what I got from that magical guardian in Pylos’s labyrinth, which was the only reason I was able to go on for as long as I did. I guess it’s kind of a miracle I didn’t die that day.

I don’t know if the asshole can sense my thoughts, but I can feel Invictis staring at me. I dutifully ignore him.

Maybe my control on him is weakening or something. I mean, everything he said to me in that dream had to have been a lie, right? I don’t know what I’d do if it’s true and he… he wants more.

He wants me.

As it seems Frederick does, too.

I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all. I’m really nothing special, and right now, I don’t even deserve the title of a high empress. I’m just Rey, the girl I’ve always been. If these two have real feelings for me, it’s only because of a lack of other options or the fact that one is bound to me. That’s it. If there were a million other fish in the sea, would Frederick even look at me twice?

Not a good thought to have.

Time wears on. We keep traveling. We come across some small rodents that seem to be blight-free, and it gives me hope that when I bound Invictis to me, any animal that wasn’t too badly infected already reverted back to their natural state. Days pass, and the days turn into a week and a half.

I lead us through the forests of Magnysia with a weird sense of direction. It’s not something I could explain. I just know where to go, and that’s the only reason why I’m able to lead us directly to the labyrinth hidden in the region.

I’m the first to spot the stone door to the labyrinth. This time, it’s nestled in the trunk of one of the largest trees around, built beneath its roots, underground, days away from any main paths.

As we approach, Frederick speaks, “I am having a difficult time understanding how foreign agents—spies, I suppose—were able to land on Laconia’s shore and find each of these labyrinths on their own.” We stop five feet before the door.

It’s the same as the other, exactly so. Nothing carved in its face, nothing that would lead you to believe something incredible dwells behind it. As nondescript as a stone door can be, even if it is nestled inside a monster of a tree.

“Even if there were spies inside our kingdom for years, only the empresses knew about these labyrinths and the pieces of Invictis hiding within,” Frederick goes on, tapping his chin in a thoughtful gesture. “Even before the woes, it was dangerous for folk to wander too far off the main roads, so I doubt they were found by accident.”

I glance at Invictis. He stands ten feet away from us, staring off into the distance, zoning out. “Do you remember anything about the people who let you out twenty years ago? You know, before you killed them?”

With a shrug of his wide shoulders, he answers me, “They wanted revenge for a war they believed they lost centuries ago,and they wanted all life wiped out—which was not so different from my original purpose.”

Frederick frowns. “A war Laconia won centuries ago… one of the Contact Wars, perhaps? I admit I know little of the wars, they happened so long ago. I don’t even know what land they came from.”

“History is told by the victor,” Invictis mutters. “Laconia must have won, so decisively that they decided the war wasn’t worth remembering. Regardless, it matters not. Those men are dead, and you will find nothing of them but dust.”

To me, Frederick says, “Perhaps it doesn’t matter, but if they somehow knew of these labyrinths and what lied within, it makes me wonder what else they know that we don’t. Where did these people come from? How fanatical are they? Laconia has never been more vulnerable than it is now, especially with you—” He stops himself before he says it aloud:magicless.

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