Chapter 23 Labyrinth Issue

The night was young, and the shriek and cries of critters echoed from the distance reaching all the way near Wilfred. He stood as still as a statue, not even allowing himself to blink. His breathing was slow and unstable like he was holding his breath.

In his large hand was a silver platinum pocket watch that gleamed and shined reflecting the small balls of light that were up in the dark sky.

In front of him was a headstone, it looked clean and undefiled, evident that it was well-kept over the decades. On the headstone, a name was written in a beautiful cursive that read: Ariel Hollinse, an honorable comrade, and a loving wife.

Further down were the dates of when she was born and when she passed. Wilfred struggled to hold himself together, although he had been here more times than he could ever keep count of, each time was no different.

The pain that ached his heart was everlasting, and the emptiness he felt was unchanging. It had been 40 years since his wife had passed, yet, his love for her never faded even a little.

He looked up at the sky, trying his hardest to keep the tears that marinated from his eye sockets from over-flooding. What caught his eye was the pebble-like lights that littered the sky, seeing this brought back a memory from long ago.

In this specific memory, there was a beautiful woman, with silky black long curly hair that hung over her shoulders. She and Wilfred had been staring at the lights in the dark sky and he had asked her what she thought the lights were.

She smiled gently, then replied in a soft voice "Well you know the saying, about how years ago there were two suns. I believe that one of those suns shattered, leaving fragments of itself that now only lit brightly during the night, only for those who took the time to look closely to see its pureness. Kinda like you~"

As the memory ended he closed his eyes smiling, finally allowing the tears to run down his face then he spoke, saying only two words.

"Of course."

Wilfred stood in his same spot switching from looking at the headstone and looking at the sky, and that's when the sound of a branch being broken entered his ears.

He quickly turned around only to see Melinda, the Vice-guild master. He then dropped his face full of tears in his hands, wiping away the waterworks.

Melinda never spoke nor took a step closer, though she was here to inform him of important news she knew just how serious the matter was of him visiting his passed wife. Soon Wilfred turned around and approached her, his eyes still red. She immediately struck a salute.

"At ease, what's the issue, Melinda?" Asked Wilfred. He knew something important had to have taken place for her to interrupt his visit to the cemetery.

Melinda dropped her salute, then replied "There's been a serious problem regarding the dungeon. Three of the recruits disobeyed orders and entered the labyrinth, resulting in two of their deaths.

Wilfred frowned. "What about the third, where is he?"

"It was the rising star, Blake Foxx. Right now he is in the infirmary being healed by the healers." Melinda replied.

Wilfred cuffed his sharp chin, thinking in deep thought about something then he looked back up at the Vice-leader.

"Alright, let's head back. I have to get this mess situated before the Enforcers get here."

…

They entered the guild walking straight to the infirmary. Members of the guild all saluted respectfully as he and Melinda passed by, fist slamming into the guild's insignia that was on the left side of the chest on top of their uniform.

As they entered the infirmary they could see a boy laying on top of a bed with healing mages standing around him, either taking notes or standing over him observing his condition.

Blake had a very different look from usual, instead of long black hair, his hair was white. His usually muscular body was now skinny and slightly bruised.

"What's the boy's condition?" Asked Wilfred, announcing his entrance.

One of the healing mages turned around greeted Wilfred and Melinda then spoke. "The young man was found outside of the labyrinth, he had a large pierce wound that we expect was caused by magic."

"What about his appearance, why does he look so different?" This time it was Melinda who asked the question.

"Most likely due to mana exhaustion. When we found him, the mana in his body had reached a life-threatening amount. It appears that during his escape from the labyrinth he exceeded the amount of mana that was inside his body. As you may know, mana exhaustion affects each individual's body differently, so we assume that his change in appearance is due to this."

Wilfred simply replied with "I see." and then walked over to Blake's unconscious body. He stared at the boy for a couple of seconds then looked at Melinda and spoke once more, this time with a deep, commanding tone.

"Take his guild's insignia and make sure as soon as he wakes up he's escorted off the premises. Tremblebane guild does not need idiots who cannot follow simple instructions."

The Vice-leader nodded seriously and quickly instructed one of the guild members to go and gather all of Blake's things. She then followed Wilfred out of the infirmary.

He walked for a little then stopped as if he remembered something.

"Melinda what of the manager who let the rookie in the dungeon?"

Melinda immediately answered, she had been waiting on him to ask this question. "He's in confinement right now, being held by the guards in the basement. Would you like to go see him?"

Wilfred grunted. "Yes, although the recruit is just a boy, the manager knows how serious it is to enter a dungeon when Enforcers are scheduled for a dungeon sweep. He's gotta deal with the consequences."

They then walked through the guild, moving through magic-ingrained steel bars, then went down 3 flights of stars. There were hundreds of confinements down here however only one had two guards standing next to it.

Wilfred walked passing the guards and entered the door, while Melinda decided to stand outside and wait for him to come out.

Inside the room, the manager was naked on his knees, with magic-ingrained steel bars around his neck, wrists, waist, and ankles. He was bent in a way where he had to stand up in a squatting position, otherwise, the bars would tear at his skin.

It looked very uncomfortable, however, Wilfred didn't feel an ounce of pity for the man. He stood over the confined man with his arms crossed then spoke coldly.

"Was all this worth a few cores?" Wilfred had heard of this manager encouraging unauthorized acts for payment of cores on the low, however, he had been too busy before to confront the manager.

The man looked up, his eyes were weak. "Guild master...is that you?"

"I'm not your guild master anymore, you're a prisoner. Do you know that your mistake of letting rookies in the dungeon cost two kids their life? And what, all that for a few cores?"

The man's head drooped with shame, he couldn't even reply to words so true. Wilfred's aura almost leaked out, however, he held it in and spoke one final time.

"Well, you better say your prayers now to whatever god you worship, because now your fate is going to be up to the Enforcers. Hopefully, those cores were worth your life." saying this he turned around heading to the door.

The manager flinched upon hearing this. What did he mean by that? Worth his life? He looked up at the guild master and blurted in terror.

"W-wait what do you mean by that? What will they do to me? It was a simple mistake, I won't do it again I promise! Please, guild master, I don't wanna die!" he screamed.

However, Wilfred ignored every word and exited the room. The sounds of sobbing and screams echoed in the basement hallways. Screams of horror.