So here's the catch. Archie had a long lost son. And it happened to be a minion of our all-powerful arch nemesis, geared solely on killing us. How great was that? Not so pretty in the family tree.

"I do not wish to hurt you, Conrad," Archie demanded, lowering his rapier to the level of Conrad's throat. "But I will, if you force me."

In amazement, Conrad let out a soft chuckle. "Can you really?" he bickered.

Conrad touched the infinity mark on the side of his neck to summon his scythe.

Before Archie could stop him, black flames had already engulfed the boy's hand. Once the flames had died, a long slender saber which looked strikingly similar to Archie's had already materialized in his hand.

I could hardly keep up as Conrad started to brandish his weapon. His blade collided with the guard of Archie's rapier. The boy kept thrusting his saber to Archie's vital spots—the chest, the stomach, the eyes—but Archie's defense was near to impenetrable. It was almost impossible to find any weakness. Believe me, I had tried.

All the while, the balding old man who could only be Amos just watched the battle between father and son. He was yawning like the commotion was boring him to death. Sharifa kept pleading for his help but all he could say to her was, "You have managed to be captured on your own. Then free yourself on your own."

Apple thoughtfully tilted her head toward Amos and politely asked, "Should Apple kill your friend then?"

With a curious smile, the girl looped an arm around Sharifa's neck and gradually tightened her headlock. It looked like Apple was enjoying it.

Amos just shrugged, barely creasing a wrinkle on his face. "Do what you wish. Conrad was right when he presupposed that Sharifa would slow you down. We were not certain if she will still be alive if we find you as she is worthless in combat. But at least she had served her purpose. She is fortunate that you pity her so excessively, you even went the trouble of sparing her life."

Byron Flynn and Antoinette immediately came to Archie's aid, snapping and clawing at Conrad's blind spots. Soon, the boy was being slowly forced to double-back. He looked troubled when he realized that he was approaching the border of the labyrinth. Now if only Archie and the Elementals could force him into the forest, the Ethereals would take care of him for us.

Conrad was fast though. He managed to hold his ground even with three opponents.

As if reading my mind, Alexis pulled up his sleeves and touched the number seven symbol on his right forearm. A gust of wind blew violently, whipping at us. It seemed to be coming from Alexis' hand.

Everybody appeared stunned.

I secured Vincent's arm over my shoulder and shielded my face.

Seeing her chance, Sharifa elbowed Apple forcefully and thrashed out of the blond girl's grip. Apple stumbled back, her neon green eyes bewildered as she got up.

"You hurt Apple," Apple whined gently, despite the fact that she didn't look hurt at all. Her face was just blank. "How despicable of you."

A few moments later, the gust subsided. Alexis emerged from the strange whirlwind. He was holding a long sword with a long round polished pommel separated by two wrought iron guards and a narrow, undulating double-edged blade.

"I'll hold them off," Alexis said. "Go!"

I hesitated for a moment.

He gave me a gentle push, his eyes calm and determined. "We'll see you on the other side," he kept urging. "Go, go!"

Next thing I knew, Alexis had already draughted to Amos.

"You dare interfere with the Grandmaster's orders?!" Amos shouted indignantly.

Alexis just smiled and rested the flat of his blade on his shoulder. "Afraid you can't take me, old man?"

Swords began to clash as Alexis and Amos both darted along the pathway. They were so fast their movements blurred with the mist. Amos was quite quick for an old man but Alexis was too damn faster. Whenever Amos' bronze spear collided with the undulating blades of Alexis' sword, it gave off a weird vibrating sound that made my teeth want to fall off. It blared like a giant church bell being hit with a wrench.

"Sharifa!" Conrad called while deflecting a blow from Archie. "Stop them!"

Sharifa did not waste time. She stepped in front of us halfheartedly, spreading her trembling arms wide open in attempt to block our way and interrupt our escape.

"I need to... stop you," said she.

I looked her straight in the eyes. "Is this what you really want to do, Sharifa?"

She froze. She dropped her arms to her side. Taking a quick glance back at Conrad, she stepped aside. Her shoulders shook as tears welled from her silver eyes.

"Go," she rasped heavily. "Go now."

The last thing I said to her was "Thank you."

I wanted so bad to take her with us, which wasn't the brightest idea. I knew it would just make things more complicated for all of us. I had no choice but to leave her.

Instantly forgetting her tantrums, Apple led the way, skipping with much enthusiasm while we headed to the Gate.

Rosario helped me with Vincent. He could barely open his eyes and his breathing was faster than a tired dog's. That got me worrying. A lot.

"Vince," I murmured shakily, giving his hand a squeeze. "Come on. Stay with us."

Slowly, he half-opened his glassy eyes, his gaze fixing vacantly at me.

I heard Amos barking at Sharifa to run after us. She sounded firm and assertive when she said, "You managed to have them escape on your own. Then catch them on your own."

I almost smiled on that note. Atta girl. I thought as we fled from the fight..

Soon, the clangor of blades biting at each other was drowned by a deafening vacuum. Haze swirled around us, making it harder to see the pathway. Getting caught by a bunch of psycho familiars was bad enough but wandering off deep into the labyrinth might be equally dangerous.

I was struggling to keep up with Rosario's draughting. I didn't complain though. It would be darn trickier to have to carry Vincent all by myself if I pissed her off again.

As we arrived at the Gate—a huge weathered stone archway overrun with moss and flowering vines—Apple produced a metal cube from her pocket. In the middle of the Gate, there was nothing to see but surging darkness.

Carefully, the girl placed the metal cube on the ground just in front of the Gate and started pushing and flipping out intricate contraptions from the cube's surface. When she was done, the device was turned into some sort of steel mesh that looked like honeycombs.

"This is a Gate Hacker," Apple said in her tiny sweet voice, looking up at us. "Master Hector told Apple to use this. It replicates the movement of spiritual particles in a portal and rearranges them to either open or close a Gate. Well, that is the theory but it's a prototype so—"

"Will you just make it work already?" Rosario snapped at her. "We don't have all day."

"Okay," Apple said smiling.

She fumbled with the angles and buttons of the mesh, setting it so that it faced the Gate perfectly. Afterward, Apple stepped aside, allowing the long line of red horizontal light from the machine flash into the middle of the archway. The Gate Hacker seemed to be scanning the portal with infrared rays. The device emitted a soft beeping sound after several moments.

Frowning, Apple picked it up and read the strange symbols being quickly flashed on the tiny LED screen.

"That's odd," Apple murmured to herself.

"What's wrong?" Rosario asked, her eyes edgily shifting around. "Why isn't it working?"

Wordlessly, Apple set the device on the ground again and started pushing and arranging the angled mesh. Again with the beeping.

I expected something miraculous to happen, like a blinding light flashing from the Gate, meaning we were saved. Just our luck, nothing happened.

Apple finally faced us after pushing a small red button on the device. It sprung back into a metal cube.

"Apple doesn't know why," she said. "But the spiritual particles in this Gate seemed to be static. Something's preventing the Hacker from altering the movement of the—"

Rosario interrupted impatiently. "Can you make it work or not?"

Apple shook her blond head, fumbling on the seam of her frilly dress as though she was a child who's just been scolded. "Apple is sorry. Apple has malfunctioned."

"Saying sorry wouldn't open the Gate, would it?" Rosario scoffed, slinging Vincent's limp arm over her shoulder. "Let's get a move on. I have a feeling that Cairo's familiars will flock here soon."

"No kidding," I chided.

The renewed frustration couldn't be more evident on Rosario's face as she looked around aimlessly. Her eyes finally fixed blankly on the woods beyond the willow trees. We had nowhere to hide.

"Where do we go now?" I asked.

Rosario didn't answer. She was still staring at the labyrinth.

"Rosario! We don't have time to—"

She shoved me aside and stepped closer to the willows. Carefully, she pushed the curtain of tendrils that hindered her view of the labyrinth's forest.

"D-don't tell me..." I stuttered, turning to Vincent for some support. Sadly, he wasn't conscious enough to side with me on this. "You can't be serious! The labyrinth? Who knows whatever the hell's in there? Mei said—"

"Mei said. Mei said—Mei's not here," Rosario muttered with full-force sarcasm, butting me out before I could even reason out. It was becoming an annoying habit of her, not letting people finish what they were supposed to say. "Look. I can't heal Master Vincent while we're exposed like this. The labyrinth's a perfect hiding place. No one would go there."

"You're right," I retorted bitterly. "No one in their right mind would go there."

She gave me a look that said shut up.

Before I could say more, I heard several voices. And they weren't Alex's or Archie's. More guards were coming and they didn't sound too far.

Apple was the first to go in. She hesitantly pushed aside the willow tendrils for us, her head down as she did. Quickly, Rosario and I hauled Vincent into the woods. It was the stupidest idea ever but it wasn't like I had any choice.

The scent of roses filled the air as we went deeper into the labyrinth. The scent made me lightheaded. A dull foreboding darkness loomed over us as we warily walked past the long stretch of thriving rosebushes.

The trees began to thicken. Only, the ones in these parts were younger with smaller trunks and vibrant green leaves. The only thing I could hear was the soft slosh of water somewhere near, the snapping of dried vegetation under our feet, Vincent's shallow breaths. Behind the trees, I could make out wispy figures—Ethereals—peering at us from crevices, hiding behind the twisted branches, their big hollow eyes stalking our every move.

Suddenly, I heard the agitated voices again. It was coming from the pathway near the Gate. I listened carefully. There must be five people, maybe more.

"They were here!" said a man's voice.

Rosario abruptly pulled me down behind a tree. My knee grazed against the gnarled roots but it didn't bother me much. Hunching beside me, Apple craned her neck to see the ruckus, her long golden hair getting caught on the twigs and roots sticking out from the ground.

"They can't be very far from here," a thin gravelly voice said to the other men. His tone had this air of delusional superiority I really despised.

I was sure it was Cairo's albino familiar with a serious throat problem—the one who tried to capture us back in the castle.

"Saul," Apple whispered to us. "Apple doesn't like that guy. He's mean. We should run now."

Saul barked at the other familiars to search the area. He stood in front of the Gate as if to examine traces of us in there. His narrow bloodshot eyes slowly swept the mosaic pathway and stopped at our direction with an all-knowing air. It was like he could actually see us behind the thick curtain of willow-tendrils and the shadows of the forest.

I heard a muffled gasp and was surprised to find that it came from Rosario. That was when I realized I was holding my breath.

"Saul knows we're here." Rosario's voice quivered infinitesimally, a hint of unrest evident in her eyes.

For her to react that way, this Saul guy must be really psycho in a whole new level.

Without a word, I stood up and heaved Vincent next to me. I made my way deeper into the woods.

I was already panting when Rosario and Apple caught up with me. We pressed on through the maze of twisted trees, through the tangle low branches and the overhanging dried twigs scuffing our skin. The trail began to get fuzzy after about an hour of ceaseless walking.

The trail finally sloped up to a hill that led to a small clearing. My legs ached from the bone out. Despite the cold, I felt sweaty all over. When I glanced behind me, all I could see were trees and more trees and they all looked the same.

"We should camp here," I said, catching my breath.

Miraculously, I hadn't heard any objection from Rosario, who automatically gathered leaves and grass. She piled them under a tree.

Together, we dragged Vincent on the heap, letting him lie down with his back facing us. The piece of cloth I draped over his wounds was already caked with blood and body fluids.

He was shivering and moaning when Rosario had to slowly peel it off. Almost half of his back was reduced to burnt flesh which was squirming as it attempted to mend. The wound was in different stages of healing. Some parts were beginning to form new skin. Most of it was still raw and bloody.

I swallowed hard and tried to breathe through my mouth. If ever I lived through this, I would never eat barbecue. Ever.

"Why isn't it healing?" I asked Rosario. Even my voice was trembling.

After drawing a deep breath, she placed her palms an inch above Vincent's burns and closed her eyes. "Elemental attacks have similar effects as Cataclysts and scythes. Damages such as these wouldn't heal as easily as normal injuries," she said under her breath.

A faint green glow emanated from Rosario's palms, pulsing as it turned blue, then white. Vincent's flesh writhed strip by strip, rapidly mending like cloth being woven together.

I couldn't help but close my eyes.

Vincent thrashed and screamed in pain.

"Cover his mouth," Rosario ordered, struggling to keep her concentration. "They'll find us if they hear him!"

Frantically, I tore my left sleeve and rolled it into a small bun. "Bite on this," I said to Vincent.

His eyes were wide open but I didn't think he could see anything at all. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand so tight my fingers went numb. 

I placed the rolled cloth between his teeth. Then I pressed my palm over his mouth.

Several minutes later, Vincent's back was close to fully-healed. The skin still hadn't grown on some parts but that would have to do for now.

Rosario sagged onto the grassy ground and rested her head on the trunk of the tree behind her. "That's all I can do for now," she said, pale-faced and panting. Furtively, she suppressed a cough and felt her chest when she thought I wasn't looking.

Carefully, I lifted Vincent's head and placed it on my lap.

"I'll just... make sure no one's followed us," said Rosario. She struggled to get up and handed a small vial to me. It contained a glowing pink swirling liquid—SirenSoul. "When he wakes up, give it to him. Master Maximilian said he'll know what to do with it."

It was a bit strange why Rosario didn't use the SirenSoul on Vincent while she was healing him. No point asking. Whatever Vincent was planning with the SirenSoul must be strictly between him and Max.

Rosario was in a pretty bad shape. I knew she would rather swallow an Ethereal whole rather than admit that she needed help. So, for now, I could only watch as she staggered away, leaning on trees every now and then. She must be heading back to the Gate.

Honestly, I couldn't be sure about the directions. Inside the labyrinth, everything looked pretty much the same. It wasn't just the woods that scared me but whatever was in the woods.

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Hi there! Did you like this chapter? Then you'll like Aurum too! Please do check it out in booktrack.com and show your support by rating and reading! It would mean the world to me. And please expect another Reapers update on Aurum's 80th read. Thanks in advance!