Level One

  Cooper could’t sleep that night. He was too upset. He tried counting sheep. Then had some leftover fish stew. Then put on the naked chick ring and went for a walk around the maze. Nothing worked. Finally, after what felt like hours of tossing and turning, Cooper went to his duffel and pulled out the leather bag full of human teeth. He dropped one. The soldier who appeared did not look exactly like Geek - a little shorter, slightly bigger nose - but he was close enough they might have been brothers.

  “Have a seat,” Cooper said to Geek 2. “We got a lot of ground to cover.”

  The conversation went on for hours. Geek 2 turned out to be just as good a listener as Geek 1, even though he lacked some of the charm of the original. The main problem was while Geek 1’s face was sort of just naturally pleasant, Geek 2 had a permanent scowl on that made it seem like he was always judging you silently, kind of like Cooper’s ex-wife. It got a little contentious, and Cooper found himself raising his voice a few times, but in the end they agreed - and Cooper was 100% sure that Geek 2 was on board with this - that Cooper had done the right thing. Jumping that barricade would have been suicide. It wouldn’t do Geek 1 any favors for Cooper to throw his life away. If he was going to rescue Geek 1 - and he was going to rescue Geek 1 - he needed to be organized. Disciplined. Patient. He needed to find a weakness in his target, then ruthlessly exploit it, just like he had with Northwest Orient Airlines. Only this time it would be even easier, because airliners actually have the whole government behind him. This time his target was just a bunch of ignorant hayseeds that really like Spartacus.

  That was how things broke up that night: with Cooper reminding himself that he was now the most successful airplane hijacker in the history of the world, and for a talent of his caliber, breaking into the Kayin base to spring Geek 1 would be like a vacation. So he would rest now, get plenty of sleep, then wake up early tomorrow morning, stretch his legs, maybe have some left over fish stew, and once he was finally good and ready, he would bring the fucking hammer down.

  * * *

  The hallway outside the Kayin base was like a bus station that morning. Cooper must have showed up during a particularly busy period, because it was hard to imagine it having that much traffic all the time. Most of the men leaving the base seemed headed out to gather resources of some kind. It was harder to tell on the way out, but when they came back they would be carrying bags full of grapes, flatbread, leather couch cushions, bundles of twigs or whatever.

  A few of them seemed to be going out on military patrols, since those guys tended to be armed to the teeth. But the bigger issue was that every single one of them had naked chick rings. Literally every one. They must not have been allowed to use them inside the base, because when leaving they would put them on immediately outside the barricade, and when coming back they would take them off before entering. This created two problems for Cooper. The first was that the soldiers manning the barricade seemed to be specifically on the lookout for people sneaking into the base wearing naked chick rings, which would obviously make it much harder for Cooper to do just that. Also, it meant that the hallway in front of the base was an extremely dangerous place to stand, since at any moment some invisible Kayin could bump into Cooper and he would be discovered.

  By the time Cooper realized this it was almost too late. He was watching the checkpoint when suddenly he heard a snatch of conversation from just over his shoulder. He dived out of the way just as some invisible asshole breezed past. Had he moved even a spit-second later, he would have been discovered. That was all the motivation Cooper needed to get out of there. He wasn’t going through that way anyhow. If he was going to rescue Geek 1, he would need to find a back door.

  Upon leaving the Kayin Barricade, Cooper headed north, then turned back east at the first intersection. He figured if there was another way into the Kayin base it should be fairly close by, so his plan was to check all the nearby hallways and see what he could see. The first one led to a dead end, another alcove with a statue in it of a gladiator standing at attention. Cooper checked the wall behind the alcove for secret doors, but if there was one, he couldn’t find it. He returned to the last intersection, went north again, then turned back east again. That second hallway was exactly the same as the first: a dead end with a statue in it, no signs of a secret door. The third hallway was different though.

  That third one was blocked by another barricade, only unmanned this time. Instead it was just a massive pile of bricks, stones, dirt and broken pottery that stretched from floor to ceiling. There was a gap of maybe two inches up at the top of the pile, but as before, Cooper found that it was far too dark inside the Kayin base to see anything. Cooper studied the rubble pile for a moment before deciding that he probably could get through it if he had a team of construction workers and a backhoe, but even then it might take a few days, and he definitely wouldn’t get through quietly.

  The next two hallways were exactly the same. By that time Cooper was getting out into a part of the maze he didn’t know very well. Also he was tired and hungry, and his fingers were starting to itch like fuck from wearing the naked chick ring, so he decided to return to the Bunkhouse and then continue his reconnaissance after lunch. When Cooper got back, Geek 2 was sitting quietly on his bench with that same sourpuss on his face. Cooper had very nicely for Geek 2 to try to clean the Bunkhouse a bit while he was gone, but either Geek 2 hadn’t understood the instructions or he had simply ignored them, which was another thing that reminded Cooper of his ex-wife.

  “Let’s start with the bad news,” Cooper said, since it seemed like Geek 2 was pissed off already. Cooper then explained everything he had done that morning in precise detail, in part so Geek 2 could at least see he was working hard. seen that morning.

  “The point,” he said when he was finished, “is that I don’t think we’re getting in the way. But before you start making that face, my instincts tell me there’s another entrance, and I actually have a pretty good for how we can…”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Cooper was interrupted by the roar. Once again, it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. And once again, it was so loud it seemed to make the ground shake. Cooper and Geek 2 looked at one another. For once, Geek 2 wasn’t scowling.

  “Oh shit,” Cooper said.

  * * *

  There were nine of them that he could see. Two out front as an advance guard and the two at the back as a rearguard. Four of the remaining five were carrying the long, wooden pole from which the blindfolded Geek 1 hung, tied hand and foot. The last Kayin was clearly the leader. He was older than the rest, and also bigger and better fed, with short blond hair and plate blue eyes. He was wearing a leather skirt just like the other Kayins, but over that he wore an actually red cape like he was fucking Superman or something. He also had a little leather cap on his head with a tuft of red feathers sticking out of the top. In short, he looked like a prick. Cooper hated him from the start.

  Cockface - that was the name Cooper gave to the Kayin leader - turned the expedition south at the first intersection, leading them into a part of the maze Cooper hadn’t had a chance to explore yet. Cooper fell in at the rear of the procession, trying not to get too close for fear that might bump into someone invisible. From his position at the back, it was hard to tell for sure how Geek 1 was doing. He - Geek 1 - was covered in blood and grape jelly, and his circle was down below half, but he seemed to be alive at least.

  Cooper decided to risk giving Geek 1 a toot from the staff. Just a tiny little bit. Small enough that the blur and the rushing noise wouldn’t be noticed by the Kayins. It worked. As Geek’s circle filled, his head jerked up and he began moving his head around, like he was trying to see through his blindfold. One of the Kayins gave Geek a whack with the shaft of his spear, and that made him fall still, but clearly Geek 1 was awake at least.

  Cooper considered his options. He had the little leather pouch full of human teeth on him. That meant he could create three new Geeks on the spot. But once he did that fight would be 4 versus 9 until he got Geek 1 untied, and that was only counting the Kayins he could actually see. He also has the charcoal on him, and the cumberbund, though as of yet he had no idea about how to use them that weren’t obviously stupid. In short, Cooper was drawing a blank so far, so he did nothing, quietly wracking his brains as the procession drew closer and closer to its destination.

  That must have gone on for a while because the next thing Cooper knew it, they were there. After a quick turn to the west, the walls of the hallway suddenly fanned out to make a small room in the shape of a half-circle. The circular walls had more paintings of bulls them, but the flat wall, meanwhile, had an enormous wooden double doors in the middle. The doors themselves were thick and heavy and dark and secured by a bronze lock the size of a mailbox. he keyhole in the middle was shaped like an L. Upon reaching the doors, Cockface reached into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a long, L-shaped key with an image of a bull’s horns carved into one end. He placed the key in the lock.

  While all this was happening, the other Kayins had untied Geek 1 from the pole and begun pushing him to the front of the line. He was still blindfolded, and his hands were still bound, so whatever was inside that room, he stood no chance against it. Cooper, meanwhile, had finally worked his way up to the front of the line, so that now he was standing right behind Cockface. He also had come up with a plan. The moment the door is open, he’d kick Cockface right in the ass, knocking him into the next room. Then he and Geek 1 would make their getaway while the Kayins were trying to rescue their leader.

  It was a stupid plan. He knew that. But it was also the best he had. And he really, honestly had every intention of puling the trigger this time. What stopped him was the fact that he was standing right behind Cockface, and so he could see directly into the room. And that meant he saw the creature.

  The Bullpen - that was the name Cooper would later give to the room beyond the double doors - turned out to be a large circular arena with a dirt floor and ceilings a good 20 feet high. The dirt of the Bullpen was an ugly reddish-black color to it and was scattered with broken spears, shattered shields, and torn bits of leather. There were also bones. Tons of them. Human bones, Cooper thought, though he wasn’t a bone doctor. Again though, it wasn’t the broken weapons or the bloodstained floors or all the bones that turned Cooper’s blood to ice. It was the thing standing in the middle of the arena staring at him.

  It was enormous, at least 8 feet tall, and probably weighed a good 500 pounds. It was also completely naked except for the jagged steel collar around its neck, the teeth cruelly biting into its flesh. Its skin was covered in a thin layer of fine hair, but also crisscrossed with jagged scars and welts, like it had been whipped every day of its life. But none of that was the bad part. The bad part was the head that sat on those mammoths shoulders. It was the head of a bull: black snout, floppy ears, long muzzle covered in black fur, with two huge, blood-caked horns rising up from its forehead, and eyes the size pool balls burning like hot coals on either side of its snout. It roared again, and Cooper could feel its hot breath on his face, and smell the rotting of its yellowed teeth.

  If he could have, Cooper might have shit himself. Instead what he did was freeze. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was just enough time for the Kayins to shove Geek 1 through the doorway and slam it shut. By the time Cooper had his wits about him again, it was already too late. And then someone bumped him, and the Kayins began jabbering at each other in their ridiculous language, and the next thing he knew he was running back to the Bunkhouse as fast as he could.

  As he lay on his bench that night trying to fall asleep, the image of that creature roaring at him was painted on the back of Cooper eyelids. And not just because of how scared he had been - although Cooper was terrified and he had no problem admitting it. Nor was it just the shame of having let down his best friend, although Geek 1’s death had left him absolutely gutted. But in addition to all that, the image was fixed in his mind because of something else he had noticed, something that he didn’t even have time to fully register before he had to start running.

  Just behind the creature, at the rear of the arena, Cooper had noticed a rough archway of stones with a strange sparkle emerging from the middle.

  And the more he thought about, the more sure he was that sparkle was the way out.

  * * * * *

  Name: Cooper of Vancouver

  Gender: Male

  Affiliation: None

  Age at Entry: 29

  Current Level: The Labyrinth (1)

  Jing: 10/10

  Qi: 13/14

  Shen: 0

  Status: Cursed (3)

  here.