The crew stood in a plain stone chamber not far from the shuttle. There wasn’t anything of interest in the pickup area for a single reborn soul. A long table with benches. Their grav-sled parked near the entrance. That was it.

  This particular staging facility was seldom used as it accessed one of the older labyrinths. This one had automated functions, providing the bare minimum, with the understanding that the participants should come prepared. More popular labyrinths often attracted vendors and recruiters.

  “So where is he?” the captain grumbled, taking a seat.

  Thimble sighed and looked at her holo-pad again. “On the way up still. The lifts in this place are ancient.”

  Across the room, a line in the wall appeared and split open. Walking out of the elevator, Ben did his best not to scream. He took in the giant black cat, the little person with weird goggles, and the woman with the enormous axe. Thorn, what the hell are those things and what do I do?

  A pantheran, a gnome, and a human. The gnome has several cybernetic enhancements and the human’s armor is heavily enchanted. The feline is rather robust for the race, more than likely a side effect of their open gate combinations.

  He shifted his weight on Ben’s shoulder. Be cautious. They could kill us very easily.

  The gnome spoke first, “Hello there! Benjamin, is it?”

  “Um… Yeah… That's me, I guess. I don't know much right now. I woke up with fuzzy memories other than my name.” He didn't know what all he should say. The woman in the black armor was terrifying. The cat person kept eyeing him up and down.

  Thimble waved him over and they all joined the captain at the table. “My name is Thimble,” she started, “This is Captain Ironbelly. He’s the one that purchased your contract.”

  The captain nodded and she continued, “That's Siva. Siva is… reserved. She doesn't speak much. Oh! And sorry about the forced gates, but the old ways with a soulstar are the most efficient. Descriptions say there’s some pain involved?”

  Benjamin stared blankly and said nothing.

  She cleared her throat before continuing. "Right, so, let's cover the essentials since I'm sure your head is swimming with questions.At some point in your history, your life ended. I realize that's a bombshell, but your upgraded physiology should be handling this revelation better than a normal human would."

  Her palm shot up as Ben's mouth opened. "Hold on—it might not be what you're thinking. For all we know, you lived a full life surrounded by grandchildren. We have no idea. Look, I'm trying not to overwhelm you, but bottom line? We purchased your contract because we need something only you can provide."

  The captain cut in. "Look, here's the deal. We've been hired to recover an artifact. It's somewhere inside a labyrinth, behind a portal that only lets newly reborn souls pass through.

  We'll take care of the main labyrinth, you just have to sneak into another area and grab something,” He shrugged his massive shoulders. "Can't tell you why it works that way, but my intel is reliable. Bottom line—the artifact's in there, and you're our ticket to retrieving it."

  Running his hands over his head, Ben tried to come to grips with this new information. Okay, that makes sense, right Thorn?

  Indeed. Portals and labyrinths may have restrictions placed on them by whomever claimed or created the labyrinth. They do seem genuine and are more than likely the only way off of this planet.

  What is a labyrinth anyway? I kinda got an idea, but it's blurry like the rest.

  No time to explain. Ask them.

  “So what's a labyrinth? I'm feeling pretty concerned about that part,” he stated.

  Thimble giggled, “A labyrinth is a self-sustaining ecosystem with monsters, demons, and their guardians. Don't freak out, some are more occupied than others.”

  “Why would a monster or demon be there in the first place? I'm having to absorb a crapton of information here,” he asked and complained together.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “There's plenty of reasons. The main one is that time is funny. At least for the occupants. Stay inside long enough and feed your mana into it, and the labyrinth acts like life support. No need to eat or sleep. Time pretty much stops. They can never leave, so sometimes they're used as prisons. But it's not a bad deal if you're a monster with no better options.”

  Then the scary woman finally opened her mouth. “We cannot force you through a portal. We need you to be willing to aid us. The sooner we can be about it, the better.

  “Well,” Thimble added, “we could force you through but it would hurt. Alot. And that’s not the best motivation for you to help us. BUT, we will help you open more gates and you'll have the option to leave with us.”

  “There. Let’s start there.” Ben placed his hands on the table and took a deep breath. “Gates. After being tortured by that… eldritch horror, I felt them inside of me. I can’t explain it. But I know I have an arcane gate and a perception gate. Which apparently, I’m super cool with because of, oh, and this is the cherry on top, MY NEW BODY!?”

  “Why does a cherry cause concern?” Siva asked.

  “I can't remember!” he said, throwing his hands up in the air.

  The captain rolled his eyes. “Gates, boy. Gates of Power. Once your soul reaches the omniverse and finds a suitable shell, you can access your true potential. But you gotta find ways to unlock ‘em. They be the way to abilities and magic and yes, power. Open the right ones, and you can have the power to follow whatever path you choose to go down.”

  “You don't have to label them gates,” Thimble elaborated. “Use any term you like; gates, doors, paths. Doesn't matter. It's your connection to magic. Mana. Mystical forces. Again, the terms don't matter. All that does, is to unlock that connection. The majority of the universes I've visited say gates. Other places, they might call it something else.”

  “My body?” Ben growled.

  “Oh, calm down,” Ironbelly told him. “That body might be small, but it's a damn sight better than what you had before. You entered a soulcore and merged with that body. Some souls sync better than others.”

  “That just gave me a thousand more questions.”

  Thimble looked at her holo-pad, “Okay… Let's see here. Arcane and Perception. Pretty common for a human to unlock first,” she stated. “Have you tried cultivating any mana yet?”

  “No... I… I was scared to… and to be honest, I kind of forgot. I've been focusing more on, well, everything else,” he stammered.

  “HA!” The captain crowed, “Forgot hims says. Well, bet it has been a trying time for ya. So, we came bearing gifts.”

  Thimble tapped a button and the sled glided over. It was heavily packed with thick, metal boxes with buckles and clasps that varied in size. There were small ones you could fit in your hand to one around a couple meters long.

  “Benjamin,” Thimble instructed, “you need to know how to cultivate. I want you to close your eyes and still your mind. Magic is in everything. It's in you. In me. In the very air we breathe. It's in the rock that surrounds us. It’s even in the furniture. Now, feel inside of yourself. Focus, and you can find the unlocked gates you have.”

  Ben obeyed and almost immediately established a connection. They were tiny heartbeats that pulsed ever so slightly. He smiled and nodded.

  “You're there already? You can feel them? That's–”

  “That's good,” the captain interrupted, “just follow her lead. It’ll become instinctual eventually.”

  Thimble gave Ironbelly a glance and the captain gave her a slight head shake.

  The gnome chimed back in. “Imagine you're in

  front of the gate. Feel the mana. Feel the power inside. It can be tangible in your mind. Give it a form. Color, shapes, size, it doesn't make a difference. As long as you can start absorbing mana from the air through your gate into you. Try and open it. And with intent. Intent is crucial.”

  Ben formed an image in his mind. A large, golden circle that felt like home. And barring it were bars on a hinge. He couldn't tell what it was made out of, but he figured imaginary shit in his brain didn't really have a preference of building materials.

  He focused on the handle and pulled. It was hard to tell since he was actually still sitting on the bench.

  Flowing out were blue streams of something like smoke, everywhere. It was marvelous. Then he began to breathe it in.

  Beautiful. Not pleasure, but a physical rightness. A justification for living. It was… life itself. There were no other ways Ben could describe the mana flowing through him.

  “There it is.” came a soft voice. “I know you don't want too but slow down and shut the gate.” Thimble tapped some more buttons.

  “This next step will become one of your most used techniques. Transferring mana into another gate. The one we want is your perception gate. Again, it doesn't matter how. Pour it in, chuck it over, inject it, whatever, just get it in there.”

  Ben swallowed. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he visualized a connection between all three gates. Holding his arms out to each side, he could feel the difference in each of them. He let go towards the perception gate, mana flowing smoothly down the line.

  “Got it?” Thimble asked. “G-good.” She held up her pad, and a wide red beam scanned him up and down. “Here we go…”

  Staring down at her holopad, the gnome's eyes bulged and she carefully enlarged her holo for the others to see.

  Captain lronbelly's jaw dropped and Siva got up from the bench and staggered a few steps back.

  “What is Sekhmet's name is happening?” she managed to say.

  The captain found his words too. “Thimble, please tell me him or you or something messed it up somehow. Because that says hims has a divine core and it’s fully merged with a prototype body.”

  Fingers flying across the holo-pad, the cybertech couldn't believe it either. And yet, she couldn't find a single flaw. Her code had executed its processes perfectly. Yet there it was. Her mistake.

  “I… I didn't specify the actual type of core. I wrote it to pick the best one available. And to also… to also include the cores unavailable to the public. Labyrinth managers are notorious for hiding the better cores for themselves.”

  Thimble ran her hands through her hair. “With this backwater place, I didn't think we'd get anything above epic. Legendary felt like a pipe dream. But this? Why is there a divine grade soul core in this old place?”

  Ironbelly took a deep breath. “This changes our timetable. Wanted to have a few days for training, but we're gonna have to hit that labyrinth now. Proto body and divine core be serious business. Just one would be cause for worry. Together is a kit on the nip. Whoever hid them here, and yes, I’m convinced that's exactly what happened, will definitely be coming back for them. And the plan for that is to be somewhere else.”

  The captain gave Ben a hard look. “Best we start now. Gotta pick some keys for your gates, get what we came for, then flatten our ears and skitter.”