The first floor of the Aldoria labyrinth had not changed in the months since Quinlan Elysiar walked into it with a shabby spear and a borrowed stance.
The same pale stone corridors ran ahead of the family, lit by the same veins of soft blue light, and the same first-floor trio still held them: Steel Carapace Beetles the size of hunting hounds, red-eyed Shadow Wisps trailing their tendrils, and thorn-plated Bramblebacks the shape of angry boars.
What had changed was the party.
A beetle charged the group from a side passage, mandibles wide, and Ayame cut it in half without looking at it, mid-sentence, her katana back in its sheath before the two halves finished falling.
"As I was saying." The petite samurai walked at Quinlan's right, arms folded, chin up. "I understand the sentiment, Quin. Truly. We were robbed at that gate once, and my petty primordial never forgets a perceived injustice done to him like that."
