The world that lay in front of them at the end of the tunnel was unlike anything they had seen below. The third level was the only place in the Labyrinth where a person could see the sky. A vast crack split its ceiling and let the surface pour through — sunlight in shifting shafts that cut through the mist and smoke, rain dripping from stalactites onto moss and vines that had somehow taken root in the cracks of the stone. Beneath that fractured dome sprawled a wilderness born of chaos, all jagged rock and crumbling ridges. At its heart rose a towering rainforest that seemed impossibly alive, its enormous trees stretching up toward the distant crack of light with their emerald canopies glistening in the rain. Deep fissures scarred the ground where a great tremor had once ripped through the level and reshaped it into this strange paradise among the ruins. Water from above ran down through the cracks in thin waterfalls that disappeared into the depths below, toward the fourth level. On rare days, it was said, the sunlight reached even there, and another forest grew beneath this one, twisted and pale.
When Oscar and Mahin came out onto the ridge and looked down on the third level for the first time, they could not speak. They had escaped a world of fire and chains only to walk straight into the arms of nature — raw, overwhelming, untamed.
Tarko stepped up beside them, and his weathered face softened in the dim sunlight. "Welcome," he said quietly, "to the third level. The Undying Forest."
As they made their way down toward the forest floor, they began to see signs of life — tents, shacks, makeshift huts scattered around the edges of the forest, a small settlement of prisoners who had made this level their home. The Empire rarely interfered here. In fact, it was the only level where supply packages were ever dropped. Along the forest wall stood a line of caves cut into the black stone, shelter for those who had given up on ever escaping, and it was in one of those caves that the rest of Oscar's crew had taken refuge to wait for their captain.
Sergio and Alex were standing guard at the bottom of the slope. Both of them had been Orbiton pilots aboard the Tartarusios, caught in the corridors during the raid before they could reach the hangar. Sergio was in his mid-twenties, with long brown hair and calm brown eyes, friendly and lighthearted — the kind of man who made even hell bearable, though his chatter sometimes tested people's patience. There was no one better to have guarding your flank. Alex was his opposite, a fiery soul with flame-red hair and eyes like emerald blades, reckless, impulsive, brave to a fault, always the first to charge and the last to retreat.
The two of them were lying low on the slope when a familiar voice echoed down through the cavern. "Hey, you two! What are you doing lying around? Come and give us a hand!"
They looked up, and there was Oscar, waving at them from the ridge. Alex grinned and elbowed Sergio. "Get up! The boss is here!" They scrambled to their feet and ran up the path to help the others down. When they reached him and saw him standing there — soot-streaked but alive and unbroken — their faces lit up.
"Where are the others?" Oscar asked, catching his breath.
"They set up camp in one of the caves nearby," Sergio said. "We've been waiting here to bring you in."
Oscar turned to the three people behind him — Mahin, Tarko, and the exhausted old Emperor. "Then let's move."
When they walked into the cave, it filled with shouts of joy and relief. "The captain is back!" someone yelled. The sound echoed through the cavern while laughter and cheers rose for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
When the excitement had settled, Oscar, Mahin, Tarko and Kaiser sat together beside the campfire, its crackling flames throwing long shadows up the rock walls. Oscar leaned back with a deep sigh. "Finally. Now all that's left is getting out of here."
Tarko raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
Before Oscar could answer, Kaiser gave a low laugh. "You think escape is possible? The only true way out of this place is death. Trust me."
Oscar frowned. "And what makes you so sure?"
Kaiser's expression darkened. "Because the Labyrinth was built that way, long ago, by our ancestors. The Earthlings."
Tarko stiffened at the name. "You mean the First?" he asked, and his voice was almost reverent.
Bjorn had been standing quietly nearby, and he looked puzzled; the name meant nothing to him. In his own time, the planet called Earth, the birthplace of humanity, had faded so far into myth that almost no one remembered it. He leaned close to Oscar and whispered, "Captain, there's more to this. Maybe we should tell them the truth. We might get some answers."
Oscar nodded and turned to the others. "Listen. What I'm about to say will sound impossible, but it's the truth. We aren't from your time. The Baraken Empire you talk about is an ancient ruin where we come from. We came here from ten thousand years in the future."
Silence fell over the fire. Tarko blinked with his mouth slightly open. The old Emperor stared into the flames, and in his eyes there was disbelief — and something that looked like recognition.
It was Mahin who spoke first. "I've seen their ship. I've met their people. What they're telling you is true."
It took time for the words to settle. For Tarko, it hardly mattered who or what they were, only that they might be his way out. For Kaiser, it was different. Something shifted in his eyes the moment he heard it. He had spent decades searching for meaning in the Labyrinth's design, and now, perhaps, the key to it lay not further down, but up above.
Bjorn leaned toward him. "Your Majesty, would you tell us more about this Earth? What was it?"
Kaiser turned slowly to look at him. "So your time has forgotten where we all began?"
Bjorn nodded. "We have records, fragments. But our history speaks of many species, not only humans. We believe we're a branch of something older — a sub-species, maybe. We call ourselves the Morphs."
Kaiser stroked his gray beard thoughtfully. "Then listen well, young man. There was once a world unlike any other — a blue sphere in the void, a cradle of oceans and mountains and life. It was called Earth."
Bjorn frowned. "I've never heard of it. Which galaxy was it in?"
"The Milky Way," Kaiser said softly.
A hush fell over the group, and even the crackling of the fire seemed to fade. Kaiser looked into the flames, his voice low and distant.
"It had another name too — the one our ancestors whispered before the fall. They called it Terra."