Little Pink Starfish

“I thought you were on holiday. That you were going to rest?”

Yanu’s voice was low and accusing, edged with a dangerous curl. His crimson eyes burned as he glared at Eira, gaze crackling with pent-up frustration. It was the raw hunger of a beast eyeing his mate. The fact that he had just returned from violently thrashing a group of monsters sneaking into his domain made him all the more ferocious. The sack of mana stones slung over his shoulder thudded heavily as he threw it to the ground.

“I left you alone so you could recover, and what do you do? Go off working again?”

“It’s not work. It’s… a hobby.”

The pebble flashed frantically with [Alert!] as Eira tried to sound as meek as possible. Yanu began to grin—and it was terrifying.

“So I had no reason to hold back.”

“Please! Just a little longer, please hold back!”

Eira half-pleaded, feeling Yanu’s eyes roam over him with the intensity of someone plotting how exactly to devour their prey. The retainers—who had spent the past few days begging their Lord to take it easy—pretended not to notice their master’s humiliating display as he clung to Yanu’s trouser leg.

“Just once, just one more time! It’s almost finished. Once I test it, I swear I’ll rest.”

“I’ll make sure you sleep so deep you won’t even know you passed out.”

Yanu growled as he yanked his leather belt loose with a snap. Eira hastily picked up the discarded belt and slipped it back around Yanu’s waist.

“Aren’t you curious what my new magic bloom is?”

“Not really.”

Yanu replied flatly. But Eira coaxed him with all the desperate charm he could muster. Finally, with a heavy, begrudging sigh, the sulky red dragon let himself be led along.

“You’ve got ten minutes.”

“An hour…”

“Five.”

At Yanu’s cold, final reply, Eira’s shoulders slumped. Still, he eagerly led the way.

Several curious retainers followed as well. Though they were too polite to ask outright, they were obviously interested in what new power the Lord had awakened. Eira led them to the research tower—the place where mage after mage was metaphorically “shredded.” The tower’s mages, looking no less exhausted than Eira himself, welcomed him like loyal, cringing servants.

“It’s still safe, yes?”

“Of course, my Lord! We made sure no one touched it!”

They led him down a long corridor to a chamber stacked high with mana stones. At the centre stood a grand archway made of delicately carved white marble—just wide enough for two people to pass through. On the floor beneath was a sprawling mana circuit like an ornate rug.

It was, at a glance, just an arched doorway—no actual door attached.

“This is my magic bloom! Labyrinth of Memory!”

Eira declared proudly, pointing at the arch. The mages clapped furiously, their eyes bloodshot from sleep deprivation. The retainers, clueless but polite, also applauded. Yanu simply yawned.

“What exactly is Labyrinth of Memory?”

“To the eye, it looks like a normal doorway. But anyone who passes through it will fall into an illusion…”

Labyrinth of Memory was a deeper version of illusion magic. Anyone who stepped through the arch would enter a vivid hallucination based on their own memories. The labyrinth absorbed the target’s memories to create increasingly detailed and elaborate illusionary worlds.

“Regular illusion magic looks real, but doesn’t affect the physical body. What happens in here, though, reflects back onto the real body. Even if you realise it’s fake, it’s a labyrinth—you can’t leave so easily. It’s great for security, or training knights and mages. You could simulate a safe battle with monsters, or even imprison criminals.”

“Amazing, my Lord.”

Bloom looked deeply impressed, and Eira tilted his chin up proudly.

“It can even be used in disaster scenarios. The illusions can provide food with real nutritional value. Eat an apple in the illusion, and it’ll nourish you like the real thing.”

“That’s incredible! Creating something from nothing!”

Lan Gretel’s eyes sparkled with awe.

“Well, not exactly from nothing. It uses mana stones. If you break down the caloric cost of food, one mana stone can feed an adult for a whole day. There’s a lot of ways it can be applied…”

Eira’s mood soared with every compliment. Then, sheepishly, he confessed that it wasn’t quite perfect yet.

“It’s not ready for immediate use. My level—no, my proficiency—is too low. Once someone enters, I can’t pull them out. They have to meet certain conditions to escape.”

“Conditions like…?”

“Finding an object, completing a task… It’s great for training. Like making a knight slash a hundred times before they can leave.”

Eira was in the middle of excitedly describing further applications when—

“Eira.”

The soft, dangerous voice came from just behind him. It was Yanu.

“Mm?” Eira turned, a sudden chill down his spine.

“You’re way past your five minutes.”

Yanu flashed a smile, teeth gleaming white, and shoved Eira forward before he could even react.

He stumbled through the arch.

His not-quite-recovered pebble let out a faint beep just before everything went white.

He felt mana explode across his body. The voices of the mages and retainers calling his name scattered into the distance.

❄

When Eira opened his eyes, he saw a familiar ceiling. He blinked, then sat bolt upright.

“Ah! Yanu!”

Grabbing his hair, he groaned in despair. As a labyrinth mage, he knew better than anyone the dangers of untested spells. Images from his rookie days, wreaking havoc with fellow trainees, flashed through his mind. Magic out of control often led to disaster—and unlike back then, there was no senior mage here to clean up the mess.

With a heavy sigh, he looked around. The room was wide and empty, save for a single white metal-framed bed under a skylight. No furniture, no decorations.

And no pebble.

Eira frowned in panic and spun in place.

“Pebble? Where are you, Pebble?”

It must’ve vanished because this was an illusion. He could sense it still existed somewhere, but couldn’t pinpoint it. The absence of his constant companion left a strange emptiness.

He began to search the room. He stomped on the floor, pounded on the walls. As he’d designed it, the illusion was astonishingly realistic—but the room itself was unnatural in its barrenness.

“Guess this is because I’m the first to use it.”

The labyrinth became more complex and lifelike the more users it had. But with no past data, Eira’s initial labyrinth was limited to this plain room.

Still, he wasn’t planning to escape just yet.

“Since I’m here anyway, I might as well run some tests. And…”

Yanu had definitely followed him in. Eira would bet his dragon’s precious eyeballs on it.

He let out a burst of mana to probe the space. Slowly, information flowed into his mind. After a few minutes of tracing the edges of the room, he closed his eyes and walked with a hand on the wall.

Click.

He felt something shift.

Opening his eyes, he saw four new doors—one on each wall. Unfazed, he muttered,

“Let’s see… where’s Yanu?”

He opened the nearest door. It revealed a snowy Solaran courtyard—eerily silent, no people or animals in sight. Eira scratched his cheek.

“If I want this used for training, I’ll need to add NPC functions… I need more users. More data.”

He closed the door and moved to the next. This one led to a familiar labyrinth—the magical plaza he used to visit often as a young mage. The high underground ceilings sparkled with orbs of mana. Nostalgic towers built by mages from different worlds surrounded the square.

He wandered around, visited a frozen but fully stocked ice cream shop run by an Earth-born mage, had a scoop, and returned to the white room.

Can I run spell experiments in here? It’s all mana… wonder if it’ll hold.

He was lost in thought when he opened the next door—and froze.

Eyes wide, he stared in stunned silence.

Then, slowly, he stepped inside.