The summer twilight painted the street in hues of gold as William Torren stumbled out of the pub, his laughter mingling with that of his friends. A pleasant buzzing sensation coursed through his veins - not quite drunk, but certainly not sober either. His twenty-sixth birthday celebration had gone exactly as planned: good whiskey, better friends, and a temporary reprieve from the monotony of his accounting job.

  "To another year of William's mediocrity!" toasted Devon, raising an imaginary glass to the darkening sky.

  "Fuck off," William replied with a grin, shoving his oldest friend playfully.

  That's when he heard it - a sound like ice fracturing on a frozen lake, but impossibly loud and coming from above. The first crack silenced their banter instantly.

  Then came another crack, sharper than the first, reverberating through William's chest like thunder.

  "T-the sky... what's that in the sky?!" stammered Noah, his trembling finger pointing upward.

  William followed his friend's gaze and felt the world tilt beneath his feet. The twilight sky was fracturing. Actual fissures, like cracks in glass, spiderwebbed across the heavens, extending from horizon to horizon. Tiny fragments broke off and fell like cosmic snow, dissolving before reaching the ground.

  "That's not... that can't be possible," William breathed, his birthday buzz evaporating in an instant.

  The cracks widened, and from the deepening void emerged something that his mind strained to comprehend. Massive tentacles, each unquantifiably large, were making their way into their world from the other side of the crack. But it was the eyes - hundreds of vibrant, pulsating orange orbs embedded within each tentacle - that struck absolute terror into William's core. They moved independently of one another, swiveling and scanning with intelligence.

  Around him, chaos erupted. Screaming, pedestrians scattered in every direction. Car horns blared as vehicles swerved to avoid panicked crowds. A woman fell to her knees in prayer, while a man simply stood frozen, his ice cream cone melting unnoticed over his fingers.

  "We need to run," Devon shouted, pulling at William's sleeve. "NOW!"

  But William couldn't move. It wasn't fear that paralyzed him - though there was plenty of that - but rather a strange fascination. The thing emerging from the breach seemed to be searching, its countless eyes darting methodically across the landscape.

  Then it found him.

  One massive eye, bright as molten copper and large as a billboard, swiveled in his direction. As soon as their gazes locked, the world around him faded to grayscale. Nothing was moving, not even William. No sounds could be heard, no feelings felt.

  A bright blue window materialized before him. It displayed intricate symbols that resembled no language William had ever seen - hieroglyphics mixed with fractal patterns and mathematical equations that shifted and mutated.

  As he stared, the indecipherable text began to transform, rearranging itself into familiar letters:

  [Calibrating for species - Human]

  [Activating labyrinth protocol]

  [Planet - Earth. Threat Level: Critical. Multiple dimensional breaches detected.]

  [Select difficulty]

  [Easy] [Medium] [Hard] [Nightmare] [*%#$2(-[[:]

  The first four options appeared straightforward, but the fifth was a jumbled mess of symbols that hurt his eyes when he tried to focus on them.

  [Time limit for selection: 30 seconds]

  William's mind raced, adrenaline cutting through the last traces of alcohol in his system. He'd played enough video games to recognize a difficulty selection screen, but this was clearly no game. Whatever was happening - hallucination, psychotic break, or actual reality-shattering event - felt completely real.

  The easiest option would be safest, but something deep within him rebelled against the idea. If this was truly some sort of test or challenge, wouldn't the greatest rewards come from the highest risk? And if he was simply losing his mind, what difference would his choice make anyway?

  "Ah… fuck it. It’s my birthday, if I'm going to face the apocalypse," he muttered to himself, a reckless smile spreading across his face, "I might as well make it interesting."

  His gaze settled deliberately on the incomprehensible fifth option.

  [Difficulty *%#$2(-[[: selected. First challenger to choose this tier. Unique title granted.]

  [Title acquired: The Audacious One]

  [Effect: Enhanced perception and decision-making under pressure]

  William’s thought suddenly cleared up. His fear lessened, and he felt like a weight was taken off his shoulders. The grayscale world was suddenly more vivid, sharper. He could have sworn he saw the system window glitch, but he was too mesmerised by everything else that he figured it was just a vision.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  William blinked, finding himself standing in a spacious chamber. The walls were lined with ornate bookshelves filled with leather-bound tomes. The creaking, wooden floor beneath him gave him a sense of comfort, as if this labyrinth wasn’t entirely inhuman.

  The center of the room housed several equipment racks, displaying an assortment of weapons and armor from various historical periods and cultures.

  ‘So this is the Labyrinth’, William thought, running his fingers along handle of a nearby sword.

  [Choose one piece of equipment to begin your journey]

  A new window materialized before him, the blue text hovering at eye level. William took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts.

  ‘It looks like a quest menu from games. Maybe it works similarly.’

  "Information," he commanded, his voice echoing slightly in the chamber.

  A compact window appeared:

  [Labyrinth of Realms]

  [120 floors await. Each conquered floor grants passage to the next and potential rewards: skills, titles, or artifacts. Available commands: Quests, Status Window, Information, Skill]

  "Status Window," William said, his voice steadier now.

  [William Torren]

  [Species: Human]

  [Skills: None]

  [Titles: The Audacious One]

  [Authority: !~`#5%$&;/=]

  [Stats]

  [Vitality: 10]

  [Power: 9]

  [Control: 9]

  [Resonance: 0]

  The last field caught his attention. Authority? And represented by an incomprehensible string of symbols, no less. Was it corrupted data, or something more significant? William filed the question away for later consideration.

  He turned his attention to the equipment racks, studying the array of potential weapons. A battleaxe would be too bulky, a bow too difficult and unadaptable.

  Then, at the back of the room, he spotted it - a slender sword with an elegant blade. Unlike the heavy blades designed to hack through armor, the sword before him was focused on precision instead.

  William lifted it carefully, surprised by its lightness. The hilt fit his hand perfectly, and the blade was well balanced. He executed an experimental swing, feeling the air part effortlessly before the edge.

  ‘This feels good,’ he thought, a sense of certainty settling over him.

  [Choice confirmed. Weapon selected: Jian]

  [Skill obtained: Beginner swordsmanship]

  Right after William read the system window, the entire system suddenly started glitching out. The windows were shaking and distorting. A red window suddenly popped up in front of him.

  [Authority !~`#5%$&;/= forcibly activated]

  [Skill upgraded: Beginner Swordsmanship → Basic Swordsmanship]

  Knowledge flooded into William's mind - not as overwhelming information but as muscle memory and instinct. Suddenly, he understood the proper grip, the basic forms, the relationship between footwork and bladework. He was by no means a master, but he now possessed the fundamentals which he could expand to improve.

  One of the walls silently slid open, revealing a stone passageway leading deeper into the labyrinth..

  Before proceeding, William checked his newly acquired skill:

  [Basic swordsmanship]

  [A beginner in the sword arts. Grants basic knowledge and a slight amount of skill with the sword]

  [Proficiency: 0%]

  He was about to leave, but something held him back from immediately entering the passage. His gaze returned to the bookshelves lining the walls.

  ‘These can't be here for decoration alone,’ he reasoned. ‘There has to be something here.’

  William approached the nearest shelf and selected a volume bound in red leather. The title read: "A Beginner's Guide to the Labyrinth."

  ‘Perfect’, he thought, opening the cover - only to find recipes for various stews and soups, with no mention of labyrinths, monsters, or survival strategies.

  Frowning, he returned the book and selected another with an identical title. Inside: more recipes, these for baking bread and pastries.

  One by one, William checked the books, finding the same title on every spine but different culinary instructions within each volume. Frustration mounted as he worked his way systematically through the shelves.

  ‘This has to be some kind of test or puzzle,’ he thought, observing the pattern. ‘Or perhaps a joke at my expense.’

  As he reached for what he swore would be his final attempt, William noticed something odd. This one felt unusually rigid, unlike the soft leathery covers of the other books. And while the others bore the title in gold lettering, this one’s title was carved into the cover. ‘Could this be the real one?’ He thought.

  "A Beginner's Guide to the Labyrinth," he read aloud, cracking open the cover.

  Instead of recipes, a blue light emanated from the pages, coalescing into a system window:

  [Uncovered hidden piece: A Beginner's Guide to the Labyrinth]

  [Skill obtained: Introspection]

  And yet again, the system distorted.

  [Authority !~`#5%$&;/= forcibly activated.]

  [Skill upgraded: Introspection → Keen Introspection]

  Not wasting any time, William pulled up the skill information window.

  [Skill: Keen Introspection]

  [Displays a moderate amount of information]

  [Proficiency: 0%]

  Satisfaction washed over William. His persistence had been rewarded, but the unexpected upgrade left him puzzled. Whatever this "Authority" was, it seemed to be altering the system's parameters in his favor. Eager to test his new skill, he focused his attention on the jian in his hand and activated Keen Introspection.

  [Jian, a one-handed sword of good quality. Age: approximately 87 years. Condition: Almost perfect.]

  The information was basic but confirmed the weapon's reliability. More importantly, he'd learned that valuable resources could be hidden in plain sight within the labyrinth - and that thoroughness and attention to detail would be essential to his survival.

  He also felt slightly more mentally fatigued than before. It seems using introspection had slightly tired him out as a cost for using it. He shrugged it off, as it wasn’t enough to be noticeable yet, but it was something to keep in mind.

  With renewed confidence, William turned toward the open passageway. "One floor at a time," he murmured to himself, stepping into the unknown. Behind him, the entrance silently sealed itself, leaving no evidence of the room he'd left behind.

  The Labyrinth had begun.