The rest of that day was spent in the Flat Shack, where Aaron and Zackery explained everything else to Austin and anything about the Labyrinth that they felt was important for Austin to know about. They pretty much filled Austin in on everything about the Labyrinth that Austin didn't know about, and, by the closing of the Gates, Austin was ready for his big day tomorrow, when he'd be scouting the Labyrinth with Aaron and the other Scouts.
Apparently, Aaron decided that the best way to teach Austin everything he needed was via learning from both Zackery and himself, making the three of them an unlikely, but sufficient trio that Aaron himself dubbed his "pupils" - Of which Austin still didn't understand the concept seeing as how Zackery was already a full-fledged Scout and all that, but, then again, when you're the overseer of the scouts, Austin guesses that any other scout would be your 'pupil'. And though Aaron privately claimed Austin to be his new favorite thing, Austin can see the pride and gratefulness he felt towards Zackery for helping him and the others survive the Labyrinth, and, with Jackson so deathly ill, ready to die at any moment, Austin hadn't be able to fund it in himself to tell the boy that he could only have 'one primary pupil per overseer', as the rules he taught to Austin stated. Then again, even had Austin found it in himself to state them, he doubted the overseer would've cared for them much, anyways.
"So, there are 6 sections of the Labyrinth, called 'Sectors,' and each sector has five sub-sections, or 'sub-sectors'. There is sub-sectors 1A, 1B and 1C for Sector 1, and Sector 2 includes sub-sectors 2A, 2B, and 2C while Sector 3's sub-sectors consists of 3A, 3B and 3C 𑁋 And the same pattern goes for the other sectors, four through six," Austin summarized. "Am I missing anything?"
For the last few hours since he'd arrived at the Flat Shack to Aaron and Zackery waiting for him, Austin had been tasked to study the notes, reports, map drawings and other documents from Aaron, Zackery and other scouts who'd scouted the Labyrinth over the years 𑁋 The two wanted him to study everything he could about the big maze outside the Meadows before his first official scout the next day, with Zackery testing him on his studies throughout the breaks in-between reading notes and documents and studying hand drawn maps of the Labyrinth under Aaron's orders in his stead, while Aaron went to go check up on Jackson.
"Better," Zackery answered, allowing Austin to release the air he had no idea he was holding. "And the rearrangement patterns? How many ways can the Labyrinth rearrange itself and what's the order it always follows itself by?"
"There are 21 rearrangement patterns, not including the subsectors rearrangement patterns, and their order is Sector 4, Sector 6, Sector 3, Sector 1, Sector 2 and Sector 5," Austin answered. "Did I get it right this time?"
"Yeah, great job, Newbie," Zackery answered. "Aaron will be happy with your progress; I know I am. Now leave, and go eat something. The Gates closed awhile ago and you need to replenish your energy and rest up for tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yeah," Austin agreed. "Got it."
He didn't know that his dreams would be so weird and confusing that night, even as he fell asleep in his teepee. He didn't know he'd have nightmares yet again, nor would he be able to decipher them in the morning. And Austin still hadn't figured out why being there made him feel a strong sense of deja vu, as if he'd been here before. And, as he lay in his makeshift bed, in his teepee, his supply bag beside him, Austin couldn't have known that what he'd experience in the coming days would put his life 𑁋 and that of his friends 𑁋 on the line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In his dream, Austin was back in that strange place of void and mist, his skin a vibrant white in hue yet again, as the hooded figure returned.
Austin didn't feel the need to ask who the figure was; his instincts told him it was the same person as it had been the times before, so, when the figure removed its hood and settings returned to his containment cell, he wasn't surprised to see the figure's identity to be a doppelganger of himself. And the figure must've picked up on Austin's lack of surprise as the other Austin asked "You are not surprised to see me under the hood?"
Austin shook his head.
"Good. That means our connection is getting stronger," the other Austin murmured. "This is very good."
"What do you want?"
Austin asked, feeling the urge to get straight to the point rather than waste time small-talking. "Why are we here again? What do you need?"
"Because, Austin," the other Austin began answering. "There is a great death coming, and you are smack in the middle of the epicenter of it all. You have 72 hours before the beginning of the end claims your life as well as the lives of your friends. Meaning you have𑁋."
"I have 72 hours to escape this place," Austin finished, puzzled and horrified at the same time. It sighed, before looking the other him in the eyes, asking his next question. "What's going to happen if me and my friends don't escape in time?"
"Very, very, very bad things," the other Austin stated, grimly.
Suddenly, the mysterious other Austin thrusted his hand and Austin went flying from some invisible force. And, scary, nightmarish images flashed through his mind. He saw the Meadows in ruins, the Oakhouse on fire 𑁋 Even the Flat Shack had collapsed in on itself somehow. As the dead bodies of Austin's friends lay lifeless on the grounds of the Meadows, Austin spotted Scavengers and Annihilators alike feasting on his friends' lifeless remains. And, from the flames, he saw five silhouettes of the Scavengers walking alongside a very conflicted-looking Scarleteye 𑁋 Three of these Scavengers, Austin had already known of as Horri, Pannica and Feari 𑁋 the three older members of the Bane Brothers. The other two were hidden in the murky shadows of the fallen-and-inflamed Great Oak, but Austin knew enough to realize that these were the Bane Brothers the other Meadowers told him about; this was all of them, he realized.
As he stumbled down, he saw Reya's lifeless corpse, and then the piles of piles of his friends' lifeless corpses, including Aaron, Stryker's and, even, Caesar's. "Stop, stop, please," he begged for the images to stop. They didn't.
He saw Zether and Cleo, each tied to a wooden pole, as Scarleteye, cackling like a maniac, took a flaming torch, lighting them both up alive, their screams permenating themselves into Austin's traumatized brain.
Another scene showed Annihilators eating Zackery and Aaron alive, while another showed Caesar running away from a horde of Scavengers, right before an Annihilators tackled him, picking the the shocked boy apart, just as the Scavengers caught up to their meal to get their share. Another scene showed Cleo trying to heal an injured Jackson, as more and more bodies piled up around them, Scavengers surrounding them, each going in for the kill.
"Okay!" Austin yelled into the images. "Enough!" As the images receded, he continued with "I will escape this place, but only if I get to save my friends while I do it, but… How am I to succeed in escaping a place that it's taken years for other to even map up?"
"You'll figure it out, Austin; You must," the Voice said. "If we fail, lives will be lost on a larger scale than if we'd succeed. Their lives 𑁋 our lives 𑁋 depends on our success. Remember this."
As his consciousness began to return, Austin realized that he'd been talking to the Voice the whole time; that the other him was the Voice within his head. And, as he began waking up, he asked a final question: "What is this place?"
"Oh, this?" the Voice gestured around the fading environment. "Just a place in your mind…Or a place made of many minds, but a palace where we can communicate face-to-face…Relatively speaking. Think of it as the Collective Unconscious.
"But you're waking up; we'll see one another again, hopefully under better circumstances next time. See you soon, and always remember, always remember, my voice will guide you always."
And, with that, the doppelganger of Austin's vanished and Austin awoke to Aaron shaking him awake.