Alex seized the central corridor and surged toward whatever lurked in the maze's heart, his boots hammering against obsidian walls with relentless precision. The confrontation with Haley had scoured him clean not healed exactly, but sharpened. His mind sliced through problems now with surgical clarity, each thought snapping into the next with clockwork efficiency.
The corridor knifed ahead in a perfect line, bathed by the steady flame he commanded in his right palm. Fire obeyed his will with liquid grace, hurling dancing shadows across polished stone. After his psychological overhaul, even his abilities pulsed with renewed purpose.
But as minutes bled into what felt like an hour, dread crystallized in his chest. The corridor remained maddeningly unchanged no branching arteries, no architectural variations, no landmarks to gauge his progress. Just endless obsidian stone swallowing the darkness ahead.
