But if no-one sits on the throne in time, the entire universe will stop expanding and rush inward, crushing itself and extinguishing all life in a mighty instantaneous singularity.

AT THE LABYRINTH

Five separate groups entered the Supreme Labyrinth.

Team 1, 24 hours ago: SPHINX and CARDINAL MENDOZA, escorted by three KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN EIGHT and eight cannibal VANDALS.

Team 2, 24 hours ago: BROTHER EZEKIEL and five of his monks from the Order of the Omega.

Team 3, 12 hours ago: DION and three SQUIRES OF THE GOLDEN EIGHT, coming to assist Sphinx.

Team 4, ten minutes ago: GENERAL RASTOR and seven of his fanatically loyal Serbian commandos.

Team 5, right now: JACK, ZOE, LILY and EASTON, plus four PALEMEN (bronzemen splashed with pale blue paint who obey Easton because of the ring of command that he wears).

JACK’S PEOPLE

The Two Lost Mountains ended with Jack’s larger team split into four subgroups:

SUBGROUP 1: THE FOUR IN THE LABYRINTH

JACK and his group at the Labyrinth.

SUBGROUP 2: EN ROUTE TO ITALY

IOLANTHE and her former mentor, the Jesuit named BERTIE, headed to Italy with NOBODY BLACK in search of the BLUE BELL—the long-lost Siren bell capable of undoing the sleep—and someone named ‘Albano’s Emissary’.

SUBGROUP 3: ON THE BATTLEFIELD

During the battle outside the Supreme Labyrinth, ALBY CALVIN, ALOYSIUS KNIGHT and RUFUS ejected out of Rufus’s Sukhoi Su-37 just as it was overwhelmed by bronzemen.

Where they landed is as yet unknown.

SKY MONSTER was last seen inside the smashed remains of a C-5 Super Galaxy cargo plane that he had deliberately crashed onto the battlefield as part of Jack’s Russian Doll plan.

SUBGROUP 4: THE ROYAL HUNTERS

When Jack and the others had headed off from Cairo International Airport for the Labyrinth, POOH BEAR and STRETCH had departed from Cairo with SISTER LYNDA FADEL and the ear/bell specialist DR TRACY SMITH, to find out where the royal families of the world would go in advance of the Omega Event.

We rejoin our story inside the Supreme Labyrinth . . .

First Test of Worth: Entering the Labyrinth

The Entry Tunnel

26 December, 0903 hours

Three days till the Omega Event

Holding a glowstick above his head, Jack West Jr stood at the top of a long square-sided tunnel that plunged into darkness.

Lily and Zoe stood beside him, while Easton and his four palemen stood at the rear.

They all peered down the entry tunnel.

It descended at a steep angle, with broad steps going all the way down its length and walls of solid stone.

A dim orange glow could be seen at the bottom end, two hundred metres away: a small square of light.

And then they heard them.

Distant sounds, coming from down there.

Screams. Shouts. Gunfire.

The sounds of battle.

Amid the gunshots and shouts, a voice wailed, ‘Kill me! Oh God, please kill me!’

‘What the hell are we walking into?’ Zoe breathed.

‘The final battle in a winner-takes-all war,’ Jack said. ‘Let’s move.’