The Labyrinth's Lazy Bones

Reko Vaara was once the most celebrated Pathfinder in the Empire, the only man to chart the shifting, god-made Labyrinth of Valta. He died there, betrayed and alone. Now, he's woken up twenty years in the past, back in the body of his lazy, academy-dropout self, with all his bitter memories intact. This time, he has one goal: stay as far away from that deathtrap labyrinth as possible. But fate has other plans. He's forcibly assigned as the personal porter for Jalo, a naive, bright-eyed farm boy hailed as the 'Sunken Star' - the prophesied hero destined to conquer the Labyrinth. Reko knows Jalo is walking to his death, a pawn in a much larger game. Cursed with perfect knowledge of every trap, monster, and secret passage, Reko must play the part of a simple bag-carrier while subtly steering Jalo's party away from certain doom. But the more he changes the past, the more the Labyrinth changes in response, and a shadowy enemy, the Shard of Absence, begins targeting him specifically, calling him the true 'Anomaly'. Can Reko save the hero without revealing his own impossible knowledge, or will his attempts to avert one tragedy only create an even greater one?