Chapter Four: Hundred days of hell
The cabin was cradled within the bosoms of the woods, the branches barricaded us from viewing the appearance of the brilliant heavens above. Rainbow jeweled lanterns illuminated the trail leading to the cabins. The hand crafted designs curled around the center of the glass, the mahogany flames glistened in the center, cognate to an eye. They glared at us, as they squat upon the tree arms. Despite it being morning time we were still unable glimpse at the sun's features because of the densely bundled trees with an exception of a few rays that peaked from behind them. The cabin was miniscule from the outside, the wood looked older than Captain Daevas. It was like they were twins because of all the dents and scratched in the woods. There were about twenty of us but it seemed like we would be cramped inside. Posterior to the cabin laid a pond, a dock extended a few feet into it. It look almost tainted, it was filthy but even dirty water doesn't look that black. It just screamed bad news, but it's not like we had any other choice. Captain Daevas handed out water bottles on the way there, he insisted that we all drink them to keep our energy up. The captain had his own specially made water bottle, it was clear and had a filter in it.
I assumed that the frosty water that traveled through my throat was going to replenish my spirit, but instead it made me slightly dizzy and gave me a headache. Everyone else seemed fine, but my body was reacting strangely, but I didn't pay any attention to it. By the time we had entered the cabin all of our bottles had already been empty, only to be littered onto the grassy floor. One of my main worries was that I had to stay under the same roof as the weird men from earlier. They didn't make eye contact with me the entire way but I knew their attention was directed at me, call me paranoid but I knew there was something strange about them. Likewise Cara was also in our group, another person I didn't trust. She seemed harmless at first and slightly helpful but her action suggest she has hidden motives. Captain Daevas rattled the door knob a few times until it opened. The interior of the cabin was much more modern than I expected. There were long clear windows in the back so that we can view the pond. Soft rosewood sofas were in front of an indoor fire place. An organized kitchen with all the tools you'd need to whip something up. There even was a refrigerator that had been previously stocked with foods of all sorts. The entire place just seemed to glow, perhaps this won't be as bad as I thought it would be. But, one thing stuck out. The checkered floor. It didn't go with the setting, it looked like an oversized chess board, without the chess pieces. There was also one shattered mirror on the wall, a bird cage, and statue of the Goddess Revekah in the center. Her right arm was pointing upwards holding a staff and her other hand held a book which was directing towards the floor. On her right shoulder was the holy phoenix, it was said to be her pet. It had healing capabilities and other fancy tricks. When I took a closer look I tried to imagine Eve, I didn't really see a resemblance. Eve was much prettier than Revekah in my opinion. But in portraits Revekah was always displayed as a women of fair skin, rosy cheeks and merlot lips. Which makes no sense since she originated within Ancient Indus, the people were much tanner then the way she was displayed.
"Wow Revekah was such a babe, don't you think Adam?" Saral examined the statue a little closer, "I hope she wasn't as tall as his huge statue cause then that would be a turn off." Viola roughly slaps Saral on the back of his head.
"You're really going to judge an ancient statue of a Goddess in a inappropriate manner? You should respect her or maybe you'll regret it in the future!"
"People are too quick to worship. Have you ever seen her? Has anyone ever seen her? If no one ever saw her then how are you so sure that you're worshipping a goddess and not just a shitty piece of metal?"
"We have books of her, written by her apostles."
"Apostles or apostates? And how do you know that they didn't just decided to add their own ideas to the religion, to suit their own beliefs. If anything it would make more sense if she wrote it herself."
"She was too busy traveling and spreading the message orally. People who were close to her would scribe her message. In fact there were seven books from the ancient times that documented her message. "
"Yeah, whatever, it still doesn't add up."
Captain Daevas marches into the main room and grabs everyone attention. He leads us into another room within the cabin, it looked like an oversize closet. He lifts the wooden wall covered in random clothes and boxes. A staircase was behind it, it led downwards deep beneath the ground. I hopped on each square all the way down on the checkered stairs. At the bottom there was a long hallway that had several doors on each side. There was no electricity at all, just candles that illuminated the halls. Creepiness was an understatement for what I felt about this place. "This is where you kids will be sleeping. It's dangerous to sleep above ground because of the Asebises infestation in this forest. You can choose who you bunk with. There are 3 bunkbeds in each room. So knock yourself out!"
We all scattered around trying to claim whichever room we wanted. Saral, Will, Oan, Viola, Cara and I bunked in one room. There was one bathroom in each room, so we all had to share. Saral ran into it first because he claimed that he had to take a massive dump.
"So Cara, we never really got to know each other. So tell us a little about yourself." Viola asked.
She cleared her throat, "well I'm 22 years old, 5 feet 7 inches, I like to drink tea specifically the crimson colored one. My hobbies are studying the arcane magic." Saral comes out of the bathroom, "Whew you don't wanna know how big of a dump I just took, I kinda feel bad for the toilet." We all just stared at him, "Look blondie, she didn't ask for your Match.com profile." We all continued to stare him. "What? I could hear you guys from inside."
"Oh um? alright." Her midnight moon eyes paced, like a man searching for clues. The veins in her neck budged, revealing hints of green lines. "Several months ago I left home, I was searching?for something. Something that would greatly benefit me. And my search had led me here."
"And what exactly were you searching for blondie?"
"A way out." Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. She exhaled in frustration while tying her hair in a bun, her eyes rested for a moment. "I have a complicated life. One full of things I wish never existed. Simply put, I was born into a prison type lifestyle. I was birthed solely to be harvested like some kind of plant. They consider being harvested a type of escape, a freedom. An enlightenment. But recently I found a loophole, an alternative route." She pulls a paper from her back pocket, "This." Saral tries to snatch it from her hands but fails. "It's a secret I'd rather not share. No offense. Enough about me, I want to know about you guys. We should be open with each other. Let's start with you, start with your name."
"Oh um, my name is Will. I've been traveling with these folks since we met back in eclipse. I have? or should I say I had a younger brother and a mother. They both? we're unable to make it through the plague." He got cotton mouth so he sips water from his bottle while gulping hysterically. "It's been 6 years since. But who's counting right? Life moves on, even if you aren't ready for it."
"Thanks for the depressing backstory, now I have to go to sleep crying." Saral wasn't sympathizing, it was just his normal apathetic responses. Cara cocked a brow in sass, her salmon pink lips puckered with attitude. "Then why don't you go next Saral, I'm sure we'll all enjoy your sob tale."
"Don't got any, or at least any that I remember." I elbowed his shoulder, persuading him to tell us one. One of his heavy brows slanted in displeasure. "Come on! It's your turn. You have to tell us a story!" I began to poke him, in order to further annoy him, only to receive a squinted glare. His eye rolled skywards and sighed in annoyance.
"Ugh, fine! Um, basically from what I could remember? I had a younger brother. As children we lost our parents and were adopted by another family. She was a? kind women and she had two children of her own, together we became a family? the end." His hand itched his brain while his head drooped. A lackluster smile etched onto his face, muscles in his face tight
ened. Cara cocked her head to the right and spun her eyes to the left end of the ceiling. "That was? anticlimactic. Next person!" Captain Daevas barged through the door, ramming his boot onto the floor,
"Enough lollygagging! It's time for your first step of training? history class!"
There we sat in rows of five, across the glowing class room. A white board posed in the fore, raised above the iconic checkered floors. Pitter-patters of trainees soon congested the remaining empty desks. Captain Daevas strut onto the center of the whiteboard, his tall erect posture was intimidating. "Hello gremlins, today we'll be learning a little bit about our world's history." He yanked a large map from the top of the whiteboard, it rolled down unwrapping from the horizontal pole attached to it. Saral melted in his chair and paid languid attention to him. Will and Oan sat vy each other, joking and gossiping about random things. Viola attentively jotted down notes onto a composition notebook that was on our desks in the beginning. "Excuse me, sir! Are we going to have exams in this class?"
"No, unless you want them of course! Just say the word." The entire class stiffed at the remark. "Um. No?" She sank into her seat as everyone's attention gradually returned back to the front.
"The Crimson Necrosis? who here doesn't know about it. If you don't know about it, then well you must be in some other world. It began somewhere in the northern regions within Europa. We are located here!" He held an oversized ruler and slammed it on a spot on the map. "Vitalia. So we're not too far off from the supposed spot where it the plague was ignited. It's said that it began within the Elvish people, and of course through contact with them it became widespread. That's also why you don't see Elvish people around our area. They've all been exiled from our great nation of Alazarana." I inhaled a sharp breath. Such a perplexing choice, it's ironic really, since Europa was originally founded by the elves. I decided to raise my hand, "Yes, um Adamis right?'
"Yes. I have a question. Isn't it a bit extreme? I mean to exile a certain group of people just because they assume the disease started from them. Dare I say, it's a tad racist isn't it? Especially since so many people also have it, I mean it's possible that we-humans may have started it."
"Extremes are necessary in order to secure our great nation of Alazarana."
"That's the thing, Alazarana is named after the first emperor, Alaza Rana the first. An elvish man. And Europa belong to the elvish long before us humans arrived here."
"Like I've said before extremes are necessary in order to secure our great nation of Alazarana. And there is scientific proof that the first person to transform into an Asebis is descended from the elves." I managed to display a deadpan expression but inside I was crimson with fury. They teach the same crap back from where I come from. It's obscene to blame a peculiar race for a pestilence.
"Back to what I was saying? it began in the north and slowly bled southwards. And because our great nation of Alazarana has some territories in Afrikanus the disease spread there too." Viola sat, thigh over thigh while raising her hand in interest. "I have a question. If the Crimson Necrosis reached all the way to Afrikanus then did it spread any further? Like to Avalon, or the Ameriks?"
The Captain swung his ruler onto the other continents, "Well after the unfortunate event that plagued the great nation of Alazarana, many other nations kept a state of isolation. So we have no contact with them or their situation. Africa is the only other continent we have some kind of contact with because of our territorial connections. Anyways moving forward. Many places in Europe and Africa have various means to protect their people from this epidemic. The Witch Trials, it should ring a bell to most of you. Anyone suspected of carrying the disease is thrown out to the wilds and labeled a witch, some prefer the more political correct version, a heretic. But those banished into the wilds are not all witches, because many nations are overpopulated anyone who misbehaves and breaks the law are thrown out too. So thieves, rapist, and murders are also? inhabiting the wilds, maybe even some in this class are one of them. But that's none of my business." He choked his bottle of water, leisurely sipping. "But there is a glimmer of hope, a place called Liberatai City, the great nation of Alazarana's capital. It's considered holy ground because it is the supposed burial ground of the great Goddess Revekah. The ground is apparently blessed and no type of disease or unholy creature is able to penetrate its holy barrier, or at least that's what the hype is about. But the city has limited entrance, it takes months, maybe years to get a pass to get in. That's why we are creating our own city so that we may be able to take in those who have been exiled in the name of false justice." Somehow I doubt that, this place is less of a refugee camp and more of a military training site. From what I've seen of this place so far there is not a single person who has not been put under some kind of physical training. I drummed my fingers on the desk, I was aching to ask a question but I knew he wouldn't answer it. Will swings his hand into the air, "Can you tell us more about Revekah?"
"She lived millenniums ago, traveling around the seven kingdoms and spread the message of peace. It is believed the Creator, who is the god of the gods, sent his children to guide the humans. He sent three of his children to separate parts of the world. Each God had a different idea of peace. Revekah was the goddess belonging to the humans. Swara is the goddess belonging to the elves and Ishwar is the God belonging to the dwarves. This does not necessarily mean that one God will not listen to the people outside of their race, but rather they prefer the people who live on the land that they descended on to. But were not going in depth about them today. Revekah had apostles, people who were very close to her, they would record her actions for future use. An Elf known as Xara, a human known as Tejas, and two dwarven brothers Saint and Da'am. The five would travel the seven kingdoms in order to end corruption. She also had a bird as a holy companion, the holy phoenix. But just as there are three gods of peace there are also the opposites, the polar gods, Eisheth, Lamia, and Shemal. These were the other three children of the Creator, they were jealous of their achievements. They opposed the workings of the peaceful Gods, so they fought to destroy them. Shemal tried to corrupt the dwarven people, Lamia went after the elves. The last polar god was the wicked one, many of you should have heard of her tales, the ones that your mother would tell you so that you wouldn't do anything naughty. Eisheth, the wicked witch of the fallen seven. She was the last polar god to ascend to the earth to cause corruption. At the time of her arrival, the previous polar gods failed. The seven kingdoms included humans, elves, and dwarves. So it was her plan on corrupting them all. Long story short it was said the Revekah and Eisheth had a grand battle, but both died in a draw." Saral brandished his fist on the desk and murmured under his breath. "Death is ruled by time and time was created by God. So then how can a God die when he created the concept of both? Why should it apply to God?"
Several hours of listening to the antagonizing tales of Revekah and friends had finally ended. Daevas escorted us to a training ground, finally the sun had caressed my skin. We all need some D? vitamin D of course. But even the heat from the sun's rays weren't warm enough to conceal the shivering winds. It was almost winter after all. Daevas spent several hours teaching us different hand to hand combat techniques. They were mixed fighting styles, everything from Jiujutsu to Taekwondo to even Kung Fu. Of course we were all still novices, and it was going to take more than one session to learn everything. Saral on the other hand was a natural, if anything it seemed like he was holding back. Actually he was even assisting the teacher, which kind of peeved him off. The Captain was also going to teach us how to battle with swords but he told us, "Before you learn to unsheathe your blade you must learn to unsheathe your fists." I've no idea to what that's supposed to mean but I just nodded and agreed with him. At the end of the session the captain suggested that we play a game, or rather he forced us. He called it "Last Man Standing." The Captain drew a huge circle into the dirt around us, the objective of the game was to push out opponents out of the circle, using any means necessary. The last p
erson in the circle is declared the winner. Whoever wins get to choose him and five other people to eat the food of their choice during our next 5 meals. They also can get as much as they want and they get to go first. Everyone was fired up especially since there was food on the line. We all huddled in the circle waiting for the captains signal to begin.
"Now it's time to fight to the death hoodlums? begin!"
Everyone had their game faces on. People threw other people around, tackling and turning. There were a bunch of thumps and groans, and plenty of sweat and blood. I wasn't sure if they were fighting or just having a massive orgy. Some would play dirty by throwing dirt into their opponent's eyes then kicking them out of the circle. Others would just rely on their fists and fight their way though. There were even people making alliances, which would increase their chance of victory. While everyone battled like it was World War 3 I decided to avoid confrontation. Instead of needlessly wasting energy, I dodged and evaded any type of physical contact. So when everyone's exhausted then I'll be full of vigor and ready to kick some ass. Unfortunately my plan didn't do so well when the monster from Frankenstein decided to chase me. This bone head had his eyes set on me, and I knew I was at a severe disadvantage. He was at least three times my size but what I lacked in physical strength I made up with my mental capabilities. He was hot on my trail so I had to find a way to lose him. I bolted through the heart of the war zone, ducking and dodging through the violent crowd. A quick glance back revealed him crushing his way through the congested violence. He ran other people over like a bulldozer, so I was forced to resort to plan B. I stopped in place and waited for him to get close enough. Then, when he pounced I slammed my body to the ground, avoiding his tackle as he flew over me. He rolled into place then sunk his eyes to the ground in shock. Plan B was a success, he had passed the line so I was save from his wrath. Now, the once jam-packed circle had become surrounded by people waiting for the game to end. I joined my friends in an alliance which made winning ten times easier. After fending off other people for what felt like days, a few remained. Including myself there were only eight people left, Saral, Oan, Viola, and four other people.
Will unluckily was thrown out of the line, so he was cheering us from afar. The weary sun was close to setting underneath the sky, Daevas had wanted to end the game before nightfall. He didn't expect it to go on so long.
"Listen up little rascals." Daevas alerted. "We have to end this activity before the sun sets. This area will become dangerous soon, so we need to wrap this up. Now I know you guys are in an alliance with each other so choose one person from each side, and whoever is the last man standing wins." We chose Viola from our team. They started to giggle at our choice, "you'd rely on a girl? We'll wreck you!" They chose Eric, he was a ginormous tall brunette guy, and he looked even more intimidating then Saral. Viola didn't waver, we had faith in her? she had faith in her. They stood eye to eye? well eye to nipple since he was so tall.
"You have so much confidence for such a tiny girl."
Viola gritted her teeth while her nose flared, "I'm sure your height? is the only thing big about you." Our group bursted out into laughter, we all cheered her on.
"Well it's still bigger than your eyes!"
Will bounced in place and cupped his hands around his mouth, "Come on Viola, stick your foot so far up his ass so that he could taste it!"
"Tell your mascot to shut up!" Eric angrily groaned.
"What are you jealous that I have friends?" She crossed her hands while leaning more on her right leg.
"You must have been born on the highway because that's where most accidents happen!"
"Shut up, you'll never be the man your mother was!" Even though Daevas had already started the match they kept smack talking. "For the love of Revekah! Fight already!"
"Alright?but I warn you I'm going to take him out in one shot." She gave a cocky wink and a confident smile. He leapt into the air, forming the position for an axe kick. Viola paused, waiting for the perfect time. His kick was inches away, until she dodged the kick and intercepted with a speedily blow to his crotch. He hunched over as he fell to his knees, her foot then met with his face as she successfully attempted the flying side kick. Blood flew from his nose, his body fell unconscious on the ground causing a mini earthquake. One of his teammates yelled, "Hey that's cheating!"
"No it's not, he never said it's against the rules." Our heads turned to the captain. "It's fair, I never said anything against that. Viola you are the winner! You and whoever you chose will be the first to chow down on whatever you choose!"
Happily that night, and a few nights after we were able to chow down on whatever we wanted. Or rather whatever was available. A week after we'd started training I noticed those men who were staring at me in the showers earlier began to act stranger. That night I tried to rest but I worried and scared. It was a full moon tonight, the air chills were cold enough to give frost bite. I snuggled warmly within my blanket as my head squished the soft pillow. I sealed my heavy eye lids as I focused on the lullaby of silence. But there was a hushed beeping sound. I looked around, searching for anything that would emit the sound but to no avail. Abruptly, the liquids in my stomach started to churn. It shimmied to the edge of my throat and without a second thought I scampered to the bathroom, almost tripping in the process. I leaned over the alabaster sink, my stomach crunched, beating itself up till I vomited. With misery, I held onto the corners of the sink because I felt like I couldn't stand the pain without grabbing something. As the vile liquids of my stomach exploded from my mouth, the action of breathing became more challenging. After the uncontrollable regurgitating seized, the beeps I had heard earlier became more apparent. I fixated on the triple beeping rhythm. It was soon that I realized where it was coming from, the sink. A faint red light continuously flashed from within the vomit. It was a tiny silver chip, barely a centimeter wide. I don't remember eating a chip of any kind. I washed the nasty vomit down the drain by turning on the sink. Honestly, I thought I was hallucinating from the painful vomiting so I decided to just return to bed. I just needed some rest, soon I drifted into a deep slumber. By the time I had woken up I was tied to a chair and circled by the same men I'd seen earlier.
"What the hell! Let me go!" I struggled around, but it was no good. The ropes were too tight and I was outnumbered.
"You have Curantis, are you not?" One of the men said in a thick Middle Eastern accent. They were all strangely bald along with a decorative tattoo, their eyes were piercing silver. They had abnormally pointy ears and were lanky. They looked different from before. One choked me with one hand, I spotted a silvery ring on his finger. "You have Curantis! Answer me!" His grip tightened, leaving red imprints on my neck.
"My name is Adam! I'm not Curantis!"
"Stupid boy, Curantis is not a name. It is a weapon. From the looks of you might know where it is." He slid a knife from his back pocket. "I guess we'll have to force it out of you." Just before he motioned the knife to my neck, I returned to my bed. It was a dream. I think. But for some reason I wasn't in my bed. Strangely I was positioned in an obtuse angle, the ceiling kept moving. But I realized that it was not moving, I was. I looked forward and realized I was being pushed through the hall on a gurney. My body was paralyzed but I could still slightly move my head if I tried. I was taken in a room. The room look just like the main room in our cabin, with the exception of the furniture. Everyone was strapped down, tubes filled with a clear liquid was flowing into them. Each person was stuck in their own little cubicle, they were naked but had sheets over them. A television was placed in front of each of them, different scenes would flash back and forth. Someone pushed my gurney into a cubicle, they stuck tubes into me and syringes filled with the same clear liquid everyone else was being injected with. They took off my clothes, and uncomfortably touched me in places. They switched on the T.V and multiple symbols and strange things started appearing. Instantly everything changed, possibly from the injection. I felt like I was in some
other world, everything was rainbow. There was a strong euphoric sense that circulated throughout my veins and everything in the television felt so real. It felt like everything that was popping up in the screen was being absorbed into my brain, or rather my subconscious, without my permission. There were moments when an eye would just appear in the middle of a glass like pyramid. It was surrounded by colorful lights and butterflies. What felt like years were only a few seconds that passed by. And just like that I woke up in my bed, the one I fell asleep in earlier. Everyone was in their beds, asleep. It was a dream within a dream, and it was just too lifelike. That day we were notified that some of our fellow recruits have met with a fatal accident. It was the same men from my dream, the same men from the showers, and they were dead. They didn't disclose any details surrounding their deaths, but for some reason I knew it wasn't from an accident.
For the next hundred days or so I kept having similar dreams. It was always about the cabin, except it wasn't beautiful like in real life, but rather a torture chamber. At random times in the day the cabin would look tarnished, dirty, and creepy, but then it would return back to normal. I had assumed it was a result from the strange dreams that caused me to hallucinate. Finally, after many months of tedious training, Daevas had announced that we would be having a test that would determine whether we passed or failed. He specifically said "This test will display whether or not you are of use."
The day had finally arrived and all of us were sweating in our clothes. We had confidence in ourselves, but everyone was on equal ground. We each had trained just as hard as the next person. People from other groups outside our cabins were gathered too. There were about a hundred people, maybe even more. We stood in front a huge circular building, it was tremendous. The dome ceiling at the top glowed a bright indigo color, reflecting off of the sun's light while the walls were a darker shade of indigo. We were told to get into groups of three, and then they would give each group a number and a flag. It was Viola, Saral, and I as one group. Will, Oan, and Cara in another. The only people I knew were them, everyone else were strangers so it'd be easier to beat them. Daevas and the other captains walked around handing numbers and a flag. We got number three and a red flag, and Oan's group got number 6 and a purple flag. The crowds of recruits began to intermingle with each other, discussing what number they got. After the captains finished passing out the numbers, they commanded everyone to be silent.
"Listen up mongrels!" Daevas seemed sterner than usual, and a slight hint of sadness. "Today is exam day, but it's not a normal test. Why? Because if you fail then you die. Each group has been given a flag, it's either red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, black, white, pink, beige, brown, gray, gold, or burgundy. To win, you must find the corresponding colored flags, red to blue, yellow to green, purple to orange, black to white, pink to beige, brown to gray, and gold to burgundy. But there's a twist? each member of your group will be separated into different parts of the maze, the maze is within this building behind me. In order to win you and your entire group must find the corresponding flag colors and you must make it to the safe zone, it's a room within that is entirely white. There are no rules other than the exact words that I've just said. Now, if you are numbers 3 and 2 then you will be going first. The captains beside me lead you to the starting points."
A pink haired man led me and people from other groups around the building. There were many doors spread out from each other, each of us separated and stood in front of individual doors. Tears drizzled from each of my pores, almost drowning in it. The moment the doors opened I took long-legged strides inside. Before noticing my surroundings the door shut behind me, my nystagmus eyes missed nothing. Mirrors were planted in every angle, at first I had thought there were just clones of me but they were my reflections. Multi colored lights flashed corresponding colors of red, blue, green, and orange. I stepped forward and bumped right into a mirror. I felt like I was trapped in my own reflection, but I recalled a trick. My hand pressed up against the glass wall and I proceeded forward. I remembered reading somewhere if you place your hand on the wall in a maze, then you'll reach the end. I had been walking for several minutes and I still had no idea where I was. At one point I couldn't stand the silence, I started talking to my reflection. I wasn't even sure if I had moved from the place I began. On the spur of the moment a quick shadow slithered by. The mirrors made it difficult to pinpoint where it came from. My eyes are playing tricks on me, I told myself. A firm pressure from my back pushed me into the mirror.
"What flag do you have?" It was a squeaky feminine voice. I turned around in a fighting stance. She shot her fists in succession, then pulled part of the flag from my pocket revealing the blue color. For a second she receded after realizing her green flag didn't correspond to my blue one. But then, she spun and kicked me back, cracking the mirror behind me. A piece of cracked glass pierced my lower back but I had no time to pay attention to it. She was much stronger than normal girls but I wasn't going to lose to her. From then on I dodged every hit, and ended it after I parried with a kick to the face. She laid unconscious and I was left with a choice. I could kill her now so she'd be out of my hair or I could spare her. But If I get rid of her then her teammates automatically forfeit from the test. But I lacked the ambition to do it, her life was literally in my hands. I knew if I didn't do it then I would regret it, but this was something I was willing to regret. Instead I took those precious moments to snatch her green flag and swerve my way through the maze. Ahead, the mirrors began shifting up and down, changing the direction of the pathway. I hoped through them, barely eluding the mirrors. I heard the girl behind, she was very persistent in trailing me. Her heavy stumps echoed through the hall compelling me to run even faster. Then as I shuffled through the changing mirrors, a man unexpectedly tackled me to the ground. He pinned me down, but I quickly shoved him off. We jumped into a fighting stance ready to battle. Then the girl from earlier caught up. Instead of a three way they ganged up on me, pushing and punching me like they were playing volleyball. Finally I took advantage of the mirrors, using it as a third eye to track their movements. Every move I countered, but I had become exhausted quicker than they did. But there was no room for a break so I kept fighting. But then I caught a glimpse of the man's flag, it was yellow.
"Wait!" I screamed as I yanked the green flag out of my pocket. I waved it in his face like he was dog wanting a piece of meat. "I see you have a yellow flag, here take my green flag." I throw it on the ground then leap past the shifting mirrors, partially cutting my leg in the process. Now those two can fight over the flag instead of fighting me. I proceeded for what had felt like hours, lost in the maze. It seemed like I had been traveling in circles and I grew tired of seeing myself. While barely making it past the winding mirrors. At one point it felt like the mirrors were leading me out, finally I spotted a pathway up ahead with no mirrors. I had to be swift or the shifting mirrors would block the way. There were only seconds before the next shift, I ran faster than I've ever ran in my life, then hardly making it because of my last second dive roll. I laid lifelessly on the ground just searching for energy to move on. I lifted up my shirt to see any bruises that I may have received. There were a few cuts and purple spots but nothing serious. I rubbed my lower back and the wound was gone. And to my amazement the other wounds started disappearing, the purple discoloration had steadily began to camouflage into my tan skin. The cuts began to stitch themselves together, becoming nonexistent. At that moment there was no doubt that I was beginning to go insane, I didn't think it could get any weirder. A narrow hallway lit by damp dangling lights was in front. The lights freakishly flickered giving off a slight buzzing noise. A tender voice was calling to me, a familiar one. I knew I had hit the peak of insanity after I rubbed my eyes in awe. A women stood in front of me, in an olive green head covering and a ebony dress, leaking in beautiful designs.
"Brother?" her supple voice spoke.
"Scar? What? why are you here?" She ignored me a continued walki
ng, her alluring hums echoed throughout the hall, it was the same rhythm of the lullaby my mother would sing. The one that would put us to sleep when we were children. But no matter how much I called out to Scarlett she refused to look back. I chased after her, itching to figure out why she's here. My foot had suddenly tripped a wire, springing a trap of knives propelling in my direction. I flattened onto the ground hardly escaping from its clutches, one had cut into my shoulder forcing it to weep in blood. Again, the ends of my wounds had slowly reached out to each other. Hugging as if they've missed one another. It healed once more. My attention retreated from my skin, back to Scar. She had vanished into thin air. I scanned the walls hunting for an explanation. To my discovery, there were air vents, possibly emitting a hallucinogenic substance. It explained why I saw Scar but it failed to clarify my self-healing scars. There was no choice but to strive further into the dim maze. Random flashes from the past would materialize before me. One second I was lost in a ghoulish maze and then in the next I was in a house. What had stunned me were the familiar ivory board walls, the matching beryl carpet and sofas that encircled the 60 inch television. I recognized the stairway, we would always skip the third step because it was broken. A stench had caressed my nose, it was the aroma of a corpse. The shrieks of a young boy came from upstairs. I hurried up the stairs, not realizing that I was about to relive one of the most horrible moments of my life. I slammed open the second door from the left, there
I witnessed a young boy. He was repeatedly jabbing a bloody corpse of an Asebis, overflowing with tears in his eyes as his sister hid, peeking from the closet. It was me, when I was about ten years old. Our mom unknowingly had caught the plague and had transformed into an Asebis. She had no control, and moments before her transformation I remember her asking me to stab her with a knife. How did she expect her ten year old son to stab her? Upon transforming, my sister and I had attempted to sprint upstairs but not before grabbing a kitchen knife. As we got to the stairs, Scar had forgotten that the third step was broken from fear, her leg got caught into it. My mother, now an Asebis, rapidly crawled inching towards her. I yanked her by her arm regardless if her leg would be hurt. We finally made it into the room and hid inside the closet. But I knew if she found us both then there would be no point, so I hid somewhere else. She slithered into the room and ripped open the closet door. I had already been prepared and stuck the knife into the back of her neck. Repeatedly, as if I couldn't stop. It was too much for me, reliving this moment. Somehow I snapped out of it. Perhaps my body was fighting the hallucinogenic toxins in my body. Nonetheless I swayed wall to wall, limping from the effects of the toxins. No matter where I turned there would be something lingering from my past in every corner, trying to force me into another illusion. I practically collapse from the mind damage, barely able to claw myself forward. My face laid flat on the ground, I just needed a little rest.
"I guess I have to save your ass again, huh?" Two shoes stood adjacent to me, dressed in red muck. The sensation of a hands pressed around my ribs. Just as I was lifted I came to recognize that it was Saral. He dug his arm underneath and around my armpits, allowing me to use him as a human crutch. It was as if he was carrying me through the maze. I had doubts if anything that was happening was part of reality.
"Are you? real?" The words had ached, listlessly sliding from my mouth.
"Of course I am."
"That's what a hallucination would say..." My weary eyes reeled at him. The sweat from the edge of my forehead had slid down past my cheeks, almost like a tear.
"Ah. You look like you had your merry attitude squeezed out of you. This particular toxin that we've inhaled targets a peculiar emotion? fear. Hidden? undesirable memories that are tucked away in a chest deep within the seas of our thoughts."
"Then what did you see, if I may ask?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? How? That makes no sense!"
"Well I don't recall any memories from the past and I have no fears? so it's not implausible that it didn't affect me."
"What? We all have something that we're afraid of, Saral."
"You are very right. But it utilizes unresolved fears, certain events or aspects of yourself that you've yet to come to terms with. I've achieved such a feat ages ago."
"Bravo?" He provided a concerned look. "Oh don't mind me. Just enjoying the suffering over here. I noticed there is? blood on your shoes, or am I just hallucinating?"
"Ah very perceptive. I had a? encounter previously. No worries, one group has been permanently eliminated. On the downside they did not possess the flag that we desired. You still have the red flag, correct?"
"Yeah I do. I just hope Viola is okay."
"Cause if she's dead then we're disqualified."
"And she's our friend?"
We both struggled to move forward but somehow we managed. If Saral hadn't been there I don't think I would've survive. Usually he swoops in when he's needed the most. Deep within myself I was really glad I met him, but I would never admit that out loud considering it would give him an ego boost. There were echoes of pitter patters from the darkened hallway. Saral had left me against the wall to further investigate the sounds. The flames from the torches that hung from the deep burgundy walls had dimmed. Making it difficult to observe Saral, he traveled beyond the never-ending halls disappearing in the abyss. There I leaned against the wall awaiting his arrival. About 15 minutes had passed and he hadn't returned. I began to worry, thankfully since then I hadn't seen any hallucinations and my strength had recovered. It was time for me to undertake the mission to find Saral. As I trekked through the maze I noticed the abnormally spiders crawling on the ceiling. Entangling their prey into webs, feasting on their bodies. Oh how I detested spiders, their disgusting furry legs and multiple ebony eyes. I would rather have to deal with snakes then spiders. My traveling thoughts had instantly been interrupted by sinister cackles. My attention had darted to the edge of the hallway. The dim glow from the flaming torch shadowed over a merlot overly lengthy shoe. A face of pale complexion popped up from behind the corner, red stained lips matched his nose. Hill shaped eyebrows curved over its sunken beady eyes. He let out a hushed snicker, covering his mouth with his jumbo white glove. A knife peaked from his yellow polka dotted get up. He licked the knife slowly, almost enjoying the metal taste. The second he nudged, my body natural reaction activated, to run. The one thing that terrorized me as much as spiders were clowns. I held all the countless horror movies I use to watch in my high school years liable for this moment. There was a hall to the left and one leading to the right, whichever one I chose was a life or death decision. The clown pursued closely and I had no time to think about which one to take. I chose the right one, but it wasn't the right choice. Another clown tip toes from the end of the hall, dragging a long blade on the red bricked floor. Its laugh was just like the one I saw before but it dressed differently. Its hair curled blue and flashed denim lips, its eyes electrified the room as his rusted blue shoes stomped with each step. I always knew the one day my fears would eventually kill me. Hastily I twisted myself the other way, but the other clown had caught up. There was no means of escape, I was confined in their clutches. It was then I realized it was either die or try. There I stood with my fist protecting my face ready to fight. My clenched hands paused with fear but were aching to rid of these clowns. I ran at the clown in front like the floor were hot coals, he swung his sword cutting the air as I evaded. He curved the trajectory, reversing the sword into my hip. Then I snatched it, using his own weapon against him. Slicing his head from his body, I retreated my awareness to the rear. The clown had a terrified expression as the torn skin where the blade penetrated had gradually reconnected. My fear had grown to fear me. Realizing his attacks would be futile. He began walking in reverse, tumbling backwards onto the ground while I inched towards him with the sword in my hand. Without remorse I stabbed it in the heart, enjoying every second of conquering my fear. The final moments of my triumph had initiated a barrage of
hysteric roars from my mouth. It was then the illusion had cracked, they weren't clowns. There were never clowns chasing me, it as other people from the other groups. One had a golden flag and the other had a burgundy flag. I took both of them, thought I felt bad. This was my first kill, I never thought it would come to this. But what's done is done, on the bright side, two teams are now eliminated. There was no point to linger over deaths that could have been mine if I didn't take action. There was no time, I had to continue on with my journey, for all I know Saral could be in trouble. Again, I decided to try the same trick twice, I placed my hand on the wall and started traveling around the maze. Constantly calling out to Saral.
"Hey! Where are you?" His Aussie voice had given me a tingle of relief.
"Over here! Follow my voice." From the shadows there emerged Saral. "Where have you been?" I shuffled closer until I spotted another person, surfacing from behind Saral.
"Saral? There are? two of you? What the hell!"
The one furthest behind spoke up, "What are you talking about Adam? We got this guy cornered let's take him out!"
The other spoke up. "Don't listen to him Adam. Take him out!" The two twins began quarreling physically, battling with their fist instead of their words. They descended to the floor, wrestling on the floor. I was perplexed, why are there two. But then I had remembered that it's possible that the hallucination is still in effect. I held a knife in my hand but I wasn't sure about which one I should kill. Then it hit me.
"Stop! Stop it now! Stop fighting!" I clutched onto the knife, ready to throw it at one of them.
"Wow, chill. You don't want to hurt me." The one on the right lifted his hands in surrender.
"I realized what I'm seeing is an illusion, both of you look like Saral but only one of you are Saral. So I'm going to put you to the test. I'm going to ask a question that only the real Saral would know. There was a day where you had a ? special request for me? which I rejected. What was it?"
The one on the right began chuckling while wrapping his hands around his waist. "Haha! There's a simple answer for that. In the bath right? I had asked you to give me a-." I hurled the knife straight at the one to the left, instantly slaying him.
"I think I made the right choice. I hope."
"Ya-know you could've have asked me almost any other question other than that one. Like what are third team members name was or perhaps where I took you on the first day we met."
"I just had to make sure! I noticed that he wasn't the real one once I asked the question. His face revealed a certain degree of nervousness."
"You know? the offer yet remains in air."
"No! Not even in your wildest dreams!"
"How'd you know that I dreamt about it? Unless you're dreaming the same thing?" He produced a subtle wink, elevating his brows in amusement. "We are in fact lost in a maze filled with illusions. The act? could simply be used as an excuse for the constant hallucinations. There is no one around after all?"
"You're like the devil whispering in my ear! Not this time demon!"
"Perhaps next time then." His arm wrapped around my neck in a chokehold like a shawl. From nowhere a rush of cold air engulfed us. "Do you feel that? The cold air. Until now it's been bloody hot! I think we should follow it." Closer and closer, the frozen tundra became more apparent, eventually we started hearing the breeze. The chilled air acted as a guide through the maze, directing us in what seemed to be the correct direction. It led us to a cracked wall. A closer look revealed a miniscule hole leading to what seemed like a land of ice.
"Damn! Now what do we do? This isn't the way out." There was an absences of sound promptly to be disrupted by the crashes of the brick wall turning into a million pieces. "What the hell Saral! How?when did you get so strong."
"Oh I must have forgotten to mention my unearthly strength. Remember that when you refuse me next time." I shot him a displeased look. "Uh fine if you must know. Previously in the maze, before I found you. I was in a fierce battle with this difficult? critter. It went on forever, nonetheless in the midst of the fight my godly strength had emerged."
"That's weird because I also discovered that I have powers too."
"Is it the power of stupidity? I mean you've had that for a while now."
"Now why would I want your unique ability? No. I can heal, from wounds." Saral yanked the knife from my grasp, purposely cutting my finger thereafter. "Ouch! Goddammit Saral! Why'd you cut me idiot?"
"I needed to witness your abilities firsthand! And voila! It worked. You've successfully turned into a human sea cucumber, and I'm like a real Hercules. Hm. We could be like Batman and Robin." He raised his arm while pressing his hand into a ball with pride and lifted his chin to the sky. "Hercules and his sidekick, sea-cucumber boy, united!"
"Sidekick? Enough of your kinky fantasies! Viola could be somewhere in this frozen marsh. Let's hope she's in one piece."
"Onward sea-cucumber boy! We must find? um? the soon to be named damsel in distress!" He took a heavy step onto the iced floor. Producing a fissure on the ice.
"Relax Saral! We need to tread carefully. This ice could crack any second, then we'd drown beneath the frigid waters. Not to mention it is cold as balls, we'd be frozen in seconds." He ignored me. "Saral!"
"I don't know who Saral is." He shrugged his shoulders to his ears.
"Uh for the Creator's sake? fine. Hercules?" my eyes rolled over.
"And? your name?"
I couldn't help but bang my head in frustration. "Sea-cucumber boy?" Cautiously we treaded on the thin path of ice, making sure not to exert a great deal of pressure in our footsteps. As we crossed I wondered in the reflection of the dark waters, searching for any threats. I didn't think any type of animals would be able to live in such a cold environment. The artificial sun beamed heavily from behind the clouds shade. The sky had a sense of realism to it, even the artificial barrier above was cloaked behind endless blue heavens. The edgy glaciers embellished the horizon like holiday decorations. They curved in every direction, pilled with tons of solid snow. All of the mountains connected, but there was only one means of entrance, and it was up ahead. The iced floor ended with water, the only way to continue was to leap onto the floating islands of ice. They'd drift to the water current making them difficult to reach. With all my strength I ascended to the island of ice, my foot grazed the water as I flew through the air. The end of my shoe had been completely encased in clear ice.
"Saral! Don't touch the water. Whatever touches it will be frozen in ice!"
"Don't worry about it, I think I'm more then capable in avoiding the water! Besides, I'm not planning on turning into a popsicle stick." With his newfound strength he bounced into the wind, landing gracefully onto the ice island. Upon contact, fissures squirmed across the frosted floors.
"Don't you know what carefulness is?" My hand clapped with his head.
"Ow! My bad!"
"I'm freezing my ass off here! I don't want it to be literally frozen!" Saral smacks my back side.
"I'll keep it warm for you! I'll try not to break the ice."
We returned to our journey, hopping from one island to the next. Finally we made it to a frozen cave. Icicles sagged from the caves skin like razor-sharp knives. The deeper we sunk into the cave, the colder it became. Every word had transformed into a cloud of icy smoke.
"Y-You think Viola is alright?" I began to quiver, searching for warmth as I embraced myself.
"Don't underestimate your teammate's abilities. She should be more than capable to protect herself."
The cave became more intricate, divorcing into countless different paths like the threads of a spider web. With each turn another two pathways would appear, eventually we had lost our way. Ice was partially transparent, so we were able to see if anyone was nearby. Up until now there was no one in the vicinity, then we noticed a few dark figures appearing closer. They were hazy and when they heard out footsteps they started to run faster. We remained in position, ready to begin combat.
We lamented at the sight, they weren't humans at all but Asebises. Saral blitzed one of them, slamming into it and simultaneously cracking his neck. We both realized that this part of the maze was no place for combat because the ice around us could shatter and pile onto to us at any given moment. We retreated as other Asebises trailed us. It was difficult preserving our footing, the ice denied us that ability. After zig zagging around the maze they finally let go of our tails. But another thing found us instead, two groups armed with weapons huddled. They spotted us but they didn't seem hostile. Something was off about them, they looked tranced. They were like human robots without the fancy metals.
"Identify yourselves." The man with the reddish hair spoke up, gesturing at us.
"Hercules and sea-cumber boy." Saral had used our nicknames instead of our actual names but I quickly intervened.
"Don't mind him. Our names are Saral and Adam." Saral shook me in discontent, angry that we revealed our true identities.
"Adam?Saral? come with us. The enchantress would like to see you."
"Enchantress? Who's the enchantress?"
"Come with us. The enchantress would like to see you. We were ordered to be non-hostile."
"Um okay." Saral griped my wrist, yanking me back. "You're going to believe these cyborgs?"
"Clearly they aren't in the right state of mind. We should see who this enchantress person is? besides if anything gets ugly we'll just use our newfound powers."
"You got a point?" The mind-controlled people began leading us through the maze. Saral kept bickering the entire way.
"See I told you we should have gone left!"
"Shut up! You said to go straight not right!" The robotic people stooped and rested on one knee, kneeling to something.
"All hail the enchantress! All hail the enchantress! All hail the enchantress!" Whoever this person was they chanted and praised it like it was some kind of god. The room was modeled to look like the entrance to a fortress. There were stairs leading upwards, from the top a women walked down.
"Finally! I was looking for you dimwits everywhere!" This was the last person we expected to be the enchantress.
"Viola? What the hell! How'd you get all these people to obey you?"
Her chin raised with conceit, "Possession. Well that's what I call it. If I stare into their eyes then I can control. But then again, us women always had that power."
"Goody. Maybe know you'll be able to make people like you. But you won't be able to make me like you." Saral slammed his eyes shut, he was being facetious as always. "Okay disregarding the jokes. We've all discovered special abilities, isn't that a bit strange? It was also around the same time."
"What? You guys have cool powers too! Give me the details! How'd you get them?"
"Long story short, I'm a bit stronger than before and Adam here is as stubborn as a cockroach. Now, we need to figure out how were going to get out of this maze and pass the test."
"You worry too much." She playfully bent her wrist while waving her hand. "I've gotten my slaves to find the way out. You guys do have the corresponding red and blue flags right?"
He revealed the sole red flag in my possession. "We had hoped that you would have found it!"
"No I didn't! Damn. What to do now?"
"Why not use your possession power to compel someone to look for it?"
"Way ahead of you. Didn't work so far."
"Damn, we still need to look for the blue flag. On top of that this maze is polluted with Asebises."
"Say again? Asebises? What? This is bad, if there are too many here at once then the ice beneath us will break!"
"Wait? you didn't see any before?"
"No! None of my slaves saw any either!"
"That's strange. Wouldn't that mean that they've just recently entered the maze? If that's the case then we have to leave before they find us."
Saral began to shudder us, "Too late, they found us!"
A horde of Asebises began flowing into the ice room, there was no time but to retreat. Viola ordered her slaves to stay and fight till their last breath and one of them to guide us through the maze.
"This isn't a tour, come on guys pick up the pace!" As the guide hasten in leading us out of the maze, more Asebises began piling in from almost every pathway. "Reroute! Reroute! Peasant slave get us out of here." From the rear the ice floor began to shatter, water began pouring in. Asebises drowned behind us, but there was still a mob of them tracking us. Desperately we found the end of the maze but were quickly stopped because of another obstacle. There were hundreds of tiny frozen cubes in the water leading to a large island of ice. The guide paused, pointing ahead.
"Those tiny cubes will quickly shatter once you step on them. But once you pass them, at the end you'll see an opening. It leads to the safe zone." Saral jumped ahead before any of us.
"You don't gotta tell me twice!" The guide stood frozen, so we left him behind. We skipped across the floating cubes, they were barely big enough for one foot. We had to keep our balance and prevent ourselves from slipping simultaneously. Left leg then right leg, we kept running forward but we had to make sure the others had a cube to leap off of. But the Asebises behind caught on and began to cross. Though many of them drowned to their frozen deaths, many still survived. At last we arrived on the frozen island and were only about a half a mile away from completing the test. The surviving Asebises also made it, and there were still too many of them. The opening was visible, home sweet home was only a few minutes away but if the Asebises made it then they'd also get inside. The ice island that we were on was strong enough so it didn't crack, so we couldn't rely on the environment to favor our side. We all realized that we had to get rid of the Asebis, Saral twisted his body towards the army of Asebises.
"Keep going! I have an idea." He wrapped his fist tightly and banged the ice simultaneously letting out a roar. The army sank into the depths of the water, transforming into ice sculptures floating in the sea. Soon the aftershock was about to reach us, Saral put his legs into overdrive. Running so fast that he caught up to us. The broken ice rumbled closer, barely we made it by diving into the safe zone. I turned over to my teammates to make sure they were okay, frustration crinkled Viola's eyes.
"Now what do we do? We made it but we don't have both the red and blue flags!"
"Damn it! Hopefully there's one laying around here. Saral had slumped shoulders while dragging his feet behind him. There was a wide, black toothed gate. Behind it were white squared pedestals aligned in a straight row. Each had the symbol of the Triskele on it, and all of them were different colors. The colors of the flags each group had. Once we entered the room, all of us were able to sense that we were not alone.
"Another group? Maybe they'll have the black flag." A gruff voice darted from the end of room. There was a slim, black man who towered over his teammates. Behind him were two men, twins. They had pasty skin that hid beneath their blemishes. Their brunette hair was slicked back in opposite directions, bouncing light off from their heads. "If you have the black flags then hand it over."
Saral intertwined his arms, "Look buddy, we don't have any black flags. We only possess a red one, so back off!"
"We're in the same situation as you!" I said.
Captain Daevas's voice emerged from nothingness, "Is this on? Okay it is. Eh-em, welcome finalists! Congrats on making it this far, to our knowledge you are the last two groups. The rest are either dead or disqualified. You have successfully survived all the surprises so far. Each maze had a special aspect to it, the first maze was completely made of mirrors to test your ocular strength and your focus. The second maze was filled with a hallucinogenic gas, this was placed to test your unresolved emotions and if you could overcome them. The last was made from ice, it was used to test your patience and mind. If you were too quick to finish the maze then the ice would break from beneath you, but if you were to slow? the Asebises would get you. Now?there is one final twist. Two teams have made it this far but? only one can pass. That
means one of you will be eliminated, good luck!"
The atmosphere had taken a complete three sixty turn. The weapons had been drawn. But the other team never expected what was yet to come. Saral smashed the ground with his bare hand, it shock waved all the way to other the side. Sending the other team spinning back into the wall, knocking them out cold.
"Well that was easy, and a bit anti-climactic. At least it got the job done."
"That doesn't solve our problem!" Viola glued her hands to her hips, "we still don't have the corresponding flags!"
I had a sudden brain blast. "Wait. I just thought of something! Think back to what Daevas said." I tapped my forehead, poking it till his words popped in my head. "To win, you must find the corresponding colored flags, red to blue, yellow to green, purple to orange, black to white, pink to beige, brown to gray, and gold to burgundy. In order to win you and your entire group must find the corresponding flag colors. There are no rules other than the exact words that I've just said. Those were his exact words, more or less."
Viola eyes widened, "What if we never had to find the color that corresponds to our flag. What if all we needed was one pair of flags that were corresponding colors. But all we have is our red one and the black one from that other group. So we're still stuck."
I pulled out the flags that I had previously found in the maze, "Not necessarily. I picked up a gold and burgundy flag on the way."
"Yes! Adam, I could kiss you right now!" Saral expressed
"Please don't?"
I positioned the flags on top of the pedestals that had the gold and burgundy Triskele symbols. We were staying optimistic when nothing significant occurred. But then everything began to vibrate, the two pedestals gradually sunk beneath the floor. The walls started to slide, dividing into two. A white light irradiated into our eyes, causing us to be blinded. A row of shadows marched in, holding what seemed to be guns. A sharp pain entered my gut, subsequently everything went cloudy as I became inert.