Labyrinth (1)

Anticipation crackled in the air as Lord Grant, draped in his ceremonial sash, surveyed the expectant crowd. The Grand Trial, testing the realm's most promising mages, had reached its third round. Traditionally, it was a dance of wits and brawn, unravelling riddles and battling minor beasts within the labyrinth's confines. But this year, Emperor Ares craved a spectacle worthy of the elite contestants.

Grant, eyes gleaming with a hint of pride, met the Emperor's challenge head-on. Sleepless nights had been his crucible, forging this unique trial within the verdant embrace of Eikholt, his beloved homeland, where towering bamboo forests whispered ancient secrets.

"Welcome, champions," he began, his voice a rolling thunder. "Before you stands the Verdant Labyrinth," Grant continued, gesturing towards a towering archway woven from living bamboo. "Escape its verdant embrace by sunrise, and you'll claim your place in the next round. Fail, and your journey ends."

His gaze lingered on Lady Astra, whose calm facade seemed to mock the tension in the air. A rising star, yes, but one with a hint of arrogance that grated on Grant's nerves. A talented mage deserved to be challenged, to be pushed beyond their comfort zone.

Well, unlucky for her, that little wench Eydis chose her as her partner. An interesting turn of events. Every warrior had a vulnerability, and Grant might just have stumbled upon Astra's.

"May the verdant paths guide you," Grant concluded, his voice laced with a hint of malicious glee. "And may your shadows never lengthen under the rising sun."

**

The billowing white engulfed them, erasing the world in a milky haze. Eydis's hand found Astra's, warm and solid in the swirling emptiness. "Hold on," Astra murmured, her voice laced with a tremor she tried to hide. 

Eydis squeezed back, a playful glint in her eyes. "My shining knight, rescuing me from... what exactly?"

The banter felt hollow in the silent white. Astra scanned the swirling smoke, her senses on high alert. The playful facade chipped away, replaced by a gnawing unease that mirrored the mist creeping beneath her skin.

Their hour-long trek was a descent into claustrophobia. The mist was an echo of their fears, whispering of dead ends and unseen dangers. Finally, a shimmering lake broke through the white, and with it, a flicker of hope. Eydis, ever the pragmatist, examined the water, while Astra's gaze sought higher ground, ready to face any unseen threat.

The rustle came abruptly, sending shivers down both their spines. They spun around. And there, lumbering out of the haze, was a panda, a cuddly black and white creature.

Astra's hand flew to her sword, but Eydis stopped her with a calm hand on her arm. "Relax," she murmured, her voice serene. "He's harmless."

She approached the creature, her steps light and unafraid. Astra watched, her grip on the sword slackening but not loosening. Eydis reached out, and the panda nudged its head against her palm, its gruff rasping almost comforting.

"Can you show us a way out?" Eydis asked the panda with a smile.

With a flicker of doubt, Astra followed Eydis and the strange panda, deeper into the unknown. The mist thinned, revealing a world of emerald bamboo bathed in golden sunlight. But the peace was shattered by the sudden rumble beneath their feet. Five stone doors rose from the ground, each inscribed with an elemental symbol and radiating an ominous power.

A glint in Eydis's eyes as she considered the puzzle, "Astra, can you try using your energy to unlock the Wood gate first?"

Astra nodded, slamming her palm against the oak tree symbol carved into the stone door. Metal, birthed from her own essence, crackled around the carving, and with a groan, the stone yielded, spitting out a shimmering green key. 

Eydis lifted the key they'd discovered and stopped at a door with mountain peaks engraving. She slotted it into the lock. A pulse of iridescent light, almost painful in its intensity, ripped through the chamber. The stone door shuddered, then dissolved into a cascade of boulders and dust, swirling around the key like a miniature avalanche. As the dust settled, an orb, brown as fertile soil, lay still in the rubble.

Astra cradled the orb, guilding it towards a door with a water droplets symbol. With a hiss of steam, the droplets dissolved inwards, swirling into a miniature cobalt ocean before solidifying into a key that pulsed with an inner blue light.

Flames roared at the fiery door. Astra raised the key, its energy resonating with the molten heart of the door. The air crackled as metal met lock, flames recoiling like frightened beasts before morphing into a molten golden orb, pulsating with the dying embers of the inferno.

"Metal," Eydis breathed, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. Astra nodded, adrenaline thrumming through her veins. The final door, cold and menacing, loomed ahead, its gleaming sword a mocking challenge. As Astra pressed the orb against the symbol, the ground shuddered, a primal groan echoing through the labyrinth. Cracks snaked across the floor like angry veins, widening with a terrifying speed. The air thickened with a palpable dread, the silence screaming of imminent collapse.

"HOLD ON!" Astra's scream ripped through the air as the ground beneath them splintered. The world dissolved into a dizzying kaleidoscope of falling stone and bottomless darkness. She tightened her grip on Eydis's hand protectively, pulling her onto the swaying canopy of a bamboo tree.

Relief flooded her as they landed, sprawling onto the swaying canopy of a giant bamboo tree. They clung to each other, suspended in the void, their breaths ragged against the chilling wind. But their reprieve was fleeting. The familiar bamboo grove, their refuge, shimmered and dissolved, revealing the same gaping abyss they'd just escaped.

Astra growled as the earth beneath their feet trembled, cracks snaking across the surface like angry veins. Her hand instinctively flew to her pendant, a whisper of forbidden magic tingling on her palm.

But before she could unleash it, a warm hand clamped onto her wrist. Eydis, with a reassuring smile, spoke, "It's just an illusion, Astra. Look, we're out." She gestured toward the garden, bathed in an unsettling, oblique light. It was where they started, the entrance, and its exit.

Serenity stretched before them, but unease clawed at Astra's gut. The flowers seemed duller, the sunlight casting an oblique, unnatural glow. Yet, Eydis, oblivious to the shift in reality, skipped towards the panda they previously met, her touch lingering in its fur. A purr, too loud, too forced, echoed through the silence.

Panic clawed at Astra's throat. "Eydis, stop!" she screamed but it was swallowed by the suffocating silence, barely a whisper in the vast, oppressive quiet.

In a blink, the stage changed, and the panda's once-innocent maw now stretched wide—a grotesque distortion. Razor-sharp teeth glinted like polished knives, mere inches from Eydis's face. A scream, strangled and silent, died in Astra's throat as she lunged forward, metal energy crackling at her fingertips.

The snap of teeth echoed through the garden, a sickening crunch that drowned out the world. Crimson sprayed, painting the pale roses a gruesome hue. Eydis's vibrant amber eyes, once filled with life, dimmed, reflecting the endless abyss that now consumed everything except Astra's grief.

She collapsed onto the cold earth, tears blurring her vision. Hot, silent sobs wracked her body, each one a searing echo of her shattering heart. Despair threatened to engulf her, a suffocating weight stealing her breath. In the deafening silence, consumed by grief, Astra remained oblivious to the monstrous shadow looming behind her, the panda's predatory claws glinting in the distorted light.