First path

She was right, We will all die soon, it is just sometimes, someone will just have to go first. Live is living, dying simply means death...

The old man laughed. He is so stupid. Why would he looked at her with worries in his eyes? He cannot help but to frown at the situation of Ania, but this is all because he knows that it hurts. This girl is daring to accept that kind of pain.

We will all die soon, it is just sometimes, someone will just have to go first. But this is not applicable in this situation. He should not be worrying about this girl. The pure light is shining brightly. Even though the black dot is still visible, it is not gonna happened today. This girl will survive.

"Blood!"

The pain that Ania felt soon subsided and comfort and ease prevailed. The wounds of Ania immediately healed and the pain that was caused by the thorns was like it was never there to begin with.

The thick vines that was wrapped around her, slowly retracted and the violent movement of the vines stopped. This happening made the old man opened his eyes wider. The vines never let anyone slip away from their grasp. But what was more shocking, is when the vines made a small entrance for the girl to enter.

Ania looked at the small hole, enough for her fit in, and entered.

"You grasped the meaning of this message. I have done everything I can to avoid this, but life will indeed find a way for you to come back here..."

Ania heard the same voice once again. But this time, the tone of the voice is different. It is like the voice is regretting something, but Ania cannot point what it was.

She walked passed the hole that the vines created for her and what greeted her is a colorful walled flowers of different kinds. Astilbe, Aubrieta, Begonia, Carnation , Calendula and not to mention, Rose. Every kind of flower that you can remember, name it and you will find it here. The flowers are sticking together that the green leaves are not even visible anymore. But even without it, it made the wall that's filled with flower blooms beautiful and colorful.

She continues to walk until she saw a way with seven different path. Ania stopped for a minute, trying to choose which one of the seven.

She choose the first path, as it was the first one her eye caught.

"I will come back but I don't know when. But soon I will, and when that time comes, I want you to stop me..."

"Why would I do that? You created this place. You have the right to come and go."

"Yes, but now I will give this to you. I will not be here anymore to take care of this but then, you are still here. Don't let anyone, including me, enter this place. This will be your home now."

"Home?"

"Yes, home. A place where you will feel safe. A place where you can do everything you want without them telling you what to do."

"Master..."

It remembers it all. All the things that its master said. The thick vines that hurt Ania before turned smaller. It slowly crawled into a corner and wrapped each other into a circle. It moved tightly into a ball . Tightly bind until the spaces cannot be seen anymore. After a while, the vines were dried.

Crack! The dried vines were separated and a small child appeared inside the vines. Her skin color is the combination of different shades of green. Her eyes slowly opened and the large, oval, black eyes exposed to the sight of the bright ,white light of the sun.

She did a couple of blinks , until her eyes get used to the blinding light.

When was the last time she let herself appear into this form again? It was a long time... so long that she forgot. Maybe it was when she was still with her master.

"Master..."

She remembered all of it.

But why exactly she was putting much effort into what she was doing?

Is it because she was told to? Or is it in order to repay her debt to her master, who has given her a home?

No. She knew the answer all along. It is because of her selfish desire to live.

She looked at Ania who went into the first path. She laugh seeing Ania. Whatever path you choose will bring you to the same place. But what made her laugh is because of the path Ania chose. Out of the seven path, only one of it has a trap that was set. The other set will immediately bring you to the center of this maze without any problems. But this woman had chosen the path full of traps!

How lucky can this woman be?

Maybe this woman really didn't changed. No matter how the years went by. She was the same when she first met her. She was the one who set this trap, so she knows which one of it is in the danger zone. And each day, the path will change position. But when her master chooses a path every day, she will always pick the path that's full of dangers.

"Sorry Natu, it looks like I had chosen the wrong one again. But hey, maybe tomorrow I will enter the right one."

She cannot help but to take a deep sigh. Until now, her master still haven't entered the correct path.

While Ania on the other hand, finally saw what's inside her chosen path.

But it was a sight to see. After what happened to her in the entrance, this enchanting was not to her expectations.

Flowers of all colors, trees of all fruits, rainbow colored leaves, and crystal clear water. Is this still the maze that she has entered? This maze even had water.

The flowers of all colors move and... flutter?

No. It was not a flower, instead it was a butterfly that lands on a flower. And now it's flapping its beautiful and colorful wing, lightly and quickly. It flew into the air , above the head of Ania. Seeing the beautiful wings of it, Ania cannot help but to stare at it. Especially when she raised her hands and the butterfly landed on her middle finger.

One, two, three. The other butterflies also slowly landed on her body. Ten, fourteen, seventeen. Slowly, the butterflies keep landing on her body.

No. This is all wrong. The amount of butterflies keep increasing.

"Ouch!"

The butterflies that landed on her body started to bite her!

***

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