Chapter 8: The Pit

In front of the boy a vast, seemingly infinite chasm thatdescended into the depths of the earth. It was an eerie and foreboding sight, with its blackness seeming to go on forever. The pit was surrounded by jagged rocks and steep cliffs, creating a perilous environment that instills a sense of unease and danger.

As he approached the pit, he could see forty-two pillars rising out of its surface, spaced evenly around its circumference. The pillars were made of dark, rough-hewn stone, and each one stands about two meters above sufficient level. They were arranged in a circular pattern, like the spokes of a wheel, and each one seems to glow with a faint, ominous light.

He looked closely at the pillars and noticed that there were marks on them. Some of them were linear, and some of them he would describe as cracks, more than marks. 'Big enough to stick a limb in if I happen to fall' thought the boy nervously.

As he peered over the edge of the pit, he could feel a cold, damp wind rising up from its depths. The sound of rushing water echoes up from below and he could just make out the faint outline of a river far below. The walls of the pit were slick and smooth as if they have been polished by centuries of erosion.

Despite its ominous appearance, the pit held a strange allure, drawing him closer and beckoning him to explore its depths. But as he stood there, gazing down into its inky darkness, a chill ran down his spine, and he realize that it might be best to keep his distance from this mysterious and foreboding place.

'So it wants to play today, huh?' he thought swallowing a mouthful of saliva. He had played with this bastard before, but today the creature meant business. And if he learned anything from his dad, it was that you never took business lightly.

The boy looked beyond the pit and saw the exit, singular. Usually, the darn thing liked its riddles, but today it was simpler. 'So you just want to see me jump and be your little monkey is that it? More than happy to actually, if it means I don't have to deal with the damn circles again' the boy concluded, remembering his last trial.

In his last few attempts, the Maze had been mean, unreasonable even. It forced him to deal with, mutable pathways of extended brain teasers. No pain was involved, but they were all very annoying, and he had to stick to a schedule.

"Let's get this started. I will make you proud Sir" Ciaran said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

He jumped high in the air; way higher than a kid reasonable should be able to and landed on the nearest platform. As soon as he did so the maze moved, the entrance closed and the walls seemed to grow higher. If that wasn't enough, they seemed to have grown thorns, long and sharp. Now there were only two ways out - pass the trial or up the bloody thorns.

'Well, they are not bloody yet. And I sure as hell don't want them to be.' The boy chuckled, frightened by what he saw.

'At most, it usually leaves us with a few bruises, it never drew blood before'

He looked at the pillars; they all looked identical to each other in his eyes so he decided to just go.

'I have a strict deadline here, can't stay and overthink things too much' a final thought before he jumped forward.

As he stepped on the second pillar, it suddenly collapsed. The kid panicked and tried to push himself back to the previous one. He flew towards it with as much speed as he could muster. He crashed into it and started rolling downwards again while trying to grab onto one of the marks. Simple enough on paper, a little less so in practice, while falling to your death.

After a few seconds of rolling, he managed to stabilize his footing. 'Well, here are the bruises, hope I don't have to bleed too.' The boy laughed to himself. Strangely enough, the pain and the adrenaline had gotten rid of his nervousness.

'Five meters to the top of the, and I will be at square one again. An inaccurate statement, as the top of each pillar, was circular in shape, my gramps would say.' Ciaran thought.

'Focus soldier, we will have time for wordplay later.

He claimed as quickly as possible and stared at the pillars again. 'There is a trick to this, there is always one. Gods I was naive to think this pile of rotten leaves would ever cut me some slack.'

'Ok, so the pillars are the same the damage on them is not. No way to hold on to the outer wall, too smooth no traction. The Maze itself could be used, but I would rather avoid the pain if at all possible.'

In conclusion, there is a pattern with the marks, but I don't have time for this. They are different, but only slightly, it will be faster to just book it and hope. Worst case scenario, I just have to start over again. Each restart takes me less than two minutes; usually, its mind fakeries take at least fifteen.'

'Victory by brute force it is then' he grinned and jumped to the next pillar to the right of the one that just crumbled. He didn't stop, kept his momentum, and jumped again. Before he could even step on the third pillar though, a vain stretched out from the maze and slapped him straight back into the first pillar.

"Gahh" all the air had left his lungs and he barely clung to the surface.

He took a few seconds to catch his breath and thought 'That was too fast for me, so this is not a trial of speed'

'I am not bleeding but that thing hit me straight across the chest.'

He clung with his right hand and ran his left over the injury. 'No broken bones, hell if you ignore the dirt the damn uniform is as good as new

'Must be reinforced. Let's see if it can survive the thorns.'

The boy got on the first platform and took off his vest and wrapped it around his right arm.

'Hope this works, because if it doesn't, if the maze doesn't kill me my mom will.'

The boy didn't allow himself time to talk himself out of it and jumped. He grabbed onto the Maze and positioned himself so only the right side of his body was in contact with it. The uniform was held, and there was no blood.

"Aghh"

"It hurts god damn it"

While he didn't sustain too much damage, the pain still got to him. But what really hurt him was the maze's response. In front of him, vines had spawned again, this time with thorns of their own. The "no cheating" message was clear.

"So not a trial of Wisdom either. Damn all this pain for nothing. 'He grumbled.

The boy had started voicing his inner monologue, a sign his frustration was getting to him.

Just as he was about to curse out Mother Gaia, as the Maze was part of nature after all, he saw something peculiar. 'Either I am going mad or the damn pillars form a picture. From down there it was hard to see, but when I look at it from here, the damn thing actually does have a pattern.'

The cracks and the holes formed the image of a griffin. Not a perfect one mind you, but with a little imagination and with a little squinting of the eyes it was there. Its head ended on the last roll of pillars, to the left, two and a half meters below the surface. The rest was closer to Ciaran. The closer to the now non existing entrance his eyes went the lower the image of the carving of the best was.

It was worth noting that the lower you went, the darker it got, and subsequently the harder it was to see. 'So go into the pit, find the pattern, and climb out using the tiny gaps used to make it. It's a trial of Dexterity, albeit barely, made more to fuck with me than to teach me anything. '

"Ok let's do this your way then" he shouted and dropped to the pillar. He didn't stop there, slowly he descended to the point he could barely see his next target. 'All the first pillars are correct, but it gets narrower from here

He jumped from one pillar to the other. By no means an easy task, but not that hard either. 'Childs play when you know the trick 'Thought Ciaran, ignoring the fact he too was a child.

"The path to light is to ascend through the pain," he said out loud.

'The Empire's former motto and the image of a griffon. If someone had told me the damn thing was a traditionalist a month ago, I would have sent them the see a shrink.' The boy thought as he went through the exit.