Chapter 20: A death maze set by the two most psychotic giants ever

"I'm a son of Zeus?" Arthur questioned, his eyes wide with shock. He looked like someone had just ran over his mom with a train.

Amethyst nodded. "Yes. All the signs lead to it, including the fact that you were claimed just now."

Alexander gasped. "He's a son of Seuss?"

Geneva groaned. "Zeus! Not Doctor Seuss!"

"And my mom didn't tell me?" Arthur asked, shaking his head and backing up to the wall.

Geneva grabbed his arm. "Calm down, Arthur. There's probably a reason she didn't tell you."

"Parents never have any good reason," I muttered. But I knew that wasn't helping. "But maybe your mom was trying to protect you," I added quickly.

"Maybe," Arthur said with a sigh. He regained his senses and took Geneva's hand, though he still seemed somewhat distraught.

Kai combed his hair over. "As bad as this, there's another question nagging at me. The compass brought us right into a trap. How did Hypnos trick the compass?"

Amethyst shook her head. "It's possible that his pendant was powerful enough to radiate a signal equal to that of the mask."

"Great," I muttered. "So we have to find the next mask with a faulty compass?"

Kai nodded sadly. "As sucky as today was, we should probably head out."

We headed to the plane, which was thankfully in the same place as it was earlier. No exaggeration, it felt like it'd been years since I saw the plane. As we entered, Oman scurried from the front seat to meet us.

"Hey younglins'! What took y'all so long?" Oman exclaimed, his face radiating pure joy.

"Firstly, don't call us younglins'. Just makes you sound like an old grandpa," Geneva snapped. "Secondly, we were put to sleep by a nightmare god, attacked by a horde of monsters, and Arthur literally just got claimed by Zeus."

Oman nodded. "I see. Well, take a seat. We are headin' for the next mask immediately!"

"Well, make sure you don't drop us off in the custody of another sleep god!" Kai yelled, Oman already running off to the front seat.

We took a seat as Oman ascended the plane upwards. For the next hour or so, I sat down and talked with everybody, as they all were still distraught.

"Honestly, I don't want to say this but this journey has been one pain in the butt," I said. I mean, sure, it could've been worse. We were lucky enough to be able to retrieve the first mask and not die yet, but at what cost? It seemed like at every twist and turn, things got worse and worse.

"Amen," Kai agreed.

Amethyst nodded. "As bad as it has been, we all agreed to join the quest, knowing full well that it would be difficult."

I wanted to say I didn't agree to join, you forced me, but the situation was already bad enough. Arthur was completely silent and his face was one of shock, like he was still processing everything that had happened. Amethyst still seemed shaken and everybody else, including me, was still on edge.

"Is everybody okay?" Alexander asked. "Because I know I'm not!" Alexander then started bawling in the middle of the plane, with the rest of us awkwardly walking away as Kai stayed to console him.

Everyone went to their individual cabins as we waited to arrive at the next mask. I wanted to try and console everybody, but they all took off before I could do anything.

I began slashing away at a dummy, trying to distract myself from all of my thoughts. After tiring myself out, I laid in my bed and waited for the plane to stop.

"Alright, y'all!" Oman announced from the speaker. "We're gettin' close!"

I exited my cabin and sat patiently on a couch as the plane landed. Across from me, Alexander was still bawling on Kai's shirt, leaving Kai to look at me desperately. I held in a laugh. When we finally landed, Kai looked like a newly freedman as Alexander finally got off his shoulder and stopped crying on his shirt.

"Where are we, Oman?" Amethyst asked, her eyes red, presumably from crying.

"Columbus, Ohio!" Oman shouted back. "Home of R.L. Stine!"

We got out of the plane and took in the scenery. In front of us was some sort of abandoned factory, with scattered tires and random pieces of metal lying around the yard. There were vines growing on the building and it was covered with rust and mud marks. The grass around it was dying and had a yellowish-green color. The building gave me all sorts of bad vibes. It reminded me of the factory in which Marianne died in, a thought I didn't exactly like.

"You sure this is the place, Oman?" Kai asked, his face disgusted. "This place looks perfect for a biker gang, not an all powerful mask."

"Yes, I can assure y'all that this is the place," Oman reconfirmed.

Alexander waved away the terrible smell. "Someone definitely took a dump here."

"Gross," Amethyst and I said simultaneously.

We walked around the dirty factory, trying to find an entrance. Turns out, when you have a factory this dirty, you tend to have trouble finding the entrance. When I reached the other side of the place, my disgust only increased. There were fallen-over dumpsters and bags of trash splattered on the floor. Rats scurried around, diving into trash bags and eating stray pieces of food on the ground. The smell only got worse and there was feces all over the place.

"It's over here guys," Arthur said. We walked over to him and found the entrance, another unpleasant site. Like the rest of the building, the doors had vines growing out of them and multiple different stains were plastered on it. It had a strange pink color to it, as if a unicorn barfed on the door.

We then entered through the doors, leading us into what seemed like a disco party. The walls were made out of colorful tiles that glowed brightly as if they were LED lights. There was a large black speaker on the ceiling as well as a disco ball that spun around, flashing even more colors around the room. The floor was made out of pristine white marble that almost blinded my eyes. All in all, the room was an absolute eyesore and an instant death trap for anyone with epilepsy.

"Goodness gracious!" I exclaimed. "Why is it so bright in here?"

"Hello, hello, heroes!" A voice boomed, coming out of the speaker. "I am Ephialtes, and my co-host is Otis!"

"Hi," another voice said, presumably Otis.

Kai put his hand above his eyes, the lights from the disco showering him with its blinding colors. "What is this place exactly?"

Ephialtes chuckled. "I'm glad you asked, mortal. This is the studio recording place for Deadliest Maze Ever Made: by Ephialtes and Otis, a TV show that makes competitors go through a series of twelve challenges before getting the final prize."

"And what's our prize?" Arthur asked, glaring at the speakers.

"If you make it through the death maze, you get the Mask of Power!" Ephialtes announced.

"Great," Geneva murmured under her breath. "Of course this is where the mask has to be."

"Without further ado, let's begin the challenge!" Ephialtes cheered. "Disclaimer: this is being broadcasted on the media, so try your best!"

In front of us was a trail of some sorts, with twenty foot high walls made out of hard concrete, and seaweed green grass covering our feet. The trail split off into two directions in a V shape.

Ephialtes coughed. "Begin walking, heroes. Your first challenge is coming up!"

"Why would you tell them that?" Otis asked. "That takes away the surprise."

Ephialtes banged on something. "Otis, can you just shut up? Let me do this!"

We then began walking on the grassy trail, cautiously looking around. When we arrived at the split in the trail, we quickly realized the right side was just a big wall.

"Otis!" Ephialtes roared. "I told you to open up the wall on the right side!"

Otis spoke up, "I know, but it didn't lead anywhere. There was no point-"

"Just shut up, Otis! Gods, you ruin everything!" Ephialtes groaned.

We continued down the trail, going down the left side, which abruptly turned into a curve, leading us into our first challenge. Awaiting us were ten hell-hounds, snarling at us with their canine teeth.

"Your first challenge, heroes!" Ephialtes announced. We drew out our weapons as we took on the hounds. Within ten seconds, we cleared out the hounds, leaving piles of dust in their place.

Ephialtes fake-laughed. "That was...meant to be easy, mortals! The next will be much harder!"

I rolled my eyes. Sure buddy, I thought.

Behind the now dusted hounds, a wall opened up, leading us into another long, straight trail. On the twenty-foot tall walls, cannons and spear-shooters were lodged in, ready to fire.

"Your next challenge!" Ephialtes boomed. "Face the wrath of England's stolen weapons!"

"Be careful, guys," Amethyst warned.

"No duh," Alexander responded. "We're not going to fall on the grass."

Geneva hung her head up in annoyance. "Is Alexander always this insufferable?"

"Yes," Amethyst coughed.

The machines then began making a whirring sound, clearly about to activate. Arthur conjured up light beams in his hands. "Try deflecting the spears and destroying the cannons."

We listened to him as we carefully walked along the trail. Before the cannons could shoot, we blasted them down and deflected all the spears shot at us. With that strategy in mind, we made it to the end of the trail, the wall opening up to reveal a barren space of grass.

"The next challenge: an invisible maze you have to walk through!" Ephialtes said.

Otis scoffed. "Why would you tell them that?"

"OTIS!" Ephialtes screeched, delivering a terrible high-pitched sound on the speaker.

We began walking forward and instantly ran into an invisible wall. We put our hands forward, trying to find where the wall was. We eventually schooched our way to the left side, which was thankfully open.

We then ran into another invisible wall, but we were able to get to the right side and continue on. From there, we made our way out of the invisible maze, having to go past two more invisible walls.

In front of us, a path opened up, leading us into a small tunnel. The floor was made out of creaky wood, making every step we took shaky and wobbly.

"Hold up," Kai said, stepping in front of us. "I sense lava underneath us."

Amethyst looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Kai drew out his sword and poked it into the ground, opening up a portion of the wooden floor. Underneath, there was a large pit of lava going twenty-feet deep, steam hissing from the surface and bubbles boiling in the liquid.

Ephialtes banged on something. "How did he sense the lava pit? That was meant to be our killer challenge!"

"I have no idea," Otis answered.

Ephialtes took a deep breath. "No matter. There are still eight more challenges that will give them much more trouble."

We walked around the broken portion of the wooden pit and looked onto the next trail. To the front of us was a snowy forest with hail and sleet pouring down. From where we were standing, it was frigid cold, meaning that it probably got colder from there.

"The fifth challenge: can you survive extreme cold?" Ephialtes boomed, giggling with glee. "This one will surely get you!"

Amethyst pulled out coats from her backpack and handed them to us. "It won't do a lot, but it'll help a little bit."

"Why do you have coats in your backpack?" I asked.

Amethyst shrugged. "Just in case."

"Ok, here's the plan," Arthur said, as we put on our coats. "Kai, you aren't affected by the cold, right?"

"Yep," Kai said. "I'm one hot sucker."

"Then we'll all huddle up around Kai. That way, he can keep us warm with his fire. It won't give us much mobility, but it's the only way," Arthur continued.

We quickly huddled together, Kai in the center. We slowly trudged our way into the snow trail, hail and sleet spearing the ground as it dropped fiercely overhead. Within the forest, it was freezing cold. If we weren't wearing coats and huddled around Kai, we probably would've died of hypothermia.

"Watch out, Alexander!" Amethyst cried, as a block of sleet flew towards Alexander's head. He was able to move his head quickly enough to dodge the block, but him swerving his head to the far left threw us off. We struggled to stay huddled together, with Geneva and Arthur almost toppling over completely.

Thankfully, we were able to escape the ice forest and get to the next trail before we all fell down. A large glittering lake covered the grassy ground in front of us, and it stretched so far, that it slowly disappeared in the distance. On the shore of the lake, there was a small, but wide wooden row-boat that laid on its side, wooden paddles to the side of it.

Ephialtes's voice came back on. "The sixth challenge: Terrifying Lake! You will use the rowboat to get to the other side, but sharks and other dangerous creatures will await you!"

"Stop telling them everything!" Otis scolded.

"Shut up, Otis! I know what I'm doing!" Ephialtes yelled back.

We turned the boat over on its side and put it into the lake. We got onto the boat and grabbed the paddles, Alexander and I rowing in the back while Arthur and Geneva rowed in the front. Kai and Amethyst sat in the middle, their bows up and ready to fire.

We began rowing across the long lake, the calm blue waters rippling as we used the oars. About a third of the way through, we started experiencing some trouble. Box jellyfish crowded the sides of our boat, their outer skin shimmering a menacing pink. Thankfully, Kai and Amethyst were able to shoot them down.

But problems continued overwhelming us. We ran into small icebergs as we rowed, forcing Kai to burn them down before they ripped a hole on the side of our boat. Eventually, the boat started to shake.

"Rose, Alexander, check the back! We're being dragged down!" Arthur shouted.

We looked behind us, greeted by a group of three sea serpents. Each was about six feet tall and had radiant blue scales. Their tails were wrapped around the boat, tugging us down slowly into the dangerous waters of the lake.

Alexander brought out his shields and morphed them into a wide hammer as I shot Mist clouds at them and cut their tails off the ship with my knives. Together, we were able to clear the serpents. However, things didn't get any better around the boat.

Hordes of box jellyfish swarmed our ship, forcing Kai and Amethyst to quickly shoot them down. In the front, Arthur and Geneva had to maneuver past icebergs and armies of pufferfish that were blocking our path. To make matters worse, a large glass tank opened up in front of us.

Ephialtes cackled. "The sharks have been released!"

The sharks were indeed released, with a trio of them shimmying their way toward us. We were now completely surrounded.

"Hold up," Arthur said. "I have an idea."

He conjured up electricity in his palms as lightning coursed through his fist. He punched the water, lightning traveling through the water with quick pace and zapping the monsters to dust. The boat was shaken, forcing all of us to try and steer it back before we fell in.

Amethyst grunted. "Rose, try to levitate it back on target! We might not be able to make it!"

I severely questioned how I was going to be able to carry a boat back up with five people on it, but I had no time to doubt myself. I stuck my hands forward, dropping the oars as I slowly began lifting the boat upright.

We were able to make it to the end of the lake and jumped out of the boat. We stood on a patch of grass, with a wall in front of us, blocking the next challenge.

Ephialtes groaned in anger. "How?!"

"Maybe if you hadn't told them-" Otis began.

Ephialtes cut him off. "I don't need your snark, Otis! No matter. Heroes, you have gotten only halfway through the challenge. But these last six challenges are the hardest, so I doubt you'll make it through!"

I sighed. Only six more challenges to go.