Hephaestus Incorporated

CHAPTER 23; LOST FRIENDS

Aika stares up at the ceiling. Where could they have gone? They almost never left the house, and they definitely always told him when, or left a note somewhere. Had they been taken forcefully? How had they caught Hermes with his speed? What was he going to do?

He suddenly felt the warmth of a hug as he let tears slide down his face. This was just like losing his parents all over again. He blinked back the tears when he realized the hug was from Momo, who seemed to have followed him inside in his panic. He wiped his eyes and steeled himself.

He let Momo console him for a moment more before he pushed out of her arms. "I need to find them." He said, a determined look in his eyes. Momo looked at him confused. "Find who? I still don't know who you are looking for." She said, clearly confused.

Aika sighed and looked at her. "I live with two people, and they are the closest thing I have to a family. They almost never leave the house, especially at the same time and without a note. I think they've been kidnapped because of their..... Nature." He said, hesitating on whether or not to reveal them as automatons. Suddenly, a quest appeared, blocking his view of Momo.

{Emergency Quest}

{Lost Comrades}

{Locate your lost comrades, and get them home safely]

{Reward;???}

{Failure; Loss of Automatons}

He quickly brushed his hand through it, wanting to find his friends. Suddenly, a small exclamation point appeared in his field of vision. It was just below the mail symbol, which had......... What the hell? It had 637 unread messages from the constellations?! Aika screamed internally at the thought of having to deal with all of that.

He decided to ignore it for now and tapped the punctuation mark. A new window appeared, this one brief and to the point. He glanced over at Momo before reading. She had a very confused expression on her face, probably because he had been vague in his friend's description and also how he was currently tapping at the air.

{Automaton Tracker Activated}

{Please follow the arrows to get to the nearest construct.}

He looked at it, and then let it poof. As it did, a thin red line appeared on the ground, with arrows leading him towards the front door. He tapped Momo's shoulder. "Ok, Follow me." He said, before turning and running to follow the arrow. The arrow turned right outside the house, heading deeper into town.

As they continued, the line seemed to pulse faster and faster, seemingly showing how close they are to his friends. He eventually stopped in front of a warehouse before looking around him. All around him were boxes and crates, apparently for a dockyard of some sort. He could see the edge of the ocean just ahead, the afternoon sun shining in the water.

He heard motion behind him and spun around, startled at the sound. Momo stood bent over, relying on a crate for balance. She was panting heavily, clearly tired after the multiple miles it had taken to get here. Aika patted her shoulder. "I'll get it from here, okay?" He said, looking down on her.

She simply nodded, not having the energy to respond. Aika straightened and walked towards the warehouse. He stopped before the doors and listened. He couldn't hear anything, but he also trusted the red line. He walked around to the side and saw a bunch of crates had been piled in a way he could use them as stairs, leading up to a window.

He climbed up slowly, not wanting to fall and hurt himself. At the top, he pushed the window inwards slowly, wincing as it let out a creak. He paused, and when nothing happened he forged onwards. A few seconds later, he was inside. He was on top of a catwalk, a series of interconnected pathways hanging above the floor below. Crates piled high blocked his view.

He began to walk around the catwalks. The warehouse seemed much larger inside, almost like someone had set up their own little dimension inside. Aika crept along, not wanting to alert anyone he was there. As he went, he slowly heard a muffled noise, the noise growing louder the deeper he was.

As he snuck along, a sudden noise grabbed his attention. He spun his head to see that a mouse had somehow appeared on the catwalk, before it jumped onto a pile of crates piled as high as the catwalk. It ran down the steps, jumping and leaping to reach the ground. It's erratic movements piqued Aikas interest, and he followed it, running to keep up with the critter.

He followed it for a few turns before he lost it. He looked around and realized he was hopelessly lost. The crates towered above him, forming a labyrinth of twists and turns. Suddenly, a new message popped up.

{Welcome Player}

{Welcome to the Minotaur's maze. Inside are 25 other players, each of which are looking for something very important. Your task is to be the last player remaining in order to gain your prize. You may also defeat the minotaur, however, only four people may defeat one. The four minotaurs will spawn at random locations, and are able to cross into the safezone in the center. They will only be available once at least half of the players are dead. Once a minotaur has been defeated, the player that killed it will be teleported out of the maze and set free. There are power ups throughout the maze, which can be found in hidden areas and also as monster drops. Please, enjoy yourself, and good luck.}

Aika just stared at the message. He had to kill people? He had only been looking for Hermes and Hestia, not to kill other people. He felt queasy from the shock of the event. Suddenly, the crates all started to shift. As he watched, they changed from crates to large stone bricks, with vines hanging down. He couldn't see the top of the walls as they towered into the dark abyss above.

Torches appeared, lighting up the passage. It was clear that this was for people like him, the people chosen by the star system. Suddenly, a message appeared on the left side of his vision.

{26 players remaining}

{0 kills}

Aika began to walk forward, not knowing what to do. He had heard about the labyrinth while studying Greek mythology. It constantly changed, and it was full of traps. He walked carefully, not wanting to trigger something. The passage had various

As he stepped on a stone, though, a panel slid aside from the wall and a burst of powder shot out, striking him right in the face. He breathed in instinctively, and regretted it. He began to feel numb, slowly stumbling ahead before collapsing and smacking his head on the ground. He struggled against the drug, but slowly succumbed to the heavy blackness that pressed onto him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hi there! I hope everyone is having a good day/night. Please upvote this, and I will continue to publish more chapters! I am writing whenever I can, so please expect updates to be sporadic. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time!