lost in the labyrinth of my mind

Chapter 1

The wool cloak on Max's shoulders dragged the leaves, flowers and roots as her feet flew with urgency, looking for the exit to the infernal hedge maze. She would have discarded it, but Max knew that nights get cold, and she wasn't stupid enough to get rid of it, to be a little faster. Her heart was pounding. Though she was very proud of her athletic prowess: she had been running too long, and her legs began to burn with exhaustion. Sweat ran down her face in rivets of fear and despair. But she was no coward and took a fortifying breath as she continued her journey. Whatever was chasing her: a looming figure whose mere shadow incited terror and evil seemed to have lost track of her. Whether it was a trick or not, she couldn't help but sigh in relief at the moment of respite. She sheathes her sword and pulls out her flask of water, nearly empty, but it will have to do until she can find a water source outside the green nightmare. She readjusts her sword. She can never be too careful in this strange environment, especially since she's alone now.

This was so typical.

Of course, the castle was a trap. Of course, Max would be separated from her friends. Of course, they were taken away by the dark wizard, and now she has to save them. Of course, the only exit was the neverending maze.

She knew taking this exit was risky, but it was the only escape; all other windows and doors were barricaded with magic spells. But she had to save her friends; the only way out was through.

When Max agreed to the quest, she knew danger was in its description; she would have to be foolishly naive to believe otherwise. But Max never thought she would have to do it alone. While in her pride, Max would never openly admit that she needs others for help, she knows they work best as a unit of talents and gifts.

She reasserted her grip on her sword and shield: trying to find some comfort, some safety. Her fingers begin to cramp from holding it for... Huh. She doesn't know how long she has been running around the maze. The sun is relatively the same position as when she woke up alone after the melee in the Keep. At least she's no longer running; Max walks on a careful tread, sly as a panther, as she checks each corner for peril.

Max comes across a fork in the road. One seems to be a body of water that reaches far until (she gathers) it turns into a corner. Another is perfectly serene: butterflies move as if stuck in syrup, flowers blooming in the trellis. The last is littered with rocks, jagged and sharp. The first one has no raft to cross, and Max is not risking rusting her only weapons. The second is obviously a trap, so screw that, and she's too intelligent and not desperate enough to risk it. So the third it must be.

Max turns right. It was as if she was transported into a different world. The innocent but bothersome green shrubbery turns into clawing thorns and slithering vines of unnatural green and black colouring. The sun that beat upon her back was gone. There was no moon or star to guide her in the dark. A cruel red glow ran underneath the barren ground. The red was not kind; it was hatred and anger. This encompassing darkness was not the kind of darkness of burrowing into a blanket or divine one of an eclipse. It was the darkness that haunts childhood fears that no parent can abet. It was the darkness in the souls of evil and cruel men.

Max is careless from frustration or exhaustion: she doesn't care to know, but she accidentally hooks her feet over a vine, saving herself from tripping. But it did not matter because she had stirred the beast awake. The vines began to move in a serpentine manner, gathering around, and though they had no eyes, they stared with hunger. Now Max was no fool, so she did the only thing she could; she ran. She didn't care if the turns led to the exit.

Only if Max got away from the predatory vines.

Max should have been more careful. She cursed herself when she ran into a dead end. Now Max was forced to return to where the danger was, but there was risk everywhere. She quickly turned around. That's when the vines got her. She knew that they wanted to wrap around her like the cocoon a spider makes for its prey. During moments like this: she wished she and her friends weren't separated; she wanted Lucas to have her back.

But she only had herself. She was the only one who could save her.

Typical.

She readied her sword and hacked with ferocity and anger; she would not be eaten by plants today. No siree. She swung her sword as she was twisted around. She bashed her shield into approaching plants.

They seem to stop. Knock on wood or don't; it might bring up something worse. And yep, she shouldn't have jinxed it, though the vines retreated; they had not given up their pursuit; Max saw them act like snakes do before they begin to strike.

Damn, if Max knew there was this much running, she still would have gone on the quest, but she would have trained more before.

And there, Max saw in the gloom a shining beacon. A lighthouse during a storm manifested in the shape of a golden arch.

That golden arch, Max doesn't know how but in her heart, she knows if she passes its threshold that she will be safe. Unlike the dreading whispers she hadn't noticed had been plaguing her in the maze, she notes that the arch has a song of hope and triumph. How could she not have detected it before? What infernal spell did this place cast over her? It doesn't matter because it was at her fingertips, even as the demonic vines nipped at her leather boots. She only had to be faster: her friends don't call her their zoomer for nothing. Her feet were quicker than a hummingbird's flight as she dashed through the golden gates of salvation.

She closed her eyes at the blinding light and knew she had won against the demon maze.