Withering World [MCSM Fanfiction]

HABITATION: Chapter 35

Lukas

Every time we take another bend, Petra rotates Binta's map so that north points in the direction of north. While she's busy, head down and toying with it, I look straight ahead, seeing another obstructing wall appear on our left.

"Hang on, Petra."

It's as if she had headphones in, blocking out my audibility, so she keeps walking.

"Petra!"

By the time I call out, it's too late: her body slams into the clay wall. The map is knocked out of her hands and it descends gracefully to the ground. "Ow!" she yells, gazing up. "Ugh, another dead end? Gosh, this is worse than Romeo's obsidian maze at the institute!"

"What if we solve the maze on the map first?"

"Good thinking, Lukas. Got a quill?"

"I always do."

Instead of picking up the map, it draws us down onto our knees. The redhead flattens out the sheet and I fish out my pen, marking our exact location first. Since we've zoomed out, our eyes brighten as we figure the end isn't far.

"Here we go," Petra says, scooping up the map ecstatically after I finish solving it. Gladly, she remembers our orientation and flips the map according to where we left off. "Coulda just pickaxed our way through this, y'know."

"Eh, playing the game seems much more fun, don't you think? This reminds me of Ivor's lab back in the farlands."

Nasal giggles rain down from above, high-pitched and obnoxious. At first, I think it's me hallucinating, but Petra nudges me. "Watch my back."

Slowly, I position my bow, nocking an arrow into the string and pull back slightly. The sound of mischievous snorts resounding through the labyrinth passages tells me to tighten my grip on the weapon.

It would be nice to fight a zombie or a creeper again since I can't remember when I last faced one. Neither can jump scare me as bad as spiders that climb, though. So I let my eyes trace up the walls. No spiders. Instead, it's a-

"How in heck did a pig get up there?" I tuck Petra's guard away for a moment. I get spooked when it unveils its second face: a partially human one with gleaming brick-red eyes.

We scan what could possibly be a threat. "Another one of Romeo's weird creations?" Petra suggests before the thing snorts triumphantly again and leaps over onto the opposite wall.

"This way."

It speaks! And what's even more surprising is that it's potentially trying to get us out of here.

"Petra, I think it's showing us the way out."

"Or into a trap. Don't trust anything down here."

"Alright, alright. I'll follow it, but keep looking at the map in case that pig is wrong."

"Fine, but if it tries anything, kill it," she says as I take off to heed the pig.

The two of us are constantly stumbling, keeping the peculiar creature in our sight. It's a nifty thing that's for sure. Before I even get to make an overall judgment, more of these half-mob-half-human beings emerge from the tops of the maze walls and hop about alongside the pig. Altogether, there are five of them with four each representing a different hostile: a skeleton, a creeper, a spider, and an enderman.

So far, Petra hasn't called out any wrong direction. However, she's falling behind at the combination of heavily using her brain and sprinting at the same time.

The exit is just around the corner - I guess Petra was wrong in saying everyone down here has lost their mind. Like first place through a finish line, my adrenaline pushes me through the final turn and out of the maze.