The Maze

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

           Kura’s dream didn’t exactly help her to be calm.

She stood at the top of a mountain, feeling confident and pride in her stance. The dark clouds loomed over her, but she paid it no mind.

The wind hit her just perfectly, that her hair was riding the breeze. Down below, she could see a small village – unfamiliar, but comforting.

“I’ve made it back home,” she wanted to say, but her mouth couldn’t form her words. Suddenly, she was forced into a panic, and it felt like boiling oil was starting to fill her throat and she couldn’t breathe.

The scene changed, and she was sitting in an open field. The sky was a pure milky white color, and the grass stretched as far as she could see.

“Kura Avalos,” said a voice. She looked all around, but there was no one else in the field. It seemed to echo over and over in her head.

She got to her feet, and managed to say, “Hello?” Immediately after the words escaped her lips, a giant black square started to form in thin air a couple feet in front of her. It was huge – two times the size of her body. On the screen, a dark figure made itself visible to Kura.

It wore a long brown cloak, with the hood covering the top half of its face. The only human skin she could see was the small wrinkled mouth that showed an incredible grin full of crooked and rotten teeth.

Kura swallowed hard. “What are you?” she said, goose bumps rising on her arms and legs.

The figure laughed. “I sense your fear, girl,” it said with much delight. “But you have entered my maze. Most children don’t make it out alive.” Its voice was like a scratchy whisper, but Kura was determined to stand her ground.

“Your maze?” she asked. “Do you mean that you put me here?” The figure’s smile vanished. It turned into a snarl.

The figure simply straightened up and continued. “Yes, child. I want to test the intellects of children. It is my field of interest-““You’ve been killing children, thanks to your ‘field of interest!’” Kura blurted out. The figure looked like it wanted to slap her for such an outburst, but it remembered that they were not really meeting in person.

It simply ignored the insult, and continued again. “Only one child has made it out. But that is not what I came here to discuss with you, Kura Avalos. Your journey begins here. I sense something about you… something I haven’t seen in a child since… well, for a while now. I have a feeling that you might be able to make it out, but that Phoenix boy…” he paused. “You must part ways with the boy if you have plans to escape. He is but holding you back.”

Kura glared at the figure. Why would Phoenix be holding her back? But if anything, she knew that they had to stick together. They had to work together to get out of the Maze.

“No,” she said firmly.

Once again, the figure’s expression changed into a displeased snarl. “No?” it repeated. “He his holding you back, girl. You would be able to escape if you part ways with the boy. You wouldn’t want your mother to worry, now would you?” Suddenly, a picture of her mother appeared. She was sobbing, searching frantically in the woods behind their cottage. Her father and brother were there too – they all seemed to be terribly distressed.

Then the figure’s pleased form returned as her family faded away.

Kura balled up her fists, and anger coursed through her body. She was at a loss for words; what could you say to that? She didn’t her family to worry, but she couldn’t leave Phoenix… that is, if the figure was telling the truth.

Why was he so set on separating them anyway?

Would Phoenix really slow Kura down?

“I don’t believe you,” Kura said suddenly.

For a moment, the figure was at a loss for words, probably just staring at Kura though his hood.

“Who are you?” Kura asked.

“You can call me The Lkal,” he said.

Suddenly, the scene started to fade, and the Lkal vanished.

Kura was falling down a black abyss. She shrieked with fear, and she saw the sky starting to fade until it was almost gone.

Down below, she could hear the cries of children and screams of sheer pain. She closed her eyes tight, because she had a feeling that the scene down there wasn’t going to be pretty – if she didn’t die from the immense fall.

“Kura,” said a voice. It sounded familiar and comforting, but she kept falling.

“Kura!” it came again. She closed her eyes tighter, hoping to wake up from the awful nightmare.

“Kura!”