Raining Nitre

The Maze

The smell of rotting flesh flowed through the air getting stronger as I neared the maze. I stepped past a gigantic oak tree and froze in place because of the stench. In front of the gate was a giant pile of rotting corpses with a pool of blood on the ground underneath it. As I looked up and down the enormous pile I noticed that towards the bottom were skeletons rather than corpses. Flies swarmed around the bodies landing and taking off again. Most of the bodies had armor that an adventurer would use but some seem like travelers who probably just wanted shelter.

With my fingers pinching my nose I walked around the bodies, stepping on severed fingers pieces of bone. On the ground I noticed a bloody paper underneath a decapitated head, releasing the pressure of my fingers from my nose I moved the head aside and picked up the piece of paper on the ground. It read, This Is The Maze Of Sir Rayburn II. If You Are Lucky Enough To Reach The Center And Defeat The Guardian You Shall Be Rewarded With Sir Rayburn's Personal Weapons. Warning- if you aren't careful you'll end up like these unfortunate souls. I laid the note back on the ground and headed through the archway.

I slowly walked through the front entrance and looked around, to my left was a small pathway surrounded by tall hedges and to my right was the same. I took a left and started to speed up seeing little need for worry. Sprinting at top speed I rounded a corner and ran into a spider web. The web was so strong and durable I couldn't reach my sword to cut the web. The web began to shake and I managed to turn my head to see a pitch black spider staring down on me. It's fangs dropped a green liquid as it began to cover me with string. I started trying to chew through some of the strands but they were as hard as steel so my tooth chipped. A second spider appeared on the web and struck the first, oddly enough they begin to speak to each other in weird language, "What the hell are you doing George!" The second spider said in a language mainly composed of clicking.

"I was preparing this blood bag to eat. What's wrong with that?" George answered in a rapid tone.

"You're on a diet! You can't eat anything with such high levels of water in it! Don't you want to have another thousand children!" The woman spider spoke as she started to click even louder.

"Yes Martha." George quietly clicked as he hung his head and swiftly cut me free.

I walked away as they began to rapidly click at each other again but after I turned a corner I heard nothing. The Maze was so silent I could hear my heart beat and my stomach growl with hunger. After thirty minutes of walking I started to hear rustling of leaves near the top of the hedges. I looked upwards and saw a dark figure jump from one hedge to another. After waiting for a few moments silence returned. Nothing made a sound for another three hours. After the third hour I arrived in the center of the maze. The large hedge created a tall circular wall surrounding a platform raised on stilts. Underneath the platform was a throne, atop the throne was a minotaur. It sat in the chair with its bull head leaning on its human hand and its other hand fingered at its tail. Leaning against the throne was a seven foot long katana.

I walked towards the minotaur and said, "Minotaur! Will you let me pass or do we have to engage in battle?"

"You must defeat me to gain access to the treasure above us."He said pointing upwards as he began to stand up and grab his katana.

I drew my scythe and readied myself for his first attack. He charged forward with a front swing. I dodged out of the way and attacked him with my scythe. He dodged to the right and managed to slice my chest with his back swing. I recoiled backwards with a back flip and positioned myself for another attack. I jumped fowards holding the scythe so the blade was behind me pointing away from my body. Aimed at his chest he blocked the blade with his hands and gripped it. He swung the scythe, with me attached, towards a hedge. I stood up and charge him again swinging my scythe down from above my head. He blocked the attack with his katana, causing the wooden handle to break apart. I drew my longer scimitar and prepared myself for his next attack. He brought his katana down from above his head and I sprinted behind him and cut off his foot. He fell down making a loud thump sound when he landed. He slid against a wall and propped himself up on one leg. I ran at him pulling out my second scimitar and he swung at me with his katana. I dodged to the left and brought my blade down severing his hand from his wrist. He fell to the ground obviously having lost too much blood.

I left the minotaur and jumped onto the raised platform. On the platform was a white marble altar with gold trimming. In the center were two tri blade gauntlets. I grabbed them and placing them on my hands fireballs shot out if the platform and set the maze on fire. I looked around for an escape but I saw none. I noticed the minotaur was no longer leaning against the hedge and even the puddle of blood was no longer. Flames began creeping towards me quickly igniting the grass around the platform.