Labyrinth: Saving the Fallen City

The Danger of Beauty

My initial fear of seeing the goblin king again was covered with teasing and my own comic relief. Now, hearing his threats, my fear returned and I felt like a mouse in his little maze again. He strode forwards with purpose with me slowly dragging behind. I didn’t like Jareth having this much control. As if he could smell fear, he smiled ahead of me and turned another corner with purpose. 

“Why can’t you just poof into the middle of the labyrinth?” I asked cursing myself for questioning him again. He remained silent while tapping his finger on each block and mouthing numbers. “Jareth” I said a little louder. Swiftly, he turned in the dust and pushed me against the wall. “Sarah if you don’t keep quiet I will carry out my threat right here, right now” He said looking into my very soul. “Then, Answer. My. Question” I ground out. “You want to know why I became powerless. I am powerless because of that man on my throne. Getting to the middle is the only way I can reclaim my abilities. That room is all I had left, period” He finished breathing deeply.

            Roots and vines slowly moved behind my back, pushing into my skin. I tried to move from the hold the vines were getting on me we Jareth pushed me back again. “Jareth, the vines…” I said wincing not from pain but from my imaginations placing them as snakes. I had feared snakes ever since my first ever encounter with Jareth when I knew him only as the goblin king. His hold loosened and I pulled free. The vines rushed back into the walls and the black fog replaced it. I held my stomach trying to get rid of the sick feeling fear had brought me.

            The sun had risen to late morning but being this deep in the labyrinth, with the fog it could easily be misguided as evening. Every once in a while a rock would crumble to the ground from the walls and block our paths or the ground would break open threatening to drop us into abyss. Plants grew from the cracks waving around like it was underwater, and eerie noises would scale the labyrinth walls in search of us.

            I saw a break in the labyrinth right as Jareth did and my spirits rose, this could be the middle! We emerged from the tight labyrinth to a strange stone circle. Grey stone climbed high into the sky with four statues along the circles edges. In the middle of the large circle was a platform with stone flowers around it and some type of material draped over the top, but the stone forbid me to understand what the material was. The atmosphere was freezing and the room brought upon a natural fear inside me. This place didn’t feel right at all.

Stone gargoyles sat on perches a couple feet below the top where the grey stone ended. They were fat little creatures. The only thing scary about them was their sharp, pointed wings and gnarled teeth. Their faces were turned towards the beautiful women of stone of around them in protection. The gargoyles sat perched on their pedestals ready to take flight in case of anything that could harm the statues.

            The statues of the beautiful women were stunning. Despite being in stone, their completion was flawless. The dresses they wore that were tinted with unseen color, flowed down to their gorgeously sculpted feet. Each wore a crown of flowers, different types for each girl, in their flowing hair that was woven together by strong braided like vines. I felt naked and filthy in their presence as I stood in my jeans and flannel shirt.

The first girl, who stood closest to me on my left, was the shortest; she held youth in her face with the simple beauty of innocence. She looked about sixteen and cradled a baby fawn in her arms, looking down at it lovingly. The next girl, who stood tall with grace and pose, was the most beautiful. She held no smile on her face but had the power to steal the attention of any wondering eye; she held only a mirror in her hands.

The third girl wore a dress that molded into the ground and was sewn together with clean roots and leaves. She gazed up towards the sky with a brilliant smile on her face. Her arm was raised with bird on the tip of her finger and in her other hand, held palm up just below her chest was a sprouting tree. The fourth and final girl on my right stood the tallest and proudest. Her hair flowed wildly as if picked up by the wind and her face was stern. She held a spear placed firmly into the ground. She stood with her shoulders back placing intimidation in any person who saw her.