The Maze Challenge

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"Finish the maze by outsmarting the maze and your competition doing so will grant you your freedom. "

The words ring in my head like a siren. Wailing over and over. Again and again. Just keep moving, I remind myself. I glance up at the sky one last time before I continue moving though the maze. Left around a corner. Right. Left again. Up a flight of stairs and across a metal bridge. I keep going in the same pattern. Left, right, left. 

I reach a grassy clearing, with tall sunflowers guarding my view. I follow the path to a stream. I look around. Down the stream I see someone. A girl, with tan skin and a high blonde ponytail. She wears a skirt and corset but though sweating looks extremely elegant. She raises her skirt and jumps to a rock in the middle of the stream. Her moves godlike, never faltering. She jumps to another rock. And another until she makes in across the stream. She looks around, and we lock in eye contact. Though in only a moment, it feels like we have known one another for years, know each other's pains and hurts. She looks away quickly and continues running.

I stand still, knowing the Goddess is gone, but still yearning to see her again, dancing across the river. I shake my head. This is not the time to be swept away, I chastise myself, especially by a godlike beauty who you will never see again. You will either make it out or will be dead. Either way you won't see her again. I won't see anyone again. Not my sisters or brother, my parents or my friends. No one except whoever waits at the end. The freedom bringer or death himself. 

I hop across the stream, but almost fall over. Rock, rock, rock, water, rock, land. Back on the path, through woods, sand, water (again), back to the tall stone walls of the maze. I run further, and further. I must finish and I must be first. Get my freedom, survive this. I must get through. I find myself entering a small square room in the maze. Bamboo pots line the wall where I came from, though the door is no longer visible. In front of me are two doors. A person in front of each. 

"One of us says the truth, the other tells lies," the one on the left says

"One question may be asked and one question only," said the other.

"One door goes to the end, the other to the beginning," said the door on the left again. 

"But how will I know which door is which?"

"Use your question, but seeing as you just asked a question, well…" they trail off, not answering, nor speaking at all. I scan the room, looking for a sign. Something, anything, that would allow me to find a way out. I see the bamboo. There I walk towards it. I pull a piece of bamboo out of the pot and hold it firmly in my hands as I turn back towards the doors. I sprint and jump, pushing the bamboo to the ground as I reach the doors. I land, wobbling on top of the walls. I look around, now seeing that the end is not far. I run steadily towards the end. Looking below at the others. As I reach the end, a man sitting on a large black throne, dripping in red. The girl standing to the left of him, now in a long black gown and a guillotine to the right of the man, a basket of heads slightly in front. I lower my head. Not daring to look at the man in black, accepting my fate.

"Hello, Alas," he says, startling me enough to raise my head, "I am  Death and this is Morana, my head demon. Welcome to the end. You seem to have finished the maze in the most impressive way. By outsmarting the maze itself. I congratulate you. You are special, so I'll make you a deal. You take my spot, and live eternity out as the king of the dead, or You shall end as all the others," he jesters to the basket, "your choice. But it is a limited time offer. The clock is ticking. Going once. Twice…" 

I reach my hand out, "Deal." He stands up and walks towards me. He shakes my hand, and my ragged clothes turn into a red suit. A black crown appearing on my head. 

"Show him the ropes, Morana. Or don't. He seems smart enough to figure it out," Death says before snapping his fingers and disappearing in a blur of smoke. I look at Morana, who is slowly walking towards a staircase that appeared at the foot of the throne. She turns around when she reaches the first step. 

"Are you coming, your majesty?"

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