Time Maze

Eyes on Stalks

Tyson couldn't remember where he was, but he had a feeling that he had to wake up as soon as possible. Was Tyson at his grandmother's house? Or did he sleep at a friend's house? All he knew for sure was that he was not in his own comfortable bed.

The feeling of dread which bled through his barely conscious mind was the only driving force in his otherwise empty mind. He had to open his eyes. There was something he was forgetting, something important.

"The monster!" Tyson thought as his eyes flew open.

However, what he saw wasn't the enormous Minotaur creature hovering over him. It wasn't those red eyes from hell that looked at him but bright blue ones, the eyes that would have reminded him of the sky if they hadn't been clouded by worry.

"What? How?" Tyson muttered, trying to get up, to run.

"Shh, stay down. You are safe now," Sybil said, sounding far too gentle for someone who rarely showed any emotions.

"Am I dying or something?" Tyson asked, confused.

He didn't feel any actual pain, but he did hear that people in shock sometimes failed to feel anything. They couldn't even realize if they were bleeding heavily or missing body parts.

Marcus's low snicker was a relief because it meant his assumption was wrong. He wasn't dying after all, or else his friend wouldn't have been able to let out such a carefree sound.

"I told you he would think he was seriously injured if he saw you doting on him," Marcus told Sybil mockingly. "You are never that caring."

"Well, excuse me for caring," Sybil said in a huff disappearing from Tyson's line of sight.

When she moved aside, Tyson could notice that he had somehow made it to the safety of the hollows in the ground. Besides Marcus, already munching something, two other people were there.

Only then did Tyson fully remember what had happened. He was about to be trampled over by the beast when one of the two individuals, his guess was Beor, stepped up in front of him and commanded the thing to stop.

It did.

"How did you do that?" Tyson asked Beor more accusingly than he intended.

Beor shifted uncomfortably, not ready to talk about what happened but realizing that they had to discuss it. After all, it might lead them to what they all needed, a way out.

"It's a long story," Beor said, running his fingers through his hair Loralei hiding behind him.

"We have enough time. Until the next portal appears, all we can do is wait," Tyson said, carefully lifting himself to a sitting position. "Why not spend that time explaining how in the world did you manage to stop that thing with one simple command?"

"He did what?" Sybil asked whirrling around to face Beor. "You said that you got to Tyson in time and dragged him in here when he fainted!"

"When I lost consciousness. Men don't faint," Tyson corrected automatically. "He stopped it. I saw it. It was the last thing I saw."

"He is right. I did stop the robot," Beor said hesitantly. "But you have to understand, I didn't know...I only realized when...It was a shock to me as well..."

"What are you talking about?" Sybil asked impatiently. "Why don't you just start from the beginning and explain how is it that you are the only Mazer who can do that?"

"Well, not the only one," Beor said, looking at his girlfriend.

"Beor!" Sybil exclaimed, already at the end of her rope. "Just explain, please."