The Mirror

Chapter 7 [2/4]

The time flies by so fast, it's morning again in the Mirror World. Minseong, Daesun and Sikyung appeared from their mirror, looking all fresh and ready for the adventure. They are being introduced to Prince Bialaer and Prince Soulling (Minseong seems a little scared of them). Prince Soulling left the forest before the guardians. The elves said goodbye to the guardians as they took the opposite route as Prince Soulling's.

"What's awaited us in the end of the forest, Princess?" asked Minseong, walking side by side with Sungmi.

"As I remember, it used to be a wide river in front of us," answered Sungmi, "but it's so weird as I can't hear the sound of the water."

"Then maybe the river has become a land now. Maybe it has been a long time since Princess Sungmi came here," said Sikyung cheerfully while swaying her bow.

"Don't you guys feel weird since there is no sunlight that can pass through the forest in this area?" asked Myungwoo, "but we passed sunlight around half an hour ago."

Everyone turns around and understands what Myungwoo talked about. They clearly can see the sunlight passing through the dense forest far behind them, but it seems like they only have grayish clouds in the sky now.

"Or, it's because now they make... what do you call this?" asked Bonhwa, who walked alone in the front line, "a giant maze here."

Everybody (except Princess Sungmi and Bonhwa) gasped loudly. In front of them, they can see a tall grass wall, they can't see the end of the wall at the top or at the sides. Minseong ran to the left side and quickly disappeared from their sight. It looks like the maze only has one entrance and it's looking dark until they can't see what's inside the entrance. And as the others were still in shock, he came back to them.

"I can't find the end of the maze."

"Who made this giant maze?" asked Minsook as he touched the wall, "it looks sturdy but... wait! Is it... a spell?"

"Right, Minsook, this maze is only a spell, but it's a very powerful spell. Someone is expecting us here," explained Sungmi, "I think we are getting close to the castle of Fred Country. It might be on the other side of this maze."

"So if we can break this maze, can we continue our journey?" asked Minsook who suddenly grabs his spell book out of nowhere.

"No one can break this maze no matter how powerful a person is."

"So what should we do?" asked Kichul, the three ends of his trident shining brightly.

"We can just pass through it. It won't be easy, so guardians, prepare yourself," said Sungmi while knocking the wall using her chain, "come on out. We are ready to play."

Sikyung was screaming and hiding a little behind Myungwoo as a golden statue slid closer from the dark entrance. It's shining so bright until they need time to recognize what's coming to them: it's a sphinx. It's more mythical than the sphinx that Myungwoo ever saw in the news: it has human (male) face with long wavy black hair, its body looks sturdy and full of muscles; however it doesn't have human lower body but it has lion lower body including the tail; and it's sitting on an altar while its right leg is holding a crystal ball against the altar. The sphinx is so big that they thought the sphinx was a statue, but it finally talked and made Sikyung scream once again.

"Kim Sungmi, Kim Myungwoo, Cho Bonhwa, Kim Minseong, Lee Daesun, Park Minsook, Choi Kichul and Kang Sikyung. I've been expecting all of you here."

It talked with a deep and loud voice, Myungwoo found it familiar, just like Prince Bialaer's voice when he talked.

"I know you must be expecting us to solve your riddles. So tell us the riddles."

"I know that all of you love games, you know, like your training session."