The Prince of Light

Chapter 18

There were about a hundred stairs. I descended each one carefully. The walls were wood. So were the stairs. At the bottom a small room opened up. It wasn't too big. I stepped off the stairs. I looked around for anything. Everything was smooth. No openings or doors. No tunnels or anything. I felt puzzled. I turned back around and gasped. The stairs were gone. Behind me was just a wall. My mind felt so confused. Then a sudden understanding dawned upon me. The maze wasn't like a walls maze. This maze was a bunch of mind games that you had to solve! I took a closer look at the room. It was a sphere. I saw something glint in the middle. Wait. Glint. That means that there is light. I noticed that my hand wasn't glowing. There was an eerie light that seemed to come from nowhere. I walked towards the glint. It was water. The tiny drop expanded. Then it expanded again. 'At this rate, it will engulf the room in a matter of minutes.' I thought. I looked at the far wall, maybe five feet away. I noticed a small opening. It was a square. A stick, slightly thinner but otherwise identical, stuck out of the hole. I looked up at the ceiling. A small opening, the same size as the water pool, was open. I pulled out the stick. I used a beam of light to cut it into four one-foot pieces. 'I hope this works. I laid them in a square around the water pool. At the edges where they touched, multicolored fire sparked. The fire went around the lines and when the fire disappeared, the wood was fused. I looked up again. Now the hole was the square. I smiled. It had worked. I pulled out more pieces and cut them. I kept laying them on top of the square and they fused together. Soon the chimney was at least six feet in the air. The ceiling was another four feet. I focused hard and floated slightly. I got the rest of the pieces and floated slowly up. My head brushed the ceiling. I laid the pieces on top of the others. The water was rising faster now. I laid more pieces on. The water rose even faster. I laid the last piece on as the water lapped the edge of the chimney. I floated down. The hole for the sticks had disappeared. I looked around. There were no openings. I frowned. Where the stairs had been, a tube opened. It was about the same size as the chimney. Water flowed out but it moved slowly, like it was alive. It kept on coming and starting forming a shape. After a few more seconds, the water stopped coming out. The hole widened and it lit up with the eerie light. I noticed it sloped down. 'The exit is blocked by some sort of water monster.' My brain lit up again. 'Monster! That's it!' I pulled out the leather journal and flipped through. Towards the back it had a section on Paragor's Maze.

'If you are unfortunate enough to discover Paragor's Maze, then you have found my personal library. Good job! Now, after you complete the first challenge, (I can't tell you how, or else you will turn to dust.),a monster made of water will form. The hole it comes out leads to the second part of the maze. But you must first defeat the monster. The only thing you can use to beat it is words. Now, words are very powerful in this room. Anything you say will come to life. But you must be specific. If you just say FIRE, then the fire was not specified to do anything. It would just burn the closest thing to it. Mainly, you. Be careful and good luck.'

I sighed. The water had formed a snake. It hissed at me. I concentrated.

"Dog, attack water." A shimmer appeared in front of me. A Rottweiler appeared and ran off. It jumped onto the snake. The snake was solid so the dog clawed and bit the snake. The snake reared back and struck at the dog. The dog flew through the air and hit the wall. The dog exploded into dust. The snake turned to me again. "Fire, hit water." I said. Another shimmer and a bolt of fire shot towards the snake. The fire sizzled against the water. The snake hissed as steam floated up from its neck. A small portion of the water had evaporated. The snake struck at me. "Force field!" I yelled. A shimmer and then the snake struck the force field. Its face liquefied and expanded over the force field. It recoiled and its face reformed. "Freeze water!" I yelled. The snake screeched as frost appeared on its tail. The frost quickly crept up the body of the snake. A few seconds later, the snake was completely frozen. I quickly shouted out another command. "Break ice." The ice snake shattered, making sure that the snake was vanquished. I quickly jumped into the tunnel and slid down.