Author's Game Entries

Task Two: The Laybrinth

Hope is a fickle thing. You want it when you don't have it, and you don't always realise when you do have it. At the moment though, for Cadmus at least, hope is nowhere in sight.

Let's just say he'd been too busy making a fool of himself and irritating people at the banquet that it had completely slipped his mind that he might need help once he finally got in the labyrinth. He'd forgotten to make allies. Cadmus the idiot; yet another name to add to his list of describing adjectives.

So here he is, standing at the entrance to the labyrinth without  an ally or a plan. He could tell all the other sacrifices are here as well, as he could hear their hushed murmuring, and by the sound of it there is something big in the entrance way that everyone is talking about.

"Supplies!" He hears a female voice hiss in a hushed but excited whisper to the person next to her, and another person could be heard making a list of what to grab from the pile of goods.

Even so, no one seems to have moved towards the pile or entered the labyrinth yet, and they all seem to be waiting for something, like they're all hesitant to be the first person to step foot into the maze. Cadmus is unsure exactly who the person brave enough to be first is, when they finally do step forward, but as soon as they do it's like a dam has been shattered, and all the other tributes flood towards the entrance.

They all seem to be focused solely on their own survival though, and Cadmus could hear violent fights start to break out over the supplies. He hesitates and stays back from the pile, his heartbeat starting to accelerate at the sound of swords being unsheathed. The supplies have been completely forgotten now and he only has one thought in his mind; he needs to get out of here. He needs to hide.

Cadmus is unable to come up with a plan to get around the fighting though before he is abruptly interrupted by the sound of fleshing hitting flesh in a harsh punch, heard centimetres from his face. He reels back as the person who'd been punched is thrown backwards into him and he sucks in a sharp gasp. Shoving the person off of him, Cadmus lets the breath out in a hiss and scrambles to get away from the fight, his ears tuned to the every movement of the two struggling sacrifices.

Fortunately the two seem to ignore him and Cadmus almost manages to get around the supply pile and into the 'safety' of the labyrinth when his feet to catch on a discarded spear and he trips. Tumbling to the ground, he lets out out a yelp of alarm as he hits the mud pacted ground before he quickly rolls over onto his back and tries to sit up.

All hell seems to have broken loose at this point, and the scent of blood is starting to make the air thick and difficult to breathe. Cadmus finds that those still by what was left of the supply pile are locked in combat, the ringing clang of their weapons clashing causing everything else that could be heard to sound quiet in comparison.

But all the other sounds that could be heard are also important, to Cadmus at least, and he can feel his heart crawling up into his throat and creating a lump. He could barely hear his own breathing in the chaotic clamor, his quickening heartbeat only managing to make it harder to hear and increasing his panic further.

The longer Cadmus finds himself sitting the more he feels himself growing open to an attack and in a quick moment of panic, he snatches up the spear at his feet that had originally caused him to trip. He's about to get to his feet and flee from the chaos, but he freezes as he hears the whistling sound of a fast approaching object pierce the deafening noise.

Upon instinct he instantly darts to the side, and he could tell by the preceding thud of a sword sinking into the soft ground behind him that he had just narrowly avoided a blow to the head. Letting out a foul curse, Cadmus scrambles to his feet and bolts out of there, escaping around the pile and finally into the labyrinth, leaving his attacker and the clamorous fights behind.

Cadmus is instantly made aware when he's entered the labyrinth not only by the solid stone beneath his feet but by the sudden chill that comes over him and the way the darkness felt like a physical presence around him.

Shuddering, he clutches the spear in his hand tighter before he directs the weapon to the ground and taps it in front of him. He is surprised to find the ground in front of him filled with potholes as he walks, and luckily enough with the use of the spear he is able to avoid the worst of them to prevent a sprained or twisted ankle.

As he continues down the steadily growing damp corridor, his heart still hammers in his chest from the adrenaline of the outside fight, and it still doesn't want to slow down. His anticipation of someone silently sneaking up on him is almost maddening and he has to make an actual effort to distract himself from that thought.

Sucking in a large calming breath, Cadmus pauses and holds it for a moment before letting it out in a shout. "Echo!" He exclaims loudly, and while it seems somewhat childish, listening to the returning 'echo... echo... echo...' serves an actual purpose.

Cadmus lets out a sigh and continues tapping his way down the corridor, this time somewhat faster than before for fear of someone having heard him. He now knew that the hallway was long, pretty much indecipherably long, and that not only was it wide, but it had a high ceiling. He guesses that it's probably big enough for a large animal or two men to comfortably walk side by side.
After hitting his spear against the walls and trying to hit the ceiling, Cadmus found he was right.
It is a few more steps before Cadmus hears a ground rumbling sound that causes him to freeze. The rumbling even causes the walls to tremble from the force of it, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what it was. All the sacrifices must have entered the labyrinth now; the number of them that didn't could only have been decided by who had met their death before entering.

Cadmus feels his panic finally start to subside into something more substantial, something that he could hold onto and something that would hold onto him. There is a flickering hope that he may still make it through yet, as the first challenge has been avoided now. But then again, it isn't his hope that is turning his limps to lead. It isn't hope that is making him feel like he may never feel the rays of sunlight ever again.

Dread is a terrible thing, and is almost worse than giving a person hope, because hope can fade. Dread on the other hand will stay with you until the anticipated moment of fear; it's something that goes hand and hand with hope. You have hope you will succeed, but along with that is always the fear that you won't.
The door to the labyrinth has been shut. There is no escaping now.