Andrew Bailey & The Eternal Maze

Chapter - 9 v2.1

It is said when you are close to death, you would see your whole life flash before your eyes. I can't say about others but it was a little different for me. Everything was in slow motion in my case. I saw everything clearly, the expressions of the two girls, trying to reach for me. Even the root that was about to pierce through me, I saw it all. I resigned myself to fate.

As the root pierced my chest, directly towards my heart, I felt every second of it. It was a weird feeling. I had been shot at, stabbed and even tortured but this felt different. When the root finally pierced through, I dropped the book to the ground and fell onto my knees. Followed by collapsing onto the ground. It was then I totally blacked out. Little did I know, my fate was about to be changed once again.

As I fell deeper into the darkness, the voices all around me started to talk. Regrets, vengeance, unfulfilled dreams. The voices around me kept increasing. It was driving me insane, it was getting louder and louder, over and over. 

"Stop it! STOP TALKING!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while covering my ears.

As the voices faded out, a woman stood in front of me. She had silky long dark hair, completely black pupils and a pale complexion. Wearing gothic styled clothing completely suited her, along with her dark crown. She looked like the queen of the night.

As she stared down at me, her cold eyes seemed like they were void of any emotion.

As I stared at her in a daze. She pointed her parasol at me.

"Human, do thou desire salvation?"

"What are you saying?"

"I can grant thy desire. I could give thee salvation. I could provide you a second chance."

"Do I need to relive that nightmare?" I blurted out.

"It's entirely your decision. As we speak your little friends are having a rather hard time."

The woman showed me a glimpse at what was happening. The two girls were rushing towards my body, along with the roots headed for them. The skeletons that were between them and the tree had were all destroyed the moment they touch the roots.

"Stop them! Please, they are rushing to their deaths!" I protested.

"There is nothing I can do for them. If they disappear would thou feel something? After all, you aren't considered a living being anymore. Let thy friends join you shortly."

"Unacceptable. Bring me back, I will not let them die."

"Human, how laughable, even if you could head back, what could thou do? You would die a dog's death."

"Then, tell me what should I do to save them. TELL ME WHAT DO I NEED TO DO!"

"No matter what type of creature you are, no matter what environment you are in, only the strong survive. The strongest is the law. Make a contract with me. In exchange for your desire, you will present me with your everything."

"My everything?"

"Yes, your everything. Your body, your soul and even every single drop of your blood will belong to me. In exchange, you could be a king with me by your side. You will have 'strength' I shall ask thee one more time, does thou desire a contract?"

"Yes."

"State thy name."

"Andrew Bailey."

"Does thou, Andrew Bailey, promise to become my brethren, my body, my soul for all eternity."

"I do."

"The contract has been sealed. Thy desires shall be granted. Everything shall be shaped in the name of my king. But be warned, weakness will be unacceptable, it must never be shown.

As my consciousness faded, my body rose and stood up. The hole in my heart was closing, I was regenerating my body at a rapid pace.

"Andrew?" the girls called out my name.

During that time, you could say I wasn't myself. I was not in control of my own body. As the roots were about to strike Michelle and Emma, my body just appeared in front of the roots and caught them barehanded.

The two roots I caught encircled my hands and dragged my body towards the tree. This time the tree wasn't playing around anymore. It was coming at me to kill me. It entangled fifty percent of its roots, all aiming at my body. Just imagine a fortress with hundreds of spearmen waiting to rip apart the enemy. The scene in front of me was precisely that. As the roots came straight at my body, it was but a simple task to break the restrains and dodge all of them. One by one they missed and speared the ground, causing cracks all over.

The tree was uprooting more and more, fifty... sixty... seventy... eighty... Perhaps it was going to self-preservation mode. It just became thirty percent stronger. However, it wasn't of any use. As over a thousand roots came for my head, my body jumped into the shadows, heading straight the tree, my body thrusted my barehand into its trunk piercing inwards.

The tree shirked in pain. As my body removed its core, it began shrivelling up. The tree's core was almost like a human heart. It was thumping hard and fast. My body dropped the core into my shadow and poof it was gone.

After the excitement died down, Emma and Michelle came running up to me, both of them had a worried face on after seeing what had just happened.

"Andrew is that you? Are you alright?"

As my body turned around, they were scared half to death. My eyes were completely black, and all around my body, emanating a dense scary aura that was obvious even to the girls who did not have any combat experience.

"Hm? His little friends are here huh. Well girls, take care of this body."

As my body fell to the ground, both of them tried to catch me. As they weren't strong enough, they landed on their bums while trying to help me.

The girls looked around in confusion, wondering where the voices came from.

The spirits trapped there were finally free. The tree was no longer there and they were no longer bound to the grounds. They could finally find peace...
With a bright glow, the spirits had disappeared, though Emma and Michelle did not know what just happened.

"Just what on earth is going on! Seriously.. Just what are you Andrew?" Emma said.

"We can just leave the questions when he gets up. After all he did try his best to save us." Michelle said while stroking my head on her lap.

"But still! How did he dodge hundreds of those roots? A normal human can barely dodge just the one! My brain is frying from thinking too much."

"Emma, we have been through some crazy times all this while. This is simply just another of those times." Chuckled Michelle.

"Seems like you have gotten used to the crazy, Michelle."

"How rude!"

They both chuckled at each other.

"In any case... He did save us many times I admit, it was really brave of him." Emma poked my face.

"Come to think about it, is this really over?" Said Emma.

"Hmm? Isn't the tree gone? Even the skeletons returned back to the ground. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, it's just that after taking out that tree, would there be any dramatic events that occur just like in those movies? It did seem pretty important after all." Said Emma.

"You just had to say that cliché line Emma, I don't want another event appearing anytime soon. So don't jinx it."

While they were speaking, the holes in the ground that were made by the roots were causing cracks everywhere. With a sudden shake, they could tell that the place was collapsing.

"You see! Never, ever say those cliché lines. It's practically begging something bad to happen!" Michelle scolded Emma.

"I'm sorryyyyy!" Emma yelled while carrying me. They were trying to get out of there as the place collapsed.

"Geez! What did Andrew eat, are guys supposed to be this heavy?" Emma complained.

"You're a cop right! Less talking, more running!"

"But where? We couldn't find the exit the first time!"

As they were arguing, a huge shadow was cast above them. As they looked up, it was a huge dislodged boulder from above and it just about to squash them.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" They screamed from the top of their lungs.

"WE JUST SURVIVED ONE KILLER TREE AND NOW WE ARE GOING TO BE SQUASHED BY A BOULDER!? THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" Emma yelled.

Emma and Michelle knew they could not run away from such a huge boulder. They covered their eyes and braced themselves for the worst.