Andrew Bailey & The Eternal Maze

Chapter - 11 (v3 re-written)

  Would you believe that the world of the Greek Gods is as competitive as the humans? They wouldn't be born with a silver spoon up their mouth like the popular beliefs. It's a cruel society where the strong would rule and the weak suffer in regret. The elite would live in the famous Mount Olympus, which is the ultimate dream of every child of the Greek Gods. Thus from a young age, the children would separate from their parents, entering an institute to prepare them to becoming full fledged gods. Think of it as military school, just without the drill instructors hounding on them the whole day. The children there all know that the effort they put in would affect their future in so many ways. Martial prowess, education, knowledge, world studies and many others. The children do have the freedom of making their own schedule, hard work itself is a talent on it's own. They have to decide their schedules even while knowing majority of the children would never become a full fledged God. However all this preparations only helps when you are born with something simple yet impossible to obtain, talent.

At the age of sixteen, the children of the Greek Gods would be sent to a temple for their coming of age ceremony to be 'tested'. Furthermore children that were born from the Greek Gods that live in Mount Olympus had additional pressure. It was common knowledge that the children of the elite would naturally be elite. More so for Ethena, the daughter that was born from an incredible blood line. The legendary Athena, the Goddess of war. When Ethena entered the institute, expectations were extremely high for her however it wasn't much of a problem, she was intelligent, beautiful and just within a few weeks, she convinced majority of the institute that she was one of the fore-runners to have the privilege of living in Mount Olympus. Though behind the curtains told a different tale, Ethena worked hard to keep up her image. After the years went by, while others were resting, she poured that time into more work. What other children were learning, she had already skipped way ahead.

Ethena was a model student but she felt something was missing. Perhaps it was because even though she worked this hard, her mother had never once acknowledged her. It could also be when she goes to class everything that the institute taught was already inside her head and it became a waste of time, but none the less, this went on till she was finally sixteen, it was time for the coming of age ceremony.

None of the children had been informed of what the ceremony actually entailed. By law, none of the adults could tell their children what the ceremony was about. Little did Ethena know, her world was about to drastically change and not for the better.

The day of the ceremony, as the children who were eligible to enter gathered together, Ethena did not recognize many of the faces, there were many more times the participants she expected. Could there have been more than one institute, it was more than possible. The whole ceremony seemed more like a competition, with this many participants, it might even be a free for all blood bath. She wouldn't put it past the 'adults' to do such a thing for entertainment. After all they were already taught how to fight and they were always told that the strong would rule.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to your coming of age ceremony! It warms my heart to see all of you try your best for the past sixteen years to get where you are now. Everything that you have learned, everything that you have accomplished may or may not be useful in this event however the more the better I'd say. I'm sure there are many unfamiliar faces around you, don't need to worry, you will all be acquainted soon enough. Why? Because all of you will go through a survival game! Doesn't that sound fun!?"

As the host was expressing his excitement, the entire crowd was looking at him with disdain. Thoughts like what is this joker talking about? Is he for real? Well you get the point.

"Wow, tough crowd. Anyway, think of it as a test. If you are the first one out, a fabulous prize awaits you. The faster you complete, the better ranking you'd get. Even if you aren't the first, just completing it is "incredible". The rules are simple, you will be transported to the starting area, there would be two stages before you get to the finishing line. When you clear a stage, you would see a 'door' and behind that door would lead you to the next area. You could team up or cut down the competition by any means."

"What do you mean by any means? Does that mean...?"

"Yes, literally any means. It is a survival game after all, you few are now adults. I'd suggest start thinking and acting like it. So get with the program honey."

"Anyways thank you for listening and have a nice trip!"

With that the host disappeared and all of participants in the temple started falling, the floor beneath them was gone and they were all dropping like flies. Many of the contestants just started screaming and the strong ones were already planning their descend, it was already the start of their survival 'game'.