𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀 | No way out, nothingness, or the impenetrable. A puzzle or something puzzling.
Esmerelda spent the school year dog-hunting after discovering the truth about the mortal side of her family during a 'visit' to the Underworld. Her summer v...
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▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE ▬▬▬
ESMERELDA HONESTLY HAD NO IDEA where she was going, which was no surprise since she was stuck inside the Labyrinth, after all. She didn't even know how much time had passed... Hopefully she hadn't been gone for too long. Sirius might worry.
She wished she had dressed up more appropriately for the underground weather. There was a breeze here, and it was making her cold. Then again, how was she supposed to know that she'd fall into the Labyrinth? Nevertheless, a flimsy tee-shirt and athletic shorts weren't very good clothes for the Labyrinth. She'd have to make a mental note of that for future references (though she really hoped she'd never come back here ever again).
After gods knows how many hours later, she finally ran into a boulder blocking her path. How annoying. Not wanting to go back a hundred yards, she gave it a good push with her telekinesis and got it out of her way.
Now she was standing before a twenty-foot-square cement room. The opposite wall was covered with metal bars. This was a prison cell.
I wonder how dad is doing... She thought as she stepped inside. Behind her, the boulder suddenly moved itself back in place.
Rather than bothering with it, she drew closer to the bars and unlocked it with her magic. She looked around, but all she could see were rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard. There were at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.
She was in a prison. At least she wasn't in the Labyrinth anymore...
Suddenly she heard something from above. A deep sobbing sound that echoed throughout the seemingly empty building. It was followed by another sound, a raspy voice muttering something incoherent.
Quietly, Esmerelda walked around. That was when she spotted it.
There was a monster on the second floor balcony, across the courtyard. It was the worst thing she had ever seen. It was a cross between a woman from the waist up, and a dragon down below. The body was at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs were sprouting actual snakes, hundreds of them that were each darting around like they were looking for food. The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's. Around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of various animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures.
Esmerelda quickly Mist traveled into a nearby cell before she could be spotted. She revealed her labrys and pressed herself against the wall to listen.
The woman's spoke in an ancient language. Whatever it was, it was older than Ancient Greek... but for some odd reason, Esmerelda could understand it*.
"You will work for the master or suffer," she snarled. She seemed to be talking to the sobbing man on the second floor.
The sobbing stopped temporarily as a deep, wounded voice responded, "I will not serve."
