Written By: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

Noah cocked his shotgun and switched on its underslung flashlight as they began their trek through the seven mile maze between them and their mark. Maggie had only just gotten into a tactical stance with her pistol and knife when Noah held a hand out to stop her from going any further. He knelt down and forcefully dragged his finger across the floor creating a lite squeaking sound. “This place is metal,” Noah replied as he wiped his hand over the ground around him. Standing up he focused on his finger tips, “not only that, but it’s unusually clean for a place with no sign of lighting.” He turned to his reflection in the wall next to him, “you can see yourself.” Then he turned to where his daughter once stood, “come on, let’s keep… Maggie?” He aimed his flashlight everywhere, “Maggie?” but she wasn’t there, “Maggie!”

*          *

Maggie had only just gotten into a tactical stance with her pistol and knife when she walked right into, “Ow! what’s the hold…up?” a solid metal wall, “Dad?” She aimed her pistol’s flashlight everywhere, but Noah was not there. “Dad!” her voice echoed down the halls seemingly without end. Taking a single step around a corner, Maggie moved into a roll narrowly avoiding decapitation from a horizontally swinging ax. Readied, Maggie aimed her pistol at where the ax had been, keeping her knife up. There was nothing there, “hmm…” After assuring there was nothing anywhere near her, she took another step forward, “shit,” immediately moving from a roll to a serpentine sprint as projectiles shot at her from every angle. Barely out running the unrelenting barrage, she dove over a horizontally swung ax, dodged a vertical swing, and powerslid under another horizontal swing before jumping at and off a wall in front of her to make a hard left turn. Entering her landing with a roll she tumbled through a shifting wall just as it shut tight behind her and the path before her changed as the maze silently shifted. She sat there a moment breathing heavily, “at least these hallways appear to be going up at a gradual incline.”

*          *

“Lots of traps around here,” Noah’s breathing had become heavy from avoiding death at every step he had taken so far. Taking a deep breath he took another step forward and his foot was pulled out from under him causing him to drop his shotgun. Hanging upside down, Noah quickly drew his knife and cut the line. Hitting the ground hard, he blocked an incoming vertical ax swing and gazed at the executioner’s style ax blade who’s shaft disappeared into shadow. Even though he could see no one, he could swear something was applying force against his brace. After a brief moment the ax slowly moved back into the darkness it had been swung from. Reaching to reclaim his shotgun, Noah could not find it, “damn.” Returning to his feet as quickly as he could he reached for his pistol, but it wasn’t in his holster and his rifle was no longer slung over his back. “No flashlight,” Noah sighed. “I can do this. I can do this,” he told himself as he felt his way through the maze, “I’m getting too old for this.”

*          *

Maggie had ran, avoiding constant certain death for miles and her legs hurt, so she put her back to a wall, “oh, come on. Really?” she could not feel her shoulder slung rifle or shotgun. “Brilliant,” she let herself slide down the wall to the floor and sighed as a projectile hit her pistol right out of her hand. Standing up quickly she watched her disarmed pistol slide off into the darkness as its light sputtered and died. Turning to an ear wrenching sound like a nail on a chalkboard, Maggie covered her ears and ran in the opposite direction into wall after wall as the horrid sound followed her through the dark. Hitting one last wall, she had reached a dead end, so she turned her back to it and faced the sound that pursued her, but it had stopped. She waited and waited, but nothing came for her. Alone and unable to even see her hand she leaned back and fell down, hitting her head hard against the metal floor. “Ow, where’d the wall go?” she rubbed the back of her head

“Maggie?” Noah fell to his knees and felt for his daughter and sighed with relief when his hand touched her arm.

“Dad!” Maggie grabbed her father and hugged him tight. “I lost my flashlight… and my guns.”

“Me too,” Noah replied as he helped her back to her feet. “Come on, we have to go.”

“No further,” A voice came out of the darkness as it was suddenly pierced by blinding light. “I made it no further than this exact spot.” A tall slender blur began to reach Noah and Maggie’s focus as their eyes adjusted to the now brightly lit room they now found themselves in. “I could see its peak,” the seven foot tall Fennec Fox in black armor remenised. “This is mount conquest. It was tradition for my kind to climb its summit upon the eve of our seventh year of life when our six-inch retractable claws would be fully developed. I, however,” the Fennec turned his gaze to them, “was born a halfbreed. The only thing I had gained from my Northlandish half was my height and the six-inch retractable claws on my feet, but not my hands,” he held his paw-like hands up to show them. “So I fell, from here to the ground. As was custom for my ancestors I should have been put out of my misery, but Drak saw potential in my Westlandish blood. He saved me.”

“How touching,” Noah interrupted. “He’s still going to die.”

“Confidence,” the Fennec smiled and pulled his ax from the ground before gingerly teasing the strategically placed triggers along its shaft. “I am Aleister Kieth Dimir, personal assassin to Drak Mountainhiem. I made it no further than this,” he pointed the business end of his ax at them,”and niether will you.”

“Your defenses couldn’t stop us,” Maggie rebutted. “What makes you think you can?”

“Defenses?” Aleister questioned.

“The maze is full of traps,” Noah wondered why Aleister was unaware of this.

“Those were not traps,” Aleister replied, spinning his ax into its ready position in one hand behind his back, blade up. “That was me.”