Salaya's hand erupts with fire, illuminating the cavern. “This is it.”

Tolmin casts about until he finds the first door. It towers over them, a crater in the dark stone wall. Two ogres, one on the shoulders of the other, could pass through without harm. At chest height, he finds a gleaming red opening no bigger than an eye socket. Salaya means to ask what comes next, but fortunately holds her tongue long enough to avoid ridicule. Tolmin slips the red stone Rol gave him into the socket. Hidden gears shift, and clockwork unwinds. The doors grinds apart, rock rumbling against rock, to reveal yet more dark cave. He gives one last look back at the speck of light shining through the entrance far above them, then lights a torch. “We'll see you later. Perhaps.” He winks then steps through, the rest of the Stonewatch team behind. The door stands open, waiting. Salaya again suppresses the urge to turn and run. To run and escape this dismal place and whatever rusty relic Kio hid.

“This must be ours.” Ebin approaches a second door with a blue socket. He too inserts the stone. This door swings open silently. No grinding, no clockwork clicks.

“Someone must have greased the hinges to ours.” Annya turns to Salaya before entering. “I'll see you soon. Stay safe everyone.” Then she's gone. Two doors now stand open.

Another door. As they approach it, they find the socket is yellow. Strange. Salaya gives Ariel a look then continues, holding up her hand for better visibility. “Just light the torches.” Eje holds hers out and Salaya lights it. Ariel and Octave keep theirs in reserve, not wanting to burn them out prematurely. “This one is also the wrong colour. It's violet. And this one. How many doors are there?” Another door, orange. At the very deepest end of the cavern, where even the stone is replaced by hardened clay, they find one final door no taller than Octave. Eje wipes wet grime off a glinting green socket and Ariel inserts the stone. For a moment nothing happens, and Salaya's hopes leap. This could be an excuse to turn back, to run far away. Then a horrible crunching echoes through the cavern. The single door does not swing, it slides away, revealing a black path leading down. “Why do we get the worst one? Octave, this is your fault.”

“The darkest path can lead to the brightest future. Come on.” Octave walks first in, Salaya hurrying to keep up lest she disappear into the darkness. There's no turning back now. Ariel follows.

“Now of all times she's decided to play the optimist.” Eje balks then brings up the rear.

They step cautiously along for several minutes, unsure of what lies in the bowels of the mountain. The cavern is dark, not just from the lack of light, but when Salaya runs a hand over the wall, it comes back damp. Not the decaying damp of the desolation where life and death overlapped, entwined by rot, but a sharper odour that fills the nostrils with clay and limestone. Everywhere she turns, the scent surrounds her. Darkness has neither scent nor texture, yet in the darkness, senses are enhanced and clash with what little sight she has; she has to blink and look through the illuminated passage every so often to remind herself that she isn't buried alive.

“Have you heard of trolls?”

“What?”

“You know, from mythology. Massive stone carnivores bigger than ogres who live deep in mountains and are always hungry.”

“Ariel, don't even joke about that.”

Salaya shifts to the front of the party, not her preferred place, as a necessity of being the light bearer. Eje keeps her torch burning at the rear. Octave trudges in the centre of the team for a change, Ariel beside her. After more time, the passage begins to level. “How deep do you think we are?” asks Salaya.

“I'd guess about half a league under ground.” says Eje. “Wait. Look here.” They stop at a side passage, one that slants upward off the right.

“Do we follow it?”

“Could be a dead end. Then again, our path could be a dead end too.” Eje chafes her boot against the hard floor. “Wait here and I'll take a look.” She slips through the much narrower passage. Salaya starts counting the seconds. After a minute, nothing. Another minute, still nothing.

All this counting needs to stop. It's only feeding her anxiety. “Can you give me a drink? I'd get it myself, but.” She waves one hand, leaving a fiery red trail in its wake.

“Sure.” Ariel unscrews the lid off a canteen and passes it to Salaya's empty hand. “By the way, can you change the colour of the fire? Maybe make it green to match our team colour.”

Salaya takes a deep gulp and passes the canteen back. “Thanks. I'd rather not use colour magic here. It's a little more strenuous, especially the more violent colours like green and blue. A nice natural red or orange is easier to maintain over time.”

Footsteps, then another light. Eje rejoins them, huffing. “I followed it until the path forked. No idea where they lead to.”

“So this is – ?”

“It's a fucking maze. A screaming fucking maze. I'm leaving.” Eje turns and walks back up.

“Eje, wait.” Salaya goes after her, the width of the passage allowing her to pass Ariel and Octave without trouble.

“No waiting. Rol needs a piece of my mind and a good shake. I'm already on the verge of panicking over this dank cave we're stuck in, and now you tell me it's a maze. There probably is a troll lurking at the end of one of these passages. I don't know what Kio Blaketik carved out down here, but he needed a good punch in the nose.”

“Maybe it's a good idea.” says Ariel. “We can at least ask for advice on navigating the maze.”

“Didn't he say he didn't know anything?” says Salaya. “We're just going to fall behind the other teams.” She follows after Eje anyway.

“I don't care. If he can't remember any advice to give us, I'll give him some he won't soon forget.” In short order they're back at the entrance only to find it blocked. “Shit. The door closed.” Eje pushes and pounds on it to avail. “Don't just stand there, help.” She leans her torch down against the wall puts her shoulder to the door.

“I left the stone in the socket.” says Ariel. “It's still there unless someone took it.”

“What are the odds Rol came by and closed the doors behind us?” groans Eje. She pounds the stone again, cursing Rol in a dozen different ways. “Octave, why aren't you pushing?”

Octave puts her hand against the wall and gives it an exploratory shoulder shove. “Not a chance.”

This isn't right to Salaya. She needs to protest. “But Octave, you're practically a titan. I've seen you fight. Plus you have magic.”

“Yeah,” chimes in Ariel, “if anyone can shift the wall it's you, Octave.”

“You may have overestimated my strength. This wall is far too heavy for us to shift even if I were as strong as you seem to think.”

“What about your magic though?”

Octave gives them a stare that if the light were better would no doubt be blistering. Salaya recoils nonetheless. “Kinetic is the magic of movement. The wall is stationary, thus cannot be affected by it.”

“Oh, right.” Hope deflates from Salaya's voice and chest. “I never saw you using magic to fight orcs and knock out Ridgeway. I guess I just assumed that you had preternatural strength or something.”

“Of course not.” Octave shakes her head. “You should know by now: the best magic is subtle.” She turns back down the passage. “And don't ask me to try to teleport out. It doesn't work like that.”

“How does it work?”

“I need to make a connection. It's about, well, look, I'll explain if we get out of here.” Salaya hurries to join her at the front, and they set out down the same passageway, the indentations in the wall and rocks jutting from the floor a little more familiar this time.

Eje has fallen silent since pounding on the wall, but as they approach the side passage, she speaks up again. “I say we take the side passage. It leads up at least.”

“We should stick to the main passage.” admonishes Salaya.

“How do you even know it's the main passage?”

“Because we started on it. It's the one we were meant to follow.”

Ariel chimes in. “I agree with Eje. We should be going up and getting out.” Salaya looks back at her with betrayal, but Ariel holds firm.

Salaya implores Octave. “You think we should stay on the main passage, right? It might take us up at any point, and it's more likely to lead us out.”

Octave considers this. “It might also keep taking us down. I admit I'm curious to see how deep it goes.”

“I'm not comfortable going down. It's cramped. It might get more cramped. What if there's a dead end? Shit, what if it's one of those narrow passages where you have to crawl on your stomach and pray to the gods that you won't get stuck and die slowly?” Eje is almost screaming, face contorting horribly in the flickering torchlight like a maw gnashing and rolling. The agitation in her voice reverberates off the walls until there are five Ejes cursing the dark caverns, cursing mission, and above all, cursing the Blaketik family.

“Ok, ok. We'll take the passage leading up.” Salaya half expects the passage not to be there: the only way this maze could be worse is if there passages were somehow shifting like something from a fairy tale. Fortunately, it is, and after a steadily steepening climb, they come the fork.

Salaya wipes sweat off her forehead, the result of holding a fire and walking uphill. “Left or right? They both seem to be at about the same angle.”

“We went right, so we should go right again.” says Ariel. “That way we can cover everything from one side to the other if need be.” She picks up a loose stone and etches an arrow into the stone wall point to the right passage. “That'll show us which way we went.” They walk on, the only sound from their footsteps and laboured breathing. Salaya wonders when the last time someone breathed this air was. Was it when Kio built the manor, hundreds of years ago? What if he never ventured down here, merely sealed it off behind a door? Or what if people still come down here now? This would be the perfect place for a hidden base. Or a dungeon. Or worse. With each step, they stray farther from the main passage, the main road. She's always followed the main road, and it's always lead to safety. Her sister strayed down a side road, and look what happened to her. She might be anywhere at this point, even in a prison. She shudders. Hopefully wherever she is, it's nicer than here.

Another side opening in the cave wall shows up, this time on the left. “Hold on.” says Eje. She holds out her torch and peers in. “I think it's a room. Let's take a look.”

“Maybe the artifact is in here.” They follow her inside. “What is the artifact anyway?”

“Nobody bothered to ask.” says Eje. “Probably everyone pictured something enigmatic and ancient and didn't bother asking. We all thought we knew, and now we all don't.”

“Maybe there'll be a sign.” Octave raps a knuckle on the wall. “Bring the light over here.” The room can't measure more than a dozen paces in any direction. As Salaya holds her fiery hand up, they see the gouges in the stone as though carved with tools of steel.

“This part at least was dug out. And look at this.” Eje runs her hands into a cup-like indentation in the wall. A sudden grating rumble shakes them. They turn just in time to see a stone door sliding over the exit. Eje lets out a gurgling screech as she rushes to it, but to no avail. Her torch drops, the resin-soaked branch sputtering and winking out as it hits the damp ground. “This can't be real.” she sobs as she throws herself against the door. “This one isn't budging either.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I still have my torch.” says Ariel. “Here, Salaya, relight this.”

“No.” As Salaya extends her hand, Octave pulls her away by the shoulder. And put out that fire of yours. There's a firmness to her voice, an air of command that contrasts with Eje's despair. “Stay calm. In an enclosed space there's finite air. Slow your heart, limit your breathing, and think.” Such is the decisiveness with which she speaks that Salaya wastes no time in stopping her magic. Eje falls quiet. They stand in utter blackness, the silence ringing in their ears.

“Now what?”

“Let's examine this room more carefully. Salaya, give us just the minimum of light to see what we're doing. Use colour; it won't burn.”

Salaya takes a breathe. She never liked white magic and struggled when she was younger, but now seems like the time for it. Her hand glows as the magic rushes to it: not so much warm as sharp and tingly. “That's beautiful, Salaya. It's like the moon in your hand.”

“I'm a little out of practice.”

“Over here.” Octave drops to her hands and knees to examine the ground as it meets the wall, one particularly deep gouge, and several cracks. Salaya raises her hand by Octave's face. “I need to see that bit on the ceiling.”

“I can't reach it.”

“Get on my shoulders.” She does, and Octave rises until Salaya can illuminate the seam where the wall meets the low ceiling.

“What are we looking for?”

“Any clue.”

“A clue? You think this is a puzzle?”

“Rol did say there would be puzzles.” says Eje, her tantrum long gone, her voice composed and eagle-sharp. “We need to cover every finger of this room.”

“Well, I don't see anything here.” Salaya unhooks her legs from Octave's bony shoulders and drops down. She rests her hand, glowing as it is with white magic, on Octave's head.

“Ow.”

“Sorry! I'm so sorry, Octave.” She pulls her hand away, the sudden action throwing her off balance. Octave teeters but stays upright while Salaya slips off and hits the ground on her side. The light vanishes as she loses focus. “Oof. I deserved that.”

“Don't be so self-flagellating.” Octave reaches down and pulls her upright by the arms. “It's a bad habit.”

“Right, sorry. Er, not sorry, but ok.” Salaya casts another white spell and they sweep the room, starting by the by the door. From top to bottom they peer at the walls, prod in gouges, and push on protuberances. Octave gives her several more boosts to check scratches and dents on the ceiling. Ariel measures the room: fourteen paces by eleven. No other openings or possible doors. Eje puts one hand then both in the cup again, but to no avail. They can't even feel a crack for fresh air to seep into. They truly are trapped and she has to use everything at her disposal to both stay calm and keep the light going. The possibility that they won't survive becomes more real by the second. “Are you sure you can't teleport out, Octave?”

“It might possible. Extremely dangerous though. I'd only do it as a last resort.”

“Well we're very near that. Octave, if you make it out, can you do me one favour?” Salaya's voice shudders as her throat clogs for a moment. “Go find my sister Eristia. She's hopefully back in Three Peaks by now. Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her she was justified in leaving and that I had no business blaming her.” She wipes a stray tear from her eye. What will Eristia say when she hears that she'd died in a cave beneath Arrow City? Hopefully something forgiving. “Tell her I still love her.” She tries to say more but chokes. Ariel pats her on the back.

“I don't know if I want my parents to find out.” says Ariel, her voice clear but sombre. “I'd rather they think I'm still out there, having the adventures I told them I'd have.”

“Stop that nonsense, and don't you dare cry.” says Eje. “We're trying to live, not plan our funerals.”

“How long before we run out of air?”

“The room isn't that big.” says Octave. “I'd guess no more than another fifteen minutes.”

“I think I can feel it getting thicker already. I'm having trouble breathing.” Salaya takes several deep sniffling breaths, swallowing back more tears.

“Calm down.” says Ariel. “Eje is right and you're just making it worse. Come here, Salaya. There's something about this cup that's odd.”

Salaya casts her light on the cup again and Ariel traces a strange yet familiar set of lines over it. Then it hits her.

“I've seen that before.” Salaya peers down at it closely. Lines carved in the rock, almost like arrows point down into the cup. “It's like water falling – a water rune.”

“A rune? Come on. Even Kio didn't live that long ago.”

“There are still records, Eje. It's not like they're entirely a lost art.”

“It doesn't look natural, but are you sure it's a water rune?” asks Ariel.

“Yes. Well, fairly sure.”

“Good thing I have some rudimentary water magic then.” Ariel takes the flask from her waist and drips a few drops of water into the cup. Eje squats down beside her, frowning. Ariel prods at it with a finger, then stirs. The puddle at the bottom shifts then expands until water brims over the cup. It splashes onto Salaya's heavy trousers and boots. A dull grating sounds behind them.

“Is that the door?” Eje leaps to her feet. “Gods, Ariel, you've done it!” They crowd out the opening, Eje pushing through first, Ariel and Salaya next to find the air in the passageway so much cooler and more refreshing. Octave exits last. Salaya and Eje both hurl their arms around Ariel. “You're a genius, Ariel!”

“Thanks. I'm glad not to die too. Ouch, Salaya, please.”

“Sorry, not again!” Salaya pulls away.

“So,” says Eje peering back into the chamber that had threatened to swallow them whole, “this is what we're up against? Sliding doors and mazes, and we have to find rooms and use magic in them.”

Ariel ponders this. “I don't know. We didn't make any clear progress toward getting out of the maze, did we? We just got stuck in a room and managed to get out. The end of this place is no closer or farther.”

“At least if we get stuck we have an idea of what to do next.”

“By the way.” says Octave. “Do you still want me to give that message to your sister?”

Salaya drops her hand so nobody will see her face reddening. “I guess that's not necessary just yet. I was, erm, you know, worried there, and I might have overreacted a little.” She continues down the passage, a little hastily, but the others keep up fine. Another intersection. Three passages, but they stick to the right.

“I think it was brave of you to speak up like that.” says Eje to her great surprise. “Family matters are tricky, take it from me. If I ever see your sister, I'll give her something to think about.”

“That's ominous.” laughs Ariel. “Was everything bearable with you growing up, Salaya?”

Salaya shrugs. Maybe it's the near death experience, or maybe it's being down in a cave with no way out, but she feels ready to talk. Once her mouth opens, there's no closing it. Everything comes out: her abusive father, her mother who had loved her but loved him more, her big sister who had stuck by her until Salaya had qualified against all odds for Three Peaks. Her father of course had scoffed and told she wouldn't finish. Her mother had suggested she try something less presumptive, something that would keep her safe at home. The only person who should have stuck with her was Eristia, and she instead sided with their mother and told her not to go. Salaya had responded by accusing her of envy, bitterness over not getting in herself. “That was the end of our friendship.” Silence except for the sound of boots crunching on grit and breathing. “I think once that was broken, she had no more reason to stay. I was so angry when she said she was leaving that I told her never to speak to me again. And she never did. Our parents, well, they only got worse. I ended up living at Three Peaks to avoid home, and so long as my father is there, I won't go back. Eristia on the other hand...I wonder what she's doing now.”

“Whatever happens, we're your family now.” says Eje. “If you need a place to live when this ends, you can come with me to Muse Manor.”

“And you can come visit my parents in Pattaway if you want.” Ariel's voice rises with excitement. “They'll love you just for being around me. Don't laugh, Eje, you can come too. You might like it.” Salaya thinks back to when Ariel told her Eje was frightening and unpredictable. All the fights they've had. It's funny how distant that seems now.

“What about you, Octave?” Eje sidles up to her slyly. “If Salaya needs a new mother, you can oblige, right?”

“Of course. I've always been seen as a motherly figure.” Octave smirks then bursts into laughter. Eje follows, then Ariel, and finally Salaya, not fully understanding the absurdity of it all, joins in, the sound of their merriment a welcome change from the grinding of boots and panting of breath. Ariel regales them with stories from her childhood. There's a warmth to her descriptions of her parents, a caring caress in her normally dispassionate voice as she talks of how they agreed to let her try conjuration magic when she hated water. Garsun, her teacher, hadn't been pleased at first, but he'd had no choice but to agree. For the first time, Salaya finds herself smiling at someone else's good upbringing instead of twinging with envy. If anyone deserves a good childhood, it's Ariel. Eje tells them of how she hid in the woods when she first met Trila and was lost for days on end. Not as a condemnation, but as another fond memory.

“Now every time I see miner's lettuce or wild sorrel, I remember how I scrounged out a living in the forest.” Eje smiles. “My parents were horrified by the whole ordeal, but Trila understands. I don't know what I'd do without her. Come to think of it, we should bring her along sometime. She can hold her own.”

“Another fork.” Salaya stops. They've been walking and talking for so long now that she almost forgot how close they were to dying. “Do we still go right?”

Ariel leans down the right hand passage. “Seems to be another room up that way.” She takes a cautious step. “Another passage leading out of it though. Do we try it?”

“Now that we know what it's about.” Salaya holds out her hand, as she hasn't lit any of the torches. “Two passages leading out of that room, not one. That gives me an idea.”

“Carefuly, Salaya. Don't just go running in. What if we don't know what this one is?”

Salaya drops the white magic, there really was no reason to keep using it, and switches back to fire. As red flames dance and rise toward the ceiling, the room is thrown into relief. “No, we do. Look at that.” In one corner, another rune amidst the chiselled rock. “That's ice. It all makes sense now. Those other passages we skipped over? I guarantee they lead to runes for vigour and fluid. Probably much closer too, since ice is so far removed from water.”

“Are you saying that this maze is a map of the branches of magic?”

“Makes sense.” says Ariel. “That would mean that the two passages leading from the room lead to colour and fire, right?”

“Yes. Then they'd both lead their closest ally, lightning.”

“And the other passage from the first fork. Did that lead straight to colour?”

“I think so. The problem here is that I'm no good with ice magic.” says Salaya. “I can maybe improvise because it's close to fire and just needs the opposite of heat, but I can't be certain it'll be enough.”

“Step back then,” says Ariel, “and consider. What's the reason behind all this? What are we trying to do? Solve all the rooms, and then what? A secret door opens?”

Salaya considers this. “Demonic magic is frequently called a way out, isn't it? Maybe at the end of this, we can exit through that room.”

“Demonic magic is more frequently considered a myth.” snorts Eje. “I doubt old man Kio would have a rune that responds to it.”

“What do you even mean by a way out?”

“It's the magic that sets you free. The magic mages of old feared because they could find no way to subjugate it.” They turn, surprised to hear Octave contributing. “Or so the stories say.” She gives a wry smile. “If this maze is complete with all the forms of magic, however, there should be a demonic rune.”

“Great, you believe in demonic magic too.”

“We may as well try.” says Ariel. “How do we get there?”

“If we're right,” says Salaya, “then the first fork we encountered would lead directly to colour, then to fire and lightning. Fire on the left, lightning on the right. Position matters. Lightning leads to demonic, if demonic is there. I'm just good enough with lightning to create a static field. That should be more than enough.”

After a long pause, Eje shrugs. “May as well try it. Not as though we have anything else to do.” She turn and walk back yet again. More wasted effort. More time for the other teams to pull ahead, wherever they are. “So if this is just a chart of the branches of magic, it's a shame you didn't bring your diagram, Salaya.”

“I remember it by heart anyway. The chart has been passed down for ages; Kio would have had very similar ideas when he designed this place. I wonder if that means the passage from the green door leads to life.” The journey back is uneventful, and much faster now that they're imbued with a purpose. Correct or not, knowing what to do lends a tremendous boost to confidence. At the first fork, they take the passage on the left. “This should be a longer passage, about the same distance as water to ice.” The team falls silent, indicating that they understand only by increasing their pace. Everyone wants to get out of this miserable trap of a maze.

The passage leads slightly upward, then levels out. After walking for what feels like hours, they come to another room. “Just as you said, Salaya. Three doors leading out. Fire, lightning, and I bet that one leads back to ice. They're closed though.”

Salaya bends down at the wall. “Here's the colour rune. Six points for the six major colours, two lines creating black and white.” She calls on a varied spell, something so basic she's shocked she remembers it as quickly as she does. Light pours from her fingers; she tries to line them up in order. Blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple. In that order. Then black and white, with a little grey in between. Nothing.

“Try lining the colours up with the rune.” Salaya does, and each line glows with its appropriate magic. The three doors rumble open.

“Incredible. Salaya, even you've never smiled that hard.”

“It's like a test, but with real consequences.” Salaya stands up, stretching her legs. She's never felt so good. So alive and ready to continue. Despite the soreness, she bursts into a run. “Come on! Lightning is this way. Just like you said, Ariel! The rightmost path.” She leads them down it, fire streaming from her hand like a red ribbon. The journey to the lightning room is brief by contrast, as she knew it would be. Colour magic's branches are all closely related. She doesn't even care that she's entering a room that could close on her.

“Slow down, Salaya. We still need to be careful.”

But there's no slowing down. Beneath the lightning rune is a flat surface, a small ledge. Don't touch it or the doors might close. She focuses, and there's the lightning magic. She never liked it because it prickles, but that prickle only reminds her of where she is and what she's doing. She almost wishes it hurt, to remind of her of what she's accomplishing. As the rudimentary static field crackles on the ledge, she feels the door sliding open before she can see or hear it.

Down this last passage there will be a demonic rune. There has to be. Then, a dead end. “D'you see anything?” Salaya's fire burns brighter and hotter until the entire passage is lit up. Tiny pebbles, cracks in the rocks show up, but no rune. The end of the passage is just smooth limestone.

“I told you.” says Eje. “Even Kio knew not to buy into myths. And you don't know demonic magic anyway. What would be the point?”

“I don't honestly know.” says Salaya, her confidence dropping back into the pit of her stomach. She's hit the bonus question, and found it more difficult than she expected. “But I assumed we'd see something. Some sort of rune that we would know is demonic. I wanted to be proven right. It's like finding out you scored perfectly on a test. I thought that if I was right, we'd figure it out somehow.”

“We will.” Octave steps forward. “This rock is too smooth to be normal.” She puts her hands on its damp surface.

“So what? I assume you –” Eje falls silent as a noise fills the passage. A grating sliding noise. The rock surface shudders and then splits apart. Beyond it, a stone staircase spirals up.