"Welcome dear audience to the third and probably the most awaited day of the Nachtstern Festival Competition. As most of you probably know, the theme of the third day is magic. But what you don't know is the exact details of today's task. Most of you are probably curious, why are we gathered in the Demon Castle gardens today?" Azrael announced from his place in the podiums, which were erected across the Demon Castle wall.

Majority of the audience were gathered in front of the podium, curiously stretching their necks and trying to see past the giant wall of hedge that stood before them. Morrigan and the other contestants stood on the other side of the hedged-off area which spanned through the majority of the Demon Castle gardens.

How did they even get this ready overnight? There wasn't even a single sign of activity in the backyard yesterday when I was coming back from the stables. Is there a convenient magic that lets you grow giant hedges overnight? I know there is magic that allows you to teleport things to another place but could it teleport something as large as this?

"Well, let me tell you, dear audience. This year we decided to put a spin on our regular magic test. This year we have a magic maze – that giant wall of bush in front of you all is part of the maze," Azrael snapped his fingers and a giant projection appeared on the Demon Castle wall. Morrigan couldn't see it from where she stood, but judging from the audience's applause it must have been impressive.

"In this maze, our participants will have to display their magic skills to try to get past the many, many obstacles within. Their goal is to find a special gem that will teleport them to the winner's circle right here in front of us. The first ten people to find the gem and teleport here – win!"

The crowd cheered in response, clearly eager to get the show started. Azrael smiled mischievously and then pointed dramatically in the direction of the contestants.

"Now the rules! There's only one rule today – do not kill anyone. Other than that – go wild," Azrael snickered, and Morrigan could feel bloodlust rising from some of the other contestants.

Is this alright? The only rule is not to kill. But that still allows you to hurt other participants…

She looked at Deziara, hoping her sister would share her worries, but she had a giant smile on her face.

Not you too, Deziara.

"Before anyone objects that I forgot, I shall explain Princess Deziara's boon. At any time during the maze, she has the right to call for me and I shall go and clear an obstacle in her stead. But this boon can only be used once, so keep that in mind, Princess," Azrael explained quickly. "Now with the boring stuff out of the way, would the contestants please go and pull a number out of the bag."

A demon woman came up to them, carrying a bag with what sounded like stones. She offered it to them, and everyone took their turns pulling out their stone. When it was Morrigan's turn, she stuck her hand in the bag and pulled a smooth stone with a clear '7' written on it.

"Those, my dear contestants, are your entry points. Each number corresponds to a different entry point. Do not worry, the maze was designed so you all have equal chances of finding the gems from any entrance."

Morrigan looked at the giant hedge in front of her and saw numbers flickering above the many entrances. She watched as Deziara headed for entrance 1 and then proceeded to go to her own starting point. Much to her dismay, that was exactly where Viana was going too.

"Best of luck to you, youngest sister," she said with a smile, but Morrigan felt the sting of hatred coming from her words.

I hope she doesn't decide to attack me. She probably wouldn't since there are so many people watching. Or perhaps she just wouldn't do it directly. I'll have to be careful.

As Morrigan stood in front of the giant entrance, she saw the vampire champion approach the same entrance as well. Besides them two more demons, nobles judging by how they were dressed, joined them, looking awfully smug and satisfied with themselves.

"It is a pleasure to be in your presence, Your Highnesses," they bowed towards her and Viana, although Morrigan got the feeling that the greeting was meant more for Viana than for her. Her sister returned their greeting with a smile, and they took it as a sign to start buttering up to her, singing praises to her power and intelligence.

"So quick to jump at the first opportunity thrown at them," the vampire lady tutted and gave Morrigan a knowing smile. She decided to ignore the vampire for now and instead peered into the maze ahead. Tall bushy walls stretched high up, no doubt with the intention that nobody would be able to look over the edge.

I wonder if it would be possible to just burn through the hedge and move forward that way. Or perhaps somebody who can fly could just fly and scour the maze from the top. Heck, somebody could just climb up. But I doubt it would be that easy – no doubt that there's some magic set on it to prevent all those things from happening.

"All of our contestants are in places. Excellent! I wish all of you good luck. Start!" Azrael bellowed and contestants rushed into the maze. Viana ran straight inside with the two demon nobles following right after her. Morrigan expected them to separate at the first cross-section but was surprised to see that they all went together.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"It appears your elder sister decided to use underlings to help herself get further into the maze. Why don't we work together as well?" the vampire woman offered, smiling sweetly at her all the while.

"Why? We are supposed to be competing against each other," Morrigan replied and hurried inside the maze. The vampire kept pace with her, not being put off by her rejection in the slightest.

"Because nobody said that we each have to find an individual stone. We can both find the same stone and teleport to the winner's circle. And by working together we have a larger array of spells which could help us overcome different obstacles."

As much as I hate to admit it – she is right. I don't have a wide variety of spells in my arsenal yet and I can't be sure that I could solve every problem I encounter here. Perhaps it is beneficial to stick together with this woman, at least for the time being.

"Alright, we can work together," Morrigan conceded.

"Excellent! I knew Your Highness would make the wisest choice," the vampire woman said. "By the way, my name is Larissa."

"Pleasure to meet you, Larissa. I am Morrigan Nachtstern," she replied formally, trying to make it clear that she had no intentions of being chummy with this woman.

The two of them continued in the opposite direction of where Viana went, following the path deeper into the maze. But they didn't get far before the ground in front of them shifted, and nasty-looking thorny vines grew out of it, blocking their path. They grew so densely that there would be no way of climbing through it. And crawling over them would likely result in many bruises from the sharp thorns.

"I'll just burn it," Morrigan announced and threw a fireball at the growth. It easily caught flames and burned to ash in a matter of seconds, leaving a purple looking smoke behind itself. What surprised Morrigan was the fact that the hedge which at one point was connected to the nasty plant, was completely untouched by the flame.

So it is protected by magic. I knew it!

Morrigan was about to walk up to the hedge to inspect it more closely when Larissa blocked her path.

"Your Highness, the fumes from the plant are a strong paralytic. You should not inhale them," she warned.

"Paralytic?"

"Yes. It was without a doubt Demongas Bramble. The real danger of the plant is the toxin within thorns. If one were to poke their finger on it or inhale the fumes from the plant, they'd be left paralyzed for several weeks."

Morrigan took a step back from the smoke and covered her mouth. Few more steps and she would have surely inhaled it.

"Do not worry, Your Highness. I'll take care of this," Larissa said and waved her hands around in a fluid motion. The wind rose up and began to flow around the paralytic cloud, moving it higher and higher up.

That's amazing! She is able to control the flow of air so perfectly that all of the gas is being contained without anything leaking out. Then again I probably could have just passed through as a shadow and it wouldn't have done me any harm.

Morrigan nodded gratefully at Larissa and both women proceeded. Once they had passed the area, the vampire woman moved the cloud back to its original place.

"We wouldn't want to give our foes a free open route now would we?" she explained with a smile.

I wouldn't mind keeping the poisonous cloud up above so nobody would get paralyzed.

Morrigan and Larissa continue through the maze, memorizing which paths they had already taken. They used one of the Demon Castle spires as a guideline to know the approximate location, moving towards it when possible, in order to avoid circling back to the entrance. Although the vampire woman was doing most of the navigating since Morrigan's sense of direction had not improved much over the years.

At one point, a pitfall trap appeared before them, but it wasn't a real obstacle for either of them, one slipping past it as a shadow and the other – just flying over it in her bat form. However, despite the lack of danger, Morrigan felt they weren't getting anywhere. The Demon Castle spire still appeared at the same distance as before, despite them desperately trying to move closer to it.

"Something isn't right," Morrigan said, coming out of her shadow form. "It's like we are stuck in the same place."

Larissa also came out of her bat form, and nodded at her, "Yes, I was also thinking that. We've likely been caught in an illusion."

"Illusion?" Morrigan asked and poked at the hedge wall. It felt real to her.

"Yes, and a very powerful one at that. More likely than not, we've been circling around the same area for a while," Larissa explained, examining the hedge carefully.

"How do we break out of the illusion?"

"There are several ways. One would be to find the caster and either incapacitate them or force them to end the illusion."

This is no doubt Azrael's doing so we probably won't be able to end the illusion that way.

"And what are the other ways?"

"We could try to block our senses and try to find our way out of the illusion blind. This however could take a long time," Larissa explained, and Morrigan furrowed her brows. "Or we could find an anchor."

"An anchor?"

"Yes. Something that exists outside of the illusion. If we can hear something or see something outside the illusion then our senses could latch onto the real thing and dispel the rest."

"Shouldn't the castle spire be outside the illusion," Morrigan asked.

"Most likely the spire that we see is the one created by illusion, not the real one," Larissa explained. They paused to think.

What could be something outside the illusion we could latch onto? Perhaps I could call out to Deziara and then I could latch onto her voice as the real thing. But her entry point was rather far away so it's unlikely that she would be nearby.

"Should we just try calling somebody and hope that they respond?" Morrigan suggested.

"We could certainly try."

"Hello! Could somebody answer us?" Morrigan called out.

"Is somebody nearby?" Larissa also called.

For a while there was nothing but silence, and both women called out again. Nobody seemed to answer them or if they did, Morrigan certainly couldn't hear them. Then just as Morrigan opened her mouth to call out again, a low growl resounded through the area.