Chapter 67: A Gut Feeling
After Hunter got his hand patched up, he and Forest began walking along the top of the walls. Their goal was to make it back to the cave. While neither of them remembered the exact route back… by following the previously tilted paths littered with arrows and shattered boulders, they were making good progress retracing their steps.
For most of the trip, they were luckily able to stay on top of the walls, steering clear of potential danger by traveling within the maze itself. Only on the final turn did they realize they would be forced to scale down the wall and advance onward from inside the maze. After a brief exchange before descending, they decided what strategy was best. After reaching the bottom, the plan was to use their canteens to cross the path's width safely.
Hunter opted to go first, and after carefully climbing down the colossal wall, he gingerly placed one foot down on the ground and then the other. Waiting for Forest to join him, Hunter slowly reached his hand behind his back and lifted the canteen out of the side pocket on his backpack. As he watched Forest silently step beside him, Hunter nodded and went down into a crouching position.
He placed the cylinder canteen on the ground and gently pushed it forward a couple of feet. Holding up his right hand, they waited until the canteen rolled to a stop. After a few seconds, Hunter stood back up and glanced at Forest, giving him a signal that he was moving ahead. Forest acknowledges this and focuses back on the canteen. Placing one foot in front of the other, Hunter follows the exact path the canteen rolled in, with Forest behind him doing the same. They repeated this cautious strategy until they reached the wall on the other side. And even though they took all necessary precautions to ensure their safety, they had failed to consider the most blatant hindrance.
And that was, under these circumstances, that the time of day was quickly becoming their most formidable enemy. Realizing this, Hunter peeks around the corner at the final stretch that's now an uphill journey, knowing at the end is the cave opening that they came through earlier.
"Forest… take a look at the sky."
"I know. We probably don't have much time left before nightfall."
"Yeah, maybe fifteen minutes... at most."
"With our current strategy, we won't make it. We won't even be close. It's already getting dark."
"Even I could figure that out. You're the smart one here, so tell me. What do you suggest?"
"We have a few options, all of which are… unfavorable."
"Hit me."
"We could climb this wall we're hugging now. If we do, we could travel atop the wall until we're next to the entrance. We'll then climb back down and leave the maze. With our gathered knowledge, we'll be safe on top of the wall, and we could also camp out until morning. But with our injuries, it'll take a long time to scale up these vines, and it won't necessarily be painless, as you can imagine. Also, once the sun sets, it'll be pitch black, and we won't be able to see a thing. And who knows what sort of threats await us here come nighttime."
Hunter chuckles, "Let's just stop using the word safe. Everything is a risk at this point."
Forest continues, "The second, we abandon our current plan but still attempt to cover the rest of the distance before losing sunlight. This will involve far more risk, but we can still take precautions. We can lower our chances of stepping on any trigger plates or traps by hugging the wall. We also never triggered any trap on this path earlier, so I don’t want to say it’s not possible, but–"
Knowing they have limited time, Hunter interrupts, "I understand. Any other suggestions?"
"Well… there is one more. With our current knowledge, no traps are set on this specific path. Only the one behind us that we've already avoided. When Falc stepped on the trigger plate earlier, it released an avalanche of boulders from the path we're looking at now. But if the trap has already been activated once before, theoretically, it shouldn't be possible to activate it again. Which means we should be home free, right?"
Wrestling his canteen back into its designated pocket, Hunter says, "So you're suggesting we just make a run for it? You don't sound very confident that it will work."
"As I said, our options aren't necessarily favorable."
"Then option two it is," says Hunter as he turns the corner, staying close to the wall as he begins trekking up the path.
After about a minute of walking, Forest voices, "We need to pick up the pace. We won't make it before dusk at this pace."
"Understood."
Their footsteps and hushed breaths play an oddly relaxing, rhythmic tune while progressing into a light jog. Nearing the halfway point, Hunter gazes up and takes in the vivid array of red, orange, yellow, and purple, painting the cloudless evening sky.
We don't have much time…
CLICK!
Hunter’s attention immediately drops to his feet, and he realizes that his left foot has stepped on a small circular button practically camouflaged with the rest of the path.
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"Shit! Hunter, go!" shouts Forest while he passes by, pulling on Hunter’s shirt as he runs toward the center of the path.
Breaking out into a sprint, Hunter abandons the strategy of leaving behind an item to occupy the presumed pressure plate.
CLICK! GRRR, GRRR, CLICK!
"Staying close to the wall would have only made us easier targets! Start zigzagging Hunter! The compartments are opening, and arrows will be fired soon! So make your movements as erratic as possible!" shouts Forest, who has already begun moving in an illogical manner in front of Hunter.
Hunter does as Forest says without thinking twice about it. Breaking off into a series of random diagonal cuts and mixing in some forward runs occasionally, Hunter remains quiet, focused on reaching the exit that will lead them out of the maze.
CHICK, CHICK, CHICK, SCHOOM!
Only able to hear where the arrow was coming from, Hunter looked in that direction. But it wasn't until the arrow flew by directly in front of his face that he realized how detrimental the loss of sunlight was for their vision and perception. Catching up to Forest, Hunter can barely make out the outlined cave opening in the mountain ahead.
CHICK, CHICK, CHICK, SCHOOM! SCHOOM!
"Hunter, duck!"
Ducking on command, Hunter hears an arrow whistle right over him. Rising back up and continuing onward, Hunter asks, "How did you know to duck?"
"The angle of the compartment."
Reaching the cave opening, Hunter ran inside and turned back around to watch Forest, who he knew was right on his tail. Even though Hunter knew that Forest was only a few feet away, Hunter could only see parts of Forest as an ominous shadow set in throughout the maze.
CHICK, CHICK, CHICK, SCHOOM!
Hearing a stifled grunt, Hunter sees the outline of Forest’s shadow stumble for a second before joining him inside the cave.
"Were you hit?!"
"No… no, I wasn't," replies Forest in between breaths, loosening the strap on his right shoulder. He brings his backpack to his chest, and there’s an arrow sticking out of the back of it.
"What about you?" asks Forest.
Looking at his poorly bandaged hand, Hunter says, "Nothing new. What should we do now?"
GRRRR. GRRRR.
The noise scaring them away, they both quickly took a few steps back as the opening they had just come through began abruptly closing.
"So, after opening up the path to the maze, it'll only remain open as long as somebody… alive… is inside," says Forest, his voice fluttering on the word alive.
Hunter takes a heavy gulp, smothering his surfacing emotions, "Right. That makes sense."
Walking over to the dark cave wall, Forest plops down, "Well, with the maze closed again, I feel a little better. Because without our torch, we won't be able to make it back to camp tonight. It’s best if we just stay here for the night."
Extending his hands out, Hunter locates the smooth surface of the cave's walls and sets himself down. The cave was now pitch dark, and neither could see each other even though they were only a few feet apart.
"The moon will be out soon, which means we'll have a little bit of light to work with," says Forest, his weary voice giving insight into how exhausted he is to how exhausted they both are.
"To be honest, I just want to get some shut-eye," says Hunter.
He hears a weak laugh, "Normally, I'd disagree. But since we can't even see anything, taking turns keeping watch is pretty useless until the moon reveals itself."
Hunter hums in agreement as he rests his head against his backpack, "Mmmm, sleep it is then…"
And a few seconds later, they both crashed.
***
After firmly landing on the vividly colored wool rug, Cliff looks around. Finding himself inside a small, living-room-like assortment, there is a couch resting against the opposing stone wall, with a coffee table just in front of it. On top of the coffee table rests a single television remote and a candle giving off the same vanilla scent Cliff smelled on the way down.
Across from the couch is a television mounted against the wall. The TV emanates a static, white noise as the screen displays a constantly changing dot-pixel pattern. Additionally, a more prominent light illuminates the entire space from the center of the room's ceiling.
Scanning the room once more, Cliff registers there is no exit. After glancing up at the steel ladder rung he had just used to climb down, Cliff determined there was no chance he could reach even the lowest rung, let alone if he had the strength to lift himself up to the next.
Focusing back on the room, Cliff does the only thing that there is to be done. Grabbing the remote and taking a seat on the couch, he inspects the remote. Four buttons were arranged in an upside-down capital 'Y' shape. The button at the top was red and much larger than the other three, and Cliff discerned that it must be the power button. The next one down had a play and pause illustration, and those symbols spoke for themselves. Lastly, the two buttons at the bottom correlated to the volume. One button had a plus symbol, while the other had a minus.
Pointing the end of the remote at the television, Cliff clicks the giant red button. The white and black dot pixel pattern slowly fades away, and a picture takes shape.
Crow appeared, sitting forward in a chair with his hands conjoined. Once the image became focused, Cliff realized it was a still picture, and then a message appeared.
'Click Play'.
He hesitated for a second, not knowing what to expect, but he clicked the button regardless. Crow's face began moving on the outskirts of his mask as he spoke to Cliff with that same distorted voice Cliff had heard earlier.
"Hello. If you're watching this, I haven't killed you yet, which means you've made it pretty far in the first stage of the trials. Congratulations."
Cliff quickly pauses the video and takes a deep breath, repeating to himself to stay calm. After he was sure he could continue listening again, Cliff clicked play.
"At the time I'm filming this recording, you have only been in sector six for a day. I don't know how quickly somebody will find this room... or if anybody ever will. But for my sake, I hope at least one does. The future of this kingdom depends on you, all of you."
What kingdom? Is he talking about the 'only one can remain' message? Did I find this place by pure accident?
"At this point, you most likely found the maze. Whether you solved the plank is unknown, but if you did, you're set up well to pass stage one. I'm hoping at least half of you are still alive by this point; otherwise, there probably won't be any survivors."
The plank? The one from the crate? And what does he mean about the maze?
Crow scratches the back of his head, "Look at me, always rambling more than I should."
He pauses momentarily and then resumes, "The royals can't hear us from here, so listen closely. Because everything I'm about to tell you… is the truth. For starters, my name is Zeris, and I'm one of the founders of a group called Aleyros."