They traveled into the maze as cautiously as they could. It never escaped Bo’s mind that through any door, or any passage, he could find another six frogmen or a foe much more horrid. He’d prefer it if Big decided to walk first, but he was firmly implanted behind him, snickering and scoffing occasionally. Hopefully he wouldn't be this much of a coward if a fight occured.

I'm not a coward! Big thought and stayed where he was.

He couldn’t put a finger on the feeling he felt as he walked through the maze. It was silent, bare—almost boring, but there was a tension here. A sense of dread in the shadows created by the lanterns.

Bo was careful to stay in the middle of the path he walked on so that he might not accidentally fall of the edge and into the void. The path wasn’t a bridge as to his right there was a wall with occasional doors in it. To his left, past the void, there was another walkway, but it was too far away for him to jump to.

His goals were two, he wanted to find something to eat, and also, he wanted to not die. These two goals worked against each other, as one begged him too search even faster, whilst the other one wanted him to stay where it was safe, right here.

Although staying in the same spot wasn’t necessarily the same thing as being safe. Zion, his streamer, would probably come and make things troublesome for him so that the stream would be more entertaining, and with the maze already moving there was a large chance something would find him.

He needed to become stronger, level up, in order to be safe. Offense was the best defense.

Fuck, I hate that quote, he found himself thinking.

Sounds pretty good to me. Can’t attack you if they’re dead.

Dead. The word reminded Bo of the three human corpses he’d seen twenty minutes ago. His gut churned and he had to fight the urge to puke. Parts of their body had been taken, as if it had been clay that had been ripped off. They certainly hadn’t played offense. He pushed the thought back, this wasn’t the time for grieving. That could come later.

It’s a cruel thought. It means you have to fight, you have to attack, you have to hurt another being. That’s what it means. Would be much better if simply defending yourself worked better.

Cruelty is good.

The conversation stopped on that note. Bo was never one to fight for the last word, didn’t really mean much to him who sounded on top. Although, he cared about the fact that he could communicate with his thoughts. That was both something that amazed him and also terrified him. Would he ever get to experience privacy again?

Another ten minutes passed without anything happening on the walk, and Bo found himself thinking if they’d walked wrong somehow, and entered a place they weren’t supposed to, but then he heard chains rattling and a deep grunting.

The wicked sound came from past a a wooden door. Unlike the other walls of the maze, the wall the door was attached to was made out of bricks. It seemed as if the material had simply shifted, as if somebody had drawn a line in the wall and put bricks on one side and the strange purple stone on the other.

What could that sound be? Could it be a human?

I don’t think so, Big added. Sounds scary.

If it was a human, simply leaving them chained up wasn’t something Bo was ready to do. Even though he regularly wouldn’t be the one to move towards such ominous sounds, things had changed, and he had to check it. Worst case scenario, they’d find a monster chained up.

And that’s exactly what they found.

Bo felt his heart drop as the monster’s eyes jerked to him. It carried an absolutely menacing aura that made his blood turn cold and made him unconsciously point his head downwards. Big took advantage of his small size and hid behind Bo.

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Welded between the brick wall, a block of black metal carried the many chains holding the monster. They stretched and wrapped around the coal-skinned creatre’s limbs and torso. Its arms were kept upright, it two chains invested into each arm, wrapping so tightly they were pressing into the skin. Its hands ended in thick and sharp claws that were nearly four inches long. The legs he couldn’t see, each being covered completely in black chains.

Where he could see skin, he saw muscle. The muscle was highly textured, and he could see the muscle's jagged edges and its texture pressing up against the skin. Its chin was sharp, and there were two red horns protruding out of its forehead.

Two and a half meters up, its light-red eyes with slitted pupils sat still on Bo as it smiled revealing a row of shark-like teeth. The chains around its left arm rattled as it tried to move. It seemed they weren’t as tight as the other ones.

“Hello human. Free me, mighty Xathx, and perhaps you won’t perish and I won’t feast on your innards. The key lays on the table ahead of me.”

That would be an amazing pet. The thought slid into Bo’s mind from seemingly nowhere, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. If he manged to tame that thing. Well. Who’d stand against him?

Tame? That! Big thought. Are you insane?

Bo would probably regret this, but he had to try it. If it worked the rewards were immense.

“[Tame]”

[Tame] failed.

A moment of silence began stretching. The creature’s eyes that were already slits somehow managed to become sharper, and the red in its eyes turned crimson. The aura in the room grew much thicker, bloodlust seeping in. Bo unconsciously took a step back and Big had to fight the urge to pee.

Suddenly, the chains rattled like mad as the monster desperately tried to free itself.

“YOU DARE TRY TO TAME ME?” The creature boomed as the chains continued to rattle.

One thing was clear to Bo. He definitely wasn’t going to free this thing.

It can’t escape.

The thought hadn’t come from Bo but from Big, and immediately he realized the ramifications of that. As quickly as he could, he tried to turn around and silence the little goblin but he couldn’t grab hold of it. Big had somehow stepped past him, and closer to the giant monstrosity.

“Xath-kltkth,” Big shouted. “What an awful name.”

“Ha. Haha-hahahaha, you little goblin will perish in the slowest most terrible way known to demonkind.”

The aura in the room grew thicker and the muscles on the monster’s body tighter. The chains rattled like mad.

Big giggled, hihihi. Another side of him came out. Rooted deeply in his goblins genetics, the urge to cause mischief began flaring out. Bo felt as if a spirit had possed the goblin as it didn’t seem slightly afraid any longer.

Big stop, Bo thought. This won’t end well.

Bo tried to grab Big, but Big stepped to the side and walked closer to the nearly three meter tall monstrosity.

“You can’t be that strong if you were chained up like this,” Big said. “Or maybe you’re just really, really stupid. Hihihihi.”

The rattling stopped. Xathx arms tried to reach for Big, straining the chains holding them back. Bo gulped, any second those chains could snap. He needed to get out of here as quickly as he could. This wasn’t a game. This was his life.

“Filthy goblin. Do not open your mouth again”

“Hihihi, the mighty Xathx can’t even kill a tiny little goblin. Pathetic!”

“Silence!”

Bo marched up to the goblin and tried to grab it by the back of its neck, but it evaded, stepping closer the Xathx. Bo saw the chains holding its arms back grow even tighter. He wasn’t stepping closer to that.

“Hihihi,” Big giggled, and pulled its loin cloth out of the way. Bo couldn’t believe it, surely he wasn’t stupid enough to… Big peed, a line of gold flying towards the monster and landing on its feet.

“I. Will. Murder. You.”

“Maybe I should take a shit too,” Big said.

A chain snapped.