“Don’t be so scared, I don’t like things to end quickly so let's play a game. You have until the hourglass is done to find me in my maze or I will be the one looking for you.” Karin said as she threw a small hourglass into the middle of the group.

Before any of them could really process much of what was happening, walls of thorns began to rise around them, destroying a good part of the forest they could see.

“Don’t touch the walls!” Katia said very loudly.

“Not that I have any reason to cut myself, but why?” Luminus asked.

“These are Suria Thorns. They come from a monster normally, an araurane to be more specific.”

“Isn’t that a monster rose that has a woman coming out of the flower? I read that they are usually very big but not big enough to create this.” Narissa asked.

“These thorns are special. I never imagined that I would see them so far from home.”

“What makes them so special? They look normal to me.” Cassandra asked.

“They are very, and I mean very poisonous. You can also grow them without the araurane that first created them by giving them blood or mana. My house has a wall of those things surrounding it.”

“Shouldn’t we try to get some of it to grow later?” Cassandra asked, seeing a money making opportunity amidst the bad situation.

“That’s the thing. It shouldn’t be able to grow outside my country. Believe me, we tried. My grandma is a gardener of these things and they just don’t accept mana if you take them too far away from my country.”

“What does any of this have to do with our situation?” Mathias asked. Clearly frustrated with the conversation going nowhere.

“Look. Either that woman is an araurane in disguise or a plantmancer and I don’t know which of the two possibilities is worse.” Katia said in distress.

“I know that mancers are bad but why would it be bad if she was a monster?” Kai asked.

“Arauranes can charm men and take control of them. Something that would put us in real danger as Mia is the only one of us who has any fighting capabilities and she isn’t in the best of states right now.” Katia said as she pointed to Mia. Mia herself was doing her best to hear what people were saying as she got in the state of mind she needed to not die at the moment.

“I’m ok. I can help.” Mia said as she heard her name being called.

“You...A...Fuck! We need Mia one way or another, don’t we?” Narissa said as she tried to grapple with the fact that Mia was the strongest one there and without her, they had little to no chance of surviving.

“I’m alright. I can still fight.” Mia said with all the assurance she could but everyone knew that she was just being strong for them. Not that they could do anything about it. They weren’t so in control of themselves that they could let go of the instinct of wanting to stay alive so they just nodded and accepted what Mia said.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“We need a plan.” Shishen said to break the tension.

“We already have a plan. We will all distract her with attacks from every direction and Mia will use the opening to kill her in a single strike.” Narissa said.

“We still have to find her for that.” Klaws said.

“I have that covered somewhat. I was hoping to not have to use this again today but we are in an emergency situation.” Narissa said.

“Use what?” Mathias asked.

“Military Spell: Eagle Eye. I know it. In fact, I used it earlier today. Why do you think I suddenly appeared on the battlefield to block that piece of trash?”

“I wasn’t expecting that, that’s for sure.” Mathias said.

“What is that spell?” Mia asked, more than a little confused. It’s like they knew an inside joke and didn’t want to explain it to Mia.

“It allows someone to see a good area around the user like they were an eagle flying through the sky. It’s very hard to use and harder to maintain. They also put a heavy strain on your eyes if you are not trained.” Narissa explained.

“Do you think you can quickly memorize the maze with just a quick peek? I get the impression that we will need you to be functional for the rest of the night.” Katia asked.

“No but I have to try. Getting a read at her position will be more than enough.”

“In that case I have an idea. Do you think that if you share your sight with me, I will be able to see what you see with the spell?”

“Don’t see why not.”

“I can use the Share Senses spell and I have a pretty good memory. If I can just see the maze for a moment, I am pretty sure I can memorize it.”

“So you have photographic memory?” Mia asked absentmindedly.

“What memory?” Katia asked, really confused.

“Photographic memory. It means you can see something and remember it perfectly.” Mia explained.

“If I try to remember something I can most of the time. Unless someone uses a spell to mess with perception or memory.”

“Well, let's get ready.” Narissa said.

For about a minute both Katia and Narissa prepared their spells. Katia did it first as it was a simple one for her. Her spell was something that pretty much anyone could use if they had mana. Most people who were in jobs that necessitated the reading of a great number of documents usually used this spell to see the documents they assigned to their subordinates to read, usually to answer some question or another. As for the spell Narissa was using, it was a mess, at least in Mia’s opinion. She could tell that the spell was barely functional, being held together by faith and good intentions on the part of its creator. If she had the time to really analyze the spell she might find a way to fix the spell a little but now was not the time for that.

Once Narissa finished forming the spell she quickly activated it. Her eyes flashed and for a moment she could see the maze that formed around them.

Katia used her spell a moment later to see what Narissa was seeing and quickly recorded in her memory the layout of the maze. Once Narissa stopped the spell so she wouldn’t waste mana and maybe lose her vision temporarily, Katia began to draw a map on the ground with a stick.

The maze was big, all things considered. It would probably take around 30 minutes to reach the center of the maze where Karin was if everyone managed to walk at an acceptable speed.

Once Katia finished drawing the map and everyone took a look at it, Klaws asked something.

“Why don’t we just jump over the walls?”

“We can’t.” Nariss said.

“There is an almost invisible barrier on top of us. It’s not blocking magic so we could see it from the ‘sky’”.

“But I might have found a way for us to win without the risk of direct confrontation. Klaws, I heard you are almost immune to poison, I need your help with this….” Narissa said as she began to explain her plan to everyone.