Running forward, Norbert stared down the corner he was aiming for; hearing the wall start to speed up behind him, Norbert gaged the distance up, believing that he could make it up there in time. He tied his belt back on, difficulty with the sword still banging against his legs as he pelted forward, not wanting to slow down as he needed all the time he possibly could to scale the walls around him.

Rushing forward, turning against the back wall, running his hand over it, confirming it was as flat as the other maze walls. Quickly looking up at the top of the maze, the moving wall still rumbling towards him, Norbert flung himself up into the air with a giant leap.

Scrunching his leg forward, he jumped to the other corner he was in just when he hit it, leaping off once again like a crab. Hearing the wall behind him moving ever closer, still rumbling forward, Norbert kept leaping from side to side, scaling up the walls.

Feeling the vibrations of the rubble, he went through once more, leaping forward, now at the top of the wall, Norbert's hand once more grasping the top. Pulling himself up, Norbert stopped himself with the other hand, flipping around upside down as he looked around at the walls, seeing the crossbows starting to move towards him.

Still grasping onto the wall, Norbert slammed down before leaping to the side, expecting the crossbows to shoot at him. Regaining his balance, Norbert looked for a pathway, pushing energy throughout his body. The marathon had just turned into a sprint.

Sprinting forward, Norbert heard the ping of a hunk of metal coming his way. Jumping into the air, hearing it slam into the stone he was standing on, Norbert rolled to the ground, feeling the contents of his backpack shake around as he risked something falling out.

Running forward along the top of the wall, Norbert looked toward the wall he was on. Travelling across the top, Norbert heard the moving wall underneath him and started to backtrack out of the dead end he found himself in previously, scouring for the next part that he would fall.

Dismissing it from his head, not intending to fall there, Norbert continued forward, seeing those around him, looking for a path to the exit.

Making a left, Norbert needed to slow down to not fall off the wall, hearing a PING from one of the crossbows on the side. Continuing to slide across, Norbert leapt into the air, travelling the distance to a wall on the other side. Gripping the edge as he felt his body lurch to a stop.

CRANK

Looking up, Norbert saw the metal missile rusted over from years of derelict the place had received and was surprised that the crossbows were still working, to begin with, and not just piles of broken pieces. The cables used and the frame's wood would now be destroyed.

Pulling himself up, Norbert continued running, heading toward where he saw the end of the maze. Hearing another PING, Norbert leaping forward, hearing the bolt smash behind him.

Continuing to run forward, Norbert looked to the side where the metal chunks were coming at him.

I was surprised to see just the point of the metal shaft slowly retracting before going back with a PING sound before being shot forward. Norbert slid on his knees before continuing to run, the piece of metal blasting past his clothes, his coat flapping in the wind it created, slightly pulling Norbert in that direction.

Rushing forward, Norbert looked around, seeing where it was before another piece of metal appeared from above; watching as it was slowly pulled back, hearing a PING from the other side, Norbert moved his attention forward.

Looking around, Norbert saw a gap coming; the distance was just too far for him to leap forward and past it. Looking on the side, Norbert saw he was running atop a corridor. Leaping to the left, towards the bolt of metal shooting his way.

Norbert flew high into the air, feeling the wind flap through his clothes. Coming back down, he overshot the landing. Reaching behind himself, grabbing onto the edge of the corner, fingers bit into stone, Norbert fell over the side.

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Hearing the piece of metal rushing overhead, his eyes dragged along as it smashed into the stone wall of the maze on the other side. Seeing the wall crack under the force, the piece of metal just hanging there, jutting out of the wall.

Swallowing, Norbert heard another PING coming from the wall on the right. Leaning to the side, Norbert flung his body, grabbing the ledge again with the other hand.

THUD CRACK

Fingers slightly slipping, Norbert grabbed on; the wall now had a chunk missing from it, right where he was holding onto it before. Looking down at the ground, Norbert heard the metal projectile clanging to the floor.

Pulling himself up, Norbert continued to run, not wanting to hear another PING of the machine cocking and getting ready to shoot at him again.

Turning around, Norbert headed back in his intended direction, whipping his head to the left and right constantly, waiting for the sound that would mean he would need to dodge quickly.

Leaping into the air, Norbert looked to the side, crossing the gap before him. Seeing more slots from the side going down the entire wall, Norbert was thankful that only one on each side was being fired at a time.

The moving wall slid underneath him, trying to hit him. But Norbert leapt too high into the air, the wall unable to leave the ground and reach him. Stumbling for a second as he landed, Norbert caught himself before continuing.

Their arms are pumping to the side, hearing the constant rumble of the wall chasing after him. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Norbert ducked down, crawling on his hands for a second before running again.

A metal projectile appeared in front of him, embedded in his path, the wall crumbling slightly in that section. Running past Norbert, pulling on the metal object, he grabbed it, sticking out of the maze to see how deep the foreign object had been embedded into the rock.

Grasping on Norbert, he felt his hand give out, slipping from the object as he continued running forward. Pain shot up for a second before it disappeared. Norbert turned back to the object, seeing a slight crack on the top of the maze wall he was running on.

Leaping forward once again, Norbert just tried to go as fast as possible, unable to hear the PING of the bolts being shot at him with the moving wall right next to him. Crashing into the other walls of the maze and pulling everything else out of it.

As Norbert continued forward, seeing the pieces of equipment occasionally on the ground, Norbert wondered how they would have been left there. As in his predicament, he would have thought it would be turned to pulp.

Looking around, leaping forward once more and taking a left on the wall as he travelled slightly closer to the left wall, trying to see if there were any enchantments on it.

As Norbert continued to jump, leap and roll forward, ever getting closer to his goal, he came into a rhythm. A dance, if you would, between himself, the maze runner and the designer. Who would do it better and come out on top?

Webbing and flowing, in sync with their design, Norbert Cowas could not even begin to fathom how long ago it was. Diving back down, Norbert could now see the opening back up. The walls he was running on were getting thicker and thicker, leaving him more chances to move around.

He looked around with a smile on his face, thinking it would be easy the last bit, with no more space constraints.

PING

PING

PING

PING

Norbert heard several projectiles become ready to be launched out of their holes. Hearing the moving wall whip off to the side, Norbert dismissed it as he looked ahead, the smooth wall he was running on and the bottom riddled with holes, nearly filled up but still visible the scars from the metal projectiles.

CRACK CRACK CraCK

Leaping to the side, a bolt appeared where he was, while two others appeared in his previous position.

CRACK CRACK

Norbert stared, seeing two more following after he leapt to the side; no longer having time to stop, Norbert charged forward, pushing as much speed as possible.

As he ran, Norbert imagined football players in front of him, trying to tackle him down and get the ball he was carrying. Needing to roll and dodge out of the way Norbert did, the bolts seemed to appear out of nowhere and had a purpose.

Leaping and sliding, Norbert made it through, seeing in his periphery all the paths starting to converge, allowing him even more space to run.

Seeing it there, the blue light emanating in the clearing of the maze, the other side showing his salvation.

Seeing the last bit of it, Norbert leapt as far as he could, ready to land on the ground several meters down, having no time to scale the wall properly.

Leaping forward, his last foot touching the ground, a smile on his face after beating the maze, although unconventional, most definitely, there was nothing else it could throw at him.

PING

The sound of hundreds of bolts ready to launch. Free falling through the air, Norbert turned around, spinning as he fell, eyes widening at what he saw.

Norbert saw cutouts throughout the wall; bolts had already dropped into them as they started moving forward. The time he seemed to slow down as Norbert looked across the wall, seeing all of them trained on him.

Looking up at the ceiling, Norbert said a quick prayer, hoping Luck could hear him, "Show me the way." Norbert asked.

Flipping around, facing forward in his trajectory, Norbert waited for the golden path to appear. With a blinding golden light, a path was shown to Norbert.

Looking down, Norbert could see that it was following his trajectory before it disappeared on him, leaving just motes of light as they dissipated.