The next dead end we found wasn’t quite as exciting. At least, not immediately. All it had in was a worn beaten-up wooden chest. I rushed to the thing and focused on the lockpicking icon. The lock was a difficult one with five bouncing balls. I broke two precious lockpicks but finally, the thing cracked open.

I shoved my hand inside and pulled out the only thing that was in there. It was one of those weird glowing fruits but it wasn’t blue like all the others I’d seen, it was a very dark pink, almost purple.

“What is this?” I asked.

Miranda rushed over and stole the thing from my hand. She sunk her teeth into it. Pink glowing juice dribbled down her chin.

“Hey, I’m the thief, not you.”

She ignored me until she’d finished the whole thing. “It's no use to you. It’s a Magicka power booster. One specifically for my kind of magic. Do you know how rare these things are?”

“Sob seems to find a lot of them.”

“Sure it’s easy for him; he’s a battlemage. It’s a little harder for necromancers. Besides, he’s a horse. His nose is just a little better than mine.”

“Excuses, excuses,” I said climbing back to my feet. “Let’s keep going. It’s getting late.”

One odd thing about the maze was the serious lack of other people. Since our run-in with the High Priest and his gang, I hadn’t seen anyone else. Not that I minded too much. There was a reason we’d left the ballroom after all.

Stella stopped us halfway down a tight pathway of the maze. It was dark here and eerily quiet. I twirled my blades and took a cautious step forward. The moment I did strange sparkling orbs began to glow, floating out of the hedges and filling the space in front of us.

I frowned and asked over my shoulder, “Any ideas what these things are?”

“No idea.”

Miranda let out a thin stream of pink fire. It shot toward an orb and was absorbed by it. The orb glowed pink and then returned to the white glow it had had before. Other than the momentary color change nothing seemed to happen.

I frowned and stepped forward, reaching out to touch one of the orbs with the tip of a finger. It popped like a bubble and rained sparkles down on my feet.

“What the hell are these things?” I said.

I stepped forward, an unholy urge to pop the next one overcoming me. I reeled back in agony as shards of crystal stabbed through my boot into my foot. My health bar dropped dramatically.

“What’s happening?” Miranda cried.

“Don’t… step on… the shards…” I hissed through gritted teeth.

Miranda knelt down beside me, her whole body shaking as she stared at my bloodied foot. “What can I do?”

“Any chance you can heal like Sob can?”

Her face fell. “No. Sorry.”

I yanked off my boot and tried to de-shard my foot. A rumble shook the ground as a hedge sprung up behind us. My chest tightened as I looked back at the bubbles. They were expanding, growing to fill the space in front of us.

“What are we going to do?” Miranda cried.

“Run!”

Miranda screamed as she ran, her hands held above her head as she ducked and weaved through the bubbles. Stella growled and began to glow. Her body blazed with golden light. She charged, shattering every bubble she blasted through.

I stared in horror as the crystal shards rained down, covering the ground in murderous snow. The hedge behind me started to move, pushing toward painful death. My heart thundered as my eyes darted around. Miranda and Stella stood cowering on the other side of the mess. I focused on the shadows. I’d never Shadow Rushed so far but I didn’t have a choice anymore.

I flashed forward, the world turning until I thought I might be sick. The thump of leaving the rush smacked me hard in the chest as my magicka bar flashed and emptied. I shouted as I tumbled toward the ground. I hadn’t rushed for long enough. My magicka was too low.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Stella charged forward and leaped into the air. Her body glowed brighter than before as she slammed paws first into the ground. Like it had when Theo Thundershield had smashed his shield into the ground a shockwave blasted the area. The crystal shards flew in every direction, slicing through the hedges like razor blades.

I hit the ground hard, the air exploded from my lungs. I gasped and flailed like a fish out of water. Stella stood over me, her tongue painting my face in disgusting slobber.

Miranda dashed from nowhere and pulled her off me. “Joe, are you alright?”

I wheezed as I gave her a shaky thumbs up. It’s all I could muster. It took a long time but eventually, I could breathe again. My chest ached horribly. An icon flashed up beside my health bar. A red broken bone. I focused on it for a minute.

Fracture.

Great, another negative health effect. That’s just what I needed right now. What was that now, three? I took Miranda’s hand and climbed to my feet, flinching as I put weight on my sliced-up foot. I bent to pet Stella only I needn’t have. Stella had grown. Moments before she’d been at my knee but now she easily reached my hip.

“Stella?”

She barked and wagged her tail, leaping up to press her paws against my shoulder. I would have expected her to hulk out and shred her vest as she grew but somehow it grew with her.

“I… I think she leveled up,” Miranda said.

“That’s awesome,” I said, pushing Stella away. “I’m done exploring. This maze is fucking insane. Let’s find the stupid tree.”

Miranda covered her lips with her hand. I glowered at her, knowing full well she was hiding a smile. I swore and threw my hands up, limping down the right-hand path.

“Can’t you possess a dead bird or something and find the tree?”

Miranda snapped, “Sure thing buckaroo. Kill me a bird and I’ll get right on it.”

We wandered in silence for a long time. We found two Crocs, another chest, and one emu with knives for feathers. But my favorite find was a bench seat beside a fountain. I dropped onto the thing and dropped my aching head into my hands. My health was so low and we’d not found anything that looked like a banksia tree.

I couldn’t even shadow-rush around the place. My magicka was taking a ridiculously long time to replenish. I was beginning to wonder if it was somehow connected to my low health. I needed to sleep. Or meditate. Or something to speed the process up. I’d tried hunting a bird to follow through with the Miranda plan but not a single one had flown past. Why did all secret meetings have to happen at night? It was so unhelpful.

Stella forced her way into my arms. I stroked her wiry fur. I so badly wanted to know what level she was so I could get there myself. Is it weird to be jealous of a dog? I was. Unbelievably so. Would I get bigger when I leveled up? No, that was ridiculous. Then there would be giants walking around everywhere.

I was floundering if that wasn’t already clear. Help me, please. No seriously, get your ass in here and help me. You’re good at games, right? Right?

Fine. I don’t need you anyway.

Oh, look there’s the tree. Nope. Wrong one. Fuck. Help. I’m broken. Everything is broken. Stop looking at me.

Miranda smacked me across the face. I blinked, grateful to be torn from my spiral.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” she said.

“Any idea what time it is? Have we missed the meeting?”

“Probably. Can we leave now?”

I glared at her. “Sure thing. Lead the way.”

I hate mazes. I never thought I’d say that. But I do. I really, really do. There’s a trick to them, something really simple but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what it was.

“You know, I’m not even sure what a banksia looks like,” I admitted.

“Kind of gnarled. Big pinkish flowers. Pale green leaves.”

I stared at her, my mouth agape. “What are you, a botanist?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “It’s a pretty common tree, Joe. Don’t you ever open your eyes?”

“Clearly, I do not.”

She frowned and turned around. “Do you hear that?”

“Huh, no? What is it?”

“Shut up and listen.”

I did as she instructed. At first, I heard nothing but then it hit. It was the slow thud of a drum. It grew louder as the tempo quickened.

“What is that?” I asked quietly.

“Someone’s coming, we have to hide.”

I jumped to my feet and spun in circles. “There’s nowhere to hide.”

Miranda grabbed my hand and yanked me down a darkened path I hadn’t seen. It was tight. Branches snapped as we forced our way in. Stella’s newfound bulk made it even harder. We crouched together as I looked through the leaves.

The drums continued until a familiar figure walked out into the small clearing housing the fountain. Even in the dark his pink cockatoo hairdo stood out.

Eric marched stoically behind the Count, beating on a small drum strung about his neck.

The Count threw out his arm. “Enough. We’re here.”

Eric paused his drumming and folded his hands behind his back. Waiting in silence.

“Stay here until I return. Keep an eye out, something feels wrong about tonight.”

“Of course m’lord. No one will get by me.”

I watched as Count Banksia approached the fountain. He stepped carelessly into the fountain with his stupid curly-toed shoes. He approached the spouting tiers and pressed something I couldn’t see. One second he was standing there in the water and the next the fountain glowed purple and he was gone.

“Son of a bitch,” I growled.