I couldn’t believe it – the spell had worked! The fence was weakened! Overcome with excitement and adrenaline, I slashed the fence over and over. It was working – it was truly working! We were going to be the first ones to ever beat the maze. The hole from my axe grew larger and larger the more I slashed at it. After so many before us had tried and failed – were we the first ones to use a spell like this on the fence? Had no one thought of it before? Or was Echo simply the first one to develop one such spell that worked?
After just a few hits, the hole was large enough for me to squeeze through. I wasted no time in pushing through and got straight to work on the next layer. I wasn’t the only one – others working at the fence on either side of me had also broken through and were rushing in to continue their work.
There was an impressive array of attacks all going on at once. Every type of weapon imaginable was all striking the maze in unison. When a fighter found their stamina depleted, there was always someone else ready to rush in and take their place, never allowing our progress to slow.
I had fully intended to count the number of layers in the maze, but I quickly lost sight of that goal. Instead, all I could focus on was destroying the fence. Slash, slash, slash, slash, then move on.
About midway through, in my haste to demolish the maze before Echo’s spell wore off, I tripped over the remaining chains in the hole I had been squeezing through. I was thrown to the ground as a swarm of other people flooded around me, shoved in front of me, and took my place. My plan, of course, was to immediately jump back up and get back to work, but that proved to be more of a challenge than I thought was reasonable. The mob around me made it challenging to regain my balance, and my muscles, after finally receiving a moment of rest, were reluctant to return to the intensity of the labor they had been engaged in.
“You have to get up, Arrow.” I looked up, panting desperately for air, and found November standing over me. “You know they need you.”
I cracked a small grin. “And what is your great contribution to the effort?”
She scowled and held out her hand. “Are you joking? I shot the spell!”
“Any half-decent archer could have made that shot.” I took her hand and pulled myself up to my feet.
“Yes? And any brute with muscles can smash it up.” She pointed at the remaining layers of fence ahead of us. “Now get back in there and get back to smashing!”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. I lifted my axe back up into the air and charged forward into the front lines. Finding my second wind, I pushed my way to next in-tact layer and returned to the task at hand.
As I was coming up, I had the opportunity to see Lynx in action. His hits didn’t seem to do as much damage as mine, but they were fast. I was in awe of how quickly the man was able to work.
I also caught a glimpse of a fighter who had apparently been hurt in the midst of the task. A short, thin fellow with a bald head was leaning over her. He seemed to be studying her injury. Regardless, I didn’t have time to watch them for long. I had to resume my attacks.
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The mansion was coming close into our view – we were almost there. I had almost forgotten what this mission was all for. Following layer after layer of fence destruction, an end goal wasn’t on my mind, aside from making my way through the last layer of the maze before the spell wore off.
Dreadfully, the green glow around the maze began to dim, and I noticed more resistance against my hits. This only encouraged me to move even faster and hit even harder. We had come this far, and I refused to fail. There was no way I would allow myself to leave without reaching the end of the maze.
We pushed our way to the final layer. The green glow had nearly faded. I could no longer feel the pain in my body as I pushed it to fight harder, faster, unendingly. A chorus of screams surrounded me, and I suddenly noticed that I had joined them, crying out as I fought to destroy the final fence as it resisted us more and more.
I was too distracted to notice when it happened, but somehow, Lynx and I had ended up directly beside each other. His mace and my axe worked in tandem, dealing blow after blow to the same area. The damage to the fence was slowing down, but it didn’t stop. We made a hole – a small one at first, but as we continued our fight, it grew larger, larger, and larger, until at long last, I forced my way through, with Lynx right behind me.
Once I was on the other side, I fell to the ground once again. This time, I was in no rush to pull myself back up. I was hurt – somewhat badly. By some means, I had forgotten about the spikes coating the fence, and was too worked up to notice them cutting through my armor into my flesh through all of my shoving and forcing my way into holes that were barely large enough to accommodate me.
I laid on the ground, bloody and exhausted, and watched Lynx lead the group in celebration – jumping, shouting, cheering, grinning, laughing. I let myself consider what it would have been like to join them. I had never been the social type, and engaging in such genuine social behavior seemed so foreign to me.
November kneeled down beside me and laid a hand on my arm. “Over here, Finch!” She raised a hand and waved to someone I couldn’t see.
“We made it!” Lynx cried out, standing in front of the entrance of the mansion. “We defeated the maze!”
“Good job, Arrow.” November patted my arm. “Just try not to bleed out now, alright? You still have to see the inside of the mansion.”
“The mansion,” I muttered. It seemed I would now be an owner, along with about 250 other people. “Do I really seem the type to live in a mansion, Vember?”
“That’s up to you. No one can make you do something you don’t want to do,” she replied.
I scoffed weakly. “You seem to have a knack for it.”
Suddenly, I felt something sharp stab into the back of my neck. I jolted up and grabbed my axe. Someone had snuck up behind me and attacked me while I was down!
“At ease, Arrow,” a man laughed. It was the bald man I had noticed before. He put a now-empty syringe into his bag. “That’s going to expedite the healing process and relieve some of your pain. Can you stand?”
“Well, you could have warned me!” I protested. “You think I’m alright with you just injecting me with a random substance?”
The man stood up straight. “I asked you if you can stand. If you can, feel free to punch me, but I have a feeling you won’t want to.”
I leapt to my feet and raised up my fist, prepared to prove him wrong on his assumption, but November grabbed my arm to stop me. “Knock it off, Arrow! Finch has done you a huge favor by healing you. This is not the way to repay him. You apologize, now!”
The shock of the unexpected jab was wearing off, and as I came to my senses, I knew she was right. I sighed heavily and lowered my fist. “Indeed. I’m sorry, Finch. Thank you for your work.” I held out my hand, transforming my fist into an invitation for a handshake.
Finch smiled and accepted the invitation. “Not a problem at all, sir. I’m simply glad to see you recovering.” He handed me a small vial with a red liquid. “Take a long bath tonight and empty this into the water. It will help with the wounds.”
I took the vial and nodded. “Thank you kindly, Finch.”
“Okay, everyone, that’s enough celebrating. We’re not done here!” Lynx extended his arms toward the mansion door. “It’s time to do what we came here for!