"Your home is your sanctuary. You need to make it a place you love to be in."

Betty Gabriel, American Actress

It took Milly another hour before the shimmering trail brought her to the end of the mountain maze. She passed through chasms and forests, rivers, and valleys, until, finally, she reached a long, dark tunnel just below the tree line.

This was not a natural cave system. The slides of the tunnel were perfectly smooth, and the top was rounded in a half-circle, as if it were part of an abandoned railway. Milly could see a trace of light at the end of the tunnel – a passage straight through the mountain.

I still don’t understand how this maze works. How can I walk towards a mountain but never reach it? Magic, no doubt. At least I’m finally at the end.

Using her fire magic as a torch to illuminate the darkness, Milly strode into the tunnel. The shimmering gold that led her to this place was infused into the tunnel’s every surface. Reflecting her firelight, it made the tunnel shine like the night sky.

Enamored by the sight, she nearly ran into the small, golden chest the size of a jewelry box resting on a rocky pedestal in the exact centre of the tunnel. Milly brought her light closer and the chest shined like a beacon.

Along the top of the chest was a message, engraved in silver.

Lost one,

To be a player in the God Contest is to stand at the center of the hurricane

May this gift provide you and your loved ones sanctuary from the winds, if only for a few precious moments

As my maze once did for me

- The Goddess Ariadne, Mistress of the Labyrinth

“A gift from another goddess?” Milly whispered with excitement. “I didn’t know such gifts could be found outside of an Arena.”

Milly ran her fingers along the small, ornate chest, and marveled at its detailed design. Spiraling lines stretched out from the latch in a complex pattern that defied all efforts at rationality. The lines actually moved along the surface of the chest, swirled about, as they interweaved with one another and abruptly ended, only to reappear elsewhere on the chest. Milly saw one of the lines had a faint shimmer that mirrored the one that had led her through the passageways.

“It’s a map of the maze,” Milly realized. “No wonder the starting paths were different today, and why I couldn’t find my way through. The paths change! I could have searched blindly for a hundred years and never found the end.”

Milly popped the latch on the chest, and the lines abruptly stopped moving. Milly knew that moment she had opened the chest, the maze through the mountains – now completed – had returned once more to static mountain terrain, indistinguishable from the rest of the mountains. All players would now be able to traverse its paths without getting lost.

Lifting the lid of the chest, Milly drew out a single piece of aged parchment, folded twice into a small square.

“What the…?” Milly said, confused. She’d expected to find a magic ring or necklace, or perhaps a talent book, not a piece of paper.

Milly unfolded the parchment. It was a map.

Map to Sanctuary: Mountain Meadow

Across the God Contest, hidden personal sanctuaries exist for intrepid players to discover. These sanctuaries can only be accessed by the player who discovers them and those she designates may enter. It is a place of peace – of simple solitude – where she can, for a time, detach herself from the chaos around her. They are an integral part of establishing a sense of stability and sanity within the Contest.

WARNING: Players may find themselves addicted to the peace that a personal sanctuary can provide. Ensure your use of the sanctuary is balanced against the needs of the Contest. Excessive reliance on the sanctuary can result in a player failing to grow and falling behind their peers, ultimately leading to their demise.

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Milly clutched the parchment as if it were a lifeline she didn’t realize she needed. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

My own sanctuary? A place where Cally, Passi, Rain, and I can go and simply be at peace. No Stone. No Brass. No monsters. No watching my back for a knife? Just a place to be ourselves, if only for a few moments.

Wiping away her tears, Milly studied the map.

It’s close. Just past this tunnel and through the valley, until I reach a mountain with a split peak. If I hurry, I should be able to find it before nightfall.

Milly quickly memorized the basics of the map, then stowed it away in her inventory.

“Thanks, Goddess,” Milly praised. “I hope you’re one those who have escaped madness’ touch.”

The only answer was the lifeless wind whistling through tunnel.

Milly started to walk towards the end of the maze, then quickly turned back, picked up the golden chest, and added it to her inventory.

“No sense letting this go to waste,” Milly justified. “Cally will love it.”

* * *

Milly emerged from the tunnel halfway up the mountain’s slope. The beauty that awaited her drove away, for a moment, the anxiety in her heart.

A vast coniferous forest stretched out before her, and filled the broad valley that weaved its way through hundreds of mountain peaks that stretched beyond the horizon. The mountain peaks grew taller the further they got from the Castle of Glass, until those on the horizon stretched so high that Milly could not see their peaks.

Countless waterfalls cascaded down mountain slopes, fed from glacial fields at their peaks. The mist created by the waters striking stone thousands of feet below refracted the sunlight and bathed the valley in a blanket of rainbow hues that took Milly’s breath away.

The glacial water flowed down the valley, first as hundreds of small streams and then joined together in a three-hundred-foot-wide river that twisted and turned its way down the valley towards to the ocean.

Massive lakes filled with crystal clear glacial water interspersed the forest, their surfaces loaded with waterfowl and wildlife drinking on their shores. Large lake fish broke the water as they fed on the insects that hovered above its surface. Even from this distance, Milly could tell those fish were massive.

There may be some tasty fish in there, but what other creatures inhabit those lakes? I… think I’ll stay away from them for now. Especially the big lakes.

A herd of elk broke from the trees below her, bolting over deadfall and around rocky boulders in a vicious stampede.

There must be two hundred elk in that herd! It could feed the Castle and the Fairies for months. What are they… oh…

The lagging elk, an elderly buck that limped on its back leg, was suddenly set upon by a monstrous grizzly bear the size of a school bus. The bear ripped the elk clean in half and swallowed its back half whole before the elk had finished its final, pain-filled bleat.

This isn’t goblin territory anymore. I’ll need to be careful. I don’t know how strong the monsters are in this section of the mountains.

Milly waited until the monstrous bear had finished its meal before she began her descent down the mountainside.

Following the main river up the valley, she occasionally pulled out the map to check her directions. The mist felt cool against Milly’s skin and gave her goosebumps, though after her experience in the jungle heat, Milly felt herself embracing the chill.

Although Milly’s speed had greatly increased, she found herself unable to travel as quickly as she had on the prairies. The dense forest and the prevalence of deadfall, boulders, and roots along the ground made her progress irritatingly slow.

She avoided any creatures she came across, which slowed her further. Everywhere she looked, there were massive predators and great herds of prey. After the battles with the goose and toads, Milly did not want to underestimate the monsters in the world. She knew how dangerous even the most innocuous of them could be, and now was not the time to test the strength of those creatures.

It was three hours before she spotted the mountain with the split peak nestled to the west. She deviated from the river and carved her way towards it. The forest was dark and damp, and there was no path to follow. Milly formed a ball of fire to illuminate the woods and keep her warm.

She marched through the forest for another hour, growing ever closer to the twin peaks of the mountain. She avoided a pack of half-owl creatures that stalked the forest, and a giant comprised of shale.

The afternoon sun was well along its daily journey when she found what she was looking for – a narrow gap in the mountain that led to the sanctuary beyond. Its entrance was half-hidden by fallen trees that Milly had to rip out to gain access.

“Here we go,” Milly told herself, stashing the map back in her inventory. “It’ll be a bit tight, so think skinny thoughts, Milly.”

She took a deep breath and squeezed herself into the gap, barely able to fit.

Milly inched her way forward bit-by-bit, trying to keep claustrophobia at bay. The walls of the gap were weak, and Milly found herself praying the rocks would not give way. She used her earth magic to reinforce the wall she touched and to help push her along.

After ten arduous, tension-filled minutes, she finally found herself on the other side. She had found the meadow. Her new sanctuary.

And the sight took her breath away.

Congratulations! You have discovered Sanctuary: Mountain Meadow

This is a Personal Sanctuary.

Would you like to rename this location?

Sanctuary: Mountain Meadow has been renamed Milly’s Meadow

Personal Waypoint Pillar Activated. Designate Access?

You have provided Player Calista Gale, Player Rain Desjarlais, Fairy Kin Passiflora, and Familiar Anchovy with access to your personal sanctuary. They may now access it from any Waypoint Pillar.