...56...
THE ABANDONED MAZE
The sound of an approaching horse did well to rouse him from his much needed slumber.
He had been up all night trying to strengthen his core.
And now, though he had succeeded, he was tired, conked, wasted and he desperately needed to rest.
But, that horse making it's way in his direction made him to understand that he would not get what he wanted, at least not now for the one person who would dare to bring a horse to his sanctuary was none other than the Emperor.
He hoped that there had better be a good reason or excuse for this unwarranted impromptu visit and a rather perturbing intrusion.
He sat up on bed groggily, his waist long topaz blue and black hair loose around him.
He was a rough sleeper and therefore there was hair in his mouth and some also tangled all around him.
He murmured a rather lengthy jeremaid as he got down from the bed and began a familiar chant.
Light whirled around him as the intensity of his words grew, topaz on colour like his hair.
He was fully dressed by the time the chant ended in a few seconds and the topaz blue light vanished.
He mumbled three foreign words and turned, teleporting himself into tge receiving area of his sacred niche to patiently await his august visitor.
He rendered his core, opened his spirit portal and entered into the other realm, the realm of magic, connecting with the spirits and others to know what was going on.
The minions on ground conduced information and relayed it to him by simply proceeding to deliver the procured information directly into his ears.
All in all, he gathered that the Emperor's woman was missing.
He nearly screamed not her again into the atmosphere.
Was that even a good reason for this unwelcome intrusion?!
He groused under his bed as his magical security system detected the Emperor's presence at the door of his niche.
The man came into his sacred grounds.
'My Lord, be rest assured that no harm shall come to her,' he informed him. 'Therefore quell your worries for they are unwarranted.'
'I can't find her,' was all he simply said to the warlock.
His voice betrayed his desperation.
'Be rest assured My Lord because no one took her. She left of her own accord you see?'
'She did? To where?'
Then, suddenly, a thought came to him.
'She... She didn't escape or something right?' he asked the warlock.
'That pixilated lady, I wish she did. No, she did not.'
He made a tsk sound.
'I shall summon Quei to help us pinpoint where exactly she is on these grounds.'
'Please Matrix, do so,' he pleaded with the blue haired man.
His earlier agitated voice was just a little bit less worried at that moment.
'Sedu mon gus sara na te ghe. Avec comple sano rivo mena sicker kia,' the warlock began his usual chant in the language of magic.
His voice rose a notch as the chant grew.
And then there was light.
It was that familiar reddish orange light that began to form in the bedroom as his chant grew.
It brought with it as always the rich redolence of freshly cut oranges.
The light grew also with his voice, going gradually from lackluster to a warm but bright glow, iridescent and lustrous.
And soon when Matrix kept quiet and everything went placid, he sensed it all too well.
It was Quiero Quei, she had arrived.
'Avon the warlock, will you and this obstinate demon never let me rest in time? Will you?' she asked them in a soft voice that gave away the fact that she was neither offended at being summoned by them but was only just pretending to be.
'I am sorry to bother you Quiero Quei,' Matrix proceeded to humour her. 'But, your ward is missing and we need your help to find her quick before she falls into danger.'
'Ah, I see. I feel her here. She has not left your territory yet. Give me a moment to do as you ask.'
'A moment it is. Go on,' Matrix simply told her. The earlier placidity returned in the room.
'I feel her. She is slightly afraid. There are lights, fire, her beast element. It draws her like a moth to flames. It done to her essence,' she narrated as if she were in some sort of trance which she were. 'There are too many openings, too many turns, candles and candles, a maze.'
'It is-' the Emperor began.
'-The abandoned maze!' both the warlock and the Emperor cried out to each other at the same time, their eyes meeting.
'Find her soon. Those lights, they draw that which you wish to keep suppressed demon. She could turn if she isn't fished out of that maze in time. And if she cannot override the strength of her element, she could die because her beast is crucial.'
'I understand.'
'I really hope that you do,' her soft feminine voice said.
'Thank you Quiero Quei,' Matrix said to her with a grateful smile.
'Do people thank a mother for breastfeeding her child?' the voice asked then with a crisp tone. 'The answer is no I guess?'
There was silence for a few minutes.
'Queirosette is my ward, my only vessel this she gives me a successor. Despite any of that, I truly care for the Lady. I shall help her anytime if need be.'
'I totally understand you Quiero Quei,' the warlock enunciated.
'Then with that being said, I shall take my leave then. Hey, demon!'
'Hmm?' the Emperor answered, a bit taken off guard.
'Take care of my ward. And do not hesitate to summon me if you need me alright?'
'Yes, thank you.'
'Hmm,' were the last words she said before the light began to dissipate, slowly melting away like ice cubes in a cup of water.
'The great emperor,' the warlock said a few minutes after the light vanished from sight.
The emperor turned his eyes and attention on him in answer to his call.
'What is it Matrix?'
'Do not lose your guard lest the enemy strike when you least expect it,' he warned him. 'You are being overly complacent with her safety. The enemy could be just anywhere and waiting about like a predator for a chance to take her, the prey in one fell swoop. Therefore, beware!'
'I know. But the Lady, she is smart. I do not doubt that she can protect herself properly.'
'She could actually outsmart you and you know. She is supposed to be a secret in your empire but every damn person knows about her! I wonder why that doesn't bother you because it should!'
'I know Matrix, I know,' he tried to placate the warlock.
'Then why on earth would you be letting her play around when she be courting trouble?'
'I promise you that this will not happen again.'
'You know who she really is,' the warlock continued after a sough. 'And you of all people know what could very well happen if she sought after trouble and loses her mind in the process don't you?'
'I know,' he replied.
'Anyways, hurry, hurry to her.' He slightly turned away.
'I will. Thank you Avon the warlock,' he addressed him properly.
'You are not a pin thankful or considerate of me; for if you were you would not bring your horse to my sacred grounds!' he snapped, beetle browed and all irritated.
'I really am Matrix. And I am sorry,' he rendered with an apologetic smile. The warlock only scoffed at the gesture and waved him away.
'Go away, to her. That smile does not solve it all. You just leave, Linamine and take your unwanted intrusion along with you do that I can have the peace, tranquility and quiesce that I desire and actually deserve,' he groused with a little smile.
'Oh my!' the emperor said with a rather louder chuckle that caused the warlock to stare at him as if he were beginning to go mad.
'Why on earth are you laughing at me?!' he demanded. 'I am not hilarious you know?'
'It's just that it's been a long time since you addressed me as Linamine. Anyways, I will go warlock and I will take my unwanted intrusion along with me alright?'
The warlock only grumbled under his breath as the emperor turned and left his scared grounds.
He instantly teleported back to his bedroom without any problems.
He chanted a few words and his night clothes returned to him.
He was still grumbling about it all as he climbed into his soft and comfortable bed to continue his perturbed slumber, unworried about the emperor's woman.
That was the emperor's cross to bear and not his.
After all, no one could harm her if she didn't wish it.
It was her fate, written and sealed in the stones that made time.
He fell asleep the moment his head touched his pillow and his eyes closed.
The abandoned maze was not really a deserted place like it's name implied.
But rather, it was actually called that because it was always void of people due to the nature of its infrastructure.
It was a very tricky and confusing maze and one would have to be good enough to not get trapped inside of it.
Still, hardly anyone who entered the maze could come outside unaided.
Anyone going into the maze would have a death wish to do so unaided as the other end was almost never easy to find once one was in.
Another thing, it was no flower maze -as that would have made it easier to actually navigate the maze- but the maze of stone and death.
This was exactly the place that she had come into.
Thick candles were all over the maze, left lighted, burning slowly away, day and night to aid the souls of the departed.
It helped to guide them on the path to paradise to help them get redemption of their souls.
Henceforth its name was the maze of stone and death.
But it was truly made if brick and not flowers, walls so high that none could climb.
She wandered around in the maze, just looking through it.
Photographs hung on the wall, sat on the floor, lay on the ground, around the candles, pictures of the dead, those that the living wishes to be guided into paradise.
She went on recklessly, looking for the centre of the maze with the map in her hands.
The map was a half map with only the direction to entrance and to the centre of the maze sketched.
It was hand sketched and someone had done it for her because they needed to meet in secret.
Only that she didn't know who it was or why they needed to meet.
But curiosity caused her to escape from both her aides and took her feet there.
She shifted the map to look at the second paper in her hands.
It was a pale yellow paper the words on it were written neatly with red ink.
She read it once more:
I have come for you again My Love. I shall await you at the second maze for I am not to be seen least the emperor who abducted you ends my life. Your sister going to be there with me. Please come Sisikel, we need to see you. I miss you.
Those were the words that were guiding her now.
She had questions, lots of them and it seemed as if the sender of the letter could adequately answer all if them.
She folded both the paper and stared at the map once more.
She took a turn as directed on it and continued to the centre of the maze.
When she finally arrived at the centre of the maze, she found no one there, waiting for her as she had been expecting.
But still, she stood and awaited them, not letting any thought be soul-destroying.
It was alright, she thought to herself.
Mayhap they were only just a little late due to their circumstances of entry, she hoped.
And when she had stood for so long and no one was still forthcoming, she began to look around to pass the time.
She studied the photographs there, more at the centre than on the way.
She watched flames flicker and the names inscribed on the candles melt away along with the wax, slowly.
When she was done with her sight seeing, she realized that she had waited for nearly an hour.
She was planning to leave when the thick smell of smoke began to tickle her nostrils.
There was something burning.
She began to back track, going out of the maze just the way that she had come for she knew not the was to the exit, only the entrance with the map.
As she went forward, the smoke grew thicker, opaque, choking and she realized that the pathways was alight, the maze was on fire.
That was the instant that something twanged in her head.
She opened the pale yellow paper in her hand and read it once more.
'I have come for you... again?' she mouthed.
That word, again, it sounded off.
Then suddenly, it all fell into place, dawning on her in an instant.
It was all a setup.
She had been tricked, lured into her doom.
And she had no doubt that it was the handiwork of the one who had cut her horse's saddle weeks ago.
That bastard must have finally gotten to her afterall.
But she refused to bend.
She would make sure to find a way out of there.
...OmaPhinaPhire