In a frozen cavern, Rune stood before four branching paths. Each one looked identical, stone and frost arranged with no visible differences to guide him.
"Well. Here is hoping I get lucky."
He chose a path at random and started forward. The tunnel twisted and curved in on itself, the walls close and uneven. After a short distance, direction stopped meaning anything. He could not tell if he was progressing deeper or circling back around.
The passage opened into another chamber. Once again, four paths waited for him.
Rune did not linger. He picked another and moved on.
This tunnel narrowed quickly, stone pressing in until he was forced to turn sideways and squeeze through a tight stretch of frozen rock. The cold bit through his armor as he pushed forward inch by inch.
On the other side, the space opened up.
Another chamber. Another four branching paths.
But this time, something stood at the center of the room.
A statue. It depicted a monkey with four heads, each face carved with a different expression, all of them staring outward in different directions.
Rune slowed, studying it.
"I am guessing this is the fourth one I need to touch," he said quietly. "That does not really help me right now."
His eyes shifted to the surrounding tunnels.
"And once I touch it, the timer starts," he added. "Which means I also need to figure out where the exit is from here."
Choosing the second tunnel this time, Rune moved forward at a steady pace, eyes scanning the frost coated stone as he went.
Without warning, ice cracked beneath his foot.
The floor gave way, shattering outward and opening into a wide pit lined with jagged icicle spikes far below. Cold air rushed up from the opening.
Rune reacted instantly.
Shadow Step carried him forward, the collapsing ground vanishing beneath him as he reappeared safely on solid stone. Ice continued to fall behind him, shards clattering down into the darkness.
"Alright, So I can still die in this maze."
His gaze sharpened, looking for traps, as he continued on.
Eventually, the tunnel opened into another chamber. This one held a statue at its center.
A monkey with three heads. Rune studied it for a moment, then nodded to himself.
'Maybe they are just in reverse order.'
Assuming the statues themselves were not the true challenge, and that the real test was the timed escape, he chose another tunnel and moved on.
The next chamber was empty.
He picked another path.
Another empty chamber. This time with a dead end.
Rune turned back, retracing his steps until he returned to the room with the three headed statue.
Choosing a different tunnel, it led to yet another empty chamber.
He stopped, exhaled, and rubbed at his face.
"Okay," he said quietly. "There goes that idea."
His eyes swept the branching paths again.
"This really is just memory and luck."
Rune had spent most of the day fighting the matriarch, pushing his body and element to their limits. All he wanted now was to be back in his bed, away from cold stone and riddles.
'There has to be a simpler way.'
Then it clicked.
Rune called out to Sol and Luna. Element poured from his body, light and shadow taking form as the two wolves emerged beside him.
"Alright," he said, voice steady. "Let's use every tool we have."
He looked between them, already forming the plan as he spoke.
"I need both of you to run the maze and find the first two statues. Once you do, let out a howl so I know where they are."
They listened, unmoving.
"I will search for the exit. Once we have all of that mapped out, I will swap places with you, touch the statues in the correct order, and get out of here."
That was it. Simple. Efficient.
Without another word, Sol and Luna turned and shot down the tunnel toward the entrance, splitting off to check the paths Rune had not taken, their forms melting into motion.
Rune pushed forward, checking the paths ahead. He started from the furthest point he had reached, the chamber with the three headed statue.
Dead ends. Bladed wall traps that slid out without warning. More hidden pitfalls masked beneath thin sheets of ice. That was all he found.
Then a howl echoed through the maze. Short. Sharp. Twice in quick succession.
Rune stopped. "Luna."
Two howls meant the second statue.
'Good. That means we are on pace.'
Rune fed more element into his armor, letting it wrap around his body and reinforce his movements. His steps grew lighter, quicker, each turn taken with sharper intent.
The long day weighed on him the more he used his element, the mental strain pressing at the edges of his focus, but his accessory kept it from tipping over into exhaustion.
Then Sol's howl rang out.
One long, deep call that carried through the twisting tunnels, moving fast and clean through the stone.
Rune turned a corner at the same moment it reached him.
There it was.
After taking the 4th path, then the 1st, then the 3rd from the chamber with the three headed statue, a massive door stood before him. It was nearly identical to the one at the entrance of this floor, tall and imposing, its surface rimed with frost.
Rune slowed, a sharp breath leaving him.
'That is the exit.'
It was time to move. Rune returned to the chamber with the three headed statue.
The swap came clean and immediate.
He appeared beside the first statue and placed his hand against it. Light washed over it, indicating it had been activated.
Rune shifted again, trading places with Luna at the second statue, touching it.
Then another shift.
He reappeared at the third statue and pressed his palm to the stone. It lit up, the sequence holding without resistance.
Rune launched himself back toward the final statue, clearing the pitfall trap in a single bound. The maze blurred as he ran, turns taken on instinct, feet striking stone without hesitation.
He reached the fourth statue and touched it.
Light spread across its surface.
[2 minutes until Maze Closes]
Rune's eyes narrowed. "Maze closes? That does not sound good."
He turned and sprinted back the way he had come.
Over the pitfall again. Through narrow corridors where ice blades swung from the walls, missing him by inches as he slipped through without breaking stride.
Sol and Luna were already ahead, streaks of light and shadow guiding the path.
The exit door loomed through the frost.
Rune reached it with breath to spare, pressed his hand to the frozen surface, and pushed it open. As he crossed the threshold of the door, he heard it, the sound of ice being compacted as the maze destroyed itself behind him.
"If I had been slower, that would have been me being crushed."
[Maze complete]
[Floor three access granted]