.
.
The little flame darts ahead, its tiny body flickering and dancing between the towering stalks of the maze. Every now and then it disappears entirely, only to reappear a little further along the path. It plays with you, teases you, testing your patience with little, delighted giggles. How strong is your drive? How badly do you want to be in the right place, and in just the right amount of time in advance before you actually need to be there?
You surge ahead, carving a blazing hot path through the stalks in a strictly linear direction. Your velocity is astounding. Your need for speed, undeniable. If you could hear beyond the pure masculine aggression roaring past your ears, you would notice that that the maze is becoming quieter, more still. The cawing of the ravens has faded, as has the distant voices of other visitors. It's just you, and the flame.
Then, quite suddenly, the path opens before you.
Before you lays a great, circular clearing, its earth flattened into an unnaturally smooth disc. The corn stalks surrounding it forms a thick, towering wall around the circumference, creating what looks like a crop circle carved into the very heart of the maze. There are no festivities here; no lanterns light the area, no decorations or welcoming little trinkets hang around. Only the dark earth, flattened stalks, and the pale light of the moon.
The little flame hovers at the edge of the clearing, bobs once, twice, before giving a final little flicker and extinguishing itself.
There you are. Right where we want you.
The whisper curls around you, followed by soft, pleased cackle.
Three familiar figures stand around the clearing. The First Sister stands with her hands folded before her, posture straight and perfect beneath the dark folds of her robe. The Second leans rather casually against the surrounding corn, her head titled at their newest arrival. The Third, meanwhile, looks positively delighted, hands clasped together beneath her chin.
"Oh, look! He's here!" She chirps, giving him a little clap,
"And loooook, he came running. So fast. How wonderfully eager!"
"Did you expect anything less?" The Second Sister muses, eyes drawing languidly over his form,
"The man thought he was coming to meet a goddess."
"Ah. The Champion arrives. I trust you've enjoyed conquering the corn. It has been terribly frightened." The First Sister remains fixed on you, and despite her jab, offers no such amusement in her expression. Her sisters giggle behind her.
"You have spent the evening making your own path, young man. However, now you needn't ever make another again."
@AmphitriteSea @jahdeen
Elsewhere in the maze, two little flames bob merrily along a long, narrow passage, their golden lights illuminating the path ahead. They dart playfully between the stalks, sometimes circling back around to make sure neither visitors have fallen behind.
"Pretty fishy!" One giggled.
"Yes! But not the elf." The other chimed.
"Maybe she's waiting at the end..."
The stalks surrounding Seasaw and Echo begin to sway. It isn't from the breeze, they move
deliberately. The leaves brush together overhead, their shadows casting greater shadows across the narrow path as the corn begins to lean forward. Behind you, the passage slowly closes.
"Nearly there!"
"Three naughty guests!"
"Three? But there's only two!"
"Teehee! One is already waiting!"
The flames dart forward, and the final few stalks pull apart to reveal a clearing beyond. They zip to the middle of it and dance around the man waiting there. Cheekily, they boop Flex with a hot buzz - one against each pec - and shoot upwards into the sky, exploding in a little shower of sparks around the little group.
The Third Sister squeals in delight.
"Finally! Our three little wanderers all together. Isn't this lovely?"
The Second Sister opens her hands, a sinister smile widening under her hood.
"It is lovely, sister. We do enjoy a group activity."
The First Sister steps forward, her skirts sweeping the flattened earth.
"Do not mistake this gathering for a welcome."
The air changes, and a low tremor passes beneath the earth. You can barely feel it at first, but then it grows stronger and stronger until the ground is shuddering beneath your feet. The First Sister raises one hand, and the soil around the clearing ripples.
Then comes the hands.
Pale and dirt covered, fingers push through the flattened earth with eager determination. They seize ankles, legs, wrists, tangling in clothing and grasping at limbs with surprising strength. Eventually, all three of you are on your knees, held firmly in place.
"Awww, they like you! Aren't they just the most helpful little guys?" The Third Sister says, encouragingly.
"Helpful? They're obedient. Which is more I can say for these three." said the Second Sister.
The First Sister steps into the middle of the clearing and surveys you all with an austere expression.
"They have had ample opportunity to demonstrate their incapability to follow simple instructions." She pauses, passing her dark gaze over each of you.
"Now, they will listen."
"The rules were not complicated. They were not unreasonable. They were not written in a language you didn't understand."
The First Sister raises one, pale finger.
"Do not leave the paths."
She raises a second finger.
"Do not take what does not belong to you."
A third.
"And above all, be kind."
Her expression hardened.
"Three simple instructions. Three reasonable requests. And yet, here we are."
"Perhaps we should have drawn pictures..."
"Some people can't resist putting their hands where they don't belong."
"...or their feet."
They all look at the resident himbo. Your great muscles strain, but to no avail, the hands keep you secured to the ground.
"You, with the verb for a name. You were expressly instructed to remain on the paths. Instead, you decided the paths were beneath you, and not in the way they were intended."
"Oh, but he's so important. So powerful. Ordinary paths simply cannot accommodate his greatness."
"You forced your way through the stalks, disregarding the boundaries of this place, and behaved as though the entire maze existed for your needs alone. And then, spent an absurd amount of time pulling at the very things you were instructed to leave alone!"
"Working out, he calls it."
"Well, I liked the show...maybe the corn did as well?"
"Hush! I think the corn has suffered enough."
"You mistake confidence for competence. Your vanity has made a mockery of your better sense. Though, it's debatable as to whether you had any to begin with. Those grand decelerations, ha! One little whisper and you were ready to surrender yourself entirely."
"Aw, he's a romantic."
"He's an imbecile."
The two sisters giggle, but the First snaps.
"Neither quality excuses disobedience!"
Her eyes fall to Seasaw, stranded far from water in the straw, hands firmly hold you in place.
"You, little mermaid, stood before us, read our instructions, and promised to behave. Only to do precisely the opposite almost immediately."
"It was rather quickly."
"Five minutes. It has to be a new record, surely."
"You wandered off the path, chased shadows through the stalks, disrupting their peace. You disregarded the paths and made your own."
"She did make quite a splash!"
"Which the corn did not appreciate."
"So much spunk! So little demureness...and even less mindfulness."
"An unfortunate set of qualities, given that she has no idea where she's going most of the time."
"Spunk and good wit are no substitutes for good sense. You were not invited to rearrange our maze, and yet, you thought it perfectly alright to do just that."
Finally, her attention shifts to the handsome, golden haired man with the gold freckling his cheeks.
"And you, Echo. Perhaps you believe yourself innocent by virtue of having followed, rather than led."
"Hmmm, how convenient. Someone else makes the mess, and you simply follow along."
"Like a little one-horned baby dinosaur!"
"You entered where you were not supposed to, followed where you were not supposed to, and allowed yourself to be led by things you did not understand, and did not care to consider."
"All for a chance to find a pretty little elf."
"Oh, how romantic. I wish I was a pretty little elf..."
"A little less following, and a little more thinking will do you well in your future, young dragon. Good intentions do not absolve you of poor judgement."
The sisters all moved at once, coming to stand in a line in front of you three of you.
"What a collection we've gathered tonight!"
"Oh yes. A braggart, a fish out of water, and a dragon with his head in the clouds."
"You were given hospitality. You were given guidance. You were given every opportunity to conduct yourselves with even the smallest measure of courtesy, and you failed to do so."
"Spectacularly!"
"Therefore, you will remain here. Bound to the earth that you so carelessly mistreated and held by the hands of those who have only done marginally worse before you."
The hands grip you tighter, as though resentful of the fact that you've gotten away with things this lightly.
"Until the festivities in this area have ended, you will not leave this circle. No wandering. No shortcuts. No little adventures." The First Sister gives Seasaw a pointed look.
"And no running off to find pretty little elves!" The Third Sister steps forward to boop Echo on the nose with one tattooed finger.
"Or goddesses." The second replies dryly, smirking at Flex.
"When you are released, it will be done so with a consequence of your actions applied to you for the rest of the evening."
She turns away from you and drifts towards the edge of the clearing, her sisters following behind.
"We have other guests to attend to. We do hope you're comfortable, it's going to be a long evening."
The sisters disappear, and the clearing falls silent. Above you, the little flames reappear, dancing merrily in the darkness above their heads, looking very pleased with themselves. Beneath them, beneath
you, the hands remain firmly around your limbs, their fingers occasionally twitching.
Three trespassers. Three offenders.
And not a single path in sight.
(Thank you for playing in the corn maze! Your characters have
successfully completed this section. Once the new section opens, you will be able to continue on your adventure.
Maybe.)
