章 46: Choices
Blood entered the labyrinth while Emile followed. They traveled down a long, straight path into the heart of the labyrinth. Since they haven't come to any turns yet, Emile could still look back and see the distant doorway they entered through.
The path finally veered right, but the duo was immediately halted by a wall with two inscriptions on polar sides. The green tubes embedded in the walls all connected to the two inscriptions and a lever sat just below each notice.
Suddenly, as Emile and Blood approached the two inscriptions, the walls rattled and the floors shook. The green wires illuminated to a bright white for the duration of the earthquake and dimmed to glow stick green once the world quieted.
"It—it just says one." Blood announced.
"And this one says one plus. I think it's just the number of people entering." Emile said.
"Why does it matter?" Blood asked.
"I don't know. Maybe the group one is harder."
"What do you mean harder?" Blood asked again.
"I didn't make the place Blood, I don't know."
Blood stepped over to the one plus lever and pulled down. Instantly, the wall vibrated and the green lights shut off. Parts of the wall began to vanish into thin air, like it was being erased by the back of a pencil.
Before the wall completely vanished, Emile was able to see the other side and it was no different, just another long path for them to wander.
Blood passed through without acknowledgment, but Emile stopped outside of where the wall stood and swatted the air, making sure he could really pass.
They walked for another fifteen minutes and arrived at another dead end with two choices. Unlike the first wall, these two options were pictures rather than words.
The first was of a human carrying a sword and shield while the other depicted a person holding flames.
"Spright?" Blood asked.
"Maybe how we fight? Do we use weapons or rely on our gift?" Emile guessed.
"Why are we choosing all of these?" Blood asked.
"Are you asking me or is that more rhetorical?"
"Rhetorical? What's that?" Blood said.
"Nevermind."
Blood pulled the lever beneath the man controlling flames and the wall similarly vanished. For a long while this pattern repeated.
Emile and Blood traveled down an empty path, the only interesting features being the glow of the walls themselves. Then, they'd arrive at a wall of two choices.
Single person versus group. Physical weapons or essence manipulation. The next room depicted a person with a drawn outline, the person was flexing in the depiction and had over exaggerated muscles. In contrast, the other option was the same person controlling fire.
After that the choice was between a person manipulating flames and a person summoning a smaller creature. Emile came to the conclusion that the labyrinth was narrowing down the exact type of gift its challengers possessed.
Thankfully, after hours of walking down carbon copy, identical paths and meticulously choosing between the two given options, Blood and Emile arrived at the last wall.
Emile assumed it was the final wall for two reasons. First, this wall didn't have two options, but instead had a depiction that represented their slew of previous choices: a group of five humans manipulating different substances, each one unique and distinct from one another.
Secondly, this room contained something no other room has had up until this point, a stage or stand in the corner of the room. The stand was only about a foot tall and was big enough for multiple people to stand on it.
The perimeter of the circular stand was covered in the illegible runes that covered the Ivory Lighthouse and the tunnel leading to the labyrinth.
Blood confidently approached the single lever and pulled it, the wall disappearing just after. The two passed through and walked down the proceeding pathway.
It was short, unlike all the previous passageways. They came to a turn and the towering walls suddenly dropped off. Emile and Blood instead entered a large space, maybe half a mile in each direction.
The towering walls still bordered the massive square room, but the room itself was mostly empty space. At the back of the room, opposite to where Emile and Blood entered, stood a rock dome with multiple entrances.
To the left, the ground plummeted down twenty or thirty feet, like the edge of a cliff. On the right, stone pillars reached up towards the ceiling. The pillars themselves were huge, much larger than trees, the width alone allowed for multiple people to successfully hide behind them.
And lastly, the center of the room, the space just in front of Emile and Blood, was empty and flat.
"What now?" Blood asked as he walked further into the room.
Before Emile could answer though, the green radiance from the surrounding walls blinked on and off until they shifted to a deep red. The artificial space plunged into darkness, the atmosphere reflecting a crimson moon.
Blood looked around at the walls, watching them blink and shift colors. Meanwhile, Emile looked ahead, convinced he heard something come from the stone dome.
Out of one of the entrances to the dome, a wooden doll appeared. It was clearly modeled after humans, bipedal with two arms, it looked a lot like a mannequin from a clothing store, but alive.
The wooden doll raised one of its hands into the air, the familiar white sparks flourishing around its palm. A split second later, the white dust compressed and cracked. It grew brighter, a luminous yellow taking hold as the essence settled into the shape of a spear.
The spear of light sizzled in the air, the doll cocked its shoulder and launched the radiant spear towards Blood. It tore through the air, a thunderous snap accompanied its release.
Blood had noticed the doll long before it summoned the lighting strike and was able to sidestep the strike. The lightning crashed into the stone beside him, turning the ground a bright orange from the immense heat of the lighting strike.
Four more dolls exited the stone dome and looked towards Blood and Emile. The lightning doll pulled his shoulder back and readied another strike.
"Finally something to do! Hey blood bag! Let's go!"
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