Labyrinth: A New Love
By: Ana Mazami
Written on: October 16,2007
Chapter 1
Not long after Sarah had gone on with her life and married, the goblin king started looking for someone that was younger, however not as young as Sarah was. He soon piqued an interest in a young girl and had given her the same powers as Sarah once had. Her name was Ana. A twenty-year old young woman who's life still remained in the fantasy world despite her hardships.
Having to practically raise her little sister at a young age due to her mother's illness and her poor choice in men that rarely helped at all with anything around the house, she soon came to resent her mother and little sister. One night, when she had enough of being an acting guardian to a defiant ten-year old child, she couldn't help but wonder what life would be like without these burdens.
She looked up to the glimmering night sky, "Oh goblin king! I wish you could free me from this burden. Take my sister away or take me away and free me of this poor excuse of a life." She muttered out her window. At that moment her little sister disappeared from the bed across the room. "Oh no..." she muttered to herself, "Where'd she go?" she asked herself.
"You know very well where she is." Replied a cool and arrogant voice from behind her, she whipped around and let out a gasp to what marvel stood before her. There stood a man with platinum blonde hair styled in a mullet, mismatched eyes that were accentuated them into a curve that made him look almost evil.
"Who-Who are you?" She stuttered as she backed up against the window pane.
He smirked, "You know who I am." He replied as he took a step toward her and placed a gentle hand on her cheek to calm her shaking.
She was immediately soothed by his touch, "You-You're the goblin king? With all due respect, please, send her back and take me. I'll do whatever you wish." She pleaded.
He let out a heavy sigh, "Dear Ana, it is far from that simple. You may come but before you are able to be exchanged places with your younger sister you must accomplish a task of some sort first." He explained as she observed her delicate features and almond shaped eyes with a glint of deep jade.
"What kind of task?" she asked worriedly as she jingled her keys in the pocket of her hooded sweater out of nervousness.
"Solve my labyrinth in less than thirteen hours and you can have that exchange." He said as they immediately appeared in a bright sunrise before a huge labyrinth.
Ana's heart sank as she saw it but soon shrugged it off, "Not bad!" she muttered to herself, "I'll see you at the end!" she said as she ran down the hill wasting no time. She looked around down the wall to see if there was a door anywhere.
All of a sudden she saw a little oddly figured man, "Excuse me! How do I get into the labyrinth?" She asked him nervously.
He quickly turned around, "Oh! I'm sorry young lady! What dids you say?" He asked quickly.
"How do I get into the labyrinth?" she repeated as she pulled out a cigarette out of her pocket with her lighter out of the other pocket.
"You gets in there!" he replied as he pointed right behind him.
"But that was just a solid wall a second ago!" she replied sceptically as she approached the door and felt the frame to see if it was truly there.
"Sceptical aren'tcha?!" he asked from behind her.
She didn't give him much time to say anything else before she went jogging around the corner. She ran her hands along the walls to feel for any openings to notice one. She felt an immediate gap in the wall to her right and took the left after she took a second to assess it. She took a final drag of her smoke and flicked it away. She looked around clueless as to where to go and caught all the twists and turns she had to take to head towards the castle.
All of a sudden she came to a split where it seemed like a dead end, it was just two different coloured doors. One red and one blue, but one thing was similar to both of them. They seemed to hold each other into an odd position. "Excuse me, which one of you leads to the castle?" She asked trying to assess which one would be most likely to be the right one.
"You can't ask us! You can only ask one of us, and one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies" replied the one in red.
Ana sighed as she looked at them both, she was really good at reading people when it came to lies. She soon approached the red door and looked to it, "Does this door lead to the castle?" She asked as she read his features.
After a moment of snickering and thought he replied a simple "no." She knew he was lying. She walked through the door and lucky for her she had not run into a trap. She ran through the maze even more and saw a clock and noticed she was only in the labyrinth for two and a half hours and she was already half way there.
Meanwhile Jareth watched Ana through a small crystal ball as he stroked her younger sister's hair as she lay there asleep. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Smart one isn't she?" he asked himself as he continued to watch her, "maybe we should make her have some fun with the firies for a bit." He said as he stroked the crystal which was zoomed in on the image of Ana's face as she took a breath before continuing on.
Ana had now reached the deep forest and ran her way through to find a rather scary looking red furry creature dancing by a fire surrounded by oddly perfect stones. "Excuse me, do you know where the castle is?" she asked the creature hiding her fear for him as to not insult him in case she insulted it and was sent on a run around.
"Just join the party and I'll show ya' where to go!" It replied as four more of the same species emerged into her sight.
She shrugged and joined in. An hour passed and still they hadn't showed her the way. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now... I don't have much time to waste." She said gratefully as she then ran on and kept going.
Five hours had now passed and she finally took to jogging the remainder of the way to the city gates. After a few minutes she came by a junk yard and paid it no mind ignoring the odd creatures that were collecting odd treasures from the garbage. She caught her breath before she entered the gate and opened the gate and sprinted through the rest of the city arriving at the front door of the castle. She let out a sigh as she pushed the door open, "Too easy!" she muttered to herself as she ran up the stairs to the throne room to see the Goblin King himself sitting there as he stroked her little sister's hair.
"Well I see you've made it with six and a half hours to spare! I have to admit that I am impressed! Like agreed she will be returned home as if she never were gone and you will be forgotten by all in the above ground as you stay here. Agreed?" he said as he stated his terms.
Ana nodded with a curtsy, "Agreed your majesty." She said showing as much respect to him as possible.
"No need to be so formal, you're but a guest here and shall be treated as such, as much as I appreciate the respect." He said with a smile.
Kayla disappeared as she was back in her bed now.
Ana sighed exhausted from literally running through thelabyrinth as lonely as it was. Jareth noticed her weariness and smirked, "Are you hungry?" he asked as he got up and walked over to her pulling her bangs out of her face.
"Yes I am your majesty." She replied unsure how to react to his habit of fixing every flaw she seemed to have. She took a sharp inhale of breath and closed her eyes trying to not lose her cool.
He placed a gentle hand on her back and offered his hand, "Shall we?" he asked.
She took his hand, "Yes we shall." she replied as she followed his lead down the hall into the dining room which wasn't as large as the dining hall. One was used for everyday affairs and one was used for special gatherings and hosting.
She sat down and looked across the table. It was rather long even compared to what she was used to seeing, even for the fanciest restaurant she ever visited. Not long after they had finished eating he escorted her to her room and she almost immediately fell asleep as she landed on the feather soft bed. She didn't even curl under the sheets she was so tired.