Brick by Brick

A Labyrinth FanFic

Chapter One

The room was an interesting shade of orange that morning. Even the sheets turned a golden shade of red and the walls gleamed in the sunlight. The sun had just risen above the horizon and began filling the air with warmth. I'd begun to hate the feeling of warmth. The more I thought about how much I hated it, the warmer my body became. I slipped out of bed so as not to wake her. She stirred slightly then resumed her sound sleeping. I dragged my tired body to the window. The air was cooler at the window and it chilled my naked chest. A quick shiver erupted through my back and then faded like the waves off a shore.

I looked back to her, Mizumi. She looked, almost delicate the way her hands hung limply over the side of her bed, her face painted with a sound expression of peace. I couldn't stand it. I had to leave this place. I kissed her forehead one last time. I felt like poison to my lips, warm, disgusting poison. The touch must truly have been poison for she awoke on the spot. She squinted against the sun filling the room. "Jareth, darling, you're up so early. Lay with me a while," she breathed as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Her naked chest felt warm pressed against my back. I pulled away instantly. She became anxious as I began to gather my clothes.

"I'm leaving, and don't follow me," I said coldly, without even looking at her face. Naturally, as soon as I stepped one foot outside her palace I heard the echo of footsteps behind me. She begged me not to go, groveled at my feet. I shooed her away like she meant nothing. I'd become cold, and no longer wanted her "love," if you could even call it that. More like lust.

I journeyed far away from her palace. I didn't want to see her again, the vixen. So I traveled until my feet landed me in the middle of the fields of Gnor. I'd come upon a small village of goblins. Well, less of a village and more of a cluster of ramshackle huts piled together with sticks and mud with pathetic excuses for roofs. I'd been walking towards a small flickering light. Though I hated warmth I thought perhaps there would be someone to tell me where to go to live in solitude.

The camp of vermin welcomed me rather energetically, if energetic could be defined as a few cowardly goblins poking the half-sharpened ends of their mud caked daggers into my legs. Their ugly, contorted faces smiled foolishly upon me as they danced and scampered about. The stench of rotting flesh and unwashed teeth surrounded me as they gathered at my feet in a horrible attempt to overtake me. The moment my hand smacked one straight in the head, knocking him the ground, the rest of the pack let up. Although I'd only touched its forehead my hand was covered in grime and sweat and what could have only been oil from the goblins slimy skin. Only one had the sense to realize that I was too powerful to be overtaken by a pack of rodents less than half my size. He recognized his position and offered me some of their disgusting food. Only rats' intestines and gremlin eyes could pass for food for a filthy goblin.

"Jareth stay with us," the one called Spittledrum said to me as he handed me a glass of goblin wine which tasted more like salt mixed with bitter berries and crushed into rainwater. "We like you. Make you king."

"Yeah, Jareth king," more of them piped up. I'd assumed at the time that they were all drunk and pissing the night away around their pathetic excuse for a campfire. But later I learned, they weren't joking at all.

The goblins promised allegiance to me when all I'd done was show them a fraction of my magic powers. I told them I could give them anything they wanted; a sturdy home, decent food, formidable weapons, anything. They were pleased. They asked for a city, a Goblin City, to be built near my castle, so they could serve me. What a bunch of fools, and yet, somehow, this was what I wanted. I willed it, on my own, my castle from where I would rule my kingdom. The Labyrinth. I wanted to rule, so a throne was made in my possession. A castle, fashioned to my will.

For the goblins I constructed a city. A small plaza lay right outside my castle doors. It wasn't much, but it seemed to be everything they ever wanted. I hated it so. I'd given a home to such vile beings and it was right next to my own. The moment the goblins resided in it the place smelled to high heavens and became filthier that the goblins themselves, if that seemed at all possible. But who cares, I was their ruler, and their lives belonged to me. Hideous though he was, Spittledrum became my right hand man, or goblin rather. He stayed in the castle with me, although I rue the moment I made that decision. As soon as he was allowed in the castle walls, others followed. Soon, half the population of goblins dwelled in my halls. I'd become irritated and created a place just a foul as the goblins that lived around me, a place to remind the goblins of their place in my castle. The Bog of Eternal Stench.

I'd brought a party of goblins to the Bog, to scare them into further obedience, to show them the consequences of disobeying. I planned on dropping one in to make an example. However, while walking a small fox bite the sole of my boot. I kicked him off and though he did whimper, he got back up again and faced me with teeth showing. He snarled at me, "Who dares intrude in Sir Didymus' home?"

The goblins roared with rage at the insolent creature who did not know their ruler's name. They all shouted my name like a bunch of fools appraising their "caring" leader. I hushed them with a wave of my arm.

"Home?" I quizzed. "This putrid place is barely fit for goblins to live. Can you not smell the air?"

"Hmph! The air is sweet," the fox grinned as he inhaled a waft of air through his nostrils.

I shook my head at the creature and laughed to myself. "You are indeed 'brave' to say the least. So if it is your wish to stay here, Sir Didymus, you must guard this bridge here. No one shall pass without your permission. Understood?"

He nodded. I granted him what he desired most, a small lance, and a steed to keep him company. I wanted nothing more to do with the stupid fox so I turned and left, with my gang of goblins pinching their noses and gasping for breath behind me.

On the way back to the castle Quiver noticed a furry orange creature stealing food from one of the goblin's home. He brought it to me for judgment. It was disgusting. Its red fur was caked in dirt and it smelt like a wet dog. The horns on top of its head were mere stubs, so I assumed it was a baby. Slimy tears fell from its eyes as I held it in my arms. It kept crying "Ludo hungry." A pathetic name for an equally pathetic monster. I threw it to the ground and watched it crawl away. I turned to my goblin followers, "Do with it what you wish, but do not eat or kill it."

The goblins chased after the creature ecstatically, spears and other weapons in hand. I had no time for useless creatures like that pint-sized behemoth. And at least I could be alone to explore my newly constructed kingdom. The longer I ventured the more despicable creatures I encountered and the more I wanted people kept out. The more I wished for solitude, the more traps and tricks came to be in the Labyrinth. My will had not created a bulwark, but a living defense.

Brick by brick, the Labyrinth grew into a place worthy of my power. A kingdom fit for a Goblin King. Its walls grew stronger, pathways stranger, forests thicker, and inhabitants more repulsive. Although I knew I couldn't drive the existing creatures away, I made it so no one could ever reach me, not even Mizumi.

My subjects treated me like a god and in exchange I treated them like the dirt they were. They came to fear me, as I wanted. If you are feared, no one gets attached to you. I had no friends, only my magic. My magic that is as cold as glass, like a crystal.