The Return of the Labyrinth
Chapter 1
A long, long time ago, Moanna, the princess of the Underworld who had escaped into the world of mortals, was reborn into a little girl named Ofelia. One day, Ofelia and her mother came to a mill close to one of the portals in which the people of the Underworld used to search for her all over the world. There, she had met the Faun. He gave her three tasks to ensure that her essence was intact. Ofelia had successfully completed the first two tasks, but one, she had broken the rules on leaving the Faun infuriated. However, the Faun decided to forgive Ofelia and gave her a second chance and let her complete the final task thus leading to Ofelia's arrival as Ofelia no longer but Princess Moanna herself.
It has been over sixty years since the return of Princess Moanna. The century for the kingdom has been prosperous and promising. However, a kingdom is not without its troubles. The Princess, now Queen, has fallen under an illness that may result in her very death. In a desperate attempt to save her, the kingdom has sent the Faun himself to ascend to the world of mortals to find one worthy enough to take on the challenge in saving her life.
Amaranta sighed as she stroke her long, brown hair. It had been a long first day at school. She thought that if she had to spend any more time in Senor Iglesias' math class, her head would have surely exploded. Her first day was a lot more smoother than she had thought it would be. As expected, everyone ignored her considering she was the new girl (during classes and lunch), so she didn't make many friends. Plus, she was rammed into the lockers as people came rushing through the hallways; yup, another day in the bittersweet life of Amaranta Vazquez.
As she was walking home from school on a blistering sunny day, she saw an old, yellow school bus full of noisy primary school children departing from its stop. At the stop, were a few primary school kids making some kind of ruckus over something? She walked by to take a closer look. There were two boy, one a bit portly and the other skinny, picking on a small boy around their age; one that Amaranta knew too well. Her face changed from emotionless to a scowl as she came within two feet from the boys.
"Hey, brats," said Amaranta raising her voice "You think that's funny? Picking on someone who has a better life than you?"
"What do you want?" asked the skinny boy
"Whaddya think I want?" snapped Amaranta "I want you to get your asses away from my kid brother here."
"You're not the boss of us," said the portly boy sharply "So scram, ya little tramp."
Irritated, Amaranta grabbed both boys by the back of their shirts. Both of them tried to struggle out of her grasp shouting out comments that wouldn't be suited for young children to say, but to no avail.
"You better watch what you say to me, you little turds," she said cruelly "Unless you want to find yourself limping all the way home."
She found an old little park bench near by. An idea had been formed in her mind; one that had been using for many, many years. She grinned mischievously; this was definitely going to be fun. As the bullies continued to struggle, she dragged the two bullies to that bench and shoved them into it.
"Sit down." She barked
They glance at each other then hesitantly sat down. Amaranta kneeled down on the concrete sidewalk while her little brother stood behind her.
"How old are you boys?" asked Amaranta "Two? Three?"
"Seven." muttered the portly boy
"Hmm. That just so happened to be my tenth guess." she said
Amaranta's little brother giggled.
"Now, let me tell you a little story," began Amaranta "One that just so happens to be true by the way. Many years ago, in this very city, there was once a beautiful woman who was loved by even the most black hearted of men. Men have tried to bring her flowers, gold, jewels and fine fabric but none of these seemed to have won her over. What did seem to satisfy her interest though, were children; bratty, rude children. What she would do with them no one dared to find out except, one very nosy man. One day, he followed her into an abandon mine but he got lost while trying to follow her. Trying to find his way out, he stumbled across a massive cave with a lake in it. What he saw was horrifying: he saw the woman in the form of a half scorpion, half human beast devouring a young child. When he saw this he immediately ran. He barely made it out alive though. When he went back to the village, he was missing a leg, an arm and an eye. Some say that the beast is still in the mines, sending out men who are so in love with her to do her bidding. Others say that she uses black magic to sneak into misbehaving children's rooms and drag them back to her entombed lair. In fact, this very street is named after her."
Amaranta pointed to a near by street sign that said "Sirena St."
"That was her name," she said "Sirena."
"How are we supposed to believe you?" asked the skinny boy
"Well," said Amaranta "You see that tree over there?"
"What tree?"
"That tree, retard."
She gestured over to a medium-sized mahogany tree that had large claw marks imbedded in it.
"Those are her claws," said Amaranta grimly "She's been here. So if I were you I would back off and high tail it out of here before I get my head bitten off."
The two boys looked at each other horrified and then made a run for it. Amaranta laughed at them as they ran off. Those little buttheads; they fell for it. Those weren't really the claw marks of the so-called Sirena; they were really the scratches of a wolf she saw last night trying to catch a squirrel that fled into a tree. Her little brother suddenly wrapped his arms around her stomach and squeezed suffocating her.
"Augh… alright, Lucio…" she gagged "Let… go. You're… choking… me."
Lucio giggled.
"There really isn't a Sirena is there?" he asked
"Only in Boogie Land!" teased Amaranta
Both of them laughed and started to walk home together.
"Hey, Ama, when's Papa coming home?" asked Lucio suddenly
"I don't know Lucio," replied Amaranta "Very soon, I hope."
But hardly did they know that hidden within the shadows was a dragonfly-like insect unlike anything this world has ever seen was watching them.
