Deliverance of the Vanquished

Chapter Two: The labyrinth

Created by-Death in Jude

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Sarah stood near to shock. Her hands trembled as they held the leather bound book with their grasp. Her mind was nothing more than a blank slate, wiped clean of all memory. She arose from her bed, her gown clenching onto the dampness on her shapely legs. She did not turn away from the blank pages in her childhood storybook as she took a couple of shaky steps. Sarah could not, she was spellbound by the mystery which the pages aroused within her mind.

What is going on? She absently wondered to herself. If the story was gone... Fear gently nipped at Sarah. What about her friends? Tears bristled into her eyes. Deeply breathing, Sarah tried to keep them away, but one swiftly broke over her eyelid and ran amuck onto her flushed cheek. She feared the worst, but tried to keep in mind that she knew nothing of their conditions.

A breeze blew, it's warmness tickled the flesh of Sarah's high-cheekbones. Alarm radiated throughout the uneasiness of her brain. She never left her bedroom window open!

Heart jumping into her throat, Sarah's gaze tore away from the book and desperately searched about her. Sarah was instantly mesmerized, frozen to the very spot where she stood as a muffled moan of sudden surprise escaped through her lips. The storybook plummeted away from her numb fingers into the red-clay soil that amazingly replaced the plush carpeting of her bedroom floor.

There was no doubt in her mind where she was for Sarah had been her before. It was the very place which haunted her vivid dreams, turning them into spine-chilling nightmares. It was also the very place which reshaped her very life. A trembling hand covered Sarah's gasping lips.

"Labyrinth."

Her voice was muffled, but her ears clearly hear. Sarah wildly shook her head with disbelief as more tears sprung into her horrorstruck eyes. This was not happening! Not to her! What wish did she make to get here? Was it someone else? Toby?

Sarah shut her eyes, all questions vanished from her mind for she stubbornly refused to believe that she was truly here. When Sarah reopened them, the same vast landscape was displayed before them. The same sun-baked high that rose high into the sky, the same skeleton-like trees reaching into oblivion and the same maze, the one which extended into forever in a mist of deadlines. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks, she was truly here, at the gates of the labyrinth.

Sarah fell to her knees, a disparate sob screaming out of her throat. She wanted to run away, but where to? Nothing made any sense to her, only that she was trapped here and could not apprehend why.

Blindly reaching out, Sarah's hands wildly tore though the loose topsoil, searching for her lost book. When her fingers swept across the familiar feel of leather, she drug the book to her. Fanatically searching for some type of an answer to why she was here, Sarah ripped through the storybook's yellow pages. Sarah growled when she found nothing, only blankness.

"No!"

The book suddenly grew red-hot in Sarah's hands. She feverishly released it, startled by the ungodly magic that reeked havoc over it. Sarah numbly studied at the book as if it were a coiled snake. Just as she was about to touch the book again, its cover split open as if it were possessed by unholy demons. The pages wildly flipped open and then suddenly stopped as if they were frozen. Sarah, dumbfounded, peered at the marked page displayed for her eyes only. Loopy writings were hurriedly scribbled across the page.

'Why do you cry out so, Sarah?'

Sarah could not believe her eyes. She could only gaze upon the book as if it had the power to eat her whole.

'Speak,' the book demanded. Sarah choked on her disbelief. Her book was trying to communicate to her!

Sarah brought her tongue quickly over her dry lips as a million question poured into her troubled thoughts. Her heart faltered as she spoke the first one that surfaced past her quivering lips.

"What are you?"

As if by ghostly magic, the eerie words floated onto the blankness upon the yellowed paper.

'Not what, but who, Sarah. I am the labyrinth.'

Sarah wanted to laugh. A small grin appeared onto her lips. The book sensed Sarah's disbelief to it's claim and white light glared from it's pages, sending Sarah veering away, hands upon her eyes. Peering through her fingers, Sarah read.

'Do not doubt me, mortal! I am the labyrinth; it's soul, it's essence and it's power. And I am very real! This is real!'

The glaring light vanished as quickly as it came and Sarah shuddering, unshielded herself.

"I never doubted you," Sarah unsteadily replied.

'Then why do you taunt me with your pretty smile, Sarah? I may speak through a mere book, but my eyes can see all.'

Sarah swallowed. She was loosing a battle she never could have won in the first place.

"Why I am here?"

Evil laugher chuckled into Sarah's wide-open ears. She rapidly glanced around her, a chill snaked dangerously down her arched spine. More swift inscribing smeared onto the pages.

'The rules, Sarah. The rules were broken.'

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I don't own the Labyrinth, but characters and events not in the film I do own. Please leave a review. Thank you for reading.