Short additional disclaimer: Thanks to the series 'A Hitchhicker's Guide to Outer Space' for inspiration. Any sentences you recognize belong to them.
Chapter 2
"This worries me for several reasons."
YH
"It's called the forbidden zone...no one knows what lies beneath it's sands...but whatever it is, no man has ever seen it and lived to tell the tale."
- Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
"Okay. I'm going to go, uh...away from you."
- No Way Out
All was darkness, a damp, shiny darkness.
And there was no sound, no noise at all, except for the echoes of her own breathing, which sounded worried. And the more she listened to them, the more worried they began to sound. She began to walk.
There was a slight glow coming from the moss on the walls, but it wasn't enough to see by, and she often tripped over roots on the floor. One hand flew out to touch the wall as she regained her balance, and she snatched it back quickly as she felt the slime that was covering the walls on either side of the path, and a spider skittered across the back of her hand. "Eww! Gross!" she exclaimed, shaking the spider off with a jerk. "Sorry Hecate," she added as an afterthought, "I just can't deal with your eight legged friends until I figure out where in Greece I am."
After she wiped the slime onto the hem of her cloak, she pulled out the crystal sphere from a pocket inside the cloak. She held the sphere in both hands, closed her eyes, and muttered a few choice words until she felt the crystal turn warm. She opened her eyes and looked around, holding the now-glowing orb like a candle. Now that she could see, she only felt worse, for attached to the walls, one every thirty paces or so, were strange and horrid cocoons. She walked down the hallway, and felt queasy when she saw the remains of what had been a person inside one of them. She walked quickly farther down the passage, holding the glowing crystal in one hand and lifting the hem of her long black skirt with the other hand. She was so busy watching that she didn't trip again, that she almost walked into a piece of wall. The girl held up her crystal to see that the passage split into two winding paths.
She coughed very slightly. She listened to the thin ghostly echo of her own cough trailing off among winding corridors and sightless chambers, as of some great labyrinth, and eventually returning to her via further unseen corridors.
This had happened to every noise she made, and it unnerved her. She tried to hum a cheery tune, but by the time it returned to her it was a hollow dirge and she stopped.
Impulsively, she knelt and studied the floor, looking for a trace of footsteps. If other people had been trapped in this maze-like structure, at least one of them must have found a way out. Just as she had hoped, there were several different footprints on the ground, and they all went the same way. She was about to follow the tracks, when a thought struck her. //maze-like structure...Could this be the Labyrinth?// the thought made her smile, because she had heard tales of people escaping the endless maze, escaping the... Her smile froze as she recalled the myth of the monster that inhabented the labyrinth. //nah,// she thought after a moment, //It can't be. Besides, there's no such thing as a minota...//
A roar from behind her cut off her thought as if in response to her thought, and she raced down the corridor following the footprints, wishing to the gods above that she was going away from the monster, and not towards it. She had run about a hundred paces, dodging the cocoons and swerving around corners, when a root tripped her and she crashed to the ground. Pain shot through her leg and she realized she had twisted her ankle. There was no way she could outrun the beast now. Dimming the light in her crystal sphere down to where it was impossible to see, she scooted herself to the nearest wall and huddled close to it facing the wall, glad this was an unslimy spot and hoping the minotaur would pass her by. She could feel the vibrations in the floor as the beast walked down the passageway and he was getting nearer. Seeing a flicker of light on the ground, she realized with horror that he was carrying a torch, and that there was no was in Tautarus that he was going to walk right by without seeing her. Rolling over to face the threat coming down the corridor, her mind ran over her options. She was a full goddess, but she was so inexperienced that she couldn't throw fireballs or energy bolts. She couldn't dematerialize, either. Hera's protection order had been lifted, so she could count on no one but herself to save her. She was so frightened and in pain that there was no chance of gathering to concentration needed for changing her form, so it came down to weapons. The only knife she had was tucked in the boot of her hurt ankle, and she couldn't reach it without calling unwanted attention to herself. That left the crystal sphere. It was all she had, and she clutched the stone to her chest as she waited for the beast to come within firing range.
She shouldn'd be so afraid. A daughter of Hera should be fearless. The gods knew she had hung around Ares, Discord, Strife, and Mnemosyn enough to not be afraid of any god. But legendary monsters didn't follow the rules of gods. She tried to summon up strength from her goddess-half, but it wavered dramatically when the Minotaur came into view.
She knew what a minotaur was supposed to look like: half bull, half man. But the reality was much different than her expectations. The light of the flickering torch he held shed plenty of light to see by, while making the Labyrinth and it's inhabitant seem even more surreal than it already was. The head of the minotaur was that of a bull, fierce, menacing, and topped by a huge pair of horns that curved up and back. His body was technically human but plenty scary. The creature's hands were big and powerful, with long sharp nails. He was wearing a loose fitting tunic, which gave a glimpse of a well-muscled chest. He was also clothed in dark leather pants and boots. Just then he stepped into firing range, and she used all her godly strength to throw the crystal at the creature's head. The light from the torch flashed as it caught the crystal, and the Minotaur noticed it just in time. The muscles in his arm rippled as he moved with almost inhuman speed to snatch the missile out of the air and slow it's momentum.
The minotaur's eyes sought and found the girl hiding against the wall, and locked eyes with her for a moment before returning his gaze to the crystal to study it. The girl murmured two words and the crystal ignited. The minotaur dropped the orb and cast an accusing look at the girl while he shook his slightly scorched hand. She expected him to eat her alive at any moment, but she was wrong. "What didja do that for?" he asked in a hurt tone.
The girl woke and sat up quickly, her eys adjusting to the dim light cast by the torches carried by the guardsmen as they made their rounds, protecting the city of Corinth. She breathed deeply of the cool night air, and willed her racing heart to slow. Once she was fully awake, she wondered at what was happening. _Why am I dreaming of what happened three months ago?_ she slowly rose to her feet and lifted the tent flap to climb out into the deserted marketplace. It was near mid night and the stars were out, shining brightly. She gazed at the constilations and wondered, _Why are you showing me this, Morpheus? What is going to happen?_
But there was no answer, and eventually the girl sighed and climbed back into her tent to await the morrow and anything the days ahead might bring.