AN: Here is the next chapter of Shunned One, which was once again beta read by Cassidy the Water Sage. Thank again for your hard work Cassidy.
Would also like to thank following people for reviewing last chapter: BlackRoseFire, yellow 14, Starwin, lost prince, shocklance, Philip Gipson, DayDreamer9, Lily887787, Darev, Nelo Akuma
Now on with the fic!
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Arc 2: Return of the Exiled Prince
Chapter 4: The Labyrinth: Part 1
The next day, everyone one was gathering for the final event of the Youth Games. All the contestants stood in a giant circle, waiting for a strange metal armband to be clamped onto one of their arms.
The armband was gold in color and had a blue crystal embedded into it. Her mother had told Will that the armband had three purposes for the final event.
The first purpose was to prevent anyone's death, by working in combination with the ancient spells that enchanted the Labyrinth. If a person were about to be killed, that person would be teleported out of the Labyrinth and into the medical tent, just in case teleport responded too slowly to the potentially deadly attack.
The second purpose was in case a non life threatening injury happened, but made it impossible to continue. The injured person could simply touch the crystal in the armband and declare they give up. They would then be sent to the medical tent, just like someone who had been 'killed' would.
The third purpose for the armband was to provide a small amount of food and water three times a day, since this event kept going until there were three winners or until there was only one left standing in the Labyrinth.
To be one of the three winners, one had to reach the center of the Labyrinth and get one of the three medals waiting for those people. The first one to reach the room got the gold medal and then would be teleported out of the Labyrinth, where the lucky person could celebrate their achievement until the silver and then the bronze medal winners were decided.
Those three were declared the strongest of all the kingdoms' youth for that year and often brought great prestige to their family, especially if you were the gold medal winner. Members of noble families often gained considerable bragging rights from this achievement and those of common blood often got much attention from special guilds or other such groups that would only add to the renown the family would gain.
Of course, to get to these medals, one needed to get passed their fellow competitors and the Labyrinth itself. The maze was filled with traps and its walls would shift every so often, just to keep the ones inside guessing if they were heading the right way or to another dead end.
"Good luck, Will. I know I have told this a thousand times already, but be careful. There could be those in the contest that might just aim to hurt you, instead of defeating you. If it looks like that is happening, please just forfeit. I don't want you…" Susan started to say, but Serenity placed her hand on her partner's shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Susan, this is Will's challenge, not yours, mine or even Kor's. Let her fight her way and have faith that she has learned from you," the transformed dragon familiar told her partner, while Kor/Huggles sat on her should and nodded his head in agreement.
Susan let out a sigh at this advice, while Will gave her mother a hug and said, "I'll be okay, Mom. Besides, I have survived worse back in Traders Central. I can handle the Labyrinth."
Will's assurances did not help her mother much, but the older woman did not have time to say much as she heard a horn being blown to signal all those not in the final event to get clear of the circle.
The circle was giant version of a teleport circle and would send all those in it to random spots on the outer edge of the underground maze. Un theory, this prevented any preformed alliances from being of any use, and force all those competing to rely only on their own skills.
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Meanwhile, others were getting last minute advice as well, before their families left the circle. For Irma, Taranee and Hay Lin, it was just simple words of encouragement, but for Caleb, Matt and Cornelia, it was something a bit different then a pep talk.
For Matt and Caleb, the final word of advice was to keep themselves under control once they managed to find the other in the underground maze, while Cornelia was getting small tip/gift from her mother.
"Cornelia, if you are to defeat Will in the Labyrinth, if you can find her; you will need to be careful to make sure it's on your terms. You must make the first attack, and at location that will be more benefit to you than her. The second thing you will need is to use that style we have been working on. It's the only thing you can use to counter Will's Soaring Blade style," Elizabeth told her daughter and held out a staff to Cornelia.
Cornelia nodded her head as she took the staff, feeling very relieved that her mother was going to let her use the Sword and Staff fighting style. The style's name was not as impressive as Soaring Blade, but style itself, made up for it.
Sword and Staff used the two weapons in combination with a special form a Druid martial arts, to create a powerful fighting that style that focused more standing in one place and let the target(s) come to you.
The Sword and Staff fighting style was the opposite of Soaring Blade, since Sword and Staff was more defensive in nature..
Cornelia's parents then left the circle, confident that their daughter would do well. Cornelia's father had mixed feelings about his daughter training to beat one her own friends, but he knew a young girl did what she wanted when it came to love and took a neutral stance on the matter.
He just hopes the coming rivalry between the two girls would not get out of hand.
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After all the parents were clear of the circle, Sade began casting the spell that would send all the young warriors and magic users into the Labyrinth. Upon completion, a bright flash of white light filled the area, and when it subsides, all those in the circle were gone.
"Alright, everyone, let us move to the near by town to wait for the end of the games. This will probably take several days for even the first to finish the Labyrinth, so we might as well wait some place comfortable," Sade instructed the crowed of adults, who obeyed the Queen and got ready to head for the town.
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In the Labyrinth, Will appeared in an empty and dimly lit hallway. When she looked behind her, she found it was dead end, leaving her with only one direction to go.
"Okay, let's see…Mom said it was likely that I should not find anyone right away, but to stay on guard just in case,' Will thought and pulled the hood of her cloak, so to take advantage of the low level of lighting with the black color of the cloak.
Will's half-elf eyes would also be of great use to her in this situation. A half-elf saw twice as far as a human in low levels of lighting. It was not a major advantage, but Will knew to take everything she could get in a contest where it was pretty much a no holds bard survival test.
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In a different part of the ruins, one of Will's friends had encountered someone right off the bat, two people to be precise.
Hay Lin had wound up in a room with the Grumper sisters, which was clearly bad news for the petite girl.
With the Grumpers have the same type of training and on the same level of skill as her; Hay Lin stood no chance against them in battle. So Hay Lin did the smart thing and started running for her life.
"Get back here, shorty! We'll make your elimination quick and painless if you do!" Bess called out, as she and her sister chased after Hay Lin.
"Look who's talking! You're shorter then me, Bess!" Hay Lin called back, then started mumbling something under her breath, while the shortest of the Grumper sister let out a furious growl.
The two Grumpers were about to start firing spells, just as three very familiar figures came around the corner, making the two sisters stop in their tracks and Hay Lin breath a sigh of relief.
The three figures were Irma, Elyon and Taranee and were giving the Grumper sisters cold glares, while Hay Lin got behind them and said in a relieved tone, "I'm so glad to see you guys right now!"
As Hay Lin said this, Taranee and Elyon raised their hands in manner that indicated they were getting ready to start firing spells, when the Grumpers turned tail and ran. They knew Taranee and Elyon alone were too strong to beat, add on the fact Irma was there and the two sisters knew it was their turn run for their lives.
As the Grumper vanished form sight, Hay Lin ended her illusion spell and the image of her friends faded away. The young illusionist then smiled and said, "That went better then I hoped."
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Irma also appeared in the same location as someone she knew, but this was a more welcome occurrence then Hay Lin's. She appeared in the same as Aldarn, the one person everyone was unsure of if he was in this year's games or not.
"Never thought I would lucky to run into a familiar face so soon. We are not going to try and kill each other, are we? Not yet, anyway," Irma joked, getting a chuckle from the pure blooded elf.
"I would not mind having someone with melee skills backing me up, while I use my bow. Let's stick together until we find those medals, then we find out who gets the gold," Aldarn replied, giving the Arcane Hunter a smirk at the last part.
Both Rangers then headed out to explore the Labyrinth and take down those they come across along the way.
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Elyon was entering a chamber with four entrances, when she heard screaming. This made the young princess get her staff ready for battle and wishing her familiar Silvia was here to help. Moments later, the two Grumper sisters ran into the room.
Elyon was about to attack with a spell, when the two girls saw her and started screaming even louder, before Bess ran through the pass her right and Courtney ran to the one to her left.
"What was that all about?" Elyon asked aloud in a very confused tone. She had expected the opportunistic Grumpers to take advantage of the two on one situation, not run away in opposite directions.
Had Elyon know why the Grumpers were so scared, she would have laughed so hard her sides would have hurt. But she would probably have to wait until the contest was over and got the story from Hay Lin.
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Five minutes later Courtney ran into another chamber and found another person who had been in Hay Lin's illusion as well.
Taranee looked very confused when she heard Courtney scream out, "How can you be everywhere?!"
When Courtney turned to run away again, a stone slab rose up out of the floor and sealed the entrance. The older Grumper did not have time to stop, though, and ran face first into it, making Taranee burst out laughing.
"You won't be laughing for long, Cook. I'll see to that!" Courtney growled as she got back up, the pain from running into the wall knocking her back to her senses.
Courtney fired a Scorching Ray, but Taranee countered with one of her own, both rays colliding head on and canceling each other out.
"You can't beat me, Courtney, not when it's one-on-one fight. Now, how about I teach you a lesson for ruining Will's party?" Taranee stated in a cold tone and then pointer her finger at Courtney.
A lightning bolt fired from her fingertip and hit the oldest of the Grumpers in the chest. With all the training Taranee had put in for the games, she had gained the power to finally cast third level spells and planned using them to make Courtney pay for what she and her sister had done.
It only took five seconds, before Courtney disappeared in a flash of light, thanks to the protective spells inside the Labyrinth.
Taranee took great pleasure in knowing that the girl would not suffer the shame of being defeated so soon after the event had begun, though did secretly admit she could have made Courtney suffer a bit more.
'Well, no use crying over spilt milk. At least I got her and that is what counts,' Taranee thought, before she turned to leave and then found all the other entrances had been sealed as well.
"Okay…how do I get out of this mess? Wait for the Labyrinth to shift again?" an annoyed Taranee grumbled as she tried to think of a way out of this predicament.
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Bess had lasted longer then her older sister, as she ran through the underground maze. She eventually wound at a dead end and started to catch her breath.
"That was…a…close one…right…Courtney?" Bess asked, then looked around to see her sister was nowhere to be found.
"C-Courtney?" the younger Grumper asked in frightened tone, knowing she was in trouble if anyone of Will's friends found her right now.
Just then, the floor opened up beneath Bess, and she slid down a stone ramp into another room. Bess looked around to see there no way out, or at least not yet. There were two spots that looked like they could be used as entrances/exits, but the Labyrinth's shifting walls had those to doorways shut at the moment.
As the youngest Grumper waited for one of the two doors to slide open, three more people and one animal fell into the room, thanks to portion of the ceiling opining up. All three and animal were the kind Bess would not rather be trapped with, Cornelia, Snowflake, Matt and Nigel.
"Did not know the ramps had inter connection points," Matt groaned out as he rubbed his head from when the three of them collided into each other half way through the drop.
"Same here. Guess most people don't see ramps connecting to each other since it's so dark, and they are sliding down so fast," Nigel added as he got to his feet.
"You guys did not know that, and both of you have been in here before. Guess being a veteran does not mean much down here in the final event," Cornelia grumbled and was about to check and see if Snowflake was all right, when she noticed the white tiger was growling at something.
All three friends looked over to see Snowflake was growling at Bess, which made the youngest of the Grumper sister start to shake in fear. All three friends draw their weapons so to make the girl pay for what she did to Will.
'Will maybe stealing Caleb's attention from me, but I will not let Bess get away with what she did on Will's birthday. Besides, I don't like Bess on even a normal day,' Cornelia thought as got both scimitar and staff ready, and then looked at her partner.
"Snowflake, get her!" Cornelia ordered her animal companion and the three friends quickly followed after the white tiger, while Bess screamed so loud the whole Labyrinth probably heard it.
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In a different part of the Labyrinth, Caleb was the one fighting at a handy cap. Three boys, who were part of the group who insulted Will in the cafeteria a few months back, had found him while they were wondering the Labyrinth and were trying to take Caleb down for pummeling them into the ground.
But the trio were much less skilled than Caleb and were focused on close range combat, giving Caleb the advantage of having magic. With a powerful Fire Burt spell, Caleb blasted his three attacks with the wave of flames burst from his body and forced the protective spells in the Labyrinth to activate.
As the three boys were teleported away, Caleb heard the sound of screaming coming form somewhere in the Labyrinth. 'Wonder what happened? There is nothing that scary Labyrinth…most of the time. Must be one heck of illusion or enchantment spell to make someone scream like that,' Caleb thought as he went back to searching for the medal room.
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It was many hours later, when Will stopped for what she assumed was night time, for a rest. The reason Will assumed it was night time, since she already had her lunch meal a few hours ago and the arms band had just provided her with a second meal for water and bread.
Will had a feeling she was going to be tired of bread after this contest was over, if it was all she was going to be eating for who knows how many days. Her mother had told her that this contest once lasted three weeks because of how hard it was to navigate this ever shifting maze.
'I hope I won't be down here that long. Don't think I could take it,' Will thought as she picked up the steel cup that held her water and took a sip. As she did though, Will thought heard something and put the cup down and looked to see if anyone was around.
'We all get meals at the same time. You would think someone would stop to at least eat before try explore this place some more,' Will thought and drew her sword.
A moment later, a shadowy figure dove around a near by corner and struck at Will with two short swords. Will blocked the twin blades and while doing so, got a better look at her opponent.
The person was a little shorter than Will and wore a dark red cloak, while the rest of the person dressed in black. The hood of the cloak was pulled up like Will's was, but this person also wore cloth around where his or her moth was, hiding her attacker's identity. The only thing will could tell was that this person had green eyes, but that was all.
After a moment of locking blades, both Will and her attacker jumped back and prepared to mount a new attack. What confused Will though, was that her opponent slipped into a strange stance and now had shadowy apparitions swirling around him/her.
Will had never seen nor heard of such a thing and it did not look like any spell or invocation had been used, so the redhead did not know what was going on.
This gave Will's opponent the chance to strike first and dove at the half-elf a second time. But Will was once again able to avoid be struck and sidestepped the charge and moved to counter attack.
This was when Will found out the purpose of the shadows that flowed around her enemy; they block attacks! The second Will had tried to strike, one of the shadows had moved in the way and deflected her blade.
This gave the twin short sword wielding warrior time to turn to face Will and again swing the two blades in a scissor like motion, but Will jumped out of the way of the attack just in time.
'What kind ability is this? Not even my Entropic Warding invocation can stop a solid weapon, with the exception of arrows. But arrows are small and light and a sword is much heavier and has all my strength behind it, so how can these shadows block it?' Will wondered, while trying to figure out a way around this strange defense this warrior was using.
Will's opponent was not going to give the redhead time to figure out though and charged forward with amazing speed. This raw speed and powers, along with the shadows swirling about the person, kept Will on the defense.
Will did not even have time to cast spells, not that any of them would probably help against that shadow defense. The only Will could think of that might help, would be eldritch blast but was unsure if even that would help.
'It's worth a try at least,' Will concluded and used her Hideous Blow to channel her eldritch blast into her sword, before swinging it at her attacker. The shadows blocked the blade, but the eldritch energy that covered her sword flowed off it and through the shadow defense.
The small energy wave then cut Will's attacker across the chest, breaking the warrior's strange stance and putting a stop to the shadows. This allowed Will to go the offense and keep the warrior from performing the ability again.
The warrior unfortunately had other tricks up his or her sleeve and the second Will charged forward, her attacker dropped the two short swords, grabbed Will's arm and threw the redhead judo style, ten feet away, towards a near by wall.
As Will hit the wall and tried to recover, her opponent had picked up his or her weapons and was marching Will's prone form. The warrior readied their weapons to strike the final blow, when Will quickly shot her own blade upwards and pointed it at the warrior's throat.
"Check mate you je…aaahhh!" Will started to say, but then like her friend had experiences earlier, the stone floor opened up beneath them and sent the two combatants falling down to a lower level of the maze.
They slid down a long smooth stone ramp for what seemed like an eternity, until both combatants fell into a large pool of water. When Will emerged back to the surface of the water, she noticed they were in a large round chamber, with this pool being in the center of it.
Will then quickly swam to stone walkway that surrounded the pool and climbed out. Will's opponent was doing the same and was soaking wet, it took a bit longer for the person climbed out
Will's opponent removed their cloak while saying, "That's much better. How about we finish this, buddy? I got a few hundred more opponents to hunt down after I'm done with you."
This was Will realize it was a girl from both the sound of the person voice and now being able to see her opponent more clearly, now that the cloak was removed. The girl had light brown hair and seemed a bit smaller with out the cloak, since it had been partially hiding her size.
"Got no complaints about finishing this now, so I can go back and hopefully find my dinner!" Will shot back, as she took off her own cloak and through it aside. She was annoyed that her bread and water were back where this fight had started.
Will knew she would get more food tomorrow and there obviously plenty of water here, but the redhead was hungry and wanted food now!
"You want dinner, do you? I'll happily oblige you, by sending you back to the surface!" The brown haired girl countered and charged Will with both short swords ready for battle.
As the two charged on another and locked blades again, the new girl realized who she fighting and jumped back.
'I did not think I find Wilhelmina Vandom so soon. I was hoping to face her after testing my strength against a few others, but too late to stop, now I guess,' the girl thought and got in a defensive stance.
Will was confused by this sudden change in strategy, but she was not going to complain. It gave her the chance to go back on the attack, but this time Will watched out got anymore attempts from this girl to counter with a throwing technique.
The fight continued like this for a good while, until both fighters were exhausted and were breathing heavily. Neither one could gain an advantage their battle, if Will tried to use her spells or invocations, this unknown girl would stop her and if the girl used her strange fighting attack methods, Will would focus on defense until she found an new opening to exploit.
Will found this girl very difficult to predict, even with her training in Soaring Dance. One moment her opponent was using shadows to fight, then she fought like a beast and then all of sudden she would fight in a manner that seemed to use Will's own movements against her.
'How is she doing it? It's like she has three different styles and keeps switching them to suite the situation,' Will wondered as she tried to catcher breath, then saw the girl sheath her weapons and say, "Why don't we call a truce and rest for a minute, Lady Vandom. I still have my loaf of bread and would share it with you, if you agree."
Will was unsure if it was a good idea to trust this girl, but she knew if she kept fighting on an empty stomach, she would probably pass out and nodded her head in agreement.
Both girls sat down and the brown haired took out the breach, which was a special cloth bag used by adventures to keep things dry, even if they were to fall in water. After splitting the loaf in half Will her portion, the girl also took out a water skin and took a sip.
"Pretty well prepared for this, aren't you? Probably should take notes for next year," Will commented as she took a bite of her bread and sip of the water when it was offered to her.
"Yeah, my family has taken part of the games for years, so I had lots of advice on what to do to prepare for the Labyrinth. Was surprised I found you so soon, Lady Vandom. I wanted to test my skills against the only know three Class Gifted and the one who defeated Tony Vandom, but I thought it would be until after I found a few other opponents first," the girl replied, then went back eating as well.
Will was surprised by this girl's tone as she spoke. This still unknown person spoke to her with a level of respect, instead of having hidden hatred or fear in their voice. The girl also kept referring to her as Lady Vandom, something no one did.
"Why do you keep calling me that? I know I'm the daughter of a Royal Knight, but…" Will started to ask, but the girl cut her off.
"Unlike most people, I judge people by their actions, not their race or class. That is something my mother made sure I learned well during my training to be a Swordsage. Besides, it is bad manners to address a member of a noble family in anything other then Lord or Lady, unless a person has permission to address them differently," the girl told Will, then stuck the last of her bread in her mouth.
"Well, you have my permission to call me Will. Being called 'Lady Vandom' feels weird. Now…can I please know your name? The only thing weirder then being called Lady Vandom is that everyone one knows who I am before I know who they are!" Will asked, getting small laugh from the Swordsage. What ever that was.
"That's the down side to being famous Lady Van… I mean Will. My name is Alchemy Mc…" the girl started to say, when both Will and Alchemy heard the sound of shifting stone.
Both girls saw portions of the wall moving out wards to look like stairs and a stone slab at the top of these new steps, slide aside to give provide an exit to the room.
"Mom said this place was weird when it came to shifting around, but you would think the exit would already be here when this blasted maze drops you into a room," Alchemy said in an annoyed tone and got nod of agreement from Will, who was eating the last of her meal.
As Will got up and prepared to get back into a fighting stance, Alchemy asked, "Will, how would like to extend our truce until near the end the Labyrinth? Together, we could handle anything down here and when we find the medal chamber, we can finish our match there."
"Why would you need my help?" a confused Will replied, trying to figure if this was part of a strategy to make her lower her guard or if Alchemy was being honest in her request.
"Well, one is because I know more about you and how you fight, while Swordsages like me are rare in Meridian and that means you most likely don't know much about how we fight. I want remove that advantage and have fair match. The other reason is we would both have someone on watch while we sleep. In this place, a safe place to sleep is rare at best and I for one would not mind having someone watching my back when I'm catching a few Zs," Alchemy explained and waited to hear Will's response.
Will thought about for moment, trying to weigh her options. It seemed like Alchemy was being honest and it did seem like a good idea to learn about what a Swordsage was and what they could do. The fact that the idea of being able to sleep, without worrying about being attacked was a plus as well.
Will then held out her hand and said, "Let's do it." With that the two shook hands and made plans to stay in this chamber for the night. The room was easily defendable because of the only way in was the hole in the ceiling and the door at the top of the stairs, so the two of them knew it would be good to wait here until morning.
They also knew they needed time to let their still soaking wet clothes dry off, since walking around wet would be uncomfortable.
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A few hours later, Will was asleep, while her new friend Alchemy kept an eye out for possible attacker. She was also using this time to think things over, mainly the secret reason why she wanted Will to team up with her. To try and make up for what her family had done to Will.
'If Will knew my grandfather is Irving McDohl, she would probably think I was as bad as him. I need to prove myself to Will and hope once she finds out who I am, she will see that at least my part of the family is nothing like him,' Alchemy though, while praying that it would a while before her new friend found out the truth.
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AN: And there you go. Please let me know what you thought. The next one should be up within a week, but since it has more then ten thousand words, Cassidy might need more time work on it.