Maze of Blood

Part 2

Artemis's feet pounded on the concrete below as she ran around the corner, hiding herself behind one of the many stone walls that created the maze. She was sweating like crazy, the warm liquid trickling down her face and dripping off the end of her chin. She was panting like crazy and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She could hear it's rabid growls get closer. Damn this maze – wild beasts? One was like 20 normal wild animals!

She poked her head round the side and watched as the creature sniffed the air, searching for her scent. She saw the cuts that she had inflicted slowly sizzle and close. She cursed – so the bloody things regenerated as well? That's fair.

But then again, she didn't imagine the word 'fair' existing in the dictionary of the bastard who invented this tournament. She heard another growl and watched as the beast charged down a different path. Good, so it had fallen for her illusion.

Sighing with relief, Artemis slid to the floor and ran a hand through her greasy blue hair. She was glad that she had thought of making an illusion of herself. At first, it was to trick other team members, but tricking a bloodthirsty animal was just as good. The only problem was though, that she could only manage one illusion at a time. If an enemy showed now, she would have to rely on her combat skills only.

She felt for the knife in her pocket. Good, it was still there. She was scared she would've lost it while running.

Suddenly she snapped her head up and jumped to her feet, ignoring the vigorous protests of her aching bones. She perked her ears. Had she just heard the scuffling of shoes on stone? Flicking her green eyes around nervously, she ran forward, skidding round corners into more of the maze's twisting paths.

Yep, she was right. She had heard scuffling. Only now, it was full blown footsteps.

And they were following her.

Then, she skidded to a stop and whizzed round, smirking as she saw a tall shadow quickly hide behind a wall. Gotcha! Sliding her knife out of her pocket, she crept forward, making as little sound as possible. She had the advantage here, it was highly likely her opponent had no idea she knew he was there.

Wrong.

She froze.

"What the –?" Something curled around her ankle and pulled her foot forward, making her fall to the ground with a loud thump.

Pain shot through her spine as she collided with the concrete floor and the air flew from her lungs. She coughed and shakily sat up, cringing at the pain in her back. Her eyes widened when she saw what was wrapped round her foot.

'Is this one of the creature trapped in this maze?' She silently asked, watching as she black serpent tightened its grip on her ankle, nearly crushing the bone. She cried out in pain and slashed at the snake, slicing a huge gash in its scaly skin. The reptile instantly fell limp and uncurled itself from around her ankle.

"You killed my snake." She looked up to see a tall, bald man walk out from behind the wall, his long black trench coat billowing behind him, revealing his bare chest.

He had snake tattoos scattered across his shaven head and blood red reptilian eyes. Artemis gritted her teeth and clambered to her feet, her eyes narrowed at the man. She tightened her hold on her knife.

"Oh, so the little snake was yours?" She tried to sound brave despite her fear.

The man scowled and raised his hand, pointing it directly at Artemis. She, in turn, got poised in her battle position, her knife at the ready. Artemis stared into the man's eyes and saw a flicker of regret dance through the crimson orbs. She understood. She didn't want to fight either. But, they both knew they had to.

"It's over, girl." He said. "I'm sorry I have to kill you."

And they both charged.

She watched as the creatures eyes glazed over and he slowly turned to walk away. Soft lyrics floated out of her mouth and she held onto the gash on her arm, feeling the blood seep through the cracks in her fingers. She had to remain calm though, if she lost concentration and let the tuned slip at any point, the spell would be broken and the creature would come back to tear her throat out.

Morbid thought, yes, but that was just how awful the game was. Slowly climbing to her feet, her back pressed against the hard stone wall behind her, Autumn watched the creature disappear around the corner. When it was out of sight, she herself carefully slipped away, still singing, keeping the hypnotic tune alive.

She crept through the maze, hopefully out of range of that creature. Blood dripped to the floor, leaving a trail of crimson in her wake. Autumn gritted her teeth against the pain and carried on moving. She had to find Apophis and get to the check point quick.

'That is, if Apophis is still alive…' No! She shook the horrible thoughts from her mind. Apophis was alive; he had promised that they would win this thing!

She ran round a corner and skidded to a stop, her silver eyes growing wide. She was in a wide expanse of space and in the middle, there was a black hole. A light breeze rustled her hair as Autumn walked further into the clearing and closer to the black hole. Then, she stopped. On the other side of the hole, just appearing from one of the paths, was a girl. Their eyes locked – sliver and hazel staring into each other. Autumn gripped her wounded arm tighter, her knuckles burning white, and clenched her teeth. She saw the girl's across from her posture tense.

Without them noticing, the black hole swirled and vanished, making a nice open battlefield. Autumn's eyes narrowed into slits and she readjusted her stance.

Then, she charged.

OMG! Apophis vs Artemis and Autumn vs Fuyuka! Things are heating up!