"What is this place?" Linus muttered as he kept walking. "Just turns after turns. Dead ends everywhere. It feels endless."
He had been wandering for a while now with no idea where he was supposed to go. His head still throbbed from the injury at the back of his skull, each step making the pain pulse slightly.
"This time that voice didn't even explain the goal," he complained under his breath. "Are we supposed to find an exit or something? Ugh… what's even the point anymore? This is insane."
Suddenly, a deep mechanical groan echoed through the maze.
The floor trembled.
"Woah—!"
Linus quickly grabbed the wall to steady himself as the corridor shook beneath his feet.
Dust drifted from above.
"That's definitely not good," he muttered.
The trembling lasted only a few seconds before stopping completely.
Silence returned.
"…Yeah. What now?"
Elsewhere, Maya's group immediately went on alert as the maze shook around them.
Dust sprinkled from the ceiling as the vibrations slowly faded.
Then Maya narrowed her eyes.
"It changed."
The others looked where she was staring.
Lana frowned. "Wait… wasn't there a left turn here?"
She looked genuinely unsettled now.
"No, seriously. I swear there was a branch right there."
A few seconds ago, the corridor had split left.
Now the path was completely straight.
The dead end ahead of them was gone too, replaced by a new stretch of corridor continuing deeper into the maze.
Noah slowly turned around. "Okay… nah. I don't like that."
Ralf stayed quiet for a moment, studying the walls.
Then he spoke.
"The maze rearranges itself."
Nobody liked hearing that out loud.
"We need to figure out the timing," Ralf continued. "If it changes at intervals, we might be able to predict it."
He looked at the others. "Anyone have a watch?"
Noah blinked. "Actually… yeah."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wristwatch, handing it over.
Ralf checked the time carefully.
"Good," he said quietly. "Now we can track the pattern."
He looked deeper into the corridor.
"Hopefully before this place kills us first."