Chapter 7: THE MAZE.....
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[Hello Sleepyheads!!!... It's your Dear Instructor Northman...!!!! You peeps have only 15 minutes to haul your ass out of that bed. Attend to your necessities before I haul your arses to The Maze Trial....!!!!]
Fuck..!!
He groaned. Just when he thought he could get about an hour of sleep after staying up all night, he glanced at the hidden speaker that had boomed the sound earlier...
"Hey Ashnight... watch this...." Nether called from its position in the walls.
Lazily, he rubbed his eyes before following the voice, to see the crazy silhouette of his shadow doing some freaky dance on the wall.
He shook his head before sighing. Then, with a yawn, he climbed up from the bed, did some light stretches before heading to the bathroom with the folded white tracksuit, which actually looked more like a coverall.
"You're not gonna compliment my moves.." A vein popped on his forehead as this shadow moved again to his front, giving him a clear view of its abominable movements.
"Believe I could've damn well smacked you if you weren't unsmackable.."
"You know.. Unsmackable.. that's not even a word.." The Shadow watched him enter the bathroom. "And there's a little bar called soap.. makes you all scented and fresh.."
Ashnight gave it a look of dismay. Soap? That's a strange name. He searched around the ceramic washbasin before finally sighting a purple cuboid.
That's soap. He picked it up then sniffed it. It actually scented nice.
"You know.. you don't eat it.. you—" The Shadow gestured with its hands all over its body, "—you rub it over your body.."
"I wasn't planning to.." He bit his lips, then he made to rub this strange solid over his body. When he was done, he reached for the perforated edge hose, then he turned it on.
Spraying cold water on his body, and surprisingly some white foamy stuff rose over his body but was quickly washed by the water. It looked a bit cool.
He found a toothbrush and toothpaste. Thankfully he didn't have to use his definitely not in good condition one. He quickly washed his mouth, rinsed it off, and bam!!, he was all done by eight minutes.
He grabbed the white thick coverall.
"You're not gonna dry yourself up.."
"That's gonna take much time.."
Ashnight wore it on. It was perfectly his size, actually, which was both comforting and eerie. How did they know his actual size? Well, he's a Nephilim, remember. This coverall had a boot attached to it; other than that, there was nothing special.
He shook his head before walking back to his bed where a covered dish was.
Man.. was it him or did these meals seemingly seem to poof out of thin air? Were they even real? With a rough sniff, his entire doubts faded.
The shadow came around again, wafting around him as he revealed the neat stack of meat sausages.
"Told you mate.. This's heaven.." He grabbed one, tossed it into his mouth, then his eyes lit up with fire. I mean figuratively.
"How's it..??" The Shadow gulped.
But Ashnight remained dazed, just staring empty at the ceiling.
"Hey.. don't bail on me.."
Then his eyes finally blinked as he recollected himself. "A powerful mixture of salt and sauce combined with the freshness of the meat and the tender texture along with distinctive tantalizing oils.. and other blablablas.. I definitely don't know about.."
"Oh.. must be nice..."
He summarized in one breath before digging in again. Upworlders sure got it easy.., man...
"Hey, you know that dance I was doing earlier.. it's called the ancient Mumbai Dance.."
He swallowed the last chunk of sausage, then he stared confusingly at the shadow now located on the wall.
"Oh... Mumbai..."
The shadow nodded vigorously.
"What's Mumbai..?? A place..??"
The Shadow facepalmed. "You could've just said so earlier.. Stupid me actually got my hopes up.. like just this once.."
"Hey.. I think I've only got about a minute left.. so why don't you quit all the sentiments.." He waved at the shadow, then he made to do some light stretches.
"I dunno.. it's a place in the Old World located in a country called India, continent's Asia.. it's a traditional dance or something.."
"Oh.." He stretched his left leg while he balanced his weight on the other.
This wasn't the first time this mysterious shadow had mentioned stuff or locations in the Old World. Said there was a point in time in the Old World where people read books like his treasured encyclopedia.. Shadow Slave.. in flat plates called... called.. Phones.. yeah.
He was pretty sure The Balance would have confiscated all of that. They said things from the Old World were cursed harbingers of ruin.
They said the Noxious Infestation was from the Great Darkness... Then would it hurt to say this Shadow was a fragment from the Great Darkness? But why then did it possess sentience and a persona?
He stared again at the dancing shadow. The Great Darkness, did it perhaps possess consciousness? Then that would frame its act of devouring as not a mistake but an intention..??
He clutched his head. Damn, this thing was messing with his head.
"Hey.. just to confirm, you're sticking to your words right..."
"Yeah.. I am.." He took a deep exhale, then he turned to walk toward the door simultaneously as the Shadow crawled into his upper back, making him shadowless.
[Time Up...!!!..]
"Huh.." The ground beneath him gave way. It split open, sending him crashing into a metallic floorboard. He clutched his head as he groaned. "Fuck..!!!!" He cursed.
"Language..!!!"
"Shut up.." He groaned as he forced himself up. Then the heat and arid wave of dust slammed against him hard. He let out a bitter cough, pushing hard as he could all the sand that peacefully camped in his mouth.
"Now you're free to cuss.."
Damn.. Just how twisted was that freak of an instructor.. Wait.., he glanced at the red sand in his palms. Red sand.., where the hell did they come from? Then his eyes finally surveyed his surroundings.
His mouth dropped in astonishment.
"Whaddahelll..."
"Yeah.. I get you Nether.... this is outright cold.."
The platform where he stood was a descending elevator. Other than that, it had no glass walls. In fact, no walls at all. But Ashnight didn't care, not when they were descending from what looked like the skies towards an architectural marvel.
Situated in the midst of a desert that stretched as far as the eye could see was a maze. It looked circular overall, yet more bigger than the entirety of the Downside as he'd seen.. no.. no.. twice bigger.
The walls were red, and gauging the height from above, it would be about a hundred feet or more, with spaces of about twenty feet in-between. These spaces were filled with red sand at the base, while an illusory sun hung at the horizon.
All this was all it took for Nether to finally conclude that this was designed by no human architect. This had to be some fucked-up sacred space crafted specially by their sadistic instructors.
Then a voice boomed from above.
[Ladies and Gentlemen.. Welcome to the Maze...]
He tried to trace the sound, but what he saw were the distinct far silhouettes of descending elevators just like his. They were about six. His eyes glimmered. Those tiny dots at each point on the horizon were actually those other freaks.
"Hey Teach..!!! I haven't taken a bath yet...!!! Spare me a minute....!!!.." The voice, though faint, sifted in through Ashnight's ear as they drew closer to the maze. That had to be Moraine.
"The Albino...?? He's a bit special.." The Shadow drawled out.
"Why...??" He shielded his eyes from more of the wafting sand, not to mention the scorching sun. Why'd he have to make all this realistic...
"I dunno.. he's got something within him.. like maybe he's a demihuman.. a spawn between an Ender and a Human.. he'd have insane reserves... if he awakens as an Ender..."
"Oh.." He scratched his head. "A chimera..."
"I'm thinking the red-haired also.."
His eyes looked a little dead. Then after a while, he slowly muttered. "I see..."
The descended platform finally halted, and he stepped down from it into the harshness of the desert sands. Before him was a huge entrance towards the maze. A gateway of red walls stretching high up.
He gulped.
[Now Listen. There would be Ten Rules that Govern the Maze Trial.. I shall list them all so try and keep up...]
"Hey.. Nether, soak them all in..." He whispered at the Shadow in him.
[The Ten Rules of the Maze Trials...
1... You are to enter the Maze independently at separate unknown points in Space but at a proposed point in Time...
2.. Participants are to choose their Weapons each of the same grade...[Flawless Treasure..] but may exist in different forms...]
From the ground, a dark shelf rose, initially spooking Ashnight out, but he recollected himself. It had a cover of transparent glass, and behind this glass was an array of weapons, each of different shapes and forms.
[3...The Maze Test would consist of Three levels of monsters..Green[+1 points per kill..], Red[+5 points per kill..] and Black..[+10 points per kill..] The distinction between these monsters is in the amount of Astral Cores they possess. Targets in order to kill them.., The Green possesses one.. The Red Two and the Black.. Four...
4..,The Game cannot be forfeited by coming back out...
5.If you die in the game, You die for real... but should you gain up to 100 points, you can use it as a resurrection privilege for yourself...]
A cold chill ran down his spine at the Fifth rule. It's not like he hadn't been in this situation before. The Downside was always like this, though there weren't any monsters, which made it more terrifying.
He stared at the stone entrance shrouded in fog and dust.
He'd never fought abominations before.
[6.. Should you resurrect yourself, you are choiced as to whether to forfeit or continue..
7..The Winner remains the last man standing.. or the first to arrive at the center of the Maze..
8.A participant with up to 50 points can add a rule, with the only condition being it not absurd but with sensible constraints..
9.To purchase Necessities.., A can of Water costs 10 points while that of food supplies costs 20 points..,
10.The Maze is an ever-shifting maze. Every interval of an hour, the maze would reset itself.. and, and as it approaches the speculative time limit of eighteen hours, it would begin its disintegration from peripheral to Center.. if you're caught in between, you are eliminated..]
Ashnight shut his eyes, then slowly he opened them. He let out a calm exhale, then inhaled again.
"What are you doing.. Yoga..???"
"Shut up..." He breathed out again before walking towards where the weapon shelf was.
[The Maze would begin Three minutes from now.. Choose your weapons, say your prayers, steel your resolve... it's all up to see you now.., Aspirants..
This is your very First Step into The Nullworld Program.., I wish you good luck..]