𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡 .ᐟ

❛ the key ❜

   𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗦' eyes fluttered open to the sounds of birds chattering above him. somehow he had managed to fall asleep on the ground of the pit. was it the most comfortable? absolutely not. but he had to get any ounce of sleep he could get.

he heard soft footsteps begin to approach the cage he sat in, and suddenly, minho appeared in front of the pits door.

he lets out a huff of air as he kneels down, "big day, greenie." minho smiles at thomas, "you sure you don't wanto sit this one out?"

thomas shakes his head, "come on, man," he cracks a smile, "get me out of here."

𖧷

𝗧𝗛𝗘 doors to the maze were yet to open, but both minho and thomas walked up to the very front of it, leather vest's fitting both of their chests tightly.

as they come to a stop, the sounds of machinery, thomas has become accustomed too, echoed from within the maze. and slowly, the doors begin to pry open.

thomas stares into the maze as the doors widen, allowing his view to go back farther. minho glances to the new runner, giving him a sympathetic smile.

immediately feeling his stare, thomas turns the keeper, his brows furrowing a bit as he does, "emilia's not coming?"

"yes i am." emilia shouts from behind them. the two runners turn to find the girl jogging over to them. she finally ends up right beside thomas, "i'm coming." she says glancing to minho.

a gentle smile grows across thomas' face as she finally arrives, taking notice of the worn leather harness she was wearing, and the fingerless leather gloves fitting both of her hands, all of which, similar to the ones he and minho were wearing. she had small braids on either side of her head to help push her hair back and out of her face, with the rest of her hair laying against her shoulders. thomas takes a look at the keeper as well, expecting him to object, or at least put up some what of a fight before giving in, but instead, minho nods.

"archie find that harness for you?" minho asks, gaining a soft nod from the girl in response. minho nods softly, "looks good on you," he says, "it's nice to see you wearing that again."

"thanks." emilia says, a puzzled but thankful expression forming on her face.

thomas glances toward her, the same expression plastered on his. she gives him a shrugs in response. neither of them knew what they were expecting minho to say about emilia coming with them, but it definitely was not that. in

"alright," minho changes the topic, "let's go."

and with that, minho ran directly into the maze, a smile plastered onto his face.

thomas stares at him, taking in a deep breath.

"you're gonna be fine." emilia says from beside him.

his head turns toward her, and she gives him a soft smile of reassurance. he nods at her, and the two run into the maze together.

they manage to catch up to minho, following him as he turns a corner.

"this way!" minho shouts at the two, "not much further to the inner ring."

after a few minutes of running, minho brings the two into an open area. the sunlight now beating down on their bodies, unlike the shadows that thomas had run through before.

minho continues running, and thomas trails behind, emilia directly beside him. thomas looks up, glancing around the new surrounding. a large, withered number '6' printed on the side of one of the walls, indicating that they were now entering section six of the maze.

eventually, minho slowly comes to a stop. the number '7' painted on the wall in front of them. minho stares up at it in confusion, then makes his way toward the small opening between the section seven walls, waving for emilia and thomas to follow.

"that's weird," minho says aloud, as they walk the narrow halls, "seven's not supposed to be open for another week."

thomas glances to emilia, finding her with the same puzzled expression on her face. he goes to ask a question but his attention is brought to the sight in front of him.

hundreds of thin, short walls stand tall in the area they had just entered, all of them made from metal, different from the concrete ones the entirety of the maze is made up of.

"what the hell is this place?" thomas questions.

"we call them blades." emilia says, her voice beginning to echo off of the structures.

the three runners slowly walk through the blades, but minho suddenly comes to a stop. he kneels down, and thomas quickly does the same beside them. minho reaches down, picking up a small piece of red cloth, holding it in front of him.

emilia stands behind them, staring down at the clothe minho holds in his hand.

"it's ben's," thomas says softly, "isn't it?"

emilia nods her head, "mhm." she hums quietly.

"a griever must of pulled him down here." minho explains.

suddenly, a sound comes from minho's backpack, one that none of them have heard before. emilias eyebrows furrow, and thomas' eyes grow wide in realization. he waits for a moment, before he grabs a hold of the bag on minho's back.

"woah, hey?" minho says out of confusion.

emilia rushes to thomas' side as he unzips the bag quickly, pulling out the metal device that they had pulled from inside the griever the day before. thomas stares at the device in his hands, hearing a clicking sound begin to echo from it.

the low clicking noise sounds from the device at a slow pace. he turns his body to face a different part of the maze, and the clicking becomes lower in sound, and even slower than before. both emilia and minho stare at him as he examines the device for a moment. thomas turns his body around again to face another part of the maze, and as he does, the clicking sound suddenly gets higher in pitch, clicking at a quicker pace as it he moves.

thomas tilts his head up slowly toward the direction he was now facing, before quickly turning his head toward the two runners behind him.

"what?" emilia says, "what's wrong?"

"is it a key?" minho asks.

"i don't know," thomas responds, "but i think it's showing us the way."

𖧷

𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔 and minho follow closely behind thomas as he navigates through the blades, solely on the noises coming from the device in his hands. everytime the noise slowed down and became quieter, he'd stop in his tracks, shift his body toward another direction, and continue doing so until the louder, quicker clicks echoed.

suddenly, the device began to click rapidly. thomas stops in front a section of the maze, taking a glance toward minho and emilia, before stepping forward into the territory, with the two others following right behind him.

the three enter into a large, boxed area. this area being extremely different from the sections of the maze he had been through. the walls no longer stood straight up, instead they curve around them, coming together above them, blocking off the view of the sky. the ground now only extending outwards ahead of them, but ending on either side of them leaving gaps between the maze walls and the floor they walked on. emilia walks over to the edge, looking down into the shadows that flooded the area, not seeing any sight of a possible end to the never-ending pit.

minho's eyes move slowly around the area, taking in his surroundings. thomas immediately notices the sense of unfamiliarity coming from the keeper.

"minho," thomas speaks up, "you ever see this place before?"

"no." minho says, the one singular word quickly echoing off of the walls.

"emilia?" thomas asks, gaining a subtle shake of the head from the girl as her eyes wander around the newly found area as well.

the three runners walk up to the wall ahead of them slowly, the clicking sound continuing to speed up as they do.

as they come up to the closed off wall, minho groans out of frustration, "it's just another dead end."

suddenly, the clicking stops.

emilia turns toward thomas, her brows furrow slightly as the noise stops without warning. she walks over toward thomas as he glances down at the device in his hands. his head tilts as he stares at the red light on the device and the red number seven displayed on the small screen. just as he goes to look up toward emilia, the device beeps loudly. and both the light and the seven turn green.

emilia notices the change in color at the same moment. both her and thomas look up at each other and sounds of machinery come abruptly from the closed off wall behind them. another low rumble echoes off of the walls surrounding them, with the wall behind them abruptly opening. as the wall opens, another behind it opens, and behind that, another wall opens. as the walls open up a new path, they reveal a smaller wall made out of metal with a circle door in the middle that opens along with the walls.

the three runners stare in confusion, not understanding what had just happened in front of them.

"you sure about this?" minho says to thomas.

thomas swallows hard, feeling both emilia and minho's eyes glued to his face, waiting for him to respond. "nope." he says nervously, taking a step toward the newly opened area.

emilia and minho follow him in, glancing upwards into the opening in the roof above them, somehow finding a glimpse of the sky.

goosebumps form on the back of emilia's neck, watching as thomas stares into the darkness of the round opening. the idea of random door opening leading to a dark and mysterious tunnel did not sit right with her, and rightfully so.

minho runs his hands against the sides of the opening, his fingers immediately coming in contact with a slimy substance. thomas and emilia both notice as he pulls his hand back slowly, confused as to what just happened. but minho already knew what the subtance was.

"grievers." minho says.

as if on queue, a click comes from inside the opening, and a small red light in the darkness, with more circular red lights extending out from it, filling the entire opening with light before coming back in toward the point where it started.

two red lazer beams shoot outwards, landing directly on the three runners. the light quickly moves up and down the three, scanning them before stopping completely.

thomas glances to both minho and emilia in confusion, receiving the same look of uncertainty from them both. then low ring sounds out around them. the sound of metal screeching echoes out against the walls.

"what the hell was that?" minho says.

a deep horn blares out, causing the three of them to jump. the same sounds of machinery repeat again.

"we gotta get out of here." emilia says, fear filling her eyes.

the low horn echoes out again.

"give me the key," minho shouts to thomas, as the three of them quickly begin to make their way back to where they had originally come from, "give me the key!"

thomas keeps his eye on the wall behind them as he tosses the key the minho. he turns to face forward, beginning to jog a little quicker, but he glances back at the opening once more, finding it now beginning to close.

thomas' eyes widen, watching as the walls that had opened up to reveal that opening were now closing with it, "move! move! move!" he says, and the three of them begin to sprint.

they enter the area with the blades, watch them all begin to turn, ninety degrees, one by one.

"we're gonna get trapped," emilia shouts, "we gotta go!"

the blades begin to turn quicker, connecting at each side with each other to form walls. the three runners weave through each opening as the blades move.

minho and emilia manage slip through the opening between two blades just before it closes, but the blades cut thomas off just as he tries to get through. he panicks, running along the blades as they close, desperately trying to catch up to wider opening so he can slip through.

"thomas!" emilia yells, "come on!"

thomas pushes himself more and more, feeling his legs begin to cramp as he runs a bit faster, managing to catch up to a small opening. between the blades, and slipping through just before it's able to close. as he gets through, he stumbles, but emilia grabs on to him , pushing him up to help him regain his balance.

"keep going, keep going!" minho shouts, turning around a corner.

suddenly, the ground shakes beneath them. thomas reaches an arm out to grab a hold of emilia, as the three of them stop dead in there tracks, trying there hardest not to lose their balance.

the ground in front of them cracks apart, opening and moving upwards causing the pathway out to come to an end. as the new walls on either sides of them open up all the way, the wall directly in front of them cracks. watching in fear as the tall stone wall began to fall forwards, toward them.

"go, go! go!" minho screams, sprinting to his right to get out of the way.

thomas grabs a hold of emilia's wrist, pulling her as they sprint away from the falling wall, it just nearly missing emilias foot as the stone wall comes into contact with the ground.

the three runners push themselves to run quicker, despite the ground cracking beneath them. more of the floor on either side of them begin to move upwards, opening up the ground. all of them stumble as the ground shakes beneath them, causing thomas to lose his grip on emilia.

"don't look back!" minho shouts.

another wall comes falling down toward them, "oh, shit!" thomas grunts, looking back as the wall hits the ground loudly, nearly missing him.

the three of them turn another corner, this time leading them to a small space with the roof of it being much closer to them. the ground slowly begins to move upwards so it could close off the area.

minho lunges forwards, crawling quickly against the movie ground. emilia and thomas follow his actions, desperate trying to crawl faster through the space as it closed in on them. thomas' eyes widen, quickly realizing how close the ceiling was to him as the floor closed in. with adrenaline fueling his every move in this moment, he reached forward grabbing the edge of the floor in front of him, and pulled himself forward, over the edge. both minho and emilia doing the same.

he grunts as his back hits the ground beneath him, quickly moving himself away from the small opening, watching as it came to a close completely, desperately trying to regain his breath. he glances toward minho, finding the boy with a stupid smile plastered on his face. somehow or another, a smile forms on his face as well. his neck practically snaps as he turns his head toward emilia. immediately finding her clutching her harness with her eyes closed, taking deep breaths, as she rested her head back on the ground beneath them.

"you okay?" thomas breathes.

emilia's eyes open and she turns her head toward him, nodding gently at him in response, "yeah," she says breathlessly, "i'm okay."

𝗔𝗩𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘

posting this chapter knowing that im already working on book 2 is absurd
this is the longer chapter since chapter one so enjoy
🤗🤗
also i hope u all know that im too fucking lazy to reread these chapter and edit them so ignore any typos or mistakes🫧🫧🫧🫧

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