The sun rose the next morning. Diablo felt well rested from his challenges yesterday and he knew that this was the day he'd do his third challenge.

I hope I can do this one, Diablo prayed to himself. He first tried to get out of the room himself, but it was still locked, as usual. Diablo sat on his bed to wait for his master.

Shadow Man came to get his pet. He was relieved that the water didn't snap Diablo out of his amnesia spell. But even if it did, he would go through extreme measures to get his gargoyle back to being an obedient pup. He smirked at the thought, unlocking the door to his little pet's room.

"Good morning, Diablo. I trust you rested well?"

Diablo perked up, nodding. "Yes, Master. I'm ready for the maze, Master." His voice sounded excited. Shadow Man chuckled. "Easy there, you should at least have breakfast before the test, hm?" Diablo felt his belly growl then and he flushed.

Shadow Man took his hand. "Come along, my pet. Breakfast is waiting for you." Diablo nodded, getting up and following him out.

At the table, Arthur and Edward were there too, along with many of his other men. Arthur, the one who challenged Diablo in the climbing was still sore about losing, giving Diablo a cold look that Diablo noticed, cringing a little in guilt.

"M-Master, I didn't mean to make him angry for having lost to me," he said shakily, not liking how the guy glared at him. Shadow Man put an arm around him as much as he could with the wings. "Think nothing of it, my boy. You ought to be proud of your abilities that mankind can only dream about. That's what makes you special and why I saved you." The red gargoyle felt relieved from his master's praise, head lowered in shyness.

Arthur just rolled his eyes, hating this whole charade. He wanted to put the muzzle back on that spawn of Satan again and hurt him more.

Shadow Man sat in his own chair then. "Sit now. I have some rules I wish to discuss with you." Diablo nodded, taking his seat, and going into his breakfast. His master watched him eat.

"Now, since you nearly cheated on the rock wall in the previous test, this is one you also can't cheat on, is that clear, Diablo?" Shadow Man asked in a firm tone.

Diablo swallowed, mostly of the food but from feeling nervous too. "I understand..." he replied softly.

Shadow Man clasped his hands together. "Such a good gargoyle. This test is to see how good your senses are with the lights out; no moon or stars and find your way in the maze. You think you can handle that?"

Diablo drank his juice. "Think so." he said. Some of the men looked at one another with smiles, hoping Diablo wouldn't succeed since some of them were tasked by Shadow Man to be obstacles for Diablo. They would make short work of that.

....

After breakfast, the group went back in to start the test. Diablo approached the door to the maze once the men got into their positions inside. He gazed back at his master, who smiled encouragingly. "Go on in." He simply said. Taking a shaky breath, Diablo stepped inside.

Diablo walked through the entrance, tail twitching nervously about what was gonna happen. His master's voice rang through a mic.

"Show me how good your survival skills are with these challenges that I will not reveal, for that would be cheating, too. Move forward..." The red one complied, stepping through this first room, which had holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling. What was this first test?

A zing noise sounded; a sharp dart coming out of the floor. Diablo yelped in surprise. He saw the next door, as other darts came. One stuck into his leg. Diablo cried in pain, pulling it out, leg bleeding. He decided he hated needles. Two more nearly struck him, but Diablo dodged them nimbly as a cat.

He hissed from one striking his shoulder this time. These darts didn't make him sleepy, though. Diablo pulled it out, throwing it away. He ran as fast as he could while dodging the darts, until reaching the safety of the next door, panting. He knew they could treat his dart wounds later.

"My, my, how swift and agile you are, something that impressed me." Diablo's master praised. Diablo smiled before going into the next room. He winced from flashing mirrors. His own reflection startled him.

Okay, a room full of mirrors... should be easy, Diablo thought. But he would be proven wrong soon. Diablo wandered among the mirrors, most of his reflections normal to start.

He wandered about. This one looked terribly tricky, feeling along the mirrors until Diablo thought he saw the door, a smile on his face. This wasn't as bad as he thought.

"You really think that is the way out? Why not give it a try?" Shadow Man asked in a smooth tone. Diablo nodded, running but wound up smacking into another mirror. These mirrors were part plastic, hard to smash through. He groaned in pain.

"Alright, not the exit," Diablo mumbled, pulling himself up, rubbing his beak and going to try again. The flashy mirrors were starting to make his eyes rather sore, rubbing them. How was he gonna find it if he encountered mostly mirrors?

His reflections eventually began to go weird, confusing Diablo. He saw his face all squashed looking in the next mirror, along with a rounded belly. Diablo put a hand over it, looking down but it felt normal. He shook his head, pressing forward around another corner, to be met with a tunnel.

Exit? Diablo asked quietly. This tunnel seemed random, but he had to chance it to get out of here. Diablo walked forward carefully. He reached with his hand, to feel glass. Disappointment flooded his body. This was all weird and impossible!

Diablo grunted in frustration and turned away from the fake tunnel, hating all his weird images the mirror showed his reflections as. He sometimes looked tall, fat again, and skinny. It repeated over and over, but showed twisted images of himself quite a bit, too. This was all too much for Diablo, stomach beginning to churn sickly from his breakfast this morning, falling on all fours now, dizzy and nauseous, ready to faint.

"Master... I feel sick... I'm terrified... lost... please help me!" He begged shakily, holding his belly, the mirrors threatening to close in around him, making Diablo shrink down into the floor, scared, vision swimming. Shadow Man's voice chuckled.

"Oh, Diablo, are you going to let silly mirrors get the better of you? My gargoyle is much stronger than this. Come on, get up. Just breathe and keep trying." His master encouraged. Diablo swallowed the bile threatening to make him let loose, shaking his head, struggling again to his feet. Master was right. He had to make it through this. Wiping his sweaty brow, Diablo pressed on, limping a little, trying to ignore those wacky images.

Along his way, Diablo did fine, sometimes sniffing the air for the smell of a door. Nothing so far but upon approaching a mirror, he spotted not his own reflection, but a gargoyle from his dream; the big lavender one. His bold eyes gazed into Diablo's, who gasped in fright, backing away from the illusion. Those eyes bore into his very soul. He shook his head again, shrinking away from that image. It disappeared. But then suddenly, Diablo got a strong whiff of something familiar; the exit! Excitement rang through him, following his nose.

At last when rounding a corner, the real door stood before him, or he hoped it was. He gulped, reaching out before pulling back.

Please... be the exit... the red male pleaded, hand trembling, reaching again. He grasped the doorknob. Diablo breathed in relief, opening the door.

"Well, congratulations on using your wits in the mirrors, Diablo. Get ready for this one, it tests all your training with me."

The red one was nervous when going in. But what he found was a simple maze; no mirrors, just plain walls, making him sigh in relief. But he was unaware of the humans waiting.

Diablo ran through this new maze, wondering what else would be lying in wait around the corners, keeping his guard up. One human waited on top of one of the walls, which was too slick for Diablo to climb, Shadow Man made sure of that. He smirked, holding his knife, using his rope, and charging down onto his victim. Finally, he was allowed to give this beast a beating!

Diablo froze in his tracks when hearing something charging at him from above, eyes flashing white, seeing one of his master's men coming at him! He cried out when the man tackled him, slamming into a wall.

"Just you and us, Freak!" sneered the man. Diablo didn't recognize this one but Arthur was also in this maze near the exit. Diablo scratched out feebly, the man pinning him down. His talons slashed the man's chest but he didn't react, startling Diablo, for the man wore a gargoyle proof vest. His eyes closed, struck by another vision. Diablo envisioned himself being attacked by hooded, evil humans with electric hammers. Their leader cackled menacingly, lightning flashing in the background.

Diablo snapped himself out of the vision, hissing, eyes glowing with adrenaline, using his strength and pushed his rival away, running for it, wanting to get out as fast as possible. More humans got in his way, but Diablo took care of them, thanks to his new strength.

He spotted the door faster than before, running fast, but one more rammed into Diablo, his head hitting the metal wall. Diablo grunted weakly, seeing Arthur there, a deranged look in his eyes.

"Time for payback for me losing to you yesterday, Monster!" Arthur roared, holding his knife. Diablo tried running, until he felt his tail grabbed onto by Arthur. Diablo cringed in pain, suddenly feeling that knife scratching his arm, too. He gripped it tight. "Get out of my way! I don't want to hurt you!" Diablo demanded, panting.

Arthur laughed. "Not likely!" He rushed again. Diablo was ready, using his tail, grabbing Arthur around his waist, throwing him hard into the wall, knocking him out.

Diablo was panting heavily, a hand still over his hurt arm before going into the next room. Up until now, he had been able to see clearly in all parts of the maze test, but in this different room, it was solid darkness. The door closed behind Diablo and he turned around in surprise.

"Oh great. Now I can't see a thing." Diablo said.

"Find your way out of the maze using your vision. I want to see how good your night vision is. You wanted to know yourself too, remember?" Shadow Man said over the mic.

Diablo tried to see but he couldn't see anything in the blackness of the room, even as a nocturnal creature. Pitch blackness might have one thing that even gargoyles had a limit on seeing in. But then, the red gargoyle had an idea. He remembered his eyes' ability to glow.

He growled and got angry at not being able to see and it made his eyes start glowing again. Now he was able to see. His eye glow was able to give him a light source, if just temporary. He began to follow the walls and kept on the lookout for more attackers.

There were some more men in the maze that had on night vision goggles so they could see their target coming and wanted to dish out more revenge on the monster.

Diablo felt calmer but he had to keep his guard up until he was out of this maze. Along the way, he was ambushed by five more men, Edward included. His eyes kept aglow as his adrenaline got reenergized to stay glowing.

He scratched Edward across the chest and left shoulder to escape. "Hey! You're cheating, Freak!" he accused Diablo.

"Hey, it's part of my natural defenses." Diablo retorted. That was when he ran off to not want to hurt Edward anymore.

Edward called his boss while holding his wounds. "The freak is cheating with his eyes glowing to lead him out!"

"I have seen that, Edward." Shadow Man replied.

"Don't let him get away with that!"

"Oh, he won't." Shadow Man said.

...

Diablo finally made it to the end of the maze. He saw the exit door because there was a light. He panted but smiled. He was glad to just get out of this maze test.

By the time he was out of the door, his eyes had returned to normal. He sank to his knees to catch his breath. Then, some feet appeared in front of him. He looked up and it was his master.

"I'm... done, Master." Diablo said.

"I see that, Diablo. But you did something that I told you not to do. You cheated in the dark room test." His master proclaimed.

"I uh... couldn't see at all in the dark room, Master. I didn't mean to cheat. My eyes just naturally glowed to show me the way. It was pitch black in there. And I could have been hurt more by the men ambushing me in there because I couldn't see without my eyes glowing. I'm sorry." Diablo explained as best he could, hoping his master wasn't too angry with him.

"There will be consequences for cheating in there, Diablo." Shadow Man scolded.

Diablo flattened his ears in submission and sadness. "Please don't hurt me, Master!" He held his arms up in submission too.

The boss man saw the blood on one of his arms. Shadow Man then said, "Oh, you're not going to be flogged or anything, Diablo. Get up and come this way. First, we'll have Dr. Thomas treat those injuries and then you'll be given your punishment."

Diablo caught his breath and pushed himself to his feet and limped after his master, ears still flattened. They went to the infirmary where Thomas cleaned up the wounds on Diablo's body. His arm was cleaned and bandaged. The wound wasn't too deep to require stitches at least. The small wounds from the darts were just cleaned off and bandaids were put on them.

When they left the infirmary, Shadow Man then decreed the punishment. "Diablo, for your cheating in the maze test, you are not going to be allowed out of your room today for patrol or anything else. No lunch or dinner either. You are going to think on what you did." His master explained in a stern voice.

The way his master talked to him in an angry tone made tears come to his eyes, but he replied, "Yes, Master. I'm sorry."

"Good. Now let's go." His master ordered.

They went back to his room and it was unlocked and he was pushed back in there roughly. Diablo wrapped his wings around himself to make himself feel more secure, but it only did so much. He thought his master would be proud of him for getting out of the maze alive and however he could. But it turns out he had only angered him.

"You'll get one glass of water but that's it for the rest of today." Shadow Man decreed before he closed and locked the bedroom door.

Diablo couldn't help but feel the tears that started to fall down his cheeks as he went to his bed. He felt really miserable, shaking a bit too.

I wish I hadn't disappointed my master, Diablo thought, keeping his wings closed up around his body. He wished someone would hug him, hoping Master wouldn't forget to bring water later. At the moment he wasn't hungry, no thanks to those mirrors. Diablo still felt scared of constantly seeing that fierce muscled gargoyle in his visions. Was he connected to him too?

He was too upset to think about it right now, lying down on his pillow to rest, the tears still coming.