AllenVex2020

"There's no other thing this could be, I have to be in a tunnel," he said shaking his head.

As he walked down the tunnels, he rubbed off some dust that had gotten on his clothes.

The tunnel was very fine, and Isaac would believe a secret castle tunnel should be cold and leaking of water, but this one was different. This tunnel was filled with luxurious paintings, and the walls had been embellished with gold.

People would kill to find it.

He continued walking, fond of the tunnel. He heard many sounds while walking, whether it would be footsteps, or people talking, he heard it well. He turned his head around and looked around again, not because he wanted to explore it, but because he wanted a way to get out of there. If anybody knew or saw him here, they would surely tell. The fewer people that are in, the better their chances are.

When he walked down another route in the tunnel he heard a familiar voice. One that was deep, and strong. He went closer to where the noise was coming from and when he turned to his left he saw a ladder leading up. He braced himself for anything that could happen at that point and when he finally mustered enough courage, he climbed on the ladder and heard the same voice again.

This time he paid more attention to who it was and when the voice spoke another time he quickly rushed down the ladder. He heard the king. He tried to listen in on his conversation but after a few minutes of silence, he decided to climb back up. At the top, there was a small trap door that he saw and crawled inside. It was a small fit but he managed to crawl his way through and when he got up, his suspicions were right. He got up and put his ear against the wall and heard the voices of two people.

One of them had a more soft and feminine voice, while the other a strong voice but calm. It had to be the king and princess.

"The games are doing fine, father. They will not see what hit them because tomorrow we'll start and they're all be going into the labyrinth." that was the princess's voice and just listening made Isaac's stomach twist inside-out.

"Most of them will fail to succeed, of course, and most of the numbers will be wiped out," she said,

Then, the king said, "Playing smart I see, you're gonna wipe out most of them to more easily narrow down the who's..."

She quickly cut him off saying, "Yes..."

"Most knights are investigating that factory. But more people are still losing their memory, I'll be keeping my eye out for them."

Lusilla didn't respond but she had probably nodded because right after the king told her to follow him to the throne room and that is when the door opened. Isaac quickly hid behind the door trying his hardest not to breathe and when they finally exited he began panting.

He had never paid attention to what kind of room he was in but it had to be special. It had a big bed with curtains covering it. It also had two side tables which contained many drawers, probably for putting papers in.

He walked to the window that was on the left of the bad and looked out. The view had been so amazing and he could see the back of the castle and the nature that was there was astonishing. All the vibrant trees and flours had glued a smile onto his face.

He finally left the room when he calmed himself and walked down the halls to his room. He opened the door and looked around seeing Nazar and Elijah laying on their beds. He looked closer to Elijah and noticed something he had been holding.

He walked closer and yelled. "You found my spear, where!?"

"It was near the library under a chair, you must have left it, there-"

Elijah was quickly cut off by Isaac who said, "Or one of you guys hid it!"

Elijah stood up and said, "Isaac you know I would never-" then he turned his head to Nazar.

"I don't have any reason to steal your spear" his tone was dark and harsh.

At this, he said, "I'm smarter than you think." and walked away with the spear.

After a few minutes left the room and he arrived at the front entrance of the castle which had been guarded by two knights. Something he hadn't noticed before. When he approached them, they both crossed their weapons, blocking the exit.

They noticed the spear in his hands so they quickly held their spears to his neck and when Isaac looked at them he saw them looking at his spear. He lightly bent down and put the spear down. Instead of just letting him go, they reached for the spear and opened the door.

"You'll get it later," one of them said.

When he exited the door he sat in the gardens where there was a bench. The whole reason for going outside was to train with the spear. Now that they had taken it away, he had nothing to do. But then he thought back to when he was in the tunnels, the princess's words came like a shockwave.

The factory, people losing their memories, the labyrinth. It gave him an empty pit of excitement, and he wanted to investigate. He got up and continued walking. People would always think to make someone lose their memories was impossible, but what if it wasn't?

What if there was some way somebody could use a substance of toxins to accomplish it, would it work? At the thought of this, he quickly ran back inside and went to his room.

⥊⥁⥋

As the sun began to rise Lusilla had been gathered with the remaining group of men who had been listening to her words.

"Welcome everyone to the first challenge of this competition!" Then everyone began cheering.

"I'd like each participant to make sure they have their weapons and when I call your name, step forward." then everyone double-checked, and made sure their weapons were with them.

"Arel Decimus!" "Barnier Qweryn" "Canner Discola" "Isaac Kora" "Nazar Oskyeryn." Then all those people stepped forward and lined up.

When the rest of the people were called up, they all waited for the princess to come down and lead them to their challenge. When she came down, she walked forward and headed to a place far in the back of the castle. Everyone followed like a trail of bees following their queen and when they arrived, everyone stopped and froze in their tracks.

There had laid a huge labyrinth with a huge design in the middle. Everyone looked at each other and that's when they knew the games had started. "You guys are all required to get to the end, where I and my father will be waiting for you. But if you do not see us, it is preferred you walk back to your rooms. Do well contestants, but also remember that the first fifty who make it to the end continue on to the next round. Half of you will be cut..."

After a few seconds of waiting for a huge horn was blown and everyone began sprinting but some did other things that surprised Isaac. Instead of running, some decided it would be a good idea to use their weapons to attack other people. He sprinted as fast as he could hoping to not be one of those people but there were too many screams to not think about what was happening.

Now Isaac realized the danger he was in. These games were serious, and Isaac could potentially lose his life. Someone patted him which he instantly thought was someone trying to attack him, but instead, he saw Elijah running with him.

Up ahead was the entrance of the labyrinth and on the sides, there were two burning flames. Isaac decided it would be a good idea to enter before talking with Elijah. He turned to Elijah who had an axe that was held in his left hand. He told him if swung it strongly enough it could clear the path as a joke but when he did it, it actually worked.

When they finally had some progress in the labyrinth they settled down to talk. "How can we get out of here," Elijah asked.

"We need to think, could we use our weapons to help us in any way shape, or form?" Isaac responded with.

After a few minutes of thinking, he said, "Wait, That's it!"

"There's no hope, we have to do this the right way," Elijah said,

At this Isaac responded. "No, we can. Do you still have rope in your pocket that you got yesterday?" Elijah nodded and Isaac quickly grabbed it from Elijah's pocket and tied it to his axe.

Then he swung it with great force and it hit the top of one of the walls. He pulled it checking if it had been secure, thankfully, it hadn't felt down which meant he had secured it.

"So are we gonna climb!?" Elijah asked,

"That's exactly what I was thinking. We'll hold onto the rope tight and climb up to the top of the walls. From there we can see the path to the end and win."

"Isaac, there's no way that'll work. First of all other people would see it and wouldn't they report us?"

"I have a theory that I tested out a while ago. If I'm right, the princess won't disqualify me even if I'm reported." Isaac replied.

"Don't be a clown Isaac, you think the princess favors you?" then he laughed and began walking away.

"Just give it a try, it'll work."

"Even if she does favor you... what about me, won't I be disqualified?" Elijah turned around facing his head towards Isaac and said, "If we get caught, you take all the blame." Isaac didn't respond, instead, he began climbing the rope. Due to the lack of wind, it was fairly easy to climb it.

He looked back down where Elijah had been watching. And he would most likely continue watching until he actually made it to the top, but once Isaac made it to the top, he knew he wasn't the only one who had thought of the idea. When he finally settled at the top, he noticed the eyes of many people on him. Not just that, but even people had their bows pointed at him, getting ready to shoot. There had been at least thirty of those men who were all bloodthirsty. Either his blood would be shed, or somebody would stop all of this.

Right now, the second thought he had seemed impossible because everyone had seemed to be against him. Because the look in their eyes frightened him. Then, he heard a man saying "fire" and right after a cold metal pierced through his right shoulder. He immediately knew what had happened, so he looked to his right shoulder and saw an arrow pierced in his flesh.

Then after a moment of looking at it, his right arm had felt a sudden burst of pain, and he hurled down the wall with his back facing the ground. Thankfully, the fall didn't directly attack him but what the fall did was put more pain in his right arm.

"Ahh!" he groaned as he laid on the dirt.

He knew pulling it out wouldn't do him any good but he didn't want an arrow in his right arm sticking out. That would make him too uncomfortable, so he wobbled the arrow gently and quickly removed it. For a moment he thought he had done something right to prevent the pain from coming but he was wrong when the gush of his juicy red rose blood came pouring out like a water fountain.

When he was younger, he would always watch the servants heal his father's wounds by tearing a piece of fabric and tying it around the wound. That had helped him immensely over the years, so he tore a piece of his shirt and tied it around his wound.

The servants would probably hate to sew his shirt again, but at the moment his focus was on the wound healing and finding the exit, because if he didn't escape. He wouldn't live another day. He gently got up and looked around for anything that could help him. He wandered around the two walls before realizing his spear wasn't with him. It must've been on the top of the walls where he last was before the fall.

Then he screamed, "Elijah!" because if Elijah really didn't climb the wall he wouldn't have heard him.

He waited for any sort of response, any noise. But there was none, he was in this by himself. And it was then Isaac began regretting his decisions. So he continued to walk around the endless maze and when he reached a dead end, he lost hope. But he noticed that the middle of the wall had been different from the rest of the wall and when he knocked on it it had seemed to be hollow so he pushed it with his left arm but nothing happened.

He looked around for any sort of clues but when he looked to his left he saw a lever, so he pulled it and a piece of the stone floor had moved, revealing a staircase. He walked down the staircase which seemed to be a tunnel. At the very end of the tunnel was another staircase leading up with but light shined down from that part. Had someone else been there with him?

Regardless of what the answer, he later heard someone's wet footsteps paddled down the dark and creepy tunnel. Isaac began walking again, and each footstep became faster, and faster until the footsteps were right beside him. Then an arm tightened around his neck and choked him

"Help!" he cried out, but he knew that it would have been impossible for anyone to hear him.

He tried to yell again but then he began choking and losing air and his mind and his vision faded away. And he felt as if he was in a black room with no thoughts.