Young Writers Society

Etney

"Oh... I want to win this. I'm not going to find a key for you or anything so I don't see any point in us going the same way," I wasn't sure if she was tring to detre me or if she just sounded vaugely threatening all the time. I shrugged.
"That doesn't stop me from going right. It doesn't stop either of us going the same way, I mean we both must have chosen similar paths aleady, so... yeah," I set off down the right hand path leaving her behind me, and clicked my fingers to summon a flame. It wasn't long, maybe a few steps down the corridor, when I heard footsteps hurring after me.
"I've been following the right, and I'm not going to change my route now. Just bare in mind I'm not going to help you,"
"Okay,"
"And if we find a key, it's mine,"
"Sure,"
"Don't hesitate to change course,"
"I won't,"
"Okay then. Just wanted to make sure you understand..." We fell into silence then. Not uncomfortable, but tense. I kept the air coiled around my hand ready to push her away in case she changed her mind about following the same route. The truth is that I'd already spotted a key, and as soon as we split up all I had to do was back track alittle and pick it up. Subtly I waved my hand causing the earth to cover the key over just to make sure no-one else picked it up.

(If I've done anything wrong, or if I've portrayed your character wrong Kitty, just say and I'll change it)

Finally posted!

Minnow Detraz

After getting my number 2546 tattoed on my wrist, I entered the maze. I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into. The maze was dark, but not dark enough and cold, leaving me to find my way with the walls. I felt the wall with one hand, looking for a corner to turn. I mean, I should find the key, but something tells me that it''s already been found. Sighing, I finally turned a corner, where a girl was nursing a bleeding boy.

"What happened?" I gasped. The girl turned around, as the boy winced at his shoulder.

"He's bleeding, we need help," she cried. "Like, healing help."

My head shot up. Healing? I'm sure I can help. I mean, I'm sort of a Healer Mage... yes! I can help!

"I'm a healer," I volunteer. She stared at me for a minute and stood up.

"Well? Go on! Heal him!" she cried. I nodded and knelt beside him, giving me a better view of him. My eyes widened at the sight. He was incredibly handsome, but his shoulder is distracting me by the amounts of blood he's losing. I placed my hand over his shoulder, as a bright blue light shone. I tilted my head as the wound started to disappear, and I could feel the blood rushing back. Satisfied with my work and put my hand back to my knee.

"I suggest you don't move your arm that much. It could open up again," I suggested. He stared at me for a moment.

"Thank you," he said. I smiled.

(Hope this was okay!)

Serena

I tried to project to my brother that help had arrived. It wasn't a perfect process, but hopefully he was already feeling my relief and heading back our way.

"Good thing you got here in time, I wasn't sure this guy would make it," I said. "I'm Serena by the way."

"Minnow," said the girl, seemingly still absorbed in her task.

"I don't suppose I'm going to get my blouse back anytime soon?" I asked, standing and steraching.

"No, it's pretty much ruined."

"Figures."

The boy on the ground coughed again.

"And what's your name?" I asked him. "Or can you talk yet?"

Elodie and Amber made their way through the crowed, watching as those around them darted into the maze and out again, trying to find the right path. Elodie wasn't so worried. This task was perfectly suited for her talents.
"Well, I guess we should get started." Amber said, stretching. Elodie smiled at her sister,nodding.
"Mhmm." The two girls grabbed hands, and Elodie closed her eyes, letting herself fall back into the overwhelming power. She sensed everything around her. The earth, the air...
Oxygen:20%, Hydrogen:40%, Aluminum:37%, Iron:10%. Elodie's eyes flashed open, and she turned to look at her sister.
"Did you sense that?" she asked.
"Yes." And they headed into the maze
Nathaniel
Nathaniel sauntered through the darkness, ignoring those who rushed past him. They were all in a hurry. Everyone was in a hurry. Everyone except for Nathaniel of course. He was a god, what did he have to worry about.
Making a turn, Nathaniel ran into a dead end and sighed.
"Well, I guess I don't really have a choice." He closed his eyes, then opened them again. The hedges around him seemed to glow gold, and they had an almost translucent look to them. He smiled.
This was his gift, the gift of sight. He could see magic, and anything touched by magic.
This was going to be fun.

Reva Airdronac

“Hey!” Someone called behind me and I turned to face them, dodging the dagger that came flying at my head. They cursed as I held up Kitty in preparation to defend myself.

It was a tall woman with long hair that she wore down and very little clothing. Didn’t she know that the less you wore the more vulnerable you were? “Give me your key.”

My key? I hadn’t even found a key yet, let alone grabbed it. Why on earth would she think I had a key?

“Come on little girl, hand me your key. I know you have one.” She hissed, and I looked down each side of the corridor for an escape. That was when I saw it. A key was hanging only a few feet away, but far above my head. That was… Amazingly simple. It would be way over the woman’s head as well, but it would get her off my case.

I pointed to it and she followed my arm to the key, before smiling. She looked back at me, a cold glint in her eye and she pulled a sword off her back. “It’s too bad you didn’t have that in your hand, it might have spared your life.” She told me coldly, advancing on me and raising her sword.

I widened my eyes in shock and held up Kitty to defend myself, but Kitty was only a wooden staff. Going against a metal sword would kill her, so a second before she was hit I tossed her away and rolled. The sword came down on my leg as I wasn’t quick enough at dodging and I gasped in pain and shock, crawling away as quickly as I could.

Kitty! I cried through the bond. I’m sorry! That was stupid.

“No matter Master,” her raspy voice echoed through the thin corridors of the maze and I rolled over, seeing the enormous creature that she was out of weapon form standing directly behind my attacker.

The woman looked over her shoulder in shock and let out a terrified scream.

Kitty snarled in response, her head lowering to the level of the woman’s. She was so big that she practically had to lay down to have her head at that height. Her lips curled away from her huge upper fangs and the deep rumble that left her chest even made me shiver a little in fear. “That is my Master,” Kitty hissed at the woman, her brown eyes menacing. “And
if you value your own life you will leave. Now.”

The woman’s sword clattered to the ground with a clang and she sprinted away as if the devil was at her heels.

Immediately afterwards Kitty came over to me and licked the side of my body. “I am sorry it took me so long to leave my wooden form. I haven’t switched forms in a while.”

I started shaking like a leaf. That was terrifying! I was so helpless against that woman, and the woman wasn’t even attacking that ferociously! I used to be much faster than that, and much more tenacious as well! I really am very weak, aren’t I?

“Yes, you really are. But don’t worry Master, you can get your fighting abilities back! It’s alright,” She told me gently and licked my wound with her big, rough tongue. It immediately stopped bleeding and closed enough that it was manageable. “Come now Master. The sooner we get out of this place, the less people you have to fight or be attacked by.”

I nodded and stood as she grabbed the hanging key and dropped it into my hand. She was tall enough that she could easily see over the wall and she searched over it for an exit. I had lost track of time and direction as soon as the woman attacked me so perhaps it was better that way.

“Master, perhaps I will just carry you over this wall. It does not appear that you are going in the correct direction.” She said thoughtfully, lifting her paws to rest on the wall so that she could see even farther. “No, the wrong direction all together. Your path will never come to the center, perhaps you would have been better off sticking with the crowds.” She mused, resting her chin on her paws. “They seem to be heading the right way.”

I don’t need to be carried, don’t be silly. I could never allow myself to be a burden like that and you know it. I replied, picking up the woman’s sword. I really didn’t know how to wield one, not even a little bit, but a weapon was a weapon, regardless of what type. Everyone needed a weapon if even such a small confrontation had been near the death of me. Perhaps I could bluff my way out of trouble with Kitty to back me, but regardless, I needed to carry this. I can just walk back and take another path.

“No, no. You are far too injured to do that Master, you had to jog for thirty minutes just to get here. It really isn’t a problem to carry you, you know. I do not mind and you no longer weigh all that much.”

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, feeling a little irritated. I’m not that thin.

“Yes, you are. But that is beside the point. Do you suppose that we will need a second key to get me through the door? I can see the door by the way, and I think that I will not be quite small enough to fit through that. I hope it’s bigger than it looks.”

I can walk Kitty, going over the walls would be cheating. I took a step forward and my injured leg buckled under me. I barely managed to keep upright, but it was a step forward, and I could handle it. The pain in my leg was ignorable as long as I really focused on ignoring it.

“No, it isn’t cheating Master. There is some sort of pet-less Rogue making trees grow over the walls and climbing over those. I believe that no one will mind me with all the chaos going on.” She nodded and dropped all four paws back to the ground before scooping me up in her mouth and lifting back up to the wall.

Kitty! I gasped, dropping the sword as she shifted her weight onto the wall. The stones groaned and she started to climb over.

Oops… She responded as the wall crumbled beneath her and I bounced in her mouth, narrowly missing being sliced by her sharp teeth. I guess I weigh a lot. She commented nonchalantly.

Ty

"The name's Ty." He looked up at the two girls. He could see clearly again. "Let me try and remember your names." Ty winced a little as he tried to place his back onto the cold wall. "The one who stayed with me is Serena and the girl that healed me is....Minny? Minnew? Minnow?" He said with a playful smile on his face. "I still got it." Both girls rolled their eyes. "Now, Ladies. Don't go fighting and clawing at one another for me. I can only choose one." Again, the girls rolled their eyes.

"Are you going to get up or are you just going to flirt endlessly with us?" Serena said as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Both." was Ty's reply before the girls pulled him painfully up onto his feet. He put his shirt back on. He felt their eyes bearing on his shirt. He knew it would be bloody but he didn't care. Ty would just have to find another shirt to put on in his tent once this trial was over. They needed to get behind the door. Soon, others would come to where they were.

"We have to move on."

Sebastian

Brushing my hands along the stone walls I tried to make my way back to where my sister was. It wasn’t that difficult, but it didn’t help that she was on the move.

Suddenly I caught the edge of a familiar presence. Gliding around a corner, I saw the red hair of the strange girl with two different sets of emotions. I couldn’t tell if they had found a key, but the one currently in charge was happy about something.

I padded along behind her, not sure whether to announce by presence. On the one hand, seeing one person when I knew two people were there was distressing. On the other hand it was also intriguing. It was so rare that I encountered someone so unique.

She was getting ahead of me faster than anticipated. I had almost decided that it would be better to let her get ahead, to go another direction and hope I didn’t encounter her again, but then she shivered. My mind was made up.

“Are you cold?” I asked.

She gasped and spun around. Years of habit keeping my expression carefully bland, I slipped out of my jacket and handed it out to her.

(ooc: Secrets, I leave it in your hands. Feel free to ignore him if you were going to do something different though.)

Rayden/ in the maze- way behind everyone. XD :

I wandered through the winding passages of the maze, completely alone- save for Dante. Everyone else had gone rushing ahead, running like their lives depended on it- which they did to a point.

"Will you hurry up for heaven's sake!?" Dante squawked, "I do actually want to make it out of here SOMETIME soon."

I rolled my eyes on him and gingerly picked my way through the rubble of some gristly fights that already took place- it was horrid.

Corpses were now lying every which way I turned and blood was sprayed up the wall like something out of a nightmare.

"Good God." I breathed looking around- now I had been in my fair share of horrible battles, but I was normally in my weapon form, and I was always too busy trying to protect my Wielder to notice this half of battle.

"It's rather messy isn't it...." Dante trailed off, going a paler shade of red as he saw one body in particular. "Ugh! I hate what plat mage's get violent... poison ivy is a terribly way to die......" I turned down a smaller path and walked headlong into a deep pit, I thought I was going to tumble to my death- there were pikes and bones in the bottom but as I fell flat my face came into contact with the floor of the path- the pit melting away. I rolled over on my back cursing- I had gotten a bloody nose out of it, Dante laughed uproariously.

"Ohh! It seems we have an illusionist in our mists! Now this is the kind of magic I like- very well done indeed." he was perched on a out jutting in the wall, preening of all things, I looked back down to the floor of the maze and my eye caught something glittering...

"Dante, we should find the way out." I said brushing myself off as I stood, grinning like a Cheshire cat. he gave me a withering look.

We have to find a key first you idiotic moron." I held out my hand.

"I just did."


(sorry this is SO late in coming! if anyone is nearby and wants to have a run in with my boys go for it. :3)

Serena

I had to smother a smile. Ty was a man after my own heart. I liked that. Nearly got himself killed, and then he was up and flirting. He wasn’t my type though, not really.

I was starting to worry about Sebastian. I had assumed he would come straight back, but he must have been distracted by something. It irritated me that he knew where I was and what I was doing while I had to just guess. If something had happened to him, I would have no way of knowing.

“Hey minnow,” I said, in an effort to distract myself. “Do you have a key yet?"

Kara
"Are you cold?" a familiar voice behind me asked. I spun around and saw the man I had run into earlier, and he was holding out his jacket to me.
"What do you want?" I asked him, eyeing him suspiciously.
"You looked cold so I'm offereing my jacket to you.' He replied, a small smile on his face. I continued to look at him, but eventually took the coat. I was cold.
"Have you found a key yet?" He asked me as I wrapped the jacket around my shoulders.
"Yes." I replied. "Where's your sister?" Before he could answer, two personages appeared out of the shadows and grabbed me from behind.
"HEY! Let me go!!!" I shouted, trying to get out of their grasp.
"We will, once you give us your key." One hissed into my ear.

Sebastian

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I said, with a lot more calm than I actually felt.

This was a bad situation. Someone was definitely going to get hurt. I was worried most about the redhead, she was absolutely livid even while the one inside her was cowering in fear. I reached out and touched one of her captors.

“What.-“

“You’re pathetic,” I told him, delving into his emotions and reading his insecurity. “You’re so incompetent that you can’t even find a key. And now you’re terrorizing this girl because she succeeded where you failed. What worthless scum.”

In rage he let go of his intended victim. Fortunately he was distracted by the demise of his companion, and he only managed a shallow cut across my chest. The girl had taken the opportunity to get rid of her other captor. I hadn’t even realized she was armed.

“I can feel your fear,” I said. “I can see into your mind, and if you don’t back off now, I’ll melt your mind until you never have a coherent thought again.”

That was enough to send him running. The girl made as if to follow him.

“Don’t. That worm is not worth your time.”

“What did you just do?” she demanded.

“I’m empathetic. I can feel other people’s emotions, and I just used his against him.”

She stared at me a moment, as if trying to decide what to think of me now. At least she seemed to believe me. Some people asked me to prove it, and that never went well.

“Could you really do that?” she finally asked. “Invade his mind?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never actually tried to affect what I see.”

“But you were willing to just then?”

I glanced down the hall where the man had run, and then back at her steady gaze.

“Yes.”

Delilah

Dee had decided her new travelling companion did not make sense. She'd just agreed that if they came upon a key Dee could have it? Uh... okay but that seemed just a little bit stupid and very suspicious. But, whatever. If she tried to pull some trick then Dee would be ready for it and if not, she wasn't going to complain. She also wasn't going to make small talk though. After a lifetime of growing up around boys, Dee was sure that her usual conversation wouldn't be welcomed by female ears.

"There's a key there," the girl said suddenly.

"What? Where?" Dee spun around and sure enough, partially concealed in the ground was a key. She reached out and snatched it up quickly but the other girl merely stood there, hands on hips, one eyebrow raised in amusemennt. Dee felt like she was being mocked and scowled.

"I'm looking for the exit now," Delilah said. "I'm not going to help you find your key." Did she feel bad about that? No. She couldn't do. She might be killing this girl later and helping her or accepting that they'd had any kind of prtnership would only make that harder. The girl shrugged.

"I'm looking for the exit too," she said. Was she going to try and steal the key? Kill her and take the object from her cold hands? Dee didn't know but she wished the girl would just go away already. She really di not feel comfortable having her following her around.

Not much later they came to another fork and Dee went right and ground her teeth together as the other girl did too. Then they came up against the wall. The girl turned away to head back down the path but Dee continued on, her stick probing in front of her.

"You're checking the walls?" the girl asked, turning back.

"I check everything," Dee admitted. "There's been one illusion already and I wouldn't be- aha! See." She smugly stepped forward into the wall and through. So far her stick was proving very useful indeed.

All looking good to me, Beth! Please let me know if I make Etney do anything she woouldn't Also, Dee now has a fake key, oh yeah ^^

Etney

It was amusing to see that this girl really believed that the key I had pointed her towards was real. It didn't have the same glow as everything else, that and it wasn't in a box like we'd been promised they would be. Maybe it was real and someone had just dropped it... I breathed a sigh of relief when she passed through the wall and didn't come back for me. Now I had a chance to double back and find the key I'd buried, leaving a trail of water to mark my path back to the illusion wall.

When I returned to the fake pit I couldn't find the key. I searched all around but there was no trace of it. In annoyance I shouted out, my voice echoing slightly. But echoing anywhere as near as much as the earth crumbling at my feet, when I realised what was happenning it stopped. I always forget to control myself while annoyed. I turned back the way I had come, leaving a real pit beneath the illusion one, and ran to catch up with the girl lifting my water trail as I went. Don't want anyone else to follow. I turned right and saw a bright fire up ahead, but floating far above head hight, and the far off sound of arguing
"Dante, shut up,"
"But I can see up ahead and lead you. Do you really want to get lost in this place?!" I had to really supress a giggle. I follow ed the talking light and man's voice to the illusion wall and watched as he was stuck.
"I'm telling you, the way forwards is on the other side of the wall. Just walk through it,"
"I'm not going to walk into a wall! You must have given me a wrong direction at somepoint," Sticking as best I could to the shadows I tried to sneak past them and ran throught the wall, desperatly hoping it was still fake.
"See! See! She just ran through it!" The light screeched. I carried on running, following the girl's trend, always taking the right until I cought up with her.
"Hi again," I panted.

(Hope this is okay, *Narrows eyes at Shaddy* you stole my key Shaddy Why I oute to... No nevermind, it give a golden opertunity to Etney to find another

Reva Airdronac

If I wasn’t in her mouth I would have given her an incredulous look. She just broke down a wall! She made a contented sound in her throat and lifted herself on the next wall. Yes, much easier than making you carry me around everywhere. The next wall crumpled beneath her and she pranced down the small hall of the maze. Look around Master, you are safer here than you would be on the ground.

I opened my eyes that I hadn’t realized I had closed and looked around. Ahead of me was a girl that was growing a tree and then she easily climbed over it and disappeared into the maze again. A little ways away from her flames exploded over the walls and then water sprayed over it, suddenly turning to steam as the flames turned white. A few walls crushed as explosions happened around them and I realized just exactly what I had gotten into.

Was this hell worth being there for Maryx? Especially since he had left me behind at the gate. Why had I done this for him? I couldn’t heal him if I was nowhere near him, there was no point in doing so.

Fire came out of nowhere, hitting Kitty in the ear, and making her roar in pain, and me yelp quietly.

I fell from her mouth and held out my hands to catch myself, landing heavily on one wrist in particular. It twisted awkwardly under me and I gasped in shock and pain. I immediately rolled off of it and clutched it to my chest in an attempt to stop the pain. Not seconds later Kitty hissed in pain and I felt something sharp prick into my shoulder. It wasn’t anything on me, I realized and rolled onto my knees, standing up to face our enemy.

It was a man, and he had just shot several arrows into Kitty’s shoulder, and as he drew back his bow once more, the arrow lit on fire. He was attacking my magician!

My eyes narrowed and a wave of something ran over my skin and I did the first thing I could, I ran and jumped, catching the arrow with my own body. It hit my arm and I fell to the ground with a thump, feeling the burning pain seep into me.

“Master!” Kitty cried out to me, bounding forward.

I groaned in pain, this was a terrible idea. Why didn’t I think things through before I acted? Why on earth did I jump in front of an arrow instead of, say, releasing a wave of light that would destroy it? Who does things like that? Clearly it isn’t a smart thing to do when you aren’t trying to die.

“What the…? He trailed off, looking around. “Hello? Who did that?”

I broke off the shaft so that it wouldn’t be in the way and tried to hold my arm still as I stood up. Only I would twist my wrist and then get an arrow in the same arm, all within minutes of each other. Nobody else would do that.
His eyes followed the shaft and traced it back before passing right over me. They narrowed in confusion and he just stared dumbly. I looked down at myself in confusion and realized exactly what that wave of power that passed over me was. I had turned myself invisible. It was strange because it was the first time in five years that I had used that particular power and I hadn’t even meant to use it.

It took me about five seconds to realize that if I didn’t hurry and do something to neutralize the threat to my Magician then I was going to start feeling the pain in my body. I was still injured badly on my leg, even if it was no longer bleeding. I knew that it shouldn’t be able to stand after the way I had been treating the wound, and yet there I was, standing in the midst of rubble, completely invisible. With the way my heart was pumping it was not really a shock that I was able to though. So I did the only thing I could think of and I snatched up a heavy rock with the arm that wasn’t gushing blood and lifted it over my head, only to realize that I had already injured that one too. The pain in my shoulder made my eyes water and I dropped the rock, falling to my knees as all my strength fled and I felt the wave of energy coat my skin, letting me know that I had just regained visibility.

My opponent chuckled and I heard his voice just barely through the roaring in my ears. I was so dead. I knew it. I had gotten us into a situation that both Kitty and I were unable to get out of no matter how hard we fought. My body just couldn’t fight anymore and she was already shot with arrows. In short, we were so screwed.

Rayden Thorn/ standing at the illusion wall:

"There is no way in hell I am going to let you lead me to walk into another wall Dante!" I hollered loud enough to wake the dead, he rolled his golden eyed glare at me, and sighed.

"I already told you I was sorry about that wall- I got excited and thought it was a fake!" he wasn't looking at my eyes, but the large ugly purple welt on my forehead.

"No! I'm not going to walk into that wall, no way no how. Find another route!" he flapped about like a blind chicken with the fidgets then landed on my arm.

"Really Rayden! I've told you a hundred times- This. Is. The. ONLY. Way to the door. If you don't go through this illusion we won't make it- we're probably in last place anyway." he grumbled, talons digging into my arm. Suddenly a girl ran past us, Dante leaped into the air and I whirled to face her- she ran right through the wall, laughing!

"See!" Dante screamed proudly, "Didn't I tell you? Illusion." I rolled my eyes and gritting my teeth charged through the seemingly solid wall- Damnation, it was fake....

"Okay Mr. Know-it-all. " I growled, breaking into a weak jog. "Where to now? He flew up a little higher then dived down to be face to face with me.

"Around that corner and take the third right- and for heaven's sake, hurry up! there is hardly anyone left in the maze!"

Fifteen minutes later found me wheezing like I had run all day, and Dante flapping worriedly about my head, I waved him away and kept jogging.

"I'm fine, I'll work through this one." I wheezed, sounding like a parlor organ out of tune. just then we ran past a huge rend in the wall, Dante looked at me.

"Someone cheated, come on." he flew though, I laughed weakly.

"Seriously?" but I clambered over the rocks just the same and took off once again following my griffin through the maze, praying he knew what the heck he was doing.

All of a sudden I rounded a corner and slammed into someone. I heard a bowstring go Thwang! I rolled to one side and came up wildly looking about. My first inclination was to apologize for ramming into whoever it was, the second was to beat the tar out of him.

He stood glaring at me, right behind him a girl, beaten to a bloody pulp, and her animal whimpering in pain stuck full of arrows. I took a casual yet defensive stance.

"So you get off on doing that sort of thing?" I didn't expect the reaction I got, he charged me roaring like a lion.

I had no choice but to defend myself- aggressively.

If there was one thing I couldn't stand it was a man who would beat up on a woman, no matter how strong she might be, a man just shouldn't do that!