Acacia shivered alone as she thought of her last moments. Just like the other women that were sent to this cursed place, she didn't want to die. She remembered being sent to the ship with the others. The young men went aboard the ship, bravely, while the young women wept softly as they said farewells to their family. But not Acacia.

She resisted, screamed and shouted. She couldn't accept her death sentence. The guards had to drag her on board. She struggled, attempted to rip her arms from them. As the guards tightened their grip, she turned her head to see her parents, weeping. She called out to them, begging them to save their precious daughter but when they did not move an inch, she sought help from the crowd. Tears fell from her face as she pleaded, pulling down at the guards in hopes that they had a bit of pity for her. When no one came to help, her shouts turned into growls of anger as she cursed at the guards for sending defenceless people to the cursed lands. She swore at her family and the crowd for standing by. Yet most of all, she spat the King's name for sacrificing his people as she swore and wished for his death.

Throughout the journey, the guards had to keep an eye on the sacrifice as Acacia had attempted to jump off the ship. She remembered being blindfolded when they reached the land. When she took off the blindfold, she found herself and the rest of the sacrifice in the labyrinth. Reality started to settle in when one of the maidens dropped to her knees and broke down in tears. Acacia looked to see that the young seven men were equipped with swords. Fortunately, the guards had enough pity to give them weapons. She stayed silent as the maidens cried and prayed to go home while the men swore that they would protect the group and survive.

They tried to find the exit. The maidens huddled as the men searched for a way out. A girl older than Acacia wrapped her arms around her. Acacia glanced at the older one as she realized that she was being cared for and watched after because of her outburst when boarding the ship. Yet Acacia didn't feel calm as she knew they were all going to die. She just wasn't sure whether if it was her or the kind older maiden who would die first.

The men had their first argument at the fifth time their path split. One man had voiced out his concern that they were going in circles.

"This is the same path we went on! I know by the markings on the wall!" He exclaimed.

"If it was the same path, we would've seen our footprints." Another one who had appointed himself the leader explained calmly. He glanced at the rest of the group to make sure no one else would grow agitated.

Yet despite the reassurance, the man turned to the other pathway, separating from the group. The rest of the group followed the leader while Acacia trailed behind. She glanced back at the other path with concern. She watched the man's silhouette in hopes he'd change his mind and turn back to join them.

She flinched and turned to see the leader who waited for her.

"Hurry. We should stay together." He said. With a hand on her back, he guided her towards the group.

The silence was broken when they heard a gut-wrenching scream. They turned while the group froze. The maidens murmured in fear as the men gripped at their swords. When the scream faded away, another scream was heard. It sounded like a roar that came from a beast.

She felt a hand grab her arm as she was shoved to the group. The shove boosted her sprint as she caught up to the group. They ran as fast as they could. Acacia was too scared to turn as she could hear the screams of the men that tried to attack the minotaur. There were four screams. When they reached another pathway, the group began to split.

She held back her tears as she heard another scream that this time came from a female. She felt someone hold her hand. She looked to see it was the nice maiden that cared for her. The older women pulled Acacia to run faster. As she ran, she could hear the sacrifices being killed one by one.

"Quickly." The nice maiden. Their movements grew frantic as they heard another bellowing roar. As they reached another pathway, she was shoved into the right pathway. Acacia turned to see the maiden ran off. Before she could reach out to her, she hid as she heard the Minotaur come closer. She bit her lip as she watched it slowly walk past and chased after her friend. Acacia waited curled up in the corner of the dead end as she heard more screams. She stayed in hiding, waiting for someone to come back. She prayed that the minotaur won't come back to kill her. Time past and she was almost growing mad from fear.

She slowly got out of the burrow as she decided to venture the labyrinth and find a way out. During her journey, she counted the screams that she had heard. Five men and four women had been killed.

She almost froze when she heard another shriek break the silence. Another maiden had taken her last breath. She stopped and felt her knees grow weak at her sight. She turned her eyes away from the mangled body to the sword he held. Trying not to look at the poor soul, she took the sword from his grip. It was heavy and she had thought it would only slow her down when the time comes for her to run for her life but she needed something to feel protected.

She continued her journey and found more evidence that the Minotaur had walked the same path she did as it left behind mangled corpses. Her fingers trembled as she had dragged the sword behind her. She soon heard a roar and on instinct, she ran as fast as she could. As she had expected, the weapon was slowing her down. As she turned to her right, she almost screamed at what came running towards her. One of the men looked at her surprised to see she was alive. Before she could react, she heard the roar grew closer and the man grabbed her throwing her to the ground.

She looked up to see the Minotaur charging towards her. She stiffened as she waited to be trampled instead the creature jumped over her as it lunged to the cowardly man. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she heard the agonizing screams as the man was ripped apart. She looked to see her sword on the ground too far to reach. She quietly crawled to grab it to defend herself. As her fingers barely touched the hilt of it, she heard a low breath. She quickly turned to see the monster staring down at her. She pulled her hand away from the sword when she noticed him ready to stomp and break the bones in her fingers.

She stayed silent as she was worried if her voice might anger it. She looked up at the monster. Half monster and half-human. She heard stories of how he was born. The son of the King's wife. This was it. She was going to die. She dreaded this moment but for some reason, she felt calm. She was calm at the sight of this beast waiting for her to do something. She glanced back at the dead man who shoved her into danger to save herself and thought of how the Minotaur ignored her to kill the coward. She slowly sat on her knees as she watched the beast. With shaking hands, she placed her palms against the stone floor as she slowly bowed her head down. Her heart raced at being unable to see the Minotaur. She prayed that if she were to die, please let it be quick and painless.

Her heart jumped as she felt the back of her dress being grabbed and the beast dragged her away. She refrained from struggling in fear that she might be killed straight away. She looked around as she tried to find out where was he taking her. Suddenly, she heard the Minotaur slam its fist against something and throw her aside. She winced and as she tried to get up, she looked and recognized the faces of the guards that locked them in the labyrinth. She turned to the beast to see that the gates of the Labyrinth were forced open. It roared once more, frightening the guards before turning to leave. The guards looked at Acacia, the only sacrifice that the beast had decided to spare.