In which the truth is revealed

∴ ════ ∴ ❈ ∴ ════ ∴

Daniel has always considered himself to be a good person. He took care of his parents when they were sick and took care of Caasi after their deaths. He would go out of his way to help strangers. He would never willfully try and cause harm upon another, so why was he here? He came here to help his village, and now he was going to die because of it.

Alone in the darkness of the labyrinth, Daniel was terrified. He had read the markings on the walls. There were creatures called Talmins in here. Bloodthirsty killers that were afraid of fire. The blind, eyeless beasts would be able to smell fire, but not see it. The smell terrified them. He found it a bit amusing. Something so big and dangerous is scared of fire.

He knew how to scare the Talmins away, but he still didn't want to encounter one. What if they had adapted to the fire and lost their fear of it?

He had so many things to worry about. Caasi. Was she okay? Was his village okay? And the others? What happened to them? Were they still alive? The cheering of the audience had calmed down to silence, making him all the more anxious.

And Eridanna....

He still didn't trust her. Her name, Eri, is a bit... eerie, to him. She said she had no experience in fighting, but when it came to the fight yesterday, a whole new side of her was released. She was fighting like a demon, knocking down any monster in her path. Something about her was just off.

He shrugged it off. If he happened to run into her in the maze, he would rather stick with her than leave. Of course, he considered himself to be a good fighter, but two heads are better than one.

Daniel shook off the thought, a bit angry at himself. He had just met her. Maybe she wasn't as much of a psychopath as he thought. Maybe she was telling the truth and she was just trying to medecine for her dying brother. It was a noble cause, but that just seemed to make him more suspicious.

He looked around the maze, reading the walls again.

The writing lacked useful information. It only talked about ancient history about Gods and Goddesses. Some of the words were smeared and messy due to the softness of the wall.

He skimmed through most of it, sure he wouldn't find anything useful.

Only later would he learn how wrong he was.

Daniel continued to walk, keeping his hand only on the right side. It was an old technique he had learned a while back.

Back then, he would never have seen himself here. But now he was here, and he had to make the most of it.

"Keep your head held high, Daniel." He said to himself, reminding himself of what his mother used to say.

He laughed upon realizing how much he quoted her.

He used to think of his mother as one say, but now that she's gone, his thoughts of her only got brighter and brighter.

Daniel walked through the maze, bits of the clay from the wall crowding up on his hands. He made a mental notice not to touch his face. How many people were touching this wall? Or worse.... How many Talmins?

Daniel just got more bored as he walked. As a child, he had learned to manage boredom. Years of working in the fields trying to get enough food to support not only Caasi, but his whole village. And then he got sent away, being the 'child with the most potential.' For two years, he studied and studied and studied, like any Learner must, but he studied more. He was desperate to be the best. Nothing satisfied him. The classes were only supposed to be a year long, but they kept him there because of his potential. They saw so much potential in him. So much potential.

"Daniel?" A voice from behind him said. He turned around, spotting a familiar female.

She was so quiet, Daniel never would have guessed she was there.

"Oh, thank the Gods it's you." Eridanna said, relief just radiating from her voice. "After what happened to Anselm, I thought I was the only one left."

Then he noticed it. A bit of blood splatters on her clothes. Dried tears on her cheeks.

"Wait... What happened to Anselm?" Daniel asked, taking a step back.

"One of those... Things!" She said. "It dragged him away. And I'm afraid he's..." she choked up a bit as a volley of new tears erupted from her eyes. "Gone."

Daniel was at a loss of words. Anselm was dead? How? Why? And how was Eri still alive?

"He told me to run." Eri said, almost as if she read his mind. "And I did... and now it's my fault he's..." she trailed off, unable to say the word. And he didn't blame her. It would be hard to say something like that.

As she cried, Daniel heard a slight sniffing sound coming from a corner of the maze. His breath caught in his throat as he hoped the sound wasn't what he thought it was.

A Talmin revealed it's hideous face, growling and hissing softly. Eri opened her mouth to scream, but Daniel quickly clamped his hand over her mouth before she could make a sound.

Slowly, Daniel moved his hand away from her mouth, hoping she would get the gist of it. And she seemed to understand the sense of danger they were in.

Eri fell backwards, paralyzed with fear.

Daniel stared at the Talmin, unsure of what to do. They could run, but Daniel didn't know how fast it ran. They could fight it, but it appeared to have hard skin, and Daniel didn't want to risk it. Those big claws and those sharp teeth....

The rush of adrenaline came in waves. One minute, he felt like could easily take out the giant beast, but the next, he was nothing less than terrified.

Eri backed up slowly, barely able to keep her legs moving.

Daniel wrestled with his thoughts. Was he supposed to run, or fight. Walking into this labyrinth was suicide. When he came here, the message was a blurry and smudged as the writing on the walls.

Daniel glanced back and fourth anxiously, looking for some kind of sign.

Anselm was dead, but Daniel was determined to be different.

Without much thought, Daniel reached out his hand.

The Talmin lowered it's head, sniffing his hand a bit, then the Talmin let out a blood curtling screech. Daniel dropped the torch to cover his ears, the fire vanishing with a slight swoosh. Daniel was engulfed in darkness, the only sound was Daniel's breathing and Talmin's sniffing.

If the Talmin was already blind, the lack of light wouldn't do anything to it.

Once again, in the darkness, Daniel put out his hand. Both of them, this time. The creature reached out its head and began to sniff rapidly, then the sniffing stopped.

Daniel was shocked when he felt a cold, scaley object brush his hands, then the Talmin brushed past Daniel.

There was a spitting sound, then the light returned. Daniel looked to the torch and saw bright flames dancing among the cloth of the torch.

The creature had just... spit out fire.

Eri didn't say a word, which kind of surprised him. He was expecting more of a response. He turned around, and saw... nothing. Just the darkness of the maze.

"Damn it, Eri!" Daniel cursed. She had left him! He shook the thought of her away, then looked back at the Talmin.

"Thank you--" He was interrupted by the Talmin nuzzling his face, knocking him over.

At first, Daniel was terrified, then he realized what was happening. He sat up and grinned at the creature.

Talmins weren't 'blood-thirsty' creatures at all! They were just scared. They just wanted a friend.

Or maybe the Talmin was just waiting for more Talmins to come and eat him. Either way, Daniel felt a bit better about himself. He reached over towards the torch, then picked it up. Teh Talmin didn't move. It just sat there elegantly.

Daniel looked at it with pity. It probably never got to see the light of the real world.

Then quickly, Daniel recovered his wits. He needed to go. He needed to find the others and warn them before they end up like Anselm.

Anselm....

Eri's story didn't add up. Maybe they had scared the creature, but...

Daniel glanced back and looked at the Talmin. Sure enough, it had long, sharp teeth. Teeth that would snap in half if they tried to drag away a body like Eri had said.

The Talmin was not the one who killed Anselm.

"Let's go." Daniel told the Talmin.

As Daniel walked, he realized the Talmin was following after him. He couldn't help but smile a bit. He had made a new friend.

It was at that point where Daniel knew he wasn't trying to save the others from the Talmins. He was going to save them from Eridanna.

━━━━━ • ஜ • ❈ • ஜ • ━━━━━

Daniel had been walking for only a minute when he found the first body.

But it wasn't of anyone he had seen. It was a Talmin. Out of it's normally peach skin, dark veins bulged out of it's body.

Daniel looked back at the Talmin, who walked to it's dead bretheren and nuzzled it. When there was no reply, the Talmin mourned.

It wasn't even a minute away when Daniel found the next corpse. There was the same bulging veins there was in the other one. This time, Daniel felt himself on the verge of the tears, but he managed to hold them off until the Talmin was done mourning.

There was a trail of corpses, none of them beingy human.

Daniel didn't know what to believe at this point. Everything Eri had told him and Ayla was a lie.

Talmins must have been pack hunters. They must have sensed the death of their brothers and sisters and came to help, only to join them on the losing side of the battle.

But how was Eri doing it? There wasn't a puncture wound in any of the corpses. How was she killing them?

He pondered on that thought, and it motivated him. He would do anything to stop her and save the others. He wanted so desperatly to return to a home that wasn't threatened by the bandits. And Caasi. She was always on his mind. As the eldest in the family, it was his job to take care of her and protect her, and he would stop at nothing to protect her.

Hello! Sorry for missing the update on Monday!!