Mirai

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The peacefulness Nox had exhibited during the night was long gone in the morning. He started with muttering about not having been able to sleep with me using him as a bed, then continued with complaining about what an eyesore the corpses of the witches he had been "forced" to kill were, and followed with pestering questions about when I would leave. I ignored the comment about the corpses while making sure to not look at them, not wanting to know whose lives plagued my guilt. The rest of what he said just made me smile at him, though. His attitude didn't manage to hide the genuine concern I knew he felt.

"Where are you off to anyway?" he yawned as I pack up the bag after having had a bit of breakfast.

"The Maze of Life," I answered and looked over at him. He was on the same rock as when I had found him and bathed in the morning sunlight. His eyes were closed, but the goat head straightened his neck at my words.

"Only idiots set their feet inside that place," he muttered.

"Maybe. But the sphinx told me it was better if I saw who the woman is instead of being told. That it would help me understand."

He only let out a huff as a response.

I walked over to him and placed my hand against the fur on his front leg. The fur really was soft and smooth. I wouldn't have minded always using him as a bed.

"I have one last request of you," I told him.

"You only know how to make demands."

"Can you check what number it says on my neck?" I continued, as if he hadn't spoken. I drew my hair to the side so he would be able to see. The snake head moved up to look.

"Twenty-eight," he answered, and I had time to frown before he spoke again. "It just changed to twenty-seven."

Did that mean that it was 03:23 at home? Because that had to be the time for when it changed. The hour and minute I had been born.

"Alright, thank you," I answered, and let my hair fall again. Then I stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what more to say or do. I wanted to tell him goodbye in some way, but he still had his eyes closed, the snake head had gone down to rest on the ground again.

"Well, I'm off. I... I'll come back and visit you at some point."

He didn't give any indication of that he had heard me. I let out a deep sigh, but didn't press for a response, didn't try to get a goodbye from him. He'd likely never give it anyway.

I teleported myself to Jerusalem and then stepped through the portal. The landscape I found myself in wasn't too different from what I had left. It was bare and beige, with a few trees here and there. The biggest difference was the amount of light. It had been well into the day in Jerusalem, but here the night hadn't dispersed yet.

Some distance away, I saw the mountains towering.

When I had been taught the locations of the different portals, I had not been told why they were placed in certain spots. Some, like the one in Salem, had very obvious reasons behind them. But this one, in Arizona, had always perplexed me. The Maze had to be the reason though.

I walked towards the mountains. The ground was uneven, so I kept my eyes down as I walked to not fall over. Slowly I reached them and began climbing them at random, let my instincts guide me.

The sun climbed the sky as I climbed the mountain. I slipped a couple of times, knew I got new bruises and scrapes. After a long time, when the sun had traveled far up in the sky, I sat down to rest. I whipped the sweat off my forehead with my arm. From the rug sack, I took the water bottle and drank several big gulps.

The area I was in had many more trees than the area around the portal. It did make for quite a nice resting place, not only because the green was nice to look at but also because it made me feel somewhat safe and isolated. I couldn't rest for long though, I had to keep moving. There had been no signs of the Maze and I didn't know if I was getting closer or moving further away. But I refused to let those thoughts plague me. I needed to keep going and couldn't let myself fall into doubt.

I stood up and threw the rug sack over my shoulders. As I took a step to keep moving, I heard the sound of a twig breaking behind me. I whipped around and summoned my magic to the surface.

From between the trees, a cougar walked towards me. I wasn't sure how I knew that, but I knew it was an actual cougar and not a shifter, though I wished I was wrong. I swallowed and prepared myself for it to attack me, though I wasn't sure how much I'd be willing to fight it. Obviously, I would defend myself, but the thought of fighting an innocent animal had my stomach in knots.

I didn't have to fight it though. It walked straight past me and in the direction I had been on my way to walk myself. I stayed where I was, but it stopped and looked back at me before continuing to walk.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't a shifter, but it definitely wasn't an ordinary cougar, because the message was clear. It wanted me to follow.

For about five minutes, I zigzagged between trees with the cougar guiding me ahead. Then it stopped and looked to its left before taking off at a speed I would never manage to keep. I walked over to where it had stopped and looked to my left as well.

A few meters away, there was an opening in the mountain wall and next to the opening stood a man. He only wore pants that were made of animal skin. His face was wrinkled, his long hair, that hung freely, grayed, and he leaned against a stick. His eyes were brown and as I looked into them, they seemed to hold an endless depth.

"Are you..." I started to say, but cleared my voice because the two words had come out low and shaky. When I spoke again, my voice was much stronger. "Are you the Man of the Maze?"

He looked me up and down, there was tension in his eyes as he studied me. But he nodded. "Yes, I am, Mirai, and I am glad to see that you have found me and my maze."

"Yeah, I was told that you can help me," I answered and moved closer.

"I cannot. Only you can, but my maze might be of assistance."

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. All of these ancient creatures really did seem to enjoy talking as cryptic as possible.

"Is that it?" I pointed at the opening. "Can I go in there?"

"Few can, but you may."

I raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"For what reason do you wish to enter my maze?" His voice was serene, but the fact that he answered my question with a question made me have to hold back another eye-roll.

"I need to find a woman and I was told that your maze can show me who she is."

"And why do you need to find her?"

"She'll die if I don't."

He didn't say anything more, only gave me a soft smile. Though I couldn't say I was surprised. Getting a straight answer from him would probably be as impossible as for a romantic comedy to end in anything other than the couple living happily ever after.

"Is it just for me to enter?" I asked next instead and took a step closer to the entrance.

"I require a small payment first. Your rug sack will do. And do be sure you want to. Few go in and even fewer come out and those that do are no longer the same as when they entered."

That did make me halt. So there was a risk for me to get stuck in there? I could not imagine a worse place to be stuck and slowly die in. From looking through the opening, all I saw was darkness. Being trapped in a maze with narrow stone walls and no light didn't feel inviting at all.

But truly, I had no choice. I had no other path to take to find the answers I needed.

I took the rug sack off my back and threw it so it landed by his feet.

"How long time does it usually take for those that do come out?" I asked, because that was important.

"Time in the Maze works differently than time in life. For some it takes years, though only a minute. While for others it takes minutes, though also several years."

I shook my head. Had I really expected an answer that made sense? I did hope it would only take me a few minutes, though, or at the most a few hours.

"Well, I'll see you in a minute or two then," I told him to strengthen my own belief that it would go fast. And that I wouldn't get lost.

Then I walked forward and entered the Maze of Life.