Realm Two: Underwater Atlantis Maze

Team Purple

Zander

I pull Hannah towards the left tunnel ,and we sprint down the dark corridor.

Well to be more accurate...she sprints; I attempt to, but it isn't long before I have to slow to a hobble. My vision swims slightly in front of me and I lean against the wall breathing heavily. I obviously haven't totally recovered from the blood loss.

"I'm so out of shape!" I breathe. "I feel fat. Hannah, do I look fat?"

She raises her eyebrows at me exasperated. "Yes, you're obese Zander. You need to go on a diet."

We laugh at that, and I stop abruptly, surprised. I hadn't laughed in so long and this would have been the last place I would have guessed that I would have laughed in.

"You know what's funny-" I start to say planning on sharing my revelation, but suddenly a pungent smell assaults our nostrils, and I quickly shut my mouth. It smells strangely...fishy, and a moment later we know why.

"Woah," I say. The tunnel had open up into a wider corridor encased under a dome, and on the other side of the glass is the ocean, or at least what looks like it. Fish swim aimlessly, above us, around us, everywhere. The water casts a gentle, wavering blue glow on everything, and the shadows shift and dance as the light is refracted by the moving water.
Hannah doesn't talk, like always, but she runs up to the glass pressing her hands against it. A curious octopus swims lazily across the water stopping right in front of her. I watch mesmerized as the two start having what looks like a conversation. Hannah doesn't speak, but every so often the octopus inclines its head as if nodding, or waves its tentacles in complicated gestures. A few minutes later it swims away, and she returns to me. I stare at her questioningly. She surprises me by answering.

"She says it's a maze."

"She?"

"Yes, the octopus is female, what did you expect me to say?"

"Nevermind."

We continue down the tunnels only talking to discuss our options at forks. The city or maze-whatever it is- is breathtaking. Elegant statues line the corridors, some missing noses and limbs but no less beautiful. Moss line the walls like miniature forests. And through it all the beautiful blue glow from the water shimmers and shifts like cloth floating in the wind.

I have a vague guess that we're supposed to look for an exit, but have no idea how to find one whatsoever.

A sharp knocking noise interrupts my thoughts,and I look around confusedly for the source of the sound. Hannah nudges me motioning upwards. There hovering above us is not one, but four sea creatures. There's the octopus from earlier, a huge shark, a sea turtle, and a dolphin. Hannah waves to them giving me a pointed look to do the same, and I obey. The four animals wave back, before motioning with their tentacles and fins to follow them.

They try to guide us best as they can from the above and after a couple dead ends and wrong turns, we eventually we end up in front of a shimmering blue wall with a large holographic number 5 on it.
Hannah and I exchange concerned looks.

"Is it a trap?" she asks voicing my thoughts. I stare at it suspiciously.

"Probably. But it could be our way out."

"I'll go through, and you stay here so that if it's a trap our team won't lose two people at once," she volunteers. I shake my head adamantly in reply. "Absolutely not! If we go, we go together."

She gives me a small smile and I grin back. We step through the the wavering wall into a tiny, claustrophobic room. My breath quickens.

"Ok, I'm out," I say turning back to the screen, but it's now a solid glass screen. "Damnit, I knew it!"

To our right, the wall shimmers briefly before expelling two girls. I vaguely recognize them as other apprentices, and nod in greeting. They return it.

"Um...are we supposed to kill each other now?" one of them asks.

"Probably," I reply. Suddenly, I receive a sharp poke in my ribs."Ouch! Will you stop-" I start to say annoyed, but Hannah's standing stock still pointing at the wall. Words are scrolling across it now, and I cut myself off. A cool, mechanical, detached voice starts to speak.

"If two is company, and three's a crowd, what is four and five?"

There's a sharp scratching noise, and I turn to see four horizontal scratches on the door. So there are four letters.

The four of us exchange bewildered glances, and I groan in exasperation, sitting down heavily. "Are you serious?" I yell at no one in particular. Of course there had to be a riddle, because nothing in my life could ever be just straight forward and easy. I sit on one side of the room with Hannah, and the other team sits on the other side, but somehow we find ourselves working together.

"Maybe it's a giant gathering of humans," suggests one of the other girls.

"Four letters remember?" says the other one.

"I would say, mob, but that's only three," Hannah says quietly. I nod thoughtfully.
"Ooh! I got it!" one girl says. "I bet it's get-the-heck-out-of-my-room-'cuz-four-people-is-too-much!"

We laugh, and just like that the ice is broken. I try to keep myself from getting too attached because I know we'll have to kill each other, but I had forgotten how nice it was to have friends. I learn that the one with the blonde hair and blue eyes is named Dakota, and the other one, with the dark hair is Diana.

We talk and debate the answer for hours. Truthfully, I think the answer's probably not hard, but at the same time, we don't want to leave this small moment of peace and friendship. We know that the moment the answer is spoken we'll be back at each others throats so we don't try too hard.

Suddenly the answer is in front of us.

"Guys, what if four and five aren't related to company and crowd. What if 'and' means to add?"

"That means the answer is..."

"Nine," we say in unison. There's a scratching noise on the door and we watch as the letters are painstakingly written in by some invisible hand. When it reaches the last loop of the 'e', there's a loud click and a silver key floats down, settling in midair in front of us. We know without anybody telling us, that only one team can leave. A huge cloud of despair settles on my shoulders and I can tell the others are feeling the same.

"And here I thought that maybe we wouldn't have to kill each other," Diana says.

"When did you ever get that idea?" Dakota replies gloomily. She sighs heavily, and sticks out her hand. "Well, I had a nice three hours with you guys. Good luck. It's back to reality."
We stick out our hands taking hers in some strange four way handshake.
Then, it's back to business. We square off, each retreating back to our original side. My danger senses are ringing, and they tell me that at least one of them has mind tricks. So immediately, I throw up a mental force field for myself, and then I reach out to take Hannah's hand letting the protection flow over her mind as well. Diana quirks her mouth amused.

"Oh yeah, let's play," she says grinning. She flicks her hand and my force field starts to pull away.

"Damnit," I mutter, she was a survival apprentice.

We struggle for power silently staring at each other eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed. Hannah and Dakota stand off to one side, neither can attack until one of us wins. Suddenly a bout of lightheadedness sweeps over me. I'm too weak to hold up much longer, and I spring at her punching her across the face. She yells in pain and her hold slips slightly. I'm larger than her, and roll on top of her keeping her down under my weight.

"Paralysis!" I yell, but she's frozen for barely a second.

"That's not gonna work here, buddy," she says grinning. I reach out to hit her again, but she catches my arm, and grinning sardonically, she uses my momentum to flip me into the wall.

The next thing I know, I'm pinned to the wall, her hands on my throat and I begin to black out. As I do, I hear a strange animalistic roar and Hannah surges forward. I see a whirl of claws and hair, and Diana releases me letting me fall to the ground, limp.
The room erupts into chaos. It's too small for any real maneuvering and I can barely see a thing, a flash of blond hair, a scream, an elbow, a leg. Dakota's face swims faintly in front of my face, and she smiles at me apologetically.

"You won't have to feel anything."

"No. But you will." She looks at me confused, and that's all the time I need. I stare into her eyes letting myself sink into their depths. Hypnosis. It takes me a little time getting used to her, but at last I manage to stand her up. She takes a robotic step towards Diana and Hannah.

"He's dead. It's over." I cause her to proclaim, and they freeze

"No," Hannah breathes. Diana's gaze flicks over to me, and I hold my breath being as still as I can. Now. It has to be now. Dakota springs at Diana slamming her against the wall.
"Kota?" Diana breathes betrayal heavy in her voice. I feel a sudden jarring shock in Dakota's mind at what she had just done, and I know I'm going to lose her.

"I'm so sorry!" she screams to Diana hugging her. Hannah and I retreat to our side of the room watching, planning. I stare around looking for something, anything that will be useful, and I catch a glimpse of the ceiling.

"Hannah," I whisper. She looks at me. "Get all the animals you can, and tell them to get rocks or anything hard that can break the ceiling."
"Are you crazy?! It might not even break, and then we'll have wasted energy," she hisses back.

"We'll risk it."

"Okay. Fine,"

I face the other two, narrowing my eyes. Now my job is to distract them. I throw myself at them, and Diana with her gift, is ready. She catches my every punch easily, and Dakota smiles to me.

"If this was your plan. It's not working." Suddenly I can't see anything, can't hear anything, can't feel anything even. A shock of fear runs through me. Am I dead? No. I'm still thinking, I can't be dead. Slowly my senses return and all of a sudden, all I can feel is pain. A large lump on my head is forming probably from being thrown against the wall once again.

The two of them are circling me, hands outstretched, ready to deal the death blow. I glance upwards and am glad to see a humongous mass of animals hovering above the ceiling.

"We're sorry," Diana says, and they charge. I wait until the very last minute, before springing upwards with all my force, and they crash into each other in a tangled mess.

"Fly!" I yell.

"Now!" Hannah cries and the animals hurl their stones and shells at the ceiling. At the same moment, I hurl myself into the glass hardening my forcefield as I do. A tremor of pain travels through me, and a blackout seems imminent. Just a few more seconds, I tell myself. Cracks race through the glass, and water starts leaking through gaining power, a trickle, a stream, a river. At last the glass shatters, and I hear screams from Diana and Dakota as the shards scrape and cut their bodies, and then the water's tainted red. Diving down, I snatch the key.

"Hannah! Where are you!" I yell scanning the water desperately. "Hannah!"

"Right here!" she says and I turn to see her shaking hands with the octopus. "Thank you!" she tells her.
"Thanks." I say. The octopus bows her head in acknowledgement, before speeding off. I grab Hannah's hand, and gulping down a deep breath of air, we swim to the door. I shove the key where I think the key hole's supposed to be, and the door swings open. The water gushes out in a huge wave carrying us with it like driftwood.

We lie on the ground soaked, cold, and miserable. I cough up a spout of water shoulders heaving.

"Do you think they'll drown?" I ask Hannah.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Diana's a survival apprentice remember. She can survive underwater, and I'm sure she'll lend her gift to Dakota."

I nod satisfied my hopes confirmed, before finally blacking out.