CHAPTER 2

You walk upon a bridge overlooking a deep dark pit. Enclosed by metal fencing, still, you feel ill looking down. Where does this lead? You wonder. The bridge, then, twists downwards into a voluminous entrance; the gate to one of the towers.

"If they breach the gate, we will hold them here."

"Then it is only a matter of time?"

"Do not think like that. We can hold here for a long time; this fortress was made with an enduring patience. It is simply, for them, a test of wether they can withstand these mazeways."

He looks downwards: "I have not shown you the full might of this fortress."

A wounded soldier is thrown off the palisade beyond the abyss; cackling mouths and steps barrel down the pillar lined deep wall.

You see Panacea there: did he follow me? The sounds of swinging and screaming fire bellow beyond. Arrows follow you as you run deeper into the fortress.

Then, a scream in a tongue you do not understand; and the heaving stomp of a demon-blooded battle beast, the ground wills itself shook, almost afraid of it.

The pillars crack! The foundations groan!

It's a giant man! With eyes of fire, corpses appear beneath his feet; and they fly about like swatted bugs. 

"A minotaur!" sings the air

After all this time you have not heard the soldier fall.

CONTINUE