Fighting Together

 Liora’s eyes track as Thalindra is wandering around the labyrinth, uncertainty filling her by the minute. She tries her best to guide her, but the deeper her partner ventures, the fainter her voice becomes, swallowed by the maze’s narrow corridors.

"To the left!" Liora shouts, her voice cracking against the silence.

‘Does she even hear me ?’ Liora wonders, watching Thalindra bump into another stone wall. She sees, from high above, a weathered elf trying to find her way in the maze.

Her hands tighten around the red thread, the supposed guide back to the entrance, but the path feels more elusive with every passing moment.

Her gaze lingers on the old elf.

‘If only I could be there beside her’, Liora thinks, helpless, as Thalindra disappears deeper into the maze’s heart.

*****

« Elicth … I’m sorry. I couldn’t trust you.”

My mind wanders in the past and my will wavers.

“If only I’d stayed at the entrance. If only I hadn’t rushed in…”

I sigh.

No need to dwell too much on the past. If Liora follows her path, she’ll be making the same mistakes—the same rush into danger without the foresight of wisdom. I need to hurry, to avoid being trapped in the same cycle.

Then we would be trapped here together, tortured back and forth by the maze Minotaur endless weeks, until he throws us at the entrance… I shiver at the memory. Those were not pleasant days…

My hand brushes another stone wall, as chilly as my touch. My body feels so cold, so heavy, … so old. Yet I can count on my trained hearing as I perceive Liora’s voice from afar.

“To the left!”

I can barely make out the words. I might have to navigate to the center on my own.

Don’t rush. Don’t panic. Trust Liora. She’ll keep her cool.

She will. Right?

*****

Thalindra is almost there. So close that I can barely breathe as I watch her silhouette fade at the far edges of the labyrinth. Ice shimmers in her wake, her magic leaving a trail of glistening frost in the dim light. Then, without warning, she vanishes beyond the final bend.

The moment she disappears, so do the sounds of her footsteps. Uneasiness coils in my gut.

Silence.

Silence. Thick. Suffocating.

My fingers clench around the rough stone ledge of the entrance. Thalindra is strong. She can handle herself. I know this. But the weight in my chest tightens, sharp and insistent.

Go. Now.

*****

The Minotaur stands guard at the center of the labyrinth, the First Key hovering behind it like a cursed prize. Its hulking frame ripples with thick, gnarled muscles, each movement exuding raw, unrestrained power. In its massive hands, an axe as broad as a man’s torso gleamed, its jagged edges stained by time and old battles.

It throws back its horned head and bellows. A deafening roar—an unholy blend of rage, hunger, and the promise of destruction.

Thalindra barely has time to brace before it charges.

Ice surges from her hands, sharp and unforgiving. Crystalline spears are shot toward the beast.

The Minotaur swings. The first wave shatters, frost and steel clashing in an explosion of sparks.

She sidesteps the next blow, her breath misting in the frigid air. Another barrage—stalagmites of ice erupt from the ground, sharp and deadly.

But the Minotaur is relentless. It crashes forward, tearing through the frozen spires. It shrugs off the cold. Each stomp sends tremors through the labyrinth’s foundation.

*****

I’ve moved before I can think.

My mind knows the way instinctively—left, sharp turn, down the spiral corridor, ignore the false passage—every step is perfect.

Yet my heart is pounding wildly.

The walls blur past, smears of stone and shadow. My breath comes fast, too fast.

I hear it—the clash of ice and steel ahead. Thalindra is fighting.

And I feel it—something will go wrong.

‘How do I know that?...’

Then I see it...

*****

Thalindra stumbles.

The Minotaur's axe is already in motion. A downward swing—a brutal, final strike.

She barely has time to register the glint of steel before—

"AL KA RATH BETH!"

A blaze of crimson fire tears through the air.

The axe halts mid-swing as an explosion of flames engulfs the Minotaur’s shoulder. It staggers back with a guttural snarl, the scent of scorched flesh thick in the air.

Thalindra gasps, the shock wave slamming into her, sending her skidding back. Heat grazes her cloak, licking at her skin.

She turns—and there stands Liora, hands wreathed in fire, her eyes burning with elven magic.

“I won’t let you fight alone!” Liora shouts, stepping forward.

Together, they unleash everything they have. Ice and fire collide in a deadly storm, hammering the Minotaur until it stumbles—impaled at last upon Thalindra’s sharp stalagmite.

It doesn’t move. The battlefield falls silent.

Thalindra exhales sharply, about to scold her—

But the words never come.

Liora’s reckless charge wasn’t defiance. It was faith.

Faith in her instincts, faith in her.

Thalindra looks at her—truly looks at her—and understands.

They won this together.



The First Key rests upon a stone pedestal—a golden key set with sapphire gems, pulsing with an unnatural glow.

They step toward it together, reaching out in unison—

The air twists. Shadows spill from the walls.

A cold whisper coils around them.

A specter emerges from the dark. Cloaked in pale mist, eyes filled with something ancient, something knowing.

Thalindra’s blood runs cold.

“Elicth…”

The name barely leaves her lips before the ghost tilts his head, a trace of a smile on his lips.

“You are close,” he murmurs. “But tell me, Thalindra… is this what you truly seek?”

The air warps. The labyrinth shifts. Space distorts around them, their minds twisting in the blur—

And then—

They are back.

The entrance.

Liora exhales, eyes wide, the key now in her hands.

"We did it..." she whispers, as if afraid to break the moment.

Then, realization dawns. Her face lights up.

"We did it!"

With a triumphant cheer, she bursts into a wild victory dance, spinning around the First Key.

Thalindra’s thoughts linger on the specter words.

She looks at the key she had sought for so long.

She looks at Liora dancing.

And for once—she smiles. Genuinely.