Insurgence

My exploration of the maze felt like I was taking a maths exam. I found myself trapped in the same loophole, with the same answer, no matter which direction I decided to take.

While both bore time constraints, at least failing to figure out an answer in my maths exam wasn’t going to cost me my life.

For what must’ve been at least fifteen minutes, I continually arrived at the same point within the maze. It was so confusing. I even memorised each turn I had taken.

Perhaps the maze was changing every now and then, and therefore I had to adapt to it. Or maybe I just needed to move quicker, getting to where I needed to be before it could shift.

I had to think of something. I thought it had only been fifteen minutes, but who knows. It could’ve been thirty, even forty minutes.

Then an idea shot through my mind. Though the bushes were immensely tall, I was sure if I tried I could launch myself above them and see the exit of the maze. I quickly checked to see what level I had reached. The number eighteen displayed in front of me. That should be enough.

I had nothing else, so I immediately put the plan into action.

I bent my knees, braced myself, took a huge deep breath and thrust myself upwards, gliding toward the top of the hedges like a bullet. The pace at which I approached was much faster than I had anticipated. The skin surrounding my eyes and my mouth flickered intensely backwards as the wind pierced my eyes.

I was definitely going to make it. I just had to make sure that I used my time up there wisely. I knew I couldn’t walk across the bushes, so I had to ensure I looked around efficiently in order to find the exit.

The top of the bushes were within an arm’s distance, and so I prepared myself to look around and find what I could.

CRASH!

It seemed as though my ingenious plan was foiled. My head smashed against yet another thing that was invisible. Instead of reaching greater heights, my body shattered the floor below as I came plunging down.

The time it took for me to recover from that embarrassing incident must’ve eaten another three minutes of valuable time.

Yet that wasn’t my greatest concern from the moment I recovered.

Suddenly, I heard something; no, something's skittering along the floor. Light, rapid pattering against the ground. A wave of small creatures burst from around the corner, springing with frantic urgency. They darted forwards, some, which seemed like part-bunny, part-kangaroo, bounding so wildly their long legs thud surprisingly loudly against the dirt.

Others moved low and fast, weaving like cats and dogs fleeing from thunder. They came in numbers I couldn’t count, fur of all colours flashing in front of me in a living blur.

But I didn’t flinch. Not even a blink. If this was another challenge, I’d burn through it like I had promised. My hands curled with instinct, heat flickering at my palms, waiting to be unleashed.

Then I noticed something strange.

None of them were coming at me. Not one. In fact, their wide, trembling eyes weren’t locked onto me at all. They looked terrified — petrified even. Ears pinned, teeth barred, their gazes fixed on the safety they clearly saw behind me.

I lowered my hands. One of the hybrids — hal-hare, half-who-knows-what — skidded to a brief stop, looked up at me with shaking legs and an expression I could only describe as pleading, before bounding away and vanishing around another turn in the maze with the rest of them.

I turned to follow their path, just in time to see the tail ends of the swarm disappear around the hedged wall, their footsteps fading into a panicked distance.

Then — the ground trembled. My mind cut-back to the appearance of the crabs, wishing that this was not going to be a repeat.

A law, guttural rumble seeped through the soil into my bones. Something massive was coming.

Each thudding footstep shook the area more violently than the last, and soon they weren’t just tremors — they were quakes. The sound of claws scraping stone, the rush of something far too large moving far too quickly, all of it now barreling toward me like a storm.

I turned back to face where the little creatures had come from — and there it was.

The hedge wall exploded inward as something slammed into it at full speed, crashing into another hedge as it failed to stop itself from dashing forward.

I had come face to face with yet another monster.

It was long, sleek, black as coal, and at least fifteen feet from head to tail. It was eyeless, covered in deep, interlocking scales that shimmered like oil in the light. Its snout was wide, dripping with saliva, and its nostrils flared as if sniffing…searching…hunting for something.

It was, of course, looking for me.

It staggered toward me on its scuttling claws, bellowing as it approached.

Though I wasn’t scared of what it was, my legs instinctively turned and began to run, concerned about its size and strength. It was so large that I couldn’t think for one moment of giving it the chance to land a blow on me. Besides, its gaping jaw told me that my body would be carved like raw meat if its teeth touched my skin.

I continued sprinting as fast as I could to escape its clutches, even turning the other way out of courtesy to protect the little creatures that had alarmed me of its presence.

After about ten seconds, an obvious thought hit me.

If I was running away from this monster, then how could I possibly reach the maze? I couldn’t run from it forever. Better that, hadn’t I promised Ren and Izumi that, no matter what, I was going to get through this.

Another thought buzzed in my head.

Izumi of all people wouldn’t lie to me. She was programmed; what she said about the monsters being weak in here surely wasn’t said to deceive me.

Yet there I was, running from another threat without even trying to do something about it. It reminded me of how I never got into a fight at school — well, never at least fought back. I either avoided it by running away, or went to Ren crying for help — if I hadn’t already been dealt with, that is.

But that wasn’t the case anymore. I was in a game. I had the power to use fire. I had a sword beside me. I wasn’t the hopeless weak boy I once was.

I could do something I never dreamed of doing before.

And hadn’t I just given myself the solution just a moment ago? I remembered that I had levelled up. So I was far stronger than I was before. I realised I was so concerned about what happened before this I didn’t even bother testing out what I could do.

Now was the time to find out.

A thrilling chill raced through my body as I turned to face the monster, its scream still itching closer and closer.

I didn’t freeze this time. I set out my hands in front of me and, with a raging howl, set the monster alight with everything I had.

The amount of fire I released was something I didn’t expect. It covered the entire pathway of the maze, including the monster that was lost in the flames.

Stopping wasn’t an option. I had to ensure that the monster couldn’t rise again. My rageful cries and blistering hands continued in their onslaught.

Amidst my first meeting with triumph, something happened.

For a brief moment, I felt as though I could have done something to save Junpei on that day.